ANGKOR: Temples, temples, AMAZING temples...

Today is our last day in Siem Reap. The Angkor temples have exceeded even our super high expectations! The first day we visited Angkor Wat at sunrise, then Ta Prohm (the overgrown one, with the trees on top of the stone buildings- my favorite), Angkor Thom and Bayon, and some others. David, the guide the Becca and Steve recommended to us, was great. He knew all the spots to take great pictures, and was super nice. The second day we went on our own to more temples with a tuk tuk in the morning -yes, again at sunrise!-, and then hired a car in the afternoon to take us to another one that was quite far away, known for it's detailed carvings.

Angkor - Siem Reap

Each temple was special in its own way. We were not "templed out" at all! But rather surprised that they are all unique in some way or another.
Both days we went back to the hotel in the middle of the day, took a nap and escaped from the heat. If only we had had the will to wake up at sunrise in our other destinations...The heat at noon can really drain all the energy out of you. Both days we also tried to get the perfect sunset over Angkor Wat, but I guess you have to leave something for when you come back...We had better luck with sunrises, I hope the pictures show it.

To prove that this is a small world indeed, we run into Manel (Vericat- from HBS) while having dinner in a very cute alley in Siem Reap. We talked about meeting for dinner the following day but we missed their message and did not get together after all- but run into them again! :-). Their next stop is Bali for 3 weeks...tempting...

Last night was our last night out with Brett and Beth, who left this morning (back to the US). We're going to miss them!!! We had such a great time traveling together. We had dinner, shared one of our super interesting conversations about the world's issues and trends- now almost common in our trip :-) - and then moved to a "cool" bar for drinks, where we finished the rumi game we had started I don't even remember when. Beth was the indisputable winner.

Today we had great plans of renting bikes and visit some of our favorite temples again. Instead, we relaxed in the hotel until way past noon, came to town for a late lunch, stroll in the market, had ice-cream, checked emails, and when it started raining and the sky was all cloudy - and since it was almost 5pm already- we decided it was not worth to try to catch the sunset (sorry Brett, we owe you that spectacular photo!). So here we are, enjoying our relaxing day and finally making our first entry in our blog.

Oh, one more thing! Siem Reap was very productive in terms of next steps in our trip. After quite a few days and lots of help from my mom and Hadi, we confirmed we can get a Lebanese visa in the border, booked tickets, and decided to leave SE Asia and continue on to the Middle East. So we'll be going to Hadi's wedding!!! :-). And visiting Israel too- as long as they don't stamp our passports that is.

Last days of class at HBS

Since our last days of class when life after HBS started, lots of things happened: trips to Dolo's wedding in Argentina, Google Sales Conference in San Francisco, Badge's Beach House in Myrtle Beach and then graduation the first week of June. Graduation week was a fun time to spend with our families and enjoy Boston's summer. Since then we traveled to NY and Orlando with our families before packing and moving out of our dear apartment at 2 SFP to become homeless.

On June 20th we took off to South East Asia to start our tour around the world. We intend to post some news from time to time to share with friends and family what we are up to, and help reduce our moms' stress for lack of emails. We'd also love to hear from you to stay in touch with "the real world", and know what your are all doing.

We hope you enjoy our posts and we look forward to your comments, gossip, and news!

Armando y Diana