Angkor's Stupendicity

Hello friends, writing to you wishing I were in slightly better spirits. Angkor has been amazing, but I finally got sick yesterday. Really sick. I had a fever and the chills and I threw up once and had diarrhea. There are all the gorey details. I've never had food poisoning like that before and it scared me. I finally took the antibiotic they gave me at the travel clinic before I left and I felt better almost instantly. I wasn't sure if it was the right time to take it or not, because I've never had a fever with food poisoning before. But I think it was the right thing to do, because I feel so much better, though still not 100%. I've spent most of the day convalescing.
I spent Tuesday with a Swiss woman, going around the temples and exploring. Yesterday, I went around with a guide (harder to find than you'd think in the high season), until my sickness cut the day short. The temples are truly awetaculous. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a giant moat. It's built like a mountain and has 3 levels. The topmost level was reserved for the god-king to worship at. The level of preservation is indescribable. Not only is it gynormous in scale, but every surface is intricately carved with reliefs. Originally, the reliefs were lacquered, so they were all pretty colors. When you walk up to the temple, it looks like there are only 3 towers, because the symmetry is so perfect, you can't see the back 2 towers behind the front 2.
The second temple I visited was built later, by a king who switched the religion of the area from Hinduism to Buddhism. There are 54 towers in the temple, each with 4 faces looking in the cardinal directions. A truly astoundacular sight. I also visited a temple that is being maintained in a state of partial restoration--the jungle is growing over it. It's cool to see the giant trees growing through the stone buildings.
The relief carvings on the sides of the temples show stories from Hindu mythology. The stories are very complicated and I won't try to relate them here. Fun factoid: Buddha is considered to be one of the reincarnations of Vishnu--Hinduism and Buddhism are very closely related.
I was feeling a little sad and lonely today, being sick and by myself. I called myparents this morning, and they helped me feel better. I also spent some of the day looking at pictures I've taken. I've done some really fun things on my trip so far and I'll do some more!
I was planning on spending today walking around the temples again, but haven't felt well enough to stray far from my hotel. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better and will be able to spend the day there.
Another fun factoid: at it's peak, this area had the largest city in the world, housing one million people! They traded in animal hides, silver, precious stones, etc.
Anyhoo, friends, I think I will go convalesce some more and regain my strength for tomorrow.
I will spend the afternoon trying to manufacture more superlatives to include in my next post.
Smiles,
Lauren