It had been a really long day!

It started actually the evening before. We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia at 11 pm on Christmas Eve. And we were due to get up at 5 am to begin our tour of Angkor Wat.

Our tour in a tuck tuck - a little buggy driven by a motorcycle - was ready to whisk us away to this ancient site.

We did sunrise at Angkor Wat - nothing to write home about, and then off to get our permit to enter the archeological site.

For those who may not know, Angkor Wat is a massive collection of ancient temples and palaces that was the capital of the ancient Khmer peoples of Cambodia. Many of these temples and palaces date back to the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.

And so we began our tour. And we went from location to location in a whirlwind tour of ancient buildings that were just amazing!

Our last location was Banteay Kdei, an ancient monastery and temple complex.

Tiredly, I climbed out of the tuck tuck, the excitement of earlier in the day finally overcome with the weariness of having been on the run all day. Parts of me were glad that this was the last location for the day, and parts of me wanted to keep running, to keep seeing more, to keep visiting these ancient wonders.

And so I walked around the ruins, admiring the ancient carvings and the rooms that seemed to continue forever.

I turned a corner to enter the main temple complex, and there they were, one young Cambodian woman kneeling in prayer before a statue of the Buddha and what appeared to me to be a Buddhist nun who maintained the altar.

I quietly kept to the walls, not wanting to disrupt a moment of prayer, and decided to take this shot. This is perhaps my favorite photo I took at Angkor Wat.

For me, this photo is the perfect juxtaposition between today and the past; it is the perfect photo of the enduring legacy of spiritual practice, and it takes me away back to the 12th century when other monks and nuns of another time were also kneeling in prayer before the same statue - continuity of the past with the present.

Although I am not a Buddhist, I have great respect and honor for those who practice this ancient faith, and this photo reminds me of the human spirit's desire to reach beyond ourselves and acknowledge something greater than ourselves.

Peace,