We made it to Cambodia! My stay here was very short - just over 24 hours, but worth it. Siem Reap reminded me of Haiti in many ways, but had its own unique culture. Thailand and Cambodia have very distinct cultures. If you go to Cambodia - be prepared for the most pressure from souvenir shoppers you'll find in the world. If you are female, you'll hear "lady, lady, you buy purse? lady, lady, you buy painting" and on and on. If you are male, I have no idea what they'll call you. But also be prepared for delicious food, cheap foot massages, and adorable children.
We got to Cambodia sort of late at night, but the night market was bustling, so that was our first stop. I grabbed some cool souvenirs right away, and we found a delicious taco place run by a guy who moved there from the US to start an education program. He sells tacos to help his program be more sustainable. And those tacos were delicious. We had them both nights that we were there. Yum. Siem Reap is full of NGOs and social ventures to help children receive an education or women to become entrepreneurs and so on. So much poverty, as in Haiti, brings a lot of international people to try to figure things out. After tacos, we went to our hostel and were told we could swim... only to be kicked out of the pool ten minutes later. They told us the pool closed at 1 am, but it was barely after midnight, so we were confused. But, it was for the best because we had to wake up at 4 am to go see the sunrise at Angkor Wat!
After my trip, my mom told me that Angkor Wat was recently selected by Lonely Planet as the #1 place in the world to visit! I feel so lucky that I could go there. Brianne and I kept saying “Where are we? What is this place?”
We didn’t know enough about the temples before going. So I recommend that if
you go, do some research first! Also, you can hire a tuk tuk driver to take you
around the park since it is too big to walk around. If you don’t know what
temples you want to see, they’ll do a small loop with just 4 of the main
temples (what we did) or a large loop with 8 or so. But if you’ve done your
research and want to see other temples, let them know.
Awh!
Tourists everywhere!
So many possibilities! Which way should we go?
Ok, this way
Tomb raider, which I've never seen, was filmed here at this temple.
I was having fun with I-phone filters
Now - the best part of Angkor Wat was doing something that has never been done before (as far as I'm aware). Riverdancing through the temples. On my mission, I would riverdance in the visitors' center when no guests were watching, and it kind of became a thing... even though I have no idea how to riverdance. I watched it on tv as a child and always wished I could do it, so I make it up. When Bri and I were companions, we'd riverdance on people's doorsteps while waiting for them to answer their doors! So, Bri came up with this great idea to riverdance on the thresholds of the temples and to make a video. She enjoyed every moment, but I was completely embarrassed to ask people to video us. But so glad we did it. Here's the video! Quality is better on Facebook, so if we are Facebook friends, go watch it on my timeline.
After our tour, we were exhausted, so we took naps by the
pool, swam, shopped, got foot massages and ate more tacos. Bri brought stickers and colored pencils with her to hand out to kids, so we were
always on the lookout. That night, we were walking through the market when I
saw some children. I said hello to them, and then the whole group started
following us and shouting “Hello! Hello!” It was the cutest. Bri gave out a
bunch of the stickers, and then by the taco place, I gave a young boy and his
sister some. The little girl followed us into this bar area where we sat to eat
our tacos and sat down with us. A few minutes later, her mother (a shopkeeper next
door to the bar) came in and handed me her adorable baby. Guess the baby was
making work too difficult for her (: The first thought that came to my mind was
this quote from the movie Sweet Home Alabama: “You have a baby! In a bar!” It
was just too funny. After we finished eating, we took the cuties back to their
mother and felt like we had been sufficiently embraced by Cambodians and we had
embraced them as well – you don’t just hand over your babies to any foreign
strangers, right?
Night markets look like this. Canopy after canopy of purses, paintings, clothes and so on.
I don't usually find myself in bars, or find myself with babies in bars. But it was well before party time, and it had the most comfortable seating in Siem Reap. And I'll hold any baby anywhere, anytime.
Would you like a sticker?
Sadly, I had to leave that night. It was hard to say goodbye
to Brianne – but in four years we’re going to be travel buddies somewhere
again!
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