dolly2blog

Siem Reap is a big tourist city due to ancient ruins. They say 400 hotels built by foreign companies. We rode ox carts and visited lady who makes baskets for Korens. She makes $10. On a basket that takes her 3 days to make. We visited Benteay Srie an ancient temple built in 967 ad. the carvings in the sand stone are marvelous. Breath taking to something so intricate, so old. Today we go to Angkor Wat a Unisco site. Built in 1113 to 1150 Hindu temple . It is surrounded by a Moat 550 wide. It is located just outside of Siem Reap.... read more

Up at 530 am to participate in ancient Buddist tradition of Alms Giving to about 100 local monks. We gave them small balls of sticky rice for their breakfast. They only eat two meals a day before noon. Tourists as well as locals feed them every morning. Feeding them we get prayers four familie. We then went to local market to purchase vegetables for our lunch. We were given a name to pronounce and money in which we had to purchase. Interesting markets with all kinds of vegetables, fish, meat, cooked food, clothing. As in other third world countries locals purchase food daily and go home and cook it to avoid spoilage. We then went to a local village of Hmong people. They were hill people who were chased out because they wanted to plant rice ... read more