Cambodia and the temples of Angkor

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So we flew into Cambodia from Laos early Sunday morning. Wow. Totally different country then the last 2 we've been in. A much poorer country then we've seen so far but baring everything that happened here in the last 30 years, you can imagine why.

Around Siem Reap. It's extremley dusty,there aren't many sidewalks and absolutly no traffic rules . You drive literally 2 minutes, not even outside the center town tourist area and I was blown away with how poor it got. From what I've read, this is one of the poorest countries in the world. So far people have been super nice and it seems they smile a lot but it's much dirtier and really a lot to take in at first.

They use US dollars here because their currency is so cheap. Makes it a bit harder to bargain because everyone knows how much its worth but it's still cheap for our standards back home. On top of that, nobody speaks english very well so it really adds to the whole experience.

Ok so we went to Angkor Wat yesterday. This place was absolutly incredible. Actually, more then incredible. These ruins are so well intact for being between 1000 and 1500 years old.

We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around. You can't do it on foot because it covers the area of an entire city. We were there for a full day and got to see all the main parts. Seriously the whole day I was like a little kid tugging on Gens leg saying, WOW LOOK AT THAT!! To top it off, it was about 35 degrees and we were sweating buckets!

Every temple or ruin you go to, there's a race between all these young kids trying to sell us stuff. Somehow they focused around Gen. I guess I give off an aura of a none shopper? Go figure...
I met a really cool young girl named Sonia but I told her I wouldn't give her a cent until she told me what she wanted to be when shes older. Then I made her promise to acheive that goal.
We were planning on seeing the sunset at Angkor Wat but it absolutley poured rain so we headed back to our guesthouse and took advantage of some english TV (Been a while!!)

Today, we got the same tuk tuk driver and he took us out to these floating villages in the middle of a huge lake. Another culture shock that really took us by surprise. There's only so much you can handle of kids coming up to you, trying to sell you stuff before you feel bad. 2 kids had a snake around their neck and wanted me to give them money so I could have it around my neck. I bailed on that option because I seriously think that the snake was dead. I didn't see it move once!

Overall, great experience. The temples of Angkor blew both of us away. I don't think the pictures do justice to just how beautiful they are.
Next stop...Phom Penh tomorow.

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