Cambodia - A brief recap

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I enjoyed Cambodia and the scenery. My favorite city was of course Siem Reap for the beautiful temples of Angkor Wat and the luxury of a nice hotel and pool but my favorite memories took place in the small towns along the way and in the smiling faces of the locals and my bike tour group. Here is a brief overview of my favorite memories...

The kids selling things - example of dialog

Kid: Hello! Where you from?
Me: America
Kid: America, capital Washington DC. What state you live?
Me: New York
Kid: New York, capital Albany. What city you live?
Me: New York City
Kid: (with big eyes and huge smile) New York City, population 8 million. Will you buy a (insert object here) for only (insert USD cost here). Repeat buy / cost several times until you want to pull your hair out. I also tried to trip them up with other states but they were right on it.
** please note that I had one boy start to cry when I wouldn't buy a bracelet to which I said, please don't cry ... his response yelling ...."YOU MAKE ME CRY" Sna smiling, said this is all part of the act. This is a tough place if you have a soft heart.

Angkor Wat. I'm still amazed that something that grand was built thousands of years ago.

The Pagoda's / Temples. Each so beautiful in their unique way. Also amazed at how the people in the village can be so poor and live in shacks and the temples are so grand.

Buddha and neon lights. In almost all of the temples we visited, Buddha had neon lights around him (green, pink, yellow). It felt like Elvis Buddha ... in Vegas.

The markets, all the different types of vegetation (I liked the fruit) and animals (I really didn't like the snakes) they ate.

Diaper-less children. The young children don't wear diapers, they walk around with just tops on. I was almost peed on by a little boy in a market who walked out the front of his shop and just started to pee.

Seeing the men sweeping for active landmines near the border. We were informed not to leave the road for fear of setting one off (which made going to the bathroom interesting). The guys heard one go off but not sure who set it off.

Paper products. I didn't know it but I love paper products, especially toilet paper. There seems to be a shortage of paper in Cambodia / Vietnam. You can't find toilet paper in the bathrooms and you find tissue as napkins (you only get one). This also explains why there isn't so much handshaking ... I'm all for that!

Boat rides. In general I'm astonished at how people travel around the country and the many boat rides we took was a good example of how long it takes to get around. The roads aren't any better - expect in the big cities, we were on dirt road the majority of the time.

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