Wonder of the World

---

Cambodia makes Thailand look like the Ritz. I didn't expect such poverty and so much begging. The country has definitely had a painful past. I was very glad to have researched my hotel in Phnom Penh before I got there. It was very nice compared to every other building in the city and they even had someone pick me up from the airport. I stayed the night and left early the next morning on a bus to Siem Reap. It was a 6 hour drive and in that time I learned how to drive in Cambodia. Turns out you drive in the middle of the 2-lane road. Then when another car is coming, you honk to let the scooters know you're passing each other. There's one main paved road and then a bunch of dirt roads off to the side. There were children sleeping in the mud, people using the streets as a toilet, and a lot of cattle along the way. It was definitely shocking. The thing you notice first about Cambodia is all the begging- from children, adults, injured, etc. It actually kind of ruins the experience a bit because they follow you everywhere and there's a sea of them at the temples. It's sad because it's not like you can help them all.

My hostel in Siem Reap is especially nice- they even have AC! I attempted to go see Angkor Wat for sunset when I got in town, but there were too many clouds and I ended up just looking around a bit instead. The next morning, I got up at 4am with 2 girls from Ireland and went to try catch the sunrise...needless to say it was cloudy again. I guess we're just lucky it isn't pouring since it's wet season. Anyway, we spent about 5 hours looking around the various temples with the help of our tuk tuk driver who followed us around all morning- poor thing!

The first stop was Angkor Wat. It was huge! I have no idea how long it took them to build it, but I seriously wouldn't have wanted that job. It was pretty well preserved and we were able to climb to the top level. There are 2 pond areas in front and then a huge wall around the main temple. There are 3 levels with areas to walk around on each and the building is very symmetric, so no worries about getting lost (like our later adventure). The second large temple we went to was Bayon. It's located in Angkor Thom. The structure looked a lot like Angkor Wat, however it was more gothic. There were tons of stone faces at the top of every tower. Our last stop of the day was my favorite- Ta Prohm. It is the temple in the movie Tomb Raider. It's wrapped up in a twisted jungle of huge trees. Needless to say, we got a bit lost trying to find the silly Tomb Raider tree! I think we walked in and out of so many corridors that we really had no clue where we had and hadn't been. It was definitely a cool vibe though. It definitely go my vote for the best atmosphere.

Day 2 of temples took me out to Banteay Srey. It was actually about an hour drive outside Siem Reap. It was a nice morning for walking around because of the clouds. The temple had a pink color, much smaller than the others, but it was nice because there weren't as many people. I saw 3 other temples on the way back to Siem Reap. Each have a slightly different feel to them, but by the end I was getting tired on temples (kind of like getting tired of cathedrals in Europe haha).

I decided to treat myself to a pineapple smoothie and a massage. I'm so glad I've waited until now to get a massage because I would be totally broke from getting one everyday. It was the best thing in the entire world! The girl sat on me, stepped on me, and twisted me all around, but I feel awesome now!

Really sad news...my memory card on my camera died suddenly for some reason, so all my pictures are gone😞 I'm gonna try take it to some camera shop when I get back and see if they can get any of them back. Good news though...I made it to Hong Kong and met up with my friends. I've decided that I'm totally in love with this city! We went pink dolphin watching today, which was awesome. They are actually white, but because they expend so much energy they blush and look pink. Then we went on a crazy tour of the city and up to the peak, which had the most amazing view I've ever seen! I'll write more later, but my internet time is up.

---