cambodia - siem reap

We spent 2 nights in Siem Reap, a town that has made it's mark on the map by servicing the explosion of tourists flooding into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and the other temples. The temples were truly mind-blowing and worthy of their status as one of the man-made wonders of the world. They were built centuries ago with nothing more than manual labor, a mountain 50+ kilometers away from which to obtain stone and some elephants for moving the stone...the results are insanely beautiful & almost unfathomable except that we actually did see them. There are over 300 temples, though you can't visit all. They were just discovered a little over 100 years ago by the French! (previously hidden by jungle) We saw about 8 temples in two days, including one where Anjelina Jolie shot Tombraider (fun fact!). To no ones surprise I'm sure, we took a few hundred pictures & will be boring you with stories about each one when we return!

So our stay in Siem Reap was great. We ate the best pad thai of our lives in the hotel restaurant (first day of touring wore us out! As did the 3:45am wake-up time...). Anyway, back to the pad thai - it was so good we had it for lunch and dinner that same day! The temples were beautiful and our taxi driver from the airport (Heng) was our personal chauffeur all day & we had a guide, Peah. Both were super kind, with permanent grins on their faces. :) It has also been an emotionally tough few days because of the poverty. It's overwhelming and unnerving what the appropriate response should be. At the temples, the most adorable, witty children are selling you everything imaginable under the sun for "one dollar". We gave away a few bills, only to realize today that likely these kids are most likely being forced to give them money to a "pimp" (for lack of a better word) of sorts. They are adorable, but the begging and vying for the American dollar is everywhere. When we got off our bus today, there were hordes of tuk-tuk drivers ready to pounce so you'd take their ride. Tuk-tuks are fun though - it's this open wagon & you're pulled by a man on a scooter. They drive like maniacs here - swerving all over the road - there's no traffic laws or signs or anything that one can see... but since it's low season here, you can have a tuk-tuk driver take you anywhere you want, all day long, for $15 bucks!