Falling for Cambodia

AAHHH, Cambodia! We miss it already! Our trip to Cambodia was a bit of an exhausted blur until we got to Siam Reap. When we exited the Siam Reap Airport, we were bombarded with about fifty taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. (Tuk-Tuks are little open carriages hooked onto a motor scooter- quite a fun way to ride!)We were exhausted and annoyed and ready to scream until we actually got into a tuk-tuk and began heading to our hotel. We immediately relaxed. The night air was warm and calming and the entire way was lit by the strings of white lights adorning massive old hotels. It was romantic and exhilarating, and exactly what we needed after 13 hours of traveling! When we got to the hotel we made plans to meet our tuk-tuk driver again the next morning and headed inside. The hotel itself was old and in need of some attention, but it was cozy enough for our needs. We dropped off our bags and headed out to explore. Most places were closed; because by now it was almost midnight. But, we were lucky enough to find a divey Indian restaurant with tasty cheap food and ate like champs for about nine bucks before heading back to our hotel to crash.
The next morning we headed out to see Anchor Wat and the surrounding temples. We were immediately rendered speechless by the massive size and astounding beauty of Anchor Wat. Pictures truly do not do the temple justice, as everywhere you look there is yet another breathtakingly beautiful photograph-worthy sight.

Kip took over 400 pictures alone that day. We also spent a lot of time chasing around the monks and trying to sneakily get them in our photos. They were adorned in these amazing orange robes that looked phenomenal against the deteriorating stone backdrop of the temple.

Next we headed to a few other temples only to end up at Ta Prohm. We fell instantly in love with the mix of massive trees, roots, moss and old-stone architecture.


Trees and moss grew over every corner of the dilapidated temple, making it look incredibly mystical. It felt like we were in the center of an old fairy-tale and a unicorn or fairy could pop out at any moment.


We spent hours getting lost in the magical maze of Ta Prohm. Needless to say, even after 600 or so pictures, we were still hesitant to leave. But as it began getting dark we reluctantly had to make our way back into town.

On the way home we witnessed an amazing sunset, making the day feel almost perfect. We finished off our evening with a tasty Cambodian dinner, a few drinks at a tiki-bar at the night market and a foot "massage" by little "Dr.fish" that are supposed to rid your feet of any dead skin cells.
It was quite a day.
The following day we headed out early to see a floating village about a half hour away. The village is made up of Cambodians, Vietnamese, and Muslims who live and fish on Tonlesap Lake. Once we got to the river we hopped into an old rickety boat with an overly chatty Cambodian guide and headed out towards the lake. The "river" we went out on was actually a road during dry season and only had about 2 meters of water at that time. On the banks along the river were rundown homes and huts on stilts that were moved by truck when the seasons (and water height) changed. The floating village itself was also quite a sight.
The homes were in awful shape and were far to small for the large families that inhabited them. In addition to houses, the village had a floating gym, a floating school, floating markets, and even floating pig, duck and alligator farms. The people were completely oblivious as we stared and snapped photographs of them piled into their run-down hut-boats.

It was incredibly sad and beautiful at the same time. We stopped at the school where the chidren were incredibly poor and could not afford basic school supplies. Kip and I pitched in and bought them some stacks of notebooks and pencils which they were quite happy about. They rewarded us with big smiles and some adorable poses for our pictures. It was the highlight of the day.

After our river adventure we headed back into town for a mouthwatering lunch, a stroll through the old-market area, and a $6.00 massage. Tired and hungry, we found a great little restaurant called the Funky Monkey with a very friendly English owner and top-shelf drinks for only $3.00. We were in heaven. The next morning we tearfully hopped into a tuk-tuk and bid farewell to our beautiful and quaint Siam Reap only to hop to the bustling craziness that is Bangkok.