Cambodia: Siem Reap

The bus ride was looong but filled with Cambodian movies - pretty interesting mythology based fables. The other 3 tourists on the buss were all American s who were teaching English in Aisa for a few years. They loved it and said they were having the time of their lives exploring Asia and teaching children. Siem Reap is seriously just a town built because of its proximity to Angkor Wat. The city was such a contrast - poor huts on stilts on the river and the resorts for the tourists right next to them. The only thing to do there is Angkor Wat, so we went for the sunset from the ruins. It was beautiful but covered in tourists. They charge $20/day for tourists and have it free for Cambodians, which I think is fair and what they should do, but many locals use this free admission to sell their wares just outside the temples. Kind of annoying to have to deal with people pestering you to buy crap I don't need when I'm just trying to look at the temples. But seeing how tourism is their main source of income, it's necessary.

We woke up early the next day for a day full of temples. Beautiful ancient ruins, so old that massive trees have overtaken them at points. While the temples were beautiful, it was trying to navigate through all the vendors. At one of the temples, a couple kids came over and bombarded us with facts about the US and Australia and gave us bracelets. When we refused to buy anything, they cursed Kelly with "I give you bad luck forever!" After countless temples, we crashed and then go dinner and buckets to celebrate my birthday! Mexican food, 1 bucket of margarita, 2 buckets of Angkor Sunset (and a free shirt!), 2 tequila shots (free birthday shots!), and a cocktail and then it was midnight. The bar played the bi

rthday

song for me and then we had to peace out to get sleep for our long journey the next day. Over all, a great birthday night! And a great time in Cambodia. A beautiful country with such a sad story.