Well I have finally taken a moment to think about my travels. I knew that attempting to travel through 3 countries in a little over three weeks was ambitious, but I forgot how exhausting it is. It has been a great time and I have loved every minute of it.
Cambodia is one of the most amazing places to visit. If you ever get a chance, I recommend it. I spent only about 6 or 7 days in Cambodia and I can't wait to come back. I only traveled to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, but there are beach areas and hills tribes that I would love to visit on my next trip to Southeast Asia.
After I Phnom Penh, I took a 6-7 bus ride to Siem Reap. It was raining quite a bit and at times I was a little nervous that our double decker bus may tip over, but thankfully it did not. Siem Reap is full of most tourist than Phnom Penh. I suspect it has to do with the many temples, especially Ankor Wat, which was pretty amazing. Lisa (my travel campanion in Cambodia) and I arrived a tuk tuk for two days to drive us around the temples. However, several people rented bikes and biked around. Our tuk tuk driver was Mr. Eang. He was a young guy about 24 years old and sweetest person you could ask for.
Mr. Eang our tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap.
Once we got to Ankor Wat we arrived an unlicensed guy to walk us around the temple for $10 US. He was very nice and knowledgable about the temple. Apparently it costs about $2000 US to get a license, so I am not sure who could afford it there. I was happy with our guide. We walked around this amazing temple for about 1 1/2 hours and we also talked a lot about his life in Cambodia. He rides his bike for one hour each morning to the temple hoping to serve as a guide to the tourists. I did not realize that the civil war in Cambodia ended just a little over 10 years ago. His life was greatly affected by the civil war. His father was killed (Ibelieve) when he was two months old. He had 2 older brothers and a sister. His older brother died in the civil war, and his other brother and sister were victims of landmines. I am not sure if one of the brothers is still leaving, but he did say that his brother couldn't get good health care and started to have psychological problems. His sister died and left behind 3 children. Now our guide supports his mother and 3 nieces and nephews. It was pretty heartbreaking, and just about everyone I met in Siem Reap has a similar tragic story. I was so impressed and amazed that these people with such a tragic history could be so warm and friendly with us - especially Americans.
Our guide at Ank Wat.
Me at the entrance of Ankor Wat.
Ah, Cambodia sounds so awesome. If u run into any tourists with little kids, ask em what it's like traveling there with little ones. We want to go there but can't anytime in the foreseeable future so we mit have a kid or two when we head there.
ReplyDeleteActually, I met quite a bit of tourist traveling around with their kids. I did not see it so much in Phnom Penh, but there were some in Siem Reap. There was a couple with two kids in Thailand who are traveling for 15 months. They started in Thailand and plan on crossing over into Cambodia and Vietnam. People do it, even with two year olds!
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