I spent 5 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia and I really enjoyed this laid-back town. It fulfills every Asian city stereotype you can
think of… you come across chickens, dogs, cats, monkeys and cows. You see the
family of 5 (Mom, Dad and 3 kids) riding on a scooter. A tuk-tuk is your common
mode of transportation. Buddhist monks wander around the temples and throughout
the town. There are good smells and bad smells.
I traveled with my friend Danielle (her husband works with
Dan so we were in the same boat: free time + busy husband = travel) and friend
Cindy. Vandy was our tour guide for the trip and we were the first lucky group to
be taken around in his recently purchased Toyota Camry. While Vandy has a lot
of knowledge and experience with regards to the temples and Cambodian culture,
by the end of the first evening we were guessing driving was a newer
experience. We typically cruised around town at the high speed of 30 MPH and a
3-point turn typically turned into a 6-point turn. Needless to say, at least we
were safe.
Our first day started at 5am with the sunrise over Angkor
Wat, which translates to the City of Temples. It was built in the early 12th
century as a Hindu religious center. We visited three temples, Angkor Thom,
Bayon and Ta Prohm. There were lots of statues, intricate carvings and trees that had overtaken the temple. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so rather than try to describe the temples, I'll share a few photos.
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| The Ta Prohm temple was built in the 12th century and contains a carving of a stegosaurus. Researches believe this is the original stone and not a hoax. Pretty interesting to think about. |
That afternoon we visited the Missionaries of Charity
orphanage. We volunteered there a couple of days during our visit. Let’s just
say we were quite surprised when we were welcomed by a song, “hey, sexy ladies!”
from one of the 5 year old boys, doing the Gangnam style dance. How a child in an
orphanage, in Cambodia, with no TV or radio learned the Gangnam Style song and
dance is beyond us. While we certainly didn’t encourage his performance, we
certainly didn’t discourage it. It was pretty cute. In all there were 14 kids
at the orphanage ranging from 3 months to 5 years old. We quickly learned
the Cambodian words/phrases for, ‘Please sit down’, ‘No hitting’, and ‘Please share’ as
the kids played with the toys we had brought. We weren’t allowed to take
pictures at the orphanage but these kids were absolutely adorable and so sweet. Their smiles
and hugs were really something special.
We finished off the night with some Cambodian food (pretty
similar to Thai food, but less spicy) and a traditional Khmer dance show.
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