Thailand & Cambodia: Day 6

CAMBODIA

Next stop on our adventure was Siem Reap, Cambodia. Ever since I was in high school and first learned about their tragic history, I ached for them and felt very drawn to that country and culture. Also, I always thought that the incredible temples located in Siem Reap were a gift and couldn't wait to discover them for myself. So, I would say that Cambodia was the reason that we chose that part of the world to travel to when we could have gone anywhere. I knew that Thailand would be beautiful and that there weren't many places to see in Cambodia besides Siem Reap, due to the poverty. So, that is how our trip came to be. One of my closest friends said to me before I left, "I hope that Cambodia is everything you hope it to be." She may have thought I was a little too enchanted about it, but hoped it was what I wanted it to be. Well, I am really thrilled to say that it was everything I hoped it would be and even more. I'll explain more throughout the next few blog posts of my days in cambodia.

When we first arrived at the airport, we took a taxi to our hotel, our taxi driver was really sweet and spoke perfect english. So, after talking to him for a while, we asked if he knew a good tour guide and he said that he was actually a tour guide. So, we sat down with him and talked all about what we thought we wanted to do and what his opinion was about it all. We really hit it off with him and so we decided to plan our next few days with him. His name was Chuun, we became great friends with him and will definitely stay in contact with him. He is 28 and probably one of the brightest people I have ever met. He is also one of the kindest.

We went with Chuun that evening to watch the sunset at this temple that had the best view. It was the most popular place to watch the sunset and we found out why, it was so beautiful.

The picture above is of a band that the government allows to play at certain tourist sites to make a little money because they have no other way to earn an income because they are victims from the war.

This was the stunning temple. We climbed up to the top on these crazy, dangerous stairs. It is hard to tell but they were ridiculously steep, each step was at least about two feet tall and like four inches wide. So, you had to sidestep the whole way up and down. It was really dangerous.

Here was the beautiful sunset.

Something about the architecture of these temples just really calls to me. It might be my favorite architecture in the world, it is just so moving.

It was a very memorable sunset.

We went to dinner at this cultural restaurant that celebrated the Cambodian culture. There was lots of different types of traditional cambodian dishes and then a dancing dinner show. The show was really beautiful. A lot of traditional dances, costumes and stories. It was very similar to the experience you get at the Polynesian Cultural Center Laie, Oahu. The food was not great, but that's ok, I still love all things Cambodian.