We LOVE cambodia!!

Its 9 pm and we just had an 8 hour day of touring Temples that are truly indescribable with words. The day far exceeded expectations and we have not even made it to Angkor Wat yet. Alarm is set for 3:40am as Mr Kat the nicest Tuk Tuk driver is picking us up at 4:20am. Im typing in the dark as R is going to sleep. I hope I can do this post justice after such a long incredible day. 

The day started with breakfast at our new home, which we both love SO much! The setting and scenery is breath taking and beyond peaceful. The service at this hotel is speedy for everything and they are extremely gracious. Mr Kat our driver for the next 3 days arrived right on time at 7 am. He is just as cute as we anticipated. Another kind human being here to please our every desire and share his Country with us. He is a Tuk Tuk driver who is 35 years old, no kids yet, not sure if he’s married, will need to inquire tomorrow. He is a LIBRA, birthday is coming up Oct 8th. A Tuk Tuk in Cambodia is attached to a motorcycle. We are in an open bench like seat, that is actually quite comfortable. He has endless supplies of cold water all day, as well as these lovely cold menthol wash cloths. Please know there is a cool breeze in the air while driving which feels incredible , but the moment we stop or walk in a Temple….the moist heat of the day starts to sweat and drip out of every pore. Its unreal how much water my body is losing in sweat. My Skin has never been better. 

The journey into heaven begins…..birds singing, hair blowing in the wind, cows, chickens, monkeys, and dogs along the roads, brown rivers, big hotels, people sleeping in hammocks,  we are taking it all in, the greenery of this jungle-like poverty filled 3rd world country. I’m so happy to be here and loving my life. I truly love these travel adventures into other cultures. We arrive at the Ticket Center where you purchase a 1/3/7 day pass to The Angkor Archaeological Park. This ticket will get us access to any temple on the grounds.  This is the largest Temple in the World, visited by 1 million tourists per year. Todays agenda is the Grand Tour, which includes ; Angkor Thom, Bayon( my favorite), Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon, Beanteay Srei, and Pre Rup. As we continue the drive, I see a white train car on the side of Rd; my dad is making himself know :-). We arrive at Bayan Temple after viewing and taking photos of the South Gate of Angkor Thom. This complex and Park is HUGE, Like its own town. We both being a water sign, Scorpios are emotional upon entrance into the beauty of where we actually are blessed to be at this very moment. It was a surreal experience. We are learning from Mr Kat all about the history of this being built in the 12 th century, why many of the buddha statues are headless. All the wars that have gone on with Thailand, France, and Vietnam made them have to sell the heads to survive. When I say this country is poverty  stricken it really is….homes are made from tin and wood just set up in the woods of villages off dirt roads, very fort like looking. The language here is Khmer and for some reason hard to remember. They are well versed in English and the currency used here mostly is USD. Everything is ultra ultra cheap. 

There used to be 54 provinces in Cambodia, due to the wars there are currently 25. A lot of the history and stories is told throughout the temples by meaning  to numbers of buddhas etc. We passed by 2 little kids sitting in the dirt eating with a spoon. The cows we pass by are ultra skinny. At The Bayan Temple, we wander through on our own. This was my favorite, its the Temple of Faces. I will post photos…As you climb through these ancient artifacts you feel like your in a movie set from Hollywood. Indiana Jones or the recent Dora The Explorer movie :-). It truly doesn’t seem real….dark areas, mazes, picturesque spots, old rock, photo ops like no other that people are actually here taking a wedding photos. This place is a photographers dream. I see a Chinese guy carrying around his huge camera and tri pod. I just keep snapping away with my phone, lol. Thankfully Rachel has the newest I Phone and her photo lighting is popping. As we explore together and alone, I am approached by some Cambodians. These guys are so nice and helpful, they tell me where to pose for the best photos and offer to take pictures. You get nose to nose with the profile of a face, as there is a face on every corner and side of this Temple. Of course everyone would like $1 , but they are just thoughtful kind people. I ask each of them to take a selfie with me too. Love to hang with the locals and submerge myself as much as possible in a new culture. My favorite part of traveling is talking to others and learning about the human race. 

We make our way to a few more temples, all with gigantic trees, like 200+ years old with roots tangled and coming out of the ground like I had only ever seen in Woodley’s photos. They are wild, and beautiful, mind blowing like an illustration from a fairytale children’s books. As you leave some of the Temples children are selling things, begging for you to buy from them. Everything is pretty much a dollar, these kids were SO cute, its not that hard to pull on my heart strings. We kept buying stuff, when I was not interested in buying I would ask them to take a photo with me and give them a dollar. They basically escort you out of the area as they continue to ask you to buy more. Such good sales tactics at such a young age. The ones I spoke to were ages 9-12. Sweet sweet girls! After hearing Mr Kats life story today, I have got change ready for tomorrow to hand out dollars and get more stuff if it will fit in my suitcase, lol

Mr Kat answered my many questions…..he is part of a family of 4, his fathers legs were paralyzed when he was 10 yrs old that he had to start working to help the family as his mom was only earning $30 a month. He went to live with another family a few houses down the street. He made $.25 per day, $10 per month. He said his family was extremely poor, he has worked at a hotel and at the hotel he met a couple, one from Canada the other from PA when he was 18. They know him well and what a hard worker he is , they helped him make his website and this is how his Tuk Tuk business has grown. They wrote TA reviews and it has helped him tremendously. He stopped working at hotel over a year ago. Amazing what the internet can do to help someone in this community. We paid $33 for his services today. That goes a long way here. 

We saw a tricked out Tuk Tuk, Ferrari version, elephant rides happening, little naked tushes on the streets of cute toddlers playing by a hose, glass jugs of gasoline for petrol to refuel. We were blessed by a monk who sprinkled us with holy water and tied a multi color string around our wrists. We made our way to more temples. One had this grand entrance through water. The pathway to get to it was on slabs of wood planks over water. Made like a bridge but with no railings. A bit scary, but absolutely gorgeous green lush in a swampy setting. Again, my words nor camera do this justice, especially at 10:30 pm . 

We had a lovely lunch mid day at Temple restaurant , my yummy fried Rice with chicken and Rach, shrimp spring rolls. The photos we take are sometimes comical as to spice it up a bit. Rach had this good idea to try and look towards each other even though we couldn’t see each other. The photo is on FB and hysterical. She looks like a beautiful repunzel waiting at her castle window, and I look like Im trying to jump out and act in a play. We laughed sooooo hard. Dragon Flies and Butterflies are everywhere….. 

The smells of rain, burnt wood, and humidity is in the air…. it smells good. I see a child driving a motor cycle and inquire the age to drive, supposed to be 18, but parents let kids drive at 9. It was a bizarre look. We approached a tent like structure where Mr Kat wants us to see a lady making natural sugar from a palm tree. It was really good and wild to see the  process. We tasted one for free, its seems to be good in coffee or as candy. The cool air breeze when the Tuk Tuk moves is like such a treat. 

Im leaving out more details, sorry perhaps i will include more tomorrow. 
Just know we are safe in Cambodia, truthfully, have not felt safer.

The night ended at 4:30 pm with a swim and drinks at the pool. We met a very nice Aussie family. Swam for about an hour. Our hotel offers one free dinner per stay, we opted for tonight so we didnt have to leave.  Dinner was good…..I than twisted Rachel’s arm for a 30 min foot massage for $3. How can you say no to that. I hope to write more educational details tomorrow. 
Ill share many photos and hopefully you get better info from the images, plus more on FB. Xo xo