Temples

So today we woke up at 4:30am to get extra early to Angkor Wat and see the sunrise!

Our tuk tuk driver picked us up at 5 am and by 5:45 we were at the temple!

Our first stop was breakfast... A sandwich from a street cart right outside the temple. I know a lot of people get really sick from eating street food but my mom always says "if you eat your meals worry free you won't get sick" so I did! I ordered my sandwich and ate it with confidence that nothing was going to happen! 

By 6am we started to walk into the temple, it was pitch dark and it had rained the night before and there were many many many puddles! Every couple of steps we were bound to just step into a big puddle... Good thing we decided to wear flip flops!

It was so dark that we couldn't see anything, Angkor Wat was left to our imagination until about 6:30 when the sky turned grey and then white! I think most of the beautiful Angkor Wat sunrise/sunset post cards are photoshopped! Sunrise was a true disappointment (I would have preferred to sleep an extra 2 hours) but the temple itself was pretty amazing!

I'm not a temple kind person and don't know much of the history behind it so to me it was like going to a museum and looking at the carvings and the temple itself. In a way I felt as if I had a spiritual disconnection with it, it didn't feel like a was in sacred place or anything. I also don't know how much is me and how much it has to do with the fact that there are hundreds of people all around you. Not to be rude or discriminatory but Asian tourist (mostly old ones) make the visits a lot less enjoyable! The are loud, rude, and seem not to care about the places they visit, they rush through everything and all they care about are the pictures.

Anyway, Angkor Wat was beautiful! About 8am it was even better than earlier, the temple was reflecting on the water and simply magical! 

While walking around the temple we encountered some very naughty monkeys!!! They were a little aggressive and would take food and even objects from people! We stopped for a while and looked at them. One of the monkeys got a tangerine from a couple and peeled it, and are the pieces one by one! Another two monkeys had lollipops in their mouth and a bunch of them were fighting over the lollies! (When a lolly fell a couple of them would race to get it and get into a monkey fight, lots of scratching and showing teeth!) I had to take pictures because I knew Hunter would love to see monkeys eating lollipops!

After Angkor Wat I was hungry again so decided to get some noodles from a cart just outside! I love the fact that we can get food just about anywhere for real cheap :-)

Our next stop was the Bayon!

This was actually really cool looking! I have no idea of the meaning or history about it (I did not do my homework at all!) but it had a whole bunch of pillars with faces (I have no idea how to describe it!) It was almost like a maze, it had 5 entrances, tons of stairs, and an incredible amount of tourists! I even lost Sherry so we each did it on our own! I tried really hard to get good pictures but most of them look flat and they don't do justice to the beauty of the place!

After an hour or so Sherry and I finally found each other and we felt like we were "templed out"!! It was hot, humid, and feet were hurting a little. We were happy to be walking towards the tuk tuk parking lot but to our surprise there was another temple that we had to go through in order to get to our tuk tuk! This temple was very tall, we had to climb very steep stairs and by the time we got up we were sweaty and feeling dirty! We spent another 30-45 mins and were happy again to finally be on our way to the tuk tuk! Well, we had to walk through the a forest like place and it took us maybe another 20 mins to finally find our tuk tuk driver! We decided that we only wanted to see one more temple and then call it a day!

We made our way to the temple with the trees, Ta Phrom! So this was super cool! Trees kind of took over these temples, their roots are all around and it's an amazing sight!

We finished with the last temple at around 12 and after 7hours I was just done with temples so we headed back to our hostel!... After getting some fruit from a cart, of course!

Our tired feet:

On our way we saw a huge local market and we asked our tuk tuk driver to stop and let us go in. He looked at us in disbelief, and say "market, no tourist" and we said "YES! Market... Can we stop?" I guess he had no choice so he let us out and we went exploring!!!

What an experience! That market had everything: fruit, vegetables, meat, electronics, toys, and even night gowns!!! It was crazy to say the least, people ride they motorcycles through the market so there is a lot of honking, it was extremely smelly, and NOBODY spoke english!!!!

Since we were hungry we decided to buy some food; one lady was frying something and we decided to try! It ended up being smashed up banana, covered in some kind of batter and then fried! It was delicious :-)

Once back there were a couple of people hanging out in the hostel lobby and I asked what they were doing and they said they were going to the floating village and I asked to join them so I would be able to share the tuk tuk and boat expense but they were taking a $15 tour so it was perfect!

The tour included a visit to the war museum where we learned more about Khmer Rouge and the cruel history of Cambodia. They displayed many guns, as well as tanks used back then. I saw pictures of little kids carrying guns and being forced to fight, it was heart breaking. The guide also gave us extensive information about land mines and how there are still some around the country. The guide said that they explore all the time, even a couple of weeks ago a land mine killed 20 people... I couldn't believe it!!!! 

Our next stop was at Artisans d'Angkor! An organization that helps people with disabilities to get into art and they learn how to paint, make sculptures, carve, and work metal. Their pieces were incredible but extremely expensive!

After a couple of hours we finally made it to the boat to go to the floating village!

We rode for about 25 mins until we reached the village. While riding out of nowhere a 5 year old appeared and was selling us beer and soft drinks! I was like "umm, how come I didn't see her before?" But a min after a speed boat came next to us and took the little girl. So, the parents drop her off and then pick her up after she sells tourists drinks!! How crazy is that?!?

Anyway, we made it to the village and there were all these houses on the water, school kids on boats going back home, a boat grocery store, a floating school, people hanging out on porches, little kids floating around in little buckets!!!! Haha it was incredible!

When we stopped and the guide started to talk we saw a boat come close to us, there were two kids with their mom! The youngest child, approximately 2 years old had a snake around his neck and kept saying "dolla, dolla" while the mom screamed "Pic-shuuur dolla"." It just breaks my heart to see kids working, or begging for money. This morning at the temples we saw so many kids begging (they would say "candy candy") and it really gets to me! You know, the only responsibility little kids should have is to have fun, and not be burden by the fact that they need to bring money home! That's a parent responsibility!!!! I know that life in 3rd world countries is rough but it really makes me sad and mad that so many kids are being deprived of their childhood and instead are giving the responsibility to pretty much take care of the adults! Simply sad!!!!!

At around sunset time we started to head back and we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen!!! The colors were perfect and it was beyond amazing!!! I can't even describe it but the pictures speak for themselves!

Once back at the hostel Sherry and Laty were ready to go out for dinner so I took 15 mins to freshen up and headed out with them.

After dinner Sherry and I did some more shopping and ended up getting a massage! This time we wanted a full body but also feet so we chose a $1 fifteen minute foot massage followed by a $4 full hour massage! 

I am not a fan of massages but for that price why not! For the hour massage they took us upstairs (foot massages are outside where people walk) to an air conditioned room! The room had 3 mattresses on the floor, and to be honest it looked sketchy! I was mortified to put my head on the pillow or to even lay down on the mattress... Who knows when they change the sheets but I let it go! It was a fully clothed massage (otherwise it's called an oil massage $6/hour) but I was disgusted by the fact that she was putting her feet all over me! I felt like screaming and shaking!!! I don't like being touched and don't like germs and even less so feet all over my body (plus, I had noticed her extra long toe nails before) so I was screaming inside and I just wanted to take my clothes to the laundromat!!!