For New Years, I was whisked away on a 10 passenger tour van to see all that Siem Reap province has to offer. I really wasn't sure what to expect, and the fact that our tour guide only spoke Khmer(native language of Cambodia), didn't really help me to better understand everything that I did see. That being said, I think my general lack of knowledge actually contributed to the greatness of this experience. I went in completely open-minded and unexpecting and I came away amazed.
On the first day of our three day tour, we visited Cambodian Cultural Village. We walked through a wax museum that portrayed the history of Cambodia from the very beginning. We also saw a play about a Khmer girl's choice of fiance that was completely hilarious. The village was a beautiful, picturesque tourist attraction and I was able to experience some really neat things there.
The second day, we rose bright and early to go view Angkor Wat. Our first stop in what I would describe as a state park in the states was Ta Prohm temple. Its this amazing temple that has broken down over the years. The main factor contributing to the ruins are the huge trees that have overgrown the temple and are now draping the walls with their roots. All I can say, is WOW. That was hands down one of the top 10 coolest places I've ever been to or seen in my life[or maybe in the world!]. From there we visited two other temples in the woods surrounding Angkor Wat: Angkor Thom(Bayon) temple, which was huge in mass and made of these beautiful,stone steeples with smiling faces carved into them and Baphuon temple, which is a pyramid shaped temple and on the west side, is the "Reclining Bhuddha" constructed out of huge sandstones.
After a quick lunch/hotel break, we headed to the main event, Angkor Wat.
Driving up to the wat, you actually don't see the iconic steeples that are usually shown in pictures. Surrounding the wat is a moat that is 5 kilometers wide and 20 kilometers long. The moat was built to support the center structure where the wat sits and also, to bring the huge stones to the site when it was being constructed, more than 2,000 years ago. Another intersting fact, Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world. After you cross over the bridge that runs through the moat, you must walk through the structure that is positioned outside of the actual wat. Once through there, you're able to view the entire structure of the wat set back on a lawn with smaller structures and a land bridge that goes straight up to the main structure. On this "lawn" you see monkeys, you can take a ride on a decorated white horse, you can even buy t-shirts at the vendors situated on the south side of the lawn.
We weren't able to climb all the way to the top, due to construction, but just being there and getting to see the beauty and splendor of one of the Seven Wonders of the World was simply mindblowing.
The last day of our trip, we visited the Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It was a cloudy, chilly day, seemingly perfect for sailing. We got onto our little covered motorboat and from my perch I got to view the "village on the water." People's houses were literally floating on the banks of the lake, some of them were even boats! The prosperity of this area is obviously due to the huge fish population of the lake.
Funny story, while we were on the lake, families would pull up next to us in their precariously constructed boats, trying to sell us live snakes. Three year old baby boys would have these medium sized snakes draped over their shoulders like they were a stuffed toy. It was defnitely one of the saddest, but most fascinating things I've ever seen. These people are doing anything they can to survive in the world...even their young children. These children don't really ever have a childhood.All I can say, is that my eyes were opened up this weekend and I have a greater hunger to travel the rest of the world to see the rest of the "Seven Wonders."
Until Next Time, lia seu!n haeay!(goodbye!)
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