Great few days

It has been an eventful and interesting past few days since leaving Phnom Penh. After taking a short flight to Siem Reap, we had an afternoon to explore the city before big days the following two. Siem Reap is a pretty small, basic city with not much to see. Honestly, it is just a good base to see the temples of Angkor. Angkor is a group of temples that served as the center of the Khmer empire. They date back all the way to the 9th century.

Now for Angkor, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor, we got off to an early start getting out at 5am so we could see the sunrise. It was well worth it as we were near Angkor Wat when the sun came up. We got an incredible view and the reflection of Angkor Wat on the water in front of it was sensational. I hope the pictures do it justice. After that, we spent the entire day exploring a number of the most famous temples. They are remarkable and the detail of the work is amazing. It is terribly difficult to explain without seeing pictures. But, it was an amazing day.

This place is still relatively untapped and is growing remarkably fast. Hotels are being built at a rapid rate and I can only imagine what it will look like in 10 years. They are still doing a great deal of restoration work on the temples. That being said, they still estimate that 1.2 million people come to visit Angkor every year. I was extremely excited about this part of the trip. It was the main reason that I chose to come through Cambodia. It didn't disappoint. It was more impressive than I thought it would be.

As for today, we headed out for visits to the floating village and a regular Cambodian village. The floating village is exactly how it sounds. It is a village on the water. Everything is on the water; shops, boats, temples, churches, etc. Very interesting to see people living in this manner. Much different than any of us can imagine. It is pretty unique. Amazing to think that people are living this way in the 21st century.

Tomorrow, we leave Cambodia. I have really enjoyed my time here. The Cambodian or Khmer people are extremely friendly. They have truly been very welcoming and very enjoyable to get to know. Cambodia is a country that has been filled with strife and poverty for many years. And despite all of that, they are very warm people. It is almost scary how non-threatening they are. It is so different to back home. It just puts a different perspective on things. Definitely makes me appreciate a lot more what I have.

We head to Bangkok tomorrow by bus on what is supposed to be a very rocky ride. Than it is just one more day before heading home.