Touchdown in Southeast Asia: Siem Reap, Cambodia: Lady, you want cold drink?

Sua s'dei from Siem Reap!

First impressions of cambodia: killer food with interesting flavors (ginger, pumpkin, sesame) and delicious french bakeries, cheap beer, amazing temples, and really nice people. The cambodian people, however have also experience a tragic history and extreme poverty that often makes you feel like you are a walking dollar bill. Begging landmine victims, dirty shoeless snotty-nosed children, ragged mothers carrying their tiny babies - it weighs down on you after a while. Its hard to see. People will literally do anything to get some extra cash out of foreigners. One time on our way home from dinner, a dishevled woman clutching her tiny baby with a little beanie on its head came up to me, asking us to buy her baby formula. Baby formula?? This is completely different from the University District where Ave rats ask you to throw "a couple extra bucks" their way so they could indulge in a pack of cigarettes and a beer. When we took her to the nearby quickie mart, we found that a big tub of formula mix was actually $4 and we didn't have enough money on us. Luckily a couple other foreigners our age saw our dilemma and threw in a couple extra thousand riel so that we could buy it for her and her baby. As I was buying baby formula, Erik was outside the quickie mart being harrassed by a creepy, scar-faced tuk tuk driver. Here was their conversation:

Tuk tuk driver: You want lady?
Erik: No, I already have one (pointing to Megan)
Tuk tuk driver: You want marijuana?
Erik: Not today
Tuk tuk driver: You want tuk tuk?
Erik: *silence* (walking away into the minimart to escape)

There was a little girl dressed in a filthy oversized yellow shirt, with no shoes or pants, that grabbed onto me just after. She clenched two of my fingers in her tiny hand and literally wouldn't let go. She didn't speak any english. I tried offering her money. She just wouldn't let go! She literally walked with us for 3 blocks on our way back to our hotel and then finally gave up and let go. It was so hard, I just wanted to take her away from everything. Maybe I'll come back and bring one home someday.

Whew, okay onto something more uplifting. We spent 3 busy days tuk tuking around with our driver Lee to see the temples surrounding Siem Reap. Enjoy the pics!

Angkor Wat:

Entrance to Angkor Thom:

Bayon:

A temple overtaken by a strangler fig:

Me hugging an elephant's big bum bum

Erik and his new best friend:

Erik standing amongst the ruins of Beng Mealea - an hour and 40 minute tuk tuk drive. Left in its ruined state and overgrown with jungle vegetation, this was Erik's favorite because you could monkey all over the temple and even clamor up on top of the roof (you just have to be careful not to step on any remaining carvings). It was like an ancient jungle gym.

Another shot of Beng Mealea (Looks like it's straight out of Indiana Jones, huh?):

One of the many bands of mine victims that play outside of the temples in hopes of collecting money from visitors:

After our seeing our final temple, we went and visited a local school for orphans and poor children. We brought some paper, pens, soap, and a bag of candy There were about 50 kids (ages 5 to 18) and they were all really eager to practice their english. On the fly we made up this little game where Erik would point to a part of his body (some parts excluded hah) and the kids would raise their hands, and whoever could name the body part in english correctly, would get a sucker from the candy bag. They were so polite and well behaved - everytime I would give one of them a candy, they would put their hands together and bow, saying "Aw Kohn" (Thank you). We really wanted to take some pictures (they were SO CUTE) - but felt like it would compromise the atmosphere. So I just took a little picture from outside the school (with the teacher standing in the doorway):

And here are some random shots of from our evenings around the city.....

A random funny sign (read the whole thing):

Another good one:

A sign posted in our hotel room (nearly ever Cambodian carries a gun since the Khmer Rouge):

Erik holding up $1 and its equivelant in Cambodia Riel in the other hand:

After several pitchers of beer with some Aussies, they showed us a delightful game that they had invented once while intoxicated. All you need is a fast shutter speed on your camera and one drunken person willing to embarass themselves for the entertainment of the rest of the group. They have to relax and let their lips go loose while they shake their head vigorously so that the camera can document their face as it becomes contorted. I couldn't do it very well becase I was laughing too hard.

A weak attempt, but successful: