Holiday In Cambodia

I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun. Okay, I exaggerate, but it really is great here. We're staying at a guesthuse called the Ivy Guesthouse which has a great bar with $1 beers, and rooms that look very, very french colonial chic. The food excellent (amok fish and coconut pineapple soup being especially good), the weather has been amazing (not to hot), and the peope are refreshingly friendly.

Siam Reap has so much more charm than Bangkok. It's busy, dusty, and crowded in the city center. Everyone rides around on scooters and seems to be carpooling with half their family on the back of them. Guys with pushcarts sell photocopied editions of Lonely Planet Guides and copies of the Killing Fields.

I don't want to romanticize it however. There are all the issues you would expect from a country who has had such a tumulptious recent past as Cambodia. Many people here have lost limbs due to incidents with land mines. Many parents pressure their children to beg for money or sell cheap toy flutes to tourists. Siam Reap is full of tragic stories, even though this is probably the most up and coming area of the country.

Which leads me to mention the main reason any tourist comes here. To see the Temples of Angkor. Like the Grand Canyon, and Eiffel Tower, the Temples of Angkor are one of the few things in life that don't dissapoint. We've seen only five of the one thousand temples in this area over the last two days. One gets the feeling they could stay here for months, or years and never come close to seeing everything there is to see.

Thanks to my friend from work, Reeve, we have an execellent tour guide who's services I'd recommend to anyone coming here. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the temples, is smart, funny, and has an infectious laugh. She is also studying to be a lawyer. I'm truly amazed by how people choose to deal with the cards life has dealt them. Here is someone who was born into a country where she could very easily have given in to frustration and apathy due to the difficulties that surrounded her, and yet somehow hasn't.

As you can imagine, the educational system in Cambodia has not always been the most advanced. But here is a woman who, younger than me, has learned several other languages independently, pioneered her own career (when family and society have told her to stay home and be a housewife) as a tour guide, and dreamed big beyond that to someday have the career she truly wants as a lawyer.

Tomorrow night we will be leaving for Thailand again, this time back to Bankok (albiet quickly) and then on to the island resort of Ko Chang. I'm ready for a little relaxation after all the overwhelming sight and sounds of the last few days.

P.S. I apologize for all of the spelling errors which I am sure are present in this post. The spell check runs way to slowly on this 56k connection. Yes, without machine intervention I really do spell this poorly.