Cambodia

Happy May! I love May. I think May is my favorite month, and not just because my birthday is coming up. Although it helps.

Hi! I'm in Cambodia! Which sounds weird. Weirder than Vietnam. Not sure why. So, hi! We've spent the last three days checking out the temples at Angkor (the most well-known of which is Angkor Wat) and they are very cool. It's a crazy area, as you drive around you just pass by ancient temples all over the place! Our guide told us that there are over 300 temples in this area. Our favorite was definitely Ta Phrom, which is apparently where they filmed one of the Tomb Raider movies. Most of the temples have been restored and are in little grassy areas. This one, though, is still all jungle-y. Trees grow up straight out of the walls of the temple, and beautifully carved stones sit in piles around the complex. It totally makes you feel like you are in an Indiana Jones movie. Or Tomb Raider, I guess. It's funny because people in the town love telling you about Angelina Jolie's favorite's when she was here (we went to her favorite restaurant. Jon got her favorite cocktail, which was on the menu with a big picture of her.) Interesting, but I guess not all that surprising. The actual Angkor Wat complex is very impressive, the buildings are large and intricate, with lots of carving. The temple at Angkor Thom is also amazing, maybe even cooler, because all of it's fifty four (I think) towers have four faces of Buddha on each tower. It's a really neat effect.

Anyway, the sites are awesome, since it's such a developing country, though, there is a lot of begging, which I really hate. I mean I know no one likes it, but it always makes me feel uncomfortable and guilty. Seeing the way people live around here has been eye-opening, like not even having fresh water to bathe, so bathing in the gross river-- not to mention all of the horrible things that were happening here only a decade ago. I know no one wants to hear preaching about this sort of thing, but it does kind of make me feel guilty for having so many opportunites. I guess that's how I'm supposed to feel. Anyway, I guess it's been a good learning experience all around.

On a totally unrelated note, French tourists are awful. Cutting in line, yelling in temples, pushing in front of people, wearing scandalous clothing... I mean, yeah, it's hot here. I would love to be in tank tops and short shorts, but I (and most other tourists) have my shoulders covered and at least knee-length shorts on all the time. But every time we see someone in spaghetti-straps and tiny shorts, they're always speaking French. I think it just bugs me because American tourists have such a bad reputation, but I really don't think it's deserved.

Today we got up for sunrise at Angkor Wat, but sunrise+Tricia=disaster. Seriously, if you want to see a nice sunrise, don't bring me along. Early morning hot air balloon ride in Kenya? Cloudy. Even early morning (basically late night) hike up Mount Sinai? Cloudy. In Egypt. I didn't even know it got cloudy there. So, true to form, it was totally cloudy. (Sorry, I don't know when this became the complaining blog.) But, good things came of it-- that was when we decided to go back to Ta Phrom, which was much cooler when we were the only people there. And the rain made it look even better, since there were pools of water all around that make it feel even more authentic and undiscovered. Pretty cool.

Our hotel here was amazing, all green pools and a moat and stuff, a giant room, fresh fruit in our room every day, and seriously the largest bathtub I have ever seen. (The tour company booked this one for us... not what we would have picked). The food has been very good (if you're ever curious, Cambodian Mexican food is better than Australian Mexican food)-- but don't worry, we have eaten traditional Khmer food as well. Jon is much more into eating the local cuisine, I like to kind of balance between local and familiar. I think being a vegetarian makes it a lot harder for me to eat unfamiliar food, although Cambodia, being largely Buddhist, has been pretty easy to find clearly-marked vegetarian options. But Jon and I are striking a nice balance-- like the time in Vietnam when he wanted to try Cha Ca, which is a type of fish, and was literally the only dish this restaurant served. I got a delicious baguette sandwich across the street. But Jon is very good about going to vegetarian places with me, and I think we're really both just getting excited for Thai food.

Speaking of which, we're off to Thailand tonight! This is the part of the trip I've been most excited about, and kind of the home stretch, which is weird. At the moment we're doing some last-minute planning, but the general idea is four days in Bangkok, a couple days diving on the East coast, a couple days diving on the West coast, a few beach days and some special birthday surprise. Can't wait. Love to you all, and I'll be in touch from Thailand.