Siem Reap

The last few days in Siem Reap have been great. Cambodia has certainly beat my expectations, as I was a little concerned about Cambodia and how dangerous the place would be. In think when Bourdain had his show in Cambodia, he discussed not going out at night and things like that. The people of Cambodia are very friendly and I have not felt threatend at all. Maybe it is because we are in Siem Reap, a major tourist spot and they know if tourists feel threatended in any way, it will easily effect the number of visitors it gets each year. Maybe Phohnm Pehn maybe a little more rugged than Siem Reap, or maybe it's because we have had the luxury of having Lim as our tuk tuk driver daily. He seems to know everyone, have cousins and family everywhere we go, and has been taking care of us and taking us wherever/whenever we want. He even had us over for dinner this evening, which was another priceless event. He had cooked at least 5 huge fish from the lake, noodles that Tra's mother made (from scratch I imagine), rice, salad and beer. In typcial Cambodian fashion they lay a mat out on the floor and everyone gathers around the food to eat, no tables and chairs to sit on. His 4 kids joined us and a few of them well under 10 years old were sharing a beer with no problems from Lim and his wife. Such a different culture and lifestyle that I was happy to witness.

During the day today, we headed to an area where the army trains, as Josh and Lou wanted to shoot automatic weapons. They both fired off a 60 gauge machine gun and josh also fired off an uzi. I think it was something like 140 bucks for 150 rounds for the machin gun and 40 bucks for 100 rounds with the uzi. As it was a once in a lifetime experience, I am a little disaapointed I did not partake in the firing of the automatic weapons, oh well...next time! I did get some good shots of them firing them off, that I will post later. After that, Louie saw a bunch of guys training for the miltary, s we stopped and had a chat and took pictures with and of them. A pretty good group of guys that we caught on break playing cards for money and just having a good time. Later in the day, we headed to the floating villages in Siem Reap. An interesting way of life and pretty much a tourist trap. We got charged 20 each for the boat ride through the village and back. They hit you up with the typical stops to get food and drinks, also stopped at a small store to pickup school items incase you wanted to stop at the school. Pencils were 50 cents, so we thought it was a rip and headed back. Yes, it was nice to see the floating village, but not worth the 20, and I would probably never go back to that part of Siem Reap.

Yesterday, we started bright and early at 5am to catcht the sunrise over Ankor Wat. Pretty amazing with lots of tourists lined up, but I did get some nice shots that I will try to post later. Checked out a few more temples and then headed back for $5 massages. The massages are great, just like in thailand! Pretty much all templed out and can't wait to head into Vietnam in a few days.