My time in Siem Riep/Angkor Wat.

My time in Siem Riep/Angkor Wat was absolutely magnificent because of the things we did and the people we met.

    The things we did in Siem Riep/Angkor Wat included going to a temple that's 2kmx2km in perimeter. Everything about the temple was so detailed, carvings on the walls such as bhudas, Indian dancers, faces, etc... The temple itself had a wall/gate 2 km wide and I would say 10-14metres tall. That was also where the king lived for200-400 years (different king's of course). Another temple we went to was the temple with 4 heads. I don't really know if that's the proper name but that's what our guide told us. He was awesome but I'll tell you about him later. The temple with the 4 heads was my favourite because it was ever more detailed and the heads were awesome; huge even bigger than my dad's head and that's big. Another awesome temple was the temple with the tree because the movie Tomb Raider was filmed there. We watched Tomb Raider the night after and we were standing exactly where the movie was filmed. It was really cool!     

    Next I'm going to talk about our guide Kimson. Kimson gives some of the money that he gets for being a tour guide to orphanages and schools so right off the bat you can tell he's a great guy. He is just recently getting married and is having a baby in February. Kimson was living when the Kymer Rouge took over Cambodia for 4 years. He said he didn't remember much about it but during that time his father, father –in- law and 2 brothers- in- laws were killed. As a result he grew up most of his life without a father. Also a day before the Vietnamese ended the war his village was told by Pol Pot (the man in charge of the operation) that they would all be killed. Talk about the hand of God. Also when he about 12 years old he got shot in the knee and lived. Paul our driver was kind to us as well because he was very polite and friendly.

    Another reason why I enjoyed Siem Riep was related to a boy we met while eating dinner our first night. All throughout Cambodia young children sell things in order to make money for either school or to help their families. We began talking to a boy about my age and he seemed very bright. He went to Cambodian school every morning and then walked over 2 km over his lunch break to get to English class. He told us he was frequently in trouble for being late. We decided to give him $25 to buy a bike. We were never sure if he would use the money as it was intended, however, we hoped he would. On the last day in Cambodia before flying to Bangkok we saw him riding his bike to school about two minutes before we entered the airport. Our whole family was very happy that we made a difference in someone's life that was less fortunate than us.     

    Siem Riep/Angkor Wat was one of my favourite parts of the world that we have visited so far. The whole family loved the temples and we were really lucky to have Kimson as our guide!