Cambodia

I didn't get to spend as much time in Cambodia as I really wanted to, but it was beautiful and sad at the same time. I've seen some major poverty issues in my day throughout Mexico and Central American, but Cambodia definitely tops them all. I can now say that I have seen actual modern day Indians. Families were living in straw houses with no electricity or beds. The people were using torches and candles to light up their villas for dinner if they had any at all. Kids were naked playing in the streets, and babies weren't wearing pampers. You know what that means.....Surprise!!!! Families would gather on their porch and fish using plastic water bottles, thread, and hooks. The villages were so peaceful and everyone was smiling. Streets didn't have street lamps so you really paid attention to each Cambodian sunset. I really wanted to take a few days and sleep with one of the families, but I didn't have the time.

On my first night in Cambodia, I met up with some Canadian friends I had met in Vietnam. We went to a Cambodian kickboxing match and we were the only white people in the building. Everyone smiled and looked at us in amazement. For a moment, I thought John Claude Van Dam was going to come out for a match. Sadly he didn't, but the lady next to me was breast feeding her baby out in the open. My friend Adam said it best, "When you see a woman breast feeding, its like a train wreck. You don't want to look, but you just have to." That's when I was convinced that I was in Cambodia.

Later that night we went to the town square to throw my light up Frisbee that I brought from home. The town square was surrounded by temples and stars. I don't think that the Cambodians had ever seen a Frisbee before, let a lone a light up Frisbee. There were about 60 people watching us and the children were going crazy. Like little monkeys, the children were jumping all over me, and they even got a few throwing lessons.

My next mission was to see the great temples of Angkor Wat. We woke up at 4 am to be there for sunrise and what a site that was. The sunlight was amazing and you could even see a few morning planets. At around 7 am, I could see 3 rainbows directly above me. Two of them were connected and were bending in different directions. I was like, " That's pretty cool I guess."

Later on in the morning, we met a 24 year old monk named Sannah. He showed us around Angkor Wat and even took us back to his village during lunch. Right before sunset we picked him up, and he took us to the highest temple of Angkor Wat. You could see the entire city, Angkor Wat, and the sunset. It was amazing dot com.

Click here to see all my Cambodia photos and slideshow.