Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

From the moment we walked in to the airport we knew that Cambodia would be very different than any country we have experienced, including Thailand. We stayed at Hotel Sayana during our stay, close enough and far enough away from Pub Street. We took a walk down Pub St. our first night, while we enjoyed the people watching we weren't much interested in participating in the touristy debachery. We took a tour of Angkor Wat, hung out with monkeys at Ta Phrom, took photos in the sunlight at Angkor Thom, and watched the steam rise from the stones of Phonm Bekhang with a few young monks. We took a mystery tour on motorbikes with a man named Bun who taught us a lot about the culture of Cambodia and explained the hardships his family had to go through before he was born as well as growing up in a house full of 7 kids. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad to have met such an inspiring person. Walking through the local market is one of my favorite things to do in other countries and Cambodia was no exception, from ducks still in the egg, to fried snake, and even rat (that we were ballsy enough to try!).At first the thought of going to Cambodia was intimidating after such a violent history it's hard to imagine it being as peaceful as it was from our perspective. Granted, we were in a very touristy area and no one is shy about speaking about their corrupt government, the people were some of the nicest people I had ever met on a trip. As we  photographed people in rural Cambodia everyone smiled for the camera and essentially welcomed us into their homes to share apart of their lives. A beautiful land with beautiful people, I am very glad that we took time out of our Thailand trip to make it over. More photos to come from our Thailand adventure...-Caroline