Siem Reap, Cambodia

Wow! The backpacking journey has begun! Hailey and I are in Siem Reap, Cambodia, home of Angkor Wat temple--the worlds largest! I absolutely LOVE this town. I don't ever want to leave... The downtown is quaint, and to get there, we take a five minute 'tuc tuc' ride (a motorbike trailing a covered wagon) which costs about $2.00. Everything here is in US currency, which is a nice change from constantly mentally converting dong in Vietnam. Cambodian culture is very different from that in Vietnam, despite its geographical proximity. There are still obvious signs that the country has recently survived a mass genocide. Nearly half of Cambodia's population is under the age of 12. The city has recovered from the worst of the hardship, and most of the buildings, restaurants, bars, and hotels are new. There is only one main drag, called Pub Street, which is closed off to motor bikers and tuc tuc drivers at night, so we can safely stumble from one lounge to the next to sip on the slightly spicy Angkor Beer and listen to surprisingly good music. Have I mentioned that I love it here? Everything happens in slow motion--a nice break from the craziness known as Ho Chi Minh City. Yesterday, we took a tour through the tombs, which are absolutely breathtaking. In my opinion, the Taj Mahal pales in comparison to Angkor Wat. We also visited the tomb where a portion of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed. Amazing. I took thousands of pictures, which I will post soon. The internet connection is painfully slow... More soon! xoxo