Taiwan was different from the U.S., but Cambodia is "different" on an entirely different scale. So many new sights and sounds today - it will be hard to cover them all. I think we took 300 pictures today, and that's only because mom forgot her second camera battery and ran out mid way through the day.

First thing we visited Angor Wat. This place was built in the 1100s. It's the largest religious structure in the world, and has been used as a place of worship continuously since it was built. So you can see why Cambodians are so proud of it, and why I thought we had to come here. And yes, it's cool. But after hiking around it in the hot sun for an hour or so, we were all done. Sacriligious, I know, but true.

My favorite part was the monkeys. When I heard monkey sounds, I took off across the grass toward them, hearing Meg saying behind me "I think it's OK to venture off the path at this temple. I'm pretty sure they've cleared the landmines here...." Needless to say, she was right.

Next we went to Ta Prohm, the temple that is being overgrown by the jungle. Our tuk tuk driver dropped us off, and once again we joined a mass of tourists following a broad path into the jungle to the sounds of crickets and the drumming from the land mine survivor band. You can probably imagine the cricket sounds. If you're curious about the band, we're bringing back CDs we bought from them. They've got bands playing all over the place. Some band members are obviously missing limbs, though I didn't check them all.

One of the biggest challenges of being here (aside from the heat) is the overall poverty. People in this area flock to tourists, seeing pots of gold above our heads. And it is completely true that we have lots more money that most Cambodians. But it gets exhausting. Vendors come up to us as we get out of our tuk tuk (or even while we're in transit) offering to sell us things, and they aren't easy to discourage. It's actually been too bad sometimes - we might have bought things if we didn't know (from painful experience) that buying one thing brings 5 more vendors over. At first, I avoided eye contact and moved on. But then we tried making LOTS of eye contact, and that seems to work even better. I'm not sure if the vendors feel like we actually notice them, or if it's just rude to stare, but they'll often back off. Our hotel has a pamphlet about the issue and has some good suggestions, starting with donating money to charities in the area rather than giving it out to the (plentiful) pitiful looking kids.

After a Cambodian lunch, we headed off to see the floating village. We'd heard that it was often overcrowded with tourists, but so were the temples. The drive down to the dock was the best. Sitting in the tuk tuk with the wind in our hair, seeing and smelling more of the "real" Siem Reap was a delight.  Many of the houses we passed were very simple. Built on stilts, the top level was often constructed of bamboo or wood. Families used the area below, usually with a dirt floor, to hang hammocks and take midday nap.

From the dock, we took a very slow boat down the rive to the Tonle Sap. Along the way, we saw people fishing with nets, naked kids swimming in the muddy water, and people working on boats. The village itself was more interesting than I expected. It's like a cluster of houseboats anchored near each other out in the lake. But these house boats don't look much like any houseboats I've ever seen. These looked more like boats turned into houses, and extended with all sorts of materials. I liked the floating pig enclosure, and the floating house plants.

Tonight we walked into town, where mom and Meg stayed to shop and get foot massages while I came back to work on this post.