siem reap, day 2

we began the day with another tasty breakfast at hanuman alaya. we started our adventures at a nearby pagoda, wat themi. it's an active buddhist monastery. they also have a memorial to the victims of the khmer rouge (a stupa filled with bones found in a nearby well as well as on a nearby field). it's very hard to describe being there. on the one hand, it was very peaceful with the monks around. you could feel some sort of calm and tranquility. on the other hand, the memorial was somewhat overwhelming, especially since i don't know a lot about the khmer rouge and cambodia's history. the lonely planet can only go into so much detail. we had a nice conversation with several of the monks. they too were excited about obama's victory.

from the pagoda, we went into town to catch the first day's events of the water festival. we grabbed some noodles from a cart and made ourselves comfortable on the river bank. we attracted a lot of stares and even some nice conversation. an elderly man started speaking to us in french, so i got a chance to bust out my rusty high school french. cambodia had been a french protectorate for about 90 years (until 1953), so a lot of the older generation can speak fluent french. i wish my french had been better, as he seemed to have a lot of great stories that he wanted to share. joe got his chance for a language lesson from another elderly gentleman who tried to teach him khmer (the local language). he even got his grandson in on the lesson. it was highly entertaining to all and we learned a bit at the same time!

the afternoon was the first day of the boat races. it took a few hours for things to get going, but once they did, the crowd was excited. each boat had at least 20 people in it - long wooden boats, each person holding a single oar (not like rowing, more like dragon boat racing if anyone has seen that). most of the boats were men, but there were a handful of women racers as well. it was fun to watch them race down the river, boats almost becoming completely submerged due to the force.

after a few hours by the river, we were ready to move on. we headed into town and got massages - traditional khmer massages. for $6! it was awesome. the massage style had a lot in common with thai massage. it was a little rough and pinch-y at times, but the end result was wonderful relaxation and total airheadness. it was great!

we had tasty amok (local special sauce with cocount) dinner at the soup dragon and were treated to fireworks peeking above the buildings. it was fun and festive! we walked back to our hotel, which was on the other side of town. it was a nice walk!

siem reap, day 1

we arrived early this morning and were very tired from being up since 4am! so early! immigration took what felt like forever at the siem reap airport. there was a lot of waiting and it seemed like people were being turned away at random. neither of us had any problems, so that was good. we had arranged airport transportation with our hotel before arriving and we were very happy to see a sign with my name on it. the driver took us past angkor wat on the way to the hotel.

wow.

it was amazingly huge. we were very excited to finally be in siem reap. the hotel, hanuman alaya, was amazing. the staff were all incredibly helpful, kind, considerate and all around nice. the grounds were amazing. we felt transported to some type of paradise! we wish we could stay there for 2.5 months! anyways, we checked into our room and headed to the restaurant to grab a second breakfast, seeing as it was only 10:30 in the morning, but 5 hours after we had eaten breakfast! joe headed to the room for a nap while i hung out by the pool and interneted for a few minutes.

well rested, we headed into town to see what was going on. our driver had mentioned that the water festival was starting the next day and we were very excited to hear that - it's a once a year festival that completely turns the capital, phnom penh, upside down. while walking around, we were able to see everyone setting up. it was pretty cool.

we dined at khmer family restaurant (one of the many by the same name) and enjoyed a pitcher of tiger beer together. we were excited to get a pitcher. it's been a while. after dinner we wandered around the night market and were way too distracted to really do any shopping, which was fine.

cambodia

hello all!

just a quick note to say that we are in siem reap, cambodia now. we spent about 20 hours in kuala lumpur before arriving very early yesterday morning. we've been roaming around town and watched the first day of the water festival today. we're planning on some more water festival activites as well as seeing the splendor of the angkor wat temples. we're not sure how long we'll be here, but it's been a lot of fun.

we'll be sure to update more when we have time and the internet is a little faster!