So I was the only volunteer of the group that was sent out to Siem Reap, the province where Angkor is located. Siem Reap is a really cool place, much smaller than Phnom Penh as a "city" - it's basically an oversized village, but also distinctly more touristy than PP, which kind of bothered me. I was staying in a beautiful hostel called Smiley's Guesthouse that had a garden in the center of the first floor and had my own room, which was nice. Will post pictures of the hostel as soon as I can get them off my camera. I've been with the same NGO since arriving and still feel really good about it.
I also found a few incredible people during my time in Siem Reap that I must mention over this post and the next.
The first is David. David is a 65-year old global nomad, who left home at 16 and has been traveling ever since. He's a bit of a shaman as well, he's really skilled in practical western and eastern medicine and healing. We really got along well, talking about energies and spirits and Chakras hahahhaa... it was great fun. We would sit for hours during my free time (He's just staying in the hostel recovering because his foot got pierced by a bamboo in the floodwater) and converse about our travels, the places we've been and the places we (well, I, as he's seen most of the world) wanted to go, people we've met along the way, unforgettable experiences... He is such a unique person and I found him totally fascinating. Talk about someone whose intelligence comes from experience!
The second was Waldemar, a Russo-German backpacker who had been on the move for the last two years, living out of a bookbag. Yes, a bookbag, as in a school bag... I am serious. We met in the hostel itself, bonded over our love for Bali, and quickly discovered that we had the same plan for the next day: to go to Angkor. So we worked it all out, made plans to share a tuk-tuk for the day, and got to know each other in this incredible atmosphere. This was a really amazing human being: so friendly, open, and personable. I learned a lot from him in just the three or so days that we had together... about the world, about backpacking, and about life.
And then I found Wonderland. This is a place too magical and too unreal to explain in words...so i'll just post pictures and you can see for yourself. This is Angkor... a lost city of temples in the jungles of Cambodia, dating between the 900AD and 1400AD, give or take. Angkor served as the central point for the Khmer Empire. It is actually significantly Hindu, and later also included a lot of Buddhism as well.
I also found a few incredible people during my time in Siem Reap that I must mention over this post and the next.
The first is David. David is a 65-year old global nomad, who left home at 16 and has been traveling ever since. He's a bit of a shaman as well, he's really skilled in practical western and eastern medicine and healing. We really got along well, talking about energies and spirits and Chakras hahahhaa... it was great fun. We would sit for hours during my free time (He's just staying in the hostel recovering because his foot got pierced by a bamboo in the floodwater) and converse about our travels, the places we've been and the places we (well, I, as he's seen most of the world) wanted to go, people we've met along the way, unforgettable experiences... He is such a unique person and I found him totally fascinating. Talk about someone whose intelligence comes from experience!
The second was Waldemar, a Russo-German backpacker who had been on the move for the last two years, living out of a bookbag. Yes, a bookbag, as in a school bag... I am serious. We met in the hostel itself, bonded over our love for Bali, and quickly discovered that we had the same plan for the next day: to go to Angkor. So we worked it all out, made plans to share a tuk-tuk for the day, and got to know each other in this incredible atmosphere. This was a really amazing human being: so friendly, open, and personable. I learned a lot from him in just the three or so days that we had together... about the world, about backpacking, and about life.
And then I found Wonderland. This is a place too magical and too unreal to explain in words...so i'll just post pictures and you can see for yourself. This is Angkor... a lost city of temples in the jungles of Cambodia, dating between the 900AD and 1400AD, give or take. Angkor served as the central point for the Khmer Empire. It is actually significantly Hindu, and later also included a lot of Buddhism as well.
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