siem reap | everything in between.
September 16, 2011 § 4 Comments
Beyond the temples of Angkor Wat + the community of Chong Kneas, Siem Reap was a lovely city to explore by foot + by tuk -. We started all our mornings with large iced coffees accompanied with a fresh fruit + muesli breakfast on the sheltered patio at our guesthouse which was always so lovely. Since it was off-season, not too many people were staying there so everyone was so talkative to one another about their travels + lives, including the guesthouse staff. It was always such a laid-back atmosphere. When we weren’t temple-seeing and river boating, we had our tuk-tuk driver take us all over the city: we visited a memorial of all the victims who were killed under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime; saw a dance performance; and, wandered, dined + socialized on Pub Street among other things. It was a busy few days but we certainly made the most of it. « Read the rest of this entry »
siem reap | angkor wat.
September 15, 2011 § 2 Comments
Angkor Wat is an ancient temple complex that dates back to the early 12th century built a few minutes north of Siem Reap. There was just so much to see that we had to spread it out over a few days! Two of Riley’s friends from school flew over from South Korea to meet up with us, and they were wonderful company. Between the hike up one of the temples to watch the sunset, the elephant ride and the hours of wandering around the complex, we covered a lot of beautiful ground. In looking back at these photos, it’s hard to believe that I got tired of seeing temples! A lot of other backpackers who we met said that we inevitably would – and the heat coupled with my poor decision to not bring running shoes on the trip (I still don’t know what I was thinking) certainly didn’t help. Beyond that, Angkor Wat most certainly epitomized our time in Cambodia.
{Taking it all in} « Read the rest of this entry »
siem reap | chong khneas
September 14, 2011 § 5 Comments
I did it – I wrote the GRE. It was a lot harder than I was anticipating, but I got through it and boy am I glad it’s over with (for now anyway!).
Not only has it been three months since I started studying, but just over three months to the day since Riley + I returned from out amazing trip in Southeast Asia. It’s just so hard to believe, mainly because it feels like so much longer ago. A conversation with a friend from New Zealand the other night who we met on our trip stirred up memories of Cambodia, mainly because that’s where we met him (which is a pretty funny story that probably won’t seem funny at all so I’m keeping that to myself!).
Travelling to Cambodia was incredibly special to me because it followed Bali, which marked the middle of our trip, so in knowing this, my appreciation for the opportunity I had been given to travel to this part of the world reached a new level. From the very beginning in Bangkok, Thailand I made a conscious effort to take in + appreciate everything because the trip was going to be over before I knew it. This feeling was reasserted in me the moment the plane hit the tarmac in Siem Reap. « Read the rest of this entry »