I learned a few things that really surprised me during our time in Siem Reap:
- The Khmer Rouge killed more than 2 Million Cambodians. 2 Million! This is another glaring example of how little I know about the world. The mass graves were a bit too far from Siem Reap for us to visit, but I definitely want to learn more about what happened and how it all went so wrong.
- The temples are as spectacular as advertised, and tourists can literally walk all over, in and around them. Massive stones damaged over the centuries are stacked on each other like piles of rubble, and while an effort was made to post some 'no access' signs, the freedom to walk wherever you want is pretty extraordinary. Angkor Wat at sunrise was breathtaking, and we really liked Preah Thom, which has gigantic trees with huge roots clawing over its walls, and the Bayon in Angkor Thom, which has huge faces carved into its stone temple pillars.
- 50 cent beers! On Pub Street, which I didn't know about until and was pretty stoked to find out about when we arrived, draft Angkor beers (a solid 5% local lager) are sold for 50 cents. A hefty, delicious meal costs about 5 bucks. Same for a one-hour foot massage. Siem Reap might be the world's most affordable place with modern conveniences for English speakers (people are quite friendly too, if you don't take offense to having to negotiate certain prices). But the stark contrast in prices for things like beer between Siem Reap and a country like the States is, a bit ironically, quite sobering. For if I (or any tourist walking down Pub Street) was born in Cambodia, I'd have a near zero probability of ever being able to celebrate cheap beer, let alone travel anywhere outside the country.
