Angkor WHAT!!!??

We did our duty as tourists of Cambodia and paid homage to Angkor Wat and other surrounding temples that surround the city. Most of these temples are about 800-1000 years old and were built by Buddhists and Hindus..... I don't feel like explaining much more than that so google it if you really care to!

Honestly, Joey and I aren't fans of temples. So after waking up at 4:30am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat with 100000+ people we were already tired of it! We went to about 10 temples that day. Our tuk tuk driver was the best. His name is Phat and we became pretty good friends. He actually got out of the tuk tuk and personally showed us some of the temples. He would like to become a tour guide one day, so it's a good chance for him to practice his English and guiding skills. It was really nice hearing about his life in Cambodia. He was open to any questions that we had about his life, or Cambodia views in general. Phat is getting married in March and he's excited for their wedding. You could tell he's also a bit nervous. We drove by a Cambodian wedding and did the slow drive by to see what was happening. Weddings here last three days! On the last day is when it's fun, just like a typical western wedding, everyone is dancing and getting drunk. We're really not much different from Cambodians.

After 2pm rolled around, Joey and I were templed out. They look pretty much all the same. Also, we didn't bother to know more about them previously, so it was just like looking at old stone buildings. I wish we could appreciate it more, but that's just us and temples don't tickle our fancy! We decided that we'd rather nap for the rest of the day than see more temples. We did take lots of nice pictures though.

Our Christmas Eve was quite tame. There wasn't much going on, and we were so tired from the temples and two nights of really bad sleep. First the sleeper bus, and now the stupid rooster by our hotel that goes off all hours of the night! Have any of you ever had work dreams? You get home late from work and go to bed shortly after, and your dream is still like you're at work? I've had these dreams as a bartender where I just serve drinks all night in my sleep. I've been having "market dreams" where I'm going through a market and there is all these people asking me to buy stuff and saying "Lady you want to buy something?" "Where you from?" and also beggars on the street asking me for money. In my dream all I want to do is help people but no matter how much I buy, or how much money I give, it doesn't solve the problem. So not what I would call beauty sleep.

We woke up to 30degrees outside and no christmas tree. It wasn't starting to look a lot like Christmas, that's for sure. There was no indication that it was Christmas day. Obviously they don't celebrate it here because Cambodia is a Buddhist country. It was business as usual. I woke up with a hankering for mimosas because thats what my family has every Christmas morning, that and Egg Mc'Wiltons. We went to the gas station to see if they had champagne but the only bottle they had was $26. I didn't mimosas that badly. We mostly spent our christmas morning talking with our families on skype, which was really nice.

For our Christmas present to one another, Joey and I brought two big 50kg bags of rice to COFCO orphanage in Siem Reap. As soon as we pulled up in the tuk tuk, a bunch of kids came running over to us with huge smiles on their faces. They were giving us hugs and laughing. It was so welcoming and such a good feeling. Inside the orphanage it was all decked out with Christmas decorations. The kids were in their best clothes and wore little santa hats. There were already quite a few foreigners there playing with the kids. Most of them had two or three kids hanging off of them. It wasn't too long before Joey and I had our own orphans to hang from our arms like monkeys. They were soooo affectionate. They were giving kisses on the cheek, hugs, and wanting to be touching you constantly.

About 20 minutes after arriving there was a dance show put on by the older kids of the orphanage. They were all decked out in traditional costumes and makeup. The dancing was truly fantastic and very professionally done. When the dancing was done it was time for Christmas carols! The kids sang us Jingle Bells (well the chorus atleast, they didn't know the in between parts) with such enthusiasm. Next it was birthday time! Most Cambodian orphans do not know their real birthday so every year on Christmas they celebrate everyone's birthday with cake, streamers, silly string, sparklers and music. It was so awesome to see these kids go crazy over the cake. All of them looked so excited to devour the cake. Soon after they were served the cake, they were trying to share with all of us. This might be the only cake they get in an entire year, but all they want to do is share with us. It was amazing to see how giving these kids are. They have nothing, yet want nothing more than to share.

After the birthday celebration it felt like the right time to leave. While we were leaving I had a bit of an emotional breakdown. Obviously the orphanage was really fun and moving, but I couldn't help think that these beautiful, happy and caring children aren't wanted by anyone. Rarely do these children actually get adopted. Most of them will grow up in the orphange until they are young adults. Cambodians are very family oriented and extended family is very important. You know these children at the orphanage aren't even wanted by their extended family. These kids have nothing, and face great challenges once they get older and move out of the orphanage into the real world.

After a heavy experience at the orphanage, Joey and I decided it was time for some Christmas fun. We found a bar that was having a $5 all you can eat buffet with cheap drinks. There were backpackers from all over the world. While the food wasn't exactly what we expected (Chicken wings, noodles, veggies, fries) it was still good, and the Christmas cheer was definitely in the air. We had a really good time and for a while forgot about missing our families. We truly miss you guys!!!! We met a nice aussie named Ian, whom we met up with today for some lunch. He might be following our route to Laos tomorrow with us.

Tomorrow we will be leaving at 8am for Bangkok. We will spend a few hours in Bangkok and then head to Vientiane in Laos on ... you guessed it, a sleeper train. Maybe it won't be so bad?