Taking the Time to Smell the Roses (a.k.a., the Good)

There is certainly something to be said for staying in one place for a couple of weeks.
We were originally going to be in Siem Reap for just 4 days to see the temples, and while they were amazing (more on this shortly), we're so glad we stayed for 3 weeks to smell the proverbial roses.
For starters, you get to know some of the locals, which can lead to anything from being invited to someone's home in their village, to being charged local prices instead of foreigner prices.

Most tourists come to Siem Reap to see the awesome Angkor temples, and quite rightly so as they are absolutely incredible. We bought a 3 day pass (US$40 each!! bloody hell!!) and put it to good use by thoroughly exploring about 10 temples in the area. To give you an idea though, in Cambodia there is thought to be in excess of 2,700 temples (most of them scattered around Siem Reap), so we only really just scratched the surface.
Angkor Wat is obviously the jewel in the crown and was once the centre piece of a massive empire that, in it's day, is thought to have been home to one million Khmers - while London, at this same time, had a population of around 100,00 people. Much has been written about Angkor Wat but I think that probably the only way you could properly appreciate it is to come and visit. Here are some photos for you in the meantime.

Another one of the benefits of staying longer is that you get to know some of the locals... and we did with Sokpal Sam (and his friend Sinat, a.k.a. snake) who worked at an internet joint near our guest house. He very kindly invited us to his home in a village a little way out of Siem Reap, so on boxing day, Tim and I went to our new friend's village to meet his family and have lunch.
Sokpal's entire extended family was there to come and meet us and they cooked us amok fish, which is a delicious and traditional Cambodian dish, as well as tasty BBQ chicken. We brought some fruit from the market (bananas, pineapple and some pomellos) as a gift - as well as a carton of Angkor beer and... some vegemite for them to taste, which we billed as traditional Aussie food. Some of them loved it, but others were just being polite. I watched Sokpal's mum start with a large piece of bread with vegemite, and after tasting it, she quickly whittled it down to nothing by giving it in parts to one of the kids who happily ate it.
It was really nice seeing how they live and very touching that they welcomed us so warmly. Obviously they were as curious about Tim and I as we were about them, and we tried to communicate as best we could despite the language barrier - often using Sokpal to translante as his English is very good.
Even though they are comparatively very poor... they lived on a farm in a beautiful area with lots of animals, and their entire family (who live in several houses right next to each other) obviously share a very close bond.

All the men (apart from Sokpal's dad) as well as Tim and I, sat around this massive table and ate the food. Traditionally, the women don't eat with the men, they eat in the kitchen, similar to other countries, but on this day they sat on the periphery and watched us. Everyone at the table shared the carton of beer we brought with gusto and lots of "jol moi!" (which means cheers).
There was also the cutest baby in the known universe there - who is Sokpal's nephew - and we all played with him and took photos. :)






While we were in Siem Reap, we met up with our friend Rob who, very kindly, showed us around the area and gave us the lowdown in general.
Some of the best things we did was hire bicycles or motos and tour around the villages surrounding the town. Riding through rice fields and past little bamboo homes on stilts squatting on top of the river, with palm trees and farm animals sharing the vista, was a beautiful thing to see. Watching the people going about their daily life bathing, cleaning, working, eating and just generally being together was another major highlight. As we rode past each house, if there were any young kids out the front they would either wave frantically or yell out "HELLO!!" or "BYE BYEE" which was very cute and made us feel like minor celebrities.