Siem Reap, Cambodia

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Cambodia: I chose to go to Siem Reap, Cambodia for my summer vacation. I was desperate to step foot in Angkor Wat, which is the largest place of worship in the entire world. Cambodia was such a surreal place for me. It's a dirty, third world country but there was something so beautiful about it. The children roamed the streets without shoes and shirts but nobody ever looked too unhappy. Exploring the temples was something words cannot describe. The fact that someone long ago built these tremendous pieces of art is astonishing. My favorite part was escaping the tourist section. I booked a day tour where we took a bike ride through a local village. The small group - me, my friend Sanayra, and a family consisting of a mom, dad, daughter, and son coincidentally from CT, were the only tourists in sight for miles. It was the first time I rode a bike in over ten years and I literally couldn't stop laughing and smiling the whole time. It was awesome. The kids all ran up to the top of their dirt driveways and waved hello as we passed them by. The town was peaceful. We got to see what a local market looked like and the food looked so absolutely disgusting that I still can't even fathom how people shop like this and eat this food on a daily basis. It really makes you understand that not everyone in the world has a Stop and Shop or eats the things you do or lives the way you do. I've always known this, but to be somewhere where the people have close to nothing really is an eye opener. It's a hard thing to explain. Needless to say, I had an amazing time. However, I think I got sick from the food. I was having stomach issues after my first night - throughout the whole 5 days. Even when I got back to Korea, I was having issues. I went to a doctor and I guess I had some inflamed intestines or something. Meh. At least I didn't get Malaria. There were dozens of people who were on their Southeast Asia journey. It

was so cool to meet people who just up and left their home in hopes of seeing the world. Kind of like me. There was this one girl from England who was traveling but just decided to start working in a local tourist bar for the rest of her summer before returning home for college. How outrageously ballsy yet completely awesome of her. After my trip here, even with the fact that I was sick, I have decided to take a month off of work when my contract is over to explore Southeast Asia. It's a really popular spot for backpackers because it's so cheap and you can literally take a $20 bus ride from Cambodia to Thailand or Vietnam. I'll make sure to be equipped with trip advisor reviews and stomach medication before I leave, though.