Same Same....But Different

So day one in Cambodia and I am blow away.  The political history of this place is both sad and amazing at the same time. When we first arrive here you still feel like you are in Thailand because the way the buildings are constructed and the geography have a similar feel to that of Thailand.  But as you get further into the city you notice the differences.  A lot of the locals here and in Thailand  say "Same same....but different" (to the point where they put it on t-shirts) and for the first time I feel I can use that saying here because a lot of Cambodia is the same but different.

For starters the roads switch sides back to the way it is back home because of the French influence here.  There are still the shops and the massage parlors but for some reason the people selling are much more aggressive here and when you say no they still harass you.  We are in a town called Siem Reap which actually means "Defeat of Thailand".....It would kinda be like having a town in Canada called "US Beatdown" (funny but I don't think it goes over well). There is a pub type area in town where tourist seem to gather but for the most part the tourists here seem to  be a bit of a different lot than the ones you would find at Bangla road.   More of your hippy type variety vs your jocky meat head (think more backpacker vs resort goer)...I do get along better with the hippies so I kinda like this place.

Today we rolled through a few of the main temples that Siem Reap is famous for.  The first was Angkor Wat (image with the pond).  These temples rival anything I have seen in the world....super ornate, incredibly large and built over a thousand years ago.  Angkor Wat has been restored and is the most famous of the temples here but many of the other temples have been left as they are, weathered by time. The jungle has taken over a few and it is quite amazing how nature can take over a physical structure.

This area of Cambodia has a ton of temples but there are many more in the jungle that have yet to be explored because there are land mines everywhere.  The picture with the tree on the wall was taken from a temple called Ta Prohm.  It was actually the temple used in the movie Tomb Raider.  This temple was not accessible till after 1997 when all the land mines were cleared from the surrounding area.  There are still millions of mines everywhere here and a lot of the country is inaccessible.

Today we are heading to the National Museum and then back to Patong and our temporary home at the Gym.  Not sure if I am looking forward to training again after traveling and making my own schedule for the last 5 days, but Ming will make me work no matter what anyway.