Cambodia or Bust

Before we left for Saigon we had sent our passports to San Francisco to get our visa's a head of time.  That wasn't necessary for Cambodia.  It's a very short flight to Phnom Penh.  When we landed we needed to get Visa's.  The gentleman at the desk was very friendly and nice. It went very quick.  Dustin said Saigon's would not have been.  No one was ever rude to us, but very business like.  So the friendly guy was a nice change. We stayed at a very nice hotel.  We took our first tuk tuk ride.  So fun.  Again it rained on us after Dustin promised it was the dry season and no rain.  HA!     Our plan was to see the Ankor temples and then  Kompong the floating village.
We saw 8 temples in all.  It was an all day tour.  Dacey had hired us a private guide.  I cannot remember his name but he was so good.  The temples are beautiful!  Some are almost gone.  Some are in a state of repair/restoration.  Dacey had on shorts and I had a tank top on.  Both of us had to buy clothes in the giftshop to be allowed to go in the temples.  New rule... Heir was in shorts but that was ok.  hmmm.  Our first temple was Ankor Wat for a sunrise tour.  It was SO HUGE and so beautiful.  Everyone seemed so respectful and interested in the history.  We saw monkeys just hanging out. We were told to keep all things away or they would steal them. Such as sunglasses and camera's in your hand.  They barely looked up at us.  I was THRILLED to see them wild.  Dacey was blessed by a Monk.  It was very moving to watch.  I walked around most of the day wanting to pinch myself.  I could not believe I was there!  We saw the temple where Tomb raider was filmed.  SUPER COOL!  I guess there are more temples buried in the mountain jungles that they haven't even started to clear out yet.
Let me sidetrack...  In all the traveling and all the millions of people we saw, we only saw a handful of panhandlers.  MANY MANY people were trying to sell you something.  A magnet, a cup of lemonade, sandwich, pencil.  You name it they were selling it. They absolutely were willing to work for the money.
Our guide told us not to engage with them.  Dh made eye contact with one outside of one of the temples.  He did not believe Carmen's No thanks.  He persisted to the point of annoyance.  Heir had to go walk between Dh and the seller and firmly tell him NO.  That was the only time in the millions of people that they were aggressive.
It was an amazing day.  One I will never forget.  The temples were AMAZING.
The next day....
 We were going to Tonle Sap lake and a floating restaurant for a sunset cruise. Again it was the dry season so the village is 30 feet up in the air.  The host/guide Khut Vanna did an amazing job.  He took us to his home and introduced us to his sister and niece.  We are so fortunate just being born where we have been.  Unless you've traveled outside of the states you really have no clue.  I spent a good portion of the day wearing sunglasses.  I was crying behind them.  I've never seen naked babies playing in the dirt before.  I wanted to gather them all up.  The people we met and saw were so happy.  It was a huge reminder to me.  Gratitude can always happen! The mango groves were to shallow for us to go into like they do when it's the rainy season.  It was ok.  All I saw were snakes and spiderwebs.  Nope I'm good folks.  At the floating restaurant there was snakes and gators in floating pens.  You could order super fresh food.  Ummm no thanks.  The kids and Carmen had beer I had a water and we waited for the sunset.  I guess the water was only about 3 feet deep at that time of year.  Then it goes to 30!  It was such a fun day.