MB around or MBA round: Cambodia

This weekend, it was Cambodia time - and Cambodia touched me.

As I said in one of my first posts on the blog, I did not want to leave Southeast Asia without checking one more of the 7 wonders of the World: Ankor Wat. With that in mind, I traveled with around 20 friends of mine to Siem Reap last Friday.

We stayed in a nice hotel, again sponsored by consulting points, and on the first afternoon we didn't do more than enjoying a drink (a few drinks) by the pool. We had (a huge) dinner all together and then partied at the famous Pub Street - a real party place in Siem Reap.

On Saturday, the cultural enlightenment started. After a huge breakfast at the hotel, we left to Beng Mealea - the "jungle temple". It was not quite in the jungle, but it was an abandoned and partially destroyed temple totally mixed with the nature. After that, only a few of us decided to go visit a local floating village, which was quite an overwhelming experience.

The village was dirty, smelly, ugly, and one of the poorest things I have ever seen in my life. In our two-/three-hour “boat trip”, I had a kind of mindful moment. Happiness is so relative… Isn’t it? How dare we (being so lucky) do not to feel happy at all times? Not that Cambodians seem to be the happiest people ever. In fact, they are, in my opinion, the most hostile people in Southeast Asia. I am not sure if it is related to the fact that no foreign country intervened in their brutal civil war and now there are plenty of tourists visiting their temples, or if it is because there are so many visitors but the locals keep being so poor, or if it is something else. The truth is that they are less welcoming than what I am used.

To finish the day in style, we went to the best restaurant in town: Malis Restaurant. SO YUMMY!!! (And so cheap when comparing to Singapore) The night finish early has we had a very early wake-up call on the following day.

On Sunday we woke up at 4 am to see the sunrise at Ankor Wat. The sunrise is beautiful but it was, in fact, the worst part of our day. It was crowded with impatient tourist and, therefore, was not as peaceful as one would imagine. After the sunrise, however, people get dispersed around the Ankor Complex and the expected peace arises. Check the pictures. I don’t think that any words are necessary.