Angkor Wat

After being asked a million times if I had seen Angkor Wat, I finally made it to the majestic temple in March on a trip with all my students. While I wasn’t able to take as much time to soak in the atmosphere as I would have by myself, being with 100 girls made the experience all the more unique.

Early on the first morning, we all clambered onto three chartered buses to begin the 5-hour drive. My plan to sleep on the bus was quickly nixed, as the girls’ excitement for the trip found an outlet in karaoke. With music blasting and the bus full of girls enthusiastically singing along, I realized it wouldn’t be catching up on a sleep anytime soon.

The adventure was just beginning, though. At our first bus-stop, one of my students noticed me looking curiously at the buckets of bugs for sale. Instantly, before I had the chance to decline, she had bought me a bag of fried crickets. With great trepidation, and many on-lookers, I ate my first cricket! Luckily, it just tasted fried (a rather crunchy fried, though).

As soon as we arrived in Siem Reap, we headed right away to the temples. The temples themselves were incredible, surrounded by a mystical grandeur. As I walked through the remains of these ancient buildings I was awed by the details of these impressive structures that were still intact. The presence of my students made the historic and spiritual significance more real; Angkor Wat is central to Khmer culture and it was really neat to be with these young women, many of whom were seeing this important part of their country for the first time.

On a tight schedule, we packed five or six temples into our first afternoon. Everywhere I turned, I had students asking me how I was and offering me drinks (it was incredibly hot!). Soon we were all heading uphill, to catch the sunset over Angkor Wat. The whole school gathered on top of the hilltop temple for a picture (and surprise, surprise!) broke into song. The girls were all smiles as they received the delighted attention of other tourists awaiting the sunset.

While hot and exhausted after hiking through the jungle and up temples all afternoon, it didn’t stop our group of girls from dancing the 45 minute drive back! Christine and I joined the girls this time. As our bus weaved in and out of traffic, everyone out of their seats, dancing to Asian hip-hop, all Christine and I could say, was “this would never happen at home!”.