Cambodia 3

The top picture is that of one of the many gates to the temples. Notice the many faces at the top. The temples of Cambodia were simply covered in intricate rock carvings. Each one was a beautiful piece of art. It was so sad to see so many of them faded and destroyed. The temples also had many children surrounding them selling postcards and handmade goods. Above is a picture of a little girl that sold my mom 10 postcards for a dollar. Something interesting about Cambodia is that they prefer American money to their own currency of Riel. One dollar was equal to about 3,800 Riel. All of the temples had children who were constantly trying to sell products to you to help support them and their families. The last picture is the saddest. The last day of our tour we went to a land mine museum. There we saw some land mines that they found and were able to deactivate. The museum is run by people who have lost limbs from land mines. It was in an area of town where the streets were destroyed and never repaired by the mines. Poverty was everywhere in this area. The saddest part is after almost 30 years there are still many mines that have not been discovered and wait for victims. In the picture I am sitting beside some of the bigger land mines. Cambodia was both an eye opener and amazingly beautiful. Its sad to know that these people in the 70s were devastated and almost all of their educated people killed. The country is still unfortunately covered in poverty. There was a striking difference between the current construction of the town and the existing poverty. In all, Cambodia was amazing and a must see when going to Asia!