Siem Reap

Its not often I spend nearly 2 weeks in one city, but its also not often I'm near one of greatest temples in history, Angkor Wat.
'Siam crushed' as it's translated is surprisingly small considering its fame with a small market and a foreigner bar street. I chilled out, read books and sipped coffees. I have found I'm a much different traveler than I had been, sightseeing is almost a chore and I get through about three books a week now. Due to me having some spare time and the fact that I'm the nicest guy in the world, I decided to stay at an orphanage that Andy had suggested to me.
HSPCC was set up to help poorer kids in the suburbs of SR. It has grown to four centers, in the one I was at contained four 'older' kids from 15 to 22. However it was mainly a center for young students learning English. So at lunch time 15 or so kids of 5-8 years old came and terrorised us. The first day I was well up for being a climbing frame and face washer but by the fifth I wanted to give them back. The individual stories of these kids are too sad to describe but most were victims of societal faults. Many struggled with Khmer let alone English. One young boy particular took to finding me everyday to be carried and hugged, his story was also a sad one. The kids I lived with were very mature for their age and full of street smartness. I paid for food but wish I could of paid for more. I helped in the lessons and fixed computers. It was nice to see real life and go to the market. I found out how much foreigners get ripped off for food.
I think it will take time for the experience to settle in, dropping in for a week may seem like a noble thing to do but I felt odd like I was exploiting their position for my own experience. I can go back to my life but this is theirs.
I hope one day I have a job that gives these kids a chance because that's all they want.
With those thoughts I went to Angkor Wat, the chores that I undertake during my travels.
I decided on getting a bike to go to Angkor and left on the 20 minute journey at 6am. It was in hindsight perfect timing. I got to the Angkor Wat temple when there was nobody there and stolled around nicely. The temple has the enormity of the Great Wall and you can marvel purely at it's scale. The detail on every rock and wall is immense and although a religious sight it empicts a mass of fighting and killing. The irony!!
I left the temple at 8:30ish and met a stream of tourist heading for the temple. Mostly from Korea actually. Their groups completely take over and i was glad to be ahead of them. I visited a few of the smaller temples and got to the 'tomb raider' temple. I was surprised!!! Basically the trees had grown through the building and completely took over but left the building in relatively safe condition underneath. It was cetainly an iconic building. I spent the rest of the day visiting the major temples and by the end was completely templed out.
The sight was amazing and perhaps this blog doesn't give it justice. That evening i sat with a beer and somber at the thought that this was the last sight i will see on my travel. From here i got to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Seoul.