McCainiaks Down Under: Siem Reap, Cambodia

Before I begin, I have to say that I fell in love with Cambodia. It is such a beautiful country and the people are so welcoming even though most are living well below the poverty line. I had over 400 pictures from our 4 days in the country, so I'm going to split this into 4 posts. (about the city, the floating village, the temples, and the Green Gecko Project).

We arrived late in the day on the last day of 2012. The hotel was small (39 rooms), but stunning.

If, by chance, you're planning a vacation to Cambodia I highly recommend Shinta Mani.

The first evening we were there, the owner of the hotel had a arranged a cocktail party on the rooftop bar with complimentary hors d'oeuvres and champagne. The first part of the party was a demonstration of Bokator (Khmer martial arts) by kids from a local school (Green Gecko Project).

After the demonstration was over, while the adults chatted, the boys took over the mats. The staff even pulled bean bag chairs up onto the mats for the boys to play. The spent over 30 minutes just running and jumping into the staff. At least 5 staff members stood "guard" around the mats to make sure the boys didn't hurt themselves.

This was just a taste of what was to come for the rest of our stay in Siem Reap. This was a very "child-friendly" place and everyone (and I mean everyone) loved the boys and wanted to touch them hug them, play with them. The boys were good sports about it, but it got fairly overwhelming sometimes.