London

Journey from Amsterdam to Siem Reap was great, although we almost missed our flight! We had a stopover of 8 hours in one of the most luxurious and modern airports in the world, Singapore Airport, where we spent all our time at the airport's the swimming pool and the spa & wellness until our journey continued to our final destination, Siem Reap in Cambodia!

As soon as the bus picked us up at the airport to bring us to the hotel, we realized that we had been launched into a world totally different from Holland. There was so much life in the streets, all the people were biking, walking, or driving on scooters wearing surgical masks and wearing so many clothes on that we thought they would cook. Merchants on the side of the road were selling fresh fruit and smiling at us, or standing in front of their small houses, huts really, waving at us. The poverty in every part of the city was remarkable which made us very emotional.

During our one week trip in Siem Reap, we met many locals and spent a lot of time with them. One of them was an English teacher, orginally from Siem Reap, who worked in his spare time as a tuk-tuk driver. We had a long chat with him about his lifestyle and afterwards he invited us to take us to the most beautiful sight of Siem Reap for a cheap student price! First, we visited the famous Angkor Temples where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. All these huge temples were completely overgrown by the jungle - what an amazing view!

We also went to a local village where we met locals who made and sold bamboo baskets and home-made palm wine. The children were responsible for selling as many as possible. This family was so friendly, they invited us for dinner, which included ants, beetles and big grasshoppers which was delicious!

As the days went by, it was amazing how friendly the local people were and helped us to experience so many cultural, lifestyle, and religious differences in one week. This trip made us aware of how good our life actually is in a country like Holland.