Angkor What?

Before I started any serious planning for my Winterbreak trip to Southeast Asia, the one place I knew that I wanted to visit was Siem Reap, Cambodia, which is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Angkor. Angkor is a complex of Hindu and Buddhist temples, the most well-known being Angkor Wat. I first learned about Angkor a few years ago while watching 1,000 Places to See Before You Die on my beloved TravelChannel. The Ulle's spent an entire episode in Cambodia, the majority featuring Angkor. At the time I thought the temples were amazingly beautiful and that it would be incredible to visit the site, but at the time I never imagined I too would get the chance only a few years later.
Though the visit had a rocky start, Caroline and I had a most enjoyable time. We were both overwhelmed by the size and complexity of the temples. We spent the first day visiting some of the outlying temples with the help of a tuk-tuk driver and the next day woke at 4:00 am in order to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. We rode bikes in the pitch-dark to Angkor, praying the enitre time that we wouldn't be killed by the tuk-tuks and tour buses that were whizzing past. Everything ended up just fine and Caroline and I lived to see the sun rise another day, this day over one of the most beautiful temples in the world. By the end of the day, we had ridden over 45 miles to visit 6 temples! Our final day in Angkor was spent visiting Angkor Wat itself. While it wasn't what I expected, it was magnificent and I'm so happy I was able to see it during my lifetime.
All of this, though, might not be what I remember most about my time in Cambodia. During the afternoon on the third day, Caroline and I decided to visit a "floating" village. The village is not actually floating, rather built on high stilts. To get there, we had to take a tuk-tuk, ride motorcycles, and then take two boats. The village is built in a area that is severly affected by the change in water levels during the rainy season. From the water marks that we saw, it appears the water rises over 8 feet during wet season. While it was fascinating to see the changes these people have made to their lives to allow for the changing water levels, the most interesting part of this visit was that it wasn't all touristed up. We did see some other tourists in the area, but for the most part, I felt like I was getting an authentic glimpse into the lives of the villagers here. There weren't really many people who spoke English, there weren't small children trying to sell me bracelets, guide books, and postcards, and there weren't women calling out "Lady, lady you want cold drink?" It was very refreshing and nice to be able to travel in a place that wasn't catering to my every need, as weird as that sounds. Although everything was set up for me, it felt a tiny bit like I was forging my own path and meeting the locals where they were, rather then having them come to me all the time. Because of this, I will remember Cambodia as a place where I was able to see real people, in their traditional and "natural" environment.