New Year's Eve in Siem Reap :O (Day 118 of the World Trip)

12.31.2019

The first night in the dorm was a bit restless :p New roommates arrived in the middle of the night, turning on the lights, coming in and out, and talking loudly :D But oh well. That's to be expected when booking a hostel :)

At around 7:30 am, we were both ready to get up^^ We sat by the pool for a while to "wake up" and then went into town for breakfast <3 It's actually pretty cool and financially attractive to be self-sufficient, but our hostel is a bit off the beaten path.

Similar to India, we had toast but no toppings, and you can't buy fruit at the minimart here...So for a total of 6 USD, we treated ourselves to a delicious breakfast at a restaurant, which was totally okay! :)

After breakfast, we headed to the National Museum. Even though we would be partying in the evening, we didn't want to "just" hang out by the pool all day ;-) And the museum was praised from various sources and is supposed to be useful as preparation for Angkor Wat itself.

On the way to the museum, we passed by a children's hospital, the Angkor Children's Hospital Siem Reap. 20 years ago, a Japanese photographer was working in Cambodia and saw a woman who couldn't take her child to the doctor because she couldn't afford the 2 USD for the treatment.

Impacted by this, the photographer founded the non-profit organization "Friends Without Borders". Unlike the well-known organization "Doctors Without Borders", this organization exclusively employs Cambodians. 300 employees, including doctors, nurses, and administrative staff, work at this hospital in Siem Reap, providing free treatment for all children.

In addition to the free treatment here in the city, they also go to villages to educate parents on how to care for sick newborns, and they even provide transportation to the hospital in the city.

They also train Cambodian doctors and nurses.

I thought that was pretty awesome, and hoping that it's all true, we might even donate something to the organization. I think it's a good cause :)

Other so-called charities have a bit of a bitter taste. Many tourists in Cambodia want to help the "poor country" and offer volunteer work or donations of goods and money - especially to orphanages.

The country has discovered a certain business in this, so 75% of the orphans there are not real orphans, but are "sold" by their parents so that the orphanages are well-filled and many tourists come to see the little children and donate...

We definitely don't want to support such criminal activities, but in general, especially during the Christmas season, we thought about how we could "leave money" in the poor countries we visit in a different way than just through consumption.

Well - back to our actual day ;-) I just found the digression interesting. The National Museum is actually quite beautiful from the outside and quite modern. Inside, this impression continues, and you start in a chic entrance hall that is definitely comparable to European facilities.

The ticket costs 12 USD per person, which is quite expensive but okay - it makes sense when you consider the building and its estimated construction costs ;-) After a short introduction, we went through various rooms, each with a specific theme.

We learned about the history of Cambodia, the kings of the Khmer, and also information about Angkor Wat, such as the structure of the temple complex.

The focus was always on religion - Buddhism, Hinduism, and Brahmanism with all their gods and legends.

Actually, that sounded pretty cool at first, but the execution disappointed us. There were exhibits that were 80% Buddha statues and other gods or sculptures. Then there were information panels, but unfortunately, they were not very informative :(

So overall, we weren't quite as thrilled with the museum, but well - trying it out never hurts ;-)

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped by the Indian restaurant to book a tour to Angkor Wat for January 2nd and 3rd.

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool, splashing around, chilling, and playing a few rounds of billiards <3

Since it was New Year's Eve, the happy hour was extended, and we started getting into the evening a little. After a few sips of Mojito, I was already half drunk and boringly switched to water and Sprite :p :D

At some point in the evening, we headed into town. We picked up the tickets for Angkor Wat, had dinner at a fancy restaurant (tagliatelle with pesto for me and a mushroom veggie burger with fries for Jonas).

Then we entered the crowd :O Even though it was only 7:00 pm, the Pub Street was already quite crowded, and more and more people were arriving :O We had planned to look for a pub/club where we could dance a bit, but after a while, we abandoned that plan because none of them looked very inviting.

Most of them had chairs and tables, but they were all reserved and occupied. There didn't seem to be any real dancing (yet)^^

Although I told myself everything was fine, I already felt really uncomfortable when leaving one of the pubs we checked out. There were sooo many people on the street!!! And everyone was pushing and squeezing towards the main stage. I had a slight panic attack and urged Jonas to go somewhere else.

He agreed to that wish, and we went around the outside (where it was significantly emptier) to the end of Pub Street and then ended up more or less accidentally at the "Banana Leaf" pub. There was no seating available, but there was already a row of people at standing tables, happily swaying, drinking, and partying :)

Next to the Banana Leaf is a dance club that was blasting music onto the street, so you could actually dance there!! Almost immediately (after Jonas needed some motivation beer^^), we started dancing there at the entrance of the pub, and the other guests celebrated us - especially Jonas^^ Some even filmed his dance moves :D :D

It was still early, but we decided to stay there because the atmosphere was great and yeah. It stayed that way for almost two hours! We danced, laughed, and watched as more and more people rushed towards the main stage.

The interesting thing was that almost only Asians could be seen!! Whenever there were a few white people, they immediately stood out because of their height :D Cambodians are so small :O

At midnight, there was fireworks, balloons fell from the sky, and the dancing and celebrating continued :)

At around 2:00 am, we were both "already" in bed ;-)

So that was our start into the new decade ;-)