Aspiring Tomb Raider

yesterday i went to see the temples of Angkor, with my new friend Arthur from London, who was sleeping in the "dorm bed" (still a bed outside with a mosquito net) next to me. what a strange way to meet someone.we were both lying in our mosquito nets in the darkness, in beds facing away from each other, and i decided to just start asking him questions. where are you from? what's your name? etc. but the entire time we talked neither of us could see each other, and we had no idea what the other person looked like! he said he was going to the temples in the morning, and that it would be preposterous for me to come to Siem Reap and not go. we woke up in the morning, agreed it was weird to talk to and sleep next to someone and not know what they look like, and that we looked different than we imagined, and off we went to Angkor in our tuk tuk. quite random, but we ended up enjoying each other's company quite a bit and having an awesome day!
first we went to Angkor Wat, which we later referred to as Sweaty Sweaty, supposedly the largest religious building in the world. for some reason i wasn't all that impressed, maybe it was just all the Japanese tourists with cameras everywhere combined with the heat...next we went to Bayon...or as we called it Crumbly Crumbly. though it appeared to be a giant pile of crumbling rocks, it was in fact a very fun and exciting giant pile of crumbling rocks! i would say this was my favorite temple. it had the feel of a ridiculously old magical temple i'd been hoping to experience, and it was fun to climb around through all the rocks and passageways and tunnels. next we went to....some other temple....we called Rooty Rooty. here tons of huge banyan trees were growing all over the temple and the roots were breaking it apart, looking like something out of Tomb Raider, which was filmed around all these temples! (i only wish i had more of a resemblance to Angelina Jolie, as i think the idea of dressing up as Laura Croft and posing for pictures with tourists for tips is a genius idea) we played tomb raider and ran around for a bit, and after sweating profusely for a few hours now, we were quite tired, and decided we would see one last temple. at this one we heard some loud music coming from somewhere in the jungle. it was inevitable that we followed it. it got louder and louder, and eventually we stumbled upon some sort of Cambodian family celebration, which we eventually figured out what grandmother's birthday party! this is certainly not something you see everyday. little huts in the jungle, and somehow outrageously massive speakers that are perhaps louder than anything i've ever heard, it seemed very out of place. they were playing things like Usher, and JLo, but mixed with a Cambodian beat, reminding me of Reggaeton or something. there are kids dancing around in the dirt, and adults sitting over on the ground eating and drinking. we watch awkwardly for a few moments, feeling very out of place and not sure if we are welcomed or not, until i can't resist going to dance with the kids. they laugh at me as i try to imitate their dancing. soon a woman comes over to me and gestures for us to come sit with them. none of them speak any english at all, except the one who vaguely communicated to me that it was her grandmother's birthday. the woman who got us to come sit takes on a motherly sort of role to me, giving me a glass of ice and beer (actually quite refreshing!) putting unidentifiable yet delicious foods in my mouth, getting us to cheers all the men, as though i was her new white person friend to take care of and show the others. she takes me to dance again with the children and shows me off to the other women, who either also act as a sort of mother or look at me timidly and smiling. i find in my purse my smiley face stickers and give them all out to the kids, who were very excited about this. the grandparents around smiled with approval at me. next more people start joining in the dancing. there's a small table in the middle, and we all dance around it in a counter clockwise direction. at the table a guy continues to fill up cups of beer and bring bowls of food, and each time we dance around the circle a cucumber dipped in some sort of yummy spicy goo is shoveled in my mouth and my beer tipped up. its amazing how giving these people are! they have barely anything, living in this little pile of dirt, with chickens dogs and children of unknown origin running around in the middle of the jungle, and yet they are so happy to have us a guests and celebrate with them. eventually we must go catch our tuk tuk back to town and we say goodbye and thank you (aw kohn!) we ride back to town reflecting on our unbelievable adventures of the day, enjoy some delicious pumpkin curry for dinner, and lounge in hammocks talking to neighbors at our place for the rest of the day.
its inspiring to see how much you can share with people you don't know at all at the beginning of the day, and people who you can't  even verbally communicate with. human connection never fails to amaze me.