Temples, Temples and More Temples

Day 19 – July 2, 2016

Saturday

Our driver and guide, Samsang, picked us up promptly at 8am as we scrambled into the car ready for our long day of exploring. With a quick stop at the convenience store for breakfast and to load up on snacks and water in order to keep the kids happy, we were off to see the Angkor Wat temples.

We visited Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, Terrace of the Elephants and The Victory Gate. It was a long, hot day. We sweat more than we’ve ever sweat before. We had a nice little lunch stop at a Khmer Kitchen where we tried some Khmer Curry and Amok (a savoury coconut-based Cambodian curry) and sat on the balcony under the fans while it poured rain outside. We timed it just right! It only rained during lunch and while we were driving and only lightly sprinkled during our last temple visit. It was a lot to ask of our kids. Nearly 8 hours of walking around ruins of old Buddhist temples. They did pretty great. Even Jeff and I hit our limit around 4pm and were ready to call it a day. But the temples were honestly amazing. The details on the carvings were so cool and the only bummer was our tour guide was a bit of a stickler about following all of the “rules” about not climbing on stuff even though there were a lot of other people doing it. His favorite phrase was “Carefully boy.” Which meant, “get down” or “don’t climb on that.” The boys were a little bummed about that and ended up disappearing and exploring on their own. I just turned a blind eye and tried to keep the guide occupied so they could have some time away from the watchful eye of Samsang. They weren’t defacing anything and they were being careful. They just wanted a little harmless adventure.

We all needed a little AC. I took a cold shower and just sat down on the bed and basked in the 15 degree Celsius (59 degree Fahrenheit) air blowing out of the box on the wall. It felt heavenly. The boys swam in the pool and the girls watched Cambodian Idol on the TV. The kids were pretty much done for the day so we ordered them some French fries and burgers from the hotel restaurant and Kira, Jeff and I headed out in a tuk-tuk to explore the Night Market. We sampled our way down the street with Thai Nutella ice cream and Banana pancakes and buying some $8 North Face backpacks and $2 t-shirts before eating dinner at the Khmer Family Restaurant for some fresh rolls, pizza (Jeff’s choice…he needs to keep it safe for a bit longer) and some steamed sweet rice wrapped in banana leaves. The younger kids stayed home and watched Goonies on Amazon. Such a fun night!

Angkor Wat.

Mikey taking in Angkor Wat.

Waiting in the hot sun to go to the top of the temple.

The view from the top.

Calvin and Buddha.

One tired kid!

Chasing butterflies outside of the Angkor Wat temple complex. There were hundreds of butterflies everywhere.

The entire day felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie.

The entrance to the Bayon Temple. Our guide told us the four faces of Buddha represent simplicity, compassion, equanimity and wisdom.

Kira and I were each given a blessing and a bracelet proclaiming good luck for 100 years by this sweet, elderly woman seated in front of the Buddha statue inside the temple.

There are hundreds, or maybe thousands, of carvings of Apsala (celestial dancers) adorning every temple.

A little rain to cool us off. Mostly it just added to the humidity.

Ta Prohm is the modern name of the temple at Angkor, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and originally called Rajavihara.

Our guide borrowed my camera a time or two to take more artistic shots.

Parkour at the Ta Prohm temple. Isaac could do this all day but our guide wasn't too keen on the kids climbing or jumping so they had to sneak a little. 

I found a way to keep the boys interested throughout the long day. Give them the camera and all of a sudden they want to find every detail and become the expedition photographer. It works like a charm!

These two have become such good friends on this trip. 

The Bayon temple had 216 faces carved into the huge stone towers.  

We got a little rain out at the temples, but in Siem Reap, roads were flooded!

I love this picture of Kate!

Cooling off in the hotel pool after a long day of ruins.

Night out with Kira. 

There are thousands of scooters and tuk-tuks on the streets in Siem Reap! I have to admit it's a pretty fun way to travel the busy streets. It could practically be a ride at Disneyland!