When we moved to London, I assumed our travels would be limited to Europe with the occasional trip back to the USA. However, thanks to a big chunk of air miles that Geoff won in a raffle at his 2013 company Christmas party that were expiring, we were able to look outside of those destinations for something a bit more exotic for our next family adventure. We initially considered a safari in Zambia or just sitting at a beach in the Maldives. But after looking at lots of various factors, we ultimately determined that Southeast Asia was the destination for us. First stop: Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We flew overnight out of London to Bangkok, before flying on to Siem Reap. The girls did great on the 12 hour flight and got 5-6 hours of sleep. All in all, they managed the jet lag really, really well. The only evidence of it was at dinner our first night after arriving in Siem Reap. Ashton was in mega meltdown mode due to exhaustion. Couldn't get her to calm down. At all. Other than that, no issues for them.
We only had one full day in Siem Reap and our destination was the ancient temples around Angkor Wat. First let me say it was so, so hot. Temperature was at least 100ºF with the heat index probably between 108-110ºF. I know you might be thinking that because we're from Houston, Texas we should be used to that kind of heat, but no. We aren't. In Houston when it's that hot, we stay inside where it's air conditioned. We DO NOT go exploring temples and climbing ruins.
Definitely not in London anymore
The first temple we visited was Bayon Temple, built sometime during the 12-13th centuries. The Bayon's most distinctive feature is the massive stone faces on the many towers. Can spot them?
This happened a lot. Our little girls turned into the tourist attractions.
Our next stop was the temple of Ta Prohm. For those of you who have seen the movie Laura Croft: Tomb Raider (I haven't), you might recognize Ta Prohm as some of the scenes were filmed there. Ta Prohm is unique in that the temple is being overgrown by the jungle and some really massive trees. Some parts of the temple have gone through restoration, but other sections have been left alone and you can see how the trees are literally pulling the temple apart.
I guess you could say the photo below is our family Easter portrait as the day we spent touring these old Buddhist temples was Easter Sunday. Funny enough, we spent Easter Sunday last year touring old Islamic mosques in Istanbul. Maybe one of these years we will actually be in a protestant church celebrating Christ's resurrection on Easter!
After leaving the temples and grabbing lunch nearby, we decided it was time for us to get out the of scorching sun and back to our hotel. We asked our driver if there was a place to see monkeys at on our way back and he said that no, they usually hide deep into the trees during the middle of the afternoon to keep cool. So imagine our delight when we saw some hanging out right by the side of the road.
The monkeys were clearly used to humans and accustomed to being fed by them. We purchased some fruit from a lady on the road and the monkeys were literally eating it right out of our hands.
Up close and personal
I think a dental check up is overdue!
From one mama to another, I just love this!
Sometimes some of the things do with the girls when are travel are CRAZY. We generally keep it pretty tame because we know their (and eventually our) limits. But then every once in awhile we throw something in there that leaves me shaking my head in retrospect. Like getting everyone up at 4:30 in the morning (that would be 10:30 pm for our still-on-London-time bodies!) in order to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. Nuts, I tell ya!
Apparently, watching the sunrise is the thing to do at Angkor Wat. There were thousands of people streaming into the temple at 5:30 am waiting for the sun to come up. It was wild. I don't think I've ever seen that many people so early in the morning.
This pink glowing sun coming up was worth the early alarm clock
After the sun came up, we had a tour guide take us around the temple. The temple was built in the 12th century and is the largest religious monument in the world. I thought it was in surprisingly really good shape for being so old. The good thing about getting up so early was that the intense heat from the sun wasn't a factor yet. While it was still plenty warm and humid, at least the sweat dial wasn't yet at the highest level.
After we finished touring the temple, our driver took us to where the elephants were so we could go for a ride. Definitely one of the highlights from our trip.
We hired a boat to take us out where we saw that it's basically just a bunch of floating structures that function as homes, school, church, market, etc. where Vietnamese immigrants live, making up a village. During the raining season when the waters swell significantly (the lake goes from its current size of 3,000 sq. meters to a whopping 10,000 sq. meters every year), the whole village actually moves itself to another location. All quite fascinating and unique.
Some of the homes
Local grocery store/restaurant
After visiting the floating village, naps were required. We had a couple more hours to kill before our flight to Bangkok so after hitting up the hotel swimming pool, we snuck in a few more fun things.
Our favorite mode of transportation: a tuk tuk!
It feels as weird as it looks
Stay tuned. Up next: Thailand!
