Cruisin' Cambodia

This past week was the Fall Break for the boys' school. We had been playing with the idea of taking a trip, and finally decided on Cambodia. We had an incredible time and saw many things. I promise to try to keep this as concise as possible.

We left on Thursday morning. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6am, which meant we needed to be at the airport by 4:45am, which meant we had to wake up at 3:15am...YUCK! After dragging our bodies to the airport and onto the plane, I was thrilled to close my eyes. Shortly after dozing off, a repeated thumping kept occurring next to my head. After a few sessions of this "thumping", I opened my eyes to find a little boy, with bright red shoes, running as hard as he could up and down the aisle of the plane. I watched in amazement (and annoyance) for the next ten minutes as this terror of a child continued to storm up and down the aisle. After a while, he was joined by his little sister. The children then decided it would be fun to start stratalling the isle by standing on random strangers' seats. I thought for sure that someone would tell the children to stop (namely their parents) but everyone seemed completely stunned and had no idea what to do. Where were the parents? Well, the mom was in row 5 and would periodically pull her children off other passengers seats when she was able to reach them from the comfort of her row. The dad was standing next to row 26, socializing with a young woman.  Twenty minutes into our in-flight circus, one of the parents had the grand idea to give their children juice boxes. After the boy had finished his box, he started his stomping again, all while flicking his box up and down. After spraying about seven rows, he finally reached me and covered my book in orange juice. That was when Scott had enough. He apporached the father and told him that his son had just gotten a number of the passengers wet with juice. The dad kind of dismissed Scott and responded, "I took it away from him." 

Scott was not going to have any of that and said, "You need to get your kids under control! They are disrupting the entire plane." 

The father then took his kids and headed back to his assigned seat with his wife. I think the entire plane was about the break out in applause once the "children" (animals) had been contained. Scott was able to snap this one picture of the father pulling his son off one of the other passenger's seats. 

Prior to our leaving for Cambodia, I had been put in contact with the daughter of the Branch President in Siem Reap. She had agreed to pick us up at the airport and show us around during our time in the area. Her name is Chetana and she is a total sweetheart. I think both the boys fell in love with her instantly. 

Our first port of call (after taking a short nap at the hotel) was the silk farm. We were able to see the process of how silk is made from worm to fabric. It was quite amazing....and hot...and time comsuming....and complicated. I will never again complain about the price of anything made out of silk.

Chetana and the boys

After the silk farm, we went to the floating village. The floating village is a group of people who live on boats year-round. Before we took our boat tour of the floating village, we stopped by a school located in the village. We had to walk across a plank to get into the school (it too is a boat). The boys handed out candy to the children. They were all darling and they loved Andrew's hair. 

The one amazing thing about the floating village was the children on the boats. Little toddlers would be sitting out by themselves on not try to go in the water. Scott and I were astounded that these children do not just wander off the edge. 

Jacob thought the floating village was totally cool. He said that he wanted to live there - namely because you can fish whenever you feel like it.

The school

Friday was our first visit to the temples. The first temple we saw was Bayon. It is a Buddhist temple and is spectacular. I know I am going to get the statistics wrong, but originally there were 48 tours on the temple, all engraved with four faces of Buddha. There are now only 38 remaining, but still incredible to see.

The boys outside the entrance gate

Before going into the temple, we took an elephant ride around the premises. We bought bananas for the boys to feed to the elephants, but they completely chickened out. They each dropped their banana on the ground the second the trunk came near them. 

Here are a few of the pictures of Bayon.

We walked to another temple after Bayon. The neatest part is that tourists can climb all the over the place - so the boys had a hey day. Chetana was kind enough to chase the boys around and play with them so we could focus on the tour guide. After the third temple, we all decided to head back to the hotel for lunch. I literally had to peel my clothes from my body. We were all drenched in sweat. For those of you who have been to Disney World in the summer - that is nothing compared to Cambodia. Orlando in August feels like a winter wonderland compared to the heat of Siem Reap. 

After recuperating for a couple of hours, we set back out to see the Angkor Wat Temple. This is the most well known temple in Cambodia.  

Chetana brought an umbrella to help the boys stay cool (if that was possible). 

While we were inside the temple walls, a little boy was playing in one of the courtyards. The boys thought he was so cute and kept helping him get around. He does not have a father, and his mom makes money by collecting empty bottles at the temple. This was one of the may reminders we had of how blessed we are.

 

That night, Scott wanted us all to go to get a foot massage; they are very inexpensive in the area. We took our first tuk-tuk ride that evening. A tuk-tuk is small carriage pulled behind a motorcycle. It is quite a wild ride, mainly because you feel as if you could fall out at ay given moment.  

When we arrived at the massage parlor, all the girls went wild when they realized that Jacob and Andrew would be getting a massage. They all kept giggling, asking the boys questions, repeating back their answers, then would giggle again. The boys were right at home the second they got there; they put their hands behind their heads and nonchalantly propped their feet up on the stools. Andrew was so relaxed, in fact, that he feel asleep before his massage was finished. 

The next day we hit our last two temples. If I thought Friday was the hottest day of my life, I had yet to experience Saturday. I seriously felt like I was going to melt the second I got out of the car. It was still worth it to see these two temples.

The first temple is the Women's Temple (you will appreciate that one, Mom). It is not very large, but it is considered the most beautiful and has the most detailed and intricate carvings.

After the Women's Temple, Andrew was done for the day. He fell asleep the second we got in the car (even though it was only 10am). This last temple was abandoned for 300 years, and when it was discovered, it had been overtaken enormous trees. (Some of you may have seen this temple in the movie "Tomb Raider"). Part of me wants to say that this was my favorite - but in all honesty, each temple was beautiful in its own unique way that it is impossible to choose. 

The one thing that Andrew kept asking to do the entire trip, was to go to Chetana's house. Every time she dropped us off at the hotel, he would ask to go home with her. On our last night, she invited us to come to her house. 

The highlight of the day (and possibly the entire trip) was when we got to her house and she showed the boys the three puppies her dog had just had. The boys were in puppy heaven. Chetana told the boys that they could name the dogs. Andrew shockingly chose the name, Hunter - and Jacob named his, Yoda. Scott and I were joking that in 20 years from now, the only thing the boys will remember are the dogs at the house.

That night we went to the market to get some trinkets to remember our trip. We told the boys that they could each pick one thing to buy. Andrew chose a cute, little stone Buddha that fits in his pocket. Jacob fell in love with a three foot long, stone sword. We told him there was no way we were going to let him have something like that - namely because it was extremely expensive and because we knew it would be used as a weapon against Andrew at some point. We tried to convince Jacob to find something else, but his heart was captured. The "old market" (that's what it is called) closed before Jacob could think straight again.

We went to a dinner/show and Jacob was very sad he, "did not have anything to help him remember Cambodia." I must now make a side note apology to my parents: I know I pulled this very same stunt a number of times in my youth. The tears, the begging - I did it all. 

As a parent (and as a former child) I was torn with how to handle Jacob's predicament. On one side, he was being stubborn about the sword and I felt he would have to deal with the consequences of his decisions. The other side of me, however, understood his "obsession". In the end, Scott felt bad for Jacob and we all agreed to head to the "new market" (which stays open until midnight). Jacob happily decided on a miniature replica of Angkor Wat, and I happily found two rings I liked. In the end, we were all happy.

We were very sad to leave Cambodia. It was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful we had to opportunity to visit the area. The landscape was gorgeous and the people were unbelievably kind. 

As we were waiting for our plane at the airport...I suddenly saw some bright red shoes walk by, topped off with a small body. Nooooooo! They were on our plane again. Luckily I think the father saw Scott and kept control of his hellions the entire flight. 

Today was back to reality. Scott left for Thailand and the boys went back to school. Mom was very lonely :(