Endding our Trip to Cambodia

After Angkor Thom I asked our guide to take us to a handy craft place where we could see people making things and then have the chance to buy something. He took us to Artisans d'Angkor.

A guide took us around to see how different items were made.

In this picture women are learning how to do silk painting. They also happened to be hearing impaired.

Finishing off wooden carvings:

Lacquer paintings:

Creating molds for silver plating:

Stone and wood carving:

Elyse was enthralled with this man carving out a Buddha.

We wound up buying a children's puzzle made from wood and a stone elephant. Oh and a spoon made from a coconut.

Alas, our trip had to come to an end. We had a great time. It was well paced for our family and just the right amount of time. I would recommend our tour company for sure. AboutAsia did a great job.

Here we are ready for the airport with our driver Seng.

Thanks Cambodia, we had an unforgettable time!

Angkor Thom

On our last day we visited Angkor Thom. The largest city in the world in the 12th century. We started at the Victory Gate- way away from the crazy crowds at the Southern (?) gate and walked along the wall to the Death gate. We were all alone. It was awesome. Our guide said all the gates look the same- with the Buddhas heads up top and the elephant pillars on the side so I am glad we went to the less crowed gates.

Our walk between gates:

After the gates we walked around within the city. Here is a shrine to Buddha. The large Buddha in the back was originally in the Bayon temple, but was smashed when one ruler change the temple from a Buddhist temple to a Hindu temple. The found the Buddha burried underground and put him back together. They were unable to fit him back in his original place, so they put him here:

The only thing they know about these towers is that they put a rope in between them and acrobats walked across them.

Elephants were used a lot in the actual construction of temples, in warfare and in myths. On this wall you can see an elephant strangling another animal. There was a huge wall with carving similar to this one.

I think this is the Baphuon temple. We didn't spend much time in it because we wanted to save our strength for the Bayon temple and Elyse was pretty tired at this point.

Super Dad carrying both girls:

This is the Bayon temple. It is very impressive. It has many towers and great carvings. It is our guide's favorite temple.

We could not really escape the crowds at this temple which was unfortunate. It made me appreciate the others routes we took at the other temples. Too many people make it hard to enjoy things. Although there were tons on people, I can see why this was Boon Chai's favorite.

Village Life

While in Cambodia I wanted to see the countryside- villages; "normal life." We got our chance to visit a nearby village with AboutAsia's photographer and Tuk Tuk driver. (I can't remember his name- oops)

 It was a bumpy, windy ride.

It was also a hot, HOT, HOT day. I was told it was 40 C which I just converted to 104 F!

Here is the before...

and after...

Our driver took us to a village that he said was typical. Some houses were a little better off because they had electricity, but we didn't see many that actually had it. They got their water from the well, raised livestock, and harvested rice. As you look through the pictures you can see the different types of houses. The more rice and land, the more money the family had.

People in the village didn't get to the city much and don't see white people often. They called us "French" in Cambodian because that's what they assumed we were and if we were of Asian decent (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc.) they would have called us Chinese.

Rice laid out to dry. This family had a machine to shuck (?) the rice so other families brought their rice to them.

Pigs!

 

People in this village still used livestock to work their fields. They would attach them to this:

 This woman was just as interested in us as we were of her. Anastasia kept saying "baby"

At this house they were getting ready to store the rice they had harvested. It is hard work!

All these bags are filled with rice, hay is put on top, the tops sew together and then transported to the house. Hard, tough work.

Everyone was pitching in. (This boy was so cute- just look at his expression)

Her comes Daddy to help out:

Elyse didn't move rice, but she needed a place to sit. Like I said it was hot.

This family had one of the nicer houses around.

In contrast to the people above, here are some of the poorer families.

Our driver told us that this family was extremely poor because they had no land to plant rice on.

Elyse's new phrase is "I've always wanted..." As we were walking around she said "I've always wanted to lead a cow." Really? Since when? Anyway, our driver heard this and found a cow for Elyse to at least pet.

Some of the villagers we met. They are carrying pillows.

Playing in the dirt/road:

These people grew a green plant that I had never seen before, but our driver explained it could be cooked and eaten. It looked like plain green leaves.

 At this point we were ready to turn back. I wish we could have walked around more, but E and A were on the brink and I wanted to leave on a happy note. It was an eye opening and educational experience for all of us.

Elyse had some good questions about what she saw. She was asking why they lived like they do and had dirt instead of floors and why they didn't wear shoes and she also asked about they houses. I answered her questions the best I could and tried to explain how we could help these people out.  An immediate application came when we had the opportunity to donate Elyse's school uniforms to some Cambodia children.

We got back to the hotel and were so tired. After showering, we didn't feel like going out so we got room service. This is me multi-tasking: Looking at the room service menu and doing puzzles.

From the grandeur of Angkor Wat to the humble houses of a Cambodia Village we had a great day.