Siem Reap, Cambodia

We survived what will be out last long haul bus ride with the kids. While it wasn't the worst travel experience with them, it certainly wasn't the best. If we have any wise advice to pass on after this year it is this, always choose flying over buses with small children.



We arrived at our homestay to learn that we are here for Khmer New Year. The hotel is celebrating with a party for the staff and all guests were invited to partake. So, after unloading and relaxing a bit, we headed over. It was free beer, free delicious food and games/music and dancing. We met other guests who decided to join in on the fun and talked to a lot of the hotel employees (who kept apologising for the disruption.. This is how lovely they were. Well that and I don't think we were ever without a beverage).  We actually had a great time and finally started warming up to Cambodia.

The next day we finally got our hands on some Cambodian food and spent the day in the pool and checking out Siem Reap via Tuktuk. Everyone was in full New Year prep, setting up the park and visiting temples. They're even cleaning the river. There are lights strung up everywhere and it's amazing to walk around at night. For dinner we walked out to the river where there are food and drink carts set up all along the street and sampled some of the local eats. We got Lod Cha and some grilled, crispy pork belly.

We were still feeling pretty drained, although it's not too difficult when the weather is 40 degrees and sunny. It's hot to say the least. So other than getting up super early to get a run in, we are all perfectly content floating around in the pool. We go for a swim at least twice a day. The boys are absolutely loving it and getting really comfortable in the water. My one criticism about Asia with kids is that there is a huge lack of open safe space or parks for them to run around.

The people of Asia however love, love children. I mean everyone, women, men, old, young. They will stop and say hi to the kids, pick them up, play a game, try to distract, take a selfie, etc. Archie actually thinks it is our tuktuk driver's job to remove him from the tuktuk and won't let any of us do it. Cambodian people are absolutely special. Many of them have very little, but they are happy and they are happy to share what they have. We walked down to the night market and out to the river with the kids where they met and played for over an hour with Aileen, a sweetheart Cambodian girl, as her mother and I stood by. Then, her mom went and got all of the kids some water and a snack. So very considerate and made me feel awful considering I'm the tourist with the "big bucks".

On a side note, Cambodia is not as cheap as we were led to think. Either that or the areas we are visiting are not as light on the wallet.

On Saturday, Isa and I went for some fancy café lunch and got talked into a tuktuk ride out to the countryside. We stopped at a lotus farm where many families were gathered having New Year lunch in huts the straddled the lotus ponds. There were only a few ponds in bloom at the back of the property, but it was stunning nonetheless.

Afterwards we stopped at a small rural village. As soon as we stepped into town, word spread like wild fire and we were surrounded in less than 5 minutes with every child from the village. Having come unprepared was not an option, so I headed to a local shop and bought as much candy as I could afford. The shop keeper didn't seem keen on the hoard of kids that clung to me in his shop. We tried to hand out the candy in a fair and ordered fashion. That lasted about 1 min before it was anarchy and candy was being ripped out of my hands and fought over. Some kids remained after the candy was gone, trying to hold our hands and walk with us. We headed back to the tuktuk with a few trailing, finally realizing it was our water they were interested in. It was an overwhelming experience to say the least.

Our driver was pretty eager to take us to a war museum, but by this time we were hot and had seen a fair bit of the countryside, so we decided to call it a day.

In the evening we headed out for pizza dinner (Luke's night to choose) and experienced Khmer New Year first hand in the form of water fights. For 3 days, the cities and towns wage water war against any and all who pass by. Home and business owners arm themselves with hoses, water guns, buckets, bottles and any other useable receptacle to propel water at all passers be it on foot, bike or motor vehicle. Some will finish the job by dousing or patting you with powder. We were told the origin behind the powder is to mark those you fancy, but now a days it's a bit less descriminatory.

On Sunday Luke and I snuck out for some solo lunch. We finally got ahold of some Khmer curry and fish amok. Both were absolutely delicious and matched only by the 2$ pitchers of beer on offer.

We perused some of the market and got home in time to feed the kids and drag them out to Boxville, a repurposed container open air mall that has an amazing playground. Isa and I had spotted this place on the way back into town after our tuktuk trip. It was perfect and we were the only ones there using it. There was one whiplash slide, but otherwise we could sit back and let the boys at it.

On the way home we got absolutely pummelled with water. No one is safe in the New Year water wars and this is only day 1. Isa was fairly distraught about being wet and to be honest we were absolutely dripping wet, so we decided to go home change before heading to dinner. The boys were a little puzzled about the water assaults, but they didn't hate it either.

We managed to get back from dinner relatively dry. Plan is to gear up and head out one night and join the fight.

The next day Luke and I were up bright and early for 4am to meet our guide for the Angkor temple tour. We elected to travel via bicycle and in spite of the heat, it was the best choice. We followed our guide from Siem Reap down to the ticket office and out to Angkor Wat temple. After exploring the backside of the place, we headed out to the viewing pond area and set up shop with the other tourists for the sunrise. It was cloudy, but it was still stunning.

We returned to continue our tour of Angkor Wat, which is the best preserved/ restored of the temples we visited.

We travelled through the jungle, avoiding the crowds and sneaking glimpses at small jungle villages. The advantages of travelling via bicycle. It truly felt like you were completely alone out there. Our next stop was Bayon temple, Luke and my favorite. It is massive and very intricate, although not in as good of condition as Angkor Wat. All of the temples are undergoing various restorative projects sponsored by countries like Japan, India, USA and Germany.

It's starting to get incredibly hot out, so we stopped at one more temple before heading to breakfast. Preah Khan was built as an homage to the King's father. The temple features one of the massive iconic trees that actually used to be a pair. The temple is in very poor condition due to natural and human interference. We were only a handful of people there to explore it, which made getting up so early well worth it.

 Breakfast was a simple egg sandwich. After all of the cycling, it was very welcome. Next temple on the docket was a small temple deep into the jungle that had only just recently made it's debut on the regular circuit thanks to an access path. The temple was once a library and now sits in ruins, awaiting restoration. We had the entire place to ourselves.

Our last stop was one of the most popular temples, thanks to it's Hollywood status. Ta Prohm Temple was built to honor the kings mother. It features many silk trees that devour entire walls. It was a lovely site, but a little over crowded.

We had delicious curry and a hot and sour like soup for lunch. On our way out of Angkor, we zigzagged through the jungle, passing small ruined temple sites and the Angkor Thom gates, including the best preserved (and very crowded) south gate. Luckily, we passed a much lower key exit point and enjoyed some silence.

When we signed up for this tour, we weren't entirely sure what to expect. We definitely didn't bank on it being a mountain biking trip through the jungle. Having completed the journey, in the hottest month Cambodia sees, I can tell you that this is the best way to experience the temples at Angkor. Our guide was wonderful, he kept us informed and hydrated. It's an experience we will never forget.

The next morning, Isabel headed off to do her Angkor tour and we spent the better part of the day lounging in the pool and getting ready to head to the airport the next day. In the evening we went for dinner at a pizza place next door. Luke and I decided to take the boys on an adventure afterwards. We planned on getting ourselves armed with a water gun, hiring a Tuk-tuk and taking on some payback for the last night of Khmer New Year,. In the end, water guns were upsold to tourists at 45$ each and even our tuk-tuk was charging 10$ for 30 minutes. We settled on driving around and getting soaked. The boys seemed confused at first and locals were hesitant to douse us with the kids, but all inhibitions disappeared quickly and we were a soaking mess in no time. The boys had huge smiles on their faces in the end and we were happy with the experience minus the weaponry. In the end when the tuk-tuk driver tried to over charge us and I laid into him hard and we walked away, I still felt satisfied with our experience.

Tomorrow we spend a brief evening in Bangkok before making our way to Mauritius to set up shop for a month. We are all looking forward to settling down in one spot for the next little while and recharging.

P.S....Luke got headbutted in the chest by this cow. Cow -1 Luke - 0