Angkor Wat, considered the eighth wonder of the world, is a pretty amazing place to visit. To come to Cambodia and not see this place would be like touring Egypt and skipping the pyramids.
Today is the last day of our "get away" part of our trip. We saved the best for last. After breakfast, we hopped in the van with Ny and headed for Angkor Wat. We ended up also visiting The Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. I knew the kids would find it fascinating but I also knew, with the heat, that we had about 4 hours max before we lost them. We paced the tours well and ended up finishing around noon; we had a great time. Caleb brought along a crayon and sketchbook and did some "rubbings" of his favorite patters carved in the stone. Faith stopped to sketch as well.
We headed to the hotel to hit the pool for a couple of hours while it was hot and ordered some lunch poolside. The restaurant wraps around the pool and most of the main dishes cost only about $4. To give a frame of reference about how cheap it is to travel this country, the nightly rate here is $25 and it's the nicest, most expensive place we've stayed while in Cambodia. Most places are very nice and cost around $15 per night. Siem Reap is a bit more expensive in general as it is a tourist destination.
Today is the last day of our "get away" part of our trip. We saved the best for last. After breakfast, we hopped in the van with Ny and headed for Angkor Wat. We ended up also visiting The Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. I knew the kids would find it fascinating but I also knew, with the heat, that we had about 4 hours max before we lost them. We paced the tours well and ended up finishing around noon; we had a great time. Caleb brought along a crayon and sketchbook and did some "rubbings" of his favorite patters carved in the stone. Faith stopped to sketch as well.
We headed to the hotel to hit the pool for a couple of hours while it was hot and ordered some lunch poolside. The restaurant wraps around the pool and most of the main dishes cost only about $4. To give a frame of reference about how cheap it is to travel this country, the nightly rate here is $25 and it's the nicest, most expensive place we've stayed while in Cambodia. Most places are very nice and cost around $15 per night. Siem Reap is a bit more expensive in general as it is a tourist destination.
After swimming we headed up to get changed so we could walk to Pub Street and it began pouring. We waited about an hour before putting on raincoats and hitting the town despite the weather. The rain slowed soon after and we enjoyed strolling the streets & checking out the market & many cool stores of Siem Reap. The markets here seemed much cleaner and more organized, but they hassle you for a sale just like anywhere else.
For dinner, Ny took us to a restaurant called Amazon Ankor where they do traditional Khmer dances while you eat. Both the show and food were outstanding and provided a really unique cultural experience. Faith was mesmerized! After dinner we found out that our driver, Ny, was very sick. He had spent the entire hour and a half in the bathroom. We waited for about 30 minutes until he felt well enough to drive us back to the hotel, where we prayed for him and gave him some medicine. In the meantime, the giant rat (12" not counting his tail) that kept sneaking into the restaurant, the geckos on the wall and the toads hiding in the window sill kept the kids occupied.
tomorrow morning, we're headed back to Phnom Penh.