We went to a couple of islands like this and paddled in these lagoons. We were taken aboard for coffee and tea, and then dinner. We also got to swim in the ocean near our boat. Yes, even in the pouring rain, it's still warm!
Finally, we built this floating raft made of coconut, bamboo, flowers, incense, and candles. In Thailand, there is a Loy Krathong festival and this is what these were like. Supposedly, you float away the bad. We built it, took the rafts out, and floated them in these caves. Then back to town and our hotel. A long day!
Monday - our plane left at 7:00 am so we left the hotel at 5! We flew into Siem Reap and got our Cambodian visa. A tuk-tuk driver was waiting for us and took us to our hotel. We were early, but they got us into a room. Here in Cambodia, the main money for everything is U.S. dollars. Since I changed most of my U.S. money into baht, I needed an ATM to get old American dollars so we went and checked out the town. We went to the Royal Palace, a temple, and the old market where we had some lunch. Back to hotel for swimming and dinner. They have a burger special and boy, was it good!!
Tuesday - I had hired a guide for Angkor Wat online and he picked us up at 8:30. We toured all the most famous places. It was a full day of walking and heat! Our guide was very knowledgeable, kept us away from most of the large crowds, and had cold water available when we got back to the car.
It's hard to describe Angkor Wat! It is an amazing place and it's hard to believe you're not in the ancient ruins in Central America. The Angkor Wat temple is just a very small part of the whole complex of buildings and temples. We spent about 8 hours walking and listening! John's favorite temple was Bayon. I still liked the main Angkor Wat temple the best I think because I've seen this iconic place in photos for 50 years!
There is so much history here. Our tour didn't do it justice, but it was a start! Afterwards, we got back to the hotel in time for happy hour, a swim, and then headed into town for food. Tonight we had pizza. I guess I still crave the ol' junk food. Although for lunch, we did eat traditional Cambodian amok for lunch which was outstanding! I even tried dragon fruit this morning!
Tuesday - out guide came and got us again this morning. Today, he took us to the fishing village of Tonle Sap, Kampong Kleang fishing village. Here, we took a boat ride out on the lake to see the village on stilts, the surrounding farmland that is underwater during the rainy season, and the lake whichis the largest in Southeast Asia. This is where much of the fish is caught and processed for a lot of Cambodia. Our guide showed us how they make fish paste and dry the fish. Out boat captain was about 13 or 14. He was pretty good and we had to rescue a younger boatman and his passengers when his motor quit and the wind blew him into the mud. Along the ride in the country we passed about 15 to 20 weddings which our guide explained. Wedding days are chosen by the "fortune teller" to bring good luck so it looks like Tuesday was a lucky day! It's also a 2 day affair. The wedding begins with loud music and lots of drinking and eating.
In the afternoon, we toured Beng Mealea. This temple was built for one of the king's moms. She was the 'librarian' for the temple as well. This temple hasn't had any work done on it and it's in rough shape, but beautiful. After this, we drove back to Siem Reap. On the way, we got a sticky rice treat. The rice is put into bamboo, mixed with black beans and then steamed in the bamboo. It was very tasty. When we got back to the hotel, we swam and then went into town for a BBQ dinner. That was fun and very good! You get this BBQ cooker at your table with a bunch of veggies, and 6 different meats. We had pork, chicken, crocodile, lamb, beef, and fish. Such a good meal and then the veggies are cooked in broth and you have a lovely soup! We should open one in Gunnison! I think it would be fun! Click on the picture below and it will take you to my Google Photos album!!
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