It's Temple Time

Our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia was a breeze. Two hours in the air felt like nothing! I watched "Ted Lasso" the entire time. I get it now. I understand the hype. Officially obsessed. (Believe, always.)

When we arrived in Siem Reap, we had to purchase visas at the airport, which was a very confusing process. With visas in hand, we then waited in a long line with lots of other tourists to get through immigration. We made it out on the other side and quickly found our driver, named Nol. We piled our bags into Nol's van and then hit the road for the 45-minute drive into Siem Reap. Well, it was supposed to be 45 minutes. Our drive ended up being about 70 minutes...there was just a ton of traffic.

Also, about 10 minutes into our drive, it quickly became apparent that there are no road rules here. On the road, you have motorcycles, tuk-tuks, cars, and trucks. Everyone is making their own lane, and the cars and trucks are trying to get around the tuk-tuks and each other. It was wild at times.

By the time we arrived at our hotel, Wyatt was sound asleep. We roused him from the van, thanked Nol, and headed for the lobby. There, we were greeted by the kindest hotel concierge, who served us cold washcloths, green juice, and some chips. He oriented us to the hotel and showed us to our room. When he left, Wyatt promptly crawled into bed and fell back asleep.

We hadn't had any dinner, so Tim and Taylor went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and grabbed some food. Before he fell asleep, Wyatt asked not to be left alone, so I stayed in the hotel room and unpacked a bit. All of us were in bed by 8pm -- and it felt so good.

About 4:30 on Sunday morning, Tim and I were up. Wyatt was up, too, although he and I managed to go back to sleep. Tim headed downstairs to the breakfast area about 5:45am and availed himself of the coffee. All of us were up and ready to start the day by 6am, and when breakfast opened at 6:30am, we were in our seats.

Breakfast was delicious. When we take these family trips, we really love our breakfasts together. And this morning was no different. The fruit was divine, truly. And there were a bunch of rice dishes, lots of chicken sausage, soup, and more. Also, the coffee was top-notch. I'm already excited for my coffee tomorrow morning...that's how good it was.

Following breakfast, we took a walk on the streets outside. Things were quiet (it was, after all, a Sunday morning at 7:30). Most shops and restaurants were closed. We did find an open pharmacy, which was good, as we needed some bug spray. 

Our morning walk in downtown Siem Reap.

Tim and Wyatt eyed this restaurant...

The entranceway to our hotel, Central Suite Residence. This place has the friendliest staff!

Back at the hotel, we got ready for our day touring temples. We all wore pants and short-sleeved shirts, since shorts above the knee and sleeveless shirts are considered inappropriate. The tour guide Tim hired, Sopheap, picked us up at 9am. We jumped in another van with another driver, and while we drove through Siem Reap, Sopheap started telling us some history of the area.

Sopheap told us his own story, too. His dad was killed by the Khmer Rouge when Sopheap was 4 or 5. As a young child, he was sent to live in a work camp with other children. There was never enough food to eat, and he spent his time building irrigation ditches. His stories were gutting. And we're talking about atrocities that happened not that long ago. Sopheap will be our guide the entire time we're in Siem Reap; we're hoping to ask him many more questions.

The first temple Sopheap took us to see was Angkor Wat...THE temple. Covering 400 acres, Angkor Wat is recognized as the largest religious monument in the world. This temple is incredible -- it's just stunning. Angkor Wat was originally built in the 12th century as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu; it's now a symbol of Cambodia and a UNESCO World Heritage site. By the 13th century, Angkor Wat transformed into a Buddhist temple. 

At the entranceway to Angkor Wat.

Some interesting facts about Angkor Wat:

• It faces west, not east, as many other temples in Southeast Asia do
• The five towers of Angkor Wat symbolize Mount Meru, the Hindu mythological home of the gods
• The top of the central tower is a whopping 700 feet high
• The towers are all shaped like lotus buds
• There's a 5k-long moat that was hand-dug the entire way around the temple complex
• It took 35 years, 300,000 laborers, and 6,000 elephants to build Angkor Wat
• Its architecture and engineering are really mind-blowing!

You can see the tallest tower through this entranceway.

Can you spy all five towers?

This place is huge!!

Sopheap telling us how heaven and hell were depicted on the wall. The carvings were amazing.

A game of hide and seek in this temple would take eight years.

Climbing steep stairs to another part of Angkor Wat.

On the other side of Angkor Wat now. See how the temple is reflected in the water?

We toured Angkor Wat for a few hours. As you might imagine, it's a lot to get through, a lot to walk through. It was mesmerizing. It was also hot as all get-out, and when we finally got back to our van, we were very excited that our driver had cold, wet washcloths and cold water waiting for us. We'll be coming back to the temple on Tuesday morning to see the sunrise -- it's supposed to be beyond beautiful. 

A short drive from Angkor Wat, we visited the South Gate of Angkor Thom, which is the most famous city gate in the region. It's also famous for its causeway, which features 54 happy gods on one side and 54 unhappy demons on the other.

No big deal. We're just in the middle of the street, in front of the South Gate, taking a family photo.

Angry.

Happy. 

After a quick walk through the South Gate, we then drove to the Smiley Face temple, otherwise known as the Bayon temple. This is the second most popular temple in the country, after Angkor Wat -- and it's popular for the many smiling faces that appear on towers all around the complex. Whereas Angkor Wat was extremely neat and orderly in its layout, Bayon is anything but. There are twists and turns inside the temple and, without a guide, I could see how you could get lost inside the labyrinth. There's also a big difference between the architecture of Angkor Wat and Bayon, with Angkor Wat being stunningly precise and Bayon showing much less precision. The Bayon temple was built about 100 years after Angkor Wat.

Smiley Face temple!

When we exited the Bayon temple, we were all ready for lunch...and some air conditioning. Sopheap took us to a nearby restaurant where we thoroughly enjoyed some good food and friendly Canadians at the table next to us.

Following lunch, we climbed back in the van and headed to the Ta Prohm temple, more commonly known as the Tomb Raider temple, thanks to the 2001 film starring Angelina Jolie. Much of Ta Prohm is in ruins, although some areas have been restored. The temple is famous for the massive trees that have grown through the ruins (they were super cool). 

Just look at this massive tree!

And another massive tree!

The kids were definitely templed-out after seeing Ta Prohm -- and begging for pool time -- so we returned to our hotel. All four of us changed and plopped ourselves by the pool. Wyatt jumped in and fulfilled his lifelong dream of swimming up to the bar and ordering a Shirley Temple. Taylor read her book. Tim and I were completely wiped out and fell asleep on the lounge chairs. And that's how we passed the next hour.

The hour after that, we showered, tried to chase a second wind, and got ready for dinner and a show. We grabbed dinner next door, and then Sopheap picked us up for the Phare Circus. This circus was incredible. Phare artists are students and graduates from Phare Ponleu Selpak's vocational training center in Battambang. The organization was founded in 1994 by nine young men coming home from a refugee camp after the Khmer Rouge regime. These young men were helped by art therapy and wanted to provide access to others. They ended up founding an art school, then a music school, a theater school, and a circus school. If you are ever in Siem Reap, go see this circus (and all the temples, too, of course!). We were spellbound by the show.

We LOVED this circus!

About 9pm, Sopheap brought us back to our hotel; we promptly crawled into bed and fell fast asleep. (Can't wait for that morning coffee...)