Carpe Temple

It was an early one again today.  Being accustomed to pre-dawn waking, Mack popped up out of bed pretty easily.  Fiona, the future coffee drinker, was not as easily convinced.  We made it to the tuk tuk by 5:00 and found Chey, our driver, waiting for us with our breakfast all boxed up for us.  

Tuk tuk sisters. Only fitting for it to be a fuzzy picture at that time of day.

It takes about 10 minutes to get to Angkor Wat from our hotel.  It was nice and cool this morning.  The girls were wrapped in a sarong for the drive while Brian and I enjoyed the breeze.  There was a long line of headlights from the tuk tuks headed where we were.  We seem to have the slow, cruisy tuk tuk, so many others were passing us.  It was funny to see us all racing there to get the exact right spot for that picture we were all hoping to snap.   

In the bumpy excitement of our approach, Mack's iPad went flying out of the tuk tuk and I can't tell if it was run over or not, but it shattered.  Yes, it did.  It was not a pleasant way to start our day, but it happened.  Fear flashed through me as I envisioned the rest of our trip without it, however, we are very blessed to have access to another one.  It is what it is. Or was. 

Once we shook off the bad feelings from that moment, we started our pilgrimage to the temple with the hundreds and hundreds of other people.  It's a bit of a trek over the water and through the gates.  Add in a tired little girl with a hungry tummy and it's even longer.  It's funny because she runs exactly hot and cold.  Not warm.  She loves this trip, or she hates it.  I'll let you guess how she felt about this daybreak adventure. Regardless of our crying child, we made it with plenty of time to spare.  We wiggled our way into what seemed like the perfect spot near the pond to get our photo.  It was a lot of people waiting for the magical moment together from all over the world.  It is a powerful place and that was a powerful moment.  I've seen lots of sunrise photos of this marvel.  The sunrise was subtle in color today, but no less beautiful. It was our sunrise here.  One we will probably never see again but will always remember.  Enjoy.

Once the sun was up, we left our pond spot and went inside to catch the different magical sunshine spots all over the temple. 

Chey was helpful in planning where to go after we left Angkor Wat.  There is so much to look at in this area.  So many furnace hot temples for our children to appreciate and enjoy.  And we did.  The rest of the pictures come from our adventures after our sunrise treat.  

There really was so much to take in today!  I don't remember the names of all the places we visited.  I could get the map out and list all the temples I suppose.  I think I might be too tired.  I think that tonight I will wind this down, get some sleep, and get ready for our journey back to Thailand tomorrow.  We have one night in Bangkok (I can't say that without singing the song) before our Tokyo fun begins. I really loved Cambodia.  This is a really special place and someday maybe we can travel and see more of it.  This was a really eye opening experience for Fiona.  She has seen poverty and has a better understanding of how fortunate she really is.  

Before I sleep, some random pictures of the day and us enjoying Pub Street's night time festivities.  

The well deserved swim after our scorching hot temple run.

Religiously appropriate behavior.

Good Morning Cambodia

The alarm went off at 3:15 today.  The bellman came at 3:50 to load our sleepy butts into a taxi for our 6:15 flight to Cambodia.  Everything was all ready to go and all the girls needed to do was brush teeth and go.  We made it out the door without any problems.  Mack was chipper, Fi was not, and Boy was not our taxi driver.  I count that as a win.

The flight was short and came with a beautiful sunrise, which I always feel blessed when I get to see it.  Seeing it in another country makes it even more special.  As we landed, I noticed how flat this area of Cambodia is.  It's really green too because it is monsoon season here.  I instantly loved it. We were greeted by a super friendly taxi driver with tons of good information about our 3 day stay here. 

We are in the cutest little hotel away from the hustle and bustle around here.  It's really quite a beautiful little corner of the world.  Sweet people.  Warm pool.  A/C.  It's great!  For $18, we hired a driver (a tuk tuk driver) for the whole day.  We were ready for an adventure.

 
 
We came to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. It is a large temple complex.  It is the largest religious monument in the world.  Click above to read more about it. It is utterly amazing to see it in person. We visited several sites today.  One was Ta Prohm which if you have seen Tomb Raider (I have not) you have seen it.  Another we saw was Banteay Kdey.  At the end of our excursion today, we saw Angkor Wat.  Today is the first of two days we will go there.  Our alarm clock is set for 4:15 tomorrow morning.  We will be picked up by the tuk tuk at 5:00 so that we can enjoy sunrise over the temple.  I feel a bit of photographic pressure to get the shots we want, but really, I am there to see it.  I'll do the best I can.  We are all stocked up on "temple candy" to keep our children happy in the scorching heat we also encountered today.  Hopefully at sunrise, we will be cooler for a bit longer.  Today you will enjoy photographs because words can't do this wonder justice. Tomorrow, you'll see more.  Enjoy.

Ta Prohm

Banteay Kdey

Angkor Wat