Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Cambodia Day 1

This will probably be the least wordy blog of all due to the fact that it's hard to put into words what we did and saw in Cambodia. We spent 3 nights in Siem Reap and spent two full days touring the Angkor Wat park. Read about it here because I will not do it justice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

We hired a tuktuk driver for two days who proceeded to pick us up at 4:30am so that we could see the sunrise over the temple.
By this point in the day (not even 6:00am, we were already sweating profusely. So hot!)
The moat surrounding the temple.
Can you see me?
Next was Bayon Temple
Baphuon Temple
So steep!
Elephant Terrace
Our home for 2 days
Chau Say Tevoda
Ta Keo Temple
Ta Prohm
Pre Rup
Banteay Kdei
Sras Srang
After a full day we headed back to the hotel to relax and clean up and then were back at it again at sunset!
Phnom Bakheng
That's Angkor Wat in the background.
From there we went to a dinner show that had beautiful traditional Cambodian dancing and then we called it a night early so that we could be up early again the next day.
Location:Siem Reap

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Laos

We spent another fantastic 3.5 days in a charming town in Laos called Luang Prabang. What a change of pace from Vietnam! You mean we can actually walk in the street without getting run over by a moped?!!!
Our first full day there we spent walking around the town. It is a very quaint place full of cafes and temples and it is not uncommon to see a group of monks walking down the street. We started off by visiting a couple of different wats.

In the afternoon we visited The Royal Palace which is now a museum.
A temple on the grounds of the palace.
Followed by a walk up the hill littered with more temples.
Next we hit up the night market! Its hard to believe this street was practically empty just hours before.
The next morning we visited Elephant Village where we got to spend the day riding, feeding and bathing them. First we got a lesson on how to ride, commands to give, etc and had a practice round.
Then we went on a 45 minute ride where we sat in a chair on top.
Next we fed our new friends...
And rode them down to the river to bathe them...My girl must have missed the memo on who was supposed to be getting the bath.
From there they took us in a boat to some falls where we got to swim for the afternoon.
On the way there...
It was an amazing day!
The next morning we were picked up for a full day of guided trekking. We started off with walking through two small villages.
And then through some amazing scenery. But man was it humid!
We walked along a hunters' trail for the day which meant that it was pretty empty. Most of the time we were the only people on the path.
The trip ended at a very popular waterfall, full of locals and tourists. Our trek ended at the top of the fall, and boy were we happy because after 6 hours of hiking the last thing we wanted to do was climb to the top!
Anyone that knows me well will realize why I did not partake in this activity...
Also, Laotians are amazing people. So friendly and not pushy at all. I think "gentle" would be a good word to use. What a beautiful country!
Next stop: Cambodia

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Location:Luang Prabang