We landed at Siem Reap International Airport late on Christmas Day. Seriously, Cambodia? On Christmas? With kids? I could have never dreamed this one up. There was something about getting off that airplane, walking across the tarmac, and seeing the Siem Reap International sign that made me feel like we had really gone off the grid. Or maybe not. All it took was one step inside the pristine airport to see a massive queue, signs giving last minute instructions on how to get our entry visa (aka way for the Cambodian government to earn some easy tourist money), and exchanging of US dollars at the counter (yes you read that correctly) to realize maybe this won't be so different from our familiar western ways.
Or wait, think again. After what seemed like nearly an hour to pay our money to get a pretty unofficial looking visa in our passport and collect our luggage, we exited the airport's sliding doors and witnessed the dichotomy that would be very telling of our next three days. Just like so many times when you exit the customs door to a mob of people holding up signs, there was a mob of drivers waiting to pick up visitors, but most of them didn't have cars waiting, instead, there was a big line of tuk tuks just behind the drivers.
We felt pretty posh with a driver to pick us up (seriously we never get one of those), but our hotel had sent a complimentary tuk tuk for us. Thankful, as it was late, we were happy for the extra help. Unfortunately, for the driver, I'm not sure he had been prompted that we were a family of four traveling southeast Asia for nearly three weeks. Luckily for us, even if he did mutter anything under his breath in Khmer, we didn't know and all we witnessed was a good sport who appeared to think the whole predicament was just as funny as we did. It didn't take Steve and him too long to arrange the luggage and we were off, him even with our backpack strapped to his chest. Ah sometimes I envy the simple one-suitcase adult only travelers I see, but seriously I guarantee you they don't have half the stories we do from their travels.
How many people does it take to pack a tuk tuk?
While the same can't be said for our two sleeping beauties (well Morgan was fully asleep, Emma was half asleep, half whining), Steve and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Siem Reap Christmas lights as we made the 15 minute ride into town. It seemed that some of the large hotels really enjoyed celebrating a holiday that I assume 99% of their staff does not celebrate. The ride was not too bumpy (we were back to driving on the right side of the road thanks to its roots as a French colony), we didn't lose any luggage, nor did we hit any of the feral cats, dogs, or motorbike drivers simultaneously driving and reading their smart phones, so I would consider it a success when we arrived at our small boutique style hotel on the outskirts of town, La Rose Blanche Boutique hotel.
Well, Steve and I enjoyed the ride!
Hotel Christmas light display
Christmas tree Cambodian hat style at our hotel
Someone was much happier at breakfast the next morning after we arrived.
At just over $50 USD a night, it was no doubt the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in at that price point. Well, let's be real I don't think I've ever stayed in a hotel that cheap, at least since I've been old enough to be the one (or married to the one) paying. But then again the cost of living is crazy low in Cambodia, most people live on something like less than $1 USD per day (although sadly that it is not a good standard of living, as much of the population lives in poverty).
Staff was friendly and helpful and it was a beautiful, small hotel. But it didn't take us long to be reminded that this was in fact Cambodia. And I don't mean that in negative way, just an honest way, that reminds me of how we are spoiled for choice, no shortage of supplies, and luxury items in the western world. Our room, while appearing clean and extremely luxurious for Cambodia did not have the 10 overstuffed pillows on the bed, two extra duvets in the closet and a surplus of towels in the bathroom. Instead we found one pillow on each double bed and when we asked if they had one extra (so Steve, Emma and I could each have a normal pillow, which we didn't think was an odd request) all they could find to come back with was one extra decorative pillow. Poor Emma was simply mind blown as to how they didn't have any more pillows.
Love how Emma became friends with everyone
And try explaining to her why we did not just run out of hot water in the shower, but pretty much all water. I have no doubt though that this is leaps and bounds better than hotel accommodations just a few years ago in Cambodia. We listened to countless stories from locals about how tourism has taken a strong hold in this country recently, especially in Siem Reap, since it opened to tourists less than 20 years ago after many years of war. And some impacts of tourism have been good and some bad. In many ways it reminded me of our visit to Croatia a few years back as we talked to people that had lived through war in their hometowns, lost family and friends, been forced to move, orphaned, left severely injured or left suffering from post-traumatic stress with nowhere to get proper help. It certainly makes you think about being a tourist in a different light.
After a good night's rest, a thick application of insect repellent and sunscreen, and a big American style breakfast option at the hotel we were ready for our first day of exploration. We were very happy with our decision to hire Asean Tour Guides for our two full days in the area. The first day we opted to just get a driver and an air conditioned van - what a luxury! The second day we would get a private tour guide as well. But to our delight our driver for the first day spoke very good English too and could tell us a lot about the area as we drove nearly an hour outside of the city to visit the temple of Banteay Srei after stopping to purchase the mandatory Angkor Pass, which allows you entry to all the temples in the vicinity.
One of the main thoroughfares in Siem Reap. Wide, unmarked and seemingly unregulated.
Despite having a comfortable van to ride in, it was still very apparent how terrible the road conditions were. While most of our drive was on a paved road (the same could not be said for many roads in the area), it was far from smooth. We were thankful for having the private car about 30 minutes in when we needed to stop for Emma having motion sickness from all the bumps.
I was impressed by Banteay Srei, but had no idea of what was to come.
We were not disappointed by Banteay Srei in the least when we arrived. Although considerably smaller from most of the other temples we would visit, we felt our jaws drop a little as we approached it. It was built in the 10th century for a Hindu god and constructed from a beautiful red sandstone, which made it ideal for carvings. The detail was superb and I immediately felt like I was on the sweltering hot movie set for an Indiana Jones movie (although that was actually to come the next day). The girls loved playing in all the doorways and our photographer in training got some good practice. We spent some time wandering the grounds as well and had our first of countless encounters with young children, this one a young girl just a few years older than Emma, trying to sell us something. It broke my heart to know that she had learned to speak quite good English for the purpose of selling things to tourists, but very likely has a bleak educational future otherwise. It was yet another first for Emma to try to comprehend why this girl was not at school. While Emma wanted to give her money to buy whatever it was she was trying to sell us, we told her the best thing she could do was simply talk to her to perhaps help her better her English skills.
Entry to Banteay Srei
So many doorways!
Thankful for happy go lucky girls.
Amazing carvings
Statues at Banteay Srei
Amateur photographer
Making her daddy pose for photos.
Lake near Banteay Srei
After spending a little over an hour at Banteay Srei we made our way back to the Landmine Museum. It was a small glimpse into the terror this country has seen and how many people continue to be injured and killed everyday by landmines that are still hidden throughout the country. It is reported that there are still potentially over 5 million undiscovered landmines.
Full of parts of landmines
We learned about one man, Aki Ra, who has personally made it a personal mission in his life to educate and help disarm the landmines - much of the museum stemmed from his work and sitting on display was his CNN Heroes award. Over 20 children even live on the property in the relief center, who otherwise had a dismal future, after being abandoned by their families or left orphans. I was initially a little concerned it may be too confronting for Emma, but it wasn't. I would highly recommend the stop to anyone in the area, only 30 minutes is needed to learn a small fraction of the truth of this country's history. And if you don't think you'll be visiting the area anytime in the near future I really enjoyed this quick read that gave me much more insight on our actions while visiting: Dear Travelers to Cambodia.
While we had originally debated also trying to visit one of the floating villages in the area, we decided to skip it, as we had heard many differing opinions on whether or not to go. We opted for lunch and while we asked to go somewhere local, but good for kids, it was clear that we got brought to the same restaurant in town that every other tourist must go to as well. Oh well, that's ok, like we've said before, we don't have high standards for where we will eat with kids in tow. If it appears clean, safe, and with edible options we will eat there! Double points when the wait staff clearly love children, especially those with light color hair. You want to hold my baby while I eat? Yes please! Just don't leave the room. I loved those trips to the Mediterranean when Emma was young and it seemed like someone held her for us at every restaurant we went to.
We had one high priority for the remainder of the day, swim in the pool. Steve added wear a Cambodian style hat at the pool to his list. And then last minute Emma and I added let's go to the local pottery school and learn how to make some pottery! We were so glad we made the decision to visit Khmer Ceramics Fine Art Centre in the city centre. Emma had a blast making five little pots with the help of her private teacher (all the pottery teachers were what appeared to be mostly deaf teenagers, it was amazing to see how Emma paid special attention to his instructions) while I watched and then she got to select one for them to dry and deliver back to the hotel the next day for us to take home. While the pottery was fun, so was a mother daughter tuk tuk ride to get there and back. Reminded me a little of playing pac-man... Especially when I realized that not all the cars around us had steering wheels on the left hand side (like one normally would if you are supposed to drive on the right side of the road), but instead some had them on the right hand side. Just when I got a little confused as to which side of the road we were really supposed to be on I realized everyone just drove everywhere. Problem solved!
Someone wants to go swimming
She is so cute when she knows she is getting to do something extra special!
Making her first pot
Mommy daughter date in Siem Reap
She was so proud of her creations!
We had an early dinner at the hotel. And like so many other restaurants we visited during our trip they offered a few western food specialties to Emma's liking (Morgan on the other hand actually lived largely off of sticky rice during the trip). However, just like every other time it seemed that the spaghetti or butter noodles took triple the amount of time to make that than the beautiful traditional dishes meat/vegetable/noodle/rice dishes took. Not that we had anywhere to be, except an early bed time. We were going to be getting up at 4 am the next morning. We do a lot of things with kids that make people call us crazy. Taking them to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, yes potentially crazy. Are we happy we did it? Absolutely.
Breathtaking.
Just as we had asked the night before, the hotel packed up some boxed breakfasts and we met our tour guide for the day at 4:40 am in our hotel lobby. I'm sure glad the driver knew where he was going as there weren't quite as many street lights as we are used to. The driver was able to take us to the edge of the Angkor Wat complex and it was about a 10 minute flashlight lit walk from there. We were far from the only ones doing the same thing and the tour guide immediately said it was going to be a busy morning as there were already quite a few people lining up around the perimeter pool in front of Angkor Wat. We secured a second row spot, which although initially disappointed we still had a pretty clear view of the outline of the temple that was very slowly coming to light and still put us far ahead of the 10 rows of people that slowly filled in behind us.
It didn't take long for Morgan to pass out in the ergo on me and Emma on the ground at our feet using our backpack as her pillow. Meanwhile Steve and I waited for about 45 minutes while the sun slowly crept over Angkor Wat. While the sun wasn't quite as radiant as we might have hoped, it was no doubt a phenomenal sight. Standing with likely over a thousand of people in sheer darkness, many different languages being spoken, all waiting to see this world famous sight rise out of the dark.
We weren't the only people waiting to see the sunrise.
Oh look, everyone's awake!
The backside of Angkor Wat
Many of the tour groups go straight inside to tour Angkor Wat since they are there, but our tour guide led us around to the backside of the complex where our van was waiting so we could make our way to some of the other nearby temples while there were fewer tourists there. We would come back later to Angkor Wat in the afternoon.
I know the photo doesn't look real - but it is!
First stop was Ta Prohm, most famously known as the setting for the Tomb Raider movie. It was built in the 12th & 13th century and over the years massive trees have grown out of the ruins, no doubt its most distinctive feature. We could have played games of hide and seek for hours on end, I'm pretty sure it was my favorite temple in Cambodia (although every one we visited had such distinct and amazing features that differentiated it).
A rather humble entrance to Ta Prohm
Wow.
The roots of this tree received a little reinforcement.
Size comparison.
A look around Ta Prohm.
I think this was already Morgan's second nap of the day at 7 am.
Another look around Ta Prohm, I couldn't get enough of it.
Our tour guide was the best!
So many areas to discover at Ta Prohm
From there I can't keep straight all the temples, walls and gates we drove by and through. I had absolutely no idea just how many temples were in such close proximity to one another. We drove through the gate to Angkor Thom, Steve and Emma walked along the Elephant and Leper King Terraces while I stayed with a snoozing Morgan, we all walked up and down the stairs of the Bayon Temple which is full of smiling and serene stone faces, and Steve and Emma climbed the extremely steep staircase of Ta Keo, otherwise known as the mountain temple. And we did all this before 11 am!
Part of the Elephant Terraces
One of many faces at the Bayon Temple
Playing peekaboo with the photographer
Another face of Bayon
Emma and Morgan in their matching elephant pants
Climbing Ta Keo
She made it to the summit!
We could have never made it through half of that on our own, nor would we have kept Emma motivated. Our tour guide was amazing with Emma. Patient, answering every question, and taking her hand and guiding her every step.
He even started carrying Emma at one point when she got tired!
We all had a lunch break to refuel our tank before heading back to the biggest temple of all, Angkor Wat. While the midday heat was intense, we were thankful that our plan had worked out well and it was not busy at all.
It was an absolutely phenomenal structure, so many stories, so many known and unknown things still about the temple. It was absolutely incredible to explore what is said to be the largest religious monument in the world. The entire site is over 400 acres, originally built for a Hindu God and later transformed into a Buddhist temple. I compared it to our visits of ancient places like Pompeii, the Roman Forum, the Acropolis, and Machu Picchu. While there is no way to compare them to one another, each so unique in their construction and purpose, Angkor Wat for me ranked right up there as one of the most stunning and intriguing. I think Machu Picchu still holds the top spot for me, but ask me on a different day and my opinion might change.
Amazing carvings throughout the perimeter walls at Angkor Wat
View back over the main entry to Angkor Wat
So much to see and learn
Inside Angkor Wat, one of the main towers
Taking everything in
One last family photo at Angkor Wat
No doubt by mid afternoon we had all reached our temple limit for the day. I never could have imagined we would see so much with two children in tow, but am so thankful we did. I love the days that Emma flips our 1000 Places to See Before You Die daily calendar and when she spots something that looks like a temple she asks if it is Thailand or Cambodia. I know she might not remember many of the specifics, but I'm pretty sure Steve and I will be eager to share our memories with her of this trip.
Although we could have all easily called it a night after we got another quick swim at the hotel pool. We made our way back into the city for what could be called an "expensive" Cambodian dinner and visited a night market. The tuk tuk driver definitely overcharged us, but honestly if by us paying $2-$3 extra it made a big difference to him that day, we were happy to do so.
The next morning we enjoyed one more tuk tuk ride back to the aiport. We took in the old and new Siem Reap one more time. And we observed the unregulated world (family of five traveling by motorbike) meeting the rapidly expanding tourist driven world (massive hotel on a dirt road) again and wondered how they will continue to mesh.
Family of four in a tuk tuk
Morgan loved it!
And our last glimpse of it all back at Siem Reap International was pretty fitting too. While we stood in an incredibly slow moving long check-in line, the entire rest of the terminal was completely desolate. Only here. Until we meet again, Cambodia.
Upon leaving Singapore and heading for Bangkok I had a sort of nervous excitement. I had enjoyed the clean, safe, orderly environment that was Singapore, but it had left me feeling ready to visit somewhere totally different. It was that silly part of me that says, yes we live in Australia, which is a different country from where I was born and raised, but many days it feels just like being in the good ole United States of America. It leaves me craving to visit and experience somewhere totally different than I am accustomed to living. One where I am in the minority and don't understand what most people are saying around me. But one that leaves me absorbing everything around me, wanting to know and understand more. I knew I would find this in Thailand, but I would be lying if I didn't say that every once in awhile I get a tiny bit nervous at the thought that I am deciding to embark on this sort of experience with two young children in tow!
But anyways, I digress... We arrived in Bangkok late on a Thursday evening. It was a relatively short flight at under 2.5 hours. We were looking forward to what would be much cheaper eating, sleeping and transit costs than Singapore (and significantly cheaper than Australia as well). And while we are usually smarter than this, we admit to falling prey to paying way too much for our taxi from the airport to the hotel (but an amount that still seemed very cheap). We were anxious to make the 25 minute drive to our hotel as it was getting late and we didn't want to waste too much time looking around for the metered taxi stand we couldn't find. Instead we paid some silly extra rate for our taxi and then promptly upon leaving saw the taxi stand we had been looking for. Oh well, we'll know for next time.
The dark drive into the city gave me a small glimpse of what I would see in the light of the next day. A bustling Bangkok full of life, poor living conditions followed by high rise modern buildings, crazy amounts of electrical lines and cabling, street vendors, expensive shopping districts, and picture after picture honoring the recently deceased king, some covering 25 floors of the side of a building.
We finally arrived to our hotel on what seemed like rush hour traffic at 9 pm in a very busy shopping district. While we don't always like to say it, we will both tell you that every once in awhile we get pretty excited to see a familiar Marriott sign and this was definitely one of the cheapest and nicest Marriott's we have stayed at. The westernized creature comforts that we know we will find along with top notch service and cleanliness. Once again, although we like to go off the beaten path, especially when children are in tow, we sometimes just like the normal too.
When we awoke Friday morning we were blown away by the view of Bangkok outside of our window. Emma was too. Every morning during our stay the weather was perfect and the photo shoot repeated itself as we saw the sunrise over Bangkok. I couldn't help but to also repeat the famous Robin Williams movie line (Good Morning Vietnam), albeit it was for the wrong country and city, "Good morning Bangkok!"
Emma posing over the Bangkok skyline!
Sunrise over Bangkok
Excited to be in this new city, a great night's sleep, and a giant western/Thai breakfast buffet helped us all get ready for a big day ahead exploring the history, culture, and main religion of Bangkok. So we sucked in our last bit of air conditioning for the morning and set out in the hot, humid, semi-polluted air of the city. We made our way to the Grand Palace via Uber (Steve had since done even more research on the best method of getting around Thailand, even cheaper than the already cheap taxis, and making sure you didn't get scammed by taxi drivers and to our surprise, Uber was a popular, very reputable option thanks to the fact that money is not directly exchanged between driver and passenger).
We had also done our research in regards to visiting Buddhist palaces and knowing the conservative dress codes that we should be careful to abide by. I felt bad having the girls in pants and covered shoulders on such a hot day, but didn't want any potential reason for us to be turned away from visiting these places. Although, the girls especially, were far off from wearing the black that most all Thai were wearing in honor of their former king (the Thai mourning period is no joke with intense rules around the first 30 days following a king's death [we were just past the 30 day mark] and other rules still in place for a year following his death), we did our best to fit in, which was clearly going to be not at all. It had begun, the love affair with our two blonde haired, Caucasian, brightly dressed little girls. Even the palace guards were so excited to see them.
We made our way through one set of security outside of the general palace area and were immediately in awe of the various temples, areas of worship, and beautiful architecture we were surrounded by. Stepping out of the otherwise somewhat dirty city streets, this area felt like a sparkling crown jewel. No doubt, this was a very important place for the Thai people.
Walls outside the Grand Palace
One of many memorials to the King
Sacred elephants
Just us and all the other tourists at the palace
It was extremely hot and sunny, but we drifted through the area just trying to take it all in and understand a small part of what it all meant. Between it all we tried to keep the girls out of the scorching sun and Emma especially holding hands with us as within minutes of entering the palace grounds we had people wanting to pick her up to take photos with her. While a bit confused by her popularity, Emma thoroughly enjoyed herself meandering from statue to statue trying to pose with the same face and position (a trend that would continue during our travels) and found another American family that invited her to learn how to fold flowers.
Typical Emma making friends with everyone while the other girl is being forced by her mom to take a photo with the blonde haired girl.
Super friendly family that invited Emma to fold flowers with them while we were waiting for Steve to finish taking some photos.
Me and my girls
All of the temples and palace were beautifully constructed
So many statues and faces to make
More posing to be done
Family photo!
So many different buildings around the palace grounds
Love those trees!
Another "guard"
By late morning we were all excited to see a familiar Movenpick ice cream sign and were happy to pick that in lieu of a real lunch to cool us down before continuing on to the neighboring Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). This massive Buddha really was something to behold and the peaceful grounds of Wat Pho were a welcome change to the bustling grounds of the Grand Palace. As the heat was intense and the girls had seen enough of the Buddhist temples for the day, Steve and I took turns wandering the grounds while the rest of the family found a shady spot to rest and play games while they waited.
Just the face of the reclining Buddha - it is hard to depict just how large it was as it was hidden behind columns and there is no angle where you can see the entire statue.
So many water breaks!
The grounds of Wat Pho
So interesting to see the different ways another religion honors its god
We had gorgeous weather!
When we had seen our fill of Buddhas for the day, taken our shoes on and off enough times, and were sweaty enough we decided to call it a day. While waiting for our Uber we were approached by many tuk tuk drivers anxious to give us a lift through the streets and sit in rush hour traffic. In our American ways we voted for the air conditioned car that took nearly an hour to get back to the hotel in what should have been perhaps a 20 minute drive. Needless to say by the time we got back we were ready for afternoon tea, the pool, and I took full advantage of a complimentary massage before we found dinner and crashed for the night.
Saw so many things on our ride back to the hotel - maybe it's just me, but I would have felt uncomfortable parking there.
Motor bikes, electrical wires, dirty facades on the buildings. This is much of Bangkok.
Stuck in traffic, will take selfies. A whole lot of selfies.
Love these two.
Saturday morning arrived and Emma started Christmas Eve out by falling out of one of the super tall hotel beds despite our attempt to surround herself with pillows before tucking her in. Unfortunately we didn't know a goose egg on her forehead would not be the only injury to her that day. We headed out via Uber again to take a boat ride along the Chao Phraya river. As we had come to discover it did seem that directions were a bit difficult even with google maps, so after a few wrong turns we eventually settled on being dropped off a good half mile still from our ultimate destination. We made our way to the water taxi station and avoided many other overpriced boat tour options.While some of them may have taken us down some of the smaller waterway canals, we opted for a quicker, cheaper straight boat ride to the Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). Unfortunately we had not done our research to know it was currently undergoing massive renovation on the exterior. While we could see the beauty of it, it was certainly not quite what we had hoped to see.
Entrance to the Wat Arun
Around the grounds
Emma in action!
Semi-happy family photo
So again we took the boat back to where we started earlier and then opted to test out Bangkok public transit in the form of their above ground Sky Train. Although it was the only time we took it during our stay we still gave it relatively high marks for ease, cost, safety and cleanliness. It far from goes everywhere in the city, but it seemed that more lines were being constructed in the future. Once again leaving me to wonder when the US will catch up with everyone else in terms of public transit options.
Selfies on the boat
This is what we do for entertainment with limited toys!
Beautiful new building on the river, replica old long tail boat.
Older, historic building on the river.
After a quick swim, afternoon tea and a little rest back at the hotel we were ready to go for the remainder of Christmas eve. We set out for the nearby Lumpini Park - think Bangkok's version of Central Park. It was a beautiful, calm, respite from the rest of the city. There was a constant circuit of runners and walkers around the perimeter pedestrian only street. Emma and Steve opted to rent a swan paddle boat for a ride around the small lake while I took Morgan for a walk. I figured Emma and Steve would have great fun as long as the boat didn't tip or capsize, I could have never imagined the drama that occurred when I saw Emma crying loudly from across the lake midway through their time. As I made my way to meet up with them I could hardly believe the story that a fish jumped out of the water and hit her in the face so hard that it made her bleed! But Steve did in fact confirm the true story as did nearby people that saw it happen. Oh Emma!
Pre-jumping fish
My brave girl.
Sunset in the park
The weird giant lizard that lived in the city park making a dash back into the water.
Safely back on ground and in happier spirits we finished with a play in the park before heading to a nearby English-speaking church we found for a family friendly Christmas Eve service. And Emma was pretty excited when she found out that all children could participate in the nativity scene at the front, although we acted too slowly and she missed out on getting to wear a costume. Second failure of the evening.
It was a welcome change to find a church instead of a temple for the evening.
And there she is!
Beautiful Christmas lights in the more westernized shopping district near our hotel
While we thoroughly enjoyed our very friendly warm worship service, we were all amply tired by the end and ready to get back to the hotel and in bed in hopes that Santa might still find his way to our hotel to at least fill our stockings. The very nice Marriott staff helped us to locate some cookies to leave out for Santa too (don't worry we left carrots back in Sydney for his reindeer in case they stopped there too).
Family Christmas jammy photo!
Sisterly love
When we awoke Sunday morning Emma was thrilled to find her stocking filled and Morgan (by default) was excited that her sister was so excited!
Santa did a great job bringing a few extra special gifts for the remainder of our travels. The rest of Christmas day was you might say pretty far from normal. It was of course hot, which we're still growing accustomed to in Australia at that time of the year (although kind of missing it now as we approach winter and I sit bundled up inside of our house), and while many local Thai simply assumed to say Merry Christmas to us, obviously the majority of the Buddhist population was not celebrating the holiday.
Everyone was happy, except dad, who wanted more sleep.
We took to visit the huge Chatuchak weekend market that has something like more than 8,000 stalls ranging with just about every possible good you could imagine. It was a bit like the Istanbul Grand Bazaar as it was quickly apparent how lost you could get, and if you ever hoped to find your way back to a particular vendor you certainly needed to make note of the stall number.
One of many entrances/exits to the Chatuchak Market
So we got some extremely inexpensive shopping done, did a terrible job of haggling per normal, and got back for our last swim on the penthouse level indoor/outdoor pool at the hotel before packing our bags and heading to the airport.
As I left the city listening to Emma point out every photo of the king and black and white garland "for the king's death," and watched our Uber driver quickly bow at every tiny Buddha statue/shrine on the side of the road during our drive back to the airport I acknowledged how much this city had surprised me. It was the exact essence of why I love to travel and get out of my comfort zone. That's when you discover how amazing the world around us is, how at the end of the day most everyone is good, despite our differences, and how very different we all can live. I no doubt would love to pass through Bangkok again in the future and discover more. But we were out of time on this trip and about to go onto our third new country of the week, Cambodia.
We landed at Siem Reap International Airport late on Christmas Day. Seriously, Cambodia? On Christmas? With kids? I could have never dreamed this one up. There was something about getting off that airplane, walking across the tarmac, and seeing the Siem Reap International sign that made me feel like we had really gone off the grid. Or maybe not. All it took was one step inside the pristine airport to see a massive queue, signs giving last minute instructions on how to get our entry visa (aka way for the Cambodian government to earn some easy tourist money), and exchanging of US dollars at the counter (yes you read that correctly) to realize maybe this won't be so different from our familiar western ways.
We felt pretty posh with a driver to pick us up (seriously we never get one of those), but our hotel had sent a complimentary tuk tuk for us. Thankful, as it was late, we were happy for the extra help. Unfortunately, for the driver, I'm not sure he had been prompted that we were a family of four traveling southeast Asia for nearly three weeks. Luckily for us, even if he did mutter anything under his breath in Khmer, we didn't know and all we witnessed was a good sport who appeared to think the whole predicament was just as funny as we did. It didn't take Steve and him too long to arrange the luggage and we were off, him even with our backpack strapped to his chest. Ah sometimes I envy the simple one-suitcase adult only travelers I see, but seriously I guarantee you they don't have half the stories we do from their travels.
Staff was friendly and helpful and it was a beautiful, small hotel. But it didn't take us long to be reminded that this was in fact Cambodia. And I don't mean that in negative way, just an honest way, that reminds me of how we are spoiled for choice, no shortage of supplies, and luxury items in the western world. Our room, while appearing clean and extremely luxurious for Cambodia did not have the 10 overstuffed pillows on the bed, two extra duvets in the closet and a surplus of towels in the bathroom. Instead we found one pillow on each double bed and when we asked if they had one extra (so Steve, Emma and I could each have a normal pillow, which we didn't think was an odd request) all they could find to come back with was one extra decorative pillow. Poor Emma was simply mind blown as to how they didn't have any more pillows. 
We had one high priority for the remainder of the day, swim in the pool. Steve added wear a Cambodian style hat at the pool to his list. And then last minute Emma and I added let's go to the local pottery school and learn how to make some pottery! We were so glad we made the decision to visit Khmer Ceramics Fine Art Centre in the city centre. Emma had a blast making five little pots with the help of her private teacher (all the pottery teachers were what appeared to be mostly deaf teenagers, it was amazing to see how Emma paid special attention to his instructions) while I watched and then she got to select one for them to dry and deliver back to the hotel the next day for us to take home. While the pottery was fun, so was a mother daughter tuk tuk ride to get there and back. Reminded me a little of playing pac-man... Especially when I realized that not all the cars around us had steering wheels on the left hand side (like one normally would if you are supposed to drive on the right side of the road), but instead some had them on the right hand side. Just when I got a little confused as to which side of the road we were really supposed to be on I realized everyone just drove everywhere. Problem solved!
It was an absolutely phenomenal structure, so many stories, so many known and unknown things still about the temple. It was absolutely incredible to explore what is said to be the largest religious monument in the world. The entire site is over 400 acres, originally built for a Hindu God and later transformed into a Buddhist temple. I compared it to our visits of ancient places like Pompeii, the Roman Forum, the Acropolis, and Machu Picchu. While there is no way to compare them to one another, each so unique in their construction and purpose, Angkor Wat for me ranked right up there as one of the most stunning and intriguing. I think Machu Picchu still holds the top spot for me, but ask me on a different day and my opinion might change.
