We went to Siem Reap, Cambodia and it was AMAZING!!!!

Our hotel provided a Tuk Tuk for us which was AWESOME. It was really fun. The kids were really freaked out the first couple days, afraid they would fall out.

This was our first monkey spotting and it was pretty fun. The first of many monkeys . . .

First stop . . Angkor Wat- which happens to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Here is one of MANY statues we saw, draped in fabric, food offerings at it's feet, incense burning, people worshipping- it was really weird. I would just think, "Really? You're worshiping this rock? This is man made! Why are you bringing it food? It's clearly not eating it."

This place is pretty magnificent.

Everything was carved. Details was everywhere. It was incredible and never ending. This place was huge. The kids hated every moment and whined constantly. "I'm tired! I wanna go home! Hold me!" It was really hard to keep feeling the AWE and INCREDIBLENESS of the ruins with the kids pulling on our pants and crying basically the whole time. But we trudged on.

We saw a lot of monks and they were all dressed like this.

This used to be a giant pool. It was pretty incredible.

After I got in, the boys wanted to run around and I just loved watching them play.

A nice place to stop for a snack. Sitting on blocks and carvings that are a thousand years old. I love it!

Seriously, don't you feel Indiana Jones and imagine those aborigines blowing darts out of their tubes? I sure did!

I feel so bad to say this- but I thought the decorated ones just looked so TACKY!!!! I feel bad, because the people worshipped them, but they look so amazing on their own. Shiny fabric and ornaments just look so off to me!

Sometimes I'd look up and see little Marius amongst all of this and I just loved it.

I know my kids are so small and probably won't remember this- but I still love that they're here and got to experience running around ancient ruins that few people get to see.

Yep, bats hanging above. So gross! Oh yeah- forgot to mention in my last post that bats totally fly around our house, the parks we go in (when the sun sets) and we definitely see them and yes- it's creepy. Flying rodents- it's just not my thing.

I just loved that intricate carvings were everywhere on everything. Almost nothing was left untouched. They made everything beautiful and designed everything. I really was impressed by that. Sometimes I wondered what slave power was behind this, because how else could it have ever been produced so long ago? And that's sad to think!

Cambodian food was a whole new life changing experience. It was AMAZING!!!! I feel like I can't say the food is reason enough to fly to the country- but it basically is. We had some dishes that just blew our minds and I couldn't even find the words to tell Greg how much I was enjoying my meal. It was just incredible. It's very similar to Thai food but not spicy. Every meal was lemon grass, ginger, coconut milk, star anise and kaffir lime. Oh it was amazing. I hope I can recreate SOMETHING from Cambodia in my kitchen. I bought a cookbook in the airport. We'll see . . .

There were a lot of stray cats and the kids were normally quite freaked out by them, but somehow Scarlet filled a leave or cabbage from our plates with food and put it on the ground for the cat and it started eating it. The kids were really into it.

Everyone said Angkor Wat at sunrise was a life changing experience and completely worth it so I tried it out- at 5:40 am. And guess what- it didn't change my life at all. It would've helped to know the exact time the sun would actually come up, so I could've explored the temple instead of waiting and getting bored for 40 minutes only to see a hot pink sun come up- which was pretty cool- but not cool enough to lose so much sleep over.

We didn't bring our Easter Baskets so the Easter Bunny filled the kids hats. Sometimes I look at my kids and think, "Man. My kids are so adorable." And they are!

The next day was Ta Prohm. And it was awesome. I was the most excited for this one. This Temple was all overgrown with ancient trees that were HUGE- growing ON TOP of walls and roots coming down the sides. It was incredible. There was a ton of construction and stuff all around, which took away from the look of it all- but it was still pretty cool. You can hardly tell, but this tree is over a building. Like there's a door right behind me and a room inside.

This one was pretty amazing. Unfortunately  . . . it was so crowded! For the really cool parts, like this, we just had to stand in line and quickly take a picture and leave. There was no lingering and staring as long as your soul desires. So that was a bummer. I really wanted to just stare and take it all in. I wondered how ancient these trees were and how long it took for them to get like this. If trees could talk, what would they say? They would have seen a lot!

We bought a sweet little local outfit for Marius. Seriously- isn't this picture amazing?

 
It didn't matter where you were or what you were looking at- every corner we turned we'd say to each other, "This is so cool!"

I just loved seeing Brighton run around, climbing through all the rubble. I just loved it!

Marius loved the whole thing. He always wanted out of the pack and would just take off. It was a little nerve racking sometimes because he'd get ahead of us, while we'd be looking at structures and suddenly he'd be about to turn a corner and who knows what's on the other side- maybe a nice drop off.

Seriously- who walked these halls? I like wondering about these things. It excites me!

The next day we saw the Bayon Temple which was way better than I thought it would be. This temple is cool because it has way more carvings and detail and tons of FACES that are smiling- everywhere. It was awesome because there were hardly any people there so it was so peaceful which made it so enjoyable. I loved it! I loved how beautiful it was and how much care went into making it that way. I thought- if I lived back then, I'd want to live at this temple.

We saw some elephants on our way and it was pretty amazing to see an elephant so close. I thought they were beautiful. The kids were pretty freaked out.

So I should mention- we spent a lot of time watching monkeys- everyday. I couldn't believe how entertaining it was. The kids loved it. The first time we watched a family of monkeys there were 2 adult monkeys on a table of sorts and one was just laying there while the other one picked through it's hair eating bugs and there were young monkeys running and playing and wrestling each other, all over the place. It was so fun to watch! And I just loved that the adults were tired and lazing around. I could so relate- at least to WANTING to do that.

So the first time I approached a monkey, it thought I was going to steal some food from it and it came at me with it's mouth and fangs open and scared the crap out of me, right in front of my kids. I was just walking up to it and out of nowhere it comes at me in attack mode and I back off towards the tuk tuk thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to get bit by a monkey" and I just wasn't sure if running away would just make it chase after me more, but at the same time it was coming at me with those teeth so I wasn't going to stay there. And this all happened within 5-10 feet of my kids. It freaked the crap out of me. That's all I have to say. Eventually I gained my courage again and bought some fruit from a vendor for a $1 and fed the monkeys.

But then it stood up and walked towards me to grab the fruit and I screamed.

I wanted to do it, but it made me so squirmy.

At one point another couple monkeys quickly came towards me and I got really freaked out and Greg yells throw it! So I did and just ran back to the tuk tuk. It made me nervous!

Then we saw BABIES!!!! TONS!!! It was so sweet and adorable to see. Greg saw one nursing. They would hang on the backs or tummies of the mothers as they crawled around. They were so small and adorable.

 At one point, a small monkey snuck up on us and climbed right up on our tuk tuk, seriously inches from my shoulders and Brighton was freaking out, because he was closest to it. I was nervous but at the same time wanted to get a picture of him, but didn't want him to end up crawling all over us, trying to get in our things. So quickly the driver started to drive and he jumped off. But then ANOTHER popped up and the whole thing happened again. It was a little rush, but fun at the same time.

So most of the transport in this area are Tuk Tuks. They are everywhere. So everywhere you go, they are parked all over and they all have hammocks they hang up and just sleep in them when they're not driving. Everywhere we went, we'd see people laying in hammocks in the trees on the side of the road. SO MANY PEOPLE. Babies were often taking naps in hammocks all over the place- people's houses, the market, etc. It was kinda cool.

We were on our way to a bathroom and I loved how jungly it looked. It's actually where all the monks lived. They were all in these shacks on stilts. So barren. I really wanted to take a picture but didn't want to be rude.

At this temple we found a monkey just chillin' on top of some stairs. It was actually really surprising. We turned a corner and there he was just 5 feet away.

I just loved this temple. There was so much art, everywhere. It was so beautiful.

It was so nice to see NATURE. We live in the CITY so seeing anything like this is at least 2 hours away, in good traffic. It made me remember, once again, how much I love to be in nature. On trails with green trees around. It fills me up.

More monkey watching.

Marius LOVED the monkey watching and wouldn't want to leave.

While we were waiting to ride an elephant, we hear some rumbling in the bushes and out pops this Hen and her chicks!!! It was so cool to watch! So much wild life here!

It was actually pretty dang uncomfortable up there, but after I figured it out- it was really fun. We had to bribe the kids with toys to get them up there with us. They were so stubborn and afraid.

It was a pretty short and expensive ride, but it was something Greg and I have always wanted to do. I got pretty camera happy while we were up there.

 It was really pretty when we got to the top and had a nice walk down. You can barely see- but you could see multiple temples up there, especially Angkor Wat. It was really cool.

We shopped in the markets quite a bit- which was really difficult with the kids. They hated it and whined and cried constantly and were begging "buy me something! buy me something!" Greg was an angel and took the kids back to the hotel for bed and let me stay at the markets and come home later. It was awesome and I bought some shorts and shirts for super cheap. I figured out how to haggle and felt pretty cool about it- not that I was cut throat by any means. They weren't too persistent about prices.

We went to this "circus" but it wasn't a traditional circus at all. It was historical and extremely artistic and I would've been crying if I wasn't worrying about the kids seeing very inappropriate things. There was a long chunk about the Khmer Rouge which was a terrible event where 25% of Cambodians were brutally murdered by a group that took over the country in the 70s. So there were some pretty graphic scenes and it was so emotionally INTENSE. There was a guy that would paint a picture between scenes and one time he quickly painted bombs, lit tiny fireworks on it, followed by a bunch of red paint all over it- and there was really intense live music in the background and even though it was metaphorical and artsy Scarlet completely got it and was freaking out and I felt so sorry we brought her there. That was just one short piece of long stretches where I had to cover her face and hold her close. I felt so terrible. But it was so moving. I was amazed at the talent. It makes me so sad that the Cambodians have suffered so much at the hands of one wicked man.

This was our last night in Cambodia!

Our hotel was amazing. The staff couldn't have been nicer and more friendly. The pool was incredible and everything was just so beautiful. And when I asked if we could check out late, because our flight was at 10:30pm, and we couldn't- they just put us in another room and let us stay there as late as we wanted! We just loved it there.

The staff loved our kids and just couldn't get enough of them. People were staring, pointing and talking about our kids constantly. People couldn't keep their hands off them- REALLY. Our poor kids would just be walking along side of us and a stranger's hand would rub there head, their arms, grab their hands, their face or just pick them up. At the airport a lady literally picked Brighton up and even though he was clearly freaked she just took off with him, laughing. I kept saying, "Please put him down, he's afraid." But she never understood or heard me. I had to say it at least 3 times if not 4 and then finally she said, "Oh! Sorry!" and put him down. At a restaurant, one of the waitresses just picked up Marius and walked away with him into the kitchen. I know this sounds CRAZY, but it's just the culture and we've seen it so many times now, in so many places and so many airports, it doesn't surprise us or worry us at all. I just feel so bad for the kids, because it terrifies them and we teach them about strangers and that their bodies are their own and nobody has the right to touch them without their permission and then they are just attacked by LOTS of strangers constantly throughout the day, and we don't really do anything about it. I just try to explain they don't understand we don't want them to do it.

Oh yes- Greg and I were terrible sick the whole time we were there. It was awful. Came home and Greg went to the doctor to find out we all have Hand Foot and Mouth Disease! No wonder we're been feeling so awful for so long. Ok, wow. I'm tired. It's past two. I just couldn't stop coughing so came down for some tea. Love you guys!