After our big trip to New Zealand we headed home for a few days to repack our bags before heading off again, this time to Thailand (more about that later) and Cambodia.
We flew to Cambodia via Hong Kong and Bangkok, so I got even more stamps in my passport.
In Cambodia we were met by a very nice immigration officer who smiled, said I was cute, and helped us get our visas sorted out nice and quickly.
Then we got picked up by our tour guide, Wood, and taken to our hotel.
The next day we got all dressed up and went out to see the Temples at Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom.
The Temples were built in the 12th and 13th centuries when there had been a huge city there with something like a million people living there.
There were lots of carvings and statues to see, and lots of opportunities for family photos in picturesque places.
After finishing at Angkor Wat we went around some of the other temples in Angkor Tom, which was the name of the larger capital city area that Angkor Wat was located within. There was the temple with the big faces, which all seemed to be smiling, just like our guide. He managed to get the first ever chuckle out of me with his silly antics. He seemed quite chuffed with this.
Next was the jungle temple, where instead of clearing away all the trees and weeds that had been overgrowing the temple as the had done at Angkor wat, they left the trees in place to show how they had been, and how the plants deteriorated the temples. It created a very cool atmosphere with the trees and greenery everywhere making the place feel a lot cooler and more ancient than the previous temples.
On the final day we went on a river cruise to see the traditional boat people in their natural environment. They were all very adept in their boats, even the little kids who were zooming up and down the river to see friends, to get to school, to do some work with mum or dad, or just to cruise around (somewhat like the cambodian equivalent of packs of kids on bicycles roaming the back blocks in Australia).
The range of boats was amazing, with buildings built on top of the hulls so that there were corner store boats, school boats, house boats, church boats, fish and crocodile farm boats, mechanics’ workshop boats and many other types.
After the boats we went to a traditional craft village. Mummy and daddy bought all sorts of stuff, but nothing for me :-(.
From there we went back to the hotel to pack our bags and head back to Bangkok, but that’s another entry for another day, since I’m a tired little girl and it’s past my bed time. Goodnight.