Temples

Today we got picked up by our tuk tuk driver and tour guide around 5:30 am to head out to the temples. We saw the sun rising over Angkor Wat, which was beautiful. After that we headed to Angkor Thom housing many steep steps and then onto Ta Prohm. Here it looks like many of the structures are being swallowed by the jungle.



After a very hot and humid 97 degree afternoon of walking around seeing the many temples, we took a break for lunch. I got a chicken and vegetable curry stir fry, we sat for a bit then continued out of the main temple area about 30 minutes to Banteay Srei. This temple is considered by many to be the jewel of the Angkor temples and means, “Citadel of the Women.” Almost 9 hours later of touring these amazing temples we called it a day and headed home.
Grabbed from dinner did our last tour around Pub Street and the markets and heading back to the guesthouse to relax and pack up to head out tomorrow morning at 8am for Bangkok.

Renting Bikes

Today we woke up and got breakfast, rented $2 bicycles for the day so that we could ride around the city. We almost rode to the temples, then turned around and headed to the orphanage again.

We got to watch the children dancing and singing and then had to say goodbye and bike back to town before it got too dark. We bought our bus ticket to Bangkok, then went to dinner at a local restaurant, got dessert at Blue Pumpkin, then headed home.

Volunteering at AOEO

Today we woke up got a lok lak beef and eel breakfast, then went to volunteer at a local orphanage my friend Coleen had done some volunteering at, called Angkor Orphan and Education Organization (AOEO).

We stayed there for a few hours helping the children with school work, singing new songs, reading stories, playing games and teaching them aerobics, anything to keep them moving they enjoyed. After that we took a tuk tuk back into town and got a snack of pancakes with bananas and chocolate.


We got fish massages/ pedicures where there were tons of fish in a tank and you stick your feet in and have them eat your dead skin off. This was the weirdest feeling ever, it was definitely an experience.

After this we went to dinner on Pub Street where we ran into our dancing street girls again who are so adorable and we danced with them for a bit then headed to some local bars.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Yesterday we went to our last breakfast in Phenom Penh, then took a 6 hour bus to Siem Reap. We checked into our guesthouse right on the river, then headed out to an amazing dinner on Pub Street.

We got amok fish and chicken with ginger... and of course our favorite Happy hour deal of 50 cent beers. We then went to a nearby open bar/club where we danced and became friends with some children on the street who were dancing and selling bracelets and flowers.

Exploring Phenom Penh

Today we slept in a bit, woke up, got some Westerners breakfast, omelets, then went to get a massage at, Seeing Hands which has blind professionals giving the massages. It was so amazing! An hour long massage for $5!!!

After the ever relaxing massage, we went on to the see the Royal Palace home of the Silver Pagoda, which has over 5,000 silver floor tiles. While we were there two monks came up to us and asked if they could take a picture with us, which was pretty unexpected. Then we walked back along the river and stopped at a cafe nearby to grab some refreshing smoothies.

We went back to our hotel to put our bags back in the room, then walked along the river to the night market. It was very lively along the river, they were having dance classes for all ages, and there was exercise equipment that everyone was working out on. We took a stroll around the market then went to dinner and had some amok fish which was delicious.





Since this was our last night in Phenom Penh we wanted to stay out for a bit and we found a gay bar that had a drag show going on, so we of course went in to watch and chatted it up with the queens of the show for a bit before calling it a night.

50 cent beers!!

Today we woke up, went to breakfast/lunch at a Cambodian restaurant called “Friends”, which is a training restaurant working with street children and youth. They are students working here who follow their teachers as servers, bartenders and cooks and when they graduate they go on to working at popular restaurants in the area. Here we got Mekong fish fillet on a Khemer style tomato and red onion salad, delicious.

After this we went to the National Museum of Cambodia then took a tuk tuk about 25 minutes outside of the city to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Here at these killing fields the Khmer Rouge killed more than 20,000 Cambodians between 1975-1979. It took us about 2 hours with the audio tape to walk around the grounds then we headed back to the city to grab some dinner and enjoy happy hour.






I got a noodle dish, which had chicken tossed in hokkien noddles with a Chinese veggie peking sauce for $4 US,and Adrienne had a Khmer curry dish and we obviously participated in their happy hour with .50 cent beers, buy one get one free!! After that we headed to a nearby hotel with a rooftop pool bar.

Phenom Penh

After a late dinner last night we went to bed soon after, having had to be up today at 6am to leave for Cambodia. We took the slow boat down the Mekong River which was about 6 hours so we could take everything in and get some good pictures. It was such a nice and relaxing day. We first stopped at a fish farm then grabbed some lunch at the border crossing while waiting for our Visa's to be approved, which only took about an hour.

After that we took a bus about an hour to Phenom Penh, arrived by tuk tuk to our hotel right in the city by the river, with a balcony and an amazing view. We bought some .50 cent Cambodia beers drank them on our balcony, then headed out to dinner where we ate at two local food stands. First we got chicken wings, which were different... wings, looked more like chicken feet, then we went to another stand and got lotcha, which is a type of noodle with beef, which was very good.

We are excited to be able to sleep in and not have to be up early for a tour or anything we are going to explore the city at our own pace.