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For the May Day (Labor Day) holiday on May 1, we flew for a long weekend trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Our adventure began at the Siem Reap airport when we filled out 4 sets of 5 different Cambodian entry forms (health declaration, immigration, customs, Visa, and arrival cards) and paid our entry fees, before discovering that our luggage had been lost in transit!

The next day, still in our clothes from the airplane, we woke up at 4:30 AM for a magical sunrise tour of Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat (which means “City of Temple”) was built by King Suryavarman II in the 12th century as a dedication to Vishna, the Hindu G-d . It took over 30 years to complete and is the largest religious monument in the world!  It was declared the 7th wonder of the world and a UNESCO heritage site.

When we sat down for dinner at our hotel later that night, we reflected on the things we enjoyed about Angkor Wat.  Here were our favorite things:

1) Seeing the sunrise and watching the reflection on the water.

2) Two types of stone that were used to construct the temple: red, porous laterite (“lava blocks”) and carved sandstone that came from a mountain range north of Siem Reap:

3) The incredibly detailed bas relief.  Both the quality of the details of the characters on the walls, as well as the quantity of images were amazing.

4) Asher particularly liked counting the number of umbrellas on the wall carvings since the number of umbrellas represented the level of power of the warrior.   Asher counted 17 umbrellas for the most powerful of them all.

5)  Dad liked how the temples changed religion: the temples were Buddhist and then changed to Hindu and then became Buddhist again.  The sad part was that when the Hindu’s took over the temples, they ordered all the Buddha’s in the friezes to be destroyed.  Out of the 9 temples that we visited and thousands of buddhas that once lined the walls and roofs, only 3 remained.

6)  Mum liked the cold coconut water.  It was so insanely hot (approximately 100 degrees with 90% humidity) that the cold coconut was amazingly refreshing and hydrating.

7)  We saw lots of monks (and nuns) who were celebrating the holiday in which Buddha was born and died.

 

There was also a fortune teller monk sitting in the middle of the inner temple of the four elements of air, earth, water, and fire.

8) and lots of Monkeys.

9) Mum also really liked the wide moat with the beautiful reflections that encircled Angkor Wat

 

After visiting Angkor Wat, our tour guide Sokoeurn took us to Bantey Kdei, the Teachers Temple which was built in the 12th century by Jayavarman VII as a buddhist temple.

When we walked through the gates there was a line of musicians and artists who were landline victims.   There used to be lots of buddhas but the hindus destroyed the temple.

We really loved exploring the nooks and crannies of the temple.

There was one very big tree that was growing along side of the temple.

 

After visiting the Teachers Temple, we went to Ta Prohm, which was also built by Jayavarman VII as a Buddhist monastery and university in 1186.

Unlike most of the temples near Siem Reap, Ta Prohm was left pretty much like it was found, with trees growing over it and thick jungle surrounding it.

There were many narrow passage ways with roots of trees and blocks to climb over.  What made Ta Prohm unique was how the trees and ruins seemed to be intertwined.

Because Ta Prohm had been used as the set location for the movie Tomb Raider, it was a very touristy destination.

So for a change of pace, we went over to Ta Nei Temple in which we were virtually the only ones exploring the ruins.   Ta Nei was also built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century.

After arriving in late the night before, waking up super early to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat, and enduring the 100+ degree heat, Asher was overheated and exhausted.  So, after falling asleep at the restaurant

We called it a day and took him back to the hotel for a quick swim to cool down and a rest in his awesome netted bed at the Pavillon d’Orient Boutique Hotel.

After an evening of intense thunderstorms and a good nights rest, we were refreshed for our next day’s adventures.  We started our second full day of Temple tours, with a tour of Angkor Thom, the “Great City”, which was was the last capital of the Khmer Empire.

Unique to Angkor Thom, were the 54 G-ds on the left and 54 demons on the right that flanked the gate with the 4 faces of Avalokiteshvara.

The original Royal Palace (which was originally wood and therefore destroyed) within the walls of Angkor Thom was built by the kings of the 10th century, but the construction of the “Great City” is attributed to Jayavarman VII.

Unlike Angkor Wat in which the carved walls were predominantly religious, many of the etched stones at Angkor Thom depicted battles as well as everyday life

But, of course, there were some cool Apsaras

We started our tour in the Bayon Temple, which stands in the center of the walled city and represents the intersection of heaven and earth.

We left the Bayon for a desperately needed bathroom break.  Ben managed to capture Aliya and Raquel fleeing from Aliya’s first successful squatter experience!

Still within the walls of Angkor Thom, we headed over to the Baphuon, a temple built in 1066.  Because of safety issues, kids under 12 were not allowed in, so Ben and I went for a quick wander around while the kids met us on the other side.

After we met up on the other side, we walked by the site of the old Royal Palace, the Sky Palace and the Terrace of the Elephant & Leper King.  We also saw some cool nature on the way

Our next stop was Preah Kan, “Holy Sword”, which was also built by Jayavarman VII

I loved the carved stone, which was perfect for photo ops.

Where a Buddha once stood, now sits a “stupa” or a shrine with ashes of monks.  The light at the top is really a hole in the ceiling.

Every angle offered a new opportunity for Raquel to go snap happy

We took a quick break for lunch where Asher found a sling shot (that Raquel vetoed as a souvenir) at the shop attached to the restaurant.

After lunch we drove a bit further north (30 k from Siem Reap) to Banteay Srei, the “Lady Temple”, which was unique because of its small size and pink color.

The Lady Temple was a 10th century Hindu temple.   With columns written in sanskrit  and intricately carved designs.

After the Lady Temple we drove to Banteay Samre, built in the 12th century in a similar style as Angkor Wat with similar materials as Banteay Srei.

By the time we had visited 8 Cambodian temples, Asher was a bit tired, dehydrated, and templed out.

But once he got some fluids and was given the camera to take some photos of the tomb of the little child inside the temple, he rallied again.

Believe it or not, we managed to make it to one more temple – Pre Rup – on our way back to the hotel.

The next day, we hopped on our tuk tuk for a bit of a wild ride through Siem Reap to the Old Market for some souvenirs.

Then we took a last dip in the pool before heading back to Hong Kong.

Here are a couple cute photos of the kids at the temples