Cambodia and Angkor Wat

After a few days of silence, we're back online! We are now in Metro Manila staying with Menchie's sister and family, and are having a wonderfully relaxing time together. We'll share first about our trip to Cambodia and then post some updates on the Philippines.

We arrived in Cambodia on Friday evening and were picked up by Marisa and Mavic, Menchie's cousins that work there. For two nights, we stayed at the Somadevi Angkor hotel in Siem Reap, a four-star hotel that would easily pass for five-stars anywhere else in the world! Siem Reap is jam-packed with hotels, to accommodate all the tourists visiting the famous Angkor Wat ruins.

On Saturday, we were shown around by a local Bahá'í, Ban Chonhlaa, who makes a living as a tour guide. We started our day at Angkor Thom, which was established in the twelfth century as the capital city of the Khmer empire. Enna-Marie particularly enjoyed the live elephants that were gathered in front of the entrance there. Then we went on to the temple complex of Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is a temple in the jungle, and the ruins have become intertwined with giant roots of trees. Ta Prohm was also the setting of the movie Tomb Raider!

In the afternoon we visited Angkor Wat, in the scorching heat! Angkor Wat is the temple built for King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. apparently it is the largest religious structure around the world, and is the symbol of Cambodia.

In the late afternoon we enjoyed the refreshing water in the swimming pool as a reward for our efforts ;)

The second day we visited a floating village nearby Siem Reap. This floating village has a hospital, a store, a garage etc. and it was quite unbelievable for us to see how people can actually live like that. The floating village is situated on a river that ends in the Tonlé Sap lake, which connects to the Mekong river.

In the evening we transferred our residence from the hotel to the home of our friends Mario and Marpha. To wrap it all up, we had a wonderful dinner in a Chinese restaurant and walked around the centre of Siem Reap for a little while.

Highlights of our last day in Cambodia were the visit to the local market where we bought some nice silk fabrics, and a visit to a silk factory outside Siem Reap in the afternoon. At this silk factory we could see the whole process of making silk fabrics beginning with the silk worm and ending with the store that sells the finished products.

In the evening we enjoyed the Nineteen Day Feast with the local community, and the next day we left for Manila!