Angkor Wat and Beng Mealea

When people plan a trip to Cambodia, they as often say they are going to Angkor Wat as Siem Reap because Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. 

Our guide brought us late in the day on Friday, when it was somewhat cooler and so we could see the sun setting on the temple, which turned it a stunning golden color. He said that it was hard to take good pictures in the morning, because the sun would be behind the temple, which faces west, unlike all the other temples that face east.

Angkor Wat was incredibly cool and lots of fun, with monkeys roaming around the grounds.  I loved that there were libraries, which must have been filled with scrolls, back in the day.  Te grounds are lovely and it was beautiful as the sunset reflected on the water of the moat surrounding the temple. 

The girls climbed up to the very top of the temple, while Chris and I enjoyed a small break. After a great tour of Angkor Wat, we headed back to the hotel for some dinner and a relaxing evening.


On Saturday, Beng Mealea was the last temple we toured, although I was sick and stayed at the hotel while Chris and the girls went to climb the ruins. It was probably for the best that I skipped that one, as it was a 2 hour car ride to Beng Mealea, over very bumpy and twisty roads.  Even though things are that far apart in the Angkor area, the roads are so choppy that I'd already almost gotten car sick on our way to Ta Phrom the day before.  Plus, when the got to Beng Mealea, Chris and the girls found that the stairs were really more like ladders with no hand rails and lots of scary heights and edges.  I don't think it would have been my cup of tea, even if I wasn't sick in bed.

Beng Mealea is a temple in the Angkor Wat style located 40 km east (two hours on very bumpy roads) of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia, on the ancient royal highway to Preah Khan Kompong Svay. It is very much still in ruins and reclaimed by the jungle.

It's one of the most mysterious temples at Angkor, as nature has well and truly run riot. Built to the same floor plan as Angkor Wat, exploring this temple is Angkor's ultimate Indiana Jones experience. The temple used to be utterly subsumed by jungle, but some of the dense foliage has been cut back in recent years.

The trip to Beng Mealea took several hours, given the long drive each way and the tour itself, so when Chris and the girls returned to the hotel, we had some lunch, swam and played games and hung out at the hotel before Sopanha came back to pick us up at 8 p.m. to take us to the airport. 

Unfortunately, there is only one flight on China Eastern from Siem Reap to Shanghai, which leaves at 10:45 p.m. and lands in Shanghai at 4 a.m., Shanghai time. Fortunately, we had scheduled a driver to meet us there and bring us home, so we were able to take our tired bodies and loads of luggage and stumble back to the apartment. The trip was a great experience, even though Chris and I both got a little sick at the end of the week.  We had a good mix of touring, resting, playing, pampering, and quiet reading time.  For a place that I never planned to visit, our week in Cambodia ended up being a great vacation. 

Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm

On Wednesday, we started our touring of the ruins of fabulous temples in the Angkor area.  Siem Reap is a popular resort town as the gateway to Angkor region. Angko is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries.

Our tour guide, Sopanha Yous, was recommended by a friend in Shanghai.  He was a history major and has excellent English, which was really reassuring to me.  When we travel in Asia, I am not comfortable unless we have an English-speaking guide who can not only help ensure that restaurants understand my allergy issues but also someone who can interpret for me if, God forbid, we need to go to a hospital.  When I contacted Sopanha and told him of my allergies and concerns, he said he already had a tour scheduled but that he would find a friend to take that tour and take ours himself, so he could help ensure my safety.  That endeared him to me right from the start.

The first of the Temples we visited was Angkor Thom, the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII. The royal palace used to be in a small portion of the large city, which includes several ruins.

The temples are in various stages of rehabilitation, some very much restored and some mostly still in ruins.  Angkor Thom was more than a temple, in that it was actually a city.  Parts of the temple are restored but what use to be the royal palace is mostly just an idea and an open area, without much reconstructed.  It's really interesting to see how the stones of the buildings are laid out and numbered like a jigsaw puzzle and people are still constantly working to rebuild.  It was really fun to climb up and over the ruins, looking at the intricate carvings and archways.  It was also a great place for a little hide and seek.

After Angkor Thom, Sopanha took us to a great local Cambodian restaurant for lunch.  He explained my allergies to the staff and I was happy to have a stir fried noodle and vegetable dish that was absolutely delicious.  Everyone had a great meal and it was a nice break from the heat.  The plan was to go to another temple in the afternoon, after a break during the heat of the day.  But when we all sat down to lunch and looked at our schedule of 2-3 temples every day, we decided it was going to be too much.  We wanted a much less stressful week, so we told Sopanha to rearrange our schedule and we headed back to the hotel for a break and then the Christmas Gala.

On Friday morning, we toured Ta Prohm, the temple where the movie "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider" was filmed.  Ta Prohm is very much a work in progress, with workers, scaffolding, construction equipment, and building everywhere.  Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors. UNESCO inscribed Ta Prohm on the World Heritage List in 1992.

We had another fun and interesting morning walking through Ta Prohm and touring the temple.  Sopanha took us to another great local restaurant for lunch and then we went back to the hotel for a rest before our sunset tour of Angkor Wat.

Siem Reap

 We flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia on Sunday, December 22 and stayed until Saturday, December 27.  We stayed at a lovely hotel, the Sokha Angkor Resort.  The weather in Cambodia in December is not too hot or humid, with days mostly in the mid- to upper-80's.

All of Siem Reap was really decorated for Christmas, which was a little disconcerting in that heat.  There were lots of lights and big Santas everywhere, although many of the Christmas trees were quite unusual.  Often the strings of lights ran vertically up and down the tree and the trees were white, pink, or covered with an odd assortment of decorations, including the tree in our hotel lobby, which was covered with teddy bears.

We arrived fairly late on Monday night, but on Tuesday morning, we had some time to take a tuk-tuk into town from a nice lunch and a chance to play cards.  We walked around the main tourist area and Elizabeth and Miranda even had a "fish pedicure."  After doing some shopping, we headed back to the hotel for a little down time before our big afternoon plans.



On Tuesday afternoon, we took an ATV tour into the Cambodian countryside.  I really hated everything about the tour, although Chris and the girls had a lot of fun.

I think part of the problem for me was the fact that we were driving through dusk and then dark, so we really didn't get to see many of the locals working in the fields, as others had told us was the best part of the tour.  We brought candy to give out to the children along the way, but our tour guide decided that we could go really fast the whole time, since we didn't have any little children with us, so he really didn't stop very often.  The roads or paths that we followed were filled with holes, mud, puddles, and bumps, so my head, neck and shoulders were in agony almost the whole time.  I really didn't want to drive one of the ATVs myself, so Miranda kindly agreed to let me ride with her.  However, if I could have said stop, take me back and go without me, I would have.  It was definitely not for me.



We had set up with our English-speaking private tour guide to take us to see some of the temples and ruins in the area on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, giving ourselves Thursday, Christmas Day, to relax, enjoy some spa time, and hang by the pool, swimming and playing cards. 

The hotel had a Christmas Eve gala dinner, which was mandatory, that featured some beautiful Christmas ice sculptures and entertainment.  The main problem with the gala was that it was outside, after dark, and therefore everything, from our chairs, tables and napkins to our food, drinks and silverware, were covered with bugs.  This whole thing was a little disconcerting because we had passed the local children's hospital where a large sign out front told of the epidemic of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, which is spread through mosquitoes.

On Christmas morning, we found our stockings full in our hotel room before the girls and i headed to the spa for 4 hours of luxury.  We had body scrubs, wraps, massages, and baths. After a relaxing day at the pool, Chris and the girls went to the spa in the afternoon for father-daughter facials.  We spent a lot of time playing cards and enjoying drinks by the pool, not a bad way to spend Christmas day.

We toured four temples over the course of the week, which I will discuss in my next post.

Christmas in Asia

Because we believe this is our last year on this assignment in China, we decided it would be great to bring all of our daughters to China together for Christmas.  Bringing them together didn't necessarily work well in the beginning.  Each of them wanted to fly to Chicago first and then on to Shanghai because they wanted to spend some time, either before or after China, at our home in Elmhurst.  So, because of their different schedules, they arrived one a day for 3 days in a row, December 19, 20, and 21.  So, we hired a car each day to drive the 45 minutes to the Pudong airport to pick them up.

Samantha arrived first, so the next morning, before Miranda arrived, we went to the International Eyeglass Market in Shanghai.  Samantha was like a kid in a candy shop.  She was so excited to be able to by several pairs of regular glasses and two pairs of prescription sunglasses for less than $150 USD.  I got some new glasses myself, including progressive transition lenses, which work for reading and distance, inside and out.  They were a fraction of what glasses like that would cost in the U.S., so I think I'll get some more made before we move back home.

Miranda arrived the second day and we went to the Fake Market with Samantha and Miranda to stock up on purses, wallets, make up, scarves, coats, shoes, boots, etc.  Everything is so inexpensive here, I know I'll have trouble paying full price when I get back home.  

Elizabeth arrived on the third day, so we went to the Fabric Market with her to have dresses, skirts, blazers and coats custom made.  We needed a week for everything to be finished, so we wanted to be sure to go before leaving for Cambodia.

On the fourth day, we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia for the week of Christmas.  

I never planned to go to Cambodia and when Elizabeth first suggested it, I said no.  As a child of the 60's, I remember watching television coverage of the Vietnam war every night after dinner and had no desire to visit Vietnam and Cambodia after seeing all of that.  Yes, the war has been over for a long time, but there just wasn't anything drawing me to this area of the world.  Then, my niece Lauren visited Siem Reap a couple of years ago. Last March, my sister Kate and brother-in-law David visited both Siem Reap, Cambodia and then onto Vietnam with Peter, Nickle and the kids.  They all reported that the ancient temples of Angkor Wat are incredible and they had a great time and we should go.  Also, because it's a less expensive area of the world to visit, especially as compared to Tokyo, which was the other front runner for our Christmas vacation, we figured we could take all 5 of us there for a week for a reasonable sum.

We spent Sunday through Saturday in Siem Reap and then returned to Shanghai at 4 a.m. on Sunday, 12/28.  Elizabeth only had a day and a half to stay after that, as she was flying back to Chicago on December 30th to be there for New Year's Eve.  Miranda stayed until January 2 and Samantha until January 9, going home in reverse order of how they arrived.  We had fun with Miranda and Samantha after Elizabeth left, but it got to be too quiet here too quickly after Samantha left. 

While the girls were in Shanghai, we shopped for DVDs at my favorite Movie Store, where each movie is 8 RMB, which is about $1.30.  We also went to eat JiaoZi, dumplings, at DinTaiFung, one of our favorite places for Chinese food.  Although it's more of a chain and not necessarily as local as other places, I am able to eat there and not worry about getting sesame or tree nuts or some other allergen.  We love the stir-fried green vegetables as well as the chicken and pork dumplings.

Neither Samantha nor Miranda had been to Hot Pot before, so we took the to Hai Di Lao, a great chain of Hot Pot restaurants  Hot Pot is something similar to fondue, where we have wells of a mushroom broth and a spicy shezuan broth, into which we drop meats, veggies, and noodles.

After Elizabeth and Miranda left, Samantha had quite a bit more time here.  We found a great German bakery, Brotzeit, and had some delicious pretzel bread that reminded us all of the great breads we used to have when we lived in Frankfurt. Samantha and I were lucky enough to be able to have a semi-private Indian cooking class with my friends Jenni and Sandy and their daughters.  We made some delicious Chicken Biryani and potato and chicken samosas.  The teacher, Payal, is a wonderful chef and I've learned a lot from her in the handful of Indian cooking classes I've taken.  I really enjoy the classes and hope to be able to fit a number of them in before I leave.

On the last day Samantha was here, we went to the Zotter Chocolate Theatre and Tour, which opened in the fall here in Shanghai.  Zotter is an Austrian chocolate company and Samantha visited the original factory in Austria while she was there last fall on her semester abroad.  She really enjoyed seeing the facility here and talking, in German, with Julia Zotter, the daughter of the couple who started the company in Austria.  Of course, it was also fun tasting all the different chocolates as well.

I really loved having them all here, even though they were a bit jet-lagged and some of us got sick over the holiday.  We had a great time in Siem Reap and I will post those pictures in another blog entry. I am looking forward to moving back to the U.S. so that I can go and visit them more often and they can all come home to our house in Elmhurst. But, in the meantime, it was a wonderful way to spend our last Christmas in Asia.