The last week of summer, we spent 5 days in Cambodia as a family. We were there primarily to tour Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, a series of Buddhist temples over 1,000 year old. The Temples were lost in the overgrown jungle for 400 years, until a French explorer found them in 1860. Work to uncover the temples has been going on ever since. If you look very, very closely at the picture above, you will see Marc, Elie and Nathan at the very top. Double click on the picture to make it much larger, and they will be easy to see.
On day two, we took a three hour horseback ride through the rice fields and eventually to another grouping of Temples. The kids got to ride on their own horse, with a helper at the ranch walking along beside them. They loved doing it by themselves.
Day three we rented ATVs and road through the dirt roads outside of town, which gave us a chance to see the small villages and farming communities. We brought candy to hand out to any kids we encountered on the ride. What’s funny, we talked a bit with these two little boys and gave them a few pieces. They unwrapped them, threw the wrappers on the ground and walked away. I was outraged, wanting to go after them and yell at them. And then I realized – no trash cans or waste removal services out here. There was no place to direct them to dispose of their trash. Different world completely.
Marc and Elie rode together the second half of this ATV trip. When we arrived back at the ATV rental location, they were both covered in mud. Elie took off her sunglasses and was like a baby raccoon - all black except the little white circles around her eyes, shaped just like her sunglasses. Marc was the same. I think he hit every puddle of mud on purpose. We had to get them towels to wipe off. Nathan and I, of course, were pristine, much to his disappointment!
We took supplies to and toured an orphanage just a few miles from Siem Reap. It was amazing – these children who have so little, but the biggest smiles and welcoming waves. Elie and Nathan got to play with them a bit and loved watching them work in their school classrooms.
