Hi blog followers,

The Cambodia trip is rolling along with yet another amazing (and scorching) day under the sun.  The first stop of the day was to the world-renowned Angkor Wat, the premier structure from the Khmer empire and one of the largest religious structures in the world.  We were told that the name Angkor Wat translates from the Khmer language into “city temple” (Angkor= city, Wat= temple). 

Naturally, there was a lot of excitement from the group, knowing that they were looking at one of the most well known man-made structures of the world.  Despite the heat, the group made full use of the nearly 2 hours we were given to explore the temple.  After entering through the main gates, the group stopped in front of the pond where all the travel pictures of Angkor Wat are taken from in order to take our own set of pictures.  Afterwards, we trekked inside of Angkor Wat and up the VERY steep set of stairs that led into the main temple building.  Inside, the group noted the amazingly detailed carvings etched into the stonework of the temple, similar to what had been seen in all the Khmer temples we’ve visited thus far

Entry to Angkor Wat

. While going up to the main temple was tiring, coming down was a frightful situation for some, as a slip on the steep staircase would not have ended well.  Luckily, everyone came up and down without any incidents.

After a big group picture at the photo spot for Angkor Wat, the group took a long bus ride out to Banteay Srei, a cultural site that was surrounded by small ponds.  It was at this point that many in the group were getting slowly overwhelmed by the heat.  After a quick look around, we headed back to the buses and straight to lunch before a brief afternoon break at the hotel.  Many took the opportunity to cool off at the hotel pool.

After the break, we made our 2nd stop for community service by visiting a local orphanage.  At this orphanage, which was opened in 2003, all the kids are taught to create tradition Cambodian leather handicraft.  The orphanage runs solely off the profits generated from selling the handicraft in addition to some charitable funding from external sources.  After making their own handicraft items, our students thanked our hosts with another generous donation of supplies to all the kids at the orphanage.  The kids were beyond excited to be receiving their bag of goodies and were literally clambering over each other for one of the bags.  The orphanage kids repaid our gifts with a few English and Mandarin songs, a special shadow puppet show, and a touching farewell as we board our buses to leave.  Overall it was a very emotional affair, as our students bonded with the orphanage kids in a matter of mere hours

The gate

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Dinner was next on the agenda, and we headed to downtown Siem Reap to a traditional Cambodian restaurant meal.  The most sought after food item was the Cambodian style salad and green chicken curry, both of which were cleaned up almost immediately after those items arrived at the dinner table.  The group had so much fun at the night market from the first night, that we went back to the market a second time!  More gifts were bought, massages were had, and ice cream were eaten.  In fact so much was happening at the night market that unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures to show you!

We’re now back at the hotel and ready to end the evening peacefully.  What an unforgettable day we’ve all had and our group is ready for yet another day in Cambodia tomorrow.  You’ll hear back from us soon!