We woke up so early this morning and I'm not going to lie. I thought about not getting up. I mean - at sunrise, sunset or in the day isn't it the same place? I only had about 4 hours of sleep ... but I got up and got Kathryn and the big kids up. We were downstairs in plenty of time and our driver and tour guide were on time too.
We got to the temple complex and had to buy our tickets. They put your picture on your ticket and our pictures are not too pretty. We parked and started the hike up to Angkor Wat. Our tour guide was amazing. He knew a ton about not just the temples, but the area in general. He was in his 20's and very personable.
He took us to one of the libraries of the temple where we sat on the steps in the dark waiting for the sunrise. It was very peaceful and pretty. There was even a little pony grazing near us while we watched the sky lighting up. several more people came to our special place so we moved across the entry walkway to the pond so we could see the reflection of the temple in the pond at sunrise. There were many people selling books, pictures, breakfast, etc. Several people approached us asking if we would like a chair to sit down in (for a fee).
We bought two paintings for $30 and they wound them up into a straw holder for us. We decided to go back to the hotel since it was so close and get some breakfast. We got some breakfast and woke up Cori and Chuck. We then headed back out to the temples and saw two more temples. They were stunning. It was really amazing to see all of the work that had been done by hand to honor their gods. Very impressive ...
After those two temples, we had a great lunch at an open air restaurant near the temples. We wanted our tour guide to sit with us and eat, but he was not allowed to.
We dropped the boys off at the next temple and all of the girls went back into town for our cooking class.
( the portion below by Kathryn)
We arrived at our cooking class about 20 minutes late, but here it's no worries. The cooking class was at a restuarant, so we sat down at a table and they brought us a menu. They told us to choose an entree and an appetizer. We all looked at each other with some confusion because we were so incredibly full from just eating lunch. Then the lady explained that we could choose anything off the menu to learn how to cook. We all were excited and chose something we would like to make back at home. Cailtin chose a spicy shrimp salad and cashew chicken, Kristen and Cori chose vegetable spring rolls and baby corn and pork, and I chose pumpkin soup and fried vegetable noodles. We waited a few minutes and then came to get us and bring us to start cooking our meals. We all followed them up the stairs into their "teaching kitchen". Now, just to remind you, nearly everything in Cambodia is open air, and this was no different. So, it's the middle of the day and hot and we were in the kitchen with hot stoves. They gave us all an apron and a chefs hat. We put them on and got to work. We were assigned a station and intructed on chopping and cutting and preparing all of the vegetables and then our meats. Our cooking instructor told Kristen to skin the carrot and tarrot root and gave Cori this huge knife to cut up the onion. (I thought it was a little backwards but it seemed to work out) Caitlin chose two recipes that had alot of vegetables and were very work intensive, so we were all finished and were able to sit and rest before moving on while Caitlin was still working. It was so hot by this time that we were going through water like crazy and sweating through our chef hats. (I guess after living here you must adjust to this heat and humidity. We were all so hot, but the staff seemed unphased) When we were finished cooking all of our meals and they were on the table spread out, we were all impressed with the sight of our perfectly prepared meals. Most cooking class participants then go back down stairs to the restuarant and enjoy eating the meal they prepared... We were all still so full from lunch, and the heat has seemed to make us a little less hungry, so we took it in to-go containers. The to-go, or as they call it here, take away comes in a little different form. They brought up three to go styrofoam containers and a box of little plastic bags that looked like the tinest shopping bags. They poured the noodles, rice, soup, etc. into the little baggies and then placed them into the containers. It was different that what were we used to, but got the job done. Since we didn't eat our meal there we were finished early and went downstairs to get a cab back to the hotel. The restuarant had already called our driver (we didn't know they did this until we were downstairs, does everyone know everyone in this town???) It was a very nice luxury to have them so in tune with our time to have already called our driver and about 5 minutes later. our driver arrived and brought us to the hotel.
We had about 20 minutes to relax before we went on our next adventures. Our driver and tour guide came back to the hotel and picked us up and we headed to the nunnery. (The nunnery here is different here. It's a Buddist nunnery where men and women who are nuns live.) We arrived at 4:10pm and there were over 20 nuns in the temple area on their knees praying. (They pray at 4am and 4pm for two hours each session) We walked in and since our tour guide actually lived at this nunnery when he was younger, many of the nuns knew him and were smiling when they saw him. One of the nuns came out of prayer and wanted to show us where she lived and accept the offering we had brought. (Chuck went to the store with our tour guide and they bought milk and tea and sugar) The nuns can only eat from when they wake up at 4am until noon. Then they are only allowed to drink, so our tour guide made the suggestion of what to bring to Chuck. The nuns are not allowed to work so the only thing they have to eat is what the villagers donate. When the nun brought us to her house she showed us and explained to us (through our guide as a translator) how they only sleep on the floor with a mat. The home was a 12x12 square with a bamboo mat on the floor and a couple of pictures of friends or family on the wall. They said they do not have the luxuries of a/c or a bed or anything that makes them too comfortable and could take away from their dedication and prayers. We all kneeled down and Chuck presented the food (actually just liquids) to her and she was so thankful and said a prayer for us and wished us a safe trip back home. It was very interesting to be able to see the nunnery and have the opportunity to go inside and have someone explain everything as we went. I know Kristen talked about our tour guide ealier in this blog, but he really went above and beyond. We were very lucky to have him not only take us to the temples, but bring us to the nunnery and show us how they live and where he grew up. (Many of the people his age and younger were left without their parents when the war was going on. He was split up from his family at the age of twelve and went to the nunnery for support.)
This one has gotten long so we'll go for now and finish up our day later....
K & K
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