We took a day off from sightseeing to relax at the hotel pool and walk around the town, the old market and try some specialties of Siem Riep. Even though the weather was very hot my family loved the friendly atmosphere, nice people and the food from the old market. One of the highlights of the trip for me was that my mother, for the first time ever, at more than 70 years of age, got into a swimming pool to swim and she can swim every well. My nephew, my sister and I told her to walk into the pool to let her feet relax and take some photos with my sister. Then we pulled her into the middle of the pool for a bit of paddling. Truly a great moment to see!
On our last day at Siem Reap, our tuk-tuk driver Pheav took us to visit Banteay Srei Temple which has some of the most beautiful stone carvings in the world. This temple is about a 45 minute jouney by tuk-tuk from Siem Reap but we got a really good look at rural life in Cambodia along the road. My mother loved this temple the most because because of the carving and she was very impressed at the Cambodian government's efforts to maintain it so well. As UNESCO world heritage sites, they are obviously a very important source of revenue for the country.
Our next stop was the Ta Prohm Temple. My sister and my nephew couldn't believe those amazing huge trees growing throughout the temples and how nature and man's structures could become like one. We noticed this time that lots of restoration work was being carried out and that many foreign organisations help out.
Anyway, my family's visit to Siem Reap was great. We all learnt something new, about the different culture, experienced the beauty of the great temples and the charm of the Cambodians. The best thing from the trip was seeing the happiness that my mother showed after so many years of her working and sorting out the difficulties of our lives. Can't wait to make another trip somewhere next year with her.
Thanks to the Central Boutique Angkor staff and especially Mr Pheav for giving my family some great times in Siem Reap!!!!!
We left the hotel at 5 am and headed to Angkor Wat. As we approached, the sun was starting to rise up behind the amazing temple. The quiet of the morning and the early fresh cool wind blowing across our faces was a nice way to wake up. And what spectacular scenery. My mum said, "Angkor temple looks so beautiful and well maintained, why don't we have something as beautiful as this in Vietnam???" I told her that we have different things of beauty in Vietnam, from the north to the south, like the Cham towers, Halong Bay, and Phong Nha Cave, which are all world heritage sites, too.
Anyway, we sat outside and watched the sunrise for about an hour, before walking into the temple to start our day. My main duty was explaining the site and taking photos for everyone. Thank god that I like photography and I enjoy doing this kind of work. My sister and my nephew love having thier photo taken and I spent most of the time focusing on them in different corners of the site.
We walked toward the entrance and we saw a group of 30 very loud Chinese people talking to each other. We tried to avoid them but they seemed everywhere. I think this kind of place needs quiet for people to enjoy its peaceful beauty instead of shouting and arguing.
Our great regular guide Pheav next took us to Bayon Temple and he told us about its history when we arrived and offered us water that he had prepared in an ice container. We very much appreciated his attention to this kind of detail. I told my mother this is my favorite temple in Siem Riep and this is the third time I had been here, the first 2 times during my first trip last year. We were all wondering how people in that generation could make these amazingly huge statues and erect them on hilltops. We spent more than an hour wandering around and taking heaps of photos, of course!!! On the way out, we saw quite a few old women sitting inside the entrance chatting in their traditional costumes after finishing their prayers. I wish I could speak Cambodian so that I could have got some special information about the temples in Siem Riep and especially Bayon temple.
Anyway, after a few hours my mother looked a bit tired and we decided to head back to the hotel to have lunch and jump into the hotel pool to cool down. Later in the day, we went to the night market at about 6 for dinner
