Charity

 One of the more enjoyable parts to the trip was a visit to a local orphanage. We met a woman who was fund raising and decided to accept her trip to come visit the house.

 The charity, together for Cambodia, takes care of 40 orphans, provides a stable home, supports their education and teaches English. We stopped at the store to buy both home products (soap, tooth paste, etc.) and some fun things (soccer balls).

We were not allowed to take pictures of the kids due to laws protecting them from predators at all charities. I was allowed to take a distant picture of our kids playing volleyball with the other children. 

A very impressive operation doing good work. Helped to remind us of how lucky we all are.

Temples 2

Second trip of temples brought us to two more incredible sites. The first site is Ankor Wat built in the early 12th century as a mausoleum for the king. Today, the site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also is on the Cambodian flag and more than 50% of all visitors to Cambodia visit the site.

With a huge moat and walls to protect the temple, it clearly shows the power of the Khmer King.

The temple is the central point of the 1000 temples in the province that was the largest pre-industrial city in history with an estimated one million people.

All of our pictures struggle to capture people and the scope of the temple. But at least they don't show us sweating.

To reach the inner palace, they have constructed modern stairs which cover the worn, stone steps. They are steep.

David did not see why his mother was making him hold the hand rail. He's going to make a great test pilot. Check out the confidence.

Not shown here - the carvings on every surface of this massive site. Every wall, column, ceiling, landing, ...everything.

The second site was Ankor Thom which was a late 12th century temple. It is famous for the faces carved in stone that adorn the gates and towers.

The same face  is found throughout the temple is believed to be either the face of the king, God, or a combination. There are over 200 huge faces throughout the site.

 A fun implication is that you can stand "face-to-face" with these huge carvings as Julia demonstrated.

 You can see that there are dozens of these faces behind David.

Look at how excited Brian was to participate in this photo. It was hot. Really hot. Brian wilted and we had to go home for a swim. Incredible.

Temples 1

Our first trip into the jungle was to visit Ta Prohm or the 'tomb raider' temple. The temple was built in 1181 as the Khmer kingdom was strong.  The king built the temple for his family with the most important buildings for his mother. 

After the fall of the Khmer empire in the 15th century, the temple of Ta Prohm was abandoned and neglected for centuries.

The site was left to the jungle and the jungle took over. "Rediscovered" in the early 20th century, the trees had become an impressive addition/destroyer to the temple. The silk-cotton trees' roots look like snakes coiling around everything.

 Julia did her best impression of the carvings.

 The visual images are impressive at every turn. The temple preservation organization has decided to leave the temple in the current condition instead of trying to rebuild to preserve the picturesque nature of the grounds.

 The movie Tomb Raider was filmed at the site and took advantage of the eerie feel of the site.

Cambodia

 Stop two on the trip was to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit the temples of Angkor Wat.

Yes - we are all smiles on arrival.

The next morning was a bit rough but Julia was trying to put her best smile on for the camera. Nice place for breakfast.

The boys didn't seem too impressed with the impressive hotel and pool. Brian's face clearly transmits his feeling.

 Once the swimming started, the moods improved dramatically.

 Great place.

Night swimming was a highlight for the kids but I turned out to be the main course for some enterprising mosquitoes.

I loved the open air eating and drinking areas. Impressive. We should be ready to tackle the temples.

TSA Bangkok

Please remove your shoes....

David's 12th Birthday

 

While on vacation, we celebrated an important 12th birthday. Dave's choice was to visit the aquarium inside of a large Bangkok shopping mall.

 After posing with the welcoming figures outside of the exhibit, we entered....

 

Oooh.. Jackie Chan! Funny how Mr. Drama didn't play it up here.
David really seemed to enjoy viewing all of the exhibits and could identify many of the species.

 One highlight was Dave's purchase of shrimp/prawns to feed the fish/sharks in our glass bottom boat trip. Look how proud we are to be holding the future victims.  In my opinion, the life jackets may have been overkill.

 

Brian tempted his mother with threats to touch the "biting" fish.

The exhibits included petting areas and a fish pedicure. Everyone (except Dad) seemed to love this. Look at the laughter.

 The end of the B-day brought his choice for dinner and a family photo.

 ...And a birthday candle to blow out in addition to his personal bowl of ice cream...

Bangkok

 Our first stop was Bangkok where we visited the great temples including Wat Phra Kaew which is in the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace was built in 1782 and was the home of the King of Siam until 1925.

 It was very, very hot but the palace requires proper dress so you will notice the long pants on the men and skirts and sleeves on the women. The palace is huge, being built over 200 years and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Bangkok.

 The temples are beautiful and impressive. There is gold everywhere and the colorful tiles on the roof impressed Julia.

 

If you look closely, you can see the 'middle' building in the complex which is covered in tiles and surprisingly tall.

 The center temple holds Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It's a solid dark green statue of a standing Buddha which is 26 inches tall carved from a single stone. It's history goes back to India several centuries.

Aside from the Thai King, no person is allowed to touch the statue. Here is everyone in front of the Buddha. (We could not photograph it from inside the temple.) Look at the excitement on Brian's face!

The day was quite interesting and everyone found something to enjoy including our most difficult customers.

The different buildings were incredible and the children held up against the heat. (mostly)

David said this looked like a statue of Dad. I told him that he is on his way to becoming his father so we could share a picture with the guy. Incredible that I was here with my father 20 years ago and can remember vividly visiting the temple. (although - not this figure)

Every turn provided an incredible picture and history dating back centuries.
Brian wanted a picture with the royal guard in front of the official ceremonial home of the King.

 He believes he is getting taller and liked the comparison to the best guards in the country.

 We ended by going back to the hotel which had a lovely pool next to the not-so-lovely river in Bangkok. Swimming makes the group happy.