On Sunday, Annika and I ran in some races at Angkor Wat. I “ran” the half marathon around Angkor Wat and through Angkor Thom. Annika ran in the 5K. She got second place female overall.

She got a few prizes along with 500,000 Reil (125 USD) and a ridiculous amount of energy drinks.  10 cases of Wurkz energy drink.

Annika’s 240 energy drinks. We couldn’t carry all of these back on the scooter, so we only took a few cases.  We gave 1 case away before we got back to the scooter and gave some others away as well.

Some pictures around Angkor Wat we took while previewing the course.

About to go do some computer training and I decide to reboot my VM.

We made it on time…

We had Khmai curry and Dominoes pizza with friends from church tonight.

We took 18 people to the movies today. 18 tickets and drink and popcorn for $94.

We found a restaurant in Siem Reap that served a Thanksgiving meal and we had Thanksgiving dinner with the Fontenot’s from Louisiana.

Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, fruit, nuts, pumpkin soup, roll, apple pie, and a homemade pumpkin spice roll made by Danielle.

Most of Siem Reap still has decorations and lights up from the Water Festival. This is our tuk tuk ride going home from eating dinner with a friend. Nothing special, just showing some of Siem Reap at night.

Took Caesar for a walk in the afternoon.  Morning walks can go 2+ miles, and afternoon walk is less than 1/4 mile and he is ready to find some shade for resting.

Motocross is coming to Siem Reap in about 2 weeks.  There are currently building the course.  I’ve read that 1000+ riders are expected.  Our neighborhood on Street 60 is constantly hosting events. 

Just a video showing our walk to our house.

After traveling 6 hours from Phnom Penh, Annika and I didn’t make it, but Phaedra went to a diner celebrating 2 NGO’s in Siem Reap.  Lots of nations represented here – Australia, Denmark, Equador, Italy, USA, Malaysia, Nambia, Philippines, and Cambodians.

When Annika has my phone, she takes pictures of animals or food.

Visiting friends and their 6 day old baby.

This street had 50 pharamacies.  Side by side on both sides of the street.

A few miles from Tuol Sleng is the killing fields of Choeung Ek.  There were 1000’s of mass graves found throughout Cambodia.  Choeung Ek is the most well known with the largest monument, but there are many others.

Monument that contains many of the skeletal remains found on the grounds.

An interrogation camp by the Khmer Rouge – a former school known as S-21. Documented 12,000+ (but up to 20,000) people came here and only a few survived (20-200 depending on source).  You can read more here.  There were many of these places during the Khmer Rouge rule.

No photos can do justice to show how horrible this place is.  One of their sayings was “To kill the grass, you have to kill the roots”. That was their justification for killing innocent family members and children of suspected enemies.

We started our time in Cambodia in Phnom Penh, and after spending a few days back there, we are very glad moved to Siem Reap.  Traffic is terrible there, and it’s very crowded everywhere we went. We had several 50+ minute tuk tuk rides that were only a few miles long. Rides in Siem Reap are rarely move than 20 minutes.

Annika and I had really good pizza at Brooklyn Pizza while Phaedra took care of Caesar.

Caesar practicing his sad face

He stayed at doggie daycare while we went out

Lunch with friends at a great Malaysian restaurant.

The worst thing about Cambodia is finding simple things – like parts for a washing machine.

We went to visit our friend’s family out in the countryside. They are farmers with pigs, chickens, cows, and a rice field.  They made lunch for us – rice, chicken, noodles, and fruit.

A monkey on the road to their house.

Their rice field almost ready for harvest.

Of course, Annika finds a dog.

Rice drying on a tarp.  We have seen 1000’s of these tarps in Cambodia.