We were invited to go to Kampong Thom with teachers we have worked with a few months ago.  Lunch, temple visits, and another temple that got cut short by heavy rain.

Lunch

Walking around the temple area at Kampong Thom 

A few ants. Phaedra step into the middle of them and was very lucky to only get bit 1 time. She was standing surround by 100’s of them and only 1 bite.

I forgot the name of this area, but there are 800+ steps to the top. We made it about half way up when the rains came.

Not too bad at first

Then it get’s pretty heavy. Basically a river on the stairs.

Annika was excited to get some Halloween treats.

 

Miscellaneous Stuff

This is my minimal work space.  I work in our bedroom because it’s much cooler in here than anywhere else in the house. I miss my 3 monitor setup though.

 

A few years ago Phaedra and I started taking trips during our anniversary. We’ve been to Toronto and Niagara Falls, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone, skipped a trip last year because we were about to leave for Cambodia, and Siem Reap this year.  Need to find a cool place for next year.

We went out to eat for our anniversary to a nice restaurant named Olive in Siem Reap.  Annika made me wear a shirt with a collar 🙂

Good food.

Lunch with friends before they leave for the Philippines for a while.

Caesar!

Dragon Fruit – So much fruit to peel ratio!

Taco place ran by a Minnesota guy.

This was $29!

We get some weird colors outside sometimes.  We walked outside and everything was this strange orange color.

 

Some friends from church invited us over for a birthday diner.  Gumbo and brownie cake.  Annika has already requested more gumbo.

Friends from Tampa, Florida and Louisiana.

 

Annika and I got her an ice cream cake at Dairy Queen.  We got it a few days early

Annika and I took her to the circus. A really neat arena – like stepping back in time.

 

 

Some of our friends have a program where the kids wanted to learn some Microsoft software. We taught them Microsoft Word and Excel. Powerpoint is next.

We’ve tried lots of fruits that we don’t get in the US – or at least have never tried in the US. Other than durian, they have been pretty good.  But the sugar apple has been my favorite so far.  It doesn’t look too good, but taste great.  They are also called custard apples, which better describes the taste.

Seeds are poisonous and are sometimes used in pesticides, and also used to kill lice… So don’t eat the seeds.

A loud, bumpy, 10 minute ride through rice fields.

A straight shot out and back took about 45 minutes.

Some video of the ride

And what happens when you meet another cart?

Caesar doesn’t like monkeys. Monkeys don’t like Caesar.

These are not very good pictures but it was really cool seeing bats leave the cave for 40+ minutes.

I saw a sign for Killin Caves at the bottom of the mountain. I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was just a name – something like Kulen Mountain.

When we get to the top we realize it’s the Killing Caves.  A sight of executions by the Khmer Rouge.  If you don’t know, here is some info on the Communist Khmer Rouge, which carried out genocide on its own people in the 70’s.

Cambodian Genocide
Khmer Rouge

I heard an American living in Siem Reap say that she didn’t know anything about the genocide until she got to Cambodia.  That was a bit shocking to me

This was once a Khmer Rouge prison – prisons were typically temporary holding places before execution.

Path down to the cave.

There are over 20,000 mass graves in Cambodia. Millions died by “unnatural” causes and estimates as high as over 1 million were executed.  Less than 10 people have been prosecuted for war crimes.

Beautiful views from a place with an ugly history.

We went to Sampeau Mountain to see millions of bats that come out everyday around 5:00 PM.  We had no idea what else there was there, but when we got there we took a ride up the mountain to a few spots.

Sometimes you have no idea what you are looking at!  And walking up to this display was pretty shocking. There were a few ladies selling snacks around the area, and about a dozen kids.  It felt weird seeing all the kids play around here. After getting back home we looked it up and found out that these statues represent the Buddhist underworld.

Here is more info about a similar site in Thailand.

Made a road trip to Battambang on Friday – 100 mile trip that takes about 3-4 hours.

I forgot the names of these road side snacks.  We have never seen them anywhere else in Cambodia, but during a 1 mile stretch of road there are 2 dozen spots on the side of the road to buy them.

They are sticky rice, coconut, and beans cooked in a piece of young bamboo.  We got 2 for $1.50.  Tasty treat.

We stayed at a nice French hotel, Au Cabaret Vert.

Annika enjoying our large wall mounted TV.

Nice restaurant, but we had to sit outside because Caesar was with us.  Way too much traffic to sit outside.