BenChrista

One of the best things about living in Cambodia for a few years is mastering the art of escaping from Phnom Penh to Thailand or Vietnam during the annual Water Festival. Ha! Just kidding...kind-of. We did leave for 3 annual festivals, but our last year in Cambodia, we stayed to enjoy every minute of the jam-packed weekend of fun. It is called "Bom Om Tuk" in Khmer and it is the largest festival in Cambodia. Thousands and thousands of people come to the capital city to celebrate the end of the rainy season, the start of the fishing season, and the time when the flow of the Tonle Sap river actually changes direction! It's a celebratory time and families travel to the city to enjoy the three-day regatta, filled with beautiful hand-crafted racing boats, delicious carnival ... read more

We had fun going through the two blizzards this season! Awesome! The first one was in December 2008 and the second one was Friday, Feb 5, 2010 (with 10 more inches of snow on Wednesday, February 10th!). Wild. This second blizzard, all the schools, government, and offices were closed for6.5 days! It was like a crazy, silent, winter wonderland with no concrete left on the ground...only fields of fluffy white snow....so fun! The piles were so high around our house - up to our waist in some areas where the snow was built up!). We did get a little stir-crazy staying in the house for 6 days straight, so we bundled up and traipsed around for a little while every day. I made it into work a coule of the days, which was so nice because ... read more

Ben and I were privileged to travel from Cambodia to the Philippines for an incredible week of exploration. We enjoyed unique sites, thrilling jeepney rides, the most gorgeous beaches, super-adorable tarsiers, fabulous diving, stylish resorts, delicious food, and, of course, many warm and joyful new friends! We spent three days in Manila and then flew down to Bohol to spend another four days at the Ananyana Beach Resort on Panglao Island. We traveled with two of my fellow social workers for a retreat, so while Ben dove most days, I spent time with incredible Filipino and Cambodian social workers, sharing stories, skills, and encouragement. We were only supposed to be in Manila for one day, but since we were travleing during rainy season, a massive storm kept us there for three days. We ended up having ... read more

The end of March is a good time to visit Siem Reap...the weather is not too hot yet, the tourists have just left, and hotels are starting to offer great discounts! So, off we went! This was Ben's first adventure north of Phnom Penh (we tend to head south to the beach!). He ended up loving Siem Reap and we had a great time. The weather was perfect, Angkor was magnificent, we met the most awesome tuk tuk driver ever, the hotels were scrumptious and the weekend was utterly relaxing. After the traffic, car exhaust, insane motos, pollution, and general lack of green space in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap was a slow, neat and nature-filled haven! Since we are spoiled kids, we chose to take the 45 minute flight rather than the six hour bus ride. ... read more

You know you had a good trip to Egypt when, once you return home, you can't stop looking at your photos, you pledge to learn Arabic, you romanticize every aspect of your trip (conveniently forgetting about the crazy tour schedule, the baksheesh obsession, and the horrible plane rides), and you start scheming to see how fast you can get back!! We have been doing all of these things...we had an amazing trip to Egypt! The plane trip to/from Egypt was the worst part. We flew overnight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok to Dubai to Cairo...lots of transfers and 4-5 hour waits at each airport. We were pretty exhausted when we arrived in Egypt. Thankfully, our tour company reserved a room for us at an incredible hotel on the Nile. We rested that afternoon and then ... read more