Pictures tell a better story.....

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Pictures tell a better story.....

 Asia » Cambodia » Siem Reap » Temples of Angkor By TabithaAdventure
May 28th 2007Hi Everyone,

Because of the slow internet - we decided to focus on pictures tonight. Enjoy!


We leave for Phnom Phen tomorrow to make our flight to Vietnam. Not sure when we'll be back on - but we'll have lots of stories when we're home...can't wait to share.

Kathy

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Photos

Children running to meet the "barongs"
The amazing site of seeing the children running to meet the "barongs" (foreigners) arriving in the vans on the first day. Suddenly, it all became very real....the planning is over, we are here.

Rob hard at work
Rob high up on the ladder on one of our first houses. The wood was extremely hard (bak) and made nailing painful. Not conducive to perfectionism.

Yes, she can use a hammer!
Tina hard at work on our first house. It was only after the first house did we realise it was the hard wood and not our inept hammering that caused bent nails.

The boy in our house
This is a photo of the little boy in our house. His dad carried him up while we were building and we enjoyed his company while putting up the walls. We found out later that this gorgeous little boy is not able to walk, and wanted to be close to the acion.

Our first home
The family who has moved into our first home. You'll see the little girl in the middle having fun playing with sunglasses.

Duck duck goose
Tina leading a fun game of duck, duck, goose with the children from the village. The crowd behind shows how much fun everyone was having. Maty you would have had a great time playing with the kids from the village.

The build team
Photo taken of the build team at the end of our two days in front of one of the new homes.

Hard work never felt so good
Enjoying a break at the end of the last day. We made a good build team.

Goat crossing
You never know what animal will cross the road, or when. We came across these goats while in Kep on the moto bikes. It was common to see cows crossing the highway on our way to Siem Reap. Apparently if you hit one, you tie it to the top of your vehicle, take it to market, and that is your payback for the damages on your vehicle.

A new favorite mode of transportation
We were able to explore the Kep coastline and town on moto bikes. Running into goat herds, lexus', and monks all while enjoying a cool breeze.

Efficient stacking
Our trip up to Siem Reap included lots of learning. The many modes of transportation., the many products delivered, and the great ability of the Cambodians to balance heavy loads.

Rob's next purchase
On our way to Siem Reap - we learned alot from our driver Sung about Cambodian economics, politicis, and culture. We drove through a sculpturist community that is dedicated to buddhist and hindu statutes. This statue can be purchased for $900 US.

Our First Temple - Bantaey Srei
This temple was the most ornate. It also was our first experience negotiating the children vendors of the Temples. They are beautiful and very smart - they count in several different languages to see which one they get a response from just to engage you. If you get that far .....you're buying something. Ok, Kathy's buying something.

First Rain
We're here right before the rainy season - today we experienced it. Of course, it wasn't too bad in our salt water pool.

Angkor Wat
The largest temple built in the 12th century. We were up at 5am to catch the temple at sunrise. It's hard to capture these temples even in pictures. It is so amazing to walk around these historic treasures with no rules, ropes or obstructions, but you can see that not to far in the future this will be a disney world...let's hope not.

Comments

[Debbie]

Awesome experience
Enjoyed checking your blog out through the trip. The photos were great. I had seen photos similar from our kids missions trips, but still pictured the homes you would be building differently. It really makes you look at the life you live in a different way. Glad everyone stayed safe and well.