Siem Reap

---

Interesting day planed today as we are going to be riding an ox cart through a small village and then riding a boat to the floating city.

We all gathered on the bus and headed out of Siem Reap about 45 minutes to a small little village to ride our ox carts. It was a lot of fun to ride through the cute village and wave at the locals. Everyone is so friendly here.

After our ox coat ride we drove along some narrow dirt roads for quite a while heading to the boats that would take us to the floating village. We stopped along the way and took a picture of a beautiful lotus field as well.

I wound up boarding the boat first so I got a great seat at the front of the boat. I always try to look for the seat with the most leg room and on this boat it was the front seat. We sailed through some canals and past people fishing before passing a Temple on top of a large hill. We are visiting Cambodia during the dry season so the water levels are very low. Apparently during the wet season the floating village all move their houses next to the temple and form one large community.

We sailed past several floating houses and markets and even past the floating school. We were then told we would be getting off at one of the homes belonging to the midwife and a fisherman. We pulled up next to their house and they invited us inside and told us to look around. It was really interesting to see how they lived and I loved how they were raising crocodiles. We asked if there were large crocodiles in the water and do they eat people and she laughed and said no, it is the other way around. If anyone sees a crocodile in the water they catch them before they are too big to eat people.

We sailed back to meet our bus and headed back to the city. There was an optional paid excursion of a temple and dinner that afternoon and evening but Drury and I decided not to attend. Instead we relaxed by the hotel pool for a couple of hours and then texted Margo and decided to meet her at The Grand Raffle Hotel in Siem Reap. This is a beautiful old fashion hotel and was the first in Siem Reap. Apparently Jackie Kennedy stayed there when she visited Angkor Wat. We had a drink at the elephant bar and I had to try a Singapore Sling as it was invited at a Raffles Hotel in Singapore. It was delicious!

Since we were at such a nice hotel we decided to have dinner there as well. While we waited for dinner to arrive we had a great opportunity to watch a dance show in the hotel lobby. It was a beautiful dance. Our food came and both Drury and I ordered a hamburger as we are kind of getting tired of rice. It was one of the best hamburgers I have ever had. The sauce on it was a combo of mayonnaise and dijon mustard. I could have sworn I tasted horse radish, but they said it didn't have any.

We tried to go to bed early as tomorrow is a big day going to see Angkor Wat in the morning and then the Jungle Temple in the afternoon.

---