Phnom Penh & Silk Island
Cambodia 2024!! Reunited with Sophia in Phnom Penh — only wish Hunter was able to join us.
On our first day we took a boat to Silk Island. Sophia was chatting with a local who invited us to her house and explained the process of making silk.
Lotus flower
On Silk Island — a local invited us in and explained the process of making silk.
Silk worms and cocoons
Undyed (yellow) and dyed silk
Silk handloom
Lotus flowers in foreground
Day market
Waterfront decorated for Cambodian New Year which begins on April 13th
Lotus flowers in pots are all over the city
One of the city's many markets
Lotus flower buds in the foreground
Sophia's Village, Takeo Province
Road trip!! Rented a car and headed south to visit Sophia's Khmer family in Takeo Province.
Sophia's house in the background. Rice fields all around — they'll turn green during the wet season.
One of Sophia's classrooms. The typical class size is 50 students!!!
Took a walk around her village and met some of Sophia's students — so cute!
One of Sophia's Khmer sisters, one of her nephews, and her Cambodian parents.
Sophia's newest nephew!
Her family prepared a delicious dinner for us. All dishes served with rice the family harvests — truly farm to table!
Kampot
Next stop — the southern town of Kampot, known for pepper plantations, salt fields and durian fruit.
Praek Tuek Chhu River
Bokor Mountain Buddha
Wat on Bokor Mountain
Salt fields of Kampot
Evan's arm tattoo is one of the seven dragon heads pictured
Durian fruit — banned from many hotels and public areas due to its odor!
Evan eating soup for breakfast like the locals at our beautiful hotel (Hotel Old Cinema)
Another Buddha on Bokor Mountain
Angkor Wat & Siem Reap
Sunrise tour of the Angkor area. Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to 15th century. We visited Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm Temple and Bayon.
Left hotel at 4:30am!
Angkor Wat in the background
Ta Reach — an 8-armed, 3-meter tall Vishnu statue at the western gate of Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Beautifully detailed reliefs along walls
Ta Prohm Temple with crazy trees!
We befriended a Korean family
Ta Prohm
Refreshing cold coconut water in 100 degree heat
Bayon — check out the smiling face.
Detailed reliefs along the walls
Each tower has 3–4 smiling faces. There are 54 towers — 216 faces in all — one for each of the 54 regions of the Khmer Empire.
Too many steps for me with my sprained ankle so I stayed back
Kulen Elephant Forest Reserve
We took a tour to The Kulen Elephant Forest Reserve that rescued 14 elephants from the tourist industry. They were employed giving tourists rides around Angkor Wat but the practice is now banned and considered a form of animal cruelty because it causes irreversible physical damage to the elephants.
We made meatballs (sticky rice, tamarind and bananas) and fed them to the elephants along with more bananas, squash and sugarcane.
Khmer New Year
"Sus'Dei Chnam Thmei" — a 3-day festival celebrating Khmer New Year. We spent it in Siem Reap and acted like locals armed with water guns! At night there are crazy fun street battles with dance music blasting and people use water guns and buckets of water to get each other wet.
Battambang
In Battambang we got to meet Amrita, one of Sophia's best friends from Peace Corps. We visited Wat Phnom Sampov and one of the Killing Caves on the mountain.
Amrita and Sophia! The Buddha is carved into the limestone mountain.
Wat Phnom Sampov
A monkey posing for me!
Jumping for joy — so happy to see each other!
The Khmer Rouge killed their victims on top of the cave and threw the dead bodies into the shaft below.
Life on the Road
We rented a car at the start of our trip after we left Phnom Penh and took some pics along the road. It was a great way to get around but not for the faint of heart. (It helped that Evan used to be a NYC taxi driver!)
That's our car
We would often see people on top of some heavy loads on the highway
Cambodian spirit houses sold all along the roadside. Khmer Buddhists believe in life after death — offerings of incense, fruit, flowers, even Coca-Cola are kept inside for departed souls.
It's amazing how they make everything fit on some wheels
Monks are everywhere in Cambodia.
Five on a moto!
We saw many hammocks rigged on vehicles
That's a typical heavy load
Choeung Ek Genocidal Center — a Killing Field of the Khmer Rouge. Between 1975 and 1979 about 1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives — 21% of the country's population.
White frangipani trees are everywhere
Lots of interesting things to see at the markets
Drying nuts along the road
I don't understand how meat and fish in the markets don't spoil — it was high 90s and over 100 degrees every afternoon!
Stopped along the road for an avocado smoothie — yummy!
Temples all along the roads in the middle of nowhere.