New Year's Eve🎉🎉

Happy New Year's Eve! Like I said, today was another early day. Woke up at 4:30 and saw the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We didn't tour any of it because we spent most of our time yesterday doing that. We saw the sunrise then headed out. It was also pretty packed with lots of people. 

Also we saw elephants! 

After the sunrise we went to another temple. These temples are so beautiful and I'm soo thankful we get to see them but after so many I start to get confused on which ones are which.. The picture of this temple are from the temple we went to after the one after Angkor Wat. 

^^all the kids together. Sometimes traveling with high schoolers is fun. 

So after grandma and I got separated from the group for about 30 minutes, we were on our way back to the hotel. We went to get some Pho right by the hotel. They have these restaurants in Wichita and I've been to one but this one was completely different. Pho is kind of like a broth with noodles, veggies, and meat in it. At this restaurant we did everything ourselves though. There were hot pads at every table and you put all your ingredients in the broth and cooked it all. We had a little trouble understanding this at first.. But we finally got it and it was delicious! 

Food & friends. 

After we decided to go to the old market. It's not that different than the night market. Grandma and I bought some gifts for y'all back home and we also went into the market that's down there. And OMG it was quite an experience. There was raw meat everywhere and the smell was almost unbearable. There was a woman sitting on top the counter with her feet sprawled out just chopping away at some meat. Another mom was holding her baby while cutting meat with a huge meat cutter. There were also these huge pig heads that were for sale. 

Yeah, it was just a little different from the U.S.  

We traveled by tuk tuk to the market and I really think we should get some in the U.S. They're so wonderful. 

:) this is what pure bliss looks like. 

We were able to come back and take a quick nap before the evening festivities. The hotel had a mandatory night of activities planned. And it was so beautiful! They really went all out to make this night special. 

Very pretty! They had live dancing and singing, GREAT food, a beer drinking contest (which Tony participated in, but sadly lost), and some games. The night was kind of a let down though. The food was definitely the best part. The hotel guests left rather quickly and our group was very very tired also. (I'm writing this at 10 pm, grandma and I can't even stay awake until midnight..) So it wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped but everyone did have a good time. We even had a mini photo shoot :) 

Clare, David, Saran, me, and Iahly (turns out I've been spelling it wrong the whole time.. Oops)

It's been a great New Years though, definitely one for the books. Hope all of yours is great as well! :) 

••Lauren••

Angkor Wat

Today we had a pretty early morning. We woke up at 5:00 to be ready to go at 5:30. (I can't remember the last time I woke up at 5:00). It was so worth it though because we saw the Ta Prohm temple at sunrise. Absolutely beautiful. (I know I say that about pretty much everything, but it's so true). 

There was a room called the "echo room" where if you beat on your chest the sound echoes and sounds like a drum. Here's a picture of my grandma:

So we were there about an hour and a half. This is also the place where some scenes of Tomb Raider and the first Indiana Jones was filmed. (Our tour guide is a big Angelina Jolie fan).

There were lots of photo opportunities in this temple because I'm telling you, everything was sooooooo pretty. 

Here's a great candid photo of our guide. He has the biggest smile. 

Okay so we went to eat some breakfast then headed to Angkor Wat. Which, if you didn't know, used to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. But I don't think it is anymore. It's one of the biggest temples in the world. So gorgeous. 

Yeah, we're palz. 

So we were able to go inside and walk around the temple. There's a part that's called "Heaven" too. Here's the stairway to heaven: 

They were pretty steep and this is what I felt like after climbing up:

Yup. 

These were some regulations with this part of the temple. 

OKAY also I'm trying to get Chaco famous on this trip.. Which basically means I get Chaco to re-instagram or re-tweet a picture of me in my chacos at some really cool place. So why not Angkor Wat? So grandma took this picture but I need an award winning caption. So please help!!

Okay okay after Angkor Wat we were done for the afternoon. We went back to our hotel, had lunch there, took a nap (PTL) , a shower (double PTL), and got ready for the evening. 

So tonight we went to a circus show! It was SO cool! The organization puts underprivelaged children through school while teaching them acrobatics, visual arts, and theatre. And they were so great! 

Picture of myself, grandma, and Tony

These were probably their most simple tricks. Definitely very cool. 

Picture with some of the crew and our group. 

It's crazy to think we leave in a week! What a blessing it has been to have the opportunity to come to such an amazing country. It has been an absolute adventure. Man. #blessed ya know?

Another early morning tomorrow, except earlier.. Sunrise at Angkor Wat at 5:00 which means waking up at 4:30.. Hopefully another nap is in the schedule too! 

Also, wifi is sketch so hopefully I can continue to post here! 

••Lauren••

Siem Reap!

Today we travelled to another city, Siem Reap. We took a plane and it was about 45 minutes. The airport wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. All 11 of us were able to get through pretty quickly. The plane was very smooth and I actually took a little nap during it! So we arrived at the airport in Siem Reap, met our guide, and we were off to our hotel. We are lunch here at the hotel, got settled in, then headed out for more adventures. 

The first thing on the list was to visit an old Monastery, where monks live. This was so interesting. Like I've said before, 90% of the population is Buddist so we were able to go and see where the monks live and worship. Our wonderful tour guide explained a lot about what the buildings mean and the culture and history but there were tons of kids around and I got a little distracted..

Because come on, how cute are they?! 

We were allowed to take pictures of anything around the Monasteries. Our guide encouraged us to go up to monks and talk to them and have our pictures taken. 

Women aren't allowed to touch the monks so that's why we're not standing close. Our guide informed us that boys are allowed to become monks whenever they want. We saw some kids that were younger than 10. There are also nuns which are pretty much women monks in the Buddist religion. They also shave their head and wear white. Our guide said it's smarter for them to become nuns when they're older than 50 because it's safer. 

We left this monastery and went to another. Our tour guide was a monk for 10 years so he knows a lot about it. This one was very very beautiful and there was a school in it for the younger monks so there was a lot more of the younger ones. 

This are smaller Stuppas (which are like graves). Our guide said this is like a local cemetery. There were Stuppas everywhere! 

Here's a picture of me, Sherry, my grandma, and Tony all in front of the old entrance to an old temple. Very beautiful. 

This is a 16 year old boy we met. I forget his name because it was kind of a hard one to pronounce. He said that his family made him come be a monk which is pretty common for most of the boys there. He hadn't been there for long either. We kind of compared this to when parents send their children off to military school. He was very shy but also very kind. 

So we left the monastery and decided to take a trip to the crocodile farm. (Sounds cooler than it was). We say tonzzzz of crocodiles but learned nothing about them.. Basically we learned that they keep them for about 15 years then use their meat and skins to make money. 

There was about 15 areas like the first one with crocodiles piled on top of each other. It was a little stinky too..

So we left and went to an amazing restaurant. It was open a little bit and there was a wonderful breeze coming through. 

Grandma and I had beef wrapped in bacon, sushi, Japanese gyoza, and each had a mango smoothie. It was so delicious. 

This is Yali. She was adopted about the same time as Clare and her family is also on this trip. Her sister was also adopted from here, not sure when, but she's with us too. Yali is 14, shy, but super sweet. I was trying to take a picture of the restaurant sign but she hopped in front and I'm glad she did. 

So after dinner we went to the night market. It's a street filled with street merchants, a lot like the ones I've been to in Mexico. We shopped around and found some cool stuff. 

We were then able to take a took took home! These are seen everywhere around Cambodia and we were so excited to try one. 

They're like little carts pulled by a moter bike. 

Lots of fun. Tomorrow we wake up very early to see some temples. I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures :)

••Lauren••