Easter Weekend in Cambodia

Neither Jimmy or I had been to Cambodia before so we decided to go and check another country off our list. It was only a 2 hour flight to Siem Reap and I've been wanting to see Angkor Wat so we decided to go for Easter Weekend (Good Friday is also a holiday in Singapore). Our hotel provided a shuttle service which was great because they provided us with cold towels and bottled waters right away. We thought we were used to heat since moving to Singapore but Siem Reap was even hotter.  It was around 100 degrees the whole weekend. From our hotel we were able to walk to Pub Street and the Night Market which are the main tourist areas where there are a lot of stalls selling souvenirs and plenty of restaurants.  I was happy to get $.50 beer!  

On Saturday we had a tour booked that had a 4:50am start so we could watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat.  Our tour guide had a flash light out so we could walk back toward the temple since it was still pitch black as we made our way back.  We were one of the first to arrive and had a great view but within an hour it was pretty packed.  We spent a few hours exploring the temple.  It was amazing how intricate all of the walls were.  We also saw dozens of monkeys behind the temple.  Right after we took the picture of the monkey sitting on the temple steps, another monkey came up and grabbed my leg!

After finishing at Angkor Wat, we stopped back at our hotel for their free breakfast which was really good - full American breakfasts with fruit plates, bread baskets and fruit juices.  It was nice and refreshing after being in the heat.  After breakfast we went to Angkor Thom. Within Angkor Thom we saw Bayon temple (49 towers which each have 4 faces), Elephant terrace and Ta Prohm.  Ta Prohm has lots of tree roots growing over the temples and Tomb Raider was filmed there.

                                                  

After touring all day, I spent a few hours at the pool.  Our hotel offered a free 30 minute foot massage which I was happy to accept!

We went back to the Pub Street area for dinner - this time we took a tuk tuk since we were tired from walking around all day even though it was less than a mile walk.

After dinner we stopped to try the Fish Massage.  In Singapore, it costs $15.  In Siem Reap, it was $2 and included a free beer - it felt like too good of a deal to pass up!  Jimmy had never done the Fish Massage before - his face when they started sucking on his feet was priceless.

On Sunday, we just enjoyed our free breakfast again and spent some time at the pool before heading home.  We really enjoyed our time in Siem Reap. The country is very poor and we found out they don't even have a power plant (they have to get power from Thailand and Vietnam) but it was nice to go somewhere that isn't built up (the tallest structure is Angkor Wat to respect the temple so there are no tall buildings). I don't think we would go for another trip since we saw everything we wanted to, but I'm glad we were able to go once.

Bachelorette Party in Bali

One of the girls we've become friends with in Singapore is getting married in April so in March a group of 7 of us went to Bali for the bachelorette party (or Hen's party as the girls from the UK and Australia called it).  The weekend we went was the Hindu New Year in Indonesia so there were festivals going on everywhere when we arrived.  There were tons of people in the streets celebrating and carrying statues of demons made of bamboo and paper that they were taking to burn to symbolize removing negative elements.  It was really cool to see the festival.  We asked our driver if we could get out for awhile to experience it but he said it might not be safe since there was heavy drinking going on.  It took quite awhile to get to our villa since the streets were so crowded.  There were several times we just had to sit and wait for a group of people to go by.

 

Our villa was absolutely amazing.  It was right on the water and had a huge pool.  Normally there are staff at the villa 24/7 to cook and clean but due to the New Year, they had Saturday off.  We weren't allowed to leave the villa on Saturday because everything was closed and it is a day of silence in Bali.  Since the staff had the day off, they prepared everything on Friday and had the fridge loaded with all of our meals.  It was so cute that they labeled every dish - there were bowls of fruit each labeled for breakfast, lunch and dinner etc.  We spent Saturday just lounging in the pool.  Below are some pictures from the day.

On Sunday, we had an evening flight so we spent the day at a beach club.  The beach had black sand which was interesting.  When people came up from the beach they looked like they had just been in mud.  Hanging out at the pool right next to the beach was a great way to end the weekend!