Earlier this month we attended regional meetings in Indonesia and decided to take a few additional days afterwards to fly to Flores island to visit Komodo National Park. It was an experience we never thought we’d be able to have and we decided to go for it when we realized we’d be a little over…
Tag: Vacation
Hiking to Pokhara World Peace Stupa in Nepal
During our time in Nepal, we hiked up to the World Peace Stupa located on Anadu ‘hill’ across the lake from Pokhara. The Stupa is at a height of 1,100 meters – which would be absolutely classified as a ‘mountain’ in Cambodia – but is considered a hill in Nepal. Apparently, in Nepal it’s only…
Visiting Bokor Mountain during Rainy Season
Last month we were in Kampot for a teambuilding retreat and, afterwards, our family decided to drive up into Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to see how things had changed since I was last there (in 2007, I think?). Bokor is a mountain near the coast and marks the southeastern end of the Cardamom mountain…
Sihanoukville
Imagine that – instead of Washington DC – George Washington personally established the United States’ foremost seaside resort, Washingtonville, and that it was the top vacation spot for Americans for decades. That should give you an idea of how Cambodians view Sihanoukville. King Norodom Sihanouk, after negotiating bloodless independence from France, founded Sihanoukville; Cambodia’s only…
Family vacation to Siem Reap
In July 2020, we took a family vacation to Siem Reap province. In Khmer, the name Siem Reap literally means ‘Siam defeated‘ while the Thai refer to the province as ‘Siemmarat‘ which literally means ‘Siam’s territory.‘ Siem Reap is the home of the ruins of the ancient city of Angkor; which was the largest pre-industrial…
July Staycation
We had been hoping to take a vacation over schoolbreak (especially since school has been online and these girls are antsy to get out of the house). I wanted to go back to Angkor Wat while we could visit without hordes of tourists and the rest of the family wanted to go to the beach….
2020 Visit to Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm is my favorite of the ruins in Siem Reap province. This starts with the walk through jungle from the perimeter wall to the temple ruins. This post will be video and photo heavy, so please mind your bandwidth, but I included some quick text at the end offering some background on Ta Prohm….
2020 visit to Phimeanakas
Phimeanakas is one of the older temples in Angkor Thom built at the end of the 10th century. It sits in the walled enclosure of the royal palace and it’s southern neighbor is Baphoun. It was closed when we visited in 2020. It ended up being better that Phimeanakas was closed. After a long morning…
2020 visit to Angkor Wat
When Crystal and I visited Angkor Wat in 2007 there were thousands of other tourists present. We took the advice of a guidebook to start our day with sunrise at Bayon in order to stay one step ahead of the crowds but often still found ourselves surrounded by a throng. I’ve heard that the daily…
2020 Visit to Baphuon
Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm are the most famous temple ruins in Siem Reap province but the lesser well known Baphuon is just as worthy of a visit. Located in Angkor Thom, not far from the more famous trio, it seems unassuming from the road but it grows more impressive as you approach and…