October 18, 2025
While playing Uno at breakfast, Ollie looks at me and goes, “Relationship?” and holds out his hand to shake it. He meant alliance but I had a chuckle about his word confusion. Len chimes in, “You can’t marry Mama, Ollie!!” Today was our big temple tour day and our guide, Seou, met us in the hotel restaurant at 9am to start to day. He has two kids of his own and when he saw that the planned itinerary was meant to go until ~9pm, he suggested we save some of the planned afternoon activities for tomorrow and we were grateful for the suggestion.
The first temple we went to was Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and a masterpiece of Khmer architecture. Originally built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, it later became a Buddhist site and remains an active place of worship today. Renowned for its intricate bas-reliefs and symbolic design representing the cosmos, Angkor Wat stands as a powerful testament to Cambodia’s cultural and spiritual heritage.
Outside the Angkor Wat compound, Soeu pointed out a small plant that grew among the grass. Once touched, the plant folded in its leaves as a protective mechanism. The kids loved this! We learned it is called mimosa pudica or the "touch-me-not" plant and had to tear the kids away from their plant foraging mission to actually enter our first temple of the day.
Once inside the gate, we realized the compound was much bigger than we anticipated and had quite a bit of walking ahead of us with the kids in tow. It likely wasn’t hotter than what we’ve experienced in SE Asia so far, but the kids whining and incessant touching made it feel so much hotter. We took a few pictures and began walking through the galleries with Soeu as he explained some of the carvings to us. A few of the more memorable scenes were the ‘tug of war’ scene with a huge snake between good and evil and some of the depictions of heaven and hell. We’d have liked to learn a bit more about the elaborate carvings but could only handle so much with the kids.
We had promised the kids a special treat after they hiked the steps to the top of the temple but we learned you had to be over 12 to go. Seou offered to watch the kids for a bit so Kyle and I equipped them with their water bottles and some snacks and to the top we went. We took off our hats as a sign of respect to the buddha at the top and climbed the super steep steps. We then made a quick lap around the top admiring the wide plank teak floors and numerous carvings of topless women. Once we descended, Ollie ran up to us to tell us that he had dropped and broken his new water bottle so he was already out of the running for the “new water bottle maintenance competition”. He soon spiraled and on seeing Ollie lose it, Lenny did too. Len was poking/hitting Kyle with a plastic water bottle and the top popped off and water poured all over Kyle. Who then took what was left in the bottle and dumped it on Lenny’s head. Seou asked if we wanted to tour the pools on the other side of the temple and we promptly told him we would pass and instead favored to go back to the van.
While exiting the temple, we saw a bunch of people lurking close to the water and Seou told us they were hunting turtles. Their method was simple– when they saw a turtle, they would just jump in the water to grab it. We didn’t get to see any turtle hunting action but we did learn from Seou that he loved his grandmother’s turtle curry recipe.
During a pit stop before the next temple of the day, we saw a bunch of butterflies in the bushes and Len asked me what they were eating. I told him they were eating the sweet flower nectar and he goes, “Oh! If I was a butterfly I’d love that. I love sweet stuff.”
Next up was Bayon Temple.
Bayon Temple, at the heart of Angkor Thom in Cambodia, is renowned for its iconic towers adorned with four serene Buddha faces pointing in each cardinal direction. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century by King Jayavarman VII, it reflects the harmony between spiritual enlightenment and earthly rule in the Khmer Empire.
We were warned that we would see a ton of monkeys and to be on the lookout as they like to steal food, but the only monkey we saw today was lurking in the parking lot.
Seou knew the boys needed a rapid tour of this temple and we sped through in about 20 minutes. The kids enjoyed spotting the Buddha faces on the towers since they almost blended into the temple itself. The scaffolding supporting the renovation of the main temple tower put a bit of a damper on the facade though.
Lunch was just a little ways down the street and thankfully at a restaurant with air conditioning. When we arrived, there were no fewer than 10 women and children who swarmed our van to sell us souvenirs. We were unable to simply say “no thank you” though as they walked alongside you and followed you as you walked in. They know their audience though since when we left Kyle did give a woman some money but told her to keep the souvenirs. Lunch was a set menu with way more food than we could manage as a foursome. We were happy to see chicken satay on the menu again but the Khmer (Cambodian) version had more curry spice which I loved. The kids stuck mostly to a few scant veggies, rice and french fries.
Ta Prohm Temple was our final temple stop.
Ta Prohm Temple is famous for the massive tree roots that entwine its crumbling stone walls, creating an otherworldly fusion of nature and architecture. Built in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university, it was dedicated to his mother. Unlike many other Angkor temples, Ta Prohm has been left largely unrestored, preserving its mysterious, jungle-clad atmosphere and earning it the nickname “the Tomb Raider temple.”
The walk to the temple provided a few opportunities for the kids to play and swing on the Strangler fig and silk-cotton tree vines. We also saw more “touch-me-not” plants and the kids gently touched each branch while saying “go to sleeeeep, go to sleeeeep”. We knew to expect at least one huge tree to be growing on the temple but were blown away by how many humongous trees were within the complex. At least one of the trees was over 300 hundred years old and the boys were shocked when we told them that the tree was older than the US.
On leaving Ta Prohm temple, we walked through a gate that had a big tower on top of it. Lenny goes, “Look! All the Buddha faces!” He was right, the tower had the four Buddha faces on it just like those at Bayon. I was so shocked he recalled that. Turns out he does actually listen to some of the tour narration from time to time.
After some quiet time at our air conditioned room, we ventured out to the hotel pool. There we met a family from Denmark and their two kids Sylvia and Walter. They were close in ages to the boys and despite not knowing English, invited the boys to play with their pool dive toys. This was right up Len’s alley especially and he was excited to show off his new diving skills and scoop up two toys at once. Ollie was a bit delayed to join in on the playing as he first had to race Kyle for one length of the pool. Ollie jumped into the pool and then Kyle gave him a generous 10 Mississippi count lead but still managed to beat him handily. Ollie couldn’t believe he lost! Sadly our new Danish friends are leaving tomorrow morning but we learned they live in Copenhagen and knew of the town (Liseleje) where we spent a week in July.
Our final activity of the evening was dinner and the Aspara dance show. The dinner was a below average buffet until Kyle and I realized there was an outdoor area of the buffet that was serving freshly grilled and barbecued food. Unfortunately we realized this after we ate essentially a full dinner. The kids were tired and super grumpy. Len ate a plate of spaghetti and promptly fell asleep on Kyle’s lap. Ollie stayed awake for a few of the dance acts but was begging me to put in an Air pod to listen to Harry Potter or to be taken home. We ended up leaving halfway through to head home and put the boys to bed.
