Cambodia

> Cambodia
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> We flew from HKG to Bangkok then onto Siem Reap. One of the things that I have noticed about flying in Asia:
> 1. Flight attendants are super nice. They always have a smile and don't look like they hate their jobs
> 2. They always serve food on the flights. They may not give you a choice, but it always nice to have something.
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> We have gotten used to filling out immigration and customs forms for all the countries we visit. Most countries take it seriously; not Cambodia. Jonathan was the first one to get to the counter followed by Hannah, Gabby and then myself. I handed the man our passports with our forms filled out and he waived me through. I told the girls to step forward and stand in front of Jonathan. The man waived me through again (not having looked at the passports yet) so I stood in front of Jonathan. Now, he was just telling me to GO. Oh ... ummm, OK. So the girls and I went to the restroom and just stood there until Jonathan met us there with our passports. Having been through immigration a few times, we were expecting the man to look at you, the passport, you again, check the visa, check the visa of all the countries you have been to then look you over again, stamp and you are good to go. This, obviously, was NOT how they did it in Siem Reap. As for customs, you through your forms in a box, and if you had anything to declare, it was your day, because there wasn't anyone to declare anything to.
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> We had read on tripadvisor.com (one of our favorite travel sites) that we should get a tour guide. So, after reading a bit more, we emailed a man named Tong to get a 3 day tour of the temples. This was such a great idea! There were tuk tuk's everywhere and you could take them to the site and back to the hotel, but it was hot, sticky and very dusty.
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> Tong was great, as he told us where we were going, what it was all about and then showed us all the "hidden" areas too.
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> We hit up all the main temples and then some. We ate some great food and still found time to lounge at the pool.
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> One of the things we got was a large carving of a Buddha head from Artists D'Angkor. It is a large stone piece that will look awesome in the house and always remind us of this great trip.
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> The girls, my little bargainers, did a little shopping too. The got "Ray Ban" sunglasses for $USD 5 each. Then, they were both insistent on getting a pair of pants that their friends had gotten from there. They are basically, MC Hammer pants. That's right, MC Hammer ... To Legit to quit ... pants. Jonathan told the girls that he used to have a pair of pants like that, but he wore his with black shiny shoes, not flip flops. (His pair also didn't have pictures of elephants on them).
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> Just like many of the women in my family, I can talk to anyone, any where. I have learned to curb this a bit, since it sometimes embarrasses Jonathan and the girls. I started talking to a family that was traveling around SE Asia for the two week holiday period. They were from New Hampshire and he was a DR that went to Emory. Small world! After chatting with them for a couple of hours, we got on the plane to go to Siem Reap, and didn't think we'd see them again. We were wrong!
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> We actually got held up in Siem Reap and ended up spending New Years Eve in Bangkok. As we stood in line, waiting for our hotel reservations, we bumped in them again (5 days later) and had a very nice sushi NYE dinner with them. It was great hearing about all their experiences. They were Asian "virgins" and it is always fun to hear people share the same crazy experiences as you, just in a different country. This family had two boys, one 18 and they other one 15. The girls were able to talk to the boys about living in HK, exploring Asia and traveling in general. Their mom actually said, that she was really impressed with the girls. She didn't think that they would have anything to talk aobut, and that the girls could hold a real conversation, it was a great compliment to our parenting. I passed that to Jonathan and the girls. I couldn't have been more proud of them.
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> Oh, it doesn't end there. When we were told that we were going to miss our connection in BKK, I asked them if they booked us on a flight to HKG the next morning. "Yes of course! Your flight for four is at 10am". Perfect!
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> We wake up early, have breakfast and then take the shuttle to the airport. We get there, go to the check in counter (it's 7:35am) and I am told that our flight was actually at 8 am and we missed it. (***many of you that read this can only imagine my reaction. Did I fly off the handle? Nope, I pretty much kept it together, because, really what was I going to do? All I could do is be nice and hope that they had 4 seats on the 10 am flight!) They did find us some seats, as a bonus, they were even together!
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> This trip was one of the ones that we wouldn't probably have taken from the US. Yes, it is one of the UNESCO world heritage site, but it still would have cost an arm and a leg to get there, and then to deal with jet lag as a topper, I'm sure we would have talked ourselves out of it. But, living in HK, I am so incredibly glad we did it. It was really an amazing experience!
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