End of Angkor, Start of Vietnam

March 11th
Today we visited all the things we liked best. First it was Ta Phrom.

We explored lots of nooks and crannies.
Then we saw the Elephant Terrace (this is a picture I took close to there)

(and this is a wall that was right by there)

and a temple that almost looked like a castle. Mama really liked it. Next we went for lunch at Restaurant #22. I had a beef burger that was very good.
After lunch we went to the Bayon. Papa and I explored the little passageways and then we went to the sunset point to see Angkor Wat.
Jonas and I built inukshuks. Here's mine.

While we were there, Mama and Papa got talking with a tour guide who had a friend who worked ran an orphanage. It was interesting to see how people lived here. They had a big pool to keep their fish in.

While on the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, I observed the houses along the road and the majority of them looked like this (drawing in journal - a house on stilts with stairs leading up to the main level, with a shaded storage and play area underneath). Cambodian houses often have the kitchen in a different building because if it were in the same building, the house would get too hot. I think it's a very smart idea.
A lot of Cambodians have cows, I think because behind the houses are big huge open areas that have a lot of cows grazing in them. We thought that if it got really hot, the cows would go under the house.


March 14th
Today we took a bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).
Bus breakdown...

Before the bus I bought some Skittles at our hotel. On the bus we met people from Vancouver, Ireland, and we saw somebody that we saw in Siem Reap.
The Skittles were very good. My favourite flavour is green apple. Jonas' favourite flavour is black berry.
Now that we are in HCMC, I am very excited to see Peter again. Tomorrow we are meeting him at 11:30 AM at the post office. Peter is the man we met in Damascus and saw again in Petra. He lives in HCMC.
Once we got to HCMC, we found a hotel and then we went to eat supper. We all shared. We had pork flavoured tofu, vegetables in batter, spring rolls, stir veggies with crispy noodles and..... BROCCOLI ! The broccoli felt very good going down.
A lot of baskets...

March 15th
Today we got up and had breakfast. I had a strawberry pancake. It came with a lot of syrup and it was goooood. Today we also saw Peter and we are going to see him again tonight. It was fun to see him again.


March 16th
Today we saw the Cu Chi tunnels.

The Cu Chi tunnels are tunnels that were used during the war against the Americans.

They thought up horrible traps like these (drawings in journal). I thought up a quicker way to get around down there (drawing in journal of man on trolley): wheels. They could have used little carts.
We saw a tank that had been disabled. It felt odd to be taking pictures of something that had killed so many people so many years ago.


Matthew