Autumn holydays with Kise in Cambodia

Dear all!

Since we came back after holydays in Norway, we have looked forward to have more visit in Vung Tau.

And finally, in beginning of October, cousins Alva and Vivil and uncle Funny Lars knucked on our door.

Of course we spent much time in different swimmingpools. Here are we enjoying the nice pool on top of Hotel Palace in Saigon.
Alva and Vivil went to the most fancy swimmingpool in Vung Tau while we were at school, and they tested the 30˚C water in South China Sea, too.
As you can see above, we didn´t get bored together.
Here we are looking down from a 16 stores high hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.
....and what we see is motorbikes and motorbikes and motorbikes.
We had some typical Vietnamese food together. Here is Alva eating bluecrab. (It was blue before it turned to red during cooking.)
Also Lars likes Vietnamese food. Here he is terrified by the waiter making Hot Pot to us.
And of course, nobody visits us without having a refreshing coconut. The juice is lovely, and the meat is even better. :-)
Vivil is tough! She went together with Tove on the motorbike the second day she was here.
In the weekend, we travelled to Cambodia which is an one hour flight from Vietnam only. This is a very poor country, and they had a civil war not long time ago.

However, we lived in a very fancy hotel and in the picture above we are playing in the pool again.
Near Siem Reap where we lived, there is a floating village. 600 families are living in home made boats and floating houses. The living standard is not very high.
The ocean is connected with Mekong river, and once a year the water level is increasing to above the trees. Then, all the inhabitants move their homes off shore. They are like nomads on the water.
When we were there, we saw floating churches and a floating school. On picture above you can see a floating football track.
In the picture above there is a floating chicken-house in the middle.
The people are living of fishing and the get money from the tourists who come to see how they live. This little boy is paddling around in a wash-tub showing his nice, cute little pet. He and his snake earned one dollar from us.
Also, the people in the floating village breed crocodiles. The skin is very valuable.

Uncle Lars was attacked by a croc, but he found a stick which he manage to put vertically in the mouth of the monster. After, uncle Lars strangled the crocodile with his bare hands!

No, we are just joking. There were many crocodiles in Cambodia, but none of them wanted to eat us.
After many strong impressions in the floating village, we went back to our luxury base for a drink in the bar (and for more swimming of course).
In Cambodia, they have peculiar conveyance for the tourists called Tuk Tuk.
A Tuk Tuk is pulled by a smal motorbike and it is a very comfortable way to get around.
Siem Reap is very close to the ancient city Angkor made by the Khmer people more than thousand years ago. In this area are more than two hundred temples, castles and buildings made for the powerful kings who lived there in the past. Angkor Wat is the most famous temple, but we spent one day travelling around to see many of these fantastic and beautiful buildings which are on the UNESCO world heritage site.
It is just overwhelming to see the fantastic Khmer architecture as close view. It is very detailed and very good preserved.
In Tha Prom temples, the trees took over many hundred years ago. The roots are much thicker than the cousins...
"Hjemsel" between the roots.

Take care Vivil, they never built railings in the temple of Bayon!

As in Vietnam, Cambodia is full of tasteful fruits. After a long day walking in ancient buildings, we fill up with energy from rambutan. Or kjærlighetsfrukt as we say in Norway.

The Khmer dancers have beautiful costumes and elegant movements. The sampot they are wearing on their heads are very characteristic for the area we visited. The last night in Cambodia, we saw beautiful dances like this in a Cambodian theatre.

Now, Alva, Vivil and Dol-Lars are back in Norway and we started school again in Vietnam. Thanks to Alva and vivil for happy days!

Soon, the rainy season is over, and we look forward to have visit from our nabours Thomassen in December. Between the daily life and adventures in Vietnam, there is always something to look forward to....