blaine & lindsay in cambodia

in july & august we were lucky enough to host two of my (amanda's) brothers & their lindsays (yes, they have the same name).

first to arrive on the scene were blaine & lindsay!  we hadn't seen them since their wedding exactly a year ago, so it was great to catch up, hear about their new life in colorado, introduce them to their nephew & show them our life here in cambodia.

we had some laid back days in phnom penh - recovering from jet lag on our porch,  playing with cedar, & eating fried tarantulas (eek).

after a few days in phnom penh, we headed to siem reap to explore angkor wat.  we'd been there before, but it really never ceases to be awe-inducing in its sheer epicness & this time, we had a really good tour guide to boot! (seen in the umbrella shot below, explaining something very meaningful to lindsay)

after angkor wat we headed to laong prabong & vientiane in laos & phuket in thailand, but more on that later.

*pictures taken by a combination of hastings & talstras

benjamin & lindsay in cambodia

after our mini-family reunion in thailand, ben & lindsay came back with us for a week of fun in cambodia.  they had just finished a trip to wild india & crazy phuket, so we did lots of relaxing on the porch, but also some fun cambodian sight-seeing too.

[ben & lindsay exploring angkor wat]

[they fit right in]

[touristing in siem reap complete with fish feet massage, coconuts & cambodian mojitos]

[apsara dancers]

[learning how silk is made] 

[besides all the touring baby cedar spent a lot of time enjoying his aunt & uncle & smiling ]

it was a quick & full visit & we're already looking forward to our next visit!

tourist attraction

[we had visited epic angkor wat before, but never with amanda's parents & the world's tiniest tourist attraction in tow!]

jungle temples [beautiful & broken]

at ta prohm temple we observed the epic struggle of the jungle reclaiming its territory (in slow motion).

uprooting the massive temple in a strangely twisting, bulbous & yet enchanting embrace.

it seems a fitting metaphor for cambodia itself.

beautiful.

&.

broken.

Epic [Angkor Wat]

[ode to the kingdom of wonder]

its hard to believe, but we managed to live in cambodia for more than a year without visiting the famous Angkor Wat temples. since it is the biggest sight seeing destination in the kingdom, we decided we should wait for visitors. thankfully levi & ellie arrived so we are finally able to explore these mysterious temples!

angkor wat is a sprawling, complex network of hindu temples built in the 12th century. grandeur & splendor is the pride of cambodia. (one of the first things our language teacher taught us is how to ask "have you been to angkor wat yet?")

[this picture confused our camera, but i like it]

[traditional angkorian tourists]

[a giant buddha hiding inside the hindu temples]

[don't even think about sitting on the snake railing...er, i mean, balustrade]

[the entrance to bayon temple, known for its multitude of massive & serene faces]

[massive, serene face of levi]

[nose to nose]

[traditional angkorian tourists drinking traditional coca-cola beverages & feeding thirsty traditional apsara bas-reliefs]

[re-structuring]

[temple explorers]

[ancient ruins]

the temples in the process of being re-claimed by the jungle were so amazing, i think they deserve their own post!