Day 64 – Homeward Bound

So our adventure came to an end and leaving Bangkok was a sad event. We couldn’t decide what to do with the last handful of baht we had leftover in the airport. Kate finally stumbled upon a small stuffed elephant and was debating whether or not to buy him. She was wavering and asked me “…well, what would we name him.” Without missing a beat, I said, “His name is Pong” — after our amazing tour guide. Kate agreed and then was inspired to photograph him around the Bangkok airport copying my “Travels with Little Bear” type shots (more on this later). Here she is posing with “I Love Thailand” signage.

Day 63 – Last Day in Cambodia

We weren’t quite sure what to do with our last day in Cambodia until Kate saw a sign at the Artisans Angkor Silk Factory offering a weaving class. It was more of a show you how to get started and keep you going kind of thing, but a very patient pregnant woman watched over us in our struggles. Our tripmate Nicole made the most progress, but Kate did a fair job of it. I broke the loom and probably didn’t have enough for a place mat but it was fun. Here’s Kate’s.

Day 62 – Banteay Srey

Another packed day in Cambodia. This temple, Banteay Srey, is made of pink sandstone and has unbelievably intricate carvings. Never one to miss out on on forced perspective shot, I took this one of Kate touching the top of the central sanctuary.

Day 61 – Angkor Wat the Hell…!

I’ve fallen way behind with these, so I’m trying to catch up. Our first full day in Cambodia was overwhelming with all the amazing things we saw through the entire Angkor complex. Flickr photos soon, I promise. Here’s Kate peeking through one of the window spindles. The stone masonry there is fantastic.

Day 60 – Put on a happy face

It took almost 10 days, but Kate finally got tired of Pad Thai. Bar Street in Siem Reap, Cambodia, offered something a little more promising for dinner — Chamkar Vegetarian Restaurant. We broke off from the group for a bit to hit the local market for teas and trinkets before stopping off here for yummy vegetarian fare. I had a vegetarian version of the local amok. Kate had some kind of pumpkin dish. We each had a big Angkor Beer — Angkor means city, so it’s literally “City Beer.”

Then we rejoined our traveling troupe for the Apsara show at Temple Restaurant.

Day 59 – Riding the rails

We jumped ahead from the ruins of past empires to more modern history with a trek along the Thai-Burmese Railway across the River Kwai. We arrived around 9:30 for a 10am train that didn’t get to there until 11:15. Here’s Kate waiting on a kid-sized bench.

And here she is gazing out the window

Day 58 – Don’t go chasing waterfalls

Following our historical/cultural overload of awesomeness in Sukothai and Ayutthaya, we headed back west to Kanchaniburi to see the Erawan falls. We hiked all the way to the top of the 7 falls and took a dip in two of them, but the nibbling fishes kept us from swimming too much. Here’s Kate deciding which path to take on our hike up.

Here’s Kate enjoying the waters of the top level before the fish got too frisky.