Written by William November 14, 2013
If you guessed Cambodia for where we went on our day trip last week, you were correct!
We found out our resort offers a day trip tour to Angkor Wat
in Cambodia, and so we decided to take it last minute. First we went on a boat
for an hour and a half to the border of Cambodia. It was the first third world
country I have seen, and I felt bad for the families that live there because
they looked really poor. We went through customs, but there was no security
check for our bags. Next we drove to get on a helicopter, which we took for
another hour and a half. We saw lakes, rice paddies, a floating village (they
move their entire village 6 times a year, so they can keep up with the water
levels), and lots of temples. 
Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world,
and it was built around 900 years ago in the 12th century. It
started as a Hindu temple, and it was converted to a Buddhist temple. We walked
through the temples, and our guide told us that each carving in the wall
represented a story. They carved into sandstone because it was easy to carve
into, but it also has worn down a lot over time. Then we got in the main square
where you could see the five towers. I was amazed by how high they were able to
bring the blocks of stone, which they brought by hand or by elephants. I
thought it was really cool, and I want to go back again one day.
Getting back was an adventure. We had to fly through storms
over mountains, and there was lightning every five seconds. It seemed like the
lightning was close, and I felt really really scared because I thought the
lightning might strike our helicopter. Then we got to go on the exciting boat
ride. My dad said it was going to rain on us, so we put towels over our heads…sadly,
we did not get rained on. By the time we got back, it was pitch black and there
was lightning all around us. That was the coolest field trip ever!
Written by Charles November 14, 2013
Ever been in a rush but everyone around you is slow as a snail? Well, that's how breakfast was. It opened at 7:30, and we needed to be on the boat at 8:00. So after arriving at the dock 30 minutes late, we set off. We were cruising full speed in a boat to the Thailand/Cambodia border. No, we aren't running away, we were trying to catch our helicopter to Siem Reap. It still may sound like we are trying to ditch the world and move to Cambodia. But I promise you we are not; we are going on a day trip to visit Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat is a Buddhist temple that started out as a Hindu temple that later converted to Buddhism. It's over 900 years old, and it's the largest religious monument in the world. Enough with the boring facts and back to the boring one and a half hour boat ride. After that, we parked at a little town on the border. After an hour of waiting for customs, we walked across the border into Cambodia. Then we drove to an airport, wait, I mean an air traffic control tower that you can't get to the top of. Then it's a helicopter pad with no runway. We flew in the helicopter for an hour and a half over half of Cambodia. We flew over the mountains and a massive lake that grows four times the normal size in the rainy season.
We first saw a floating village, and the pilot said that they change locations 5 times a year to keep up with the lake levels. Then we saw them. I mean we saw temples. From the air they looked like little stone spires in the middle of the jungle. We were lucky because our cameras zoomed in pretty well. We circled the temples that we saw a few times. We even saw a temple that is on top of a hill.
We landed near Angkor Wat, which was pretty obvious because of the massive moat around it and that it had five massive sand stone towers around it. We landed and then we had lunch at a hotel. The lunch was funny because they gave us a "menu," but it was a list of food that they were going to give us. We drove in a van to Angkor Wat, but first we had to buy tickets. After the tickets we drove to the temple. There was a massively long walkway with a sort of gate halfway down. I think you could have landed a 757 on it! Of course it wasn't wide enough, and there were too many potholes in it.
Of course we had to walk the runway because they wanted us to smell horrible before we even got to the main complex. I think that the humidity was about 4,000 percent. (Ms. Jenn no editor's note please because that is a fact, and you will agree with me.) So we went in a side entrance at the first gate, and there was a statue of one of the three main Hindu gods. The guide told us that there are hundreds of different Hindu gods, but there are three main gods. After that, we walked down the second half of the runway/walkway/sauna. We got to the temple, and it looked like there was a carving on every available inch of every wall.
We walked through the hallways taking millions of pictures. (Or at least Ms. Jenn was.) We finally got to the center of the lower level. The center spire was still ahead of us. (You know the one- with the five towers that you see in all the post cards.) This middle square had a pretty good amount of tourists in it, but the guide said that the crowds weren't that bad today. He said that there was a stairway up to the top. He also said that if you were under 12, you couldn't go up. So my mom, Ms. Jenn, and I went to the top. The staircase was what you would expect going up Mount Everest. It had a grade of about 60%. Just to add to our drippyness (yes, that's a word in my world) it was that incline for 50-60 feet.
When we got to the top, I realized just how high we were. It was something like 50 feet above the tree level. These hallways were still plastered with the high detail carvings. (All the carvings were about the Hindu religion, not Buddhism.) I saw four more courtyards, but I didn't go into any of them. We walked down the hallways and saw the view in all directions. Then we had to walk down the stairs, which was a complete horror show. It was scary.
We left through the back entrance AKA the old king's elephant ramp. It was only a ramp to the entrance, not the main tower though. We drove away and went to the airport/helicopter. It was the scariest helicopter ride in the world. There were massive thunder cells on either side of us and in front of us. All the thunder cells were spitting lighting. The helicopter landed safely without us being fried.
Next we walked back across the border, but we only spent 5 minutes at customs. We took the boat back and chowed down at dinner. I thought that Angkor Wat was awesome, and I want to go back.
Written by Charles November 14, 2013
Ever been in a rush but everyone around you is slow as a snail? Well, that's how breakfast was. It opened at 7:30, and we needed to be on the boat at 8:00. So after arriving at the dock 30 minutes late, we set off. We were cruising full speed in a boat to the Thailand/Cambodia border. No, we aren't running away, we were trying to catch our helicopter to Siem Reap. It still may sound like we are trying to ditch the world and move to Cambodia. But I promise you we are not; we are going on a day trip to visit Angkor Wat.Angkor Wat is a Buddhist temple that started out as a Hindu temple that later converted to Buddhism. It's over 900 years old, and it's the largest religious monument in the world. Enough with the boring facts and back to the boring one and a half hour boat ride. After that, we parked at a little town on the border. After an hour of waiting for customs, we walked across the border into Cambodia. Then we drove to an airport, wait, I mean an air traffic control tower that you can't get to the top of. Then it's a helicopter pad with no runway. We flew in the helicopter for an hour and a half over half of Cambodia. We flew over the mountains and a massive lake that grows four times the normal size in the rainy season.
We first saw a floating village, and the pilot said that they change locations 5 times a year to keep up with the lake levels. Then we saw them. I mean we saw temples. From the air they looked like little stone spires in the middle of the jungle. We were lucky because our cameras zoomed in pretty well. We circled the temples that we saw a few times. We even saw a temple that is on top of a hill.
We landed near Angkor Wat, which was pretty obvious because of the massive moat around it and that it had five massive sand stone towers around it. We landed and then we had lunch at a hotel. The lunch was funny because they gave us a "menu," but it was a list of food that they were going to give us. We drove in a van to Angkor Wat, but first we had to buy tickets. After the tickets we drove to the temple. There was a massively long walkway with a sort of gate halfway down. I think you could have landed a 757 on it! Of course it wasn't wide enough, and there were too many potholes in it.
Of course we had to walk the runway because they wanted us to smell horrible before we even got to the main complex. I think that the humidity was about 4,000 percent. (Ms. Jenn no editor's note please because that is a fact, and you will agree with me.) So we went in a side entrance at the first gate, and there was a statue of one of the three main Hindu gods. The guide told us that there are hundreds of different Hindu gods, but there are three main gods. After that, we walked down the second half of the runway/walkway/sauna. We got to the temple, and it looked like there was a carving on every available inch of every wall.
We walked through the hallways taking millions of pictures. (Or at least Ms. Jenn was.) We finally got to the center of the lower level. The center spire was still ahead of us. (You know the one- with the five towers that you see in all the post cards.) This middle square had a pretty good amount of tourists in it, but the guide said that the crowds weren't that bad today. He said that there was a stairway up to the top. He also said that if you were under 12, you couldn't go up. So my mom, Ms. Jenn, and I went to the top. The staircase was what you would expect going up Mount Everest. It had a grade of about 60%. Just to add to our drippyness (yes, that's a word in my world) it was that incline for 50-60 feet.
We left through the back entrance AKA the old king's elephant ramp. It was only a ramp to the entrance, not the main tower though. We drove away and went to the airport/helicopter. It was the scariest helicopter ride in the world. There were massive thunder cells on either side of us and in front of us. All the thunder cells were spitting lighting. The helicopter landed safely without us being fried.
Next we walked back across the border, but we only spent 5 minutes at customs. We took the boat back and chowed down at dinner. I thought that Angkor Wat was awesome, and I want to go back.
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