They worked hard.

They studied hard.

They’ll play hard.

Thanks to CCF in Fallbrook and CCF in Anaheim the children where able to have a great Summer vacation this year.
For about $30 a child they got to spend 3 days seeing the sights of Angkor Wat.

There are so many pictures of their adventure that it will take several blogs to highlight each part of their trip.

First was the bus ride 5 hours North-East.  Not to bad in their 40 seat tour bus.  They got to watch some Jakie Chang on the way up.  Plus the Fallbrook team and Steve and Susan Arias got to ride with them which was a little added fun. 

When you think about none of these kids had ever seen Angkor Wat before which is a little over 200 miles away.  Most of their families have never seen it either.  It was really special for them.  Since this was an expensive trip for us and we do not know when we’ll get to go again we took full advantage and pack everything in that we could. 

We were a little tired at the end but I know they were happy.

So we’ll go in order of the trip

The team got the nice hotel, 4 stars.  2 People sharing a room here comes out to $20 a night.  

I have never been served cold fruit drinks in the lobby with cold towelettes to refresh before you checked in, I was completely amazed.  We had the view of the pool.

The children being on a budget stayed in a cheaper hotel but still quite nice for them.

We were a little late for the buffet so we just ordered plates.  The food was so fantastic it made us really want to come back.  We ate until we were sick and sadly we did not make it back to the same place.  For some reason it just felt like we ate and ate all the time.  People started skipping meals.      

A short rest and the day began.  All day on the bus then a couple hours on a boat.

It was great, many of the kids had never been on a boat before either.  We went out on the Tonle Sap lake for a couple hours, it’s so large you can’t see across it.  From what I heard there are only 2 rivers in the world that revers their flow during the year, this is one of them.

There are many boat people that live here on the sides of the river and out in the lake.   They have markets out there, a water filtering plant and churches and schools.
There crazy things to see.  Seeing most of this for the first time we were all amazed by the sights

Most of the kids sat on the bottom.

While the team sat on top.

Sally and Ream got to talk a bit.

                              Susan Arias

Amparo and Ream

Desirea  and   Steve Arias                

Celeste – Amy – Nathan Sneller   

Life is a little difficult on the river, the houses look confining.  Every time a boat passes you have to hold on and I can’t imagine how many infants drown in this community.

The was our little pirate.  Dad drover her up beside us and the daughter jumped aboard.  She tried to sell some snacks to but the kids did not have a lot of money, so she was off as quick as she got on.  

The water filtering place put out by an NGO.  With out this the people would be drinking out of the lake still, not a pretty thought.

This little man is famous I have seen him in many pictures and now we get to met him our self.  He floats around in a wash tub with a boa constrictor snake trying to earn money from the tourist.

Here comes the rest of the family

When is the last time you let you naked toddler run around with a snake. 

Half way into our trip we stopped at  zoo/ bar / gift shop floating boat / house thingy on the lake.

They kids loved the crocodile pit and the snakes and the scenery.

Handsome Lim stands on the third floor of this house boat thingy.

Steve

Church and school next door.

These houses kind of stuck to the shore are also used as cadges for holding fish, shrimp or crab.

A bicycle built for 2 and a half.

Next blog will be next blog will be going into the Angkor Wat park and Culture Center.

I should have it out in a day or two.  Stay tuned.