No, I am not done with Cambodia, but I need a break and my friend Lara REALLY wanted this recipe.  I could have given her this link - this is where I found the recipe, but I wanted to have it on my blog.  Thanks to Monica over at The Yummy Life for this amazing recipe!!  I've adapted it a bit, but basically it is the same as her recipe (mine is just a tad more sweet, like me. BAhahahaha!!)

2 apples, peeled cored and cut up into bite size pieces
2 cups of skim milk (you can use almond or soy if you desire)
1 1/2 cup water
1 cup uncooked steel-cut oatmeal (I could NOT find steel cut oatmeal FOREVER - when I did find it, it was with the gluten free stuff)
4 TBL brown sugar
4 TBL butter
1 TSP cinnamon
1 TBL ground flax seed
1/4 TSP salt
cooking spray

Spray the inside of your crockpot with cooking spray.
Toss everything in - give it a little stir.
Cook for 7 hours on low.

When you wake up in the morning, breakfast is ready.

For the kids, I scooped it in a bowl for them, added a tad bit more milk, mixed it up added a little more brown sugar on top and they loved it!  :)

Monica says leftovers freeze well.  I wouldn't know - we didn't have leftovers.  

Happy Monday!  

Angkor Wat is the worlds largest religious structure.
Angkor Wat means 'temple city' which is very fitting as Angkor Wat is massive - you could spend an entire day at Angkor Wat and not see everything it has to offer.

Hubby and I woke up bright and early to see Angkor Wat at sunrise.  I was a little disappointed that it was a very hazy day, therefor my pictures are not as good as I had hoped for.  None the less, Angkor Wat was AMAZING.  (And I really couldn't believe how many people were out for the sunrise viewing - it was hard to find a good spot to take pictures!)

Inside the temple there were walls as long as a football field with entire scenes carved from top to bottom. 

As you know by now, I have a thing for columns.

One of the four basins in the cruciform cloister.

The uppermost level of the temple where the towers are is not continually open - they have specific hours and you must have your shoulders covered and your knees covered to be allowed entrance.  We did not go to the upper level.   

If you will notice, there are no handrails on the stairs going up into the towers.

Apsaras gallery - on the second level.

A view from the back side of Angkor Wat.

We are blessed.

On the backside of Angkor Wat there were monkeys everywhere and they were causing all sorts of trouble! 

These guys were taking these incense containers, dumping them and tossing them all over the place.  Notice the look on this monkeys face?  He is looking at the monkeys in the next picture......

Enough said.

And check this out....Monkeys VS dogs.

This was the first and only time this trip I saw carvings like this.  I'm not even sure what they are - little old men?  Are they Hindu or Buddhist or neither?

No temple is complete without Nagas

It was another great morning with the love of my life in an amazing place I will not soon forget.

Temples are great, but let be honest Hubby and I were on a little temple overload.  Seriously 14 temples in 6 days, who does that?  AND, now that I have been writing about them, there were more than 14, I think we saw 15 or 16. 
Really, we didn't tire of seeing them, but 15 or 16 temples is plenty for 6 days.  (I still haven't showed you Angkor Wat!)

Hey Mom, if you are out there looking at these pictures now you know how us kids felt when you and Daddy would come home from vacation and would set up the projector and show us HUNDREDS of slides from your trips.  (How I wish I had those slides today.)

Anyway Hubby and I did take a few breaks from the temples - we took a cooking class and just wandered around the markets a bit.  He are a few fun pic's from the markets.  I encourage you to really look closely at these pictures so you can absorb everything, and then you might just have an idea of what it was like to be here.  Have fun!  :o)

Ta Prohm was one of my favorite temples, not for the temple itself, but for the trees that have made Ta Prohm their home.  The trees add such an amazing element to Ta Prohm, sad as it may be.  When the trees grow they eventually become support for the structure grown, but when the trees die or fall from a storm they the structure collapses. 

As a result, there is much construction going on at Ta Prohm right now. 

Boy 2's teacher ask me to do a presentation on Cambodia for his class.  I struggled with what to talk about for these 15 minutes with a bunch of 4th graders.  First we talked about where Cambodia is....many of the children have been to Thailand or Vietnam so they were easily able to visualize where Cambodia is. I then mentioned to them that many Cambodian homes do not have running water or electricity, which immediately grabbed their attention and one boy (in shock) said "that means they don't have Xbox!"  After talking about the many things that require electricity one child raise her hand and said "Mrs. Trish, you said they don't have running water - where do they go to the bathroom?"   In the end I need WAY more than 15 minutes with these kids! 

Here are a few things I shared with them:
- The average income for a Cambodian family is $1 USD PER DAY.  Yes, you read that correctly, PER DAY.  (In Phnom Penh it is triple that, but overall this is the average income - can you imagine?)
- By 5 years of age older children in the family are expected to help with the younger children.
- By age 10 girls are expected to help with basic household chores (washing clothes in the river or body of water as there are very few washing machines), doing dishes, waking up early to cook.
- By age 10 boys are expected to be able to take care of the livestock and the family farm.
- During the teen years boys often become monks.
- Marriage - girls marry between the ages of 16 & 22, men marry between the ages of 19 & 25.  Parents and matchmakers pick whom you marry.
- If you do not wake before sunrise you are considered lazy.
- Children go to school very early and are done by 10 or 11AM - after school they go to work.

The picture below is of a young boy getting his bathwater.  He took a bath right there with me taking pictures and all.

PALM SUGAR

It starts with this:

They crack the palms open drain the juice out and cook it over a VERY HOT fire.

I have no idea how long they cook it.

But at some point they take it off the fire and start stirring...

...and stirring....

...and stirring...

...until it gets to the right consistency.

When it is just right they put it in jars or these little molds to dry:

And then they put it on their table to sale.
They sell them for next to nothing, and for tourist they raise the price.  If you don't haggle with them they giggle. Little do they know I am more than happy to pay $2 for a jar of fresh Palm Sugar and more than happy to give them a little more money than they think their product is worth so they can have a little extra this month.

Leftover dried bits - yum.

A sweet baby girl I fell in love with. I bought a basket from her Momma just because she was so stinkin' cute.

I found this awesome little sign in a bathroom somewhere along the way.  I thought you guys might enjoy it.  For those that need help:
1- No smoking
2 - This is a western toilet, please don't squat on the toilet.
3 - I'm really not sure what this is all about....maybe don't wash your feet with the hose (In Asian bathrooms they have a hose with a spray nozzle on it, you know like the old school ones we have in kitchen sinks in America)
4 - Don't use the hose to take a shower

Srah Srang - a small landing/terrace type place where you can go and sit, relax and be close to nature (or gods if you are Hindu or Buddhist - or any other religion I suppose.)  This little landing is under construction right now so I didn't take too many pictures.  I do love this one though - the water you see in the picture has been here for more than 9 centuries without drying up!  Pretty cool because it really isn't that big.

Banteay Kdei - right across the street from Srah Srang.  On the way there we were accosted by children selling things.  Like I have said before they are good sales people.  Just a word to the wise:  if you don't plan to buy from these children don't give them hope and say "Maybe on the way out".  They REMEMBER and they look for you.  "Hey lady, I remember you, you buy from me."  And you are screwed and will end up with more bracelets and ornaments for your Christmas tree than you will know what to do with.

                                          Banteay Kdei was built in the late 12th to early 13th Century. 

This is an image that will always come to mind when thinking of Cambodia.

Walking his cows in front of the temple.

We saw this in many of the temples - Buddha dressed and decorated. You can put money in the box and get a bracelet tied around your wrist, light and incense and pray to Buddha here.  I know for many this has meaning, but to me it took away from the beauty of the temple.....just my opinion. 

I was kind of afraid to walk under this....doesn't it look like it could crumble at any moment? 

So old and so cool....

I love the natural beauty of how the trees just grew where ever they wanted....

I'm a lucky girl in so many ways.

This 'little' temple was AWESOME!  Everywhere you looked there were carving.  It was more decorated than any of the other temples.  I took over 200 pictures here - don't worry I've narrowed it down to about 30 for you.   The temple's name, Banteay Srei means "Citadel of the Women" or perhaps "Citadel of Beauty".  The actual name of the temple was Tribhuvanamahesvara (try saying that 3 times fast!) which meant "Great Lord of the Threefold World".  I have no idea why they changed the name to Banteay Srei except that it is easier to say.  :o)   

Srei was not a royal temple unlike the other temples I have showed you.  If you will notice this temple is tiny.  Everything about it is small. OH, and this temple is a bit off the beaten path, so it wasn't discovered until 1914!  It was believed to have been built between the years of 967-1000!  HOLY OLD.  One of the oldest temples we visited.

East entrance

Notice Indra on his three headed elephant mount (below)?

32 boundary stones line the causeway.

Not the best picture but the only one I took of the tilting wall.
(I think after 1,100 years or so I would be tilting too!)

Narasimha about to take a bite out of Hiranyakasipu.  OUCH!

My handsome peering out a window.

Again....lots of the columns I love...

A very cool double gopura (entrance, gateway). 

Isn't the detail amazing?

Remember we talked about the lotus flower? 

Not only were they etched in the temples, they were growing in the water all around the temples as well.

As Cambodia went from Hindu to Buddhist many of the heads were removed from the temples, as you can see in the bottom of this picture.

Most of the guardian's in the next few pictures are copies and all are damaged.  Thieves could not tell the difference between the copies and the real thing so they continued to steal from the temple. The original statues are in the National Museum in Phnom Penh.  All of these guardians have human bodies but the heads vary.

No words are need for this post, but who are we kidding.  I can't not talk - I need tell you what is going on or how I am feeling at the time...so I will try to keep my words to a minimum. 

I become very sad and humbled when thinking of this market..... As we were walking through I heard a baby crying, I looked over and saw his Mom holding him.  I looked closer and noticed he was hooked up to an IV. As I looked even closer I notice this was a clinic or hospital of sorts.  There were many sick people, some had curtains around them, some had cots, some just had plastic chairs.  The clinic looked very much like this store.  Dirt floor, no electicity, flies everywhere and the temperature is in the 90's. It was at this is the moment I decided I want to come back to Cambodia
on some sort of mission trip.  I don’t know what I can do to help, but I am sure there is something.

I would really like to hear your feedback...Are you enjoying this trip to Cambodia?  Did any of the pictures strike you, pull at your heartstrings or did you whiz right past them?  What was your favorite?  Do you want to see more pictures of daily life in Cambodia? 

I interrupt this trip to Cambodia to remind all foreigners reading this blog that SUNDAY, 11/11 is Pepero Day!!!

What is a Pepero?  A long skinny biscuit dipped in chocolate.
What is  Pepero Day?  The day you give gifts of Pepero sticks to friends and family to tell them you love them.  Kind of like Valentine's day without the cards and $100 vase of roses.  If you will notice on the smaller boxes of Pepero there is even a place to write a sweet little note.  
When is Pepero Day?  It always falls on the same day each year - 11/11 - because 11/11 looks like Pepero sticks! 
How much do Pepero sticks cost?  Pepero sticks are pretty inexpensive. Small boxes can cost as little as 500 won - the price goes up from there. 
Is there only one type of Pepero stick?  OH GOODNESS NO!!  Pepero sticks come in all sizes and flavors!
How did Pepero day come about?  I have heard a couple of different stories: Some say the manufacturer, Lotte  created this day to boost sales....genius if you ask me, because when I was in E-Mart yesterday buying Pepero sticks for the ones I love those boxes were FLYING off the shelves! The other story I heard is that middle school girls in Busan started the holiday by exchanging Peperos with their friends on November 11th saying "Be tall and thin like the number 1"! I suppose we will never know the true story, but what I do know is that I am all in!  I love a reason to spread cheer and what a better way than to give chocolate covered biscuit sticks on 11/11....  

                                                                        Happy Pepero Day! 

On our way to the temples today this is a little of what we saw:

Every morning we went out I couldn't get over how surreal everything seems to me.  My heart aches for the people of Cambodia, even though (as I have mentioned before) they are happy. 

Before entering Banteay Samre we checked out the causeway and cruciform terrace.  This is something many tourists miss because they go directly into Banteay Samre.  I'm so glad we didn't miss this part.  It was beautiful!  The terrace is believed to have been added many years after Banteay Samre was built.  Banteay Samre was believed to have been built during the first half of the 12th century and the terrace was added in the 13th century.

SIDE NOTE:  even though the weather looks beautiful, it was SCORCHING HOT!!  We always had fans out and we were drinking water constantly. 

Banteay Samre:  Even though this temple was smaller than many of the others it was one of my favorite. 

You will see the lotus flower in many of the temples.

Many (if not all) of these temples were built as Hindu temples.  In the Hindu faith the lotus flower stand for beauty, fertility, prosperity, spirituality, and eternity.

Then over the years Cambodia switch to Buddhist country and the lotus flower for Buddhist represents purity, spiritual awakening and faithfulness.

Every time Hubby and I travel we try to buy a print from a local artist.  Today we bought from this man.  The picture we bought is the one closest to you.  It is of the floating village.  He says he only paints from his mind, not from photographs.  :o)

Next we stopped at another little store along the roadside.  This one was more upscale than the average roadside shop.  I was shocked to see how well dressed and groomed this young lady is.  She told me she is 14 and this is what her family does for a business and they make good money.  She is holding a traditional instrurment (we bought it) that sells for $8. 

This is the only picture I have of our driver, Mr. Tola.  He is showing us how the instruments are played.

Around the temples children are taught to sell things they make and they are taught to be persistent.  The two most popular things they sell are ornaments for your Christmas tree and bracelets. I will forever remember children chanting "Hey lady, bracelets are 10 for one dallar..."  (I intentionally spelt it dallar) and then they start counting in English.  And then they tell you "Washington DC is you capital."  Some kids were a little more creative and would say "Buy one get nine free!" And if you bought from one, had to buy from all because they just would not leave you alone.  We gave money to these kids and it was amazing how many other children came out once they saw us passing out cash. 

Just a sweet girl taking her little brother somewhere....
(That is what is going on in my mind anyway.)

I have pictures of one more temple we did this day but for the life of me I can't figure out which one it was!!  I'll post about it tomorrow - it was really cool.

Anyway, I'll end today with dinner - This is a green curry of some sort.  I must say Cambodian food was NOT my favorite.  It is Thai inspired, but it just doesn't match up to Thai - Cambodian food is much more bland. 

Although I was a fan of the prices in Cambodia:
Mango shake + Banana shake + 4 beers + 2 meals = $9 USD.
Remember in Cambodia you pay in US dollars.

Unless the price is less than $1 USD, then you use Cambodian Riels: