Cooking class

What is better than entertainment with food? While Tom went about his business I showed

It’s good to be the King or the Queen for that matter.

Yeah Mel Brooks and the History of the World. We put on all our warm clothes and took the train out to Versailles. Nice sunny day which means cold, cold, cold with out the cloud cover. We are lucky not to have rain, and the snow forecast has disappeared from the weather ap.
We particularly enjoyed the petite hameau where Marie Antoinette played shepherdess with her ladies in waiting.

They were all surrounded by gardens growing leeks, radishes, cabbages, Swiss chard and Tom’s nemeses Brussels sprouts. And yes that is frost on the ground.

I would take this one, just the right size. Looks straight out of Beauty and the Beast.

And then there is how they really lived.

Out and about

Jet lag is hitting us hard. We were up at 4 am and seriously lagging at 4pm. We did manage to get out fully dresses in warm jackets, gloves and hats. It’s not as cold as anticipated but is cold enough for us California wimps. We found the metro stop and hit the Musée D’Orsay. Great views out the window, Sacré-Coeur in the horizon.

My favorite exhibit is the Art Nouveau furnishing.

France, again.

Paris this time, just for 5 days. We tried the budget airline French Bee. It is bare bones but doesn’t suck. New plane, good price. We are renting an apartment in the Marais, lots of restaurants and shops, very close to the Marché des Enfant Rouges. I just love that name- market of the red children. Unfortunately it is closed today and we had to make do with the Franprix around the corner. We scored not only a Star Wars mustard glass but a Frozen one as well, and new yellow shopping bags.

Tom arrived with a miserable cold. so we have doped him up and are taking it easy. He is engaged in his favorite activity- searching the internet.

This is my favorite spot, note the knitting on the couch. My bag failed to make the cut going through security and I was really afraid they were going to take my needles away. But in since they were wood they let them through.

The bedroom is a bit cramped, there is barely enough room to get around the bed. But since we have stayed in hotels with not much more space that is not a problem.

We scoped out restaurants to try and are waiting for our internal clocks to adjust to Paris time so we a can manage lunch.

OAT- oh another temple Angkor Wat

OAT does not stand for Oversea Adventure Travel, it stands for Oh Another Temple. Siem Reap is temple town. We got an early start, 7 am, which was a really good thing. It got crowded and hot as the morning went on. 

Angkor Wat is a huge complex of temples, library, monuments and really high. Scary stairs to reach the 3rd level where you are only allowed to stay 15 minutes.

Cool carvings on the walls of horses, and elephants and all sorts of people from the king to the servants.

We saw real elephants trotting off to Angkor Wat on our way to Bayon temple.

Bayon temple has a bunch of 4 sided Buddha heads.

And stories carved comic book style on to the walls. Pictures of battles, Hindu myths, people gambling, getting eaten by crocodiles, giving birth,  all sorts of every day activities.

We had a home hosted lunch where we ate great food and Sara got to hold the baby.

We had a very friendly hostess who learned English from tourist in the market.  She has a stall at Angkor Wat, her husband farms and drives a Romark during the tourist season. A Romark is a 4 seater taxi pulled by a motorbike.

She has a "tall house".

After a swim in the lovely hotel pool, we went to our last temple Ta Prohm. It's where they filmed part of Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie. My favorite.

All overgrown with terms, roots dripping down everywhere. 

Finished off the day with beer and snacks along the  moat at Angkor Wat. Beautiful view.

We had dried buffalo and Python. Python was my favorite.

Much enjoyed by the whole group.

We are off to Saigon, flying home tomorrow. After 38 days I am ready to go home!

Floating village- last boat ride

We took our last boat ride today to visit a floating village on the largest fresh water lake in Asia. Largest during the wet season that is. 

Precariously perched on a boat that draws only inches of water, we made our way out to deeper but not really open water. 

The villagers farm the land along the shore when the lake recedes. But most make their living fishing. 

They have fish farms,

And crocodile farms. This is a big'n.

They have a school built by the Assemly of God (I think that's Jehovah Witness) 

The students go to and fro by boat. The lucky ones have motors. Not sure how they get those shirts so white being washed in that muddy water.

There is even a Catholic Church. An interesting phenomenon in a country that is 95% Buddhist.

But this Buddhist monasteryis where the boats moor for the rainy season. The big tower is a water purification system for the villagers to use.

After reaching terra firm we visited a village inland with houses built on stilts. This is really common architecture in the Cambodian country side, it is cooler in the heat and it keeps the house from being flooded in the wet season.

We also got to go for a ride in a water buffalo cart. Water buffalo are getting really expensive and are being replaced by tiny Honda tractors. Our's had a baby following along side.

Apologies for the underlined and multicolored text. I can't figure out how to fix it.

Road adventures Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Ah, the things you can see on the road in Cambodia.

First stop tarantula village. There was a whole bucket of them.

We went out into the backyard and watched one being dug up.

Next step, fry them up.

Last step, eat them. I ate the legs  with out any trouble but just couldn't get the body down. Tasted fine but couldn't get past the ick factor.

We had a lovely lunch alongside the lake. No spiders, scorpions or crickets. 

And walked across one of the oldest bridges in the world. 

900 years old, with snake head on the ends.

After a visit with the tour guide's family we blew into Siem Reap.

We went to the Ankor National Museum where there was a a serious sign in the gift shop warning against shoplifting.

Finally a fancy dinner in town. The cone thing is bearing rice.

Big long day and I'm whipped.