Our morning started off the same as usual, with another delicious breakfast buffet at our hotel. We ate plenty of food knowing it would be a long final day ahead of us. After breakfast, we embarked on our final day in Cambodia.
The first stop of the morning was a beautiful Banteay Srei teample, known as "The Lady Temple". Of all the temples we have visited, we saw the most detailed and ornate carvings and stories on the temple walls. Unlike other temples we've seen, it did not stand tall, but rather spread out over a big area. It was interesting to hear our tour guide tell stories about the temple while he explained what some of the individual carvings meant in the context of Cambodia's religious past. As we have every day, we then had time to explore individually and in small groups, while some of us just found a shady spot to contemplate.
Next, we took a drive up Kulen Mountain, where we saw a variety of holy monuments and bodies of water. The first was a long riverbed where ancient carvings were made as a tribute to Hindu gods. Then we went to a close-by waterhole that was celebrated with incense and candles, where our group crossed paths with an interesting Turkish man with an inflatable turtle that he carried around to prove something that was never entirely clear. He asked students Dina and Ally to take pictures with his turtle for his Instagram page, to show that his turtle has been all around the world. Following that unusual encounter, we headed further up the mountain up a long staircase to see a large, reclining Buddha sculpture that is constantly being worshiped.
After lunch we headed to the most anticipated part of the day: the waterfall. Our plans were almost ruined by a growing thunderstorm, however, we were in the clear when the thunder hadn't struck for thirty minutes. All the students and chaperones jumped into the pool from the larger-than-life waterfall that towered over us. The waterfall was approximately thirty feet high and there was an immense water flow, despite February being in the dry season. It was one of the best experiences of the trip, and a perfect one to do on our last full day in Cambodia. Having to run to the bus in the pouring rain on a jungle-like mountain was a truly unforgettable experience!
As a final treat and experience in Cambodia, the students all got full body massages together back in the city of Siem Reap. It was a great way to decompress after two weeks of constant adventures, and the students appreciated the opportunity greatly. Afterwards we enjoyed a cook-it-yourself Korean barbecue-style "hot pot" dinner in which we tried our first alligator, which we discovered actually DOES taste like chicken. To wrap the day up in style, the group got ice cream cakes to celebrate both Emerson's birthday and our last night together. As a special surprise, our wonderful tour guide, Por Heng, brought his wife and three children to the ice cream parlor to meet us so that they could practice their English skills. To end the night and our amazing trip to Cambodia, one group of students headed to a stand where they could get their feet massaged by small fish that nibble on the dead skin under your feet., while other groups cruised around the night markets one last time in search of the last perfect souvenir, or just to take in the sights and sounds of bustling Siem Reap. Tomorrow we leave in the morning to fly to Hong Kong, before wrapping up the journey in Los Angeles.
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| Bas relief at Banteay Srei |
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| Cambodia 2017 at Kulen Falls |
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