Our morning excursion began with a bus ride up the mountain to Wat Hanchey, a hilltop temple overlooking the river.
Some of our fellow travelers chose to hike up but Bruce and I decided to take a nice air-conditioned bus. We feel at our age we don’t have anything to prove and I know we both could do the hike, but just didn’t want to. Plus it was a nice view on the way up.
On the way up we saw houses on stilts and other signs of rural life. Many of the village children play up at the temple.
The buildings were very colorful and ornate. It reminded me of Disney’s It’s a Small World.
We entered the temple for our water blessing. Quang, our guide said it was the longest blessing he has experienced. We sat cross-legged on the floor listening to chanting for quite some time.
After the blessing we could take pictures. Bruce loves to say he is a Buddhist.
We also were given Buddhist blessing bracelets.
The young Buddhist Monk in training who is 13 years old showed us how he wraps his garment.
We continued our tour through their group eating area.
Many children were following our group hoping we would buy something. Our guide told us not to give money because they don’t want the children to become beggars.
On our way out we saw two gibbons in a tree.
Some of our fellow travelers took the stairs to the ship. Bruce and I bussed it.
After lunch, we did a walking tour through the rural town of Angkor Ban. We pulled up to some arches where some young children were waiting for us.
Through the arches were the year of the animals similar to the Chinese culture. I think I am a rat.
But I really like monkeys. Again this was another colorful town. 
We walked through the back roads and visited a traditional home.
Some beautiful children were playing and appearing very happy.
One beautiful young woman was working with bricks.
They dress with turtlenecks and long pants even though the heat to us Westerners is oppressive. Life is busy in this small village.
The weather started to look ominous. Dark clouds were rolling in.
We walked to a school where the children were learning English. We had the opportunity to interact with them. Bruce, ever the teacher, went to the whiteboard first.
I read a lesson with an 11-year-old girl.
While we were there the rains came. We had ponchos to brave the weather but they weren’t needed because it stopped just as we left the school.
We made it back to the ship without anyone slipping in the mud.
The fishermen were out working.
And we had a beautiful moon from our cabin that night.
Onto more Cambodian countryside tomorrow!
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