Siem Reap – Good time with a formidable family and insects degustation !

Okay, the last (but not least) post about Siem Reap… But how can we do without telling you about our stay with Laetitia, Jacques, and their sons Antoine and Tanguy? It is impossible!!!

Laetitia is a teacher at the French School and…. She loves traveling! That’s why she hosted us for few days!!! We could have French meals, a swimming pool just in front of our bedroom and we could talk in French about everything ;-). 

With Antoine, their 9 year old son, we played a lot, A LOT : Cluedo, 1000 km, Mister “I know everything”, Jungle Speed, Chromino… A lot of fun, smiles and laughing!

Tanguy took all our souvenirs back to France in his coffer!!! Wahou, no we can do some shopping again!

So we spent very nice times with this family and the good byes were particularly sad… Anyway, who knows how the future will be, perhaps we will meet again somewhere!!! Now it is time to go to Battambang!

But before leaving, and with the « good » advices of Laetitia, we had a dinner at the « Bugs café »…. Yes you are reading well: we went there to eat insects! And we did the whole degustation : grilled scorpion and tarantula, silk worms and crickets salad, Water bug, Mediterranean pastry with red ants, spring rolls with flying ants… You’ll not believe it but we liked everything except the water bug. Romain liked the scorpion and I preferred the tarantula (oh… Never in my life could I imagine I would say that). So now, Ladies and gentlemen, dear children, don’t be shy and eat insects!!! It is healthy and it is good for the planet!!!

  

Siem Reap – Meeting with the children and…. Santa!!!

In Siem Reap, we were glad to discover the “hidden” French School: with only 75 pupils, it is a very small one. Again, it is so nice to be warmly welcome by teachers, headmaster and of course by the children!!!

We first met Laetitia’s pupils (CE1 – CE2) and we learnt a lot of games:

-       -  The game “Gazelle, Lion, Crocodile”: You need as much lions as gazelles and for the crocodiles, they can be a bit less. Crocodiles are in the “river” (lines on the ground) at the end of the play field. Gazelles are on the starting line and have a scarf in their back (used as a tail). The lions are one meter behind the gazelles. At the starting bang, gazelles and lions runs. Lions have to catch the tail of the gazelles but when they reach the river, gazelles are safe and lions can be catch by the crocodiles….

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-     - “Monkeys and coconuts”: Monkeys are in team of 2 and stay on each side of the “river” (lines on the ground), where there are many crocodiles. Each team has a ball (a coconut) and the goal is to throw the coconut from one side to another as many time as possible before the crocodiles catch the ball.

-       -  “Wolf and squirrel”: In a basket you put some balls (nuts) and you define where is the river (a line on the ground). Squirrels have to transport the nuts from the basket to their home, after the river. But the territory between the nuts and the river is full of wolves… Be careful not to be catch!!!

-        - “Sparrowhawk with condition”: It is the same game as the normal sparrohawk: all players are on one side of the field and they have to cross it when the sparrowhawk asks them to get out but in this version, the sparrowhawk can had “conditions”. For example “all player with glasses get out”: all children have to cross the field (so that they will be on the same side for the next round) but only the children with glasses can be caught by the sparrowhawk.

-        - “Wizard and Goblin version Country”: you need to define 2 countries (2 fields on the ground) and 2 teams. Wizards have to catch the goblins and bring them to the cauldron. Wizards cannot move from one country to another but goblins can. When a goblin is caught, he can be delivered by the “super goblin” who can only be caught by the “super wizard”.  The super wizard is the only wizard who can change “country” and move everywhere! Is is a game with many types of players so children have a lot of fun!

-        - “Rabbit and hunter”: You choose 2 teams : rabbits and hunters. Hunters have balls and have to touch rabbits with the ball. If a rabbit is touched, he is “frozen” and can only be delivered if the “Super rabbit” touches him. And of course the super rabbit can only be touched by the “super hunter”… (so, as you noticed, Laetitia and the children love the “super” players!!!)

As the older ones had to work and couldn’t participate, we came 3 days to “animate” the playground for their break!!! We had a lot of fun together!!!

And as is wasn’t enough, we were invited at the traditional Christmas party. All children sang Christmas songs and then called Santa who came…. Abseiling!! It was so lovely to see him “coming down from the sky”… Only the black boots were missing but with this heat we can understand that he preferred to wear flip flops!!!

We hope that Santa put some clothes in between so that he could bring you everything you asked him !!! We were very spoiled by our families but also by the French School of Mouvaux. Big ones and little ones offered us a lovely surprise. Once again, thank you very much!!!

Siem Reap – The visit of the Angkor Temples

Siem Reap is well known for its temples! What an impressive feeling to arrive by bicycle in the middle of these old stones!!!! Even if the Nature starts to take back what was hers, you can still imagine (or try to) how the temples were amazing and beautiful a long time ago!

By the way, as History is good for everyone, just few lines about the story of these temples. The first monuments were built in the IXth century. Why the King Jayavarman II did chose Angkor as a capital for his Kingdom? Certainly because of the proximity of the Tonle Sap Lake which offered a lot of fishes and makes the rice culture possible.

The temples are a mix between monarchy and religion, as to show that the King’s supremacy.

A lot of hydraulic systems are built around temples to attract villages to live there.

The Angkor era lasted 6 centuries and the most well-known temple is Angkor Vat, symbolized on the Cambodian flag. It was built from 1113.

Few centuries later, around 1430, the Monarchy moved to Phnom Penh and abandoned Angkor. Why? That is still an opened question but the Siam Kingdom (in Thailand) had probably a link with this change. All temples were left except Angkor Vat!

The temples were “rediscovered” in 1861 by the French Henri Mouhot and since then, the World knows the beauty of this venue and try to preserve it! It is a World Heritage since 1992.

For the anecdote, you probably know one of the temple of Angkor even if you never came here : Lara Croft was filmed at Ta Prohm… ;-)

So, after 3 days of bicycle in the middle of these wonders, we’ve only see a part of it (but with a 3 days pass at 40 dollars, it is the maximum we can afford) and we really loved it!!!

Bangkok - Visit of the French School

Before going to Cambodia, we made a stop in Bangkok at the French School !

We were nicely hosted by Philippe and his family! Thank you so much!!!

The French School of Bangkok is very big. More than 1000 pupils!!!! So with all these minds, they had a lot of games ‘ideas :

We discovered a French game called « Baguette » : There are 2 teams : the customs officer and the smugglers. The smugglers secretly decide who will “transport the cam” (a small piece of wood, a coin, a stone…). They all close their fists and try to cross the border without being caught by the custom. One custom officer can only have one target! If one officer catches a smuggler, he has to open his fists. If he has the “Baguette”, the custom team wins 1 point. If the smuggler with the treasure can cross without being caught, his team gets 1 point. After 5 border crossings, teams change roles.

In the English game “ Gold catching”, we put some “Gold” (balls, scarves, Stones…) in a hoop in the center of the play field. One team is in charge of the protection of the Gold and one one more teams are the thieves! The children try to take some gold without being caught. If they get caught, the “gold” is put back in the hoop. After 5 minutes we count how many gold each team has stolen and we change the roles!
 « Dern Sam Kha » is a Thai game that we also know : It is a race between teams of 2 players, where the children are tied up to each other by the feet. The fastest team wins the race.

 « Litching chag » (sorry for the spelling.) is a game similar to the “Devil’s Tail” which means “Monkey’s Tail”. The two teams receive scarves in 2 different colours and attach them in their back (like a tail). In 5 minutes, the players have to take off the tails of the adversary team. The team with the most tails remaining wins the game. If a child loses his tail, he cannot catch anyone else!

In the coconut game, you need to cut a coconut and fix a string, so you can use it at stilts. (Remember, we did the same with food cans)! When your coconut are ready, jump on it and be the fastest (without falling down!)!!

In the « sardine game », there is a shark in the middle of the field. The shark asks the sardines to run. They have to cross the field without being caught. If a sardine is caught by the shark, it becomes a seaweed: the plyer cannot move his legs anymore, but with his hands he can try to touch the remaining sardines! The game finishes when there is only one sardine left!

For the “bunny – game”, children are in team of 2 (one is the rabbit home and has to stand and the second is the rabbit and starts in his home between the legs of his friend). One player is a hunter; when he wants to; he asks the rabbits to go out. All rabbits have to run (in a specific designated way) without being caught by the hunter. The hunter can only attack 3 seconds after the rabbits are out!

So, our collection is becoming bigger… and it will be on internet very soon! Until then, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Myanmar : the conclusion

Bagan, Hpa – An and Mawlamyine : Pagodas and Buddha everywhere !!

Bagan is one of the most famous places in Myanmar. In a 42km2 zone, more than 2200 temples and Stupas are standing. All were built between the 9^th and the 13^th century. It is the biggest Buddhist place of the world.

A lot of temples have been damaged by several earthquakes (the last one in 1975) but the UNESCO, some countries and other organisms try to restore this place!

 It is very pleasant to take a bicycle and ride in the middle of all these pagodas, but what is the most stunning part of it is to climb one of the temple and discover thousands of stupas all around you ! Sunrise and sunset are the best time to look at this place! Especially in the early morning when all hot air balloons fly above the temples!!! Even if you’re not a Buddhist you can feel the spirituality of Bagan!

We finished our trip in Myanmar in two cities south of Yangon: Hpa- An and Mawlamyine. The first city is well known for its natural caves used as temples and decorated with many golden Buddha and sculptures and the second town has the longest lying Buddha of the world. One finger toe is as tall as I am!!!

Romain tried also the national sport : Chilon. This sport is played with a 12 cm ball in rattan. There are several versions of the game: The Burmese traditional one is played with 6 men in a circle. During 5 inutes they have to pass the ball 30 times only using feet or legs. They have penalties if they use their head or if the ball hurts the ground!

In the Thai version,(the one Romain played with the children) : the Takraw : the 6 players are divided in 2 teams separated by a net. They have to make points in the opposite field. The team can only pass the ball 3 times before sending it to their competitors! Head and chest can be used to send the ball! It was really nice to play with children met few minutes before!!!

But after 25 days surrounded by Buddha and stupas, we are glad to see something else ;-) ! Let’s go to Bangkok and its French school! 

Mandalay : the Tek city

To go to Mandalay we took the train from Hsipaw. What an amazing journey! 7 hours for…120 km! And it isn’t a « quiet » journey ! The train is moving from left to right and from right to left every times ! Fortunately we travel in upper class and at least we had comfortable seats. We chose the train only to see (and cross) the Gkteik bridge: it was built in 1901 by the British; it is the highest bridge in Myanmar and at the time of its building it was the highest rail bridge in the world. Even if the bridge was (is) repaired, the train goes very very slowly on it! It’s beautiful!

After that, we spent 2 days in Mandalay, the first one with a hired taxi shared with Moché, an Israeli met before; and the second day with a bicycle! We saw the well known U Bein bridge: the longest tek bridge of the world, and we also visited different temples, monasteries and pagodas! In a tek monastery we saw young monks playing with rubber bands and trying to shoot a wood stick on the ground!!! They shoot very well! Some of them were attending class: 3 levels in the same place: when one class is having a music lesson and the others are learning Maths, it can be very loud….!!!