As you can see by the title of the post, today was a packed day with many stops. We coordinated a driver for the day via our hotel receptionist / Nick’s new friend, Chang. We met our driver at 9AM and left for our first stop, Kbal Spean. The drive was just over an hour and took us through somewhat rural Cambodia.

The carvings at Kbal Spean are from the 11th century, but were only (re)discovered 50 years ago. To get to them we had to hike up a quite rocky mountain in the heat. Nick and I were happy that it was mostly shaded. Millie was about as thrilled as you can imagine. I wrote down a direct quote as we were walking: “This is the boringest thing I ever done.”

We took lots of breaks and made it to the waterfall at the top. We soaked our feet in the cool water and then walked another 5 minutes to the carvings. These were all through the riverbank so it was fun to try to spot them. There were hardly any other people there so it felt like we were discovering them. I was amazed that they are still mostly there after hundreds of years of water running across them.

At the very end of the trail we stopped for a while. Nick and I sat on a log while Millie played in the water. It was a very chill and contemplative moment. At dinner tonight we all shared our “highs and lows” of the day and agreed that playing with sand and sitting by the river was a high.

We walked back down the hill with slightly less complaining and then drove to a nearby lunch. It was a similar tourist stop as lunch two day ago, full of other people who had been brought there by their drivers and guides. I didn’t mind though, the bathrooms were clean and we didn’t get sick.

From here we went to Banteay Srei. We sold this to Millie as being famous for its art since she is starting to have the same reaction to the word “temple” as she does to the word “ruins”. This temple is known for its intricate carvings. Millie and Nick took a photo of the informational sign and used that as a scavenger hunt to find the “famous” carvings. This kept her engaged and excited. Once again I was blown away by how well preserved they are.

We explored for a while and then got back into the car for our next stop, the butterfly center. We had to pay $16 to enter, which, compared to other Cambodian prices, felt very expensive. Our guide took us around the small enclosure to show us the butterflies and I kept thinking “$16? For this?”

But then she brought us into the butterfly “nursery” and explained step by step how they collect the eggs, hatch the eggs, raise the tiny caterpillars into big ones, feed those, transfer the papas, and then set them free. She showed Millie each and every step, and how they differ based on the different butterfly and moth species. At the end, Millie was able to let some free and to hold them on her hands.

Worth every penny.

We had one more stop in our big day of exploring. We drove another 20 minutes or so and stopped at the Pre Rup temple. This is part of the Angkor Wat complex and was huge and beautiful, especially when we visited at golden hour.

We did a quick climb to the top and look around and then got dropped back off at our hotel. We did lots of driving but nothing over 2 hours, so we stuck to our no iPad rule. Millie is now completely adjusted to this and sat calmly (despite looking miserable in the photo below) listening to short stories on her headphones. Again, progress.

When we got back to the hotel all I wanted to do was sit in AC while horizontal on a bed, but Millie reminded us over and over that it was ice cream Friday. She had big plans after being told “no” a few days ago when we passed by them: special rolled ice cream and a balloon.

We had a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant and then walked to fulfill her wishes (demands). She probably didn’t need the long-lasting balloon surrounded in LED lights, but hey, she’s put up with a lot of boring temples and it’s the holiday season.