Rogers Do Singapore: Kyle & Meg in Asia

What a fabulous two weeks! Jim and I just said goodbye to our visitors Kyle & Megan. We had the best 10 days with them. I really enjoyed playing tour guide and was surprised that my 2 page typed agenda did not scare them off ; )

After a minor airport hiccup, we welcomed Kyle & Megan to Singapore with some fresh coconuts at 2am. Then, off to bed to get rested for a non-stop trip! Within the first 48 hours, we showed them our favorites – river taxi, cloud and flower domes, Merlion (half lion/half mermaid), Lu Pa Sat, Level33, Botanic Gardens, Chinatown, Haji Lane and Korean BBQ.

Beer at the World's Highest Brewery after a jam-packed morning

Exploring the Gardens #smileswans

Fitting Right in

#tourguide

Explaining the Ginger Garden

30th Birthday Dinner

Then – off to Cambodia!

Cambodia may be my absolute favorite vacation to date. We stayed in the Family Suite at the Pavillion d’ Orient in Siem Reap (yes, this means twin beds). From the moment we arrived, the hotel took the very best care of us and our room came with a dedicated Tuk-tuk driver. Our driver was a cheerful man who proudly showed us his country.

Riding in a tuk-tuk through Cambodia was exhilarating! There is one rule of the road, and that is that there are no rules. It can best be described as organized chaos, but we were very impressed that it seems to work very well.

Boys will be Boys

The more mature riders

After we landed, we began some temple exploration and then visited the land mine museum. The museum detailed the history of land mines in Cambodia; specifically the story of one man, Aki Ra, who disarmed a majority of the land mines in the museum by himself (before there were national safety standards). According to the museum, 1 in 300 people are affected by land mines. The museum was a very sobering experience, but definitely worth the trip to understand the difficulties the country faces with respect to land mines.

First temple of the trip

At night, we explored the famous Pub street - eating local cuisine and watching the traditional dancers at a show.

Excellent People Watching

Traditional Cambodian Dancers

Watermelon Cocktails #toughguys

The next day we left the hotel at 4:30am for 7 hours of temple exploration with a private tour guide that we hired. It began with a picnic breakfast watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Sunrise

Cambodian Children at Sunrise

#picnicfun

Perfect End to my 30th Birthday

I promise this guy was crumbled before we got there

Grand entrance into a temple #futurehomegoals

Unreal beauty

Our tour guide. He grew up living in Angkor Wat as a temple boy. He is one of 11 children, 9 of which died during the civil war. He met Angelina Jolie while she filmed a movie in Cambodia and she actually paid for him to go to the University to learn English so he could become a tour guide.

Unbelievable Detail

Temple featured in Laura Croft - Tomb Raider

Angkor Wat

Climbing the stairs on Angkor What

Postcard View

Christmas Card

#tourist

After the temple tour, we ended back to the hotel for some massages, a swim, a nap and some drinks at the famous Elephant Room in the Raffles Hotel.

Drinks at Raffles

The next day, we rented bikes and rode through the streets and countryside of Cambodia.

(Cover your eyes Moms)

It was easily the most dangerous thing I've have ever done (Jim and Kyle would say it was one of the most fun things they've ever done). As mentioned, the streets of Cambodia are chaos and my knuckles were whiter than normal by the time we got to the peaceful country roads. We had a great time admiring the breathtaking scenery and interacting with the locals at bars and asking for directions. We even ran into an alligator warehouse... next time you need an alligator purse or belt - we got some people ; )