Trip to Tonle Bati

Well, it's been about 2 1/2 weeks since our last post and I'm sure some of you are really dying for more kid pics...I mean, looking forward to news and photos about the whole family. We just got back from a 10 day trip to Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Thailand. We had a good time, though now I understand why every other family with small kids just goes to the beach on vacation. After you get through 3 meals, 2 snacks, numerous diaper changes, 1-2 naps, slathering on sunscreen, and a temper tantrum or two, there is just isn't a lot of time to see stuff. But we did manage to do about one big thing each day, and we spent the weekend in Bangkok with some Foreign Service friends. I hope that Ed or I will have a posting about it up over the weekend.

But, here are some pics from before the Thailand trip. We went to visit Tonle Bati, the site of some ancient Khmer temples and a nice spot for a picnic lunch, on Feb. 19th. We went with our friends, Daniel and Susie and their son, Lucca, and with our "adopted" Marine, Mark. Here are some pics:

This is the Yeay Peau temple--artifact of a strange Oedipal temple-building legend. According to legend, when a young boy named Prohm discovered that his father was the king, he left his mother, Peau, to go live with his dad. Years later, he ran into his mother again but did not recognize her. Struck by her beauty, he insisted that she marry him and didn't believe her protests that she was his mother. To settle the matter, they decided to have a temple building contest. During the course of one night, the men would help Prohm build a temple while the women would help Peau build a competing temple. After many hours of temple building, the women tricked the men into thinking that the night had ended by sending an artificial morning star into the sky. Exhausted, the men went to sleep thinking it was dawn, while the women kept working and won the contest. Prohm admitted his defeat and gave up his attempt to marry Peau.

Detail from the temple

Susie, Daniel, and Lucca. Lucca was being rather difficult, so if they all look a little frazzled, we've captured the moment.

Mark with the kids. Despite his protestations that hanging out with us is good birth control, Mark is really great with the kids.