Selcouth Chronicles Week 9
Hello family and friends! Welcome to week 9 of the Selcouth Chronicles.
Week 9: March 3 - March 9
🚗March 3 Blue Mountains -> Sydney
🛫March 7 Sydney ->🛬Siem Reap
AUSTRALIA AND CAMBODIA
Highlights: Sydney’s Sea Life and Wildlife Museums, National Maritime Museum, Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, bringing the kids to their first opera, Manly Beach, Angkor Wat Archeological Park
Caitlin:
We began this week waking up in the Blue Mountains, but pretty quickly heading back to Sydney in order to get our car rental returned on time. In the afternoon we decided to head to SEA LIFE, the Sydney Aquarium. James was thrilled by their collection of sharks, and Abby was charmed by the resident dugong, Pig. Afterwards we strolled through the Darling Harbour neighborhood and had Thai food for dinner next to a huge playground that the kids thoroughly enjoyed.
On Monday we headed back from the CBD and over to Darling Harbour to explore the Australian National Maritime Museum. The museum is free for most exhibits, but we bought tickets to see the Ocean Photographer of the Year gallery and explore the fleet of ships they have docked in the harbor. We also had the fun experience of successfully searching for a WWII ship that we had learned about while in Singapore, which now resides at this museum. It was so cool to have learned a new piece of history in one country and then see it come to life in another! We loved this museum, and despite the fact that we spent four full hours there we could easily have spent a lot more time exploring. In fact, James requested to return the next day, and we seriously considered that, but we wanted to try some new spots!
Tuesday was a mishmash of shorter activities, starting with a Wildlife Museum. After lunch at a bakery we made our way to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, which is a bench carved into a large sandstone rock in 1810. It was commissioned by Governor Macquarie at the time and carved by convicts in honor of his wife Elizabeth, who loved the area and spent a lot of time there enjoying the beautiful views of the harbor. We spent some time wandering and enjoying the area as well, and we agree that she had good taste! These days the view even includes the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
Tuesday night was our evening of culture, taking in a performance at the Opera House! I had researched what shows would be there during our visit, and initially suggested one that was basically a 90-minute compilation of opera’s most well-known hits. Much to my surprise, both kids insisted that they would prefer to try a “real” opera. At first I had a hard time believing that they were up for a 3 hour opera, but they were adamant that they wanted to try, and who am I to stifle that? Plus, the opera in question was The Magic Flute, which is reputed to be one of the best shows for first-timers, so we decided to give it a go! The kids did really well. Did we make any lifelong opera lovers that night? I don’t think so. The verdict from Abby and James was that opera is a bit over-dramatic and they’d be willing to go again but wouldn’t go out of their way to see more. Still, we all agreed that it was a fun night and were pleased with the novelty of taking in an opera at THE Opera House, so it was a successful evening!
Wednesday was a beach day at Manly Beach, and I enjoyed being able to hop a quick ferry as easily as you’d catch a train or bus in other places. We had lunch at yet another great Sydney bakery, and the kids appreciated having a day of play in the waves. We spent the late afternoon packing before heading out with Sean for a last stroll around a nearby neighborhood.
Thursday was a travel day, and they’re always a slog, no doubt about it. This time we had a long way to go, from Sydney to Cambodia via Ho Chi Minh City. The travel itself went smoothly, but we didn’t land and get to bed in Siem Reap until almost 3am Sydney time, so we were all totally exhausted.
On Friday we visited the Angkor National Museum and in the afternoon were joined by friends from CA. The Pauls are a family who have also taken some time away to explore the world. In fact, they have been gone since early August and are doing a full year of travel, so their range of locations and experiences far exceeds ours! It’s a fun change to be exploring with friends, and the four kids have been having a blast playing together. For Sean and I, it’s nice to have other adults to chat and make decisions with. That first night we all walked through town to a tucked-away restaurant and were happy to try our first real Khmer food. Some of the dishes included red ants, and the waiter brought us some on a small plate so that everyone could try them. The kids were initially reluctant, but we all decided to give it a go and thought they tasted fine, if a little bit sour!
For our first full day together on Saturday, we all made the short trip to visit Angkor Wat. When we were researching the trip, we discovered that when you buy tickets to see this temple, you’re actually buying tickets for the Angkor Archaeological Park, which is an enormous complex filled with many different temples, monuments, and ruins. It’s so large that it’s not really possible to walk between sites, especially when the temperature is in the 90s and the humidity is oppressive. We hired a car for the day and were grateful for the short breaks in air conditioning! The temples were pretty incredible, and it’s amazing to look at these ancient places and imagine what they must have been like in their heyday, when over a million people lived here.
Abby:
It’s fun to travel around and have different, exciting days, but sometimes, it’s good to have relaxing days. Sydney is known for having beautiful beaches. Bondi Beach is the most famous, but when we talked to the locals, everybody said we should go to Manly Beach.
It had been a long time since we had a beach day, and James, Mom & I were very excited. When we arrived off a ferry, we bought a delicious lunch at a bakery nearby the beach, but brought the sweets to munch on at Manly.
When we got to the beach, James & I immediately wanted to splash in the waves. I ran down the beach first, the soft sand crunching beneath my feet. I jumped into the first wave that came, the cool water hitting my legs. James came after me, giving even more of a splash.
The day reminded me of California, which was really nice. Having reminders of home throughout our travels is great, because it makes you feel more comfortable wherever you are. This travel experience is awesome, but I also really miss home. I miss the burning hot days where everybody hides under the shade of the trees and talks at recess, sunbathing in our driveway, laughing with my friends, awesome school days in 4th Grade, snuggling Oreo. Spending cold, snowy winters in New York with my grandparents. My bed! 😆 I'd like all of you friends and family to know that you are missed dearly!
But back to the beach - after we had gobs of fun playing in the water, Mom & I made a sandcastle while James made a mountain of sand that he got to destroy when he was done. We had lots of fun, except when a seagull landed on our food to try to grab it, and I dropped it in the sand. 😳
I loved the day, and so did James and Mom. I hope that we can have other relaxed days like this! 💕
James:
The ocean plays a large part in Australia's history. That’s why they’ve honored it by building the Australian National Maritime Museum, a massive complex dedicated to their bond with the ocean. They have shark teeth from millions of years ago, ancient maps, and battleships from the Second World War, and they show them all in a captivating experience that takes you back in time. Most of them are even interactive!
The first exhibit dates all the way back to the Aboriginals, the ancient settlers of Australia that were the very first to harness the ocean’s gifts. There are spears for hunting whales, nets for catching fish, and canoes made of tree trunks that look a lot more hydrodynamic than you’d expect. All are very neatly arranged in shiny glass cases and set against a stark black background that really punches up the drama. Farther along, things get more modern with the arrival of European settlers in Australia. They brought better-quality maps, helping them more easily navigate the seas, and arrived in sailboats. Other minor developments include sextants and topographics. It continues in that vein, with the developments of engines and an Australian navy, until World War I breaks out.
But before you dive into WWI, you can take a detour through the prettiest parts of the museum: the Wildlife Photographers of the Year special exhibit. It’s a series of darkened rooms full of brightly lit and beautiful photos of wildlife from every corner of the earth. This includes adorable pictures of diving penguins, megapods of dolphins, and sharks that swim right up to the camera for a look - or in a few cases, an attempt to eat the camera. It’s my second-favorite area in the entire museum.
After that little detour, things really kick off with the development of war machines, like battleships and submarines. The WWI and WWII exhibits dive into their creation and usage, helping out with models of soldiers and ships that you can see up close. You can also mess around with periscopes and interactive exhibits. One of the most exciting stories of submarine usage was the story of the HMAS A31, a submarine that disappeared for 103 years. It had sunk off the coast of the Duke of York Islands in Papua New Guinea due to two things:
They had gone into a dive and couldn’t go back up again
Their bow plate buckled under the intense pressure
The pressure change killed the entire crew instantly and the engines exploded shortly after. (I never want to work in a submarine.)
The climax was approaching: the boats. There were tons of boats in the harbor, and you could climb on and explore some of them. My favorites:
-The Vampire is an old battleship that had been taken out of service and then donated to the museum. Every part had been completely renovated to show exactly what it would have been like when the ship was on active duty.
-The Onslow is a search and reconnaissance submarine that was also taken off active duty. It was actually really cramped in there and the place was full of random pipes and fuse boxes. Also, the doors were miniscule.
-Finally, the Krait is a Japanese fishing boat that had been commandeered by the Austrailians to pull off a secret mission, Operation Jaywick. They snuck into a Japanese-controlled harbor and planted explosives on their ships. Most of them sank and the others were critically damaged. This is the only one of my favorites that I wasn’t able to get on and explore, but I loved it because it was mentioned at the National Museum of Singapore and I finally got to see it in person!
Walking through those boats and the museum was really captivating and interactive; it is one of my favorite museums to date.
Sean:
The most iconic site in Cambodia is Angkor Wat, so much so that the nation's flag has a representation of it. Cambodians are very proud of the temple and the complex around it, as well they should be. It’s truly a remarkable place.
First, let me do my academic piece about the area. Angkor in the Khmer language translates to “capital city” and Wat is “temple,” so Angkor Wat is the Capital City Temple. That is just one piece of the whole complex that you have access to when you purchase a ticket. The main temple is obviously the most well known and recognizable, but there is an even larger area nearby, Angkor Thom (“Thom” meaning big), that was the city people lived in. The various temples spread around the area were all built towards the end of the Khmer empire, which spanned from the early 9th century until the 14th. Angkor Wat is considered a Hindu-Buddhist temple, as the Khmer empire was one of the few civilizations that survived a religious transition.
Our experience was a mix of wonder and interest, tempered by heat. Though we are here in March, the temperatures are still in the 90s with very high humidity. This led to us having to convince each other to keep going to one more temple, despite the desire to return to the pool and AC. I’m glad we did, as walking toward the temple with its distinct skyline is a one-in-a-lifetime experience. It is evident why it’s a pilgrimage site for many of faith. The intricate carvings and the expansive bas-reliefs that describe various myths, the most famous being the Churning of the Sea of Milk, are truly impressive as you walk around the site.
After a couple of hours in Angkor Wat, we continued on to Angkor Thom, which was much more of a wandering experience, as the city complex has multiple temples spread around, of which we only visited two. Bayon temple was the most memorable, as the king ordered the creation of 54 faces in the temple, to represent the 54 regions of the Khmer empire at the time, and that the capital was watching over them all. Regardless of where you are in the temple, you will see at least one face looking out from above. Following lunch, we made one last temple visit to Ta Prohm, which was used for the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie. Here the temple has been overrun by trees, with the roots pushing entire parts of the temple walls apart. This was probably the most fun for all of us, as it really felt like you were an adventurer stumbling upon ancient ruins.
A long soak in the pool afterwards and some dinner helped improve our memories of the day, and this will be one of the most memorable parts of our trip, thanks to the largest religious site in the world.
See you next week!
Sean, Caitlin, James, and Abby
Catching up? Read week 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.