Day 12

Hi again,
Today we packed all our stuff into Sky's tuck tuck and started our long trip home. We hung out in the lounge while we were waiting for our flight, then flew to Hong Kong, and after spending a couple hours in the lounge there, we started the final leg of our journey home.

Well thats about all, thanks for reading!
-Chloe :)

Day 11

Today we didn't do too much, we just sort of relaxed and enjoyed our last day. After breakfast we phoned Sky and asked her to drive us to the Russian market, but since its new years its mostly closed until sunday. We managed to by a few more tourist nik naks though before returning to the Billabong. We sat by the pool and I did some homework for a few hours until I needed a break. We took a walked down to the "mall" and enjoyed comparing prices on things here with things back home. We got some more ice cream (how can you tell I like ice cream?), some snacks and went back so I could continue my homework and mum could work on her tan.

For dinner we ate at the Billabong and then ventured around the block in search of sleep.


-Chloe :)

Day 10

Happy Chinese New Year!
We woke up early and said by to Carrie and Rosie who were of to the airport to go home. After we sent them off we hung out at the Billabong for a while and then called Sky and asked her to take us to the Royal palace. We wandered through the gardens, ran through the sprinklers, went into the throne room and then jamed with the palace band. After we had finished with the palace we went and had ice cream with Sky. Turns out mum and Sky had secretly booked me a hair cut at her hairdresser and they didn't really give me any choice on the matter. My mum got her hair clipped too but the hairdresser didn't speak english so she cut it a little too short.

We still had a couple of hours left till dinner so we asked Sky if she new of any cool places to visit. She took us to a bridge by the river where during the water festival in november 2010 thousands of people had crowded on the bridge and then when it bounced under the weight, fearing it was about to collapse the people started to stampede. Over 350 people died that day from either being crushed or drowning in the water below. Sky said that the disaster hadn't appeared on the news though so she wasn't supposed to say anything else.

Once we had taken some pictures we followed the river to the main strip where we got out and took more pictures of people releasing birds and preforming other new year rituals. We hung out there and took pictures of the boats going up and down the river, the sunset and just the general crowd. Then we went back to the Billabong for a bit and asked Sky if she new of any good restaurants. We took her out for dinner to a thai restaurant where she tried wine for the first time and told her a bit more about herself. After dinner we Sky drove us back to the hotel, We said goodnight and then went to bed.

-Chloe :)

Day 9

This morning it was time we went our seperate ways, so we said our goodbyes and then half of us loaded into a van going back to Phnom Penh and half of us loaded into a van going to Batdambang. The drive back to Phnom Penh was about four hours long and we amused ourselves by looking at each others pictures and listening to the kareoke recordings.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh we said by to Collin, who was staying with a friend, and then the rest of us checked into the New York. We unpacked and then walked around the block to the Billabong (we were going to go there but it was full) to go say hi.

Then Carrie, Rosie, mum and I jumped in a tuck tuck and drove to the Russian market though we didn't get a lot of time for shopping because they closed at five. After we did all the shopping we could we went to the Watt monkey temple.

We fed the elephant out front and then climbed the steps to the temple at the top. Without a guide we were a little lost but we wandered around anyway taking pictures and watching people preform new year rituals. When we were done with that we walked back down to the bottom spotting monkeys along the way. We watched them give the elephant, who Carrie decided was named Steve, a bath and then realised the tuck tuck driver that had driven us there had waited for us. So we asked him to drive us to Ocean for dinner. He seemed a little confused by said he knew where it was and told us to get in, but of course he didn't.

It was going fine until he started stopping at every other tuck tuck driver and asking for directions. At the third stop Carrie and Rosie got out to go get mojitos. We had stopped for so long that Steve passed us and soon the police were yelling at us to move so we had to go. Carrie and Rosie came out with a map with directions so we gave it to him and started driving again. Then he stopped again, and again, and after six more stops we realised he couldn't read. After Carrie and Rosie had finished their mojitos and split my mums we arrived at Ocean having toured around most of the city for three dollars. Allan, Anitra and Dan were already there so we grabbed another table and had dinner. Allan soon went off to do his own thing and then after dinner the rest of us squeezed into Sky's tuck tuck and went back to the hotel for the night.

-Chloe :)

Day 8

Ok so today was the second build day, we did our usual morning routine and then drove to the build site. We bandaged up and although a little slower then the day before, started building. By noon we had built finished eight more houses to add to yesterday's fifteen and a half. We gave the families their blankets and then breaked for lunch. While we were eating we spotted a mother hen with her baby chicks. She let us hold her little ones for a while and they were so cute though we didn't want to push our luck so we returned them after a couple of pictures.

After lunch we packed up and moved to where the last one and a half houses were on the opposite side of the village. We soon realised why the one house had been left half done, it was because it had the floorboards from hell. They were so hard that in one spot it took us seventeen tries to finally get a nail in without bending it. Not to mention the fact that one of our hammers actually snapped clean in half while we were hammering there. The floors weren't our best work but by the end of it the home owner seemed pretty happy with it. We met up with the other group that had been working on the other house and I guess their house had been pretty bad too because they had broken three hammers while working on it.

Once we were all done we gave the two remaining houses their blankets but had to avert our eyes because one of them had a new born baby that none of us wanted to bring home. We left soon after that wanting to let them get setup and enjoy their new homes.

For dinner we went to the restaurant next door (this one had less bugs) were people toasted again and again about how great the build was and good cheer was enjoyee by all. When we returned to the hotel where someone bought a box full of beer and started passing bottles around until everyone was ready for kareoke. The kareoke actually didn't sound half bad, and it wouls have probably continued long into the night if it weren't for the fact that the internet turned of at 9:00. So that kind of ended the party. After that the majority of us went off the bed but there were still a few stragglers that were left to finish the beer. But it's a small town after all, whats the worst that could happen?

-Chloe :)

Day 7

Today was the first build day, we woke up and were on the road at 7:00. The drive to the build site took half an hour and when we arrived a bunch of the villagers welcomed us giving us a chance to try out our new words. We then separated into to two groups of six and a group of five.

Each group picked a house and started working on it, some people doing floors while others did walls. Each house took about an hour to build and by lunch we had build a total of nine houses. For lunch we all had fresh baguettes from one of the local bakers in town which, since Cambodia was a french colony for a while were great. While we were eating someone took out a frisbee and we started to play. After a while a little boy joined in and soon enough the whole village was running around diving for the frisbee and having a great time.

After lunch we got back to work and finished the remaining houses. At one of the last houses there was a brand new litter of puppies,

and a one day old water buffalo,

 both of which we petted and mum photographed like there was no tomorrow. Once the houses were finished all of the new home owners gathered around and were each given a blanket as a sort of house warming gift.

We ended the day with fifteen and a half houses done and returned satisfied and a little sore back to the hotel. For dinner we all went to the Magic Fish, which the reviews had promised was the best restaurant in town. We spent the whole night being bombarded by bugs and some of us (including me) didn't get our food till about half an hour after everybody else. Whatever though the food was good when it did arrive and it made for a good story!

-Chloe :)

Day 6

Moving day!
Today we loaded up into two nine person vans and were on the road by 11:30. The drive wasn't bad, we made a pit stop about halfway for ice cream and beer before continuing on down the road. It took about four hours and a ten dollar car crash before we arrived in the town we'd being staying in, Pursat.
Pursat is not too big, though with only four official roads on google maps it somehow manages to have thirteen things to do.

 We settled into our rooms and then met up downstairs to try to get an idea of the town setup. Mum, Mark (one of the other builders, not my dad), Rosie and I decided to explore so we set off. Our first stop of the evening was the market which unfortunately by the time we arrived was starting to close up. So we kept walking and met up with Paula who had gone on a run. The town is on a river so we followed that for a while till we came across one of the thirteen things to do here, visit the giant boat in the river. The boat had long since run aground and it was far too big to have any hope of moving it so instead the town converted it into a sort of boardwalk with stages and even a kids place area.

 One of the first things we noticed when we came aboard the boat was the people where line dancing. So of course I recorded while everyone else started dancing. Paula continued on her run but mum, Mark and Rosie amused ourselves by following along and even in some cases throwing in freestyle moves to impress the townsfolk. Once they had finished dancing up a storm we walked down to the end of the boat and then walked back to the hotel. There we found some people in the restaurant and joined them for dinner before heading off to the room to do our own thing.

-Chloe :)

Day 5

Today we all met up at breakfast again and then all seventeen of us set off to our orientation. The orientation was at the Tabitha "headquarters" where they have their store and such and was about half an hour away by tuck tuck. When we arrived we all went upstairs, sat down and were given silk scarves as welcome gifts. Jan (the top dog for Tabitha) welcomed us and gave a detailed explanation on what would be happening and the rules we were to follow. Since the village followed old traditions and customs some of the rules were a bit strange: "Don't tap people on the head" or "You can only touch the a member of the opposite gender if they are married to you and you, being a girl, are carrying their child." Then one of the other heads, Nadi, told us about her personal experience, being present during the rule of the Khmer Rouge (if you don't know who they are you've obviously skipped the last post so go back and read it!). After she had told her story we were taught a few words to be able to communicate with the villagers, hello, goodbye, sorry and thank you. After that the orientation concluded and we were allowed to go shop in the store below.

Once we had finished shopping we split up, some going back to the hotel, some going for lunch.... Though mum and I decided to jump back in a tuck tuck and go to the genocide museum. The genocide museum was originally a school that was then converted into a prison and torture facility by the Khmer Rouge. The prison had been left unchanged since 1978 when the Vietnamese discovered the place and shut it it down. Though before that the it was where the Khmer Rouge interrogated people before sending them off to the Killing Fields. As we walked through the rooms we saw that there was still dried blood on the floor in the cells and several torture devices lying around. The place painted a gloomy picture and so I was keen to get out of there was soon as possible.

After we finished with the museum we went back to the hotel and had lunch by the pool. Later we walked down the street and checked out the neighborhood market with some ice cream. Which was a nice end to the day. Before going to bed mum had had enough of the hard beds so she went out and grabbed one of the pool chair mats. Apparently it made the bed a lot softer so I guess it was worth it. 

-Chloe :)

Day 4

Hi everyone,
I'm so annoyed because I already wrote this out but it completely erased it for some reason. Anyway I will try to remember what I wrote to the best of my abilities.

We met up with everyone over breakfast and then set off with a bunch of the other builders for the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields were about forty minutes away and seeing how each tuck tuck can take four people, Carrie and Rosie came with us. When we arrived bought our tickets and the first thing I saw was a giant monument though at the time I didn't know what it was for. We walked over to the museum and looked at some of the big panels and maps on the walls but weren't really able to get a good look at them because we were quickly ushered into a theatre playing a documentary explaining what the Killing Fields were about.

During the war of Vietnam the Americans were fighting against the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese had many trade routes through their surrounding countries, one of which was Cambodia. So during the war the Americans bombed villages in Cambodia in a desperate attempt to drive the Vietnamese back to their own country. When the war ended in 1975, the Americans having lost badly, quickly pulled out of all the countries they had been posted in and returned home. An air of peace settled over Cambodia and for the moment the people were happy. The Khmer Rouge, a rebel group led by Pol Pot that had loosely attached itself to the king at the time out of convenience, marched into the city streets of Phnom Penh and were welcomed back as heros because the people at the time thought that that was what they were, their saviors. Though the the peace soon came to an end and the cheering soon stopped as the Khmer Rouge ordered the people of Phnom Penh to leave for a few days while they cleansed the city. Though in truth as soon as everyone had been driven out they burned all the money in the banks, making the currency usless, and using the seperated people to their advantage slowly rounded up the children and brought them to labor camps where they either worked or died. The adults on the other hand were brought to consentration camps where they were interogated, tortured and then disposed of after in places such as the Killing Fields. The king fled and Pol Pot took over power.
This continued on until 1978 when the Vietnamese invaded, discovered the Killing Fields, their purpose, and then shut them down taking Pol Pot down with it. Pol Pot went to court for his crimes but died under house arrest in 1998 before he could be sentenced.

At the Killing Fields the people killed would be placed in mass graves, some of which have now been excavated which each of their bones organized by age, gender and cause of death in the giant monument that we had seen when we first entered.

Once we had finished with the Killing Fields we jumped back in our tuck tucks and returned to the hotel. It was really hot so we mostly sat by the pool for the rest of the day until dinner time where everyone kind of split up and did their own thing.

The beds are REALLY hard here so at this point we are considering taking the poolchair matteresses and sleeping on those!
-Chloe :)

Day 3

Ok so today we woke up early, had some crepes for breakfast and then jumped in a tuck tuck with Allan to go do some shopping. Our tuck tuck drivers name was Sky and she is the only female tuck tuck driver in Cambodia. Her goal in life is to become the first female taxi driver there too. Our first stop of the day was a little store called peace where handicapped people were given a job making either silk bags (they have some of the best silk in the world here) or bags made out of recycled fishing nets and rice bags. I thought they were pretty cool and my mum must have agreed because she bought them out of most of their store. After that we strolled down to the Russian market which is basically a huge maze of little twisting passage ways set up with stores. We bought more stuff in there but soon the heat started to get to us so jumped back in Sky's tuck tuck and Allan took us to a restaurant called Ocean where Sky's sister works. The food there was awesome and this being dollar store country the whole thing was only 20$.

After eating we decided to retire poolside and hung out there welcoming the rest of the build team as they slowly arrived one by one. Then at dinner Paula, one of the board members, gave us a welcome speech and gave us a brief explanation of the rules and what was going to happen over the next few days.

Tomorrow as one of the mandatory things we have to visit before going to build we are going to the Killing Field where they tortured and killed most of the population of Cambodia, but I'll go into more detail about that tomorrow.

-Chloe :)

Day 2

Welcome back!
Ok so today we started off the day with a breakfast buffet and then realizing that for some reason nothing actually opens in Hong Kong until 11:00 went and waited in the lounge. Then at 11:00 we took a cab down to the waterfront where we took the ferry across the harbor, but seeing that there was nothing really there in walking distance we got back on the ferry and went back to the other side. The waterfront had lots of high end shopping which we weren't actually too keen on at the time. So instead we just wandered around browsing, and thats when we came across these

We are pretty sure they are condoms but why they were dancing around the street on a photoshoot, we have no idea. For what it's worth mum had a lot of fun with them:




Though by the time she was done playing around with them it was time to go pack our stuff up and go to the airport. Along the way we passed by Disney Land and Victoria peak, named after Queen Victoria, the queen at the time when the British colonized Hong Kong. Victoria peak is a mountain top lookout, accessible by cable car, where you can get stunning views of the city and really appreciate it's size. Since our plane was delayed we were going to go there but wanting to play it safe we went to the lounge instead, where we enjoyed multiple bowls of noodles served by a lady who didn't speak english and struggled with the poor internet conection.

At about 5:00 we flew two hours from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh.

While we waited for our luggage to arrive we watched two people who had probably never flown before taking pictures of themselves taking their luggage off the belts. Then we realized that it wasn't even their luggage, they were just taking pictures with other people's for some reason. After we had collected our bags we went outside and found someone waiting for us who took us to our hotel, the Billabong.

When we arrived, Allan, one of the other builders had stayed up to welcome us and after saying hello we all went off to bed.
-Chloe :)

Day 1 (continued)

Hi again,
Ok so sice I've left you we have arrived in Hong Kong and are hanging out in the lounge at the hotel trying to stay awake. Oh and by the way it's 10:51 pm here for those you who are wondering.

The plane was two hours late leaving Vancouver because I think there was an oil leak but they werent very clear on the matter so I'm not quite sure. At first the pilot announced we would be fifteen minutes late, then another half an hour, then another hour.... You get the idea. Anyway while we were waiting to takeoff we noticed a repetitive clipping noise coming from behind us. Turns out some guy had decided that this would be a good time to start clipping his nails. And then when he had finally finished with his hands he took his socks off and started to clip his toes. Once we had taken off mum actually befriended the toe clipper who insisted we come visit him so he could teach us how to fly. We did make other friends on the plane ride too though they weren't as strange as our toe clipping friend.

We had lunch on the plane and then tried to sleep for as long as possible, though this being one of the longest flights I had ever been on (18 hours) this didn't seem to get us anywhere so we soon gave up. Also either I need to fly less often or the planes need to upload newer movies more frequently because I have run out of things to watch while on the plane.

We finally descended into Hong Kong and getting off the aircraft im pretty sure the first thing I heard was "Yes.....Yes ok now please take the fourtune cookie

Trip to Cambodia - day 1

Hi everyone!
So here we are driving to the airport about to leave on yet another crazy trip, this time to the "Kingdom of Cambodia" as it's officially known. There we will be building twenty five houses (Hooray for charity work!) Allow me to go into a little more detail on the subject for those of you who don't feel like google-ing it:


Cambodia is a country in south-east Asia that is bordered by Thailand, the Gulf of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The official language there is Khmer and the population sits just under fifteen million.


We are going to be going to Phnom Pen, which is both Cambodia's capital and largest city.


We are going to be flying to Hong Kong, staying overnight, and then continuing on to Phnom Pen.... Well that's a basic summary of what's going on I guess I'll talk to you all later!


-Chloe :)

Mum Being Sick

Hey everyone,
Ok so mum was scrolling through my blog and apparently I wasnt clear on her sickness so I just wanted to let everyone know that she got food poisoning. Well thats all so see ya later!

Day 13 - 16

Happy first day of the new year!
Sorry it's taken me so long to upload this but since the rest of the trip was just pleasure I think I'm just gonna go ahead and publish it as one post.


Okay so we packed up shipped out to the airport where we flew to Cochin and then drove to our hotel. The hotel was right on the water and very pretty, with tons of activities and a pool that snaked amongst the rooms. The rooms themselves where nice too, each one with personal access to the pool and some cool yet creepy outdoor washrooms. Sadly though we were way too tired that night to enjoy anything.

The next day we had breakfast at the buffet and then amused ourselves with sitting by the pool and trying out the different activities (basket weaving, pottery, spinning rope and palm reading) and even tried to fly a kite (which ended up with it crashing in to Simon's head and snapping in half). For dinner that night we went to the seafood restaurant were my dad assured us it was safe to eat the seafood, he was wrong. The next day I spent most of my time horizontal pondering over a new life lesson: NEVER eat seafood in India.

Finally it was time to end this crazy trip and start the journey home. First we drove back to Cochin (2 hours), then flew to Mumbai (5 hours), then flew to Delhi (3 hours), then waited (5 hours) in Delhi before flying to Germany (9 hours) where the plane was delayed, then flying to Calgary (11 hours) before at last flying home to Vancouver (2 hours). Ok so lets add that up shall we? What is that over 37 hours? Fun.
Anyway we are home now so it's all good now. Yay!
-Chloe :)   

Day 12

Mum and dad woke up early and went on a boat down the river to take pictures of the sunrise and more dead bodies while Simon and I slept in. Then after breakfast we all got in the car and went to a Buddha Temple and got the lowdown on how that religion began.  

I suppose I should give you a quick summary:  

Once upon a time there was a king and queen who were about to have a baby. The queen was walking around amongst the trees when she reached up and grabbed a branch. Suddenly there was a flash of light and a her baby appeared before her and took seven steps, and where he stepped there grew seven lotus flowers. The mother unfortunately died a week later and bewildered the king to a wise man who told him that if his son stayed in the castle he would become a great and noble king, but if we left he would become a great religious man and receive enlightenment. So basically his father wanted him to be king so he kept him locked up in the castle till he was twenty three when he went out, saw an old man, a dead body and a priest, nom of which he had ever seen before. The guy then decided to leave his life behind and try to become a holy man. He traveled far found some holy people in the woods and lived with them for a while then moved on, was enlightened, then continued on to enlighten other people. Later he died and was greatly missed by all and was then on known as the Buddha.  

We wandered around the grounds for a while and went down the road a bit to where they had built a monument to mark the area where the Buddha had first been enlightened, although now a lot of it was just rubble because it was all destroyed by the Muslims. 

After that we needed a break from tourism so we returned to the hotel for a while and sat by the pool where we met some people from Edmonton (Go Canadians!) and chatted with them till our break was over and it was time for us to go out touring again.

This time we took to the streets once again on tuck tucks and toured around the town for about and hour.

Later we returned to the hotel and got ready for New Years Eve. The party was a disaster but it was sure funny to be at, there was a band setup outside in a tent but since it was pouring (it supposedly NEVER rains this time of year there) it kept short circuiting the instruments, the power kept going off and for some reason they decided to start the countdown ten minutes too early. Shortly after midnight we said bye to our Edmonton friends and retired to our beds.

-Chloe :)

Day 11

Today we woke up early rushed through breakfast and then set off on a five hour drive to Delhi. From Delhi we flew about an hour to Varanasi and then drove to our hotel. Once again we met our guide who after briefing us told us to meet him in ten minutes so we could start touring, which after traveling all day mum was not to pleased about. 


Ten minutes later we were all in the car on the way to the Ganges River. When we arrived we lit a few candles as offerings and then all got in a boat on rowed out a little ways to get a better view of the celebration. Turns out that every night most of the city goes down to the river side and watched as the Brahmins, sons of the priests, preformed rituals and gave offerings to Shiva, the god of destruction and the one who had blessed the river. The ceremony was about forty five minutes long and once it was finished we rowed over to the main crematory. The Hindus believe that the river was blessed by Shiva, the god of destruction and therefor death but they also believe in reincarnation. Since in reincarnation the human is the last being in the cycle and so fearing that they might be reborn as a bug or something like that they take the "holy dip" in the river which not only releases them from any sins but also stops the cycle so that they go to heaven instead. So they have the crematories on the river so that after you die and before you are cremated you can take one last holy dip to cleanse your body and such to prepare you. The whole family, with the exception of the women who basically aren't allowed because they cry, show up and watch you be cremated in a giant bonfire. Then after about three hours when the fire as turned you to dust they all go take a holy dip and then return home.


 Wow that was a mouthful. :) 


 So when we were finished seeing with the river we all returned to the hotel and took some nice showers to clean off all that dust and smoke.
-Chloe :)

Day 10

Hello everyone,
Today we had a nice breakfast and then went to the Taj Mahal. We had to take a go-cart because normal cars aren't allowed as they pollute the air which is slowly ruining the Taj. We took picture, after picture, after picture as we slowly approached the Taj. (it seemed like mum was doing better because she had started taking pictures again) We even got our picture taken on the same bench as princess Diana. The Taj Mahal was built as a tomb for Emperor Shan Jahan's wife, Taj After she died during the birth of her fourteenth child. While they were alive they two were apparently inseparable, spending every waking minute together and the Taj Mahal was apparently Shan Jahan's final testimony of love for his queen. When Shan Jahan died he too was buried in the Taj with his wife and his casket is the only thing in the entire area that isn't symmetrical. After we were finished we got on a go cart and returned back to the hotel.

We sat by the pool for a few hours and had some lunch before going to see the Agra fort which I think is the biggest fort in India. The fort was where all the different emperors lived with their families and servants, including Shan Jahan and his wife. It is also where Shan Jahan's son imprisoned him so that he could take over as ruler.

After strolling around the fort, (more then half the fort was closed because the military was using it as a base) and watching the monkeys we went back to the hotel for the day where we all went out for dinner and then went back to the room and watched click.
-Chloe :)

Day 9

We woke up early got ready for the balloon ride, only to find that when we got downstairs it had been cancelled because of strong wind, fog and because it was raining. So a little disappointed we ate some breakfast and then set of, ahead of schedule, on our seven hour rode trip to Agra. The main roads where blocked off by protesters so we had to take the back roads through small villages to get there. Along the way we stopped at a well, the biggest of it's kind in the world and now a world heritage site. We eventually arrived in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We were staying at the Oberoi (the same hotel as in Ranthambhore) which was a very beautiful hotel, every window had a view of the Taj Mahal (although you couldn't see it at night because of the fog). We once again received the traditional Indian welcome and then after getting briefed by our guide went up to the room. (we are falling into a similar pattern aren't we?)

We met our neighbors who offered mum some medicine and then watched some goats sneak up onto the wall at the edge of the garden and eat the flowers.

Mum had a massage, took some medicine and went off to bed while dad, Simon and I went down for dinner and then watched the Titanic in the other room. We were almost finished the movie when the power suddenly went out for about a minute, so I decided to go to bed. Nighty night!
-Chloe :)

Day 8

Today we had dinner and then set off, with our zombie of a mother, to the first stop of the day, City Palace. To tell you the truth it wasn't really City Palace but just the outer wall which the guide said was actually the only exciting part of it, well that and crossing the road to get a picture of it :). Then we went to Amber Fort which is in Amber town which is surrounded by the Great Wall of Amber. Now why does that sound familiar? We sat and watched a snake charmer with his cobra and then mum as she sat freaking out with the snake around her neck. Then we rode elephants up the hill into the fort, although I don't think I want to do that again because they kept thumping the elephants on the head with crowbars. The fort was nice, although mum in her weak state fell pray to the merchants and ended up buying two umbrellas, some jasmine perfume and a bag.

After we stopped for some pictures in front of the Water Palace, which as you may have guessed was a Palace in the middle of the water.
Then it was off to a small textile factory where saw how they did block printing, placing up to seven different layers of natural vegetable ink in all different colors and designs to produce a picture or pattern on the fabric. Then they would place it in a special oxidizing liquid to set the paint and let it dry out in the sun.

Our last stops of the day were the astrological museum and another history museum who's name I can't remember. We went to the history museum first and saw the different rulers throughout the ages, there different attires, weapons and such. We also saw the worlds biggest urns which at one point carried the drinking water from the sacred Ganges River of one of the emperors (Sorry but I have a really bad memory for names and I didn't think to take notes :)) which was the only thing he drank, and we saw the worlds biggest chandelier which was so heavy that to make sure the roof could support it they placed a baby elephant on the roof and because it could support the elephant, it could support the chandelier.
After we made our way across the street to the astrological museum which is now as of this year, a world heritage site. The museum was all outside and was made up of sun dials, including the biggest one in the world, to determine the time, date, lunar cycle, position of the sun, the zodiac symbols and more. I think the astrological museum might have been one of my favorite museums. (my favorite probably being the Ghibli Museum in Japan.) We wandered around the markets for a while and ended up buying a mini barbecue and a flat cooking pan, a little random perhaps but they were extremely cheap so why not?
We went back to the hotel and ordered room service because no one felt like going downstairs for dinner. Then we all hurried of to bed excited for the balloon ride the next morning.
-Chloe :)