Cambodia to Bangkok - a time warp

Hi all, we have left our little slice of paradise in Siem Reap for Bangkok. We took a tuk tuk to the airport and boy were we loaded. The day before we had a tuk tuk driver that took the wrong road to our hotel, which is out of town, and we had to disembark twice to get the tuk tuk through the deep sand. Kate of course got to stay in the vehicle. Little princess. :)

We decided to save time and took a Bangkok Airlines flight to Bangkok - no more buses is our new motto. The flight was quick and Kate loves Airline food. Mira not so much. Our hotel was a bit of screw up but in the end we decided to stay here because it is always more trouble to find a new place. We are having a decidedly different stay in Bangkok this time. Last time, we stayed in the heart of the old city. The area is full of backpackers, pagodas and temples. This time we are staying out by the embassies and on the skytrain line. It is more western. We hit two of the biggest malls I have ever seen - prices were very western too. ugh. Our first stop was at the largest aquarium in Asia. The kids loved the fish and the 3d movie.

Kate posing with a sting ray.

Mira with some penguins.

Look out shark?!

The strangest thing about yesterday was the Christmas in the mall. Yes, I know all malls everywhere are pumping out the tunes for Christmas but here it seems particularly weird. Here you can see people praying in front of the malls at small shrines with incense in the air and then hear music and see huge Christmas trees in an almost exclusively Buddhist country..... strange indeed.

Merry Christmas? Not yet, sharon

Happy Birthday Mira from Siem Reap, Cambodia

Kids with our kids being kids

Hi all, Mira turned 10 this week and we had a very different day. We met up with the Rotarians from Canada at the school where we have already been volunteering -small world. The adults attended class and helped out with lessons while the kids taught the Cambodian Children Duck duck goose and What time is it Mr. Wolf? Mira is a natural and Kate loved running around with the kids. We brought by some supplies and old novels for their library.

International Poverty School

For Mira's birthday, we met up with our Peterborough friends for hot soup - Mira's new favourite dish and dinner. Kate is even eating the local dishes now. Then we all shared some very yummy ice cream. We had a very full tummy. We are heading to Bangkok today and off on more adventures.

Tuk tuking to town

Little spicy Mira?

Ice cream for the 10 year old birthday girl

Two happy girls celebrating

All prettied up

Angkor Wat

Our motley crew: Ray, Paul, Mira, Sharon, Kate, Krista and Lily

Hi all,

We are in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We are saying at a beautiful spot outside of town. It has a lovely pool and we are all enjoying the peace and quiet. We have once again met up with our good friends from Peterborough. The food here is lovely. The khmer food takes two hours to prepare so we have to put in our orders good and early if we want to eat before the kids pass out.

We got up with the sun yesterday so that we could tour the ruins of Angkor Wat before the crowds and heat got the better of us. We headed off to Banteay Srei right away. The temple was built in the 10th century out of pink sandstone. It is also known as the Temple of Women. The relief carvings were amazing. The stone is very soft so the carvings are quite deep in the walls.

Informative signage - do not puddle in the urinal.

We headed off to Ta Phrom which is where Angelina Jo... whatever filmed "Tomb Raider". The temples here are all covered in fig trees overgowing the complex. The site is right out of our imagination. Amazing to think what the French first say it in the 20s - hidden in the jungles.

Monkeys are the sites - warning they bite and carry rabies. Apparently like beer too.

All the photos here are Krista's - our batteries died.... murphy's law.

We headed to an orphanage today and other sites in the area. ttfn sharon

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Kate looking Cool.

Mira

Hi all,

Royal Palace

Lily, Mira and Kate

We have had interesting couple of days here in Phnom Penh. We toured the Royal Palace yesterday. It was spectacular. We toured the grounds with Lily. The Silver Pagoda is the most beautiful. It is named the Silver Pagoda after its 5000 silver floor tiles. Inside, there a life sized Buddha that weighs 90 kgs and is covered in over 2000 diamonds. The funniest part was the security. On a case holding solid gold headgear, the case was 'locked' with a twist tie and on the golden Buddha they used a luggage lock. I figured that the nation is so religious that no one, no matter how poor would think of robbing the joint. There was traditional music and costumes. During the palace heyday, everyone wore a different colour for each day of the week. It was great. The grounds were peaceful and full of flowers. Kids enjoyed the turtles in the pool.

Today, Paul and I went to the Killing Field. Mira and Kate went swimming with Krista and Lily. The Killing Field is one of 300 in this country. During the height of the Khmer Rouge rule, 1975-1979, hundreds of people were killed daily. It was a very moving experience. The guide on numerous occasions suggested taking pictures but it felt all wrong. The actual field if a pock-filled field covered in greenery and butterflies. The temple has 17 levels full of skulls, bones, personal effects. The museum explained how the Khmer Rouge functioned and gave staggering numbers... it was overwhelming. I was glad we decided not to take the kids.

WE are off to Siem Reap tomorrow. ttfn sharon

"3 Day 3-Hour Tour" Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Fishing nets.

Girls crossing a bridge into a Cham village near the Vietnam/Cambodian Border

Kate and Mira enjoying pineapple served Vietnam style

Traveling on one of many boats - this one small and rickety

Along the Mekong River

Two sisters with two sisters.

HI all,

We have arrived in Phnom Penh thankfully. Sorry about the underlining - I can't figure out how to get rid of it. I have been under the weather so this will be brief.

The "3 day tour" was a bit rough. We upgraded out tour to get a bigger room and A/C. That said the hotels were horrible - in the middle of nowhere, roaches, bad food, no showers and the list goes on. The Mekong Delta is beautiful. The people are great. They are very poor and live on the water which is polluted beyond belief. We toured by bus, boat (large, medium and small). We say every manner of rice production - rice crackers, rice noodles, rice flour, rice husking to name a few.

Phnom Penh is a welcome sight. We had a time finding a hotel and at the eleventh hour we got a room in a nice hotel downtown and who should be there but our friends Krista, Ray and Lily. Ray has a gastro and has headed of to the clinic so Lily will chill with us while everyone recovers.

ttfn sharon

Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon

The girls in front of Uncle Ho (Ho Chi Minh)

Hi all,

We arrived in HCMC, Saigon a couple of days ago. We have seen some of the sights and are getting ready to head off on the Mekong Delta by boat and bus and end up in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Saigon is the most western city we have seen since Hong Kong and yet it is still very Vietnamese. All the name brand high end shopping. Lots of scooters so you have to risk your life walking on the roads/sidewalks. Sidewalks are used for parking scooters or selling wares or just driving scooters on if the road traffic looks bad! There are lots of "ladies of the night" here that harass single men - another good reason to travel with kids in this neck of the woods. Lots of Communist Propaganda mixed in with western commerce.

Workers of the world unite.

We met a lovely Aussie on the plane. She has lived here for a few years and has no intention of leaving. She was telling us some of the trials of living in this communist country. Due to the censorship, the foreign papers are blacked out so entrepreneurial people take the papers from the international flights home, iron them and sell them on the street - recycling at its best.

Did I mention that is is hot 33 degree plus 94% humidity.

Mira is enjoying lime juice to cool off and Kate found a park - first since Hong Kong.

Weddings are huge here. All the museums and churches, important buildings are used as backdrops for wedding pictures. One day we saw 11 wedding photo shoots. These are photos of Mira and Kate in front of their favourite wedding dresses at the Ho Chi Minh Museum. I had to do some revisionist teaching of the Vietnam war - keep it kid friendly. It was easy though - Vietnam fought against the French in the 30s, Japanese in the 40s and Americans in the 60s and 70s. We spent the most time learning about the typewriter. Both girls were very interested in this primitive technology.

I am feeling under the weather - or more like hit by a truck so this will be brief. We are looking forward to meeting up with the Rotary Group in Siem Reap.

Ta for now. sharon

Paul at another restaurant... in his Same, Same but different shirt.. it is a saying here.

Hoi An, Vietnam Part 3

Boats on the canal.

Hoi An

Our last day in Hoi An,

We visited the old quarter. It is very interesting and beautiful. A major port during the 17th to 19th centuries for the Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese - it has lovely architecture. The old quarter has buildings, temples and bridges to visit. We dragged to wilted kidlets around a very hot and humid community learning all sorts history.

Japanese Covered Bridge Dog Statue

The Japanese Bridge was built 1563 is a shrine to the enormous monster Cu, who had its body in Vietnam, head in India and tail in Japan. When it moved, terrible disasters such as floods and earthquakes struck Vietnam. The bridge killed the monster but they build a temple to pay for its soul. One end of the bridge has two dog statues and the other end two monkeys. It is said that the bridge was started in the year of the dog and ended in the year of the monkey.

To end our stay, we had to pay. The hotels in Hoi An are pricier and with extra tours etc. we had made arrangements to pay using our Visa instead of cash - which would require numerous withdrawals of 1 000 000s of dongs at a $5.00 surcharge each withdrawal.... so... Krista and I arrived to pay and were loaded onto scooters and shuttled to a tailor shop, owned by the hotel. The visa machine didn't work. Without much explanation, we ferried off to another shop. There was not discussion there..... we just waited. After a bit, we were told to get back on the scooters and we arrived back at the first tailor shop..... then we paid, the vietnamese way. Fun. We met up with Ray and Paul and the kids and had our last meal together. Fun.

Sharon on the Visa payment plan....

Here comes Krista to pay her bill.

Great fun. S

Hoi An, Vietnam Part 2

Xin chao Everyone...

We have had a lovely few days here in this very beautiful town. It has been so much fun hanging out with old friends again. We are all heading off in our separate ways today.

Yesterday we went to My Son, which was the religious and political center for the south of Vietnam - the Champa Kings occupied this site from the late 4th century until the 13th century. It is particularily interesting because the kings went to Java to study, marry and trade. So there are Indonesian influences everywhere. It has been pillaged over the centuries and the Americans heavily bombed it during the war. It is a beautiful sight to see.

On our way out to visit My Son, our driver took us to see a family who makes rice paper crackers. They are remarkably similar to pompadoms (sp?) that we eat at home. The girls each had a go at making the crackers. They are made with rice, which is ground into a powder then added to water to make a liquid. The sheaths of the rice are used to keep the fire going under a large caudron of water. Over the pot they have stretched a membrane and on that they put the rice liquid in layers. Once it is cooked, they cracker is just like a thin wet sheet. It is placed on a drying rack that is placed in the sun. Each cracker is made one at a time. The mother makes them and the husband takes them to market. They were very poor. Their pigs were a huge hit.

Making rice crackers.

Aren't we cute? Still want bacon Kate?

Late month's high water mark during the typhoon - inside the house.

Souvenir?

We moved on to marble mountain. The girls thought maybe we should buy a souvenir and have it shipped.

We then spent the rest of the day at the beautiful China Beach made famous during the Vietnam war by the large American Army base here. It is a huge stretch of beach and the waves were perfect for body surfing. The girls had a great time. Mira was catching quite a few big ones and we spent lots of time catching Kate. The showers were a great when we were finished and only cost 5000 dong (30 cents). I think they were built during the war?

Cheers sharon