And we say goodbye to Asia…

26/6

Dad: and there it is … We have made it to the end of our South East Asian adventure – we didn’t get eaten by tigers – but did get to pat them, we didn’t get trampled by elephants, although it was touch and go in North Thailand, no unexploded bombs got us, we survived the red-shirt attacks, didn’t get eaten by sharks or turtles but did get to dive with them both, we survived Vietnam hospitality, just, lived through a tropical cyclone (albeit a small one) in Krabi, didn’t get malaria, dengue fever or anything worse than a cold, we saw the Angkor Wat, met monks, played with all manner of kids through 6 countries and ate amazing local food and most importantly made friends not only from the countries we visited but also from all around the world, we’ve driven a car on the wrong side of the road, a tuktuk in Thailand and a car ferry across a river, we’ve been in buses of all shapes, trains from big sleeping ones to little bamboo ones we had to take off the tracks to let others pass, we’ve been on boats from the smallest wicker boat to big ferries and high speed hydrofoil to slow river boat, there has been planes, minivans, the back of utes, a horse drawn cart and a crazy tractor driven thing that towed a trailer… Bikes, motorbikes, scooters, and trucks of all size – i think we’ve done ok – we’ve used up all our polaroid films and gave the pictures away and left our mark here hopefully.
We’re coming home with stories and photos of our time here, some are funny, some adventurous and some are most definitely sad but all of them are something I hope you will enjoy and maybe store away to remember when you go off adventuring yourselves.
We’ve missed you plenty and through the whole trip we’ve thought of you, even when we got stuck without phone reception in Vietnam and down in the south of Thailand.
We’re headed to the airport in a couple of hours, all packed up and ready for the flight to Sydney and then on to Christchurch… Apparently it’s cold…

See you guys soon!
Dad 
xxx

Oh Croc and Kooka turned up this morning, they’re safe and well and ready to come home too…. 

It’s the final countdown… De-ne-dee-naaaa

25/6

A few updates today guys sorry – BUT I am now all caught up…. It takes a while to type this all out, upload the photos and update the website, but we got there in the end eh!
Read back a few days and catch up with me, it was cool chatting with you tonight before bed – great spelling Milla – ‘could’ is really tricky with that silent ‘L’ so you did a great job! Good luck with your football tomorrow Fynn!
See you soon!
Dad. xx

Dad: Its just me again today, Croc and Kooka came back after the All Whites football game late last night asking for a couple of thousand baht, they said they needed it to pay the tuktuk driver – what can I do, it’s their last day here, I just hope they stay safe while having fun.
I went to explore this morning walking around the city – it’s odd all of the Parks are closed to people – just wierd – don’t know why… Also the river is filthy – absolutely filthy… But the city has Awesome back alleys to explore – when you go through them you basically walk through peoples houses so as you go you talk to everyone.
Funny coincidence today – do you remember the guitar player from the other day? Well i was crossing the big suspension bridge and he was crossing at the same time and recognised me – he was going to see his friend Addy (a guitar god!) for a chat and guitar playing session and asked if I would like to join them… Of course!! So we went to Addy’s place and they played guitar and then taught me the blues scales and tried to get me to strum right (slow first note then choppier 2nd 3rd and 4th and 5th – haha) – I was awfully bad but they were really nice about it, we had a drink, they practised their English and then it was time to go…. I was on a mission I had been told where the Best sticky rice in the world restaurant was by another local and I was going to find it!!
I can’t let on the name (ok so It was spelt in Thai so I have no idea what it was, but know that it is by the bridge, on the inner city side and to the left a bit … And just fyi, best is the correct term – it really really is amazing! The street sticky rice is good – this stuff was incredible … I might have had 2 servings… Haha!
Then it was time to get Back to watch ‘step up 2 – the streets’ …..  I tell you i am using my time wisely and man enough I am… Haha
Over my lunch ‘pad Thai gai’ (my last Thai Pad Thai) it wasn’t hard to overhear the Americans at the table next door and chuckle at the general ignorance regarding NZ, apparently all Maori are alcoholics… Good job American education services… Or once were warriors…
Most just say how amazing they have heard NZ is, a fair number don’t even know where it is. It had to be explained  just where we live – One thought it was in Europe… Sheesh!
As I came back to the hotel I ran into the smiling reception ladies – all five of them saying ’1 more day, 1 more day’ haha – I’m not sure if they like me or are pleased I leave tomorrow… Hahaha!
Even the Tuktuk driver at the hotel entrance sees me coming now and laughs, “what about today? You want to get a suit today sir? I know I know – later later” and then laughs his head off.
It’s so cool when you stay in a place long enough to be recognized.
Back for a swim – it’s well hot again then out into town for a last look around before coming back for dinner – it’s a very quiet night for me – I’ve booked my bus to the airport for tomorrow and started packing my bags ready…. 

The end of the (bus) line….

24/6

Dad: Woke up early today to say see you later to Helen who is headed to Australia and Kane who is leaving a bit later back to Blackpool in England.
Breakfast was some Thai soup before I took Croc and Kooka up to the pool for a morning splash – we had the pool to ourselves which was great so we all swam races – Croc won of course, kooka flew so he was disqualified and I came last. It’s really hot these last few days, about 35 degrees plus but the mornings are nice and on the roof there is a bit of a breeze so it’s cool enough.
Kane and I took a tuktuk (30baht and just 1 stop sir) to what we thought was a ‘park’ and although there was some grass there, most of it was concrete and not really what we would call a park at home – so we went wandering and found the kings house and chatted to one of the guards who just happened to have a very big gun…. He was really nice though and told us the king was home and no we couldn’t visit him and no he didn’t need us to bring him anything like pizza or beer.
We wandered back toward Khaosan road and I went back to the pool for a while – now it was packed out!
It was time to say see ya to Kane and we had a farewell beer at the shamrock and he jumped on his bus to the airport.
….and then there was just me… The last remaining bus/boat person in Bangkok…. But don’t worry tuktuk drivers, by the time I leave there will be 100 more to replace me…. The only issue will be getting Croc and Kooka to leave with me…. They have fallen in love here and found some friends…. Maybe I can convince them to bring their friends back to NZ with them…. I’ll try….

Love Dad. Xxx
(kooka and croc are out with their friends right now…) 

Crocamole is out of controlee!!

23/6

Dad: I had a HUGE sleep catchup last night! I must have been completely wrecked because I slept until midday – I tried to watch a movie last night and didn’t even see the start!! Haha!
Last night just before I fell asleep it rain so hard the roads were turned into rivers! I told you this on the phone about all the rubbish floating down the street – it’s pretty disgusting really. I saw huge rats scuttling about too – the size of small cats…. 
Once I got up it was off to the pool on the roof for a bit of chilling out and cooling down – it’s crazy hot here just now.
A late long lunch was had down the quiet walking street where we found some nice wine and yellow curry and we chatted to a Thai lady who made us all laugh with her rough English – she was very funny!
It was a very lazy day, lunch was followed by the pool and swimming which was followed by a quick nap and chill out.
Helen and Kane are off tomorrow and then all of the bus people have gone on somewhere else and it will be just me. They spent the day getting everything ready to go and some last minute present buying/bag packing – they’re taking Croc out to watch England play football tonight – he’s very excited Milla!

Slo-Kooka: Dad slept while Croc and I played backgammon – we were taught how by Helen yesterday, it’s a good game but Dad is terrible at it, he always loses! Croc and I played 7 games and I won 4-3. Croc is good, but I’m better!
Then it was time for a quick dinner and the game of football was on – Croc has been so excited all day and Helen had bought him a wee England flag to hold too!
When we went for dinner a Thai man stole Croc and took him for a ride on the coconut cart down the KhaoSan road! Croc sold a couple of coconuts and then came back. I had a nice relaxing day today!

Croc: Yaaaah! Football is on and I was given a flag to hold too! I’m cheering for England, if they don’t win they won’t go through to the next round and the Kane and Helen (and Christian) will be dissappointed. My favourite player is Messi from Argentina but on the England team I like Rooney – he looks like a Teddy bear. We’re watching the game at the Shamrock on KhaoSan road and we’re sitting with a couple from Oslo, Norway who are coming to study in NZ in a couple of days (I think they leave the day before us) so that’s pretty funny – they let me sit on their shoulders so I can see the game better.
England scores!! It’s 1-0 and the crowd goes bananas! There are HEAPS of English people here in Bangkok and all around South East Asia.
At half time Dad gets to talking with a  Dutch guy from Rotterdam, he used to play for Feyernoord (not sure how it’s really spelt..) and he’s here because he’s going to coach football at the Saigon football club. He thinks I’d make a good mascot but Dad tells him that I already belong to Milla so he can’t keep me.
The game ends 1-0 and England are through, they flick the channel to the USA game and we see the final goal and USA won 1-0 too so they are top of the table – England will face Germany in the next round!
It’s Kane and Helen’s last night so we go to the rooftop and listen to a live band who are awesome and we sing along (we really have to stop Dad singing…. He hurts our ears – haha)
And then it’s time to sleep – only 2 days left!

Bangkok, oriential city… Well that and lamborginis and rocket blasts…

22/6

I have put up 2 days worth of updates again guys! Don’t forget to check the one before this one!!  Love you, Dad!

P.s. I’ll be all caught up tomorrow… Just in time to leave.

Dad: Hey guys!! Today Kane and Helen and I did a tour around central Bangkok city. We took a tuktuk to the main shopping area during rushhour…. It took FOREVER to get there, we seriously could have walked there quicker!
In the center there is a skytrain (like the one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) that can take you all around the shops and elevated walkways that take you over the traffic and into the shopping centers – it’s really easy – the traffic is down on the ground, above that is the layer for walking and above that is the layer for the train – like a big car, people, train layer cake!
We ended up where all the trouble was here in Bangkok (while we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand) – we saw the shopping center that had the rocket attack, it was all broken and burnt down – it’s being rebuilt now.
We did an awful lot of walking, the shops were all really expensive but it was good to see the massive shopping malls.

Slo-Kooka: Fynn!!! See what we found!! Lamborginis! There were 6 of them all lined up in front of a hotel so I got Dad to take a photo for you. We liked the orange one best – you could see the big engine in the back window and the exhaust was huge and square.
Everywhere here there are football world cup things – we found giant football tiger heads, we’ve seen kicking competitions in Vietnam and even playstation competitions in Cambodia – they love it here it’s everywhere!
I love the pool here – just awesomeness with a brilliant view over the whole city – I may never leave… Haha – just kidding Fynn – I’ll see you soon!

Croc: I’m a football convert Milla! I love the game – I heard you talking to Dad about it earlier, about who you are supporting and telling Dad what ranking the teams are – I didn’t realize NZ was ranked 18 – haha! You need to teach him because he doesn’t know anything and it’s so hard to talk about it with him because he always asks silly questions about offsides and red cards. 
I have been supporting different teams all the way through depending on who is playing. We’re taking a football break tonight because Dad is really tired from staying out with me to watch, and also we have a big game tomorrow night when England play. We’re going to watch it with Kane and Helen who are from there and I’m going to cheer for England for Christian and for Dave although I’m pretty sure Dave couldn’t care who wins… Haha!
So until then I had better get some sleep so I can cheer hard tomorrow!

Lazy dazy….

21/6

Dad: Sami left this morning headed to the airport and a flight to Brisbane, Australia – I got up and saw him off – it was brilliant travelling with him, good times and fine adventures -I’ll be missing his company from here on.
I decided to shift hotels this morning, I have 4 days left so I thought I’d look around, pay just a little more and find one with a swimming pool to cool down in. Kane has moved in with Helen (the kids from England) and they are the only ‘bus people’ left in town. I moved in directly across the road at the KhaoSan Palace and immediately went into the rooftop pool for a dip.
I got to talking to a guy from Denmark and his partner from America and so we went to lunch together with Kane at a place called O’Hungry just down the road in a little walking street behind a big temple – there was no traffic and heaps of trees so it was perfect. I went looking for some mango sticky rice for dessert and it started tipping down with rain – it’s ok though because the rain here is warm and refreshing, not like home!
Then it was back to the pool!!

Croc: I made a new friend today, Kane dissappeared while we were swimming and so when Helen came to find him she took me to help – I have a good smelling nose so I can find people fast! I couldn’t find Kane anywhere though but I did find dinner, the democracy memorial roundabout, a close massive McDonalds and Dads laundry so it wasn’t a total loss. 
Kane didn’t turn up until way later and by then we had found this awesome Thai guy (Suntay) who was playing the guitar and a big American guy who had had all of his things stolen who sang songs making them up as he went – he was brilliant and made us laugh so much – Dad took a video of one of the songs (don’t worry, about a thing… cos every little thing gonna be alright) so we’ll show you when we get back! He was really really clever and quick!
After talking to them a while and singing along (badly in Dads case -haha!) we ended up talking to a guy selling hats… Of course we had to buy one… Or 2 – they’re good salesmen here.

Slo-Kooka: we’re quickly coming to the end of the trip and looking forward to a couple of things at home now… We’re really looking forward to seeing you guys of course, and all the rest of the family and friends, I’m looking forward to a little colder weather, Croc is looking forward to sleeping in his own bed and Dad is looking forward to cooking for himself and going for a surf.
We’re going to miss a bunch of things here though. I’m going to miss the different cultures and languages, Croc is going to miss the street stalls with delicious food and Dad is going to miss the warm weather and friendly people. 
It’s been amazing though, it makes you realize that regardless of what is going on in your life in NZ, it’s nothing compared to what other people have to deal with over here – we have it easy – we’re a very lucky bunch of people living in a beautiful country.

2 days in…. Ok how about temples take two and scorpions for dessert!

20/6

2 updates today guys – go have a look back a day and check it out!!

Dad: this morning Katherina (Austria) leaves for Bali – she was in with Sami so after saying goodbye to her I moved my stuff into his room to share for the  last time tonight.
Then Kane, myself and a group of people took a tour on the canals to the grand palace here in Bangkok.
I didn’t realize there were so many canals through Bangkok, it’s like an asian Amsterdam – old houses built over the water, floating markets, water taxis and even a bus service that goes all around the main canals by big boat – it’s awesome.
We saw lotus flower farms, hawker boats full of stuff to buy, and families chilling on their balconies over the water.
We stopped at a riverside temple where people fed the catfish in the water and there were thousands of them flipping about in the water around the boat splashing us all.
Then it was on to the Royal Palace which was a group of temples all together that you could walk through. The main temple was huge and made with millions of little tiles and mirrors – it must have taken forever to make! There were also big statues guarding the entrances made the same way, it was pretty cool to see – the day was super hot though, there was no wind and just sun cranking down – I went through about 5 bottles of water just trying to cool down!
After an hour or 2 of walking we went out to a street stall and sat under umbrellas eating pad Thai gai and watermelon – bliss!
We were going to see another temple but it was way too hot and I think I have seen enough temples now to last a while so we bailed and went back to the hostel for a relax and some air condition goodness.
I was glad to get a wee sleep in this afternoon because NZ are playing Italy in the world cup tonight and we need to be in good shape to cheer them on!

Croc: Sami, Dad, Kooka and I met Helen and Kane (England) for dinner and everywhere we went had the football advertised for tonight. Dad laughed at all the different spellings on the chalk boards - New zeland, Neew zeelands, Now Zeeland… Pretty funny, everywhere we go when Dad said he was from NZ they all shook thier heads and apologized about having to play Italy – they don’t give us any chance at all!
Dinner was more Pad Thai – this time with shrimp, and we headed back to the Irish bar to watch the match on the big screen.
Sami disappeared and came back with some sweet sticky rice with mango…. Oh my!! I missed sticky rice while going through Vietnam – it’s pretty nice with coconut milk and fresh mango!
The game was a lot quieter then the dutch one last night – we found about 3 actual kiwis watching but the whole bar was cheering for us – it was very cool and when we scored the place erupted!
When Italy scored we cheered too but the noise level went up with 10 minutes to go and got louder and louder as the minutes passed and we got closer to the finish of the game….
And then it finished at 1-1 and the whole bar just went nuts with everyone shaking their heads and clapping and congratulating us like we’d won… Which we kind of had – I mean this is Italy – the world cup holders – and we drew with them and they only scored through a dubious penalty shot!
Awesome!

Slo-Kooka: after the game everyone went back to their rooms and Sami went to buy another bag because he had bought too much stuff to fit in his one bag hahaha! Dad went to use the free Internet he found earlier to send you guys a message then headed back to the room where Sami had turned up without a bag but with fried cicadas and a scorpion!!!
The cicadas tasted like the grasshoppers we ate in Chiang Mai ages ago but we’d not had a scorpion before…. Even I wasn’t sure about it!!!
It got eaten though and with that food sensation done we headed out to watch the Brasil game to cheer for Marcelo and Sabrina and Luciana, Dylan, Tom and Lui.
It was a good game and a heap of Brazilians turned up with flags and cheers and songs and laughs! It was a good night for our very last one (and this really is our last one) with Sami – we’re really going to miss the French little spoon! If you ever visit Ansie in France and you hear a Thai pop music playing, baguette and shake selling tuktuk offering massages, bracelets and pingpong shows – it’ll be Sami, say gidday from us!
And then sleep hit us square in the face!
 

1 night in Bangkok…. I know, obvious title…

19/6

Dad: This was a short stop, only over night but I really enjoyed it – dinner was had with Zuzanna, 2 Dutch people and Lars from Germany before falling completely asleep.
In the morning a bunch of us had bus tickets to leave town – it’s my LAST bus ride in South East Asia and it didn’t dissapoint!
We started the bus ride from a cleared minefield…. Hopefully they did a good job!!
They packed us all in on the bus – it was just a local bus so we stopped all along the way to pick up and drop off local people headed to the next town which was fun because they had all manner of cargo to take with them – big boxes of stuff, trays and trays of eggs, a pile of blankets – all going to the market to be sold.
One place we stopped had women with big trays of fried bugs on their heads – slo kooka was in heaven!
We stopped about an hour up the road and everyone got out – we had to change buses to carry on to the border. I went for a quick look around the town which seemed to be made up of a market, wheel shops and 100 beauty salons… When I got back to the bus stop everyone was getting on board the new bus and ready to roll.
Another hour later and we pulled up at the Thailand border – we had to change buses again on the Thailand side because over there they drive on the other side of the road which might get a bit confusing for them.
Everyone managed to cross this border ok except a French lady who insisted on arguing with the border guard about her destination – it just seemed a bit silly to be honest as the guard was always going to win any argument, I found if you have an issue, smiling and nodding is easily the best way – they just think you’re a simple foriegner and let you go…
Once we had passed the Thai immigration post we had to wait for our ‘bus’ … The guide said it was a few minutes away and would come and pick us up…. 20 minutes later we walk to a ute which would take us to the bus – there were 13 people, 13 big packs and 13 small packs… And yes, we all fitted on the back of the average ute – as fitted as we could anyway, 2 of the guys were balanced on the back tray of the ute holding for dear life onto the pile of packs in front of them which kept threatening to bounce off the back and pour us all onto the highway behind…. It was an adventure alright but we made it the 7km to the ‘bus station’ which was really the drivers brothers restaurant where we were ordered to eat while we waited for the bus to arrive which we discovered was actually parked just around the corner… You have to love the border crossing town scams.
Fed, watered and with our wallets well lightened it was into the ‘bus’ which was actually a minivan where we came across the same ‘spatial issues’ we had with the ute – there were 13 seats alright – but once the packs went across 3 of them the Thai math kicked in. Long story short we all ‘fitted’ after a bit of passenger/bag tetris…. Although the whole way to Bangkok we were catching falling packs and redistributing them under feet, in the aisle and back into the pile from where they fell again 5 minutes later.
It was on this ride that I put my Thai sim card back in and gave you a call Milla – you were playing webkinz and Fynn was at Opa’s to watch the football. It was brilliant hearing you – I’ve missed you heaps through Vietnam and Cambodia and was stoked to get a working phone again!

Slo-Kooka: We’re in Thailand!! After an 8 hour bus ride we’re in the capital – Bangkok.
After all of the places we’ve been for the last 2 months this is the first really big city feeling place since Kuala Lumpur way back when.
There are skyscrapers, highways and skytrains and traffic for Africa! We’re really not used to this madness – even Vietnam didn’t feel this big!
The taxis and buses are all brightly coloured – mostly pink – it’s very funny but at least they really stand out!
Dad went to Khao San road and found Sami, we also took Kane and Helen from Blackpool (England) and Lara from Holland – Zuzanna from the Czech Republic left us as she was off on a tour to Singapore and already booked at a hotel.
Kane and Dad, Croc and I shared a room for the night at a little backpacker place where we all stayed – it was very basic and the bed was hard as a rock but at least it was clean and cheerful.
At 6pm the Dutch game was on and we went next door to the Irish bar to watch it – 5 minutes before the start about 100 Dutch supporters poured through the door all dressed in orange and singing songs and having a blast and so we all joined them!

Croc: Fun! We’re back with Sami and watching football at the same time as you Fynn! In the spirit of things Dad and the guys got a tower of Heineken for me to sit on so I could see the big screen and I made friends with a huge orange lion!! We sang lots of football songs and I started singing Sinta Klaas songs and everyone laughed. We cheered when the Dutch won and the party poured out onto the street. Did you enjoy the game Fynn? I thought I could hear you cheering from here.
A bit later, I went to McDonalds and got an icecream – I’m not sure where Dad was as I was adopted for the night by my new friends and taken all manner of places which was fun and much later I found Dad again and we went to sleep.

Battambang Bamboo choochoo!

18/6

Dad: We’re moving on!! Siem Reap is awesome but there are only so many old temples you can take in – 3 days is my limit I’m afraid.
The Angkor Wat certainly exceeded my expectations – I fully loved it and the absolute highlight was having it completely to myself while everyone else clamoured for a bazzilion photos that will all look the same.
So today we head to Battambang – we have a very important date to keep for you guys…. I’m told there is a ‘bamboo train’ there – using the old train tracks, local people have made these little bamboo platforms that have a removable engine and wheels and they go up and down transporting people and goods between the towns – I think we MUST take this train!!
First we have to get there though, it takes 2 hours to leave town!! The bus was supposed to pick me up at 7:30am – a tuktuk arrived and picked me up, it went around town trying to pick up other people before dropping me at a minivan which then also went around town trying to pick up people to take before it dropped us all at the bus station (which FYI is a cleared minefield….) to get on our bus which, yes you guessed it, travelled around town… Yes, trying to pick up people… I must be used to this now because I completely expected it and wasn’t at all concerned/annoyed by it – patience is needed here in Asia.
The bus is FULL of mosquitos!! I haven’t been biten any where in south east Asia until Siem Reap – they are everywhere here! The other issue I have is that my room had air conditioning – the first since Singapore right back at the start and all the going from a cold room to hot outside has given me a cold!!! My nose is running, I have a cough – it’s very funny to have a cold in 38degree weather!!
Finally we get underway – and head for Battambang – someone said it was only 1.5 hours away – 1.5 hours later I was still in Siem Reap bus station so who knows!

Slo-Kooka: here is some odd Cambodian sights to look out for -these are things we saw from the bus on the way…
1. Massive flotilla of ducks – I mean thousands of ducks all walking down the road…. Who knows where they were going!?!
2: Men rebuilding collapsed houses out of bamboo and clay … Leaky building is nothing here
3: (possibly the strangest sight I have seen in all of Asia) a man riding a bike with a snorkel and mask on….. And the coast is about 3 hours away…. Even Dad couldn’t explain it!!

We finally got to Battambang at about midday and we caught up with Zuzanna from Czech Republic and a couple of friends she had made – dad took us straight to the bamboo train (they had already done it) and we met a couple of kiwis who took the ride with us – Yes!! Another way of travelling to add to the list!! It was pretty fun and we met some cool people at the next town before coming back – Croc even got some hugs from the wee kids there – you might have felt them Milla!
On the train if you met another bamboo train coming the other way you had to stop, take apart your train and take it off the rails, let the other train pass and then build your train again – how much fun is that!!!
The tuktuk driver was really nice and taught Dad some more Cambodian (even though we only have 1 more day here in Cambodia it’s really good to know.
We went back to the hotel and caught up with the others because we’re going out to the killing caves and to see the bats!!

Croc: wow, before heading to the caves Dad checked the Internet and found that it’s not just you guys reading this anymore… Apparently we have an audience much larger! I think they are all reading this to see photos of Kooka and Me, we might cut down Dads time so that we can talk more! Give the people what they want I say!!
Anyway, Suun, our tuktuk driver took us way out of town to the temple on the hill where the khymer rouge (the bad guys from Cambodia remember) turned it into a prison and killed a lot of people… They threw the monks down a big pit that was into a cave… This was in 1978. It wasn’t very nice, but now monks live there again and the temple is back to being a temple – there’s a HUGE buddah on the top also, and also a couple of old cannons up the top of the hill too – it’s really interesting to go up the top because you see that cambodia is really flat with only a few little hills popping up every now and again. Really cool to see!
After walking down from the hill we saw the bat cave where millions of bats come streaming out at dusk to feed on insects – it’s like a black stream pouring out of the hill – the bats are quite small and zoom around while we stood there – really awesome to see!
It was dark when we left the bat cave, we headed back to Battambang after another long day – we’re headed to Bangkok tomorrow – our last stop!!! Only a few days left now!! We’re really looking forward to seeing you guys really soon!!
Love Croc! Xxx

Angkor Why…!!

17/6
 

Brent: 4am!!?! What sort of time do you call this!? A few of us are getting up for the Angkor wat sunrise experience… 
My poor tuktuk driver had to get up too – so do the ticket people out at the Angkor Wat – poor people!
Having said that it did not disappoint in the slightest.
The whole place is impressive and add a great sunrise to the mix and you have a recipe to bring almost every Japanese tour bus company in all of Asia swarming to it.
I took a couple of photos amongst the masses of tourists then walked around the back of the complex where there was no one – it was bliss – I had the whole of Angkor Wat to myself – as the sun came up I wandered around with the light streaming through the windows lighting up the carvings on the walls – it was amazing.
The sun came all the way up and people started coming into the complex so I left.
I sat watching the light arrive on the massive lake that goes around the whole temple – just stunning.
The streams of Japanese tourists leaving signaled it was time to go somewhere else also so I found my tuktuk driver after navigating through the hordes of ‘sir, you buy water’ vendors and we started on out to the furthest temple which has awesome carvings – bantay sarae I think is how it’s spelt…
It’s 37km by tuktuk…. Which sounds fun but in reality is a bone jarring bounce-athon for 20 minutes. It’s great to pass through the little villages that are still waking up, watching the locals prepare the breakfast, get the kids ready for school and head off to work… Same as home – just different.
Bantey sarai is exactly as described – a small temple that has amazingly intricate carvings – it’s really beautiful, so detailed and carved in 3d – hard to explain, I’ll show you guys the photos when I get back.
It doesn’t take long to get around it and 15 minutes later I’m back at the tuktuk all temple’d out.
The 20 minutes rollercoaster back was hard work – I was desperately tired and hungry but when I passed a school where the kids were all out playing I thought of you both because you would have almost finished school for the day.
I got back to the hostel and had a quick museli with fruit and yoghurt and thought I’d have a quick lie down to rest….. It was 9am…. I woke from my ‘quick lie down’ at 5:30pm…. Yeah Fynn, I took your advice and slept!! Haha!

Slo-Kooka: Well to be honest Dad slept all day so there’s not much to add – he took us to dinner and we watched some football so I’ll just leave you with some photos of earlier in the day ok….