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….

Angkor Wat!!

16/6

Dad: Sleeping on the bus is getting easier, this time I didn’t even need a bed! We arrived in Siem Reap at 6am after a night trip of only 6 hours – ah, thats nothing! Haha.
Sami had gone to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat at 4am (I later found out he had just stayed up watching the football and hadn’t even slept last night).
He had organized everything though – a driver came to pick me up and take me to the hotel, then I showered and grabbed some breakfast and the driver took me out to Angkor Wat to meet him – brilliant!
Angkor Wat was the ‘must do’ item for me in South East Asia. It’s a huge house made for the gods of the khymer people – the largest religeous structure in the world.
As I arrived at Angkor Wat the sun was just up, the place is impressive – huge lakes suround it, massive walls, an awesome walkway made of stone leading to it and then the wat (temple) itself is immense – really really big! Photos do not do it justice.
We looked around and met a whole group of monks who told us about the temple and took photos of Sami and I – funny!!

Slo-kooka: We’re at ankor wat! It’s huge – hard to believe it was all made by hand, there’s just so much stone and amazing carvings on it. So amazing tha Dad totally forgot to take photos… Haha!
After the big angkor wat the tuktuk driver took us to Bayon wat, it’s also huge and has big faces staring out of the rocks in all directions. This area was actually part of a huge city that was around the Angkor Wat but because only gods could live in stone houses there are no signs of any of the wooden houses that would have been here – bayon was also pretty amazing – there are heaps of tourists here though and its so hot!! Really really hot today.
After that we went to the temple where tomb raider was filmed, the trees are growing all over the temples and vines are everywhere.
By now it was time for lunch, we were taken to a restaurant in the complex where food cost double anywhere else in Cambodia, nice enough, but a bit of a trap for tourists like us.
After lunch it was time for one more temple, instead of spending the time in the temple we spent it with the guard and the kids trying to sell books and drinks at the entrance – we had the best time with them – Dad pulled out the kicking toy again and the tuktuk drivers joined in for a bit and the kids played too – while still trying to sell us books and drinks. They challenged Sami to an arm wrestle – if he lost he had to buy a book from the girls but they cheated so we just laughed – he also taught them slaps …. And lost… Our tuktuk driver got bored waiting for us and in the end after about 2 hours Dad bought drinks for everyone including the tuktuk driver and we all sat around laughing and joking – the kids’ English is amazing!

Croc: We keep thinking it will be Sami and our last night together because Sami, so we keep having to celebrate, then Dad catches up to him again and start all over again… I think it’s a trick to celebrate each time – we’ll believe it’s the last last time when we see it!!
We grabbed some dinner and visited the night market here in Siem Reap, it’s very similar to everywhere else but cleaner and more orderly
Again there was some football on to watch… It’s a hard life – then it was sleep time because we’re getting up at 4.30am to go and see the sunrise over Angkor Wat – I might stay in bed!!!  

Cambodia – opening eyes…

15/6

Dad: Sami left foe Siem Reap this morning so I dragged myself out of bed early to say goodbye, have some breakfast and then go back to bed.. This world cup is keeping me up – haha!
I slept for an hour or 2 then it was time to go to the Toel Souy prison (s21).
When the Khymer Rouge took power after a civil war they decided that everyone should be farmers (this is a gross simplification – of course it’s more complex than that) and they caused all residents of phnom penh to leave the city. They then arrested people who they didn’t agree with (government workers, doctors, lawyers and people they believed didn’t agree with them) and put them in jails.
S21 was a school and when everyone left the city they turned it into a jail and put prisoners in the rooms instead.
Then they tortured and killed them.
There is nothing nice about it, nothing that you can say or see that helps make sense of what happened there. There are photographs of every prisoner on boards and walls that fill room after room – it’s impossible to explain how it feels to be there, to see the faces staring back knowing what happened.
The worst part for me is this all happened in my life time and although I knew of Cambodia and pol pot I have remained blissfully (ignorantly) removed from the realities of what really occured.

There was no way to not understand just what went on here from 1975-1980.  

It was a very sombre walk back through Phnom Penh toward our hostel after that, not many words were spoken and it wasn’t until after lunch that discussion began again.

Croc: Dad was very quiet all morning, the school/prison was hard to deal with – especially the photos of the children.
To cheer him up we took him to a street stall where we had totally local food from Cambodians who spoke no english at all. We’ve only been here a day and already Dad has a bunch of Cambodian (khymer) languague going on – way more than his vietamese – and we were there a couple of weeks!
We learnt this one for you guys…  ’Bong slrra lang oun’ – it sounds that way but is spelt differently – it means ‘i love you’.
After lunch we went to the Royal palace but it was going to cost too much so we didn’t go in, just looked from the outside and we met Lucas from Switzerland and Georgi from Spain – we wandered along the street with them a while and came across some kids who had been injured by landmines, one had no arms and Dad had met him yesterday and taken a Polaroid photo and given it to him (the white camera) – he loved it and was till carrying it around in his pocket the next day! He recognized Dad and they talked for a bit, he had a friend who had no legs who we talked to also. Dad had bought a toy in vietnam which is like a badminton shuttlecock that you keep in the air using your feet (and hands). We all played it on the street together and we got a big crowd of locals playing with us – it was fully brilliant.
After about an hour we said goodbye and headed back to watch the football – New Zealands turn!!

Slo-Kooka: we grabbed some Indian for dinner – all the food has just been amazingly good – I wanted bugs again but Dad said I needed to be ready for our bus ride at midnight so I had to have rice instead.
Dad had a traditional Indian dish he’d never heard of at the recomendation of a random Swiss girl we met at dinner – and she was right, it was delicious!
After that we walked back to the hotel where the bus was picking us up from at midnight and watch the games – exciting!!! And we drew 1-1 – it’s really like a win really… Haha! We watched with the Swiss guy and girl, 3 from Spain, 1 from south Korea, an Aussie and an Austrian – fun!
At midnight we got the bus to Siem Reap and found we had the worst seats EVER!! The seat was directly on the floor – there were no legs under them so Dads knees were around his ears!! Luckily the bus wasn’t full so Dad moved back to a pair of seats down the back and slept the whole way to Siem Reap. 

Long Day!!
 

The last country on the list… And loving it!

14/6

Dad: We had to get up early this morning as we’re going to phnom penh in Cambodia today so we’re crossing another border!
Our bus is almost empty when we leave Saigon so we can all stretch out – I slept a little bit and an hour later we were at the border.
Everybody off the bus!! We have to take our bags and packs into the border control office and get the departure stamp from vietnam, then put everything back on the bus, go about 30 meters in the bus and out we get again, take all of our packs off again to get a visa and stamp in our passport at the Cambodia border patrol and then back on the bus. Phew!

Croc: Cambodia reminds us of the Canterbury plains – it’s really flat which it quite a change from all the hills we have been in lately. There is a lot of agriculture here, mainly rice fields and cows and the towns are quite rundown (not really the right word – more just poor and basic) and small – the people are really friendly though, we stopped for food and instead of feeling hasseled to buy food or stuff they just chill and chat to you – it’s so nice after Vietnam – everyone we have spoken to has said the same thing – Vietnam as a country is astounding, really beautiful and different, but it’s hard to enjoy because the people can be so difficult to deal with – they are just very money focused.
We drove into Phnom penh around midday and Dad instantly fell in love. It may not be to everyones taste but Dad thought the city contrasts were so stark and obvious that he really really liked it instantly. Amazing temples are scattered everywhere, surrounded by big open spaces and a busy river but the whole place is surrounded by a very French flavoured asian city. It’s much like Vientiane with more life about it – we like it a lot.   

Slo-kooka: after settling in to our room – We’re still sharing with Sami and Katherina (Austria), we headed out to see the sights. We walked along the river front found some food (new country – new food!!). Dad had an amouk, which is a curry from Cambodia (called Khymer) with fish and rice – it’s yellow and very very tasty – this place just gets better and better – the only thing is it is quite expensive here compared to everywhere else. They use 2 types of money, the Cambodian Riel and also the US dollar. You pay for everything in US$ but you get change in riel which is really confusing and a bt of a pain really – the ATMs here only give out US$ – crazy!
After food we went to a few temples and met some tourists and locals and had fun chatting away to them. Sami is running out of time on his trip so he’s going to Siam Reap tomorrow morning so he booked his ticket – Dad wants to go to a few places here first so we’re getting the midnight bus tomorrow night instead.

After organising everything it was time for dinner and to watch the football of course… Did you get up early to see the Dutch play Denmark Fynn? We watched it here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with some people from Iceland – crazy eh!
On the way back to the hostel we saw a bug food stand – YUS!! They had cockroaches, crickets, worms etc, but also deep fried TARANTULAS!! 

Apparently they are good for sore stomachs – I just think they are super tasty – yah for being back in insect eating countries!!

The world is small…and Football is the winner on the day

13/6

Dad: The world cup football is on here from 7pm (first game) and finishes at about 4am so there hasn’t been much sleep – I think it’s easier than for you because you have to get up really early in the middle of the night to see the first game. I slept in this morning until about 9am and then went to the river to catch the hydrofoil out to a beach – I made sure it was a ticket on the hydrofoil this time and saw the boat before booking. Because I went alone and wanted to swim at the beach I left all of my cameras/phones/important things in the room with Sami so it wouldn’t get stolen so I have no photos but it was just like the hydrofoil that went past the other day except with a red stripe.
So now I can add ‘hydrofoil’ to our list of transportation!
The beach was nice, it was a weekend so it was really busy with Vietnamese people enjoying the beach – not many were swimming though which I thought was strange.
There were also a lot of people tring to sell me hammocks, postcards, books, bracelets – just about anything that I don’t really need – it gets really tiresome, especially if you just want to relax and have some quiet time – they are very persistant.
After a short time I came back on the hydrofoil to the city just to get away from them – the thing is they are all through the city too so there really isn’t any escape – haha!

Slo-kooka: when we got back we had to wake Sami up – he never sleeps at night then sleeps through the day – by now it was lunchtime so we went to KFP (Kentucky fried pigeon – at least it’s not KFKookaburra!). It was a big mistake, Dad thought he wanted food like we get at home but really didn’t enjoy it at all, we should have gone for Pho (noodle soup) instead – it’s much nicer!
It was fun sitting up in KFP watching the Vietnamese people go about there day – they all ride motorbikes and on just about every corner is a man with an air compressor to pump up tyres – he also has a big bowl of water and repairs punctures when people pull up to him – which happens a lot.
After that we caught up with Manuella and Sky and Rob and Steve and chilled for a while before the sun went down – a very relaxed afternoon.

Croc: More football tonight, Dads not really a big fan but it’s fun having a group of people from all around the world all cheering for thier team – our support changes from night to night – tonight it’s Australia vs Germany and we met a gorgeous couple from Melbourne after dinner so we’re cheering for/with them. Even the austrians and Swiss we are with are supporting Australia!
Unfortunately they didn’t do so well… 4-0 and the Germans in the bar were happy – it was ok though, we learnt a new drinking game and even Sami got involved – we’ll teach you when we get home, and we made friends with a whole lot of the kids in the street – they stay up very late and sell things and play games – they speak really good English and like to tease the tourists (in a nice way). It was a fun night.

I hope you guys had a great queens birthday long weekend! Miss you heaps and heaps!
Love you.