A change of pace...

Well, it's been over a year since our last entry.  And, it seems we even forgot to put in the last entry for Cambodia - we will post that in the near future.  Although it may be a year late it is worth posting just for the subject, particularly if you're into good food!  yes, it is a common theme of this blog! :)

What a year it has been.  the big news being that we have grown from a crew of 2 to a pack of 3, with our son isaac being born in January 2014. The addition of Isaac is the best thing that has happened to us and we look forward to taking him on many trips as we move on.  Here's hoping he likes travelling like we do.

As we have found out recently he certainly likes his food!




With a baby we are being cautious with our travel plans this year.  no backpacking or eating crickets (well maybe)....just a few lazy holidays/

Our first trip is coming up this weekend.  We are off to Fiji for a traditional Aussie resort holiday in the Pacific.  We plan to visit a village where a friend grew up to take some presents to them on our friend's behalf.   This does mean, however, that we will need to drink Kava with the Chief! Other than that, there will no doubt be food on the agenda as well as many hours relaxing on the beach or by the pool with a drink in hand!  Watch this space.  on that a note a big thank you to dave for all the tips and arrangements made and to everyone who gave us advice in the lead up.

Finally, a big Happy 40th to our siter/inlaw Fiona.  For one who used to try and argue how she was a certain number of years older than Jeff as kids and overstating the difference, it's good to see that you now try and understate it....but you still got there first and we should all celebrate each birthday we make.

She wasn't always an ogre....



On that note, hope you keep reading the blog and commenting.  We will continue to update as we go.

What would this blog be without??...

Photos of food!

As we come to the end of our short little break here in Cambodia, we thought we better publish some photos of the food we have had here - something very close to our hearts (just a bit to the south!)

The beachside bungalow we are staying at now - Elephant Garden - Otres Beach 2, Sihanoukville, wins the prize for the best food on tour.  It has a menu that fuses european (the owner was a chef for 25 years in Germany and France) with the local flavours.  the Seafood Platter with all it's accompaniments was the bomb:

yum yum...seriously great attention to detail in presentation and flavours!

Seriously great food and beats most dishes'we've eaten at home.

Most authentic food goes to this one (closely followed by the corn on a cob from a street vendor in Battambang):

You want frog or you want cricket?  cricket's fine!

This was our first breakfast in Cambodia - not traditional - again French influence:

Not bad for $2

But the winner would have to be our own creations:

Just a little more bang bang!

2 blogs in a row!  Slow down!  Hopefully you can fit 2 cups of tea in to read the entries Mr Mc!  I can taste that 85% cocoa now!

Oh and watch out for a blog in the next few days about our next destination - will have food in that too - that is the reason we are travelling there tomorrow before beelining it to Singapore!

A self titled entry - Phnom Penh

Good afternoon all,

As we type this blog we are coming to the end of our little beach getaway at Sihanoukville, lazing by the beach drinking 50c beers! But, the subject of this entry cannot be further away from this laidback lifestyle.

We hit Phnom Penh on Friday around lunchtime. Hounded by remork drivers once we got off the minibus from Siem Reap, trying to get us to go with them to a hotel that they get commission for. We ended up paying a dollar or 2 for the driver to drive us around to a few guesthouses on our list. After looking at a couple of cheap and grotty rooms we settled on a room at the Ókay Guesthouse’. It lived up to it’s name and maybe just a bit more.

Our 24 hour history tour started soon after. Firstly we hopped into a remork to the Tuol Streng Museum. Tuol Streng was, before the Khmer Rouge came to power, a high school. Upon the fall of Phnom Penh the High School was closed as part of the mass and forced removal of people from Phnom Penh to the rural provinces. It was only a couple of days after they arrived that the Khmer Rouge had achieved this closedown of the city.

Tuol Streng

For the 3.5 years of Khmer Rouge rule, the High School was turned into a prison. Here, thousands past through the gates both in and out. They were kept either in 2m x 1m cells or otherwise in a mass prison cell where up to 50 people were laid down on the ground and shackled - in a room the size of a typical classroom.

a cell.

We chose to hire a guide and he was well worth the investment.- explaining the history, reasons people were brought in (usually because the KR leadership were either paranoid or just wanted to demonstrate their control), the torture methods used and the stories behind some of the inmates.



Inmates here were tortured and interrogated before being executed for either disobeying orders or moreso not being of any further worth in the search for information. One of the victims was an Australian journalist- one of 20 or so non-Khmers. Even high ranking officials of the KR were interrogated and tortured here. Upon it’s capture by the Vietnamese in 1979, there were 7 survivors!

one of the less barbaric methods of torture

survivors with vietnamese soldiers

Sobering as the afternoon there was, we headed off to the Foreign Correspondent’s Club - a barand rooftop restaurant in a French Colonial Building on the riverfront. Stepping in here you are taken back to earlier times almost instantly. You cn feel the history and imagine the buzz as correspondents were based here reporting on Indo China conflicts. The half price cocktails were too good to refuse and a jug of Pina Colada was selected as we took in the views. The food was excellent - obviously over the odds compared to our normal budget but well worth it. A stroll along the river took us back to our room, having an early start for the next morning and so finished our afternoon in PP.

alright view to take the mind off the prison

Cocktail, check, yummy food, check, good view, checkmate!

Up early and into the remork for a trip to “The Killing Fields” museum on the edge of town. This is the place where most from Tuol Streng ended up. Taken by truck from the prison, they were herded off the truck and killed usually with a quick slit across the throat as bullets were too expensive. The morning here was one of reflection on how we can treat other humans and for no compelling reason. A definite must see if in PP.



Hopefully the pictures can do more justice to the feeling and importance of both these places.

Careful where you tread - some of the mass graves

Sign says at all - well gives a bit of info anyway

Memorial pagoda with remains of victims inside

After an hour long remork drive back into the city we settled for walking for the rest of the day, punctuated by a lunch stop at Sugar n Spice Café:

If you can read sideways - you'll work out it was all for a good cause and food was yum!

Night was spent at the guesthouse in their restaurant having chats with the family, drinking beer and watching football. Next stop is Sihanoukville and the promise of white sandy beaches!

One for the books - recipe books...even history books

Now I know we have built this up as some earth shattering news and you may read on and think you have been let down, which is a valid feeling to have.  But those that know us well enough will know that the following sight is not one seen before - except in extentuating circumstances and usually accompanied with a can of heinz:

Surprise!...Oops went off a bit early...this photo should help:

What's that yellow stuff?

Yes that's right, we go on holidays and Stacey gets in the kitchen.  Not just any kitchen mind you but a full blown Cambodian style commercial kitchen AND she prepared and cooked 3 courses of food.  All part of a cooking course in Siem reap at a restaurant named Le Tigre De Papier....again something French and something about a tiger.

Anyway, back to this jaw dropping event.  It happened a few days ago - around 5pm.  Stacey was spotted in the restaurant having a drink - all normal so far.  Next thing you know she's suited up in red - cape and cap!  She even started chopping stuff up and getting yellow fingers like a seasoned smoker after playing with fresh tumeric!

It's easy same same as Vietnamese Rolls but Cambodian!

On the menu for Stacey was:

Entree:  Fresh Rice Paper Rolls (not sure if it was Pork or Tiger?)
Main - Fish Amok - traditional Cambodian curry with fish served in banana leaf
Dessert:  Sticky Rice and Mango...not the variety out of a can.

Pretty good effort and result.  Unfortunately the blackout took hold after this so the other dishes could not be snapped!

So what did Stacey learn from this class?

1.  Tumeric stains
2.  Making Fresh Spring Rolls takes time and effort
3. Commercial kitchens are hot
4.  More bang bang; and
5.  Last but not least - to make a good Amok you need "more bang bang"as the instructor advised (this refers to playing rough with the mortar and pestle!

I show you how you chop.  Then you learn bang bang!

More bang bang!

We did get to eat our creations but not until the whole street and restaurants had a massive blackout.  Bags were held tight and payment demanded ASAP.

Speaking of blackouts - Master Chef Jeff for his part found out that creating culimary delights in a commercial setting is a bit harder than he anticipated - as the lights went off in the resturant so too did Jeff do a little swoon.

We also learnt to make flowers!

Just before the swoon...is it just me or is it a bit hot in here?

The lesson learnt here? - If you cant handle the heat, then get out of the kitchen!

Overall, A great way to finish a short trip to Siem Reap.

Next log is sobering as we move onto Phnom Penh.

Keep sending the comments through - hope thy're worth the read.

Laters!

Wat's that over there?

Morning all,

The answer to that question is another temple of course! To be so flippant does not give Angkor Wat and the other ancient temples and cities around Angkor the respect they deserve. We had a great couple of days exploring these markers of ancient times, some of which are still overgrown from hundreds of years of abandonment – with nature temporarily reclaiming it’s territory. Needless to say though that we did have temple fatigue after the end of the second day.

On Tuesday we moved off from Battambang and onto a bus full of locals heading to Siem Reap. Luckily no chickens this time, just some young girls in the traditional dress of pyjamas…the thing to wear on the bus! A 30 min stop at Sisophon allowed Stacey to use her last 5 baht to visit the dodgy facilities at the bus stop (baht doesn’t get you as much as it used to Mr J!)…but just on that, in Cambodia they have an official currency – the riel, a dominant currency – the USD and they also accept Thai baht and Viet Dong!

We rolled into Siem Reap a few hours later after only just thinking about where we were going to stay as we read through the options in the guidebook. Luckily we saw one of the places we had shortlisted as we rolled in and it was a 3 min walk from where the bus turned up so we just hoofed it and escaped the hordes of remork and moto drivers.

There was a room available (although we found out later that meant one night in the dodgy hotel next door), so we left our bags there and headed into town to Pub St (think cavil Pde at Surfers or Darling Hbr except cheaper!). After a quick and much needed bite to eat and 50c beer we hooked up with one of the many remork drivers to head out to Angkor. Tickets bought on the way and first stop Angkor Wat. An impressive sight from it’s entrance. Towering above everything around it and surrounded by a massive moat that’s even bigger than the minnamurra River! :)

It only gets more impressive as you start to explore within it’s walls. This place Is not just massive but majestic as well. The half day we gave it was not enough but these are the tradeoffs when travelling and the decisions that need to be made. As some photos show later, we did make it there after a 5am start to watch the sunrise the next morning. The magic of this place is not only in it’s symmetrical design and construction, or it’s orientation or grandeur even but also in the detail – to the little sculptures carved out in the walls and this is a highlight of most of the structures in and around Angkor.

After climbing to the top of the temple up a steep ladder and watching the sun setting in the west we headed back to the hotel (the dodgy one we had to stay in for a night) and arranged with our remork driver to meet up at 5am to get out to Angkor Wat for Sunrise.

It was well worth the effort the next morning and hopefully some of these photos demonstrate the worth of such effort well enough:

The crack of dawn breaks over Angkor Wat

Improves the view..don't you think?



The sun breaks through the haze after we leave the outer walls. 





We were ahead of the crowds as a result of the start time so had a good position. We also got out of the Wat before most others as well. Only to be spending the next hour looking for our remork driver who was not where he said he would be! He was not the best we have had here – probably the worst – he spent the time crapping on about he had to get up early so we have an early finish…but with him stuffing us around for an hour any chance of an early finish had been dashed!

Next on the list was Angkor Thom – an ancient city that replaced Angkor Wat. Within Angkor Tom was the Bayon Temple, Royal Palace and a few other highlights. We found Angkor Thom to be an improvement on Angkor Wat – probably because there were less people so you could explore more and the nature that had overgrown the area was still visible – particulary in the grounds of the Palace where we stopped off for a much needed drink!

Here are some photos of in and around Angkor Thom:

He's ok at climbing up but no good at coming down.  Can report he survived this time.

While Jeff was stuck up some steep stairs, Stacey posed for a sculpture!



Next on the itinerary was Preah Khan..here are some photos:

Best friends!

The writing in sanskrit says something about how this poor lady didn't listen to her husband! :) Luckily times have changed!

It's a tough life!

Just sold $3 worth of food and drink to some aussies.  Can sit down and have a rest.  the money will help pay for this aircon.

After buying some water and pineapple from one of the many vendors at the exit to Preah Khan it was back into the remork and to an island temple in the middle of a natural looking but totally man made waterbody about half the size of lake illawarra, The most impressive part of this temple was the walk up to it and the mangrove setting. Not to mention the vendors. I learnt here that Canberra was the capital of Australia…it was the standard response to us answering the ubiquitous “where u come from?”

At the next temple - - Jeff got sucked in to playing a game of noughts and crosses in the dirt with one of the child vendors who – after he had refused to buy anthing said – ‘lets play a game” – Ïf I win you buy, If you win you get one for free!” It is sad to admit but he lost 2 games to a 7 year old! and was 2 dollars lighter as a result. Other highlights of this temple was the presence of nature – not just the vegetation but a snake and it’s tranquility,

After a quick stop at a restaurant recommended by the remork driver (read tourist trap), we headed off to Ta Prohm, which is where Stacey had wanted to see. And not just because her hero Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider here or in fact that Indiana Jones was filmed here as well! Or so she says – something about the power of naure. Unfortunately, depending on hwow you look at it, the trees in this place have started to been cleared by an inidian funded group. Part of ensuring conservation of the temple but meaning part of the charm is being lost.

Words cannot do it justice but hopefully these pics do:

One of the trees that Harrison Ford tripped over in Temple of Doom.

They didn't say anything about (cheeky) monkeys hanging round the temple!

Be a good photo without that random in the shot!

And that my friends was the end of the 2 days at Angkor. It was back to the guesthouse for a dip in their pool and a beer or 2.

Next entry will shock you!

I Lost my Bike!

Good morning all, we are back online again, still with about a 5 day delay – hopefully that will improve in the next few days when we hit the beach resorts!

So, where were we? That’s right – Battambang still. This little part of the trip – and it was little – only a couple of hours – deserves it’s own blog entry. We had read about a French NGO in Battambang that trains local kids in visual arts, media, music and acrobatics and puts on a circus every Monday night. We were lucky enough to be there on a Monday so after chowing down on some street food from the market down by the river, we hopped into Mr Scorpio’s remork and headed off to the circus.

Says something in French and something in Khmer - maybe "Circus"

Upon arrival they welcome you into their art gallery of sorts with exhibition of the children’s drawings/paintings along with a rice wine based liquer to savour – it was alright but we didn’t go back for 2nds! The paintings were really good, especially when you consider that they are created by kids.

Then into the big top we went – a simple setup with half the ring surrounded by tiered wooden bench seating. The crowd was made up of 60/40 split of foreigners to locals – the latter most likely being families of the performers. The kids we watched perform were the 5th generation to go through the school.

On with the show, titled, Ï Lost My Bike”. The plot was hard to follow but it was secondary to the amazing performance that we were lucky enough to watch, Needless to say one of the boys has his bike stolen and then goes on a mission to find it with some friends – sees some cool guy with a pretty girl on the back of his bike and realizes that indeed it is his bike and a competition/fight starts. There’s also a sub plot about the coolguy double dating and being caught out.

Enough of that – the highlight and drawcard of the show is the acrobatics that these kids perform. Whether it be tumbling through the air, being thrown from one pair of shoulders to the next , human towers, hula hoops with fire or performing handstands on dodgy scaffolding 20 feet up in the air, this show was captivating and had us forgetting about the hard wooden seats! This show is all for a good cause – a genuine one – which is hard to distinguish in Cambodia.

Words cannot do this circus justice so we will leave you with some photos. Hope everyone is well and will try and see what the issue is with the comments. Enjoy the photos below and we will be back online with some photos from Angkor Wat and even bigger surprise news in the blog after that!....

Anyway – back to the photos we keep talking about!  :

The star of the show - those hula hoops are on fire!..seriously

 Building a bridge

20 feet high in the air

tumbling..being caught on the feet and then being thrown back/1

Surfing is easy compared to this

Found the bike!  Give your mate a double to celebrate!

l

Bada Bing, Battambang!

Hello from Cambodia!

Apologies for not posting sooner...we will add a few more posts over the next few days to bring you all up to speed on our whirlwind tour so far!  It's a long one so hope you can survive reading it - best done with a cup of tea or red bull...whatever keeps you awake.

It all started on Good Friday with a mid morning drive to the airport with Grandma and Grandpa - thank you for driving the car back! Then off to Qantas Club but not before a big chat with the Immigration Officer who just happened to be a Town Planner in a past life and at Wollongong as well...so we played the "do you know this person?"game, as well as shooting the breeze about stuff in the Growth Centres and then Jeff asking him to swap jobs since he's always wanted to be on Border Security.

No upgrade this time and a packed flight to Bangkok meant we arrived quite tired.  Found our hostel near the station easy enough and hit the hay.  The humidity since that point has been stifling as you woud expect at this time of year. Pretty much a nothing day on Saturday - the weekend markets, lazing in the park, eating and lots of walking.  We were both gearing up for the early start the next day.

And start early we did, rising at 5am to make sure we made it in time for our train to the border.  We did so quite easily and sat down on our 3rd class wooden benches thinking we would have the 4 spots to ourselves for the next 6 hours.  How wrong we were.  Jeff had a ladyboy sit next to him who made a comment about some bloke called Peter Mc something...whilst Stacey had a dad and 2 kids squeeze in next to her as they ate some yummy looking food from one of the many vendors that go up and down th train squeezing past those standing up.

It was great mixing with the locals as they made their way to the market towns.  One guy even got on with a large bowl/bucket full of freshly caught fish...still kicking and in water.  Despite the excitement and entertainment, after the six hour mark had past we were ready to get off from the hard wooden bench.

Finally making it to the border town we were whisked off in a tuk tuk with an American couple living in HKG.  Of course the tuk tuk driver tried to rip us off and sell us a visa to Cambodia but that is par for the course.

The lineup to exit Thailand was long but moved reasonably well.  The same cannot be said about the Cambodian side.  Long lines, slow and no aircon in 45 degree heat!  To boot that border town is one of the sleaziest places we have experienced.  Stacey blacked out just after being let into the country.  We should have paid the bribe to go through quicker..the border guards were making a killing.  With that in mind we hired a taxi through one of the dodgy touts and headed for Battambang in aircon comfort.

A couple of hours we made it to Battambang.  This city is geat, with an old market at it's core and an air of french influence still around, particularly the archictecture.  We stayed in the Royal Hotel which is in one of the old colonial buildings near the market and we would recommend this place to anyone.

Another high recommendation would be Mr Scorpio, a remork (tuk tuk) driver who drove us around on a tour on Monday and then off to the circus on Monday night.  He was friendly, informative and always willing to help.  No pressure at all.  If you are ever in town, hunt the scorpio down! Just look for a remork driver that looks like Stacey's brother (or so Jeff says) and that has a scorpio tattoeed onto his rright hand!

Mr Scorpio!

Sunday night consisted of a walk down by the river to a bar a few k''s away that was in a great spot and served up cold beer!

Monday we kicked off with breakfast across the road at Woodhouse Cafe.  Food was cheap and very yum...run by a fernch expat.  Then off to the day tour with Mr Scorpio.

We kicked off with the Bamboo Train.  These trains are nothing more than a flat board made of bamboo sitting on a couple of wheels with a fan belt/drive belt and a 6hp engine.  It runs on a disused line and used to transport rice...probably still does but tourists are the no. 1 cargo now!  If 2 trains are approaching each other head on they stop and the  train with the lightest load is disassembled and then reassembled and passengers piled back on after the other train has passed. 

What a lovely couple! 

4 people on the opposite train yet we didnt have to move...too many beers the night before weighing us down?

Whilst they might not be much structurally they are HEAPS of Fun!  Travelling at around 40kph at ground level on tracks that are bent, warped and generally not suitable for use brought back memories of the Bush Beast at Wonderland (kids ask your parents about Wonderland!)  Well worth the $5 fare.

We then hit up a temple - Wat Prhnom....all we remember about that one was the 358 steps up and the 358 steps back down...it was a killer!  Or, a positive spin is to say it was excellent conditioning for us.

The big drawcard is Wat Sampeau, a collection of temples on a massive hill that you have to climb up - stairs or road take your pick! :)  We took the road and stopped of to view the Killing Caves where the Khmer Rouge used to send people to their death by throwing them through "skylights"at the top of thecave.  It was all quite surreal, particularly as you get to view the skulls and bones of the victims.  Onwards and upwards to the temple itself, which is surrounded by monkeys anddrink vendors.

We were invited into a temple by the monk and sat down and had a chat with him, where he worked his charm, spun a story about orphaned kids, a school, capital works and how we can help with $20.  The wallet is indeed lighter. We find out later it's a scam, but again, that's what a lot of this part of the world

We think we probably walked 10 ks that day...up and down steep hills as well...so we were pretty knackered.  To see some phots ad quick run down of Monday night, watch this space.  Should have post up by Thursday afternoon SYD time.

Hope we didnt bore you and thanks for reading!

The Killing Cave vault

Yummy fruit - Psar Chat Market

Pick a fish any fish - good price for you!

Snack on some pippis and mango?