Calendar Entries

ISB have just closed the Eco-Calendar competition for entries today. Each year the school have a theme for which they ask for photograph entries. They select a few winning pictures to receive prizes and a few more to also be included in the calendar. This year’s overall theme was ‘SE Asia’ with the three sub-categories of ‘People’, ‘Places’ and ‘Nature’. I made an attempt with some photos I had (even tried to make the effort of touching them up in Photoshop a bit!). I don’t think they will be good enough to win but I would be delighted if at least one got into the calendar (although I will be a bit cheeky and hope that if that happens it is not February… who wants the shortest month?!)

Enjoy the photo’s below and please let me know what you think!

Angels Of The South China Sea

Angkor Wat - Tranquility In The Morning

This is one from Angkor Wat of the monk (at sunrise) is one of my favourites but I am absolutely gutted that I had to crop the image from portrait to landscape (rules for the competition – landscape only) which meant that I lost the trees in the top right corner so it’s not quite as impressive now.

Asian Elephant Family

Asian Elephant Family 2

Asian Elephants - Maternal Care

Asian Market Morning Life

Black Tip Reef Shark - Life In The South China Sea

Borneo Jungle Tree Life - Orangutan 1

Borneo Jungle Tree Life - Orangutan 2

Borneo Jungle Tree Life - Orangutan 3

The above three baby orangutans are three of the four that have been framed and put on our wall (the pictures that is, not the actual monkeys!)

Clams On The Sea Bed - South China Sea

Fading Thai Skies

Jungle Dragonfly

Laos - Sunset over Thailand

I really like this one too although not as spectacular following the portrait to landscape crop. What a great location – on the banks of the Mekong River in Vientiane, Laos looking over into Thailand. Nice place to enjoy a cold one while watching the sun go down!

Life In The South China Sea

Nemo - Life In The South China Sea

Nemo Family - Life In The South China Sea

Rising Sun Over Angkor Wat

Turtle - Life In The South China Sea

And that’s the lot! I hope you enjoyed looking at them. Please do let me know what you think and feel free to leave comments. Here’s hoping that at least one of them gets in! Do you think any of them deserve to? If so which ones?

-PlaneSimple

Announcement!

PlaneSimple would like to announce that he is going to be a dad! Woohoo! Although not the primary reason, I am hoping this latest chapter of life provides some excellent material for blogging! I am very excited and look forward to the coming months of chartering new territory.

Following the recent one, two, three posts on our winter travels to Cambodia, I have decided to stop the winter holiday blogs there as although Laos and Thailand were very good, Cambodia provided more material to blog about. That, coupled with the fact that I feel guilty every time I navigate to the blog and realise that I still haven’t blogged on a trip that took place six months ago, means I will blog on something else next. I am happy to answer questions on Laos (Vientiane and Luang Prabang) or Thailand (Chiang Mai andPhuket) if you have any though.

Next blog to come soon though, but that is all for now from a proud dad to be 🙂

-PlaneSimple

Angkor What?!

Situated in north-western Cambodia, Siem Reap was an ideal location to calm the nerves with it’s tranquil atmosphere after the ‘eventful’ boat journey to get there.

We were met off the boat by the son of our tuk tuk driver in Battambang, and it was nice to have had that lined up for us. The tuk tuk ride from the pier into Siem Reap took a while but we were just relieved to be off that boat! We had pre-booked our accommodation and at first were a bit disappointed with it’s location – a 10 minute tuk tuk ride out from the centre of Siem Reap. However, The Golden Mango, turned out to be a great guest house to stay in and a steal at (if I recall correctly) around £12 a night! The staff we welcoming, the surroundings and comfort levels were great and they provided a free tuk tuk service into and back from town. Highly recommended.

The main attraction of Siep Reap are The Temples of Angkor, or Angkor Wat. They are managed like a business by the Cambodian Government – and now run by a Japanese business – which makes them a bit pricey. You are also left wondering where the money goes to. Passes can be bought for 1 day, 3 days or a week. We stayed for 3 nights in Siem Reap so planned to do one full day of temple hopping – which was enough for us but other more hardcore temple tourists would probably want more.

Tranquillity by the temples

The day started with a very early get up and being picked up by our trusty tuk tuk driver around 5am. Why? So that we could see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. The misty and murky cool atmosphere travelling in to the temple area was a bit strange, with flocks of other tourists doing the same!

Ancient Wat

We had to wait quite a while for the sun to rise in the end. It wasn’t as spectacular as I imagine it can be as the weather probably wasn’t ideal for a spectacular sunrise. It was nice to start the day there though and then move on to view a number of other temples – with plenty of knowledgeable input from our tuk tuk driver. Each place we visited was different and it was well worth spending the day travelling around the area viewing the various structures, some in greater ruin than others. At a number of sites there was a coach load or two of tourists, often Russians (and equally as often uncultured) – including one Russian girl who appeared to have just a t-shirt and a pair of underpants on! (picture not suitable for such reputable blog!)

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

There are other things to do in Siem Reap, and like many of the areas we visited in December in SE Asia, it is easy to just relax and unwind enjoying the different surroundings. We visited a couple of markets in Siem Reap; Psar Chaa and the recently opened and very well run night market. We both like night markets – and our gauge for comparison is the excellent Chiang Mai night market in northern Thailand. The one here in Siem Reap is good quality wise but a little small on the quantity. It is very new though and will no doubt blossom as time goes on. Along with Psar Chaa, the markets sell a wide range of goods from Cambodian made t-shirts (some of excellent quality that don’t shrink etc.), Cambodian handicrafts, loads of fabrics and, of course, food stalls.

There are many places to eat in Siem Reap and the famous ‘Pub Street’ is lined with bars and restaurants of all types of cuisine. I make no apologies admitting that we had tacos in a Mexican place a couple of times (often for a snack not meal!) – tempted by being offered something not really available in Brunei and the 75 cent beer (also not available in Brunei)! There were also a number of Cambodian restaurants including a number that specialised in BBQ’d food.

On the final night in Siem Reap we went to a cultural dance / dinner. A buffet laid out and as you eat a cultural show is performed on stage. There are a number of these around the area and I expect many of them are better than the one we attended which okay but I wouldn’t do it again (at that venue).

Traditional Dancing

Siem Reap is obviously a ‘must do’ in Cambodia and we are glad we did so. You don’t have to do the really touristy thing and spend all your time in the temples. Even just walking along the river visiting various shops and café’s was relaxing. As with so many places in Asia, it is really whatever you make of it. I think this is certainly one of the places that we would go back to though.

This was the end of our week in Cambodia and the next day we moved onto Vientiane in Laos.

Have you been to Cambodia? How long did you spend in Siem Reap and around Angkor Wat? Would you recommend anything further to what we did?

PlaneSimple

All aboard the Bamboo Railway!

Following on from my previous post on Phnom Penh, here is the next instalment of our journey through some of South East Asia in December; Battambang. We had not originally planned to pass through Battambang when we planned our trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. A smallish place in north-east Cambodia  to the west of Tonle Sap Lake, home to around a quarter of a million. It was a very pleasant stopping point and a place we are pleased we chose to stop at. It took about five hours on the bus from Phnom Penh and here’s what we did… Arriving mid to late afternoon we were greeted off the bus by a mob of tuk tuk drivers all wanting to take us to their sponsoring hotels. We hadn’t booked a hotel but had an idea of where we would like to stay from the guide book. We walked around the corner, avoiding all the pushy tuk tuk drivers and then eventually picked up a tuk tuk that would take us to the hotel in the guide book. Unfortunately that was full for the night but we were driven round the corner to it’s sister hotel which actually worked out quite well. Ironically though it was walking distance from the bus stand. Oh well. We had a bit of a walk round that evening and enjoyed the atmosphere of the place – very laid back. Although I guess it is hard not to be laid back when beer is about 30 pence a mug! We planned a bit of an ittinerary for the couple of days we expected to stay before moving on to Siem Reap.

Battambang Market Place

First up on our full day in Battambang we arranged to go to the Smokin’ Pot for a Cambodian cookery course. The courses began by a visit to the market to buy all the ingredients – quite a fun thing to do as part of the course. Amongst the ingredients we purchased were; fermented fish paste, straw mushrooms, chillies, beef, chicken, fish, various herbs and a few Asian vegetables along with the standard garlic, shallots and ginger. The cooking took a couple hours and took us through until lunchtime.

Ingredients and prep!

We made three dishes; Fish Amok, Fried Beef with Ginger and a Hot and Sour Soup. All very yummy and great fun to cook. An enjoyable few hours in the morning – all the more so for not having to do the dishes in between each course as they are done for you while you tuck in! Following the cookery course we were picked up by our tuk tuk driver and taken out to the Bamboo Railway. This is the well known attraction in the area and well worth a visit – especially seeing there is rumour that it will soon be shut down. Basically it is two axles with a bamboo mat attached on the top. A small motor and fan belt fit on the mat and attach to one of the axles through a hole in the mat. This powers the ‘vehicle’ along the railway line – a very old railway that runs through the fields around Battambang and is in very poor condition, but that adds to the adventure! The ‘train’  picks up quite a bit of speed and it is good fun although you have to be careful not to fall off as the railway line is quite warped in places and there is no suspension either! The line runs for about 20 – 30 minutes before a convenient stopping point where you have a break and then turn around and head back. We had the only woman driver on the line and she was very good at her job – the amusing part is when you meet an oncoming ‘train’ and being a single line one of you has to disembark, dismantle all the pieces, let the other past then reassemble on the line!

All aboard!

Following our railway adventure, we continued the afternoon touring with our tuk tuk driver around the outskirts of Bttambang. Our tour included a visit to a local ‘factory’ (read family house family run business) making Cambodian noodles (rice noodles), a visit to a crocodile farm and watching the sun go down over  a lilly farm. It was very leisurely tuk tuking through the rive fields and around a bit of rural Cambodia. The next day we decided we’d move onto Siem Reap on the boat rather than the bus. The bus can be done in around 3 hours or so, while the boat – that weaves through very narrow water ways until they open up to Tonle Sap Lake – can take anywhere between 6 and 9 hours depending on the water! Although we have ticked this off and it was another adventure, we will not be repeating it having come close to sinking and taking around 8 hours! 7 hours into our journey the pump on board stopped bailing out the water – not noticed by the captain until the floor boards were pealed back and revealed about a foot and a half deep water in the boat! A number of fixes were attempted and we eventually, nervously, limped home for the last hour. If you are travelling from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap I would most certainly recommend one or two nights in Battambang as a relaxing stop along the way. -PlaneSimple

Passing through Phnom Penh

Once again, no blog post for ages! We recently did a bit of travelling in South East Asia during our December holiday so I plan to write a few posts on the various places we visited, over the coming weeks. First up, Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

We had a week in Cambodia lined up and due to the early morning arrival in Phnom Penh from Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia we thought we would travel straight up to Kratie, where the main tourist attraction is the Irrawady Dolphines. However, Air Asia had different ideas as they delayed our departure by about five hours! Fortunately we got the text at 4 am so could have the extra few hours in bed rather than in the terminal! It did mean though that our now lunchtime arrival in Phnom Penh was later than the last bus to Kratie. We changed our hotel booking and spent a couple nights in Phnom Penh before moving on.

So here’s our experience in Phnom Penh for you to read about or to use as a travel guide if you are planning on visiting.

We accepted the offer of a tuk tuk driver at the airport to take us to our hotel and then ended up using him regularly for the two days we were in town. Not a bad way to get round although easy to get ripped off I think. Be nice, but don’t be fooled is my advice.

The afternoon of our arrival day included a traditional Cambodian lunch by the riverside – I had Lok Lak, which was tasty. We then went up to Wat Phnom (temple) for a quick look round. It is easy to get templed out when in Cambodia – as you will see from upcoming blog posts – but it is worth looking at a few of them and they are all subtly different.

After Wat Phnom, Sam, our tuk tuk driver, took us to The Palace further down the riverside. If you have been to the palace in Bangkok, it is very similar. It is well worth the visit (check the opening times first) even if to just stroll round the gardens and admire some of the buildings.

We were staying in what would probably be classed as an ‘average’ hotel. It was pleasant enough and the coffee at breakfast was great. The only trouble we had was that as it was quite a new hotel, the tuk tuk drivers didn’t all know where it was. We finally learnt that the trick was to say it was near the popular night club ‘Heart of Darkness’, well, popular with the rich locals apparently – we never ventured there.

The next day we did the ‘must do’ for any (first time) visit to Phnom Penh – the killing fields. For those not familiar with the Khmer Rouge regime, you should read into it a little.

We started off by visiting the ‘prison camp’ S21, which is a former school building turned into the torture chambers of the Pol Pot regime. ‘Prisoners’ were brought here prior to being taken to the killing fields for execution.

Not all tourists pay this place a visit first, many choosing to go straight to the killing fields. I would recommend including it though as it certainly helps to give a better idea of the ‘story’. It is very hard to describe the atmosphere and even harder to try and comprehend what happened and why. Not only is it disturbing how recent the events occurred and how brutal they were but also that similar things must be happening in other parts of the world still today.

Following the visit to S21 our tuk-tuk driver Sam took us to the killing fields. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Near the entrance was a big monument that houses many many skulls along with some of their clothing. It really hits home just how many people were massacred when you see it. As you walk around the area even fragments of bone and teeth are visible on and to the side of the paths.

We did take a brief look in the attached museum after walking around – there is plenty to see and read about that helps make the history of it all a bit clearer. Worth a visit, even if only for 10 minutes before you travel back into Phnom Penh.

The remainder of our time in Phnom Penh was spent browsing the various shops, enjoying the numerous bars and cafes. The Russian market was quite good for all sorts of goods – especially factory seconds clothing. We visited quite a number of small cafes and restaurants of the “giving something back” variety. Some were linked with groups such as UNICEF etc. while others gave employment and training to the uneducated or homeless. I can’t remember the names of the ones we visited but take a look on various guide book websites to find out about some of them.

After a couple nights in Phnom Penh we were ready to make our onward journey. Due to the previously mentioned change in plans because of the late flight we decided we would visit Battambang on our way to Siem Reap. Details in the next blog…

All in all I would recommend Phnom Penh for a visit – as much to get away from the usual hustle and bustle of Asian capitals as to witness the scarred history of Cambodia which is really so recent.

Have you been to Phnom Penh? Let me hear your thoughts on it?

-PlaneSimple