Nha Trang Vietnam
Saigon – Vietnam
Posted from Ho Chi Minh City, Prey Nokor, Vietnam.
We arrived in Saigon after a 5 hr bus trip from Cambodia. Jas was finally with us and our plan was to get to Vietnam and then to find out where to go. We really wanted some sun, beach and just a relaxing time after Cambodia. Saigon was amazing, really busy. We ended up staying in the old city part.
You have to imagine tiny alleyways that you can walk down, all the houses are 3 stories high.
Everybody ‘s doors and window are wide open. People in Vietnam like to sleep mostly on the floor with a thin mat, so when you are walking through these old quarters you can see a lot’s of families lying on their floors at night watching TV or just watching the world go by. Yes TV, it doesn’t matter how small or simple someone’s dwelling is, it is sure to have a TV Antenna on top. You can walk down these alleyways in the morning and you will find lots of women who have set up a very simple little street stall selling anything from these deep-fried banana donuts to spicy noodles with meat for breakfast. Everything is less than 1 $.All your senses are deeply nourished or awoken in Vietnam, where ever you turn you will find something to wonder about, look at or smell and taste.
Cambodia Butterfly farm
Posted from Puok, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
WWe visited the Butterfly farm; Silk Farm and the Crocodile farm in Siam Reap. The butterfly farm was a perfect place to test out my new Macro lens. The silk farm was extremely interesting to Ayesha and me, since we had tried to raise the silk worms our self a few times as a school project and the crocodile farm we went to see because we had heard about this place and how cruel and disgusting it is. We needed to see it for our self’s. I know its morbid ,but what can I say……e visited the Butterfly farm, Silk Farm and the Crocodile farm in Siem reap. The butterfly farm was a perfect place to test out my new Macrow lense. The silkfarm was exctremly intereting to Ayesha and me, since we had tried to raise the silk worms our self a few times as a school project. The crocodile we went to see because we had heard about this lace and how cruel and discusting it is.We needed to see it for our selfs.
Butterfly farm
Silk farm
Crocodile farm
Cambodia- Green Gecko
Posted from Siem Reap, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
I have to say we were all a bit nervous and had no idea what to expect. We met with Liz from Australia, the coordinator extraordinaire, who took us through the logistics and rules of running a big school/home like the Green Gecko. We got our Green Gecko volunteer shirts and off we went. A group of 60+ children were awaiting us, since it was 11 am, one of the first things we did was to go to assembly where were introduced to all of the children. Assembly happens every day for these kids, with all the volunteers, their Gecko Group leaders and Tania. What struck me first was how big all of these kids were, somehow i had expected many Kids Orlando’s age, 6 and younger. Yes there were a few smaller once but most of the kids were Ayesha’s age and older. I think one of the oldest kids was 20.
What followed the next 2 weeks was an experience that s really hard to put into word for me, what a huge learning curve it became for us. You somehow think you know so much, but really when you are dropped into a place like Siam Reap, where everything is a totally new experience you start to realize quickly that we know so very little and that we still have to learn a truck load.
Basicly Richard and i were assigned to to help the other teachers. Now these teachers were not qualified teachers but both were still students from Europe and dedicated 5+ month to teaching at the Green Gecko. Actually all the volunteers are long time volunteers; it makes it very hard for the kids otherwise. Please for anybody who is more interested in the Green Gecko project, follow the link. You will not ones regret it, you will fall in love with these children, their story’s will humble you, and you, like us, will want to do more. At the end of our day we would go into town for dinner and after only a few days we started to recognize the same children trying to beg or sell on the streets. We decided that giving money was not ok, but they were welcome to join us for dinner. So on many occasions we would have a couple of extras at our table. Our kids dealt with Cambodia exceptionally well. Orlando was a bit tired at the end, since going to school everyday had not been normal thing for him. All the kids loved him a little too much and to hard. Ayesha settled it really well and also took over an English lesson for a whole day as the teacher” a day in the life of Ayesha in Australia”. She did amazingly well since quite a lot of the kids were older than her. Richard helped out with website issues, we both taught computer study and I helped were ever I could, wishing the whole time that I really wanted to do more.
One of the most talked about Border crossing, Thailand to Cambodia
Well we arrived safely in Siam Reap from Bangkok last night at 10.30 pm.
I will post here exactly how we did it with 2 kids in tow.
Since we stayed near Khao Sun Rd, we had seen a lot off advertising for buses from Bkk to Sism reap in one go depending of how much you want to pay.
We decided to make our own way there since that seems to be the cheapest from our experience in Asia.
Ok so at 12.30 pm we caught a taxi to the bus station. All busses leave from the Mo Chit Station- Bangkok’s northern Bus terminal.
We took a bus to Aranyaprathet for 207 baht(around US 6.50) each for the adults and 150 baht for Orlando who is 6yo.
Busses leave every 30 to 60 min during the day. The bus took 5 hrs and was clean and good with aircon.
In Aranayaprathet we got of the bus strait into a tuk tuk with all 8 bags.
80 baht is the going price for the tuk tuk ride to the border. We got dropped off outside the border and yes outside a place that said Cambodia Visa’s. We told them we already have our visa’s(which we didn’t) and where than escorted around the corner down to the border. We were offered a taxi ride for 45US to Siam Reap.
Crossing the Thai border was strait forward, than we walked across to the Cambodian immigration to get our Visas. You walk in and see a big sign saying 20 US for a 30 day tourist visa.
Ok here is the only place we got ripped off. Yes 20 US is right for adults, but kids under 12 are free. We were told we had to pay for the kids but later read on the visa that it should have been free. The price is printed on the visa’s. Oh well,after that we proceeded to walk to the Cambodian border to get our entry stamp. I didn’t see any yellow man by the way.
Since we read 45US was the going price for a taxi at 8 pm with 2 kids we didn’t argue. We did ask to see his taxi licence and checked out the car first . It was a very cumphy car and he stopped for 30 min for us to get some dinner on the way. We did get an offer for 20US taxi ride but decided that that might not get us to where we want to go.
So all good, maybe it was the right choice to go as late as we did, because we didn’t get hassled at all.
Siam Reap- Cambodia
Posted from Siem Reap, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
“We love you, we love everything about you, Cambodia you are this super rough diamond. “Despite the poverty and hard life, these people have to be one of the loveliest group of people in the world. Ok so i haven’t met all the different races in the world but in the last 4 month we have experienced about 12 different ones and out of that group i have to put the Cambodians down as the smiliest race so far, when these beautiful people smile at you, their whole face lights up and it makes your heart jump a beat.
We have always wanted to go to Cambodia, and when we found out a few years earlier, that our friend Tania from Byron Bay had set up an NGO for street kids in Siam Reap we had even more reason to go. We had organized with Tania ,that we would come for two weeks to her and try to help as much as possible. We would be staying in a (as it turns out very posh) hostel at a discount price and our plan was to put our kids in with the rest of the kids and just go from there.
Before i( Nici) arrived in Cambodia i believed that Cambodia was a country in total poverty ,so how blown away was i when we arrived in Siam Reap at night to a sea of golden lights, enormous fancy looking Hotels with big Lions/snakes statues at the front gates. Glitz and glamour, everywhere accept the roads which were still dust and dirt. Our hostel was so up market that we were impressed but totally stunned .The next day however revealed the real Siam Reap. Siam Reap is this huge contrast of super expensive hotels and shops for all the people coming to see Ankore whats temples, and the true Cambodia poverty. The rich and poor contrast could not have been any bigger.
Since we still had a couple of days, before we would start at the Green Gecko we went sight-seeing to the Angkor Wat temples. This particular day was a rainy day, and it felt like the monsoon season was staring. The weather was very wild rain but really humid. Now we had spoken to our kids about what they could expect to see in Cambodia before we arrived. We would see people and kids begging and that this would be sad and hard to see for them, but we would try to do as much as we possibly could.
Soon this 20 minutes before we left Angkor Watt temple, a boy (the same age as Ayesha) started to follow us. We had seen many kids that day, but what struck me the most about this one was how sad he looked, all wet and shivering. He only had a pair of shorts on. Ayesha was starting to feel very upset and she really wanted to help him. Now one of the things we learned from many people as not to give to begging children on the street because we are only helping this nasty situation. She wanted Richard to give him his towel so he could get dry and in the end she gave him his umbrella which he took silently and put over himself. Than he started to cry and he ended up sitting down in a far corner and we , we walked away, not knowing what to do. All I wanted to do was pick this child up, wrap him in a blanket and take him home.:(
Bangkok – Thailand
Posted from Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand.
Bangkok for us was all about seeing then dentist and getting some serious work done for a fraction of the price in Australia, shopping at street stalls, boat rides and fun parks. Its a city i would love to explore again without kiddies i think.
Koh Lanta- Thailand our time with Lek and Leanne
Posted from Ko Lanta, Krabi, Thailand.
What is it about mini bus drivers in Asia? I’m thinking there I an underground betting syndicate which controls them, with drivers forced to race from place to place as quickly as possible. It’s like grand theft auto, but live. It seems quite ordinary for us to be in packed minivan, in the rain, overtaking a motorbike, that is already overtaking a tuk tuk, whilst we go round a corner, up a hill, across double yellow lines…. all way to fast and in a van with bald tires. Such was our ride from Trang to Koi Lanta.
But we made it safe and sound all the same. We got a quick feed at the curry house beside the 7/11 just as our host Lek arrived in a tuk tuk to pick us up. We drove to his home in the jungle on koi Lanta with houses sporadically placed between jungle and rubber plantations. There we met Leanne, Areeya and haroon. Leanne is English, came to Thailand and fell in love, in every way. With Thailand, with Lek, with the lifestyle. Theirs kids Areeya and Haroon were like hard boiled lollies – tough and sweet. It was very comical to here this English accent coming from the mouth of Areeya who looked very Thai.
Life was basic but wonderful. Lek owned some plots with rubber trees on them which he worked, and he had a few cows. He was also a guide into the local caves which he discovered when he was 15. He took us on a trip into them which was fantastic. We saw a flying lizard, much like a small sugar glider but in lizard form. The caves themselves were unlike any other with the walk itself quite rough and the inside of the caves unlit totally. We saw scorpions and spiders inside the caves as well as stalactites and stalagmites. In terms of structural beauty the cave was not the most impressive we’ve seen, but the immensity of the cave and the vast numbers of caverns was incredible. We had to squeeze through on all fours to exit at the back of the cave.
Dinner was always a wonderful affair, first there was purchasing food from the markets – and you never knew from one day to the next what would be there either. Dinner invariably was curry, fish, chicken and vegetables. Our kids were not so keen on the food initially but soon were gulping it down.
We hired some motorbikes and soon considered ourselves proficient on them, doubling the kids around the island. The little mopeds were quite speedy, though it was rarely possible due to the conditions to go above 50 safely. We spend a day tripping round the islands with Lek, collected some shells which he promptly knotted up into necklaces for us. Very nice touch, he managed to somehow not only make 2 for everyone, he made them perfectly suited to everyone with designed differences in each.
Leanne and Lek shared a relaxed but loving attitude towards parenting their children, not sweating the small stuff which showed in their kids’ attitude to life. Good and bad thing happened, but nothing was to be dwelled on, and fun was to be found everywhere. Our kids and theirs spent hours playing on rope swings, doodling around the house, Haroon was very impressed by Orlando’s car and backugan collection and spent hours playing with them.
