South East Asia 2011

In the spirit of the festive season we have decided to finally update our blog from 10 days ago...all good things certainly do take their time! Firstly MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone we hope you had an incredible day!

We are currently in Siem Reap Cambodia and have experienced a very different type of Christmas to you all in New Zealand. For the past few days we have been exploring the ancient temples of Angkor Kingdom. On Christmas eve we rose at 4am to enjoy the sunrise at our first temple Angkor Wat. We were fortunate to have met a traveler from India, Kevin, at our accommodation the night before who offered to let us tag along on his tour with a very knowledgeable tour guide Makara. This was awesome as we gained much more of an insight into the workings of the temples and Buddhist and Hindu symbolism and religion. Quite fittingly we ended Christmas eve with a view of the sunset atop of mountain (67m tall) which gave us a picturesque view overlooking the whole Angkor kingdom. It is impossible to describe in words how much history and national pride we discovered...for example how it took 10,000 Khmer people 37 years to build just one of these temples in the 12th century.

We explored some more of the Angkor temples on Christmas day, which was more relaxed than the first day-given that we did not have to get up before the crack of dawn! This was followed by a Khmer BBQ feast at night and a traditional Khmer dancing show.

Having updated you on our recent festivities some of our highlights of southern Vietnam and Phnom Penh include-
-The revitalising mud baths in Nha Trang
-The overnight bus trip where all three of us had a cosy nights sleep in the back of the bus in our sleeping chairs

-In Ho Chi Minh City the War Remnants Museum (displaying the horrors of the Vietnam War and the effects of Agent Orange through war photography) and the Reunification Palace where the Government was overthrown by the communist regime
-Getting our fingerprints scanned and recorded for the border crossing into Cambodia

-Learning about the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh by visiting the genocide museums (S21 and the killing fields)

-Visiting an Orphanage in Phnom Penh where we brought fruit and helped in the garden for a short time

To date Cambodia has been incredible and one of our favourite places. The contrast here is what makes it so unique; from the scars left on society by Khmer Rouge and the Vietnam War (landmines and Agent Orange), to the overwhelming beauty of Angkor Kingdom that is such a dominant source of pride for the Cambodian people.

Tomorrow at 6am we head to Ko Phangan (an island off the Southern coast of Thailand) via Bangkok. Around 24 hours worth of traveling by bus and boat. Not sure about internet access but we hope to keep you filled in as our adventures continue.

Love to you all!

Hi all,

Check out our new photo, we have only managed to upload one-will update more later on! This photo is of us sitting on the temple steps in Bangkok!

One glorious day spent in the rainy Hoi An saw us thoroughly pampered and preened with foot massages, leg and arm hair thinning with cotton thread, pedicures and last but certainly not least tailor made clothes.

Lucy got a blazer and skirt for work made, Sarah got a shirt and winter coat and Caroline got a sleeveless tunic made. We have all had our first fittings and they look great already!

We ran into Anna Marshall and one of her travel companions Fiona who had just been to visit an orphanage.They said that the children were mostly disabled who would not be adopted out to western or Vietnamese families.

We braved the local market for a 20,000 Dong (or $1US) lunch=delicious Cao Lau dish. Which shows how much we've grown since the first night we ate Pepperoni's pizza! Later we jumped on a quick boat tour of the river that runs through Hoi An, also for $1. We even each got a turn to drive the boat.

We are just about to head of to dinner at a restaurant with $1 cocktails.It really has been a $1 day!

Bye for now
Love to you all

We greet you from our luxury accommodation in Hoi An; complete with swimming pool, ensuite with bath, very helpful and lovely staff, breakfast included and a mini bar. All this just for 10USD!!! The latest adventures include sailing Halong bay, overnight training south from Hanoi to Danang for 19 hours, and strolling the streets of Danang and Hoi An.
Halong Bay was amazing. Not only as a result of the breath taking lime stone islands but also the international company of tourists on the junk boat. The travellers included a portugese, south Korean (who later on performed a spectacular rendition of Celine Dion's my heart will go on in karaoke), a couple of Scottish, English, australians, and angst all these two ex Rangi girls! Who would have thought that in a world heritage site on the other side of the world we would be sharing a lunch table on one of hundreds of junkboats with these girls.
On the train we ate baguettes and water crackers, met on German cabin comrade, Bettina, in cabin 1-carriage 6, and learnt an Israeli card game from 'Tina. We slept surprisingly well despite the rocking of the carriage which Lucy likes to describe as being like a needle in a sewing machine.
Had a beautiful meal in Hoi An after checking in at the accommodation consisting of Cao lau (noodle dish with croutons and vegetables) and white rose dumplings yum yum! This was followed by a trip into the markets and various tailors.
A few of our purchases during the last couple of days are as follows:
Lucy - conical (wok) hat
Sarah - chopsticks
Caro - miscellaneous food items

That's all for now folks. Toi Muon May Lanh.
Lots of love, the three happy dumplings

Well we finally made it to Hanoi Backpackers.
WOW what a journey!

The flight went really smoothly. However when we landed we were instantly faced with a minor obstacle of a potential taxi scam. We realised this before we got in the car. The next taxi was fine until we got to our 'destination' which wasn't our destination at all instead 10 blocks from where we were supposed to be.... and we went to get out we were met by the 'manager' of the supposed backpackers who told it was full so he would jump in the cab and accompany us to another backpackers (of course free of charge).... WHAT A SCAM!!! we were onto it though and got out ASAP.

Amidst a chaotic surge of traffic including literally millions of motorbikes all precariously loaded up with absurd items we attempted to walk the distance. At our first intersection we gave up- fearing death- obviously not well practiced yet at weaving in between traffic. A local helped us get a taxi for a reasonable price (2USD) to where we are now which is well worth the effort.
Free wireless (so facetime if you like family from Lucy).

Booked in for Halong Bay tomorrow.

But now we are off to KOTO for lunch and hopefully see more of the Old Quarter of Hanoi (including Vietnams first university)

Talk soon!
Tam Biet

Hello family and friends,
We come to you as proficient barterers of khao San road and seasoned tuk tuk and taxi riders.
Some of our highlights so far include; lucy's fish foot massage, phad Thai from the khao San road stalls, and visiting ancient bhuddist temples.
The huge weekend market we went to was hectic and scorching but we were relieved to find a stall selling homemade coconut ice-cream with peanuts which provided us with the energy to fight the crowds for a taxi to get back to the accommodation.
Overall our impressions are that Bangkok is very beautiful adjust apparent poverty and pollution. The only remnant of the flooding is the occasion sand bags.
Looking forward to our upcoming adventures starting in the slightly chillier Hanoi!
Miss you all lots and hope you're well.
Until our next blog, peace out. Better dash off to our flight.
Lucy, Caro and Sarah

We have arrived safely in kuala lumpar after a slightly delayed flight.
Just enjoyed a breakfast of dunkin donuts and saltedcashews.
Thank you Jane!
Killing time till our flight to Bangkok.
Strange to think it is only 9am here and already 25degrees.

Love to you all!!!
Lucy, Caro and Sez

Meet at the airport tonight at 10.20pm (10.30ish) for some good shrink wrapping of our bags.
p.s this is really just a test to see if this blog works