We were lucky enough to be invited to the home of our friends who just got married. Their aunt cooks quite some great Vietnamese dish. The prawns were huge, the spring rolls were great, Banh Biao really tasty and the fruits fresh and fragrant. Something about Asia makes fruits taste really different. [View Full Entry]

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We took the taxi going, but decided to take the boat back to Phnom Penh for USD$27. It was really nice and worth it. You get to see the country side and the fishing villages along the river. The boat is not a luxury boat, but we stayed on the helm of the boat during the entire trip, so it was great. It gets a bit windy, so we had to put on sun screen and even at that, both PY and I still got burnt. At the docks when we arrived in Phnom Penh, a swarm of taxi drivers, [View Full Entry]

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We spent 3 days in Siem Reap. Like all visits, our main interest were the temples of Ankor, the lost temples of the Kmer civilization. As anyone who has been to these temples, we were in awe. It is a wonder, how these people erected these structures without any of the modern machinery. The intricacy and details of the cravings on the wallks, is breath taking. Each temple has these halls with relief depicting mythology, every day life scenes. Because of all the wars between the Kmer, Siam, Champa, Vietnamese...the Kmers have no written record of their once great civilization. These [View Full Entry]

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On our second day, we woke up early to take advantage of the cooler weather. After breakfast, we went to the Royal Palace which is a 5 minute walk from our hotel. FYI to all, there is a dress code if you would like to visit the Royal Palace. No short sleeves and no hats. Stupid me, forgot what I read in the Lonely Planet and went there with a tank top. Obviously, the guards at the palace stopped me and informed me that I could not enter the grounds without proper attire. Sssso, we had to walk back! Luckily it [View Full Entry]

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After waiting 5 hours at Pearson Airport, with our flight nearly cancelled due to the big snow storm in Montreal and a 24 hour trip we are finally in Cambodia. I have to say it is quite a shock. I've hear, read, even studied about the genocide that took place some thirty some odd years ago, but in my mind Phnom Penh is the capital and they probably rebuilt the city after the Kmer Rouge. But to my surprise, except for some of the main tourist attractions and hotels, most structures here are quite delapidated. I expected something a bit more [View Full Entry]

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Two months in the planning, one flight change, three itinerary changes and finally two weeks before the big day, thought I'd record our journey to South East Asia, and hopefully many other journeys to come. It has been quite a daunting experience to try and squeeze all of South East Asia into a month of travel. In the end, I confess, I have failed in the endeavour. I realised that a month is not enough to visit all. So here is our itinerary, Cambodia (Phnom Pemh, Siemp Reap), Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hochiminh), Singapore, Malaysia (KL, Penang), Thailand (Bangkok). I haven't [View Full Entry]

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