Kariandchris

ps. Kari wrote this one! Chris - being very romantic whisked me away for a weekend to celebrate the completion of a 6,000 word literature review and the completion of a research proposal! So thus finishes the assignment part of my Masters! Only a placement to go which starts in July! We stayed on this little island right next to Phnom Penh where as you guessed it they make silk! It was very relaxing swimming in the pool. We made friends with a Khmer family who invited us to share lunch with them & helped them learn how to swim. I got to spin silk and appreciated how hard it is to do, we were invited to share lunch with the owners of the silk shop however we had only just had a late breakfast so ... read more

Does it sound ridiculous to say we knew it was coming, we knew it was going to be wet, but we just didn't understand. When it rains heavily in Australia we both use cars, buses and trains. here the modes of transport we can choose from are motorbikes or tuk tuks. The tuk tuks keep you mostly dry as they are well prepared for the rain. unlike us - as of yet we do not have two rain coats. Something we plan to rectify tomorrow and the one we have - we don't take everywhere which has resulted in Chris getting very soaked 2 days ago whilst riding his bicycle, it was so wet the water was mid thigh. So the rain came down heavily around 4pm 3 days in a row, defiantely suprised by this ... read more

From Kari: Since we have been here in Cambodia we have heard about the many attrocities comitted by the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot. You will hear about these as we come accross good links to share with you or stories that we feel caputure the situation but for now I want to share with you a story of courage and strength that was in todays local paper. It is good for the Cambodian people to hear stories of the good that occured during their darkest periods. url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012033055332/National-news/the-khmer-rouge-village-chief-who-saved-his-people-from-death.htmlThe Khmer Rouge village chief who saved his people from death In the village of Kuok Snuol, not far from Siem Reap airport, small groups of elders arrive to greet former Khmer Rouge village chief Van Chhuon, 64. Some still call him may, or boss. img=h... read more

Ooops forgot to publish earlier :) So we were very lucky to spend time with family at Whistler, the Smith family that is. Massive thank you to Danni and Mitch for having us stay with them whilst we were there and making our trip wonderful. Despite being in Whistler for one of the coldest dates of the season with the weather being minus 21 plus wind chill we managed to hit the slopes. We got in three days on the snow which was a great way to end our snow season in Canada and being with Mitch and Danni made it even better. Kari hit the beginners terraine parks and each day her jumps got higher & higher and she also went along blocks and became a tree run enthusiast. Whilst Chris hit the largest terrain ... read more

Our next stop on our tour of Vancouver island was a few days in Victoria. Johnny was kind enough to let us stay with him in his sweet appartment which we used as a base to explore the city. We headed straight for downtown on our first day and visited the museum which has lots of First Nation's art but it was sad to see that many culturally significant totem poles had been "bought" by the museum to be displayed to the public rather than left where they were found to be continued to be used by the community. We then headed to a place called Fishermen's wharf which included a community of floating houses and the best fish and chips in town. The resident seals also paid us a visit and posed for the camera. ... read more