http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Somala/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Somala en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:22:32 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:22:32 +0000 Today we drove to the Tonle Sap Lake and took boat tour of the Chong Khneas floating village. It's very interesting to see these floating houses on the lake. It was a whole village of houses just floating on the lake. The village was complete with floating shops restaurants elementary school pool hall boat repair shops. We even passed by a wedding reception. Yup the women were dressed up http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-417572.html Today we toured the temples of Angkor Wat. It is so much more impressive in person that any picture that I have ever seen. The details of the temples are simply amazing. There is just so much detail on the architecture and it the carvings are just beautiful. It was raining off and on but when it wasn't raining it was really very hot. We hired a tour guide for the day which cost us 20 and we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-417567.html Finally arrived in Siem Reap after a torturous 7 hour car ride from Phnom Penh. It wouldn't have been so bad if my tummy wasn't cramping the whole time but I survived. Once again the scenery on the drive was just amazing. I couldn't imagine how some of these people live in those little huts with no electricity. We stopped at some relatives houses on the way. It was nice to meet some of these http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-414773.html We drove about 4 hours to a small resort town called Koh Kong. There is not really much to do here except eat relax on the beachpool and gamble at the 5 star resort next door. There aren't many tourists around here so we have lots of privacy and the resort practically to ourselves. Unfortunately because of the lack of tourists here many of the hotels are also closed. Today we went to Sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-413668.html Friday is our last day in Phnom Penh. My cousins decided to have cereal for breakfast so Jeff and I were on our own. We crossed the street to the cafe and ordered 2 bowls of beef stew with bread. Guess what the total for our breakfast was... 15000 riel... which is about 4.75. That includes coffee I can't believe how cheap it has been here We packed all of our things and went to the Toul http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-412692.html Mostly went to family's houses on day 3 visited the Tuol Tompong Russian Market. We bought many crafts and gifts for people. Bargaining was kind of fun and I was surprised that I was able to get away with the prices. Mostly they see Jeff and start with the highest price possible. We talked someone from 25 to 12 on something. My favorite thing that I bought here is a necklace of my name http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-412088.html On our second day in PP we woke up around 4am. The sun was just coming up over the Mekong River and it was just beautiful Luckily our room had the PERFECT view I kept trying to take pictures through our glass doors and the pictures were just coming out terrible. Jeff wouldn't let me go outside because he was afraid of mosquitos. I went out anyways to get better pictures. It was just st http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-412024.html Awesome time in Phnom Penh PP so far We were greeted by an entourage of family faces that I have never seen before though they knew all about me. They packed in all of our luggage onto the bed of a pickup truck and we were on our way to our Hotel the Blue River Hotel. Driving around PP was definitely an experience. Very similar to driving around India or Sri Lanka. The road lines are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-411698.html We've arrived at the Hong Kong airport. It was a very bumpy ride considering we passed over the top of a Typhoon. It is humid cloudy here. We only have about 2 hours of layover until our flight to Phnom Penh. I'll write more when we get there hopefully Just wanted everyone to know we made it to Hong Kong at least http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hainan/blog-410932.html Our last day of our honeymoon. It's so very sad But at least we get to spend it in Sydney I love this city I said the shopping in Brisbane was good.. well Sydney beats it If you are a shopper you have to visit the Pitt Street Mall. The place was just a huge maze of shops We didn't have too much time to spend there since we only have 1 day in Sydney but I got a taste of it when I told http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-348043.html Bula from Fiji We arrived around 5am today October 28 2008. Yes we are ahead Just wanted to let everyone know that we landed safely and we are enjoying our stay here so far When we arrived at the airport we were transported via helicopter to a secluded island called Matamanoa. I can't describe how beautiful everything is We passed many little islands and coral reefs. We already hav http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Mamanuca-Islands/blog-339056.html We are finally in Cairns. Finally.. we got a break in the weather Time to break out our flip flops and swim suits again Today we spent the morning fishing the Estuary. The ocean here isn't particularly blue because of where the river meets the ocean. I caught a bull shark and an eel. Jeff caught a bull shark too.There is still much to do here We plan to visit the Daintree rainforest.. ho http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-345201.html Well.. we are winding down towards the end of our trip Finally made it to Australia after many cancelled flights missed connections and baggage loss Yes it was an adventure but we finally got our luggage after spending a day in Brisbane in our same clothes. Lucky that we had warm clothes on because Brisbane was cold We spent one day walking the Queens Street mall. I kept thinking of my s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-345200.html Yesterday we made the long drive from Queenstown to Dunedin. It was about 3.5 hours drive. We went to Penguin Place. It just so happens that the farmer who owns the land decided to turn it into a reserve for the penguins that called his backyard their home. They come and go on the beach in his backyard. He built some little homes for them and they just chill out there. It was very cool. Dep http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Otago/Dunedin/blog-343476.html Today was an adventure packed day We decided that we wanted to do something active today since the weather took a turn for the better. It was such a beautiful sunny and warm day todayWe started off our day with driving over to the sight of the very first Bungy jump.. the Kawarau Bridge. The bridge is 43 meters high.. that's 134 feet. We watched a couple of people as they jumped off the bri http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-342819.html After a long day at the airport due to flight delays we finally arrived in Queenstown where we were very surprised to see that it had been snowing all day We arrived at Queenstown around 5pm and we had to rush off to Te Anau right away since they were expecting us earlier. The drive to Te Anau was expected to take around 2 hours and we wanted to be sure to get there before the sun set.Driving http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Te-Anau/blog-342146.html We've arrived in New Zealand after a 3 hour flight from Fiji. We are in Auckland right now. It is more like the city life here. For example we ate lunch at a Westfield Shopping Mall. We are staying off Queen Street which is the main shopping street here. Later on we will go check out the Sky Tower It is the tallest building here and has a casino We also hope to check out a pub with a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-341440.html We arrived on the mainland Fiji on October 31. It was so sad to leave the place. For my birthday Jeff got us a couples massage on the beach. It was such a nice way to end our stay there. We took an hour long boat ride from the island to Port Denarau. What a difference The pace here is much more like the city life. As we boarded the bus to take us to our hotel we couldn't help but notice http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Denarau/blog-340652.html Our second day here at Matamanoa. I just can't describe how beautiful it is here. It is quite romantic and so many places to find peace and quiet. Most of the couples here are on honeymoon or celebrating something special. The best thing about this island is the many different activities they have to do here and it is all freeYesterday we went snorkeling and it was awesome. It was like look http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Mamanuca-Islands/blog-339411.html This time we made sure to ask if we can fish in the Sea of Cortez. We were hoping that the ride would be smoother. I did not want to feel sick on a boat again. This time our captain allowed us to sit up on the bridge with him. The view from there was much better. Throughout the day I helped spot many marlin and fish. The first fish caught of the day was a Dorado reeled in by Jeff. The ne http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Baja-California-Sur/Cabo-San-Lucas/blog-67479.html