Sydneysiders for a week!

Due to the imposed no fly zone (created by Stephs vacant gall bladder), we bypassed Melbourne and flew across the country to Sydney.

We rented an appartment for our week here, we thought it better than a cold hostel when Steph was still a bit tender. You can see what she thought of the choice...

We also had the unexpected pleasure of sharing our appartment with a large picture of this unknown grocer....slightly odd ...

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Based in Chinatown we could easily walk around the City. Darling Harbour was great and we managed to see Inception at the worlds biggest cinema screen (8 stories high!).

 

After getting ourselves aquainted with the city we headed over to Manly. It was a real chore having to sail across the water with a backdrop of the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House (one of the best ferry trips in the world)!

We decided to try the Manly walk to Spit, which was lovely. Although Steph's mum wasn't pleased when she found out that she had done a 10km walk.

Back in the city and of course, we visited the two main atrractions. We decided against the Bridge walk, but climbed one of the pylons to an observation platform, giving us a few nice views!!

Steph was happy that we managed to get some breakfast at one of Bill Grangers restaurants....

Our friend Rosie (who nearly killed the fish masseuses in Cambodia!) is living in Sydney and we met up and explored some of the bars and places to eat (Time out cheap eats was spot on!).

We all took a trip to Watsons Bay and despite passing by the nudist beach only moments earlier, we somehow still managed to enjoy our lunch whilst looking back towards the city.

For our final night in Oz, Rosie managed to give us a great send off. She got us tickets to the opening night of her latest project, 'A Comedy of Errors', at the Sydney Theatre Company. We were given a behind the scenes tour a few days before the show, and we got to see (and walk through) an amazing set. It was a great night, we had perfect seats, and to Steph's barely containable excitement, Cate Blanchet was only two rows in front, with only 200 people in the audience! After the show we had after show drinks and were hobnobbing with the actors / actresses! Unfortunately no photo of Cate to show you!!

    

Perth - In them there Hills!

We have time & internet! Sorry for the delay...

After our adventures in Fremantle we returned to Perth to let Steph get some rest. We couldnt fly for 10 days (doctors orders!!) so it gave us a chance to spend some time with Graham, Sue, Scott & Lucy in the Perth Hills.

We already had a day in Perth City, before our short trip to Freo. We visited Kings Park on a glorious winters day (they have it hard!!) and had a picnic overlooking the city.

The rest of our time was spent chopping wood for the fire (Jon), the occasional making of a lemon dish (Steph-lemonade, lemon tart and mini lemon drizzle cakes!!), relaxing, and trying to spot some of the wildlife.

Apparently the kangaroos had realised that there were newcomers in the household and decided to play hide and seek. It must have been my overripe shoes, as when I was out with Graham they descended on the garden. Luckily(?) Steph was doing an Ironside impression, re-enacting a scene from rear window, and was able to snap them!

I took a trip to Hovea falls, which was beautiful, although a bit slippery!! (hope the shoulder is okay now Graham!).

It literally was just what the doctor ordered, we were made to feel at home. Steph had time to recuperate and even managed to fit in some pampering!

She wasnt the only one though (sorry Graham!)... 

Many thanks you guys! Look forward to visiting you all in your new home!!

Freo - Attack of the gall stones!

Our plans for WA left a couple of days spare for any change of plans, but with a few days in Fremantle, a day trip to Rotnest Island and then some wine tasting in Margaret river to look forward to, we were full steam ahead...nothing could stop us..

We managed to find a Triumph Stag right near our Hostel, this one looked nearly identical to one that, 27 years ago, took Mummy Tillman to the Hospital to give birth to Steph. The back seats are not the most suitable for a lady in labour!!

After a bit of exploring I found what I had come for... the statue of Bon Scott! The legendary AC/DC front man looked the part in the skintight jeans and jacket on top of a Marshal amp...

Unfortuantely, Steph had plans of her own which involved spending a week in the underated but value for money resort of Fremantle Hospital!

After 4 days and many jabs to the stomach, Steph went in to surgery to have her Gall Bladder removed. Two days later and with a  new appreciation of the Aussie health service, we headed back to Perth to recuperate!

Now making a good recovery, these four scars are all that remain...

A bit of a luxury (or should that be a bit more!!)

After nearly 2 and a half months in Asia, Singapore was our last stop, before heading to Australia.  We didn't really know what to expect because a lot of people had said how clinical the city was.  We really enjoyed it though ( it was a novelty going into a public toilet and it being clean as well as having toilet paper!!).
 
Everything was really easy in Singapore - the transport was really clean and efficient and the food courts were cheap and again very clean (all of the stalls are given a rating for cleanliness - 'A' being the best - which made it easy to find nice places to eat). However outside the food courts, food and alcohol was very expensive - a bit of a shock after getting used to the prices in Vietnam and Cambodia!!

We felt like proper tourists in Singapore, experiencing views of the city from the Singapore Flyer (billed as the world's tallest ferris wheel)...

...having afternoon tea in one of the city's grandest hotels...

...and going on a 'Duck Tour'!!

No trip to Singapore would be complete without a Singapore Sling and we decided to sample one at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, the place where it was invented!! With constant reminders around the city that littering would get you heavily fined it was strange that in the bar it was encouraged (people just dropped empty monkey nut shells all over the floor!!)

We were glad that we only spent 2 nights here though - not sure our budget could have coped with any longer!!

Angkor Sunset

Recipe for an Angkor Sunset:

1/2 shot of Grenadine
1 shot of white rum
1 shot of Malibu
top up with pineapple juice

Pour 1/2 shot of Grenadine, 1 shot of white rum and 1 shot of Malibu into a long glass with ice, then top up with pineapple juice. Yummy!!!

Well that's one type of Angkor Sunset - the other one was a bit more elusive!!  With it being rainy season in Cambodia it usually rains between 4pm and 6pm, so the sunsets have been a bit disappointing. Sunrise at Angkor Wat on the otherhand was beautiful, defintely worth waking up at 4am for!

Angkor Wat during the day....

Bayon Temple....

We've spent just over a week in Siem Reap - plenty of time to explore the temples.  We went on an organised tour of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom and it was worth having a tour guide if only for his ability to spot this photo opportunity!!

After our sunrise at Angkor Wat we visited Ta Prohm, made famous by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider.

We then visited a beautiful temple called Banteay Srei, which is about 35km outside of Siem Reap.  This was probably our favourite temple - the carvings were so intricate.

We decided to take a break from the temples and do another cooking class.  It was good fun.  Jon made a banana flower salad, while I made fresh spring rolls.  For our mains I made the traditional Khmer dish of Amok and Jon made Khmer chicken with bok choi - really lookimg forward to recreating these recipes at home.  As with Vietnamese food, the food in Cambodia tastes so fresh.

A highlight of our time in Siem Reap was our fish massage on the first night!! A really strange sensation - I'm still not sure whether it was nice feeling and they didn't seemed to get rid of any dry skin as was promised but it was an hilarious experience!

Phnom Penh

After our speedboat journey and border crossing (the easist so far!), we arrived into Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

We had heard lots of stories about the Tuk Tuk's here, and sure enough as soon as we arrived we were greeted by "Tuk Tuk Sir Madam?". After initially refusing, we realised that the Hotel was a little bit too far to walk, especially in 34 degrees and carrying our worldly possessions on our backs!

We decided to go with one of the quieter drivers, and within no time (and only $2) we were at our hotel.

We arranged for our driver to meet us the next morning and take us to see Tuol Sleng and the killing fields of Choeung Ek. We had not been looking forward to seeing these areas, but knew that it was something we should do.

Tuol Sleng was a school that was taken over by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and turned into a detention and torture centre. We learnt that out of 20,000 people detained here, 7 survived. Only 4 are alive today. It is estimated that up to 3 million people were killed during the Khmer Rouge ethnic cleansing, out of a population of 9 million.

After visiting the school we went to Choeung Ek, known as the Killing Fields. This was a mass execution area. Our guide had lost most of his family during the regime, but still managed to comfort Steph when things got too much.

Altough the past events in Cambodia are ever present, time, as ever moves on. 

The next day we visited the oldest monumet in Phnom Penh called Wat Phnom. This is where the name of the capital comes from. However, the most excitement I (Jon) got from the day was not the oldest monument, but seeing monkeys in the wild for the first time!! This one was admiring himself in a shiny piece of stone before i rudely interuppted him!

It hasn't felt that we have been slumming it at all - particularly not in Vietnam and Cambodia.  In Phnom Penh we stayed in a 4 and a half star eco-boutique hotel on the riverfront!! Got inspiration for our dream bathroom as well. Not sure we could have sustained the cost for any longer but it was definitely worth it!! Our evenings in Phnom Penh were spent drinking cocktails (Rosie and Vicky were a bad influence!!), whilst looking out on views over the river! 

The joke in Vietnam and Cambodia is what you see on the backs of motorbikes (e.g. whole families).  The problem is we haven't had our camera out to capture most of these but did manage to snap this one!!

Saigon to Phnom Penh in style!!

To get from Vietnam to Cambodia we decided on a bit of luxury. We booked a tour and cruised along the mighty Mekong river before catching a speedboat into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
 
Our boat, the 'Mekong Eyes' was an old rice barge. With only 4 of us on board it was more than adequate!!

We stopped along the way to visit some local families and taste some delicious fruit. This girls family were very friendly, Steph even received a tap on the bum and a squeeze on the arm (perhaps this was payment for the photo!!).

The food, again, was amazing, and even after polishing off a few bottles of wine with our new travel buddies, Rosie and Vicky, we still managed to look out of our cabin window at 5am for the sunrise!

Later that day we visited a floating market, where the sellers displayed their wares on a flagpole. It was amazing to see the hustle and bustle of river life, whilst we glided past on our motorised fishing boat!

After this we stayed in a really nice hotel in Chau Doc before catching a speedboat for the 5 hour trip to Phnom Penh!