Siem Reap 2011

After a few days in Bangkok we were on to our next destination Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We are always hoping to encounter airports with good playgrounds and activities. This airport did not offer much to keep us busy during our two hour delay. The kids watched Cars 2.

As we got off the plane and felt the fantastic breezy warm air, I felt excitement and apprehension. We had to wait in a line with all the other foreigners to get our on the spot visas. Foreigners are also finger printed upon arriving. Our hotel was expecting 4 adults and had brought us two Tuks Tuks. We let our luggage go in one and shared the other to make our way to the city. I hadn't researched much about the demographics of Siem Reap. Nathan informed me that it was a relatively rural and small in population. As we passed rice fields, farms and lots of cows, this became evident. After living in Asia, it isn't uncommon to hear people talk about being from a small town of 5-8 million.
Siem Reap has about 172,000 residents. We would sometimes see people at the temples and later in the town. It was peak season, but compared to China it felt like a small town hosting a fair wherever one comes out to participate and visit.

Our hotel was the Wooden Angkor (Almost everything has the name Angkor attached to it) When we entered the lobby, removing our shoes first, we were greeted with cool towels and some tea. The family suite is two adjoining rooms. The kids had their own beds and bathroom. That night we decided to try the restaurant upstairs. It was situated on a veranda, on the top level of the hotel overlooking the street. The kids immediately took to the two hammocks that were available and claimed them during our entire stay. We soon realized that as our cheap ( dishes ranged from $2-$4) and delicious food arrived on the table, so did the bugs. It is nice to have the openness, feel the breeze, but the bugs at night were too much for us and ate there only for breakfast and lunch after this. Khmer food I found to be relatively mild, with aromatic combinations of ginger, garlic, coconut milk, lemon grass. Possibly a fusion of Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese? I liked everything and the price was great. Siem Reap has no McDonalds. It was nice to tell the kids it wasn't even an option and they both found Khmer dishes they enjoyed.

The hotel staff were friendly to the kids and pleasant to talk to.
They arranged a tuk tuk driver to take us around. He was hired from 7am-7pm and the cost was only $14US.

Banana pancakes for the kids. Breakfast was included in our stay and we could order off the menu.

more post to follow..

A Sunday

We recently took the ferry over to Hong Kong island. This day out found us visiting familiar places and trying something new.
We started out on the Mid-Level escalators. We were going to visit Fat Angelos an italian restaurant, sadly we found that the restaurant had been replaced.

We had to "settle" for one of our favorite Mexican restaurants Carambas. The nachos and burritos were delicious. The kids liked picking out the red and green chips in the basket.

The Dr. Sun Yat Sen Museum

Is a place we decided to visit. Dr. Sun-Yat was a Chinese revolutionary that devoted His life to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. We had free entry with our museum pass.

Photography was not allowed in the majority of the museum. It is housed in a historical Hong Kong building.
The Hall was built in 1914. It was named after the former owner of the Mansion, Ho Kom-tong, who was a younger brother of the prominent philanthropist Sir Robert Ho Tung. The Ho family is the first Chinese family permitted to live in the Mid Levels in the early colonial period.

The interactive computer games for the kids and the cartoon friendly presentation of the Dr. were well done.

We found a frozen yogurt shop and stopped in for a treat.

Nathan was interested in finding the Catholic church. We stopped and took photos in front of the Christmas tree.

The Church is located near the Botanical garden and Zoo. It had been over a year since I last visited with the kids and Nathan had not been back since 2009.

2009

2011

2009

Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok late at night. Billboards of the King and Queen were along the highway, greeting us. Thailand's motto is Nation, Religion and King. The images of the royal couple are everywhere. They have reigned since the 50's and are loved by the people.

Upon our arrival the hotel staff was friendly. The kids were quickly offered balloons and lollipops. The pool was of course the kids favorite.

a brief note.
I have linked a lot of the main sites to wikipedia entries. I don't want to include a whole lot of historical detail on the blog if people aren't interested. If you are a quick click on the highlighted words should satisfy your questions.

Our first day the Grand Palace was on the agenda. My impression as we walked around was that Bangkok is a popular post-Christmas destination. I was glad we made the decision for the boys to wear long pants and Jane and I to wear skirts and covered shoulders. A strict dress code is enforced on the palace grounds and there was a long line of people who needed to rent extra clothing.

We were warned in the tour book about schemes where people tell you the palace is closed. We were approached by a man that had a badge that said tourism police. He told us the palace is closed until 1pm due to buddha's birthday. He proceeds to ask our plan for the day, looks at our map then begins to suggest a tuk tuk. At this point we stop him, politely refuse and continue our walk. Hoping he is wrong and we are being savvy. We eventually stumble upon the main entrance of the palace. There is a big sign at the main entrance that clearly states the palace is open everyday from these hours. Obviously the tourism police was not positioned there.

Seeing the replica of Angkor Wat, I began to get excited about our next destination

We took a a boat along the Chaya river. It moved a little faster than the Star Ferry here in HK. Elliot snacked on some seaweed flavor chips. Not only do they stink(at least to everyone else in the family but brother) they leave a sticky seaweed mess.

Wat Arun/ Temple of the dawn is an impressive site from the river

Mcdonald's had a delicious chicken and rice set meal, the kids liked it as much as burgers. It was also a novelty to find the soft ice creams dipped in the hardened chocolate shell. Elliot didn't quite mimic the traditional Thai greeting. I assume that could be quite offensive if it was an actual response to the greeting.

Our hotel was located near the Sky train. We were a little frustrated that concessionary tickets( child tickets) could only be purchased from the office counter not machines. But overall it was clean, efficient, safe and a great alternative to the traffic. That being said The Hong Kong MTR system and London Tube still appear to be the best subway systems we have encountered. We also took the local Metro system which is underground.

The most exciting mode of transportation was the Tuk Tuk. Almost inseparable from and idea of Bangkok we only had one tuk tuk ride. We are used to bartering here in HK at markets, so haggling over a ride didn't seem that different. Bangkok is not a very pedestrian friendly city and I was thankful to have the ride to the sky train to avoid the walking. It was fast paced, and a lot of fun.

The Thai people are very strict on preserving their cultural icons. At many places we could only get photos from the outside. Such as the Vimanmek Mansion. The largest golden teakwood structure built without nails. The Throne Hall located on the Dusit palace grounds. Which was built in this grand Italian cathedral design. You could only enter the buildings with wallets. Every thing else purses, water, cell phones were collected and locked up for a small fee. At the mansion we were scanned an additional time before being allowed inside to walk around. Ivory tusk and Elephant feet were some of the more interested room decor we encountered.

We had anticipated the Snake farm being a highlight with the kids and I believe it was. Thailand can boast as being one of the first places where serious devotion to cures for snake bites was cultivated. The royalty even got involved and helped to establish a well-know institution dedicated to the study of snakes and anti-venom making.

Elliot's favorite was the Mexican milk snake. The kids purchased wooden snakes. Jane's made a couple of the guards jump at the Dusit palace.
As we sat to have a refreshing drink, I spotted a brown toad huddled in the corner of a cabinet. Where else can a frog be safe on a snake farm?

Venom demonstration

We found a noodle stall near our hotel and spent $1.33 for a really good lunch.

I mentioned to Jane that we could probably buy two or 3 of our houses (thanks to the current housing market) for the price of the Lamborghini she quickly replied, Its not worth it!

Here is a video highlighting our trip to Bangkok.