4 friends + night out in Siem Reap Cambodia + a little beer= eating Crickets???

The four of us (Nicole, Cameron, Andrew and I) took a 5 hour bus ride to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh we left the hustle and bustle of the big city behind us only to arrive in Siem Reap another city marginally less busy with motorcycles, tuk tuks, scooters and street vendors. Unlike Phnom Penh, the city is catered to travelers that come and stay while visiting the many temples of Angkor. There are many restaurants the serve both Western and Eastern foods. The prices are really cheap for meals and drinks and the shopping is incredibly cheap as well.

Upon arrival in Cambodia, Cameron insisted that we must all try eating crickets together … a sort of bonding ritual I guess… Of course Andrew immediately agreed, I agreed (not thinking the moment would actually come) and Nicole (a vegetarian) was a little wary about it. We weren’t sure if crickets were considered meat???
One night after Nicole and I returned from some serious shopping at the Night Market, we were surprised to see Andrew and Cameron chatting to a local guy with a bag of fried crickets on the table. The boys had eaten a few by that point, with beer to wash it down. Honestly, it looked repulsive… the critters in the bag looked exactly like huge live crickets, only deep fried. Each cricket was intact, including head, wings and limbs. I looked at Nicole, she had the look of fear in her eyes… after a few minutes somehow she was convinced that bugs were not considered meat by her husband. Personally, I had been fine with thought of eating a cricket UNTIL I saw them, I would have definitely backed out had it been just Andrew and I. The boys bravely demonstrated to us that they were tough and ate another cricket each. On the count of 3 I threw the cricket into my mouth and chewed it up. What did it taste like???? Not too bad… It was crunchy like chips and had a fried taste to it. Shortly after Nicole ate her cricket too!
Conclusion: Friends bonded by Bugs!

Click on the album below to view pictures in picasa

Siem Reap, Cambodia

The Temples of Angkor:

We were really looking forward to visiting the Temples of Angkor… we considered it to be one of the highlights for our entire trip. Most people have only heard of Angkor Wat, but there are many more temples located in the lost city of Angkor. We hired a tuk tuk driver that took us to the sights every day. He would wait for us outside of each Wat, then drive us to another location. The temples were amazing and every bit as awesome as we thought they would be. Some of our favourite temples were Angkor Wat which is the largest religious building in the world. It was built in 1112-1152 as a temple to honour Vishnu. Bayon was my favourite temple it was built around 1200 it was like a maze inside and it felt like more of a ruin site. Ta Prohm was also amazing, built sometime in the 12th century. The movie Tomb Raider was filmed there. The really interesting thing about this temple was that it was left basically in the state that the French explorers found it. There were massive trees growing through the temple with their huge roots engulfing the temple. It had an eerie feel to it, but was interesting to see how nature had immersed itself into the temple after years of growth. There were many more that we visited each had a different look, and was built for a different purpose. Unfortunately our pictures do the actual temples no justice.

Click on the album below to view pictures in picasa

The Temples of Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia

~Nicola

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We took a short flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Before arriving we read a little about the checkered past of Cambodia, including genocide and political turmoil. On paper it was hard to imagine that these events could take place. Before we decided to come to S-E Asia we had never really looked into the Cambodian history and because we live in a peaceful society it is hard to understand. If you are interested to read about Cambodia, I recommend you Google Khmer Rouge and Cambodia.
Phnom Penh was crazy… hectic, smoggy, tons of cars, motorcycles and tuk-tuks. It was hard to imagine that during the Khmer Rouge’s rule the city was abandoned and all the people were forced to work in fields in the country side.
We had arranged to meet our friends Cameron and Nicole whom we haven’t seen since Chile and Argentina in April. We met in our hotel which was located right in the thick of things. We were close to restaurants and street stalls. We planned to stay in Phnom Penh for 3 nights, just long enough to see some of the sights in the city.
Our 2nd day in Phnom Penh was a pretty “heavy” day. We first started by going to the Killing Fields, it was so sad. This is the site where many Cambodian’s were put to death. There was a pagoda with the skulls of the victims that has been executed in the site. Words can’t explain how awful it was to be there and see the mass grave sites that men, women and children were found in. After the Killing Fields we visited the S21 which is a prison where thousands of men, women and children were held and tortured before death. I can’t explain to you how awful it was there… we saw the tiny cells where prisoners were chained and we saw some of the tools that were used to torture prisoners. I think the worse part of all was the faces of prisoners that they had on display. Since the Khmer Rouge documented all the prisoners, there were many photos that could be displayed. There were hundreds of faces of men, women and children all with fear in their eyes. We were all affected and it took awhile for it to actually sink in. We spent ages reading the literature that was on display, trying to comprehend why it had happened. I think I will never understand why and how mankind could do such a thing.
On the 3rd day we went to see the Kings Palace, which was such a contrast from the previous day. The palace grounds were nice to visit, and we saw a very large emerald Buddha.
We really enjoyed our stay in Phnom Penh, even though we visited some places that were truly awful it was a must needed visit. I think it is good to have things like S21 open to the public, so that hopefully in the future nothing like that will happen again.
It seems so unreal that something so terrible could have happened to such a wonderful country with such amazing people. The country seems so diverse and inspiring to me, on one hand there is their horrible past, and on the other hand we witness incredibly warm and charming people that have overcome so much.

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

~Nicola

South-East Asia

South-East Asia itinerary:

We were fortunate enough to spend three amazing months travelling through South America. Now we are in South East Asia and the journey is continuing. The past three months travelling have changed our lives forever. Getting to meet so many amazing people, both locals and foreigners has given us a new outlook on life. It was also interesting to meet other people that were travelling from all different countries. Sometimes people from home have asked us “why?” meaning… why leave your job?, why travel? Why travel for so long? We feel that the time away for us has allowed us to see and do things that are way outside the box. Talking to others that felt the same way was also very refreshing and solidified that, we are not crazy. YES it’s a lot of money that we have spent travelling… but all and all we love life on the road, and love every minute of the things that we have experienced. I admit it is a surreal life… no working, no schedules and minimal responsibilities, but life is about priorities and ours was to Travel!
As always we set off on our travels without any formal plans. We usually have an idea of major things that we want to see and accomplish while in a place. Many times we hear of great places to go to from fellow travelers that we meet on our way. For the first month here in S.E Asia it is a little different as we have pre booked some flights. So here is a projected itinerary of countries that we plan on visiting in the next four months.

Thailand- Bangkok only
Cambodia- 2 weeks
Philippines ( a recent addition to our journey, suggested to us by Cameron and Nicole) 2 weeks
Vietnam – from this point on we have no more flights and things can go at any pace
Thailand- Chang Mai and Chang Rai, Ko Samui
Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia

Some things that we love about S.E Asia:

As you may know, Andrew and I are quite adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. If it were not for my constantly poor stomach I would not think twice about trying things. I don’t want to jinx things but so far my stomach has been holding up well. I know last year when we went to India and Thailand, my stomach was ok as well. You can get the most amazing meals at street stalls, we usually pick a place by the amount of locals that we see eating there. Asia is generally an eat-out culture, it is usual to see tons of people eating noodles or soups on the side of the road. We love the cuisine in this part of the world… never a dull meal!

The prices are right here… it’s unbelievable to conceive that meals and drinks can come so cheap. For example… I bought a dress here in Siem Reap for $4, and a pair of shorts for $5. Beer is $0.50 and meals are under $3. How can you go wrong?

We are very excited to be back in this part of the world. We highly recommend it to everyone to come and experience the culture and hospitality. I’m sure we will have many exciting stories to blog about in the near future. Every day here is a unique adventure so stay tuned for more.

~Nicola

Bangkok, Thailand (Haha I said Bangkok)

Well having been here over a year ago has made us at least ready for the size, scope and intensity of the city, but with each visit to Bustling Bangkok we’re shown some new kind of craziness, debauchery or sad story. We arrived late on Thursday night so we decided to take a cab right to our Hostel, Asha Guesthouse, a recommendation from one of our friends that we met along our South American journey… thanks Jess and Chris. The hostel worked out well and since we didn’t get ripped off by our initial cab we were already ahead for this visit when compared to our last.
The next day after a lot of free Wi-Fi usage and netbook tinkering we went out to our favourite mall in the world MBK. MBK is that rare blend of knock-off stores with originals purveyors all on 7 levels each one whole city block in size. We were there to add to our cheap t-shirt collection and to indulge in one of Nicola’s favourites… Cheap Facials!! Hanako is a Japanese beauty care chain that has come to Thailand and has Japanese service at Thai prices. We went here twice the last time we were in Bangkok and I received my first two "treatments" ever... no laughing. It was hard to turn down when an hour long "treatment" is only $20. So this time in Bangkok we were pampered once again and now looking fabulous for a jaunt in town.
We walked to find a store that Nicola was told about and in true Bangkok style we were accosted by two separate “helpful” people. One was a teacher who was interested in helping us get to see the sights if we just took this tuk-tuk to go see them... the other was a Sikh numerologist who was going to tell me my future until he was sent on the run by a passing police car.
Day two commenced with more shopping this time at the weekend market near Mo Chit BTS station... it did not disappoint, it was a massive collection of local designers and ranged from t-shirts to bags to candles, house wares, etc. It was the largest market I have ever been to and could ever imagine. We of course bought a “few” things…
Being in Bangkok a second time we quickly realize that it is a place which we could get use to being in, it has all the comforts of home and the exotic side of Asia rolled into one and all for the right price… cheap!

Click on album below to see photos in Picasa

Bangkok, Thailand

~Andrew

Home Sweet Home! (Andrew Edition)

My recount is short and sweet... While away for the first half I suffered very little home sickness, we were too busy and it was only 3 months, but here are some of my favourite activities while home...



A FEW HI-LITES FROM MY TIME AT HOME:


Toronto:
On my first full day I had to report to jury duty only hours after landing at Pearson International. Nicola and I took the train in to Toronto from Oshawa, Nic to see family and me to put bad guys away... I was all prepared to sing my sad story of being home between two long trips for only ten days and my plans to see my family during that time. Well they were not really receptive to this excuse as everyone had one and being between long vacations did not rank high with: having three kids and being a single mother, working two jobs to support sick parents, or studying for a double major... needles to say I was going to sit jury duty for my required seven days... UNTILL they read the three rules which must be satisfied...

Rule 1 - You must be a Canadian Citizen... CHECK
Rule 2 - You must be over the age of 18... CHECK
Rule 3 - You must be a resident of Toronto... BOOOYAH!

Who knew living with your In-Laws would pay off soo quickly. So after showing a few envelopes with my new address I was excused from sitting for the next three years... civic duty avoided!


I got to hang with my Mom, Bro and Sis: The Monday night we all met for pizza and wings and Bridget surprised me with Reily Butttons.

Playing Baseball with my Men's league team: I got to play with my team, who have been kicking but in my absence, but never the less we went down 8-1 after the first inning then staged a huge comeback and layed down an ass whooping... season started and finished as a champion!

Got to go to the Beats, Breaks an Culture festival: My yearly pilgrimage to the Harbourfront... This years performance by HOLY F!CK was memorable!

BBQ at Paul & Florence's house: (My Dad and Step Mother) Where we got to get together with all of my family.

Got to see Reily-Buttons: Our dog whom we missed so much during the past 3 months. He has been staying with the very capable and great doggie sitters Bridget and her family (My big sis) and in May with Phyllis (My mom) It was so exciting to see him after all this time, but also very sad to say goodbye again.

NEW PURCHASE: We are pleased to announce the arrival of our brand new "Netbook" computer. Now we can be connected anywhere we go. Now I will be able draft all the right football players in my Fantasy Football leagues... The pressures of finishing a champion? We are really enjoying having the computer... as most places we have been able to offer free WiFi.

ANOTHER NEW ITEM: A small insignificant strap had broken on my BRIO 70 backpack from MEC and so I went to have it fixed. They unfortunately did not have the right hardware to perform the repair correctly so they gave a new bag credit and I upgraded to the IBEX 80... Bigger and Badder!?

Although our visit at home wasn't very long... we are so glad that we had the opportunity to do see everyone and drink non-light beer!

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Toronto, Canada

~Andrew

Home Sweet Home! (Nicola Edition)

I must admit that after 3 months of being away both Andrew and I were pretty excited about coming home for 10 days. We were mostly looking forward to spending time with our family and friends. But we also needed to do some restocking of supplies that we would need for our upcoming 4 months in Asia.

We flew from San Jose, Costa Rica to Toronto, Canada and after collecting our backpacks in the airport, we wheeled our trolly through the baggage claim doors, only to hear LOUD screaming... from my entire family. To my surprise my Mom, Dad, 2 Aunts and Cousin was there screaming and jumping around as we came through the door. We were so surprised to see them... what a welcome home!!!

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY TIME AT HOME:

Toronto:

On my first day home I was a tourist in my own city and went to The Bata Shoe Museum with my Cousins (Catherine and Michelle), Auntie Mary and Auntie Dawn. It's a place that I have always wanted to go, but never had the time. As my Auntie Dawn and Cousin Michelle were visiting from Australia we felt it would be a great opportunity for all of us to do something fun together. Many thanks to Catherine for organizing the "girls day outing."

Another day my Cousins Michael, Michelle and Joel and Andrew and Myself took the Go train Downtown to do another touristy activity..... we rode the "Hippo Bus." It is a tour bus that drives around the downtown core then turns into a boat and goes into Lake Ontario around Ontario Place. It's another thing that I have always wanted to do, but never had a good enough reason to do it. Since the Aussie's were visiting... we all decided it would be a cool way for them to see the city.

Met my friend Meghan downtown and watched her get her first tattoo: (pictures will be posted)

BBQ at Paul & Florence's house: (Andrew's dad and step mother) Where we got to get together with all of Andrew's family.

Got to see Reily-Buttons: Our dog whom we missed so much during the past 3 months. He has been staying with the very capable and great doggie sitters Bridget and her family (Andrew's big sis) and in May with Phyllis (Andrew's mom) It was so exciting to see him after all this time, but also very sad to say goodbye again.

Got to see Oliver: who I miss alot too... Andrew not so much! He has been staying with Janet (Andrew's mom's friends) who is an excellent cat sitter with so much patients for cats, it's unreal. He's generally not the easiest of cats to look after.

Mom's turkey dinner: everyone knows that one of my favourite home cooked meals by my Mom is her turkey dinner. Well, I think my mother may have possibly felt bad that Andrew and I would be missing this years Thanksgiving meal. So guess what she made for us on our last night??? Yummy turkey dinner, stuffing et al. Awww thanks ma!

NEW PURCHASE:

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our brand new "Netbook" computer. Now we can be connected anywhere we go. Andrew had done a lot of research while in South America and ordered the computer to be delivered to us when we got back into town.

We are really enjoying having the computer... as most places we have been to offer free WiFi.

ANOTHER NEW PURCHASE:

The bigger the bag... the more stuff in it. Every girl out there knows that. The only consequence is... it becomes heavy!

During the South America portion of our trip I was having some "difficulties" with my backpack. Mostly due to the enormous size of it, 85L (18kg) bulging to the top, and extremely heavy to carry. Upon purchasing this backpack I fooled myself into believing that I would be "conservative" with the amount of contents I was bringing. Somehow I got way ahead of myself and ended up with a monster of a bag that I was unable to carry. Everytime I would need it on my back Andrew would have to hoist it up and down for me... and I became a whinny baby every time I thought of carrying it in the heat.

So I bought another pack when I was home... and I love it. It's no longer a top loader which makes finding clothes extremely easy, and the best part of all it only is 64L. Currently it is weighing in at 13.5kg!!!!!!!! I can carry it no problem!

Although our visit at home wasn't very long... we are so glad that we had the opportunity to do that.

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Toronto, Canada

~Nicola

Beautiful Costa Rica

Costa Rica is definetely a place that Andrew and I want to go back to. We only had a 4 day layover so we didn't get to do a lot. But from what we saw... it was beautiful!



We took a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica from Caracas, Venezuela. We checked into a cute hostel called Gaudy's Backpackers. Our friends Andy and Andrea whom we had last seen a few weeks ago in Taganga, Colombia had agreed to meet us there. Consequently they were also heading to Costa Rica around the same time as our stop over. It was exciting to meet up with them again, as we had gone our seperate ways and now where back together.

Andy and Andrew really wanted to go surfing together down on the Pacific coast, but we decided against it as it would be 5 hour bus ride and we only had 4 days including travel days, so we decided to stay the entire time in San Jose.

On our first day, Andrew and I went to a Gold museum that had artifacts and jewelery made of gold. Since it was our 3rd Gold museum in 3 months... we rushed through it pretty quickly but I have to say it was very good.

Our 2nd day Andy and Andrea arrived, we basically chatted and tried to catch up on things. We also went for a great meal at a Peruvian restaurant called... "Macchu Picchu."

3rd day we went on an excursion to some Hot Springs and to see an active volcano. The scenery that we saw on the bus ride was spectacular... everything was so lush and green. The hot springs were really nice. They springs were in a huge water park with tons of different types of pools to go in, all with different temperatures. They even had 3 waterslides which we all tried. One of the slides that only Andrea, Andy and Andrew tried was as they said... "the scariest most unsafe ride they have ever been on...". So after spending many hours in the hot springs and on slides we were suppose to drive to the volcano, but unfortunately for us there was no visabiltiy that evening... and we could not see the volcano. We are told that when it is a clear night, you can see the red glow of lava around the tip.

The next morning we were off to the airport... and it was time for another goodbye!

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

San Jose, Costa Rica

~Nicola

Caracas, Venezuela

Just one year ago, I met my Uncle Greg's Venezuelan friend Ruben while he was visiting. He mentioned to my family in passing..."if you are ever in Venezuela, I would be happy to show you around." Well what do you know, one year later we are ringing his doorbell in Caracas!!!


We took a 19 hour bus ride from Santa Marta, Colombia to Caracas Venezuela. Just a few hours after we left Santa Marta our bus was pulled over by Colombian police officers. They came on the bus speaking in Spanish asking people to do something that we couldn't understand. Some people started to get off the bus which made us very confused. We happened to be the only non-Spanish speaking people on the entire bus, so there was no one to translate for us. Eventually we understood that the police were saying "keys" to us. They wanted all of us to get of the bus, line up and give them the keys to unlock our luggage that was under the bus. The whole situation was a little frightening! After all, in the movies when people line up outside a bus after being randomly pulled over by "police" officers... it never ends well. Luckily everything was legit, it was a random search and they opened up mostly everyone's bags for a few seconds then closed them up. Unfortunately... Andrew and I carry HUGE backpacks, and at this point were practically bursting at the seams. Our clothes and 6 bags of coffee were packed in bags within our packs so intricataely that one disruption could cause the bag to never close again! The police officer unzipped Andrew's side zip and pulled out a bag of clothes to check... then had to stuff it back in somehow. When he got to my pack, he took one look at it... and changed his mind about trying to open it up. After that point everything went pretty smoothly until we reached Venezuela.

I would firstly like to say that I do not understand enough about Venezuela to begin to explain to you about their policies, money or government. I can only tell you my experiences of when I was there. So here are a few stories...

We had heard many things about Caracas, mostly concerning security. Even our guide books warned that security in Caracas is no joke, and all precautions should be taken. Luckily for Andrew and I, Ruben took us under his wing and showed us around. We only had a short amount of time there, and because of Ruben we were able to see so much more than what we would have on our own. We decided not to stay in a "budget hotel" as they often are located in dangerous areas and often can be "love motels". We decided to splurge and stay at a good hotel, located outside the downtown core in Altamira. Altamira is considered a "safe" area, and you can walk around generally without any problems.

We had heard from many sources that you should carry American Dollars to Venezuela because the offical exchange rate is so poor and money can easily be exchanged on the "grey" market. Usually we do not condone or partake in illegal activities in foreign countries, but apparently everyone does this out of necessity. The offical exchange is 2:1 but on the grey market you can get 6:1. Now if you were to do the legal exchange of money, or withdraw from a ATM you could never afford anything there, as everything is priced at the grey market exchange. A combo at Wendy's was 40.00 (Venezuela money) if exchanged by a bank it would be roughly $20.00 US. We have heard that the locals can only use X amount of American money legally per year outside the country, which makes them have to seek other illegal ways to get money.

Another weird thing that happened was when trying to make contact with Ruben I sent numerous emails from Colombia... all were either bounced back to my email or never reached him. Finally I decided to send a copy to my Uncle in Canada to get him to try to forward it to Ruben in Venezuela... mysteriously he got the email. We have learned that the government now owns the telecomumications company that is his internet service provider.

Houses and businessess were like mini fortressess, with barb wire, electric fences, bars on doors and windows etc. Even stopping at red lights could be potentially dangerous. When we went in the car with Ruben we never stopped at red lights... only slowed and turned off our lights to see if any light beams were on the crossing street, if not, we went right through the lights.

We had a nice time during our short stay in Caracas. It is always interesting to us to see how other people live in other country's. We got to ride a cable car to the top of a mountain that is located in the city. It was the longest cable car that we have ever seen, and I have heard it's the longest in the world. I can't say my eyes were open the entire time.

We also give many thanks to Ruben and his family who so kindly took time to show us around and treat us with amazing hospitality.

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Caracas, Venezuela

~Nicola

15 days of relaxation in Taganga, Colombia: SORRY FOR THE DELAY

NOTE: Everyone, sorry for the lack of blog entries recently. As you may know, we had a quick stop over in Toronto and our intentions were to write our entries when we got home. But if you know us.... busy busy busy. Explanation of Toronto stop will come later!





Decision made... spend 2 weeks on the beach in Taganga:





We finished our last blog entry undecided with what we would do for our final 3 weeks in South America. We had many ideas in the works. Go to Angel Falls in Venezuela, leave for Costa Rica early, take a boat to Panama and even flying home a bit early was not out of the question. What we eventually decided to do was... Nothing! We stayed in Taganga at the lovely Casa Holanda and relaxed.





Why we loved our stay in Taganga:



During our stay there we really felt at home. The town was very small, so it was easy to get to know the area and see the same people daily. Usually we would either go to the beach which was just steps from our hostel or take the local mini bus into town. Actually we felt very at ease with navigating around the area. Our friends Andy and Andrea, who we met in Cartagena, were also staying at a near by hostel. Haning out with them was really cool, and we got together often for drinks or dinners. As time went on, Andrew became a tad bit restless with lying on the beach... so he decided to enroll in Spanish lessons. So every morning for 2 1/2 hours he went to school. His Spanish was always pretty good, but the extra lessons really took it to the next level.


The staff at our hostel were also really great! We became quite close to a young waiter named Luis Carlos. He was a really nice kid, but there was one problem... he couldn't speak any English. So we had to use our broken Spanish and a lot of sign language. One evening Luis Carlos, Andrew and I went to town to watch him play soccer. Let me tell you, the players in Colombia are tough cookies. Some of them played in bare feet without uttering one complaint about pain.


On our last night in Taganga we took Luis out for some drinks... we polished off a bottle of Aquarediente (which is a local liquor that tasted like watered down zambuca) Little Luis Carlos who was barely pushing 100lbs, was totally smashed and insisted in yelling in English that everyone was a Face Dick (instead of Dick Face, which was taught to him by other tourists). We found this very funny as Luis can hardly speak English.


After the other staff from our hostel got off work, we all went to a local club and hung out for the rest of the evening. The cool thing about that particular club was that there was a mixture of foreigners and locals there. Of course all the locals were dancing up a storm... as salsa is a talent that all Latin people seem to be born with. At the end of the night we all said our goodbyes, and as always it was time for Andrew and I to move on to another city. I think I even saw a few tears from Luis Carlos, as he had grown particularly fond of Andrew. It's always hard to leave a place, but especially a place where we have met such nice genuine people. Andrew and I will always have fond memories of Taganga.

Click on picture below to see the album in Picasa.

Taganga, Colombia pt. 2

~Nicola