Home at last...

Well it’s been almost 18 months away but we have now been home for a little under a week. We certainly enjoyed the whole trip but its also been good to be home. Over the last month, since our last post, we saw plenty more sights and had one hell of a good time.

In Phnom Penh we saw plenty of sights which were interesting but also disturbing at the same time as most were related to the Kyhmer Rouge’s reign of terror. We visited the Killing Fields as well as Tuol Sleng museum which was basically the school turned prision used to torture and kill thousands of Cambodians. Some rooms are simply a battered bed and a photo of the dead inhabitant that was in it when the prison was liberated. Having travelled through a lot of Europe that was touched by the holocaust I thought we would be able to cope with these kinds of images, but in many ways they were worse.

Next up we thought we should get to somewhere that was totally diferent, so we headed to Sen Monorom which is a sleepy village close to Vietnam. We found a ranch like guest house with great veiws of the rolling green hills. In the morning we headed out for the reason we came, which was to spend a day riding elephants through the jungle, through rivers and ended up at a great waterfall/swimming hole. We even had a chance to wash the elephants which was a highlight for Robyn being the elephant lover she is.

From Sen Monorom, our next stop was to be Ko Phi Phi in southern Thailand. We jumped on the next bus back to Bangkok and 2 days later we arrived. We spent a couple more days shopping and also took the chance to head to the Tiger Temple where we were able to pat live tigers. After that we headed south for a couple of days of fun in the sun. Koh Phi Phi was a stunning Island where we spent our time relaxing and snorkelling, which was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the bigger citys.

From Koh Phi Phi we headed into Malaysia and started in Penang. Penang is an Island that was colonised by the English and is also where my Dad was born and my Grandparents live. I had not been there for a little over 15 years and it was Robyn’s first trip there. We stayed with my grandparents which was great. The rest of our time in Penang was made up of two things. Eating and shopping. My Auntie and her best friend made sure we always did enough of both.

Next stop was to visit the Cameron Highlands which is an area in the middle of Malaysia that as the name suggestes is higher and therefore cooler than the rest of the country. Because of the climate they are able to grow things like tea, strawberries, thousands of varieties of flowers and they are also famous for honey. We spent a couple of days there and visted many of the things just mentioned.

From there we headed to Taman Negara National Park where we did two things of note. Firstly we walked along a canopy in the trees that was suspended 50 metres above the ground and secondly we spent a night in an animal hide (for viewing animals). The hide was a 5 hour walk into the jungle and we spent hours waiting and watching with only glimpses of monkeys in the distance and squirrels on the roof. It wasn’t until 9:30 in the evening that the main attraction walked by. We were lucky enough that a wild elephant chose the water hole close by and it spent most of the night drinking and eating. Seeing the elephant more than made up for the four giant rats that also shared the hide with us. Luckily, a guide and a machette took care of them for us.

From Taman Nagara we headed towards Singapore but had a days stop in Kuala Lumpar to have our final dose of Malaysian Hawker dishes. Our four days in Singapore were much like our time in Penang as we were staying with my Auntie, it didn’t help that the Singapore sale was on while we were there. Needless to say, we had full backpacks. We also managed to visit the Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari which were both world class.

Anyway, I think I’ve waffled on long enough. We had a great time in Asia and it was a great way to finish up the 18 month holiday. Here are some photos of our time in South East Asia.

The reclining Budda in Bangkok, Thailand

Having a drink on the street in Bangkok, Thailand

A Cambodian sunset while waiting for a tire change

Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

A view from the top of Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

An overgrown temple of Angkor, Cambodia

Angkor Wat at sunset

Monks enjoying the sunset

Curry in a coconut, Cambodia

One of the poorest, but friendliest towns we’ve seen. Sen Monorom, Cambodia

The waterfall that we rode the elephants to in Sen Monorom, Cambodia

Glen making an elephant friend

Robs cleaning the elephant

The elephant once again

A glimpse of the rolling green hills of Sen Monorom

One of many beautiful sunsets

Glen and Robs hitting the road

Our mode of transport in Sen Monorom

The floating market just outside Bangkok

Tiger Temple, Thailand

Tiger Temple, Thailand

Our bamboo hut on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

The look out spot of Koh Phi Phi

The monkeys of Monkey Beach

A lagoon of Phi Phi Lay (the small island)

Maya Bay, where Leo filmed “The Beach”

Maya Bay again

Robs enjoying the sun

Glen and his grand parents (Kong Kong and Ma Ma) in Penang, Malaysia

The tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia

Robyn walking along the canopy walk in Taman Negara National Park, Malaysia

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Arghhhhh! Glen at Sentosa Island in Singapore

China Town in Singapore

Glen after a hard days shopping

Well thats it for now. We will finish up next week with some top 5 lists, as we have been asked so many time what the highlights of our trip were. We hope you have enjoyed reading and viewing the blog as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you. We hope to catch up with you all at some point, including those of you who we met along the way and don’t live in Australia. You are all welcome to come and stay with us.

Cheers from us,

Glen and Robyn