Bye Bye TCN

I have been thinking of closing this blog for some time and today is the day!
I'm just in the process of saving my posts though so you have about an hour left

Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

It's Sunday. I woke up excited because Josiah promised that we'd go to the famous Sunday markets tonight. We tried going last Sunday but it started raining heavily. It's very difficult to haggle when rain is dripping down your face and into your mouth.

The rain stopped Monday morning and all week the skies have stayed clear, the weather's been hot and I've been looking forward to our 2nd attempt at the markets.  

I woke up this morning and guess what. 

It's raining. 

Correction: it's pouring.

It's now almost 11:30am and it's been going non-stop since 6:30 this morning.

And do you know WHY it's raining today.

Because it's a Sunday, and I wanted to go to the market.

That's why.

I was pouty for a few hours, but then I decided to think about happier times so I put together this photoblog of our 1st wedding anniversary which we celebrated just last week.

It's all G rated I promise (except for the food porn)

Our anniversary started early when Josiah booked
a surprise stay at the Amari Watergate in Bangkok
The room was nice, but the buffet breakfast was epic!!

Croissants, Blueberry Danishes,  
Cake for breakfast?
Pile them on!

There was also a salad bar (which I completely avoided)

And half a dozen types of cereal

Plus there was an Indian breakfast station (ew); an Asian section with delicious chicken skewers (and other dishes that looked like they were dinner?); a waffle and pancake stand; and the usual egg station. 
I ate so much at breakfast, a woman asked me in the elevator when my baby was due.

Baby? What baby?!

We did leave the hotel a couple of times to do some shopping. 
I can't go to Bangkok and not buy something. 
We saw these (chained) elephants outside a well-known shopping mall.
Quiet sad really.

We saw a disabled man who had chosen to sell wooden bracelets and hair clips instead of taking the easy option of begging. Full of admiration for him, I bought (a rather ugly) clip, and then we bought him some lunch

That's him there. He didn't seem interested in the lunch though, and put it off to the side. Perhaps he really doesn't like charity of any kind? Shame really. I never say no to free food.

After taking a horrid 18 hour overnight train from hell (which deserves its own post), we arrived to the Shangri-La looking and smelling like, well, we'd just spent 18 hours on an overnight train from hell. To their credit, the staff didn't ask us if we were lost. 

The Shangri-La
(taken last Sunday - you can see the storm clouds looming)

Instead we were whisked straight up to the Horizon Lounge and offered a complimentary breakfast since we'd arrived so early (it was 8am). 

Woohoo! Presidential Suite!

I think I was just a little too excited when I saw the note pad next to the toilet.
That's where all my epiphanies occur!
How did they know?

After deciding to go caffeine free last month in Cambodia

I went on a mocha drinking binge  

With drinks that look this beautiful,
there really wasn't any hope for resistance

Free desserts, canapes and alcohol in the club lounge
Or as we call it: The funnest way to gain 15 kilos in one weekend.

Being the heroes that we are, we still managed to find room for the celebratory bottle of Australian wine they brought up

The piano player in the lobby
Poor guy, no customers to play too
Everyone was upstairs enjoying the free booze

After our stay at the Shangri-La we moved across to another beautiful 5 star resort, 
the Siripanna Villa.

At half the price of the Shangri-La, 
I actually thought their rooms were nicer.
No all day free food though :(

the bathroom

I thought these elephants on my bed were really cute
But I'd have appreciated chocolate more

Here are some pictures Josiah took during our stroll around the resort

How unfortunate for that person at the back
Quite a stream

Apparently the Siripanna is set on 6 acres (smallest 6 acres I've ever seen, but ok). They have really put a lot of thought into the landscaping. There are rice fields, ponds and water features behind the resort. 

And in the mornin, I'm makin WOFFLES!!

So that's all I can be bothered uploading. I'm still hoping I'll get my trip to the markets tonight. Doesn't look good though :(

Our Apartment in Chiang Mai

After a wonderful week off to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary, we have finally tired of days spent lazing by the pool and stuffing ourselves on 5 star buffets. We're now motivated to get back into work and have found ourselves an airy top floor apartment overlooking Chiang Mai where we'll be staying for the next 3 weeks until our flight back to Australia.

Here's a few pictures I took before we began our favourite ritual called "The Great Unpacking", which invariably involves our stuff being thrown to every corner of the apartment and makes us look like hobbits.

There's also a gym on the first floor which Josiah says we'll make good use of but I'm not so sure seeing as though I'm so lazy I can't even be bothered to get the lift down to take a picture of it for this blog.

Toilet paper, not just for wiping

You know you're really slumming it when your door is full of loo paper.

The luxury room for $10 at Kha Vi Guesthouse, PP

Phnom Penh to Bangkok

"Travelling light" does not compute.
Among other things, in our possession we have 2 pots, a cheese grater,
and 5 half-used bottles of deodorant

We hate to make plans for the future but since our Cambodian visas were just about run, we had to pick a place to go next. So it's back to Bangkok we go, and our flight is tomorrow afternoon!
We only booked 40 kgs which to the average traveler is ample, but for us, well...we were forced to take a long hard look at our current luggage situation.

The problem is we haven't had to catch a plane for almost 2 months and in that time I may have done some shopping.

Ok, a LOT of shopping! Our bags are so heavy I get embarrassed every time we move hotels and the porter goes to lift a bag and can't even get it off the ground. Cue scoffs and/or hysterical laughter from the taxi driver who's been through the experience himself.

I've been hoping that somehow our stuff will magically get lighter, but alas, this hasn't happened and we may actually need to do something drastic.

So what did we do?

The same bloody thing that got us into this mess!!

For once, yes, we actually wanted a tuk tuk

MOAR SHOPPING. Believe me, I don't know how it happened, but one second we were in our room at the guesthouse and the next we were in the famous Russian markets and I was haggling with a store woman over another pair of jeans. In my defense, the clothes are WAY cheaper here than in Thailand. And because they have designer brand clothing factories right here in PP, the clothes that don't quite make the cut for export end up at the markets (specifically the "Russian" Market).

MOAR BAGS!!!

Josiah being the brains in this relationship, cleverly thought that the best solution to our luggage problem would be to simply buy MORE BAGS! (It made sense at the time). Lucky for us there were lots to choose from! Big ones, small ones, leather ones, hard ones, cloth ones, broken ones....take your pick!


Tonight, I've decided to do a good purge of all my old stuff to make way for the new. I'll confess that I am a bit of a hoarder. In fact, the t-shirt I'm wearing right now is one I bought from Tight-Rope in Indooroopilly back in 2006. Now that's quality.

Cambodia. Where a ceiling fan is also a shelf.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Our room while we stayed at Serendipity beach.
It smelt like a damp, mouldy, shoe.
I thought I was going to die.
We left asap the next morning.

Cambodia Day 2: After reading so many positive reviews about Otres beach, we decided to check it out for ourselves. 

A motorcycle ride was the cheapest option so Josiah and I both hopped on behind the driver. To its credit, the motorcycle only sank about an inch. It was an uncomfortable and bumpy ride, with me squished in the middle. Whenever we'd go over a bump, either Josiah would slide forward or the driver would slide backwards. Either way I'd end up with even less space than I had a second earlier.

No doubt all you could see was 2 men on a bike with 4 really white limbs jutting outwards between them.

Otres beach – wow! I'm normally not a beachy person but this made me want to run into the water and forget how the ocean is really just a giant sewage vat for whales.

We spent a few hours there, sipping cocktails and watching the sun set over the sea. The food in Cambodia is the strangest mix of the usual Asian cuisine (curries etc) and Western staples (baguettes are REALLY popular here and they're eaten almost as often as rice). 

The most exciting thing I saw all day though was when we stopped in at the local supermarket: 1L bottle of Grey Goose Vodka for only $25. And Baileys was going for $10. 

$10!!

I'll finish my post here because my guess is you're either writing up a list of the alcohol that you want me to buy for you (I'm talking about you April) or you're booking a one way ticket over.

Ever since I saw 'I am Ledgend'
I always think about zombies when the sun starts to set

I call this photo "Optimistic Fisherman"
Cause even I know there's nothing but rubbish left in the Gulf of Thailand

Cambodian New Year Celebrations

The power cut out just as I was about to post this picture. To my utter and complete devastation, the horrible little concert going on next door continued unabated.

At the risk of sounding like an intolerant tourist, I really can't stand listening to their "traditional-music-meets-electric-guitar" mix anymore.

Wow, it's a full house tonight...