Ancient Temples and Our Search for Paradise

After enduring a 6 hour bus ride (which was a cultural experience in itself) we arrived at Siem Reap, Cambodia, ready to be awed by the temples of Angkor Wat. We hired a guide and tuk-tuk driver and hit the temples early the next morning. My favourite was Ta Prohm. The massive trees that have taken over the temples made it all seem so ancient. Stephane's favourite was the main temple of Angkor Wat. This is the temple that is the most intact and he enjoyed being able to see the architecture in its original state. At the end of the day, we climbed one of the temples and joined the masses to watch the sunset over Angkor Wat and then made our way back to our hotel for a much anticipated swim in the hotel pool.

The next day we flew into Krabi, Thailand, and after much debate about which island we should go to to find paradise we left for Koh Phi Phi. We arrived by ferry and although we thought it was incredibly beautiful, the crowds were not doing it for us, so we hopped onto a long tail boat to find a quieter bay. We arrived at Long Beach and found a fantastic bungalow up on the cliffs which had great views. We were also able to hike across to another bay and find an even more isolated beach that we claimed as ours for a morning. The water was the most beautiful colour of turquoise, so amazingly clear and warm as a bath. It made for wonderful snorkeling.

We are now slowly starting our long journey home. We're returning to Bangkok to catch a flight home, from the airport on Phuket Island. We have just a few days left, so we're making the most of them by staying at a lovely quiet beach resort on the north eastern tip of Phuket. Life's good and we're savouring every moment!

Love and hugs, and see you all soon!

Polly and Stephane

House Building in Cambodia

We stepped out of the Phnom Pehn airport straight into Tuk-tuk-moto-car madness - every man for himself. Families on motorcycles, cars heading into oncoming traffic and trucks crossing the center line are all par for the course on these busy streets it seems. Our little tuk-tuk weaved in and out of the mayhem and safely deposited us at our hotel where we met our house building group, which consisted of 1 other Canadian, 3 Americans, 1 New Zealander, 1 Singaporean.

The next morning was an orientation day, where we met the founder of Tabitha who spoke to us about our project as well as Cambodia's terrible recent history. Following the meeting we were taken to S21, a former high-school converted in the 70's by the Khmer Rouge into a prison/interrogation/torture compond. Next was a very sobering visit to the Killing Fields. The orientation day was meant to give some context to our experience here. Although it was short, we feel that it was very effective in doing just that. What these people have been through, and the repercussions that continue to flow from the Khmer Rouge regime of the later 70's, is terrible to see. Yet even with all this, there is much evidence that the country and its people are working hard to make things better.

The house building took place in a rural village about an hour and half's drive from Phnom Penh. It was difficult to witness the poverty in the village, but it was wonderful to interact with its people. The many warm smiles, humorous attempts at conversation and playful times with the village children made for lovely memories.

There's no doubt the housebuilding was at times challenging (extreme heat and humidity, trying to get nails in straight during torrential downpours, etc.), but we loved every sticky, sweaty minute of it. It was truly rewarding to be able to see the impact this organization has on the lives of these people. The picture above (the one with the village children) shows a typical hut that some of the villagers lived in before we built their new houses. Huts like this get swept away each year in the rainy season and must be rebuilt. Now, with a solid house built on stilts, this will no longer be a worry for these families.

As we were leaving on the last day, it began to rain. It was a great moment as we drove away and watched the families go into their houses for the first time.

Lovin' Laos

Our flight from Bangkok to Luang Prabang, Laos, was 1 hr 15 min, but once we'd landed it felt like it was worlds away. Luang Prabang is a Unesco World Heritatage site, with a population of just over 100,000. We've been having an incredible time here and would highly recommend it. It has an interesting mix of asian and french colonial influences, which is seen in both the architechture and food (had amazing coffee and baguette for breakfast, for example, and then a fantastic lemongrass curry for dinner). In addition, it is chock full of "wats," or temples. These have their own unique Lao style and are a sight to behold. Each temple has its resident monks, ranging in age from about 10 to 20. There seem to be hundreds around the city.

We've also been visting temples in neighbouring villages and checking out the local crafts, as well as spending time doing not much other than wandering the streets (slowly, because it's so incredibly hot!!), and sitting down often for a cold drink.

We've also been to Tet Sae Waterfalls - amazing - about a half hour tuk-tuk ride from Luang Prabang (followed by a short boat ride up river). We had a bit of a swim in the pools and climbed up the limestone falls. Lovely and refreshing (did I mention how hot it is here?).

This morning we rose at 5:30am to watch the alms procession of Buddhist monks which takes place every morning. Hundreds of monks donning saffron robes making their way through the streets made for an incredible scene. A very peaceful way to start our day and the perfect way to end our time in Luang Prabang. Later in the afternoon, we made our way to the capital, Vientiene. We're only in Vientiene for a day, a stop over on the way to Phnom Penh (Cambodia), but it's given us the chance to check out a few of the main sights, one of which was That Louang, an amazing and beautiful golden temple.

Tomorrow, we're off to Phnom Penh to meet our housebuilding team and get started on the house building project!

We're doing great and hope you all are too.

Love,

Polly and Stephane

Bangkok Adventures

We got into Bangkok in the middle of the night, after a very long 24 hour journey, which took us through Seoul and Taipei. Suprisingly, we've suffered very little jetlag! The first day we were up and touring around the city, negotiating our first tuk-tuk rides, brushing off the occasional con-artists and eating amazing Thai food at the night markets! We've been loving the 17 cent chicken skewers and the $2.50 dinners for two. Yesterday we headed to see the sights of Bangkok - massive reclining buddahs and sparkling temples.

Today we're off to Luang Prabang in Laos where the pace will likely be a lot slower than the craziness we experienced in Bangkok. We're happy to be escaping the urban jungle and hope to soon be lazing by the Mekong River .

We're off to catch our plane!

Getting ready to go...

We're getting ready to go: planning, packing (carry on luggage only!), washing, organizing (not necessarily in that order). We purchased a camera that we hope will survive the journey. It's water proof (good for monsoons), dust proof (good for the big cities - Bangkok, Phnom Penh), and sand proof (good for the beach!). We're hoping to be able to update this blog and upload pictures every few days. Stay tuned!

Tomorrow, we're off to Bangkok. We'll be there for about 3 or 4 days, getting over our jet-lag, visiting sites, eating yummy food, and plunging into culture shock, maybe in the back of a tuk-tuk, with smiles spread wide across our faces!

Gotta go pack!!

Love,

Polly and Stephane