Siem Reap

We've had a really good week here in Siem Reap. First, its a bit of a luxury trip for us. We're in a decent four star hotel rather than our usual three star or less. It's called the Angkor Holiday Hotel. It's a rather soulless design catering to tour groups but it's very clean and comfortable with aircon, a pool, a good breakfast buffet and our own safe in the room. The place is only two years old. The service from the staff is outstanding - friendly, prompt and eager.

After a week here, one of my strongest impressions is just how nice the people of Cambodia are. They're very polite and courteous but friendly too. Always quick to smile and laugh. Vendors aren't pushy except for a few around the temples. They regularly go out of their way to help you. Out of all the places I've been, no country has a nicer people.

We've had our own private van with driver as well as an English speaking guide to take us everywhere and look after us every day. This has made it a dead easy trip. Of course, we've done dozens of temples but there's hundreds in the area. I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed with Angkor Wat. It's interesting with some fabulous base reliefs but not awe inspiring - even when we saw the sunrise over it. However, Angkor Thom (aka the Tomb Raider temple) definitely lived up to its reputation. Fantastic. We also saw the temple at Beng Mealea which is in a state of total ruin and covered by overgrowth. Very atmospheric with few tourists. Overall, the temples were well worth coming here too see.

We also managed a few excursions further afield. The floating villages of Tonle Sap were interesting. The one at Chong Kneas is too touristy but Kompong Phluk was worth seeing. We even got paddled about a flooded forest. The whole pace of life centered around the ebb and flow of the massive Tonle Sap lake is fascinating.

We also visited the reclining Buddha at Kulen National Park. It's the only place I've seen beggars so far. The Thousand Linga was interesting. Basically a thousand phallic symbols turn the river holy. Ok, there's a lot more explanation needed but I've learned Hinduism is very complicated and I certainly can't explain all this penis envy. We had lunch at a beautiful waterfall downstream where there were few tourists and plenty of Cambodians splash about.

The best part of traveling Cambodia is just watching people go about their daily life. Jenny describes it as being very much like rural Malaysia 30 years ago. There are still bullock carts but motorscooters provide the main form of transportation. They're used for everything from transporting pigs to stacks of mattresses to families of five. It's a very poor country with few modern conveniences and not even simple machinery. It's a simple life and a hard life but I'm sure they have much stronger communities than what we have in the West.

We spent a day teaching at a local primary school. It was a great experience that I'll write up in more detail later. The school didn't even have electricity or running water. It was fabulous meeting the children and our kids had a chance to help teach them English.

Today is our last day here. Jenny managed to take a cooking course at a local cooking school while the kids and I went to see the Land Mine Museum. Land mines are still an horrendous problem here. In fact, there seem to be hundreds of good causes and we've felt compelled to donate to quite a few. It feels wrong that such a nice people have so many troubles.

Tags: Travel, Cambodia

Off to Cambodia

Tomorrow we're on the road again. We have a two week tour of Cambodia that I arranged with Sage Insights (update: Sage Insights is now called AboutAsia Travel). This is a complete change as usually we do everything ourselves but Sage put together a compelling itinerary for a reasonable price and the profits go to a good cause. One of the highlights of the trip will be volunteering as a family at a local primary school. It should be a great eye-opener for the kids (and us!). We're also spending four days in Bangkok since Jenny's never been there. It was a horrid city twenty years ago when I last went but maybe its got better.

Tags: Travel

Diving Bali

Recently got back from ten days in Bali with Jenny and her brother John. It's the least I've ever been prepared for a trip. I didn't even have a guidebook or a map! But my focus was on diving rather than culture so my only preparation was reading about the various diving locations.

We arrived and immediately jumped into a taxi for a two hour drive up to Amed. Along the way, I realised to my horror that I had left my Samsung T9 MP3 player on the airplane. Doh! I'm pretty good at losing small things and now tend to avoid buying expensive mobile high tech gadgets. The T9 was an excellent little device but I ought to get something bigger so I'm less likely to lose it. On the return trip, I filed a lost report with AirAsia but I doubt I'll see it again.

I expected Bali to be a lot more "developed" than what I saw on that taxi ride. I was quite pleased that it wasn't. Amed is primarily a fishing village and most people go about their daily struggle to earn a living amid a few tourists. We checked in to the Three Brothers guest house. John had a small bungalow right on the beach front to himself while Jenny and I took a larger one just one row back. Clean and comfortable and we got them both for 200,000 rupiah. That's $23 US a night! No aircon but we had a fan and an occasional breeze. We also quickly arranged four days of diving with Ecodivers. Diving was $60 US per person per day with full equipment hire but John negotiated a 15% discount since it was low season.

The diving was absolutely superb; better than the Red Sea. The wreck of the USS Liberty in Tulamben was excellent but there are even better and much less crowded sites in the area. There's a huge variety of sea life and healthy soft and hard corals abound. Some of the highlights were bumhead fish, three octopusses and a pygmy sea horse. Saw my first shark. It was just a small white tip about 2m long. Plenty of anthias, jack, parrot, scorpion, lion, angel and a billion other fish I can't identify. Suffice it to say, there's lots of look at.

The best dive was a Gili Silang - greatest profusion of corals I've ever seen. They just carpet the sea floor. It was a very worrisome dive though as it can potentially become a toilet bowl with bubbles going down rather than up. That's freaky. You have to respect the currents. We also hit a thermocline where the temperature dropped from 29C to 21C.

Ecodivers was ok but they were a bit lacking on checks and some of their equipment is rather old. But their service was fine. We had a mix of shore drives and jukung dives. Jukungs are small outrigger fishing boats that can only hold three people. You have to put your kit on and take it off while in the water. I was a bit dubious about this at first but it works well and the trips were short. The diving is very easy with little swell and gentle drifts. Visibility was generally about 15m. Diving heaven!

After four days and eight dives, we decided to take a break. Ubud caught our interest as offering a bit of culture so we took a taxi there and settled into Gusti's Guesthouse. Two clean and simple rooms cost us 280,000 rupiah ($32 USD) each night but again, there's no aircon; just a fan. Gusti's is built on a ravine going down to a river and has a beautiful garden setting. Across from Gusti's is Roda's restaurant which has excellent food at great prices.

At first we were only going to stay two nights but we extended it to three nights. John and Jenny were keen to do some shopping so I relented. There's tons of art and handicrafts and none of it is very expensive. We also took in a couple of cultural dance performances. I'm a bit cynical about performances for tourists but actually they were very good and I quite enjoyed them. Best of all, I fulfilled a minor ambition to watch a live gamelan performance. I love the sound of a gamelan when it's played slow and meditatively.

We spent our last two nights on Nusa Lembongan which is a tiny island just north of Nusa Penida. We got there on the public ferry which turns out to be just an oversized jukung. There's no dock; you have to wade through the water to get onboard. We stayed at Tetuk's Lonsoms gettings two rooms for 300,000 rupiah a night. Ours was on the first floor with a veranda overlooking the beach. Fantastic!

We managed a day of diving with World Diving which is owned by some Australians and run very professionally. They have a large jukung fitted out as a dive boat. Altogether, there were 12 of us diving the day we went out and we soon made friends with a few of them.

The islands have a wicked reputation for strong currents and cold water so we donned 5mm full length wetsuits with hoods. However, it turned out that the water was a warm 28C and the drift was gentle. On the first dive, we saw two massive mola mola. Unbelievable! It's a rare sighting especially given the conditions and season. It was a great thrill to watch these gentle giants. The second dive wasn't eventful but the extensive corals and sea life was still very rewarding.

While onshore, we wandered around the broad sandy beach watching the locals farm seaweed and sat around some of the beachside restaurants. We also wached some cockfighting which is barbaric as you might imagine. We also rented some motorscooters and spent a couple of hours exploring the coast eventually finding a placed called Dream Beach to have a cold beer.

The last day, we got back to the mainland and hired a taxi for 400,000 rupiah for the entire day. He drove us all over the southern part of the island with us getting him to stop at a variety of shops and temples. We checked out Kuta Beach and the more developed parts of Bali which cater much more extensively to the western ideal of a beach holiday.

This has been one of the nicest trips I've ever done. You get fabulous diving, an interesting culture and beautiful scenerey with excellent value for money. On the downside, it's very hot and humid and you regularly get bitten. The food gets a bit monotonous too. I'd certainly consider going back.

Tags: Travel, Indonesia, Scuba+Diving

R* Turns 12

We're now in Kuala Lumpur living at my in-laws. This is going to be our home away from home for the next seven months.  Yep, SEVEN months. It's a long time eating just rice and noodles. As you would expect, it's hot and sunny and dreary England is a long way away. No winter for us this year!

Today is also my daughters' birthday. She's turned 12 and is more like a young adult every day. It's a bit hard celebrating birthdays when you're travelling. We gave her a Calvin Klein Swiss-made watch that she picked out for herself yesterday and later this afternoon, we're off to a theme park inside a mall. And there's bithday money burning a hole in her pocket.

Today, I also need to pack my bags. Tomorrow, Jenny and I are flying to Bali to get in ten days of scuba diving all along the east coast. Jenny's brother is coming with us. He's a divemaster and has dived the area before. But that's all of us. The kids are staying behind since we can't look after them while diving. I'm really looking forward to getting back into some serious diving. We haven't done much diving since 2004 when we went to Egypt.

Tags: Family

Travel Lessons

So we learned a few things doing this last trip.

Our kids, at this age, do not do scenery. I doubt many kids care about scenery. We spent a bit too much time driving around beautiful places and would plan for less of it next time. Driving with bored kids is never fun . Audio books are the best way we know to pass the time in the car.

It's better to book accommodation in advance. While booking at the last minute offers a lot of flexibility, it also wastes a lot of time and finding room for a family of four is harder than if you're just a couple. Next time, we book it all.

We learned that we can't take our kids somewhere, show them something historic and then try to get them interested in it. It doesn't work that well. They need to know something about what they're going to see before we get there and then they're more likely to be interested. This means building in more time into the itinerary for learning about what we're going to see. See less and understand more.

If you travel Europe and you need Internet access, take a laptop. Internet cafes are few and far between but wifi is everywhere.

With kids it's all about "doing" and activities. We have to keep reminding ourselves that and not just rushing around and "seeing". The kids always seem to like climibing up to the tops of places.

On a long trip, we need to plan on more free days where you don't have any plans and can just take it easy and get the laundry done. We tended to have these days when someone ran out of underwear!

Tags: Travel

Rome Again

Our last day back in Rome was a wash out. We spent ages tracking down places to stay and being Monday, the places we wanted to go were closed. Doh! Bad timing. We had hoped to either go to Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa or Ostia Antica. Instead, we just did a little wandering around Frascati. Bit of a waste really.

If you're ever flying out of Ciampino airport (eg with Easyjet) and need to stay nearby, I can highly recommend a hotel called Hotel Dei Consoli.

There was ugly traffic getting the airport and the flight was delayed by almost an hour but we got back the UK just fine. I must confess I felt pretty excited to arrive home at last. It's great to be back. We took over 3400 pictures. I'll try and get some posted soon.

Tags: Travel, Italy

Around Naples

For the last three days of our trip, we rented a car in Sorrento drove back to Rome.

Driving is a bit of a nightmare in Italy but you just learn to keep cool, expect the unexpected and make slow deliberate maneuvers. And you don't expect anyone to stick to any rules. You don't even get lines on motorways sometimes!

But I really wanted to drive the Amalfi coast myself. It's just one of those things. In fact, I'm starting to hatch an ambition to drive all the famous roads I can think of.

By the time I managed to drive from the rental car office back to our apartment, I was already a stressed out wreck. I got stuck blocking traffic because I couldn't figure out how to get the Renault Scenic into reverse and instead had to push the car out of the way while I had some Italian yelling at me. It was a bad start. And it took me ages to figure out how to get to the apartment to pick up the family. French cars and Italian roads; what a nightmare.

We got on our way and I drove around the Massa Lubrense, Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi and on to Positano and Amalfi. Yes, it's a beautiful part of the world and the driving can be crazy. At one point, I drove through a wedding congregation. It wasn't my fault; they were all over the road. I would have liked to explore Amalfi but we didn't have time. Minori looked like a good place to have a family holiday. It has a beach and isn't as famous as the other coastal towns.

We stopped in Vietri sul Mare for lunch, gelati and so Jenny could buy some pottery for which they're famous.

By sunset, we made it down to Paestum to see the famous Greek temple down there. Unfortuantely, the archeological park had closed by 3:30 so we could only look at it from the fence. It's the second largest next to the Parthenon.

We then drove all the way up to Pompei and found a place to stay so that we could get to Vesuvius the next morning.

The next day, we soon found our way to the Vesuvius parking lot and hiked up the last few hundred meters. It's one of the best things we did. It is quite inspiring to look into the throat of an active volcano. There's even a little bit a steam and the smell of sulphur to go with the fantastic views. No, I wouldn't want to live with fifty miles of it.

Next stop was the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace) at Caserta - a "me too Versailles". The place was used in Star Wars Episode II as the Theed Palace on Naboo. We had to take a bus inside the grounds to get to the gardens its so big. It has a famous botanical garden that was nice to wander around. We didn't go inside.

Then it was back on the road to Rome.

Tags: Travel, Italy

Sorrento

I'm back in the UK catching up on these blog posts.

The train from Rome to Naples went smoothly. We had bought the ticket the day before which was a bit tedious. Whenever possible, we learned to avoid any kind of Italian bureacracy and queuing. It's very slow with tellers not working particularly hard and its easy to get in the wrong line and get sent to the back of another one.

From the station, it was easy to catch the Circumvesuviana train over to Sorrento. Public infrastructure in Italy attracts a great deal of graffiti and it seems to intensify the further south you travel. The train and the many stations were all well covered.

Our apartment at the Coultur Suites was excellent. It had a view of the (grande) harbour and was fitted out to a high standard. It's only drawback was that it was a bit small and the kitchen was underequiped. The kids are always excited when we get to a new place and immediately loved it.

Sorrento is tremendously touristy and was packed with many elderly travellers. Many of them are day trippers from cruise ships that drop anchor in the bay. It didn't feel like shoulder season so it must be horrendous in high season. If I was to go again, I would stay up in the Massa Lubrense but then you would also need a car and its less convenient than being near all the public transport.

We did all the typical sights in the area. Luckily the weather stayed very good except for a couple of bouts of heavy rain.

We took the cable car from Castellammare di Stabia up to the top of Mount Montesanto. Unfortunately, the last car down was at 4:30 and we got there late so we only got about an hour up at the top. Fantastic views and a great place to go for a walk. Well worth it but you need to go early.

We took a fast catamaran out to Capri. It does live up to its reputation as a beautiful island but it swarms with tourists even at this time of year. Jenny took the kids to see the Blue Grotto while I hiked by myself to Villa Jovi. Ceasar Augustus acquired Capri and started the building of the villa. Tiberius lived there for the last 10 years of his reign. The views from the remains of the villa are absolutely fantastic - especially from the cliff that Tiberius supposedly threw his victims. If you're into sun and fashion shopping, Capri would be a good holiday.

The highlight of the area was visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum. They are very well worth it and the kids were really well engaged in discovering what was there. We spent six hours exploring Pompeii and didn't cover it all. We're sorry that we missed the Villa of Mysteries. It's a huge place. Herculaneum is much smaller but we spent about four hours there too. Both sites really allow you to image what the Roman world might have been like. It's particulary interesting seeing all the mosaics and wall fresco's in place. Herculaneum even has two story buildings and the remains of carbonised wood.

We also took a fast catamaran across the bay to Naples and visited the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. This is a "must do" since all the best finds from Pompei and Herculaneum are there on display.

Naples itself I found to be a very intimidating city and I've traveled through some pretty scummy places in my life. We had dinner in Naples and walked through the streets to the train station in the evening and I certainly didn't feel safe. It's a jumbled, noisy, decrepid, intense city. That said, the shopping and restaurants offer much better value for money. I'm sure there must be nice parts of Naples and there's plenty more to see. I'd like to explore it but without any valuables and without children in tow.

Tags: Travel, Italy

Rome

Finally got to an Internet cafe here in Sorrento and got some time to catch up.

The train from Milan to Rome was excellent - a fast Eurostar. We were worried about buying the tickets on the day we were travelling but it turned out that wasn't a problem. The ride was smooth with plenty of leg room. Much better than flying.

From the train station in Rome, it was't far to our apartment near the Spanish Steps. I was very pleasantly surprised when we got there. I usually brace myself for disappointment when we arrive at any apartment. Picture and descriptions don't often match reality. However, in this case, it was much better. It was large and nicely decorated. A cafe was right next door where I enjoyed my morning coffee over the week. The only drawback was that it was a very noisy location. Rome is an incredibly noisy city. I mean, ITS REALLY NOISY!!. Started to drive me nuts.

We covered all the main sites of the historic area of Rome. We didn't bother with the Vatican museum - 7 kilometers of displays is a bit overwhelming and I didn't think the Sistine Chapel was worth a long wait in a queue with the kids. We did climb to the top of St Peters and enjoy the spectacular view of Rome from up there. We visited several churches, Piazza's, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Colleseum, the Forum, Circus Maximus, Boca Verita, etc. The museum on the Capitoline hill was excellent. We also visited the National Museum.

We took the Archeobus out to see the Appian Way and visit the catacombes. Unfortunately, we had picked the wrong day as one of the catacombes was closed but the catacombs of St Sebastian were open so we visited those. It was bit silly driving down the tiny Appian Way in a huge tourist bus. It would have been much nicer to rent bikes but didn't manage to organise it. 

The challenge of course is to make all these things interesting and relevant to the kids. We bought some more books and tried our best to explain some of the history. We spent quite a bit of time studying church architecture. The big lesson we learned was that we need to prepare the kids a lot more about what they're going to see before we get there rather than take them somewhere and then try to answer the question "what was that". To make up for that, we did try to take things quite slow. In the colleseum, we gave the kids time to just sit and draw what they were seeing.

The last day was a bit of disaster.

It started off well. We we went to Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini where they've used the bones of 4,000 monks to decorate the crypt. Quite something and well worth seeing.

Next we went took the metro out to the EUR to see the Civil Museum which has a large model of ancient Rome. We got there and discovered they had gone on strike so they wouldn't let us in. Overall, we've learned its very very important to check opening times here in Italy.

In the interest of escaping the constant traffic and noise we next decided to go find some green space and the most obvious green space in Rome is Villa Borghese. While there we rented some bikes. Unfortunately, R* had an accident and badly scratch her face. Lots of blood and she was in a bit of shock. After deciding her nose wasn't broken, Jenny got her cleaned up at the zoo while I hunted down a taxi. We got home and set about nursing her better. She has been healing just fine.

Tags: Travel, Italy

Driving the Alps

So out of Munich we made our way to Neuschwanstein to see the famous fairytale castle of King Ludwig II. It was still pouring with rain when we got there so we voted not to visit and just take a couple of photo`s from the road. It is surrounded by autumn colours and would have be beautiful if there had been sunshine.

We stayed the night in Lindau. We arrived late and left early so we didn't see anything. I'm sure its a nice place in the summer.

Next day, the kids were curious about the tiny country of Leichenstein which was nearby so we visited there. It was a quick visit as there really isn't much too see. At least it wasn't raining.

We're now in Malters in a small family friendly hotel just outside of Lucerne. Today, we managed to drive in four countries: Germany, Austria, Leichenstein and Switzerland.

Overall, we've been driving too much and it hasn't been too fun for the kids. If the weather was better, we might have squeezed in more stops to enjoy some of beautiful scenery we've been passing through. We still have another day before we have to return the car back in Milan.

Tags: Travel, Germany

Dachau

So we did make it back to Oktoberfest in the evening and saw the lights from the top of the ferris wheel. However, it was raining quite heavy.

And it was still raining the next morning. We left Munich and dropped by the Dachau memorial on the way out. Dachau was the first concentration camp created by the Nazi's and was used for the whole 12 years the Nazi's were in power. It wasn't an extermination camp but rather a camp for political prisoners but it was horrendous nonetheless.

The museum is excellent and most text is in German and English. It was a grey and miserable day which set the mood appropriately. I think its good to expose the kids to how barbaric man can be to each other even in the modern age.

Tags: Travel, Germany

Munich

We've been in Munich two days now. The first day was warm and sunny so I couldn't resist going to the Oktoberfest right away. The kids loved the funfair and R* even tried a serious rollercoaster (Olympia Looping) and loved it. We managed to have lunch in a beer tent and soak in the atmosphere.

Late in the afternoon we wandered around the old centre of Munich and Jenny got in some shopping. It really is a pleasant city.

Today the weather has turned. It's our first day of rain and it's much colder. We spent the morning catching up with laundry and schoolwork and this afternoon we explored the massive Deutche Museum which claims to be one of the largest Science Museums there is. We only explored a fraction of it before it closed. I did manage to get my picture with a UNIVAC.

Hoping to get back to Oktoberfest tonight if the weather doesn't drown that ambition.

Tags: Travel, Germany

Obersalzburg

On the way up to Munich, we drove through Obersalzburg. Well, the satnav took me to the new Hotel Turkin which used to be next door to Hitler's Bergenhoff. We soon found our way to the car park and bus station from where you get tickets to visit Hitler's Eagles Nest.

This whole area is where members of the Third Reich had their homes. Their homes no longer exist but the network of bunkers are still there to be visited. We went into the Obersalzburg Museum but unfortunately, the displays were all in German. I tried explaining some of the imagery to the kids instead.

The mountain road up to the Eagles Nest is fantastic and the Eagles Nest itself doesn't disappoint in terms of the views. K* even found some snow to play with. We had lunch with cheeky black birds and a fantastic panorama. Its a good side trip from Salzberg but we made the mistake of going there on a Sunday near lunch time so it was very busy.

Tags: Travel, Germany

Salzburg

It took four hours to drive up to Salzburg from Venice yesterday. The trip went quickly listening to some stories, practising math and playing some games. The flat plains around Venice quickly erupt into the alps. It's a very pleasant drive on good motorways. My only complaint is that the tolls are not cheap.

As soon as we got into Austria, I bought a vignette (tax disc) so we could drive on the Austrian roads. It's only about 8 euros for a month.

Before reaching Salzburg, we made a detour to visit the salt mine at Bad Durrenburg. Salt has been mined here starting with the Celts a couple of thousand years ago. It was mined up until 1989 when it became uneconomical to compete against cheap imports.

It's a fun visit as you have to put on white overalls and ride a small train into the mine. Inside, you also use slides and a underground boat to get about the mine. At different points, you watch parts of a film which explains all about the salt mine. The tour guide gives the tour in both Deutsche and English. It's all very well done and I'm sure the kids will remember it.

We then checked into our guest haus a few miles up the road, the Hotel Sallerhof. Nice place! Excellent rooms and good service. The only drawback is that the breakfast is typically German - cold meats and bread.

Today we spent the day in Salzburg and celebrated Jenny's birthday.

First, we did the Sound of Music Tour (four hours) as Jenny is a big fan of the movie - saw various places the movie was filmed as well as places that played a role in the real lives of the Baron and Maria. Toured around the nearby scenery all to a backdrop of Sound of Music songs. And I wasn't cynical once!

We then got back to Salzburg and soon discovered the city was having a beer festival with tons and tons of stalls and a beer tent. Great timing for a visit! So we walked all over the places, visited the fortress on the hill and dined in a beer tent. Afterwards, we wandered about the fun fair too. Even the weather has been good - not as warm as Italy but blue skies and comfortable.

Tomorrow we head to Munich.

Tags: Travel, Austria