Sobering, confronting and depressing, are only a few words that come to mind when experiencing the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Horrific, evil, heinous, nauseating, unspeakable and harrowing are just some that can be used to describe what went on there between 1975 and 1979; a 3 year, 8 month, and 20 day period in Cambodia’s history that decimated the population. Before Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge were driven out of Cambodia by their own defectors and the Vietnamese Army, Pol Pot’s regime had killed an approximately 2 – 3,000000 people… more than 25% of the Cambodian population.
Are you travelling on a budget? Always wanted to do a cooking class? Me too! I have always wanted to learn to cook food from a different country, in that country, by a native of that country… know what I mean? I don’t want to learn to cook Khmer food in Australia by a New Zealander for example. I’m a good cook, and I cook a huge variety of food. Thai, Indonesian, Italian, French and good old Aussie roo on the BBQ, to name but a few. BUT this was my chance to learn to cook Khmer food from a Khmer chef! FOR ONLY USD$10!!!! It was cheap enough that Dwayne also chose to do it with me. And let me tell you it is a lot of fun doing it as a couple.
Angkor Archaeological Park is an astonishing place full of ancient temples. The 400 square kilometre archaeological park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. The park is home to literally dozens of ancient temples in varied condition from complete ruin to well conserved. We visited many of them during our stay in Siem Reap. Four of the temples stood out, each in their own unique way. Angkor Wat is immense, Bayon is known for it’s carved faces, Ta Prohm is only semi cleared of the jungle that encroached it, and Banteay Srei is small, intricate and beautiful…
There is an abundance of things to see and do in Kuala Lumpur. We only brushed the surface with the things we did during our six days and nights. We stayed in Chinatown before moving to Hotel 99 in the Bukit Bintang area. Both these areas, within walking distance from each other, had good public transport and there was a lot to see and do. The public transport was easy to use… the trains more so than the buses. The many train lines have good, easy to read, timetables and a search on the web will deliver all the details you need beforehand to tell you the closest station to where you are and what train you need to get where you want to go.
After the relative peacefulness of Gili Air, Kuta during the holiday season appeared pandemonic. The chaotic cacophony was made worse by the heat in the un-air-conditioned van that slowly made its way through the congested convoluted streets. Upon arrival at the hotel we found there had been an error in the booking and three of us did not have a room. Following a long exhausting debate over what we should, could and would do, Dwayne, Alex and I went and found another hotel room for a couple of nights. The disorder at the next hotel would have been comedic had I not been so tired…
We arrived in Bali on the 12th of December 2014 and got a berth at Bali Marina in Benoa. My mum always told me if you have nothing nice to say about something, don’t say anything at all. So I just say it was convenient to leave the boat there while we stayed in a villa with the kids. The boat was safe. The AUS $35 per night was too expensive for what you get… or not get as the case may be. Electricity and water cost extra. We needed to stay in the marina to keep our freezer going…. which is something we may have to rethink. I have no photos to show you as there was a sign that prohibited taking photo of the marina…