Travel – Page 3 – Old & Lost

31 March 2018 – Singapore – Day 2 – How Did We Do So Much in One Day?

Published on March 31, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

We had a great sleep and enjoyed our breakfast that was included. They had a good selection of food I would eat, which is always a bonus, as you never know what the breakfast options are going to be. Coffee was okay also.

We were fed and out before 10:30 which was great as we wanted to do the river cruise.

Just down the street from our hotel was this temple. Not sure what they had lit, but they looked like giant firecrackers to me. Believe it or not, we did NOT stop to check it out.

We crossed over the river to book a river cruise.

Tickets in hand we went in search of washrooms before the cruise tour began. Always seem to be searching for washrooms. Our dollar is almost on par with the Singapore dollar, which makes it great for conversion in my mind.

Headed right back and boarding was just about to begin. We headed to the back of the boat to sit outside. Hoping we would get great views of everything. Thankfully today was a little overcast and we shouldn’t be fried, like we often are.

The River Cruise would take us from Clarkes Quay to the Marina Bay and back.

The sky was starting to clear and the sun was trying to come out

We got back to the dock and decided to wander around riverside area checking out menus of the cafes and pubs. We thought we might come back one evening. That never did happen, but if we ever go back, we will make it happen.

Doug’s favorite wine, Shiraz. YUCK!

By now it was afternoon, as in after 1200 hrs, and we were getting tired and thirsty. Only so much water a person can drink, right? So we looked at a few menus and found a place we could afford. This place looked nice and had cheap beer for Singapore.

We relaxed and enjoyed a couple of cold beers on the riverside.

Wandered up the side streets to see what was around.

Some streets were better than others. Came across this cool vending machine. Can’t say we have ever seen a Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice vending machine before.

We found a Starbucks, but not only was it a Starbucks, it was also where the Canadian Embassy is. Okay Paden, we have found the place for you to get a job so we can visit.

Here is a picture of the old with the new architecture.

We had ended up in Chinatown again and yes, there was a temple that was calling our names.

This was the Sri Mariamman Temple. A Hindu temple and looked very similar to the temple that we had visited in Kuala Lumpur a few days ago. After a while, all these temples start to look a like.

We headed back to the hotel and had an early dinner at the little cafe, the baker & cook, again. I had the same as last night, quiche and salad. Doug also had the same tonight. Did some laundry, as they had laundry facilities, which is always exciting, and chatted with an Aussie couple in the laundry room. It was some nice down time. Then back to the room to relax for a while, but not for long!!!

We were heading to the Gardens by the Bay for the night time light show that was in the Supertree Grove.

We were going to take the MRT there. Unfortunately, but fortunately, we got off at the wrong stop and felt totally lost. Fortunate thing was, apparently a lot of people got off at the wrong stop, so we just followed the crowds. We were on the wrong side of the river and had to cross over the Helix Bridge that is pictured above. As we were crossing over, the light show on the Art Science Museum started. It was awesome. I only got a few photos though as we were walking across the bridge and still a little ways away.

The music and light show was INCREDIBLE. Here are just a few photos that I took. The first one shows the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

You could pay to go up onto the walkway that you can see in the photo below. I would love to to do this some time, but Doug won’t do it. I really hope to get back here one day.

This is my most favorite photo of the night

We followed the crowds and found the correct MRT stop to get back to the hotel. Of course you had to cut through a shopping mall to get to the MRT, but talk about a cool shopping mall.

If it hadn’t of been for following the crowds, we still may be wandering around looking for the MRT stop. We managed to find the right train line and get off at the correct stop! We should be proud of ourselves, especially after a long day. 15,468 steps to be exact, but who has been counting? Here is what we saw walking back to the hotel from the MRT stop.

Once we got back to the hotel, we sat in outdoor lounging area, and Doug enjoyed a pint of very expensive draught beer. He said “it was worth it!” I must have been very tired, as I have no pictures of it or the bill! Called it a night!

29 March 2018 – Kuala Lumpur – Day 5 – Batu Caves

Published on March 29, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

I was up early and out on our balcony, looking around. Thought I would take some pictures that shows what I saw, the not so nice/clean areas. Our hotel, the Ramada Suites by Wyndham, was amazing and two streets over was Changkat Butik Bintang, the street with all the bars, clubs and restaurants.

Garbage collection at it’s finest. Didn’t empty the green bin and left piles of garbage on the ground

Since our Hop On/Hop Off bus tickets were good for 24 hours we were able to utilize it again this morning to get to the KL Sentral Bus Terminal. Yes, we did get the Hop On/Hop Off bus from the stop that was much closer to our hotel. In fact, it was right by the McDonalds that we ate at last night. From the KL Sentral Bus terminal, they bussed us to Sentul to catch the KTM line which took us to the Batu Caves in the mountains. Took us a while to figure out how to get there and where to go. Have to say, that we kind of surprised ourselves that we made it, with no issues or without getting lost.

A very short walk from the station and we were there. Quite a spectacular sight to see, I might say, even with all the maintenance scaffolding around. The staircase up to the entrance of the largest cave, Cathedral Cave aka Temple Cave and a 140 foot tall gold painted statue of Lord Murugan.

At the bottom of the stairs, there is a sign asking visitors to help out by carrying a brick or pail of sand to the top. I don’t think they were talking about me. We were still trying to figure out whether or not we, or I, would even make it up the 272 steps to the Hindu Shrine inside the huge cave in the mountain. We had to do the stairs in segments and take a rest in between. I have no idea how some of these people managed to get up here.

There were so many monkeys, actually, they are macaques, but none of them entered any of the caves. It was surprising, so we wondered if they had some kind of electronic device set up to keep the monkeys out.

One of the monkey’s tried to grab our Gatorade out of Doug’s hand. But Doug held on tight and won. We had been warned about the monkeys from Paden. You had to keep everything put away or it was fair game to the monkeys.

Once inside the cave it was so cool…..but so HOT & HUMID. The sweat was just dripping off me.

But the scenery was great. Too bad there were so much refurbishment going on though. It was huge inside!

Never fear, there were more stairs!

Time to head back down now.

Dark Cave. Ah shucks! Advance booking required. We did NOT do this cave and tour. After reading the sign, there was NO WAY in hell I would do that tour!!!!. “The highlight of the trip will be our infamous Crawl Passage and viewing the trapdoor spider in their natural habitats. There will be elements of climbing, sliding and of course, the epic crawl! Expect to get wet and dirty.” DEFINITELY NO WAY!!!!

I did take a few pictures in the entrance way, as the rock colours were amazing.

It was apparently cruise ship day today and we saw lots of people from the cruise ships. Chatted with one guy as he was asking if we thought they had time to go to the top and back. They had something like 30 minutes there. Crazy short amount of time to see such an amazing place. Really happy we weren’t doing this on a cruise ship excursion.

We wanted to see the Ramayana Cave also, but had to wait a bit for the ticket sales office to open.

While we were waiting we got to watch this guy for a bit. He was pretty big!

Once inside the cave, it was so different from the Cathedral Cave. It was so vibrant and all but filled with fluorescent lighting, Almost freakish. But never fear, this cave also came with more steps inside. Yes, we did go up them. There weren’t too many people inside here. I guess they just didn’t want to pay to go in.

I feel like these are an optical illusion. Are they going up or are they going down? I know the answer!

Getting the subway back was easy peasy now. We were subway pros and managed to get back to The Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.
We decided to eat at Quivo, a restaurant in the Pavilion Mall, that I had seen people eating scrumptious looking onion rings at. We ordered a couple pints of draft and onion rings, to be followed by fajitas, that we shared. Onions rings looked a lot better than they tasted, but were still good. Fajitas were average, but what did I really expect?

For dessert we headed to Cold Stone Creamery and Doug got ice cream. Yum Yum Yum For some odd reason I decided to get a pretzel and took no pictures of my pretzel.

We headed back to hotel to pack for our flights to Singapore tomorrow. But, for one last time we just had to pass through rat alley where there about 5 rats scurrying around. GOODBYE RATS!!!

P.S. Saw this guy on the way to the bus this morning!

24 March 2018 – Koh Rong Sanloem – Day 3 – Survivor Beach – Sok San Beach on Koh Rong

Published on March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

Our private excursion was booked to depart at 1000 hours and was to take 1 1/2 hours to get to Sok San Beach. We were going on a long tail boat, which is not the most comfortable mode of transportation in my opinion. We made our way down the beach to the kiosk after breakfast. Turns out we weren’t going to have the tour guide that we had booked, as he and his wife had an emergency with their dog, and were going to have to take it to the vet on the mainland. So we were given a local. This was disappointing as his English was not good at all.

There was lots of great scenery on the way and we saw what looked like many resorts along the beaches.

Bottom Left is the Sara Resort, where we are staying

Passed a boat with what looked like a typical excursion group onboard. So happy we booked a private one.

The dock that they usually tie up to was kind of out of order and so we were dropped off at the next dock. Unfortunately, our guide could not stay there and would come back for us. We arranged a time to meet up and headed on our way to hopefully find the Survivor beach.

We appeared to be in a local village and proceeded to ask a few locals if they knew where Survivor had taken place. Most did not speak English and had no idea what we were talking about, even when we mentioned Survivor. This wasn’t looking to good. Were we even in the right place?

We found a path off to the left and took it. Ended up at a dried up waterfall and so turned around and headed back to the village.

We came across this place and went in to ask if they knew where Survivor had taken place. He mentioned that there were the remains of one challenge set up between a couple of buildings and set us off in that direction.

We SCORED and felt like a couple of kids in a candy shop, so excited to have found one of the challenges. Apparently, Julia had won this immunity challenge from Season 32, Episode 9 “It’s Psychological Warfare” which aired April 13, 2016.

We still really wanted to find the flags that Paden and Christine had found when they were here last year and so set off back down the beach to find the little bar where they had seen the flags. They had also found another challenge that had been set up on the beach. There was this set up and spoke to the person working on it, hoping he knew if this was another Survivor challenge. He told us that they had taken away the Survivor challenges and were setting up some games as the Prince or King of Cambodia was visiting the following week.

Have I mentioned lately how HOT and HUMID it is here? The beach was long and wide open with no shade. It was just spectacular fine white HOT sand. We walked for what seemed like hours and hours, but in reality was probably around 1 km. We were pretty disappointed as we came across no such bar so finally gave in and turned back.

We decided to take a hidden road that we had seen back as walking in the hot sand was difficult and we were tired from both the heat and the walking.

We came across the large resort near the end of the road and we were cutting through the bar area when I looked over to my right…OMG there they were!!! Survivor Flags!!! They had been moved to behind the check-in desk of the resort. We tried taking a few selfies, but finally asked one of the ladies to take a picture of us both with the flags. Our day had been made.

Headed back to the dock to be picked up by our guide and we were off to snorkel. Snorkeling was just okay and it was difficult to climb in and out of the long boat, so we only did one stop. Doug wasn’t snorkeling anyways. Plus we were tired from the long trek along the beach in the HOT sun.

Enjoyed the ride back to our resort on Koh Rong Sanloem and spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around on the beach enjoying a beverage or two or three. I enjoyed Sex on the Sara, while Doug had one of his usual favorites, Mojito.

We stayed on the beach until it got dark as we were just too tired to bother to move. Finally got up and had dinner at the resort, as we apparently don’t tend to venture out far to eat.

Total tally for today’s Fitbit count is 15,052 steps and the equivalent of 42 floors. That was all the up and down on the beach in the sand. No wonder we were tired.

Tomorrow is another travel day. One day I would like to go back to this island and hope to experience the beautiful beaches and crystal clear waters without all the jungle debris from the storms.

22 March 2018 – Travel Day – Sihanoukville to Koh Rong Sanloem – Day 1

Published on March 22, 2021March 24, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

Today was a travel day to the island of Koh Rong Sanloem. We had bought our ferry tickets already, which included a transfer from our guest house to the ferry dock. Our pick up time was 1130 to catch ferry that departs at 1200.

We waited and waited and waited. Saw taxis and tuk-tuks come and go along the street, but none came for us. The owners saw us still sitting there and we mentioned that our ride hadn’t shown yet. Waited some more. Finally the owner got a hold of the ferry company and discovered that they had forgotten to pick us up. By now it was 1155, so the owners grabbed us a tuk-tuk from outside of our BnB/Guest House to get us there. The owner phoned the ferry company back to let them know that we were on our way. They were going to pay for the tuk-tuk as we had already paid for transportation with our ferry tickets, which we had purchased through them. I am guessing that the ferry company will reimburse them the transfer portion. We arrived at the dock around 1205 and the ferry had already pulled away, but was in the process of coming back to get us! Thank God as these ferries fill up days in advance. We had to jump from dock onto the boat, which was about 3 feet, while we were still wearing our day packs. It was scary!! Also didn’t get to take any pictures.

The 45 minute trip was a little rough as we were in a rain storm. Quite a bad rain storm.

Once we arrived at Koh Rong Samloem’s dock we had to walk across a very narrow wooden plank to get from the ferry to the dock. Not everyone was disembarking, as this ferry makes a few stops. The luggage was being thrown off the boat, which was a distance of approximately 3 1/2 feet to a crew member who would catch it before it landed on the dock, not always successfully. A wheelchair came flying out first, barely being caught. It was a scary sight to watch.

It was STILL raining!!!

We walked to the end of the pier only to discover that there was NO ROAD and that we would have to walk down the beach to our accommodations. We were able to find shelter where we converted our big backpacks to back-carrying packs, as we usually just rolled them along on their back wheels. However, the wheels were not good for off road. We had to get the harness out and cover up the wheels. After putting on their rain covers and hefting them onto our backs, we attached our day packs, which also had rain covers to our front. Big packs on our backs and day packs on our fronts, we headed off down the beach. Since my backpacks weighed approximately 51 lbs and Doug’s were lighter, he carried mine.
According to maps.me our lodging was 1 mile down the beach. Surprise! Maps.me showed the accommodations being in the wrong place and it was SO MUCH FURTHER!!

We checked in the Sara Resort. This is a refurbished resort with new owners as of December 2017. It was really quite nice. But not with issues thanks to the big storms that were going on. This was causing toilet issues and the toilet would not fill with water after flushing. Plus all the water was brown.We were hungry and decided to grab a pizza, beer and dessert.

Now it was time to relax and enjoy the sunshine. Watched a delivery arrive which was quite fascinating.We had a nice dinner at the resort, but it was not cheap here considering we are still in Cambodia.We enjoyed watching a kid practice his fire twirling talents.

There was another BIG storm during the night.

21 March 2018 – Sihanoukville – Day 2 – Will it Rain?

Published on March 21, 2021April 23, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

I had a great sleep last night. Probably because I was exhausted and may have taken a sleeping pill. I needed sleep. Woke up feeling like a new person. Headed to breakfast by the river. Breakfast was great. Coffee was dark looking but had a medium taste. Good enough to enjoy a second cup.

The water in the river is a little low but that allowed us to observe tadpoles slithering around. Dunk themselves in the water and back onto the mud. It was quite entertaining.

Saw a few different birds but the Kingfishers were just stunning. An indigo blue colour from the back. It’s as if they knew I was trying to take their pictures as they just wouldn’t let me get a good one.

A few locals were ‘fishing’. He would bonk the fish with his machete type instrument and then throw the fish to his buddy standing on the bridge. A talent I would think not many possess. After breakfast we did some hand laundry.

So hot here we are hoping it will dry…..turned out it’s too humid and not drying. There was rain in the forecast for 10:00 am. Didn’t happen but some dark clouds all day. Guess we’ll be packing some wet clothing tomorrow as it’s another travel day. Sihanoukville was really only a place to stop to arrange the ferry. Turned into a great place to work on our blog as their wifi actually works. Hadn’t been able to upload photos for a few days. Took a few photos of the ‘resort’

We headed out to walk the beach. If we went right it would take us along Ochheuteal Beach and into town. The resort owner, Gerald told us this morning that going left would take us to Otres Beach and was a shorter walk. We opted for the shorter beach to start with. Cambodia along with many SE Asia countries just don’t realize just how beautiful their country is. Garbage EVERYWHERE! Just disgusting.As you get closer to the restaurants and accommodations, the beach was much cleaner, but definitely not clean by North American standards. It is such a shame. Take a week and clean it all up and this would be a true Paradise.We stopped at The Bamboo Restaurant & Bar to enjoy a beverage and just take in some of the scenery. Maybe to relax a little too.

We took a different route on the way back and discovered what seemed to be a little ‘resort’ at the top of the hill. They even had what looked very similar to Canada Geese.

So Our blog name is Old & Lost. We just had a great chuckle this afternoon as Doug is watching the series Lost on Netflix…….OLD (Doug) & LOST (Netflix series). Doesn’t take much to amuse us! LOL. The time we are spending here is rest time. We really need it.

We enjoyed some delicious Spring Rolls and a couple glasses of wine. Later we headed back to the restaurant to enjoy dinner by the river.

20 March 2018 – Travel Day – Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Published on March 20, 2021April 23, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

We had an early pickup for the bus today, so we were up early to get breakfast. Breakfast was once again pathetic. So happy to be leaving this hotel.

The bus showed up 15 minutes early. Good thing we were ready and just about to head down anyways.

We were the first two to be picked up and got to see many new areas of Phnom Penh City. I think we must have been staying in the grungiest area of the city as there appeared to be lots of nice areas. Not that we would ever go back, but if we did, I would stay in a better area. We had chosen our area of town to stay as it was close to the Kings Palace. Guess it was a mistake.

Our drive to Sihanoukville took approximately 5 hours once we got on our way. Traffic getting out of the city was totally insane. Until you have experienced it, you wouldn’t believe it. One way streets and then there is a scooter or a car coming at you. Doesn’t seem to phase anyone except us. LOL. We drove through jungle like terrain with the roads lined with palms trees and small villages. Mountains in the background, with some really beautiful scenery. Driving on the other hand was a little harey scary at times with all the passing going on. No pictures of the passing but saw this on the way. This guy had lost a cushion a few kilometres back.

Even saw a random cow every now and then, either walking along the road or crossing the road. There was pretty much everything on this road.

This is where we stopped for our bathroom break. The washrooms were really nice, especially by Cambodian standards.

Loved their Canadian Maple Leaf umbrella!

The bus took us right to our resort which was great since it turns out we are definitely out of the way. We are staying at Spayhiti Resort. It’s rated #1 of 242 in the B&B / guest houses category on a Trip Advisor in Sihanoukville. Great by Cambodian standards, but not 5 star by Canadian standards. Got all checked in which involved ringing a big brass bell to get service and being shown to our room. Room was nice.

Received our welcome drinks, which were a couple of beers and sat out on our patio to enjoy them. Ordered some food, fish and chips for Doug and fried noodles with chicken for me, which they brought to us, as their eating area is currently being reroofed. Not sure what it’s being reroofed with. I only saw large palm fronds heading in that direction.

Their ‘Chef’ is from France. They seem to be very proud of that. Food was good but it’s not like they will be cooking up French Cuisine here.

We made a new friend while sitting out.

It was a great, quiet, lazy day. Part of the reason we have stopped here, is to rest up.

19 March 2018 – Phnom Penh – Day 3 – Who is Conning Who?

Published on March 19, 2021March 24, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

Today was going to be a busy day. We had arranged with the travel agent to hire a driver for the day to take us to see the Killing Fields, S-21 Museum, Watt Phnom and the Independence Monument. This also involved quite a bit of driving as the Killing Fields/The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center was approximately 15 km southeast of the city. It doesn’t sound too far unless you are battling rush ‘hours’ traffic in Phnom Penh. From the distance and length of time it took to get from our hotel I am guessing we were not located at the southeast edge of the city. Traffic was insane here but that seems to be the norm for all of these SE Asia cities.
Pick up time was 9:00 am from our hotel and the driver was right on time. We had paid US$35 but this was only for the driver and did not include admission to the Killing Fields or the S-21 Museum. Still a pretty good deal in my opinion. Here are a few sites we saw on our way.

The ticket pictures show admission being US$3 to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center and US$3 for the audio headset. For some reason I thought it was more than that but honestly don’t remember now.

Choeung Ek is the most well-known of over 300 killing fields throughout Cambodia.

It is a sad place with a story to be told. A horrific story of how it was while the Khmer Rouge was in power. How they murdered close to 2 million people.

Many of the stops are now just a picture and a sign with a brief description. The narratives were more detailed and excellent. Very moving.

Locals came up to the fence begging for money. It was so sad to see. Above bottom right is Logan Orchard were people were worked to death by Angkar

From here we basically drove in silence as we processed what we had just seen.
Once we got back to the city of Phnom Penh I saw this building, Ashley Furniture. Same company we have at home.

Our next stop was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum also known as Security Prison S 21, Interrogation and Detention Center of the Khmer Rouge. One of what I understand was many similar prisons. This had been the Tuol Svay Prey High School in the city, but was taken over in 1975. Again very moving with an important story to be told and to be remembered. Between the years of 1975 and 1978 more than 17,000 prisoners were held here and later taken to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center to be murdered. They would take before and sometimes after torturing pictures of each person who arrived here. Everything and everyone was well documented. Unfortunately, our driver did not give us enough time to tour the whole complex. Our admission ($5 US) and audio tour ($3 US) was so full of information.
Since we were running into rush hour traffic again, (I’m starting to think that it is always rush hour here), we didn’t really stop and get to see the National Monument. Our driver just pulled to the side of the road and I hopped out to grab a photo from there. Was a little disappointed in this especially since it was part of the package we had arranged. We also drove by the Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house.

From here we headed off to the Watt Phnom which is in Phnom Penh. It was built-in 1372 and is the tallest religious structure in this city. Our driver gave us around 30 minutes to tour here. Foreigners once again had to pay, but only US$1.

I thought that 30 minutes was not going to be enough time but it turned out to be plenty. Though it looked like a large temple and grounds from the road it really wasn’t and we finished in 20 minutes.
Our driver dropped us back at our hotel around 3:00. Have to say that it was really great having our own driver and not dealing with a bus load of people at every stop.
We rested up for a very short bit and then headed out search of food. We hadn’t eaten since our breakfast at the hotel. We headed back down to the main road by the water as this is where most of the restaurants seemed to be in our area. It was always so hard for me to find something that I would eat. We stopped and looked at many menus along the road and then decided to head back to one of the first places we had seen, Pka Chan Restaurant & Bar. Draft beer was cheap as it was Happy Hour. I know surprise, surprise. It always seems to be Happy Hour in Phnom Penh. Menu also had a good selection of food with reasonable prices.

Since I was starving we ordered a jug of Anchor Draft and a plate of spring rolls to start while we looked over the menu and decided on what to eat. Doug chose beef tacos and I went with chicken satay. Both were delicious and my satay serving was so large that I gave Doug one to eat. There was no way I could eat all three of them. But of course I had room for dessert! The ice cream with Baileys on it just sounded too good to resist. Doug ordered strawberry ice cream with no Baileys and I ordered vanilla ice cream with Baileys. Both came with Baileys! LOL The ice cream was more expensive than the jug of beer.

Total for our meal with a jug of beer was $21.75 US. There is a story behind this next picture.

There was a guy sitting at the table next to us who ordered Spaghetti Napoli with chicken. I know this because it appeared on our bill but was crossed off. He finished before us and was paying his bill with a $100 US bill. The waitress went to the bar to settle the bill but came back to him explaining she did not have enough change for the $100 bill. He had nothing else, so she went outside, to do what I assume was to try to find someone who could change the $100 bill, but she had no success. Next she was back saying to him that it was a fake (counterfeit) $100 US bill. She did not know the word counterfeit, but you definitely could tell what she was saying. He argued with her about this, saying that the bill wasn’t counterfeit for quite a while, but finally he offered to pay with his credit card which was declined so he tried with another credit card which was then accepted. He left the restaurant only to return a very short time later. He approached the bartender and was accusing him of making a switch, as the bill in question was not the one he had given the waitress. Next up, appeared another lady, who we are assuming was the management or owner. The bits and pieces that we picked up were in reference to calling the police and calling lawyers. So that is why I took a picture of our bill with the money that we were paying with. This wasn’t going to happen to us if in fact the restaurant did pull a change of bills on him. Guess we will never know the outcome of it. Neither side were backing down by the time we left and there were even more people involved in the ‘discussion’ by then.

After all this excitement we headed back to hotel and had a nap, snapping a few photos along the way. You can see the Monks robes hanging out to dry.
Not a high paying job by Canadian standards.

Later that night we headed to the Circle K that we had found on our street to pick up bottled water and snacks. On our very short trip there we had the pleasure of seeing a huge rat running along in the gutter. Gross!!! I will NEVER get used to rats!! Back to the room to pack up for tomorrow’s bus trip to Sihanoukville.

17 March 2018 – Travel Day – Battambang to Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Day 1

Published on March 17, 2021April 23, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

We had to get up early at 0700 to catch our bus (actually 11-passenger van) to Phnom Penh at 0830. No need for a taxi or should I say a Tuk-Tuk to take us to the bus station as it was just around the corner and down the street from our hotel. We had picked up a couple of extra donuts and a slice of a rolled cake for this morning’s breakfast and had them with some water. Didn’t really want coffee as the buses didn’t seem to have washrooms on them and you never knew if or when the bus would actually stop for a bathroom break. As we left Battambang I snapped a few pictures.

The trip took 5 hours with only one 20-minute rest stop break. The bus finally stopped for the break after approximately 3 hours of travel. I have to say that the rest stop could have used a little sprucing up in the washroom department.

As we got closer to Phnom Penh we noticed more and more police ‘directing’ traffic. Not sure how effective they are standing on the sides like this.

After checking into the Silver River Hotel we were extremely happy to find that this hotel finally had an elevator. Of course I took some pictures of the room and ‘admired’ our view. Room was quite nice, but the ‘view’ left a bit to be desired. This is what you get when you book the cheapest room in a hotel on Expedia. What more could you want for $46.00 a nights, taxes and fees in?

Since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast we headed out in search of food and to see the surrounding area. Came across a restaurant, Angkor Mithona on the corner of our street and there were people in here eating and enjoying a beverage. Our indicator that the restaurant might be okay. It was Happy Hour. Turns out there is lots of happy hours in Phnom Penh. So we headed in and selected a table beside the road. After all we need to enjoy our view. Ordered a couple of COLD draft beers and a pepperoni pizza. Both were pretty good and once again I can’t believe I don’t have any pictures. I’m starting to think my iCloud is loosing some of my picture.

After our bellies were full we continued to tour around and headed over to what seemed to be the main street down by the river. Came across a travel agent and booked our next “bus” for 20 March to Sihanoukville, Cambodia in the country’s south-west on the Gulf of Thailand.

On the way to the travel agent we had passed by a couple of bakeries, so on our way back the temptation got the better of us and I guess we weren’t as full as we had thought we were. We decided to stop at a pastry shop and enjoyed desserts and yes you guessed it, iced vanilla lattes. Desserts were okay but definitely not good enough to go back again.

We headed across the street to walk around the riverfront park. There were many of these beautiful trees along the path.

There were so many people begging for money. Some seemed to be in real rough shape and many others were missing limbs. We gave money to a couple of legless street people but had to stop as there were just so many of them. We actually crossed the street and out of this area as it was a very uncomfortable feeling there were that many. Further along the street we crossed back over to take a few pictures of the flags that lined the pathway.

We are not sure if there was some special event going on or whether it was just an ordinary Saturday night down by the river and the Royal Palace but there were hundreds of people and venders setting up. Saw this little guy on the right playing in the water naked as could be.

Also many people lined up for this building. I’m guessing it was for some religious event they participate in as they all seemed to be coming out with bouquets of the same flowers and stopping to do something .

Since the sun would be setting soon we or should I say I decided to wait around to photo the Royal Palace at sunset.

Stopped at a Circle K mini-mart, similar to a 7 Eleven (which are now popping up back home in Ottawa) to buy water and Gatorade. We love Circle K as they usually have the snacks we enjoy…..Pringles, Oreos and Ritz crackers…..LOL This is often where I get my random snack of the day to photograph.

We were ready to head back to the hotel as we had hand laundry to do (when don’t we?) and wanted to work on the blog if the wifi and internet were strong enough.

While relaxing we managed to eat a whole can of Pringles and drank the Gatorade and liters of water to replace electrolytes (especially sodium and potassium) that our bodies lost in this wretched heat. Today had been one of the hottest days we have encountered so far and as we all know everyday has been HOT!

15 March 2018 – Battambang, Cambodia – Day 2 – Bamboo Train

Published on April 17, 2018March 24, 2021 by Old&LostLeave a comment

Got up this morning and had plans to visit the Bamboo Train and Banyon Hill Temple, but first we had to find some breakfast. This hotel did not include breakfast although you could purchase breakfast. We got dressed and headed down the stairs…..all 67 of them.

We checked out the hotels breakfast menu and decided to look elsewhere. We were lucky to find a bakery on the next corner and then a Cafe Amazon a block away from the bakery. Enjoyed a nutritious breakfast.

Headed back to the hotel as we wanted to contact the Tuk-Tuk driver that we had yesterday hoping he would be available for the day. He had given us his card so the hotel phoned him. He would be there shortly. To our surprise someone else showed up saying his friend was busy and had sent him. Wasn’t too sure about it, but the hotel confirmed his story. Turned out that there are three Tuk-Tuk drivers who operate a little company called Battambang Handicraft Tours. Odd name, but if you’re ever in Battambang, Cambodia, contact them as they are terrific as we found out. Our driver’s name was Peter and he would drive us for the day. It would cost us $20US. Sounded great to us. As we left, Peter asked if we minded if we stopped by his apartment as he had forgotten his sunglasses. No problem. Turned out he only lived a few streets away. Then he asked if we would like to see more of the country side on our way to the Bamboo Train instead of just going on the highway. That sounded great to us. He drove through a village to a bridge that they refer to as The Golden Gate Bridge. From the side it was a similar shape, but definitely not similar materials.

While standing on the bridge, Peter explained to us some of the ways they catch fish there. They have some very ingenious methods.

Then it was time for us to move aside as a motor scooter wanted to cross and the bridge was pretty narrow.

We continued on the country roads until we came to a small farm where we stopped again.

Peter guided us through the farm, about an acre and a half and explained to us their methods and what this particular farmer was growing. I can’t remember what this first vegetable was, but the grassy stuff was lemongrass. He told us how when he was younger he would have to get up early and help out on their farm before going to school.

We continued along the back country roads along a river until we had to stop. The road was closed off. Turned out this little village was having a wedding today and had closed the road down for their reception area. We had to go back and get on the highway after all.

It was still a great ride along the highway and we saw a portion that was lined on both sides with these beautiful yellow flowering’s trees. Just looked gorgeous.

A little further along the school children were heading home for their 2-hour lunch break. Some had motor scooters, some bicycles. and many had to walk. They go to school in the mornings from 7:00 to 11:00. Then many go to a different school in the afternoons such as Chinese school.

Can’t say I have ever seen a traffic sign with a Tuk-Tuk on it before.

We soon came to the Bamboo Train. Apparently they have moved it since our son rode it in 2017. They said that it had become unsafe and therefore relocated it. It is still a work in progress. We rode through the countryside for about 20 minutes then got off while they turned our cart around. While it only took seconds to turn the cart, they had us hang around about 15 minutes. I’m guessing in hope that we would purchase something from the stalls. There was an Australian couple and a British woman on the cart in front of us and we stood around and chatted for the break.

From here we headed to Banon Hill Temple. Going there we weren’t sure we would be able to climb the steps, but wanted to see. We have been surprised a few times and have been able to. This temple had 358 steps.

We got there and thought it might not be too bad and started up.

After about 20 steps we realized there was no way we would be able to do it. They were all different heights and depths. Makes it that much harder so took a selfie instead. There was also a photo shoot going on. Not sure if it was a wedding or not.

It was so hot here and there was a stand that had smoothies. That sounded so good that we decided to get some. We offered to buy our driver, Peter, one, but he opted for a large bottle of water. Smart move on his part as all your water has to be bought here.

We headed back to our hotel to rest up before our night, as we were going to the Circus. Peter would be back for us at 6:00 pm.

The circus is put on by underprivileged kids. Paden had told us about it and just raved about it, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss it. They told a story with their circus acts. Let me say…..it was AMAZING! These kids have so much talent. Hope they make it far in life.

As we were sitting waiting for the show to start we see the Australian couple and British woman from this afternoon arrive and sit in the next section beside us. They still had their guide with them. They all saw us and we all waved.

Peter, our driver was back at 8:30 pm to pick us up. Since we hadn’t eaten dinner we had Peter drop us off at the same restaurant we had eaten at yesterday, the White Rose. As we’re walking in to sit down, who do we see, but the Aussies and the Brit again with their guide. So just who’s following who now?

We had told Peter we would walk back to our hotel so he could go home and relax. After dinner we actually decided to take a Tuk-Tuk, so just grabbed one on the street. Not sure which was scarier, the walk the night before or tonight’s Tuk-Tuk ride. First off he had no headlight and then he got lost and didn’t know how to get to our hotel. This made me nervous. Our hotel, was actually only two turns from the restaurant. Thankfully, he found someone and asked them where our hotel was. We got back safe and sound. Time for bed for us as we have another busy day with Peter tomorrow.

14 March 2018 – Travel Day – Siem Reap to Battambang, Cambodia – Day 1

Published on March 31, 2018March 14, 2022 by Old&LostLeave a comment

Today was another travel day. Even though Battambang is spelled ‘Battambang’ it is actually pronounced ‘Battambong’.

After a nice breakfast beside the pool we packed up our stuff and relaxed by the pool for an hour or so.

We had booked a bus to Battambang for 2:00 pm through the hotel. The cost was $7.00 US each. Can’t go wrong with that price. The bus company, Mekong, were to pick us up between 1:00 and 2:00. Cutting it a bit close for a 2:00 departure. The pick up van showed up about 1:45. Had one more pickup after us and then to the bus depot. We were on our way. A mid- size passenger van with 12 people. The trip was only 77 km but would take between 3 and 4 hours depending on traffic and road conditions. There was a lot of construction along the way, mainly off to the side, as it appears they are putting in a new drainage system and expanding the road to 4 lanes.

Areas of Cambodia are spotless. No garbage anywhere and in other places there is so much garbage thrown around. It’s not as bad as Vietnam was but will be if they don’t get a grip on it. It appears that they burn a lot of their garbage as you will see piles on fire here and there. Our tour guide was saying that they don’t have a recycling plan in place so the plastics just pile up. You can see that as you drive around the country. Sad as it’s a beautiful country.

This is the dry season and so many of the cows and horses are skin and bones. Once the rainy season comes the grass grows lush and the livestock fatten up. There is grass around just not lots. Even though it is dry season the trees are full of beautiful flowers as are the plants.

Many of the fields have been plowed just waiting for the rain to come. I think they said it should start in July. They don’t get monsoon type rain, just some rain most days during the rainy season. Saw a few groups of men ‘playing’ in the ponds. Water looked so dirty – you can’t drink the water here.

As we drove along we got to see many homes. A few looked very luxurious but some were just a floor and roof with hammocks hanging on them. Many are built on stilts and they seem to hang out under their homes. The sun is brutal here.

You can see in places that it appears the family now had more money, as they are building new homes beside the old ones. Just can’t imagine what their lives are like. We just have so much compared to these people. I left my flip flops behind that I had bought when we were on our excursion on Koh Phangan. We left them on purpose. Hope whoever was cleaning our room can use them. Washed them all up (they had only been worn once) and left them on the pillow with the money tip.

Passed a large groups of Monks marching for some cause. Didn’t get the reason, but they had the road tied up for a few minutes.

Just saw 5 people on a scooter. 3 adults and 2 kids. We can barely fit that in a car.

Took us a little over 3 hours to get to Battambang. The hotel was only 1/2 km away but we decided to take a Tuk-Tuk as it was only $1 US and there didn’t really appear to be any sidewalks. Tuk-Tuk driver gave us a map with his contact info on it. We will probably call him tomorrow to use for the day.

We got to our hotel, Asia hotel. We were booked on the 3rd floor. It took us a couple of trips to get all our packs up our room. There must have been a thousand steps for each floor. Thanks Paden for recommending this hotel. We got spoiled in our last 2 hotels because they had elevators. There was actually 67 steps…..every time we went up or down.

The sink was the smallest, lowest one I think we have ever seen. So tiny. The room was fine after all we were only paying $20 US a night.

After resting up a bit we headed out go find some dinner. Our hotel was in the middle of what appeared to be mechanicsville. No place around where we could eat. We got the directions to ‘downtown’ and walked. Didn’t feel the safest, but we made it there. There are also plenty of security guards watching either shops or the streets. We couldn’t determine which.