a brief stop in civilization

Hi Everyone,

It took some convincing, but we left Singapore this morning.  We arrived in Siem Reap this afternoon and after a great week checking out sights, visiting friends and drinking tap water (Yes, TAP WATER!!), we’re recharged and ready for a new adventure.

Singapore was GREAT! We stayed with our friends Owen and Melissa who are there teaching at an international school. They have the most beautiful condo and it was great to see them.  They were awesome hosts and helped us get around the city, and get us into a few places that the locals love and that we would have never known abouton our own.  We had such a good time with them in Singapore that we’ve threatened to post their condo on Trip Advisor with top ratings. Anyone who know’s these two should book a trip to visit them quickly before their guest room fills up and they start charging!

Singapore is an amazing city, and in the running for coolest city we’ve been to on the trip so far (other front runners include San Francisco and Bangkok).  It feels like the most forward thinking city we’ve been to, by quite a ways…as long as you don’t liter or chew gum and spit it on the streets  For a city/country as small as Singapore that has 5 million people, you’d think you’d feel  claustrophobic everywhere you go, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.  It’s incredibly green everywhere, with tons of parks, wide roads and side-walks, and great transit systems…it actually feels quite a bit more crowded in Calgary, which is either really good for Singapore…or really bad for Calgary.  Maybe a bit of both.

We were able to do quite a bit in Singapore.  Here are some of our stops:

The Singapore Zoo is pretty cool.  They’ve designed it so it’s open concept, which basically means that you can’t really tell that the animals are in a cage until you look a little closer.  They’ve got a lot of animals from tropical regions around the world as well as warmer climates.

A White Tiger at the zoo.

One day we went to Raffles Hotel to get a Singapore Sling from the original bar where it was invented.  It wasn’t that good, and our bill for 2 slings and an appetizer was about $70.  Nice.

Singapore’s downtown and financial districts are really modern and seems like a new building is going up all the time. Here is a view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino from across the bay.  It is designed to look like a ship on top of 3 buildings…

And in that ship on the 56th floor is where they have the worlds largest infinity pool.  Pretty cool sight actually. They were kind enough to let us take an elevator to the rough to see the view and the pool…for $40! We couldn’t get any closer than this because we didn’t drop $400+ on a hotel room in the resort.

A view of the financial district.

We also took some really high cable cars over to Santosa Island. It has basically been developed to take money from tourists in a variety of ways (Universal Studios, 4D movies, etc). Here’s where they took our money… The Street Luge. It was fun! Us with our ultra stylish helmets before doing the street luge.

The street luge course.

They had these solar-powered fans around downtown.  With the heat they had there, they are definitely required…and we were there in rainy season!

What’s that you have Ashlyn?  Tap water??  Sweeeeeeeet!!

This is the pool at Owen and Melissa’s condo.  Singapore is so awesome!

We had an amazing time in Singapore and hope to make it back again soon.  It was even better getting to visit some familiar faces for the stop.  Looking forward to seeing what’s in store for us in Cambodia.

Chris and Ashlyn

105 days… and counting!

OK, we realize it’s been a while.

Not having had much of an internet connection for a while, along with being in paradise and not wanting to be on the computer has made for not too many updates while in Thailand. We have now passed our 100 day mark and it seems like the updates are getting more sparse… as is the photo taking. We’re going to work on that!

We last wrote on New Years Day from Bangkok. Since then we have done some travel in Central Thailand and made our way down to the South Western Island of Phuket and Koh Phi Phi.

Thailand has been a mix of emotions for us. Although it is beautiful, it’s sure not what I remembered. Our stay in the Central part of the country was a nice getaway from Bangkok. It’s still fairly cheap to travel there and you see more Thai people than westerners. We were able to enjoy the wilderness a bit (We hiked a beautiful 7 tier waterfall, rode an elephant and floated down the river Kwai on a bamboo raft), we ate authentic Thai food for a buck or two (and it was the best food we’ve eaten) and stayed at a great little hotel for $13/night.

Here are some photo’s of our trip

Since landing in Phuket it’s been quite the opposite. Phuket and the surrounding islands are overpriced and overcrowded, which makes for a bit of an overhyped experience. Don’t get me wrong, it is still one of the most beautiful places I have been, but it’s really much harder to enjoy the scenery when you are surrounded by hundreds of people at all times. But let me tell you, if you’re looking for a party this is the place to be!

We took these photos when we went on a canoe trip (with 100 other people) through some of the surrounding islands. In my mind it was peaceful and romantic. In reality…crowded and funny. If you can see through the people you can imagine it’s beauty, but it takes some concentration.

Patong beach on Phuket

There is a lagoon... somewhere

We decided to leave Phuket hit up Koh Phi Phi, the gem of the islands. In order to get away from the “scene” made up of hundreds of 18-25 year old party goers, Chris and I decided to spend most of our stay on the North “quiet” part of the island. It sure is beautiful up here and apart from the speed boats filled with 30 people that stop on the beach all day long, it is paradise! unfortunately, paradise seems to come at a high price these days, so we have blown through a chunk of our budget enjoying it!

This was our view every day!

We spent one of our afternoons here on a long-tailed boat touring around some of the close islands and snorkeling. Well, Chris snorkelled. One little mostly unknown fact about me is that I hate fish. Ok, normally snorkeling is fine as the fish are more scared of you than you are of them and when you get in the water they tend to swim away from you. Well around these islands the fish have been fed/conditioned by snorkelers. The boat stops over a reef surrounded by crystal clear water and the sound of the motor stopping must be a sign to the fish that it’s dinner time. Within minutes the boat is surrounded by fish and as you get in the water they just get closer and follow you around. OK, not my idea of a good time. I got in twice, and out just as fast. I know they can’t hurt me! I know! I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I asked the boat driver if he could bring us somewhere to swim where there were  no fish… I don’t think he gets that question very often. I didn’t really get much of an answer, but I think it was a No. Anyways, I got to enjoy the scenery (really is the most beautiful place) while Chris enjoyed the fish!

1 of the 60 seconds I was in the water

Chris and all the fish

SICK!!

Handsome Husband post fish attack

Tomorrow we leave this beautiful Island and fly to Singapore where we will be visiting my friends Owen and Melissa! we are really looking forward to more adventure and a change of pace!

Love and miss everyone!

Ashlyn and Chris

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!
We have spent the past 4 nights in Bangkok and had the best time. After our month in India, Chris and I decided to splurge a bit and got ourselves a really nice room. Money in this city can really go along way and for less money than we spent at any of the seedy motels we stayed at on the US west coast, we were able to book into a 5 star hotel! Let me tell you, money well spent! I don’t think I been so excited the whole trip as I was checking into our room. I mean, you can walk on the carpet in the room, and not feel like you need to disinfect your feet after!!  Here is the hotel:

Bangkok is a fantastic city. I visited it 7 years ago and remember it being dirty, stuffy and poor, and really just wanting to leave it and get out to some fresh air. Well on the contrary. Today Bangkok is a vibrant, bustling, clean city. We are staying in a great neighbourhood, where we can walk to the modern sky train and reach any point of the city. We also happen to be really close to 3 or 4 major shopping malls. Unfortunately most of these malls are full of stores that we couldn’t dream of affording anything in the stores, but if you are looking for luxury retail Bangkok has you covered. Chris and I personally spent more time at the mall across the road, where you can buy fake anything. Much better pricing!

We did the typically tourist route, saw the beautiful grand palace, giant reclining buddha, and took a boat down the Chao Phraya river. We also managed to take in a cabaret… Which was one of the best/worst things we have ever seen. Ok, so the drag queens were beautiful. Some of them you could absolutely not tell that they were men. The costumes were stunning and if they were just putting on a fashion show it would have been brilliant. Unfortunately they weren’t and the actual talent (or direction) part of the show was lacking. Definitely the worst combination of choreography (if you could call it that) and lip-syncing (if you could call it that) that I have ever seen. But it was an interesting night out…

Our most favorite night was New Years Eve. Chris and I decided to find a restaurant near the Central World Plaza, Bangkok’s “Time Square”. We planned on having dinner and then heading out to party with hundreds of thousands of Thai people on the streets. It was a huge party! After dinner, as we were heading down to the ground floor to go outside, the hostess asked us if we wanted to go down or go up to the 55th floor…. Uh, up I guess. Why not check out the view right? So we were directed to a different bank of elevators and ended up in a very swanky restaurant on the 55th floor! We decided to go outside and take in the skyline. Lots of people were eating outside and we seemed quite out of place, so I just kept walking and took a set of stairs up to the roof top patio where a huge party was going on! It was amazing. We could see the view of the whole city! The party going on at CenterWorld Plaza looked so cool from that high up. All of the Thai people were wearing these flashing headbands so the plaza and all of the streets around it were flashing in every colour! You could tell it was gridlock down there, so we made the difficult decision to stay at the party. It was an amazing night and we could see the fireworks being set off from all angles of the city. After chatting with another couple for a while we learned we had totally crashed the party and tickets were around $100 each!!! Whoops! We rang in the New Year dancing on the dance floor on the roof top patio of such and incredible building in such an amazing city. It was truly a night to remember!

Tomorrow we leave Bangkok and head west to the city Kanchanaburi for a couple of days of exploring central Thailand before we head south to the islands. Although we will miss Bangkok we are looking forward to the chang of scenery.
Hope you all had a great New Years Eve! Chris and I both agree that 2010 was our best year yet. I can’t imagine what 2011 might have in store!
Love to you all,
Ashlyn and Chris