Thursday, 31 January 2013

The Verigo Sky Bar Restaraunt in Bangkok

We are visiting friends of ours in Bangkok, Friends that we only met 6 weeks ago in Hoi An, Vietnam. Luke and Michelle, as well as their 2 lovely kids Jade and Levi were staying at the same Accomodation and we just started chatting. Luke works at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok and also did a stint in Afganistan! They invited us to crash with them for a couple of days when we came back to Bangkok. They live in an awesome apartment and Levi was a legend sacrificing his bedroom for us ( thanks heaps again Levi :) , Last night they took us to probably the most amazing Sky Bar ( a Bar/ Restaraunt on the roof of one of the skyscrapers here in Bangkok) we got there just before sunset, so got some great photos and we state up there for about an hour and a half, it was fantastic. The view was matched by the perfect temperature, probably a nice balmy 28 deg with a nice breeze. And over the next hour seeing all the lights turn on, it gave us an awesome perspective of Bangkok from the air. It really has a beautiful skyline.

Monday, 28 January 2013

Transit Day, Cambodia to Thailand by Land.

We have had a wonderful time in Cambodia, everyone should put " Angkor Wat " in Siem Reap on their Bucket List. It is the biggest area/amount of Temples in the world. It was really amazing to explore them all. We took 3 full days with a cool tuk tuk driver 'Vong' who took us to every one, a lot of ones that tour s don't go to, as well as the big ones like the Jungle Temple out of the movie Tomb Raider.
We got up at 4 am one day to be at Angkor Wat half n hour before sunrise, I got some great sunrise photos on the dslr,
With the reflection on the water :) I'm slowly learning how to use the camera.
We took a 4 hour bus to Poipet on the Thai border, then a 15 min taxi, then it took 45 min to get through the Cambodia departures bit, then a 5 min walk accross the border, then 45 min to get through Thai immigration, then a 5 min tuk tuk, then we just made our 3 rd class train to Bangkok, it is a wooden seat train, no padding, it is a 5 hour trip to Bangkok. Though it's not soo bad, kinda cool actually, with all the windows down and a nice breeze blowing through the carriage.
And it is definitely the cheapest train ride I have ever been on at $1.50 for the 5 hour journey!
Tomorrow we r off to the Indian embassy in Bangkok to get out tourist visas then te next day we are catching a night train up to Chiang Mai.
Should be Fun!

Yesterday the Chaing Mai Zoo, today the Queens Botanical Gardens

Yesterday we went to church, then went to the Zoo, it was awesome, and was only $3 to get in, we saw a seal show, they did all kinds of cool tricks. Then we saw hippos, rhinos, elephants, then saw gibbons, and a really cool bird show where they had taught blue and red macaws to ride bikes!
Then today we rode our scooter to the Queens Botanical gardens. It was impressive with about 6 large indoor glasshouses, it was spread over 1000 hectares, so I'm glad they let you bring your scooter in to ride around the roads in it. We went to the waterfall, and there was a big group of students swimming in it haha. Then we went for a joyride up into the valley further on from there and it was really pretty, it reminded us of bright, with all the leafing trees, there were steep winding roads up over mountains with brown leaves all over the sides of the road. Our bums were starting to go numb from the old seat on our scooter so we came back to our $12 a night guest house we have made our home here. We are going to the movies tonight. It is amazing we are spending about $40-$50 a day here, today will be $50 with the movies, but the last 2-3 days were only $40 for 2 people! It's helping the budget a bit :)
Anyways tomorrow is our last day here before we catch the VIP bus back to Bangkok on Wednesday, Chiang Mai has been great, but especially the surrounding areas/mountains/ and towns have been the highlight for us.

Saturday, 26 January 2013

Today in Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand

Today we rented a manual 125 cc scooter, it was a bit older but we were going to do some steep mountain riding today and needed to have a bit more grunt than the 110 auto scooter. It handled both of us well. ( we were wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts as well as helmets loving parents) lol :)
It is only $7 a day with insurance, and petrol is like $2 so it's cheaper than to catch a cheap tuk tuk cos they charge
$3.50 to go one way anywhere?
It was a great day we ventured up the mountain and saw great gardens and temples and a great view. Not that were back I think I'll go for a swim in the pool :)
Till next time ;)

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Our 8th Wedding Anniversary!

What an achievement ! 8 years, man I can't believe it has gone sooo fast! I am soo lucky to be married to the best, most amazing woman in the world! I dunno how
She puts up with me :)
We have had a cruizy day today, Bec had a massage, I got a haircut, we went for a walk along the Mighty Meekong River ( as they all call it) we had an Aussie lunch. A $1.75 loaf of bread, we made vegimite sandwiches and ate them on the them on the river edge. Just wanna say hi to Tim!!! Cos I know at least he reads my blog , haha :)
Um we are going to " Laughing Fatman" for dinner and tomorrow we catch a bus ( hopefully a good one) 6 hours to Siem Reap to see " Ankor Wat" really looking forward to that, and we have managed to find a backpackers for $3.50 each per night there, so we will see how that goes!!
Soo far loving Cambodia, much better than Vietnam. The people are really nice and actually smile! I have had fun bargaining with the locals, my haircut today $2! Ow yeah! And I'm joking alot with the tuk tuk drivers haha
Till next time ! :)

Sunday, 13 January 2013

We're in Cambodia!

Just got here today and gotta say the initial vibe is great. We went to the museum today and are going to the Killing Fields tomorrow, then we are heading up to Angkor wat. Can't wait . Its a great temperature here too about 27-28 c
:)

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Trekking in Sapa

Well we are on the train back to Hanoi after 3 days of awesome mountain treks, it was freezing wet and really muddy, but we loved it, it was soo slippery I fell over and got mud everywhere. But washed and dried my jeans that night at the homestay the homestay was awesome great food and rice wine. Good times with our new friends from Germany and Dubai/New York. And the icing on the cake is that we got the whole cabin on the train to ourselves, no one on the top bunks :)