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Cambodia 2017
[caption id="attachment_21505" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
colourful Phnom Penh[/caption]
3 March Friday DAY 98 of trip
Friday, another big travel day. The Lotus Hotel provided an airport shuttle (200B = $5.65US) and we took an Air Asia flight to Phnom Penh, via Bangkok. Blimey those seats are tight. Oh well, it’s what you pay for. It was all on time, even the driver at the end was there sporting a sign. We bought a phone card and then headed out to the burbs of Phnom Penh.
We have had mixed experiences with buying phone cards with one expensive one; JFK airport, never purchase one at that airport. We got the ‘cheap’ one for $75 which turned out to have one half the data plan we were told it was. We needed a phone card to track our baggage that was delayed, by days, which by the way resulted in the airlines paying for more than $350US worth of clothing as we had on our Hawaii gear landing in New York City in December with our winter clothes in our suitcase. Thailand, we paid about $15 for a month of unlimited data and phone calls in Thailand. In Cambodia, we paid six dollars for six-gigs of data and two dollars more for phone calls in Cambodia. Compare this to our $85 plan in Australia which has much slower internet than Cambodia or Thailand and it is easier to see which countries it is cheaper to retire in. A phone plan in Australia with six-gigs would be about seventy-dollars a month. I upload one of my videos in Australia and a five-minute video would take maybe an hour, Cambodia about fifteen-minutes. For our three or four blog readers our YouTube videos of the past seven years are at https://www.youtube.com/user/neuage09 for seven to ten years before they are at https://www.youtube.com/user/tneuage there are about four-hundred videos of our travels to watch on a snowy/rainy/fluey day when the Travel Channel is seeming too slick and you want to watch some real down and dirty homemade clips of the back alleys of the world.
A fancy place, a hotel really, with maybe a dozen apartments, mostly lived in by permanent residents. Brendan came by on his motorbike, about 10 minutes from his place, and we had a nice meal in the hotel restaurant. I had the best Chicken Parmy for $6. A good start.
I had vegertaian amok – the traditional Cambodian meal is fish amok which is a sweet curry thing. I bought amok spices in Kampot last year and took several packs back to Australia to continue my love of amok dishes. Unable to find the spices this year I will need to make up my own: Chilli, turmeric (Madras & Alleppey), garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin, coriander seed, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, kenchur, black pepper, lemon myrtle leaf; then I will add them to coconut milk and yummy.
La Belle Residence suits our needs. Two-bedrooms in case one of us is having a restless night or one of our travelling mates decides to pop in for a visit or for Narda’s son to spend the night or a place to dump our suitcase as we have been using it for. I use the gym on the rooftop everyday with views of the city – more spectualar at night.
[caption id="attachment_21507" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
La Belle Residence gym[/caption]
http://www.labelleresidence.com/
We spent the first couple of days taking images; both still and moving. Here are a few of our first hundred images. Photos that have been archieved through the various Google apps for the past decade for us is at https://get.google.com/albumarchive/114860736952666194539
Our video of our first few days at Phnom Penh is at Click Video
[embed]https://youtu.be/RUCjuA70w6Y[/embed]
4 March Saturday DAY 99 of trip
Saturday, we started the day with a walk to the local shops to get some groceries. Pretty difficult walk, near our place it’s great, easy ressie area, wide roads and clean, but as we tried to cross a majorish road to get to the shopping centre, we found it quite hard to cross, and the traffic is amazing…we have to get our ‘Phnom Penh legs’ again.
Lucky Supermarket was quite expensive, after Thailand; at least this was our first impression, which later proved wrong. We took a tuk tuk to Bren’s to check out his digs. He lives in a nice bustling local street, and we walked with him to the Russian Market, not too far, though it was hot. To get there you have to follow the poo river, (or was it shit creek) named for it’s lovely smell. There we had some lunch, platters of Lebanese food, quite good. Later in the day we explored out own area, and found a great little cluster of local shops very nearby. Bought a bundle of veggies, and made some pretty decent soup for tea, with a little crusty bread.
The local ‘river’ is a smelly sewage filled waterway – the camera provides a different narrative. A peaceful, romantic, colourful, South East Asian scene. Our little river, ever so polluted with an oily surface and almost unbearable smell, ‘flows’ into the Mekong River. There are a few solid built houses but as we walked along the path next to the stream, river, whatever it is, we saw mainly houses built from rusting old pieces of tin with rotting wood holding them up. I did not take any photos because they are people’s homes and we are so obviously out of place walking in this area as it is. Perhaps we should be cautious. We wander around with our expensive Nikon taking pictures, putting on the 300mm zoom lens to close in on other’s lives with no fears of someone robbing us. Between our camera, phone, cash, we would easily pay for a year’s living of someone. If they grabbed our laptop that would give them another year of living well. There would be no point in kidnapping us because our children have no money to ransom us with.
[caption id="attachment_21509" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Boeung Tompun Lake[/caption]
5 March Sunday DAY 100 of trip
Today, Sunday, a slow start. We slept well, they fixed the aircon, so it was a nice cool night. I went and had my hair washed; OK, but she was a bit rough. We tried the hotel bikes, it’s a good area for riding around where we are, but you can’t go too far, or you’re back in the chaos.
6 March Monday DAY 101 of trip
Monday, took a tuk tuk ($6) to the train station to buy a ticket for our trip to Sihanoukville on Friday. Then we walked around the area where we were this time last year. The shopping centre (Sorya) is being renovated, so not much to see there. We decided to try the bus route to go home, caught No 1 bus ($0.75 for 2) down to Mao Tse Tung Blvd. The idea was to catch the next bus there, No 2. We waited in the heat for about 40 minutes (in the meantime about 4 buses went the other way…???) then gave up and tuk tukked it home.
Bren came after work, had a nice meal downstairs (the Chicken Parmy again) and watched “An Idiot Abroad: India) Pretty funny.
7 March Tuesday DAY 102 of trip
Tuesday was a nice local walk! Turned right at the end of our street and basically kept going through all the narrow streets. It’s quite a poor area, many smiles from locals and we certainly never felt unsafe. We stopped at one little stall to try what looked like oliebollen, but it was a savoury thing, potatoes and spring onions, deep fried, so yummy. When we finally reached another main road we sat and had a coffee; sweetened condensed milk and STRONG coffee, Vietnamese style. Actually really like it; tastes like a coffee lolly. The place where we sat had an incredible view of local life and traffic, see video below. This to me is Phnom Penh, not the fancy temples and pagodas, but the crazy, high energy tuk tuk drivers, moto drivers and traffic; no one gets upset, I never saw any road rage, just smiles.
See Terrell’s great traffic video Click Video
[embed]https://youtu.be/lwZkb8S6B7k[/embed]
in case you missed our clip of Phnom Penh traffic from March 2016, last year… Click Video
[embed]https://youtu.be/WcAoFf6DTl0[/embed]
Next door to our ‘coffeeshop’ we heard the sound of kids chanting, very loudly, something. It turned out to be times tables, judging from their little fingers holding up numbers. Then they went on to sing “happy and you know it”, with a very strong Khmer accent, so that the English, if you didn’t already know the words, was indistinguishable. Terrell asked the teachers if we could go into the school and take pictures, and they let us. To any western teacher friends reading this; no comment!!!!!! On the return walk we found a large second hand store, where we browsed happily for a while.
8 March Wednesday DAY 103 of trip
Wednesday was another visit to the Russian Market, to meet Bren, who had the day off, for a coffee. We actually walked it this time, took about 30 minutes. Coffee turned into lunch and I had Scotch eggs, as you do in Cambodia. Then home for the mandatory nap, and stir fry at home with Bren joining us for tea.
9 March Thursday DAY 104 of trip
Thursday we decided to be tourists. So we took a tuk tuk to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. This is on all the lists. Actually we were a little ho hum about it. They were nice buildings, lots of tour groups walking around, but I get much more excited sitting in a daggy café watching traffic and locals, than seeing all this overpriced stuff.
[caption id="attachment_21513" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda[/caption]
We wandered over to the river side after wards, and had a pretty average lunch. Then the worst thing was the Naga World Casino nearby. Talk about ruining an amazing place with high end, airport style shopping and casino where no one, except wealthy Chines businessmen , can afford to be. The place would have redeemed itself in my view, if they’d at least had a movie theatre, but no.
Bren had tea at ours again, this time omelettes and salad with some tomato soup, which turned out nice. We watched a few more episodes of the Killing, which is getting more interesting.
10 March Friday DAY 105 of trip
Friday, an interesting train ride. We decided to take the very local train to Sihanoukville for a long weekend. Found a great hotel (listed 1 onTripadvsior) The Deluxx Boutique Hotel, which turned out to be amazing. The room is so lovely, a soft sofa area, an amazing bed, so amazing in fact , that we have decided to upgrade our set up at home. We need a bed just like this one!
Just returning to the train; it was 7 hours of chugging; you could have walked faster…no not really, in a train with seats that don’t go high, and face each other…… toooo close. We were lucky, we didn’t have to make a foursome, but I felt very sorry for those who did, knees interlocking with strangers. Blimey. Still the views were gorgeous, and it’s worth doing. We arrived a little sore and weary, but with that amazing bed, we slept like logs.
[caption id="attachment_21514" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
train to Sihanoukville[/caption]
11 March Saturday DAY 106 of trip
Saturday; the room in this hotel is certainly worth hanging out in. We had brekkie at the hotel and then a swim in the pool, feeling like we had earned it after the train. Some sore bits to attend to. The we wandered off to the tourist part of town, first a windy, narrow, dodgy road, then tourist central. We ate lunch at a Lebanese joint, as you do in Sihanoukville (or Shitsville, Brendan’s version). A nap in the afternoon, this is becoming our pattern (blimey I’m turning into my mother). Dinner at Mike and Craig’s. We were hussled in at first; the place looked empty, but it become our favourite place, food absolutely scrummy. And cheap. After dinner, to the beach, Serendipity Beach, where we had a foot massage.
[caption id="attachment_21515" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Serendipity Beach[/caption]
Last year about this time we were in the nearby towns of Kampot and Kep. Kampot is where Narda’s motor scooter fell on her and she received 3rd degree burns which now a year later is all fine; at the time, except for our insurance company flying us home business class, it was all painful and scary. We looked at spending a year or less or more in this area and think Kep would be good as it is quiet but Silhanoukville is also a good choice. So many places to live a year in and so few years to do so left – even if we had a hundred years left that would not be enough.
Sihanoukville has had a colourful and rough history and as other countries in the region it is become infested with tourists which is both good and bad. Sihanoukville gained independence from the French in 1954. [In the 1950s and 1960s control of the Mekong Delta by Vietnam required a solution to gain unrestricted access to the seas. Plans were made to construct an entirely new deep-water port. Kompong Saom (Kampong Som) was selected for water depth and ease of access. In August 1955, a French/Cambodian construction team cut a base camp into the unoccupied jungle in the area that is now known as Hawaii Beach. Funds for construction of the port came from France and the road was financed by the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sihanoukville_Province]. Of course, as history shows us, the Yanks are incapable of leaving things alone. During the ‘American War’/‘Resistance War Against America’ (called the ‘Vietnam War’, or the ‘Second Indochina War’, in the States) the Americans bombed everything in sight then put Pol Pot into power to finish off decimating the country. But eventually places change. Sihanoukville has been rapidly become a tourist destination with a lot of building of new hotels the past decade. One wonders if someday Syria and other countries in the middle east will become tourist destinations once again. In the 1970s it was. Then we would be wandering around like we now do in Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam and Laos. Laying on beaches, shopping, hanging out with locals or at least eating with them and smiling and sharing moments even though the only common language was that we were humans.
12 March Sunday DAY 107 of trip
Click Video Train to Sihanoukville
[embed]https://youtu.be/d5B05hnG2WM[/embed]
It’s funny, I’ve been reading stuff about Sihanoukville, over the years, as a possible place to spend retirement time. We hear mixed things, my son calls it Shitsville, says it’s pretty sleazy, especially later at night. Our impression from these few days was positive. It’s got some ugly areas, and the tourism is a big part of it, but it’s also got some gorgeous beaches, lovely hills and great food, friendly folks, and plenty to do. I would like to try it maybe for 3 months or so, then give y’all a better review.
Anyway, today was a similar day, our first walk to downtown, saw some pretty intense markets, both local and tourist focussed. We took the tuk tuk to Sokha Beach, a resort area, to view the sunset, which was lovely. The whole beach is worth a visit. You can only access it though the resort. The our decadent evening, at least for me, where I experienced Nirvana: foot massage by two women, a cold beer, pepperoni pizza, all on the beach in the evening…all at once. Hard to beat.
13 March Monday DAY 108 of trip
Checked out at 11am then went back to Mike and Craig’s for fruit, and beef lasagne, (my favourite there) until 1.30 when we had a horrible ride back to PP on Giant Ibis. Seats too small, bus too fast; arrived a bit shaken up after 5 hours, but oh well. I watched 5 episodes of Walking Dead. It helped.
I stopped watching Walking Dead a season or so ago, but Narda likes it and keeps watching. I can imagine that watching the show and driving through Cambodia would coincide at some level. For me I spent the five hours or so in Photoshop and Premiere making a video of our time in Sihanoukville. I know I have said it before, but my little videos take a lot of time. I reckon I spend about one-hour per one-minute of video. If I include doing some stuff in Photoshop or After Effects it is longer. Maybe it is just me, I am slow and thick of mind – though I used to spend more time when I was doing our news show back at Dalian International school when the 6-8 minute clips done twice a week would take more than a dozen hours each and that is with my student’s helping (somewhat). I should do like others and just do live in Facebook and be happy with that. Instead I will take hours of video clicks and boil those down to a few minutes and try to get backgrounds and music/sounds involved. Not complaining just saying these little clips are quite involved which of course is my choice and I love doing it. Really! Which is more fun, watching Walking Dead or making a clip of some random videos or trying to find a handful of photos of hundreds to share?
Then a tuktuk to the Mexican Restaurant, ‘Cocina Cartel’ http://cambodiacartel.com/main/ with Bren, where I had pulled pork. So all is good.
14 March Tuesday DAY 109 of trip
Rang Chris this morning, it’s a bit tough for him because Jess is away; hard on Jess too, missing little Liam. This morning we went for another one walking our local area, which we really enjoy. It’s so interesting to see up close the lives of the people here; so, friendly, open, smiling, and yet living in really poor conditions. We had our morning local coffee at a little shop, the usual very strong coffee and lots of sweetened condensed milk (a coffee lolly). The mother made it (after some difficulty explaining we wanted it hot, not cold with lots of ice) and then left on her motorbike with a big bag of something. Three little children were left behind, one a toddler, and the other two little girls; in charge. When it was time to pay, we weren’t sure whether to wait until the mother returned, but then one of the little girls (no English at all) showed us some Riels for the amount we should pay, and took care of it all like an adult. Really amazing actually. She might have been 5 or 6 years old. She charged about 50c too much, so also enterprising!
Then the usual nap, and Brendan for tea.
15 March Wednesday DAY 110 of trip
On our walk this morning we followed the streets near the river to Boeng Tumpun Lake, which seems to be under threat from developers. It’s a really poor area, people living in humpies and huts.
In the evening we went to Open Mic Night at ShowBox, where Bren played bass. It was fun, we got to meet a bunch of his friends (Gary, Hannah, Justin, Tom, Nandi and others).
I liked Showbox. It was that sort of raw performance spaces one would expect to see decades ago. The pub was a throwback too; people smoking in a pub, sofas and comfy chairs, interesting old-school paintings. The only thing that has changed is that Narda and I were twice the average age; except for Brendan turning 40, I am only 30 years older than him; shit!
[caption id="attachment_21518" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Open Mic Night at ShowBox[/caption]
Click Video Brendan at Showbox
[embed]https://youtu.be/HMLDbVBTsBk[/embed]
[caption id="attachment_21520" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Narda and Brendan[/caption]
16 March Thursday DAY 111 of trip
Every day is special when one is retired but saying that I am not sure what we did this day. No doubt we went for a long walk in the morning, got lost, got a tuk-tuk home, had a nap, I did some gym stuff, Brendan came over for dinner, then we watched the series we are watching now, ‘The Killing’, and forgot to write notes for what we did for this or the next few days.
17 March Friday DAY 112 of trip
Friday, a big highlight of the trip. 40 years ago I had my first child at the age of 22. Here is is. We are celebrating this amazing person today. The dates of our 4 months away where planned so that we could end the trip in time for this celebration. Brendan had booked a dinner for friends and family at Long After Dark, a nice bar/restaurant near the Russian Market. We organised a cake from a place nearby called “Crumbs”. Chocolate with traces of ginger, yum.
Peter and Stuart’s flight came on time , so on the video you can see their arrival; they stayed for the next few days. We managed to Facetime Chris and Liam from Washington DC for the happy birthday rendition. Some of Bren’s friends from Hanoi also made the trip (including a 10 hour bus ride, bless ‘em!! Good friends indeed!) The whole evening was fun, very gezellig. Us olds left at about 10.30; need to get that beauty sleep, but the show went on.
Click Video Brendan’s dinner party
[embed]https://youtu.be/XHu9Z12hdW8[/embed]
Below, Brendan’s 40th birthday dinner @ Long After Dark http://longafterdarkcambodia.com/
[caption id="attachment_21521" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Brendan's birthday at Long After Dark[/caption]
Ok, that photo in the bottom left is a bit fake (kind of a DC thing) with Baby Liam popping in (from DC) for a visit via Photoshop. Brendan’s father, Pete, and brother Stuart came up from Adelaide, arriving in the evening to their hotel then tuk-tuk to ‘Long After Dark’ so they were tired but persevered for a few hours. Brendan had friends down from Hanoi and co-workers, us, flown-in-family, and others who could have been friends or could have been passing traffic, and of course, via Facetime, Baby Liam and Chris from Washington DC. Overall, I think it was all quite the success. Of course, the bell was unique.
The bell started off as a purchase in the Russian Market a couple of days earlier when we were thinking ‘what are we going to buy for a 40-year-old who has everything’ (that’s not really true but it sounds good) when we were wandering around the market and saw the bell. That was the easy part. We then thought of engraving on it ‘Mr. Brendan’, which is what his students call him. (actually we thought that, but it turns out that the kids call him Teacher Brendan) That was the difficult part. We were unable to find anyone to do it in the Russian Market area so asking at our hotel we were directed to go with a tuk-tuk driver the next day and he would take us to someone who could do the deed. We thought of course it would be near where we lived; an hour later we got to an area where folks were engraving on things, over by the river, the other side of Phnom Penh, on a hot-smoggy-busy-day – oh, every day is like that. We were told it would take a day, and they charged much more than we expected but of course in Australia it would have been very cheap but being on a budget and in southeast Asia the whole process cost much more than it should have. Nevertheless, we returned the next day with our tuk-tuk driver, collected the bloody thing and had it for Brendan’s birthday dinner, which I am sure you saw when you watched the video.
18 March Saturday DAY 113 of trip
We wandered around Phnom Penh with Pete and Stu and Brendan, ate somewhere as people do, bought some of the latest movies on DVD for a buck, talked about going on a river cruise – we talked about that for a couple of days but never got to it.
In the evening we went to Brendan’s party at a pub, ‘Tusks’ https://www.tuskhouse.com/
This was the real party party, DJed by Vaughn, of Hanoi fame. It was also a great venue, lots of finger foods and delicious Sangria. I was waiting for someone to end up in the pool, but I didn’t see that; or we left early again, and there was lots I have not been told!!! 😊
We had a wonderful time over this very special weekend; many great memories, family time, meals together and getting to know Brendan’s world a bit better.
We made a little clip of a couple of minutes showing the venue with all the players above shown Click Video to see Brendan's party @ Tusks
[embed]https://youtu.be/8zliIUaZN1E[/embed]
19 March Sunday DAY 114 of trip
We took a tuk-tuk to Pete and Stu’s hotel, Aquarius Hotel, had our free breakfast (as Stu and Pete each had their own room and had two vouchers each we couldn’t let a good meal go to waste) then went to the riverside to see about a river cruise but we ended up going back to the hotel and swimming in the rooftop pool.
Swimming - Click Video
[embed]https://youtu.be/kD15atNYkqQ[/embed]
[caption id="attachment_21561" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
Aquarius Hotel rooftop pool[/caption]
20 March Monday DAY 115 of trip
21 March Tuesday DAY 117 of trip
Left our flat at 6:30 am and unwilling to brave the morning traffic and air in a tuk tuk we got a taxi (ten bucks US) to the airport. It was a good choice as the usual morning movements were in full mode and we amazingly weaved in and out of traffic to get to the airport in about 45 minutes.
At Bangkok Airport we found an area – all the way over by the hotel/day-room area, that had few people in it and settled onto a couple of sofas and plugged into power, got some free airport WIFI and spent a leisurely four hours.
[caption id="attachment_21563" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
lounge at Bangkok Airport[/caption]
Our last flight, Sydney to Adelaide, seventeen flights all together. Starting with Adelaide > Melbourne then to Hawaii for a week, to Los Angeles > JFK. Took a bus down to DC to stay with Narda’s son, Chris and his family. After a few weeks in DC we went to Eugene, Oregon and caught up with my friend Randy from the 1960s and his friend Tony in Portland for a few days. After flying back to DC and a few weeks there we went to NYC for Christmas Day and on up to upstate New York to see my sister and her family and Kathleen a childhood friend. Narda had lunch with colleagues from our teaching days ten years earlier. We caught up with Marta who I have known since mi-1960s, she co-wrote a book about my brother. A few weeks back in DC staying with Chris and family and a visit with a colleague from Dalian, China, then a flight to JFK and a flight to Helsinki then to Amsterdam and six weeks in Utrecht, Narda’s birthplace. with lots of visits with Narda’s family, with a week holiday within our holiday to Belgium and Germany visiting Narda’s long-time friend, Mau (with an umlaut), in Hamburg. A flight back to Helsinki > Bangkok > Chiang Mai and a week there with a few days over to Chiang Rai to visit Tim and Agnes and back to Bangkok > Phnom Penh for three weeks and Brendan’s 40th birthday > Bangkok > Sydney > Adelaide, and that was this four-month trip. Of course, during this trip, we planned our next big trip. We’ll be writing about that in August and September.
So some last words from me too. This was a fantastic trip, our first (hopefully of many) real retirement trip. A mixture of seeing good friends, catching up with their lives, seeing precious family in Holland and reconnecting with them. In the case of Tante Willy, saying goodbye, (though I didn’t know it at the time) she passed away only a month or so later. Special highlights were, staying with Chris and Jess for an extended period, and getting to know Liam our gorgeous grandson, better. And then staying near Brendan in Phnom Penh, meeting his friends, seeing his new place and just enjoying his company. Another highlight was a couple of great days with some lifetime friends from DAIS, in Chiang Rai…..and sadly infecting them with our nasty cold virus, and leaving them sick. I still feel so bad about that. Also getting to know Sue, Terrell’s sister and her lovely family a little better in Oneonta, NY. And then there was Randy, Terrell’s lifelong friend, a special guy, a gracious host, and someone I have become very fond of.
I could keep on about all the hugs I got from friends at St Lukes, Albany Academy for Girls and DAIS. Unfortunately we could not see everyone; one couple from DAIS, now in Sedona, we simply couldn’t do the flights on our tight budget…..but this for next time.
In total we met/saw more than nineteen people from our past (in five countries: USA, Holland, Germany, Thailand, and Cambodia) and almost that number of Narda’s relatives in Holland.
So I am learning that TIME IS WEALTH!!! I read that in a book by Paul Theroux, from whence comes my best life tips.
And my little world of medical and diets. Good golly! There were seven times I had to make a fuss about scans at an airport. Because of my defibrillator/pacemaker, I need to avoid those scanning things. Never had an issue. In the States, I got patted down with a bit too much touchy/feely going on and in southeast Asia they barely touched me for a search. My diet though was a challenge. Doing a low-carb diet as a vegetarian is a bit needy I think. In the States and Europe I had my smoothies and low-carb meals but Asia; I think I blew it. I still had my smoothies, using a great vitamiser I bought in Holland but too much white rice and some pasta slipped too often into my diet. And of course, airlines don’t have a clue. Last year on our trip tromping around southeast Asia I put in for a low-carb vegetarian diet and got a plate of raw vegetables And of course being an old fart with lots of medical stuff I had to keep track of pills morning and night which is easy when staying in the same time-zone but on this trip days and nights merged and sometimes datelines just slipped out of the time/space continuum. What helped with the pills is having my pharmacy put them in little day (night/day) packs on a roll. We started off with four large rolls and now I am down to this week’s. it sure is easier than taking bottles. I am off to my doctor in a week and I just hope she doesn’t put me back on more pills for diabetes because I stuffed up my diet part of this trip. As is the case with us old farts I have a series of scans and appointments with various doctors coming up just to get myself all on solid ground to keep on travelling.
I suppose what I am saying is that don’t let physical ailments get in the way of travel. I won’t start on my list of things; OK, I did a few, but there are more… there is little excuse not to travel. Flights are cheaper than ever. We did the four-month round-the-world flight for about $2500 Australian, each; food we managed to keep below an average of $40/day for four-months, not much more than it costs in Australia and that is with taking folks out to dinner a few times, an 80 Euro meal in Utrecht, but we ate a lot at home both for money saving and my diet peculiarities. Chris put us up for six weeks in DC, and loaned us a car, Randy and Tony for a week in Oregon, my sister in upstate New York, six-week house exchange in Holland with car. We did Airbnb in Cambodia and we went over our budget with about ten-extra hotels that we had not planned on but we took mini-holidays and this is an area we need to work on. From Australia flights to southeast Asia are only a few hundred dollars; Stuart was saying the other day that there was a four-hundred-dollar flight for four people ($100 each, Australian) to Bali advertised recently. Go to google/travel and choose cheap times to fly. Come visit us. We surely enjoyed visiting you. Do a house exchange; we use ‘seniors home exchange’ then all there is to pay for is the flight. Unfortunately, not many want to exchange with South Australia, though we are excited about a six-week exchange with Denmark later this year.
Bottom line; don’t let anything stop you from travel. See the world. Enjoy life and the many variations people live it throughout the world. I personally don’t want to go to the States until they get a proper government. The thought of being detained at customs for hours is awful. For the next few years, it will be the rest of the world and nowhere else.
TIP: For the young ones just turning 70 or maybe past here is a goody we discovered back in Bangkok. Narda noticed a separate priority line with no one in it so of course Narda directed us there. One of the reasons on their list was if one was over 70 they could do the priority line. I am not 70, yet, but Narda pointed out that I almost was. The fact that I was born in 1947, 70-years ago, was good enough, even though the actual date for 70 for me is sometime during the Leo cycle and I will be in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the day…more of that in August.
Back in Australia our first trip with our caravan will be to see my son, Sacha, in Melbourne. I usually bring him some tokens from my travels but this time I did not do well. Everything from anywhere is available at the Melbourne Markets and he basically doesn’t want more stuff. I did get him Kampot pepper which I hope isn’t taken at customs,
So, our last long flight for four months. I managed to get two hours sleep. Everyone else is asleep, even Narda. I am writing this and listening to my music with the fear that my headphones will pull out of my iPhone and I will suddenly awaken everyone around me with Janis Joplin, Jimi, Dylan or some other noisy singer from the 1960s blaring loudly into my ears.
Cheers
Some random photos from Phnom Penh out of several hundred. I will be using them in my ‘picture-poems’ some of which I post @ https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/E_6JaB sometimes I post them over at https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/114899256523151949859 and/or https://www.behance.net/neuage
Thanks for reading ~ for some videos of past eight-years travel: https://www.youtube.com/user/neuage09 and before then, https://www.youtube.com/user/tneuage
short video slideshow of some photos we liked that did not make it into our blog click on the image below - oh and with music - sounds of Cambodia
[embed]https://youtu.be/7OrKQByEpsU[/embed]
The next four months any blogging we do will be about our caravan trips in Australia. Our next overseas trip will be August - September when we do an house exchange for six-weeks in Denmark and go for a couple of weeks cruise for my 70th birthday with St. Petersburg, Russia, being a stop on my birthday then out to sea in the evening, as I have been for the first 70-years of my life.
Liam meets Maggie and Mabel in Washington DC in the epic tale ‘Liam’s secret’ http://neuage.org/MM/ (free)