The adventure has begun!

After much discussion about if we would take the kids through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos it is hard to believe we are finally here! As you can imagine we were all very excited on the plane trip over and the kids were great. We had organised to stay with a friend of my brothers in Phnom Penh who has been living there for the last 3 years with his young family. We were picked up at the airport and taken to their place. The trip through Phnom Penh was an eye opening experience for us all, especially the kids. The amount of mopeds is unbelievable and the craziness on the roads is amazing, yet it somehow works. We even saw a young Mum riding her moped with a kid under 2 asleep on her lap and a kid around 3 holding onto her back also asleep... I guess we will get use to it!

Nicolas and Susan were amazing in the hospitality, advice and help they gave us with regards to life in Phnom Penh and Cambodia in general. We had some fantastic meals both at their home (Nicolas is from the south of France!) as well as out and this was the best way to help the kids get accustomed to life over here. They had a great place over the river from the city and we were able to relax when we wanted to or go exploring.  Jean Lui (their 5 year old son) and Ben got on really well and had a great time playing, especially in their pool which was great to swim in after a day of exploring.

Susan, Nicolas, Clarissa & Rich

While in Phnom Penh we had a few tuk tuk rides and visited the Royal Palace, the National Museum, the Russian markets (very crowded and busy) as well as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was very moving. It is hard to believe the depths to which humanity can sink to.

The Cambodian Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

The Russian markets - Jaz was a little overwhelmed by it all

Jazz & Ben's first tuk tuk ride

For New Years eve we stayed the night at the Intercontinental which was great (thanks Glen and Gab). Kids loved the pool and staying in a nice hotel. Since Clarissa and the kids were still tired from the flight we just had dinner in after all having fun in the pool and a nice big bath! We watched the Sydney midnight fireworks (8pm our time) and were all asleep before midnight! The kids were very excited about the buffet breakfast the next day and we all felt refreshed, relaxed and re-charged.

The kids being quiet in the room while Clarissa sleeps and I read!

Clarissa and Ben enjoying the pool

It was about the third day of our trip that Jazz decided she wanted to go home as she was missing home, the rest of the family, her friends and was struggling with the poverty and the little street kids begging. We certainly questioned ourselves about if we were doing the right thing but after a few chats, lots of hugs and another day or two of getting use to it Jazz is looking forward to the next 3 months! It will be a great experience for all of us, especially the kids as they learn about other cultures, lifestyles and themselves!

local kids looking after their cows

We decided to get the boat from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap as it would be a good way to see life on the Tonle Sap river and lake. It was a great day, we sat on the roof for most of it and looked at life along the river, as well as on it. There were numerous floating villages and all the kids would wave and shout as the boat went by.

Houses on the river from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap

Glad we were on the bigger boat!

We finally arrived at the port 7hrs later only to be greeted by 50 or so locals keen to get us on their tuk tuk. We looked for our driver as our hotel said they would meet us but since no one had turned up we were left to haggle and eventually organised a tuk tuk for Clarissa, the kids and our bags while I jumped on the back of a moped. Was an interesting trip into Siem Reap to our hotel.

Where's my helmet?

So our home for the next 7 weeks is the Shadow of Angkor 2 which on first impressions is great. Nice and clean, has a swimming pool and we have 2 interconnecting rooms so we can all keep our sanity! We are a 5min walk to pub street where all the cafes and bars are and not too far from the old market, night market and only about 5mins in a tuk tuk to Anjali House. Start there on Monday so looking forward to that.

Best things that have happened so far:
Ben - sitting on the roof of the boat going from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap with the family
Jazzy - dinner with all the family and Nicolas & Susan at a Japanese restaurant in Phnom Penh
Clarissa - riding in the tuk tuk taking in all the sights
Rich - sitting on a roof top bar at sunset (Le Moon) in Phnom Penh with Nicolas, Susan, Clarissa and the kids taking in the sights (boat trip was pretty good too!)

That's all for our first blog, will try to update on a regular basis and will also get the kids to write as well.

Happy New year and hope 2012 is great year for everyone.