See you later Taiwan

I have tried to think of a witty way to put it but I just can't think of anything that comes close to; Taipei is ace!

I am generally a big fan of travelling in Asia anyway it is true, but Taipei has been a really great experience, while we were here it:

• Rained a lot
• Was cold
• Was grey
• Veggie food was hard to find
• Was busy
• We had to travel 30 mins on the train to get to Taipei city centre
• Did I mention it was cold

I did say that we loved it didn't I?

Because we were so far from the city centre and the weather was a bit dodgy, we haven't seen many of the big cultural attractions, in fact we haven't been to a single temple and have seen only 2 museums. We have spent our time walking the markets, small districts and the odd mall. We have jumped on so many different tube and local rail trains it is impossible to count. This is what has been so great about Taipei, around every corner there has been something to catch our eye, sometimes just an interesting sign, or maybe a piece of street art.

This shop seemed to have no Astro Boy stuff at all, just this loverly poster

A mad cow sculpture in one of the markets

Aimee always enjoys a nice cat on a sign

A game full of Stiches

We ate at some amazing food courts (there are so many food courts in Taipei it is actually hard to find your way out of them) and unusual resturants.

Yes in this restaurant you really do sit on the toilet to eat.

Us enjoying Christmas dinner, Taipei/Italian style

Our Christmas rissotto

The best way to sum up our time in Taipei was our Christmas day. The things we needed to work worked and we were thrown a few nice surprises. We were really hoping to be able to speak to people at home on Christmas day via Skype and we were not let down by Taiwan's internet, it was the best connection we have had on the whole trip. Later we went into Taipei to grab something to eat and checkout the Christmas vibe in the park. As always the train arrived on time and was quick and clean, although packed. We found the restaurant we were looking for in the student district using Taipei's ingenious (when you get the hang of it) road system. But the restaurant was closed for Christmas day, no problem there were loads more to choose in the area. We ended up in an Italian style place with very friendly staff and a small boy sat in the corner playing computer games.

After dinner we headed off towards the park like we had planned, we had heard there would be some Christmas type events there, we never made it to the park. 5 minutes from the restaurant a group of students were putting on a free battle of the bands type event in the street so we stopped and watched that for a few hours until our feet were num. The music was good but even better was the atmosphere of everyone gathered together.

Waiting to sound check

She really was singing "Purple Haze",

Red boots playing "Purple Haze"... really well.

The American guy was invited to gatecrash Jizz Trio's set (really their name)

Singing a balled to his girlfriend who was sat next to Aimee

Taipei (and Taiwan) were not on the plan for this trip, it was a late night, sleep deprived decision and it was inspired. We are hoping to get the opportunity to go back one day, there is a whole island to explore.

Christmas - Taipei style

First off - Merry Christmas to all

So it has been a while since our last post, we have been on the move a lot in that time and have (temporarily) left south east asia.

Quick update of how we got where we are:

We spent a few more days in Phnom Penh, we spent a thought provoking day learning about Cambodia's recent history (more on that in another blog post in the new year) and then a couple of days enjoying Phnom Penh's unusual city vibe (imagine putting Paris in a blender with a sleepy south east asian village and then letting it run around with a Chinese cheque book).

Just before I got too fat on croissants we hopped onto a bus back to Thailand. We crossed the border near Trat and stopped there for a day to break up the journey. It turned out to be a fun little rest stop with a great guesthouse, nice food and some interesting people to chat to.

But in the end all roads lead to Bangkok and after 1 more bus we were back in BKK (again). We got to enjoy Bangkok's Christmas lights, the cinema and Jim and C's company. On our last night in Bangkok we had a Christmas party with Jim and C and ended up in Hard Rock Cafe: Hard Rock Cafe Bangkok's house band is brilliant! They played for 3 hours without a duff tune but highlights have to be Aimee and Jim joining in with Bon Jovi "It's my life", a surprise appearance of Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the name of" and a note prefect version of Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody."

New Found Glory get everywhere

Aimee enjoying Bangkok's Christmas sofa

Me pretending to be cold ... little did I know 24 hours later I would be in a wooly hat!

Thailand shopping celebration ... not Christmas, at least they are honest

One plane journey later brings us up to date and here to Taipei, Taiwan.

Taipei after the rain looks like a scene from Blade Runner

Hello Kitty bakery, we couldn't even get a seat!

We like Taipei. It has a very different atmosphere to anywhere in south east asia, it is busy and crowded but also quiet and organised, it is a really huge city full of green spaces and there are so many good restaurants and food stalls that the whole city smells amazing.

We have mixed a few of the cultural sites with a few malls and markets and wandered around enjoying the Christmas lights.

Christmas trees made of trash. Festive with an eco message.

I want that Doraemon

Rudolf with your nose so bright, won't you pedal my trike tonight... ps check out the terrified girl on the back seat.

Could be the Christmas market back home, very festive 

Aimee wrapped up against the cold and full of Christmas spirt

Well we hope everyone has an amazing Christmas wherever they are, we are thinking of everyone and missing our family and friends. Enjoy your Christmas meal whether traditional turkey, animal friendly tofu or unorthodox curry, I think we are going to be served by Ninjas in a faux castle.

Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

We found ourselves drawn to Siem Reap; the history, the restaurants, the chilled out bars and the most welcoming people since Texas. 'Just one more night' we would say when we returned to our hotel. But eventually the time had come to move on. We booked our seats on the morning bus to Phnom Penh through our hotel (which of course was also a travel agents!) and were told a mini van would come to pick us up at 7:30 am to transfer us to the bus station. 

At 7:30 on the dot the hotel staff called us and helped us load our luggage into the already rather full mini van, as Matt and I clambered into the back seats. The driver starts the engine and performs an impressive 3-point turn and pulls up on the opposite side of the road for his next pick up. 3 girls helped by the driver manage to just about cram their luggage into the back and climb in, by now we are very cosy (9 people in a 7 seater + luggage!). The driver jumps in, and we’re off, well 40 meters up the road, and he pulls over. Everyone on the bus looks at each other thinking the same thing, where on earth is he going to put anyone else? The driver jumps out and pulls open the door ‘Ok, were here!’ he shouts to which every person in the van bursts out laughing. As he struggles to unload the backpacks I can actually see the staff at our hotel still waving us off. At times like this you realise, you have to love Asia.

Next we had a transfer to the real bus station (or big bus station, as they are often called) a nice coach before joining the bus that would take us to PP. After a rather long (7 hours) bumpy journey, which saw us driving past flooded fields, rice paddies and vast country side on mostly dirt tracks, but also one rather new and impressive bridge we arrived in Phnom Penh. As soon as we were off the bus we were swamped with Tuk-Tuk drivers wanting to be our driver. Here we met TK, we liked TK for two reasons 1. He didn’t try to rip us off 2. He has the same name as Matt’s beloved VW Golf! TK is a great driver, which was reassuring on the chaotic roads of PP. The traffic here makes Bangkok traffic look organised, there is not really a right way to drive, I would say the majority drive on the left, but there is a significant minority that drive on the right as well! We were glad that all the bars and restaurants were within walking distance of the hotel. It was definitely time for a well-deserved drink!

Dusk mask definitely required!

Traffic 

Cambodia - Siem Reap, the temples of Angkor

Back in 2004 I visited Cambodia with my friend Gary, I fell in love with the country and the people straight away. Cambodia was very poor, very bumpy, very dusty but also very beautiful, very funny, very friendly and rather peaceful. It was hard not to bring these expectations with me when we returned a few days ago. I was in for a few shocks but now both Aimee and myself love it here. Cambodia is still poor but the economy is definitely moving, it is still bumpy but definitely less so and still very dusty. It is also still very beautiful, very funny and very friendly but it also now very busy.

We walked over the Thai-Cambodia border at Poipet having decided to spend the night at the Thai border town rather than do the insanely long Bangkok-Siem Reap journey all in one day, in that journey lies madness and a sore rear! The border crossing was painless and we even managed to slip past the touts undetected. We hopped in a shared taxi at the Poipet train station which is just outside town down a nice new smooth road; this new road was a massive shock, the last time I came past this way it was a bright orange dust road that was more rutted than a ploughed field! This same smooth road whisked us to Siem Reap in just 2 and a half hours, rather than 6. 

In Siem Reap I had a bit of a shock, that took a day to get over, it was a city not a town now. I should have expected it really, Siem Reap is the gateway to the amazing ruins of Angkor which rightly deserve to be visited by lots of tourists but the last time I had been that was not the case, Siem Reap was a quiet town with almost no traffic that was easy to walk and cycle around. There are now more motos, tuk tuks and cars than there were people on my last visit.

We found our hotel down a familiarly bumpy road that was being dug up as we arrived. Next door a building was being demolished, but inside the hotel was rather swish with loads of solid polished wood everywhere.

We spent the first day relaxing after the border crossing and exploring the new Angkor National Museum, which is genuinely educational and interesting, it was like doing early Cambodian history 101 with and interesting teacher, Ace.

We decide to get up at 4am the next morning to watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat at the recommendation of Nuria and Jochem who we made friends with in the Cameron Highlands (they are doing the near reverse of our trip).

I think I will let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the next two days.

First light - this was incredibly magical

Just as the moon was setting

Me shooting a few more frames

It was very early 

Health and safety seems to be reaching Cambodia, a lot more areas were closed off

The light was amazing I couldn't stop shooting

After our early start we went for breakfast in a French style cafe before meeting our Tuk Tuk driver for the next few days, Batman. Batman took us round several more of Angkor's beautiful structures.

Me in Batman's Amazing Tuk Tuk

I ended up taking a lot of shots through windows

See what I mean

The amazing Bayon - probably my favourite Angkor site 

This lucky couple were having their wedding shots done at the Bayon 

The completed jigsaw - the Baphuon was in pieces the last time I saw it.

There are always some bits left over when you do DIY

The next day Batman came to pick us up again and take us to a few further away sites.

Banteay Srei is always crowded

For good reason it has amazing carvings ...

and sculptures. Many are still intact

Aimee took this great shot of a kid playing with his mom

After a couple more sites Aimee didn't fancy climbing up the 7 tier Bakong in the heat

The Bakong is another of my favourite sites ...

Probably something to do with all of the elephants

Asia route map

For anyone who finds geography easier when looking at a map, like me, here is our Asia route so far.



View Asia Map in a larger map

Fairy tale of Bangkok

Fired up after our amazing experience at the cooking course we were very sad to leave Hua Hin and head back to Bangkok. This was made all the worse as Jim had to go back to work so our little group lost a member on Saturday.

Not sure how C never ended up in the group photos - guess we will have to do it all again.

To help us get over our blues at Jim being back at work and Mom and Dad’s part of the trip nearing its end we decided to have a couple of days of retail therapy. On Saturday we visited the amazing Chatuchak weekend market where we managed to finish our Christmas shopping and get me a much needed new pair of trousers. It was really nice to have C with us who found lots of small cool stalls that we might have missed.

Bangkok is really going for the Christmas decorations this year

Unlike my photography which is getting worse - boo

On Sunday we found our way to Bangkok’s air-conditioned heart, at the huge malls around Siam Square. We relaxed with a few cups of coffee and enjoyed the Christmas decorations that have been put up. Not buckling to nagging but rather realising that having long hair in the tropics is like wearing a woolly hat in the summer I decided to get a hair cut. It did not go entirely to plan as rather than getting a dashing Jake Gyllenhaal hair do, I ended up with the regulation Chinese ½ inch all over. Never mind hair grows.

Conscription haircut 300 bhat

To celebrate our last evening together in Thailand before Mom and Dad flew home we went to bar 55 on the roof of one of Bangkok’s taller hotels. We enjoyed a nice cocktail while enjoying the view and the soft jazz band.

Roof top bar - don't mind if I do

The last few weeks have been brilliant filled with some of the best experiences of the trip and amazing company, thanks so much to Mom, Dad, Jim and C for being part of our journey.