Phnom Penh to Siem Reap : By Bus

So it seems to me that just about the whole of Cambodia is submerged in water. The view from the bus was mainly one whopping great big flat rice paddy...

interrupted by stilt houses...

sugar palms...
haystacks...

small villages with road side stalls...and temples.

The bus itself, was not all I had hoped it to be but by all means it was definitely not the worse ride I've ever been on. We were lucky to have to whole back seat to ourselves, even if it meant the seats coming off every time we went over a pot hole! Next time we'll remember to take one of the 'limousine' buses.

It was cool to see the locals going about their daily lives, the animals roaming in the paddies and the children cooling off in the ponds as the day came to an end. I also enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers at the road side market where we stopped for snacks.

The Most Beautiful Thing

We ended up with a bit of a raw deal regarding the boat journey to Koh Phi Phi. When I booked the tickets, I’d asked the dude how long the trip would take. He paused, just for a millisecond, before telling me it would take one hour. So I wasn’t particularly surprised when the trip ended up taking two, as his ever-so-tiny pause had sewn a seed of doubt in my mind as to whether he was being completely honest with me. However, that wouldn’t have been so bad if the boat had been in the least bit comfortable. No air-conditioning or cushioned seats to be seen! Aren’t we flashpackers now? How could this happen? Check out the life jackets… Anyway, I couldn’t whinge because we were on our way to one of the most beautiful islands ever.

It’s difficult to explain how gorgeous the island is. I can’t even really show you with pictures (although I’ll try) as they just don't do it justice. It certainly is one of those places that needs to be visited in person in order to fully appreciate its natural beauty.

Seeing the sheer size of the surrounding mountains and the way they shoot straight up into the sky from the ocean is a sight that will remain with me forever. When you combine an awe inspiring view like that with beaches lined by jungle, stunning crystal clear bays, great diving and very few vehicles, I reckon it could just about be called paradise (if you shut out the extremely pushy touts, one million speed boats, and over-the-top resorts).
After the ferry trip from hell (I’m exaggerating, but it was pretty bad), being harassed by touts the moment we set foot on the creaky old jetty, and nearly causing an all out brawl between them and our hotel porters (it’s complicated), we finally made it safely to our room. Later that night at Papaya Restaurant (good value tasty food), I couldn't help but photograph this clever little guy. He knows where it's at!On Saturday, we took a two dive trip with Hippo Divers. We had an awesome day and two really enjoyable dives. The scenery all around us was stunning. Hippo Divers provided a great service with yummy food and friendly, professional staff. The visibility on the first dive was better than the second, but we were still lucky enough to see loads of sort after species, including a reasonable sized shark, several turtles, two octopus lovers (they were holding tentacles), sea snakes, scorpion fish and loads of others that I won’t bore you with. It was very cool and some of the best diving we’ve had on the trip so far.

Dive Site #1 - Bida Nok

Dive Site #2 - Palong West

Phi Phi Leh

While all the delightful action packed travel was taking place, other decisions were being made. We're now in Krabi Town, on our way to Bangkok. We’d always planned to include Cambodia in our travels and have decided that now is as good a time as any. Might as well do it before ‘settling down’ in Phuket. Do they have mango sticky rice in Cambo?

So it was a bit of a whirl wind tour to Phi Phi this time round but we've promised to go back soon. I’m still shocked that I was able to leave such a beautiful place.

So far so good!

It was so beautiful flying in to Phuket, which made me realise I'd never arrived this way before. The sun was just beginning to set and a scattering of limestone cliffs and lush green mountains could be seen protruding from the ocean with great gusto. Stunning. Hopefully we can visit this area sometime to see it up close.

We stayed in Phuket Town for the first night, waking early the next morning to explore the island and work out what's what and who's where. Our eyes were wide and sparkling with excitement as we headed south on the scoot around the coastal road. We wanted to stop every time we saw a 'house for rent' advertisement (which would mean every 5 minutes so we had to restrain ourselves somewhat!). We cruised through Chalong, Rawai, Kata, Karon, and finally Patong before heading back into town.

It was clear we'd been on the bike far too long when we began to snip at each other in our attempts to navigate the poorly signposted streets of Phuket Town. Trying to find our way back to the hotel under the screaming sun, with our tummies rumbling, was not the way to do it! (Phuket is so much bigger than Koh Phangan!). We made it with just enough time to pack up and check out.

The last time we came to Phuket we literally went straight to Patong Beach and stayed one night before jumping on a live aboard dive boat for three days to the Similian Islands (best diving experience either of us have had by the way!). We really hadn't seen Phuket at all so it's been really cool to see more of the island.

I'm pleased to announce that this is the one.

Kata had captured my soul from the moment I saw it. With its gorgeous white sand beach surrounded by hill top vistas, coconut groves, banana trees, and a funky wee town (how could it not have?). In the pic below the first two bays you see are Kata, then Karon, and Patong is over the next hill.

We've found a cool place to stay in Kata for the mean time and with low season prices it's a great deal. The Sugar Palm (I keep calling it sugar plum by accident, I just can't help it) has double rooms for 800 baht a night (approx. NZ$35) and there's high speed wireless internet (like actual high speed not same same high speed). So we're both chuffed and here I am merrily blogging into the wee hours of the evening.

Oh and the Phuket Vegetarian Festival has started so we have our white clothes ready to roll!

Out and about in Bali

For the last few days, we’ve been staying in a tiny town in northern Bali called Permuteran. The main reason people come here is to snorkel and dive. I think there’s only about seven resort/spas and three warung! We arrived late in the afternoon and hadn’t managed to get through on the phone to book accommodation, so pickings were slim. Samesame has worked out that if we do this more often, she gets to stay in places like this!


Unfortunately, it was NZ$100 a night (which is a little over our budget!) so we moved on the next day.



This gorgeous homestay, Tirta Sari, is half the price and three times as friendly! It’s located between Reef Seen Dive Centre and the main road. The family that run it are so lovely and the garden is beautiful. They are currently in the process of building more rooms, a warung and a spa.

On Saturday we had our first dive of the season! We went to a site called Close Encounters which is part of the local reef. Bighead loved his first dive with new eyes! It was surprisingly pretty with loads of different fish, and gorgeous hard and soft coral. We even saw a large ball of tuna which was really exciting.

We’ve also had a day trip to Pulau Menjangan, where we took another two dives – turtles, large barracuda, frog fish, an eel, and loads and loads of different species. It’s so peaceful down there, a whole different world. The only sound you can hear is the blub, blub, blub, of your bubbles and the quiet munching of coral.

This part of Bali is stunning. Permuteran has black sand beaches and is surrounded by the rugged mountains of the Taman Nasional Bali Barat (West Bali National Park). Gorgeous.

However, at NZ$70 a dive, we won't be staying long!

An early morning stroll

Just up the road from our bungalow, you can take a stroll through the rice paddies. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of rice paddies, they're breathtaking. You can often see rice farmers wearing straw hats, meticulously grooming their fields. Small ram-shackled shelters are scattered here and there as respite from midday sun. Ducks, chickens, roosters, dogs and their babes roam the paddies.

It’s much greener than the last time we were here and the temperature (a cool 24 degrees) is so sweet that Bighead and I have even hit the road on mountain bikes (twice!). The overwhelming sense of calm here is all encompassing and it hasn’t taken very long at all for us to just about grind to a halt completely!