Hi all,
We were trying to catch up with our blogs but we posted them in the wrong order. So here is our brief itinerary:

Feb 20 @ 13.47 - Catch the train to Narita Airport.
Feb 20 @ 14.53 - Arrive Narita Airport.

... just kidding

Bangkok
Cambodia - Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
Bangkok
Koh Samui
Krabi
Phi Phi Islands
Malaysia - Penang
Bangkok

so... right now (March 5) we are in Koh Samui and it's raining...

We made it to Siem Reap today, thankfully we flew and it was only 50 minutes. We were going to do the whole backpacking style and take a boat, then a bus back to Bangkok from here, but we decided to splurge. We spent our first two nights in Bangkok and I got fitted for a custom tailored suit, dress, trousers and 3 business shirts for $270 US thought that was pretty good for custom made clothing. I will go to the place for a first fitting, they need three and then each time we are back in Bangkok until they are perfect.

There are tons of little stalls selling everything to eat and wear in Bangkok, markets galore, but we have actually found that Malaysia is cheaper and China even cheaper for this sort of stuff.

After 2 nights in Bangkok we flew to Phnom Penh on Saturday and what an eye opener, visiting one of the poorest countries in the world. Of course we spent a month in China, but there was mix between rich and poor. Here in Cambodia, it's tough not to want to give a dollar to all the kids on the street begging. Granted, they say that people stop working their own jobs because they can get paid more by begging and they recommend not giving them anything, but giving the local charities money for the youth programs, etc.

The traffic is quite crazy here, everyone rides motor bikes or tuk tuks. We hired a tuk tuk to drive us around all day for $12. On some of these small motorbikes you see 5 people on one bike! Crazy! You'll see a whole family mother, father and two children under the age of 5, very scary. They come from all over the place, drive onto oncoming traffic, etc. Thankfully our tuk tuk driver was very safe and wore his helmet.

We visited the sites in Phnom Penh, the Royal Palace was very beautiful with lots of gold and intricate details all around. We went to a school the was turned into a prison during the Cambodian Genocide era which was a bit disturbing, after we took our tuk tuk to the killing fields where many of those who opposed the Khemer regime were killed...again disturbing.

Nick presented at his conference on Saturday and had a great turn out of both Cambodian and foreigners.

While he was at the conference, Tara and I went to a market and I got 2 dresses made, I picked them up today and they're great! She offered to make me some dresses as I browsed through the stalls and had them ready 48 hours later for about $15/each.

Tomorrow we're off to see the sites of Angkor. We've already booked our tuk tuk and will probably get templed out by the end of the day. Siem Reap has a street (just like Phnom Penh) with lots of restaurants that cater to foreigners for meals ranging about $3, drinks from $1...all pretty cheap.

We're almost two weeks into our month long vacation and time is flying by way too quickly. We arrived in Koh Samui, Thailand 2 days ago and unfortunately the weather hasn't been the sunny and clear blue skies that we had immagined. Today we were caught in a full out storm riding our scooter back to our Hotel from lunch.



It's been great, but the water just doesn't shine like it should with cloudy skies. We're here for another 2 days and moving to the other side of the island where we'll do a day tour snorkelling and kayaking some of the outer islands and then just hanging out at the popular Chaweng Beach. The sun is really strong here in Thailand, even with the clouds and sunscreen we're getting pretty red...eventually it will turn nice and tan :)

We have been definitely putting our tastebuds to the test with Thai food! Thai food is really spicy and can be a little to much if you decide that we're going to eat like locals and eat dinner at a market where there is soups, curries already made...those are way too hot! We've enjoyed the yellow...green...red curries as long as they are mild, pad thai, spring rolls, pancakes...all of which has been eaten for less than $2 from small street shops or carts, really it's not as daring as it sounds, many people do it. Cross our fingers, neither of us have gotten sick yet. We're looking into splurge a bit for a couple meals in the next few days, there are some beautiful restaurants/resorts on this island and we found a seafood one on the beach (describes most of them though) that is highly recommended.




We arrived here in Samui via Bangkok, where we spent another two nights. We checked out the Royal Palace which was beutiful, covered in Gold, quite amazing. Then visited a few other temples. One had something like a 30 meter long lying Buddah, absolutely massive.

I also had my first and second fitting for my custom tailored suit/pants/dress/shirts. They measured me then when I showed up they had the suit jacket with no arms, pants and rough shirt to try on. They pinned me all over to get a good fit. You don't have too many chances to get things tailored for you at a price that your willing to pay, so this has been a pretty neat experience. Unfortunately with the 2nd fitting I have learned that my entire left leg is quite larger than my right leg. So much so that the pants they have made fit my right leg, but can barely make it past my left thigh....how sad. Anyways, they have made marks and will make my left leg bigger. We'll be back in Bangkok at the end of the month to get the last fitting and make any final adjustments. I am pretty sure that they'll get it all right and it will hopefully look great!