During our 3 day visit to Cambodia we covered a lot of ground. We took a taxi from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and back in a bus. It is about a 5 hour trip each way, passing through 4 provinces. While in Siem Reap we took a drive out to the countryside one day in a tuk-tuk so see some animals. We went to an animal reclamation centre, which rescues ill-treated animals or those slated for illegal trade and either takes care of them, prepares them for re-introduction to the wild, or breeding. Sadly, most animals have been in contact with humans for so long that they will be permanent residents of this facility. Here are a few of the birds, the first one is a type of ibis I believe:

Not sure of what kind these guys are but this is momma with her 2 month old chicks:

After that we went to a butterfly farm, just for the girls. Of course, they LOVED it!



This one was quite large, probably 20-25 cm across.

Taking a tuk-tuk is a great way to really see the countryside and all the lovely people.



This our driver for 2 days, MJ, and the girls pretending to drive the motorcycle. MJ was a great driver if anyone will be in the area!

We’ve spent our last week in Thailand in the capital city of Bangkok. It is yet another busy, loud, kinda dirty Asian city. Oh I sound so jaded, don’t I? Well cities are not really my thing so I guess I am biased. There are, however, a few beautiful sights to see while in Bangkok, and the dining is great!
We went on a sundown dinner cruise on a traditional Thai boat one night.

The food was forgettable but the sights were beautiful.
The Chao Phraya river is definitely the busiest river waterway I’ve laid eyes on. Long express boats zipping up and down, leaving you mere seconds to get on or off; larger long-distance ferry boats; cute little touristy boats to cross the river from one chi-chi hotel to the next; long, long barges barely floating under their loads; and traditional long-tail boats with their deafening motors and funny outrigger-like propellor shafts.
Sundown view of Wat Arun, the ‘Temple of Dawn’. Guess we got it wrong by about 12 hours…

When you live in a busy city with gridlocked traffic, a motorcycle is really the only way to get around. You have to adapt if you want to bring along your favouite furry friend:

Today we spent the afternoon at the Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. Impressive. The Thais sure know how to dress up a building!



This guy was all over the place on the many murals, he is one scary dude:

After we left the palace grounds we walked along the street for a while. We found that even monks need DVDs!

And, as a final image from Thailand, our little Madeline Lily and her sister among the much-revered water lilies…

We went to visit a nearby wat, or Buddhist temple. It also had an impressively huge buddha statue.


Afterwards we went to some gardens and this is the tribute to the king’s palace.

We celebrated the New Year in Thailand at an old historic mansion, in downtown Chiang Mai. There was an outdoor dinner which was all the fantastic Northern Thai food you could eat for about $7.

The dinner was followed by a series of cultural dances, which our kids copied on the sidelines, to the delight of many other viewers. Bence especially can certainly shake it with the best of them!


After the dinner and show, we went back to their house and did the traditional Thai thing; light lanterns and let them float up to the sky. The kids love this.


Some people even attach fireworks to them so they are trailing fireworks as the float up. There are hundreds going up all night long, quite a sight. If there are hundreds of lanterns, there are thousands of fireworks, and it is quite an amazing sound both near and echoing off in the distance.

We wish all of our friends and family a wonderful 2011; may it be filled with love and laughter!!