Grandma and Grandpa

After arriving yesterday, Grandma Marta and Grandpa Brad came over for breakfast. SV took the opportunity to play with Brad's whiskers.

Angkor Wat and other temples

Our second day involved meeting our guide and driver at the hotel and heading out to the temples. First off was the most famous of them, Angkor Wat. The temple did not disappoint at all and SV had a chance to mix with the locals some more. Our guide was Mr Em Somuch who was an excellent guide. He even helped out carrying our backpack. Having a guide, especially as knowledgeable as he is, made the temple experience so much better. He and our driver worked very well together, saving us time and effort in retracing our steps on some occasions and also helping to watch SV after she finished her lunch so that we could enjoy our meal without having to be on guard the entire time.
Here are some of the photographs from the day amongst the temples.

Posing in front of Angkor Wat and it's reflection, courtesy of Mr Em Somuch

Friendly head bump before SV had a snack outside of Angkor Wat

Side entrance to Angkor Wat

Giving us a break during lunch so that SV could meet the doggy

Trees taking over the Ta Phrom temple

Mr Em Somuch, KT and SV through a window at Angkor Wat

Interacting with a mom and her son at Angkor Wat

Performers at Angkor Wat

One of many people taking photographs of SV, he at least asked

Our guide Mr Em Somuch holding SV  at Ta Phrom temple

Children at the temples selling things for a living

Waiting for dinner and watching the other guests

First day in Cambodia

Our first full day in Cambodia we decided to get situated and walk through Siem Reap and it's markets without making the trip out to the temples. This allowed all three of us to get a little bit of rest and get used to the way things work in Cambodia.
We walked through some of the markets which were fairly empty since it was the low season. The people in Cambodia are so lovely, they really enjoyed playing and interacting with SV. SV was happy to oblige and was willing to be carried by some of the ladies. It was a wonderful first day, where one of the beggar children even played with SV without bothering us for money during lunch. Here are some of the photographs.

Playing with her toys in the morning

Baby monkey having a baby banana

Talking to the locals at one of the markets

Waiting for our fruit shakes to be finished to help cool us off

Staying hydrated during lunch because of the humidity

Playing with her toys after her mid-day nap

Trying Khmer food for the first time

Enjoying the different types of Amok ( Khmer style coconut based sauce)

Really enjoying the Amok

Going for a walk with the waitress who enjoyed holding SV

Singapore: Part 3

We met up with Cheyanne, Ricky and Leah for dinner before heading back to Leah's house. Like we said before the food in Singapore is awesome, they have the best of everywhere in the world, and pretty much anything is available, often right next to each other in food courts. We had Best Fries Forever, simply fries with delicious sauces after a full dinner. So good. Alas, it was time to say good bye to Singapore and head over to Cambodia for the rest of the trip before returning briefly on the way back to Sydney.

I thought there were no pick pockets in Singapore

Caught you red handed SV

Eating seaweed nude (the only way to eat it really)

Getting advice from Auntie Leah

Distracted by seaweed SV stands nude in the kitchen

In the park at dusk

We got home alright with a difficult last flight due to some weird choices made by the cabin crew. It was fine but not as nice as it could have been.
We are trying to get back on our normal schedule. So we took SV to the park to work off some energy.

Singapore: Part 2

We had an opportunity to go to the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino which is now complete (it was being built last time we were in Singapore). The hotel has three tall towers which taper towards the top, and a large flat piece that connects the three towers which has a pool, garden, observation deck and restaurants. Usually non-guests are only allowed up to the observation deck but because of our friend (thanks again Cheyanne) we had a chance to go to the pool and the observation deck. Wow, what a view! It was really great, and SV really enjoyed herself. It's the highest pool she has ever swam in, and possibly for all three of us. It was made even better because it is an infinity pool which makes it look like it flows straight into the bay. Also Singapore is getting ready for the F1 race with the circuit being set up just below (we went to the race the first time we were there three years ago).

 

Wrapping up our trip

Sadly we are now wrapping up this trip. It has been fantastic and we would recommend it to everyone, even with a baby, maybe especially with a baby.
We are now waiting for our plane to board in Siem Reap before heading home via Singapore. Stay tuned for more photographs from our trip on this blog.

Singapore: Part 1

This is SV's first time to Singapore but as some of you may remember both TV and KT have been there previously to visit their friends Leah and Cheyanne. Here are a couple of photographs (in addition to ones we posted earlier) from the first evening and part of the first day in Singapore. SV had a little home made bed on the floor where she slept very comfortably. She woke up quite happy and continued to be so through the morning as we went out to a hawker centre for breakfast. The food in Singapore can be super cheap ($2 for coffee toast and eggs) and it's really tasty too. In the afternoon we headed out to see some of the sights.

At Bayon temple

KT borrowing a hat from our wonderful tour guide. He was really good and we would recommend him to anyone coming to Siem Reap. In this photograph we are at Bayon temple which had 54 towers, each with 4 faces carved on them. Spectacular!

Costco with a friend

SV really enjoys riding in the shopping trolley and on this occasion it was a novelty to have someone ride along with her. She was sharing the shopping trolley at Costco with her mother's group buddy Hunter. SV has yet to learn how to share though as she managed to take her own cracker but also that of Hunter who is much bigger but apparently couldn't resist SV's charm.

Saying good bye to Grandma CeCe

Before dropping Grandma CeCe at the airport we had a very nice lunch in Darling Harbour where some people got a bit silly. It was another gorgeous day in Sydney to send CeCe off on a good note. Of course she lucked out big time with the weather on this trip with hardly a day without sunshine.

As always it was really good to have CeCe staying with us and helping SV learn and grow. They had some wonderful times reading the Doggy book and Moo book among other things. They were good roommates and had fun waking up together in the mornings. It, therefore, made SV sad to see Grandma CeCe leave at the airport, although she did blow her some kisses for the road, well technically flight.