Cambodia // Visa Run

Almost three weeks ago now we made a quick trip to the Thai/Cambodian border for our last visa run!  I am thanking God that we are so done with all the stress of keeping up to date with this visa stuff... what an unexpected nuisance it all turned out to be.

Anyways before I turn this post into a rant I'll get back to the point... our visa run to Cambodia. Here's hoping it will serve somebody well in their journey to adding new stamps to their passport!

We looked into many ways of how to get to Poipet from Bangkok and for us the train worked best for getting there. Although the train takes longer than the bus we had two small children to worry about, and sacrificed time for comfort.

There is one third class train that departs Hualamphong Station in BKK at 5:55am (cost: 48 baht / $1.60), we arrived around 5:15am to purchase our ticket and ensure we got seats. The train left right on time but it makes a lot of stops, maybe more than normal, but we arrived at Aranyaprathet (Thai border town) around 12:30pm, about an hour later than scheduled. It's a nice ride through the countryside as the sunrises. There are lots of food and drink vendors wandering through the train, so don't fret if you missed breakfast. Do note that leaving so early you might want to have a light jacket or sweater to keep you warm until the sun is up... after that it gets a bit hot and sticky (no air con just windows in these 3rd class trains).

From the train station in Aranyaprathet we wandered out to the main road and caught a tuk tuk for 80 Baht (which you will have to barter for) to the border which is about 6km away. Beware, drivers will ask you if you need a Cambodian visa, if you say yes they will take you to what looks like an official office and scam you into paying more than you need to.  Just an FYI, if you haven't gone through the Thai departure building then you are not at the official Cambodian visa office...

Once arriving at the border you go through a long tunnelled area, foreigners keep right, and head up some stairs and you will be at the Thai departure border patrol. We were in and out of there within 20 minutes (but that included extra time for processing Zach's passport which didn't have an "arrival" stamp in it yet).

After the departure gate you are now in no mans land, you will walk for about two minutes or so until you find yourself standing before the Cambodian gate (note the picture above). This is the only picture I have from our trip because this is where I realized our Iphone was no longer in the pocket I stowed it in... so long cute pictures of Rylee and Zach on their first train ride because of some dummy who stole them! So PLEASE beware, this area is known for pick pockets.

To the direct right of this gate is the official Cambodian visa office, go there if you haven't already got a visa. You will need one passport photo and $20US, the guards will push you for an extra 100 Baht...which is a scam but you might get lucky like us and get out of that (we just said we didn't have anymore Baht). Processing for your visa takes less than 10 minutes and then your on your way to "arrive" into Cambodia!

By this time both kids were in meltdown state, Zach was hungry, Rylee was hot and tired, and there were 4 more forms to fill out... talk about awesome! Thankfully one of the guards had compassion on us and let us jump the line once I got the arrival cards filled out. Once through we took a moment to regroup and cool down in front of fan in what seemed to be a little bus station.

Once both kids were fed and calm we crossed the street and went straight through departures, no waits halleluyah! We headed back to Thailand and again no waits in the arrival building and we had the sweetest most lighthearted border patrol officers I've ever encountered.

After about two hours of filling out a bagillion forms, blazing heat, pick pockets, and two screaming children, we were back in Thailand! After dealing with Thai Tourist Police reporting our stolen phone we were directed to the bus station...which was a private tour company...typical. We were totally frazzled by this point and just bought our tickets back to BKK (only 20 baht or so more than being at the real bus station). However it took us a lot longer to get back than we had read... instead of 4 hrs it was more like 6!

With 4 new stamps and 1 visa sticker in our passports we got home after the longest, most exhausting day ever around 9pm! But alas, its over, and I am ever so happy for that!

Check out this months fabulous sponsor:

Rylee // At The Park

Being in Bangkok with small children is not the easiest of things, at least if you don't have a car. Getting around with a stroller in our neighbourhood is ok, but to venture out further we run into a problem... giant overpasses (stairs up, stairs down, and 14 lanes of traffic) and let me just clarify... there is no handicap accessibility up and down those stairs! So needless to say the kids and I stay home much of the week solely because we can't get out without the assistance of Sevio. 

As you can imagine by the time the weekend rolls around I am SO ready to get out of our tiny apartment and so is Rylee (you try entertaining a highly spirited and very energetic two year old in one bedroom 6 days straight)! So for the last little while we've been making it a point to get her out to her favourite park ("ARK" as Rylee calls it), Chatuchak. Theres a big playground, a very large pond with turtles and fish you can feed, a million pigeons to chase, lots of green grass for us to sprawl out on, and then theres the obvious famous Chatuchak Market right across the street.

We'll take her at least one day of the weekend to run off her pent up energy, and I have to say this has become a special day that we can set aside just for her...which I think is important to do now that we've got 2 kidlets. Its been fun to watch her play with a HUGE smile on her face, and I just love seeing her interact with the other kids, it never ceases to amaze me how "playing" is a universal language!

Check out this months fabulous sponsor:

Christmas With All The Fixin's

Let's rewind about two weeks before Christmas. My dad revealed his gift for us saying if we could find it then he would treat us to it. After hours of searching, and many emails written, I found the "Robin Hood!" Robin Hood is a little British Pub that was featuring a three course Christmas dinner with all the fixings!

Oh boy, Oh boy, OH BOY! After getting confirmation our seats were reserved I began drooling, I'm telling you nothing beats a good ol' traditional Turkey dinner on Christmas (unless your a vegetarian of course!). And what better way to begin a 9 hour trek up to Laos with a toddler suffering from turkey coma. Rylee slept through the whole night in a cramped and bumpy van! Tip to all families traveling with children: forget doping your kids on gravol just feed them turkey!

Ok back to the food...

We had two options for the first course: Spiced Pumpkin & Bacon Soup or Maine Lobster, Scallop & Leek Terrine. Sevio chose the soup, so I choose the mystery terrine thing. The soup...SO GOOD! They could have just served me soup the whole time and I would have been happy. The terrine thing was like a giant piece of sushi stuffed with seafood and wrapped with leek, it was good and had great presentation but I just wanted more of that soup!

For the main course we had three options: A Traditional Roast Turkey with all the trimmings, or, a Duo of Goose & Turkey plus the trimmings, or, Poached Salmon with Mussel Chowder and Salad. Obviously without question we both picked the first option! Everything was pretty good, the turkey was so moist and tender, veggies were cooked and buttered to perfection, and although a little on the lukewarm side the mashed potatoes (smothered in gravy) were my favourite. 

Dessert options consisted of: Bailey's & Vanilla Creme Brulee with a Pistachio Biscotti, or, Christmas pudding with Cognac Custard, or, Mixed Berries & Banana with Whipped Cream! Sevio chose the creme brulee while I opted for the berries and whipped cream. Although I've never been a fan of creme brulee, I had one teensie tiny bite, apart from the texture (that I don't like) it was pretty decent. My mixed berries were a little too sweet but meh the whipped cream made it all better...that is when I could get past Rylee who was stealing it by the finger full.

So there you have it, Christmas dinner in Thailand, who knew we would have such a treat!

Thanks Dad!!!! 

Check out this months feature sponsor:

Batu Caves

As I mentioned before, last week we were in Malaysia, two full days in Kuala Lumpur (K.L.) and 4 days in Penang!

Our first day in KL we saw the city sights which I will post about soon, and on our second day we made a little excursion outside of the city to a place called Batu Caves.

I found out about this place originally via Pinterest, and was surprised to learn how easy it was to actually get to. From what I originally read it's about an hour drive outside the city and I just assumed we would book with a tour company to get out there, but low and behold, you can catch the metro right to the caves! The ride is only a half hour (one way) and cost 4RM (about $1.33CAN) roundtrip! The caves themselves are free, there is a "dark cave" tour you can pay to do but by the time we climbed all the stairs and looked around we were too tired to even think about doing it.

Upon arrival we were greeted by an enormous statue of what can only be described as: the incredible hulk monkey lady! (You may or may not see little monkeys scurrying around too, we didn't but on the way out we saw lots!)

After the monkey statue you walk for a few minutes till your standing before a very large (i'm not joking...its HUGE) golden Hindu shrine (one of the most popular outside of India). Also you will see the longest staircase ever (in my personal opinion), supposedly its only 276 steps... no big deal right! These stairs lead to the base of the caves, which are formed out of limestone, and home to a number of Hindu shrines. If the natural wonder of the caves themselves aren't enough to get you up those stairs then let me tell you, the view is! You can get a perfect skyline picture of Kuala Lumpur! Also an added perk to the climb are the monkeys who come within feet of you, but beware they are wild! Rylee was pretty excited to see them...so was I, maybe more than her (at least for the baby ones hanging on to their momma's tummies...so cute!)

Hangin' In The Slums

Welcome to our little neighborhood slum! Conveniently it is located just around the corner from us making it easy to visit frequently (that is when the weather cooperates).

This area is made up of shanty like homes all situated very close to one another. Many homes that we have seen in our walks have very minimal material possessions (or they can hide their things really well).

From what we have learned about this area is that the land where these people are living is not their land and at any time the government can come and tear down their homes. It is not just a place of squatters so to speak but for some it is a place of transition, as they have moved down from the mountains and are looking for work.

We try to go at least once a week and as we walk through pray for the people we meet. Many do not speak English, or at best very basic English, so we use a lot of gestures or just let them Ooh and Aah over Rylee. We walk till we hit a small rickety bridge, it is here we first met two sisters, "Kitty" and "Ai" (pictured above), Kitty is the same age as Rylee and Ai is probably around 5. These two have stolen my heart and I think and pray for them often. The first day we met them we played in the dirt with Kitty, and Ai made a make shift slide out of beat up old road barrier, she just loved to hold Rylee's hand and pick her up and carry her everywhere. 

While Rylee and I do our thing, Sevio plays with the boys on the soccer pitch, a concrete slab about the length of half a basketball court but a third of the width, and forget netted goals...here they use tires! At first I thought to score you had to get it through the hole of the tire and told Sevio that after playing here he was going to have an amazing shot back in Canada... but I was wrong, just hitting the tire is sufficient enough, sorry Canada he'll have to stick to defense :P

So far this area is one of my favourite places to serve, its simple, its fun, its real. I love seeing these kids joy amidst their obvious poor circumstances, I love praying for a hope and future for them, and I love that they love us just for coming to play with them! I look forward to many more afternoons spent here getting to know them more!

Chiang Mai Zoo

Welcome to the Chiang Mai Zoo! Last Saturday we went to the zoo as yet another birthday gift for Sevio (thanks to Grandma Michele!). We were pretty excited to show Rylee some real live animals up close, especially the monkeys (which are in her favorite movie, Rio, and her bedtime and traveling buddy is a monkey.)

The Chiang Mai Zoo is unlike any zoo I have ever been to, it offers a tram and/or monorail service to get around the park, but of course being our frugal selves we opted out of those services...bad decision! The animals were few and far apart and for the most part you always feel like your going uphill, not the greatest on a hot day with backpacks and a stroller! 

Our biggest highlight from the day was seeing the hippopotamus', you could pay a few baht to feed them and they would reach up out of the water (practically an arms distance or less away) for you to throw the food into their gigantic mouths! Another highlight was the orangutan (the first monkey we saw!), just as we were walking up he sauntered over with a vine he had draped over himself as a necklace, he was pretty awesome.

Our little monkey meets real life monkeys for the first time! It was pretty cute, we brought Rylee's little stuffed monkey along with us and when we saw the orangutan and other monkeys she would hold her little monkey out to show the big monkeys.

And here are a few more animals we got to see...