Cambodia trip 2016 - the Rowan & Ellie Wedding Edition Pt I
So, Rowan (elfishski) and Ellie are married - well, that happened 22/12/2015, but now they're married again, Khmer style! Ellie asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, so the following is my travel journal from my second visit to Cambodia, with a few days in Singapore attached at the start :)
Oct 10-14: Days 1-5 - Melbourne
This time my adventure started with another conference, this time eResesrch Australasia 2016. I only mention this, because after carefully organising my 60+20L bag to not need the expansion before getting to Cambodia, after the conference I had so much loot (mug, torch, tea towel…) that I had to expand it. I was hoping to put the work laptop in checked baggage but it turns out that isn't allowed. Sigh.
International luggage was a little challenging, because although the bag has a 30kg limit, I had a single bag 7kg limit on carry on, which I never meet. At check in I was told I have to take the laptop as carry on though and it won't impact the 7kg so that's good.
Oct 15: Day 1b/6 - MEL->SIN
Flight 1:05am, Singapore airways. Had Arwin with me so much less scary than last time and not sick this time, yay!
Lots of time to stress though. After my meeting at the Bureau we had lunch in Melbourne then headed to ACMI and saw the Collisions VR exhibition, which was excellent.
Made it in to Singapore after the smoothest landing I've ever experienced at 5am local time (3hrs behind AEDT). Pilot basically glided it in. Guess he's landed there a lot of times!
Waited around the airport for ages to work out internet and find out how trains etc work. Eventually the ticketing centre opened 8am and we got 3 day unlimited bus/train/tram passes, so we're sorted for transport.
Made it to hotel, but check in wasn't till 2pm. We were able to drop bags though, then we went for a wander to find a juice. It turns out Singapore is 30 degrees even at 6am. I don't hold with this!
Most things were shut on a Saturday morning, but after a western but yummy breaky we headed to Little India. Arwin loved it - just like home but where there are rules! Haha. Had a mango lassi :) and some sweets, Diwali/Deepavali is near and there is much preparation for that. Markets were pretty cool!
We also visited the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Temple. And of course the man making sure people took off their shoes had a son who had just graduated in Law from UTas!!! Ah Tasmania!
Took a while wandering back to hotel, and managed to get there after 2pm. Lots of Young People… it's definitely a funky hotel. But when we got to the room we found it's tiny with a mezzanine bedroom, but it has unlimited wifi, and even comes with a free mobile phone with free calls and unlimited data! That sure beats buying roaming packs or a new SIM card! Pretty neat.
Dinner at Analakshmi, an Indian restaurant where you pay what you want for the meal, which is an open buffet. Was nice, I tried a few dishes I hadn't heard of before :)
Early night to try to sort the headaches and jetlag.
Oct 16: Day 2 - Singapore
Snuffles. Good good. Rhinovirus, or the result of all this hot outside cold inside air conditioning malarkey?
Breakfast at The Book Cafe across the road, a gorgeous spot with books, magazines, old music, and great food. Definitely a good breakfast choice :)
Then went to find a laundromat. Again. Turns out here you get other people to wash your clothes for you. So after drawing a blank with the places round here we hopped on a train down to Chinatown. Wandered round a bit, found the coin operated laundry (actually token operated so people didn't use it as a change facility due to their “apparently insatiable demand for $1 coins”!). Got some street foodcourt food for lunch and caught a bus back to the hotel. Hung out in the hotel for a bit, Arwin needed to do work.
Around 5pm we wandered over to a nearby shopping mall that I noticed contained a Books Kinukanaya, wonderful as ever. I bought Dante and an adult Roald Dahl book. Then we headed out to go to Merlion Park and the Gardens by the Bay. Managed to get a bit lost coming out of the station so it ended up already being dark when we good to the Merlion, but still cool. We then wandered across to the gardens, grabbed some dinner (maccas!), and went and watched a light show in the Supertree Grove of illuminated giant tree things synced to music. Very impressive indeed.
Train back to hotel, walked back along the other side of the river. Think it might be time to go investigate the pool. Closes at 9pm :(
360 degree panorama of Merlion park linked
Oct 17: Day 3 - Singapore
There are turtles in the river!!!
Starbucks for breakfast. So adventurous :p
Then off to explore Sim Lim Square, an electronics specialist mall. Pretty impressive! Prices are quite similar to Australia really but the amount of stuff available was seriously cool. Then at Pat’s suggestion we checked out the more tourist friendly Challenger, which was basically like Dick Smith/JB Hifi. Bit cheaper but not heaps. Got a cheap Chinese fitbit knock off to try though.
Checked out a computer games store too, that *was* a lot cheaper. Stupid Australia games prices! Again didn't get anything though.
Chicken tofu and potato curry and fresh drinks for lunch (sour plum soda and barley & lemon), then back to hotel.
Blisters on little toes are getting ridiculous!
Weather was much more pleasant today. Spent a while relaxing on the pool deck and trying to work out what to do with our remaining time in Singapore.
Back to Little India for dinner at Jaggi’s punjabi restaurant. Buffet style but you order the breads. A little salty but very nice and authentic I'm told! Indians eating there so that's a good sign!
After dinner we headed to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Obviously it's a little hard to see plants in the dark, but it was good for a walk (if overly hot and humid again), but there were some very impressive areas, including an amazing bonsai area.
Have I mentioned I love trains? Trains are great! 3 day unlimited trip train cards are great! We rode the MRT a lot :) the Singapore train system is heaps good, like the Paris Metro but even more smooth and frequent, I really am impressed. Although I guess one downside to very frequent trains is your feet don't get time to rest while waiting!
Oct 10-14: Days 1-5 - Melbourne
This time my adventure started with another conference, this time eResesrch Australasia 2016. I only mention this, because after carefully organising my 60+20L bag to not need the expansion before getting to Cambodia, after the conference I had so much loot (mug, torch, tea towel…) that I had to expand it. I was hoping to put the work laptop in checked baggage but it turns out that isn't allowed. Sigh.
International luggage was a little challenging, because although the bag has a 30kg limit, I had a single bag 7kg limit on carry on, which I never meet. At check in I was told I have to take the laptop as carry on though and it won't impact the 7kg so that's good.
Oct 15: Day 1b/6 - MEL->SIN
Flight 1:05am, Singapore airways. Had Arwin with me so much less scary than last time and not sick this time, yay!
Lots of time to stress though. After my meeting at the Bureau we had lunch in Melbourne then headed to ACMI and saw the Collisions VR exhibition, which was excellent.
Made it in to Singapore after the smoothest landing I've ever experienced at 5am local time (3hrs behind AEDT). Pilot basically glided it in. Guess he's landed there a lot of times!
Waited around the airport for ages to work out internet and find out how trains etc work. Eventually the ticketing centre opened 8am and we got 3 day unlimited bus/train/tram passes, so we're sorted for transport.
Made it to hotel, but check in wasn't till 2pm. We were able to drop bags though, then we went for a wander to find a juice. It turns out Singapore is 30 degrees even at 6am. I don't hold with this!
Most things were shut on a Saturday morning, but after a western but yummy breaky we headed to Little India. Arwin loved it - just like home but where there are rules! Haha. Had a mango lassi :) and some sweets, Diwali/Deepavali is near and there is much preparation for that. Markets were pretty cool!
We also visited the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Temple. And of course the man making sure people took off their shoes had a son who had just graduated in Law from UTas!!! Ah Tasmania!
Took a while wandering back to hotel, and managed to get there after 2pm. Lots of Young People… it's definitely a funky hotel. But when we got to the room we found it's tiny with a mezzanine bedroom, but it has unlimited wifi, and even comes with a free mobile phone with free calls and unlimited data! That sure beats buying roaming packs or a new SIM card! Pretty neat.
Dinner at Analakshmi, an Indian restaurant where you pay what you want for the meal, which is an open buffet. Was nice, I tried a few dishes I hadn't heard of before :)
Early night to try to sort the headaches and jetlag.
Oct 16: Day 2 - Singapore
Snuffles. Good good. Rhinovirus, or the result of all this hot outside cold inside air conditioning malarkey?
Breakfast at The Book Cafe across the road, a gorgeous spot with books, magazines, old music, and great food. Definitely a good breakfast choice :)
Then went to find a laundromat. Again. Turns out here you get other people to wash your clothes for you. So after drawing a blank with the places round here we hopped on a train down to Chinatown. Wandered round a bit, found the coin operated laundry (actually token operated so people didn't use it as a change facility due to their “apparently insatiable demand for $1 coins”!). Got some street foodcourt food for lunch and caught a bus back to the hotel. Hung out in the hotel for a bit, Arwin needed to do work.
Around 5pm we wandered over to a nearby shopping mall that I noticed contained a Books Kinukanaya, wonderful as ever. I bought Dante and an adult Roald Dahl book. Then we headed out to go to Merlion Park and the Gardens by the Bay. Managed to get a bit lost coming out of the station so it ended up already being dark when we good to the Merlion, but still cool. We then wandered across to the gardens, grabbed some dinner (maccas!), and went and watched a light show in the Supertree Grove of illuminated giant tree things synced to music. Very impressive indeed.
Train back to hotel, walked back along the other side of the river. Think it might be time to go investigate the pool. Closes at 9pm :(
360 degree panorama of Merlion park linked
Oct 17: Day 3 - Singapore
There are turtles in the river!!!
Starbucks for breakfast. So adventurous :p
Then off to explore Sim Lim Square, an electronics specialist mall. Pretty impressive! Prices are quite similar to Australia really but the amount of stuff available was seriously cool. Then at Pat’s suggestion we checked out the more tourist friendly Challenger, which was basically like Dick Smith/JB Hifi. Bit cheaper but not heaps. Got a cheap Chinese fitbit knock off to try though.
Checked out a computer games store too, that *was* a lot cheaper. Stupid Australia games prices! Again didn't get anything though.
Chicken tofu and potato curry and fresh drinks for lunch (sour plum soda and barley & lemon), then back to hotel.
Blisters on little toes are getting ridiculous!
Weather was much more pleasant today. Spent a while relaxing on the pool deck and trying to work out what to do with our remaining time in Singapore.
Back to Little India for dinner at Jaggi’s punjabi restaurant. Buffet style but you order the breads. A little salty but very nice and authentic I'm told! Indians eating there so that's a good sign!
After dinner we headed to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Obviously it's a little hard to see plants in the dark, but it was good for a walk (if overly hot and humid again), but there were some very impressive areas, including an amazing bonsai area.
Have I mentioned I love trains? Trains are great! 3 day unlimited trip train cards are great! We rode the MRT a lot :) the Singapore train system is heaps good, like the Paris Metro but even more smooth and frequent, I really am impressed. Although I guess one downside to very frequent trains is your feet don't get time to rest while waiting!