Sapa in July

Bamboo in Hanoi

The highlight of Hanoi this time around was the fellow guest at the Luxury Hotel. Would you believe, this couple from Spain who had come to Hanoi to work for 12 months, bought their pet with them, this very cute (sort of) pig. Her name was Bamboo and she was 4 years old. A very loved piggy. When we left they were going out to buy dog food for her and guess where she slept at the hotel, in their room. Hmmm!!!!

When we go back we will make sure we dont stay in room 602.

Hoi An Vietnam

These first photos show some of the places we dined at while in Hoi An. We mainly dined at the restaurants dotted along the river which had the best views night and day and also the constant parade of people walking along. These included the locals both children and adults trading their wares, tourists both vietnamese and other nationalities.

One day we walked along the river and saw an ice factory loading ice onto boats to be transported to the local restaurants.

The second photo shows interesting boats along the river.

We then found a local bar where we sat and had a drink with the locals. Always an interesting experience. The highlight of this bar was the most amazing garden surrounding it full of bonsai plants.

We also spent time sitting on little plastic chairs with the locals drinking beer. Our favourite place was next to the wharf where the boats ferried locals to the other islands.

The best time to be there was 4-5pm when everyone was on their way home. The boats would leave only when full t0 overflowing with people, motor bikes and bicycles. Some locals would jump on at the last minute so that they didn't have to wait for the next boat to fill.

We did a tour of the local temples and were welcomed by this very friendly spider. We think it was a turantula. It was huge and very scary, the size of a fist. But it didn't come out any further than it's nest thank goodness.

Below are some photos of the very ancient temples, a little reminiscent of the Angkor temples in Siem Reap Cambodia. It was a very hot day.

Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Our main goal in relation to Ho Chi Minh was how to get in and out again as quickly as possible. We did well as we arrived mid afternoon and checked out early morning. A few hours here was quite enough. The highlight was that we stayed at the same hotel and the same room as last year. That way we knew exactly where to find the travel agents to get our ticket out.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The capital city of Cambodia. Pics here show the esplanade along the River and the exercise equipment which is constantlty in use by the locals.

A temple near the Palace which had a stone rhinocerous, an unusual decoration for a temple. Robert made friends with him.

The Palace was impressive. There was also a monastery and so here's the inevitable monk picture.

There was a large lake shown on the city map of Phnom Penh. We decided to go and check it out and found out why it wasn't on the tourist highlights. It was not very exciting but we enjoyed the journey and met a lovely couple from Russia who were also searching for the same lake. We enjoyed their company.

The elephant was in a park in the city available for rides.







Travelling in the bus you see some interesting sights. Here is a typical village and the carts being pulled by little ponies.

The sleeper bus blew a tire. Luckily very close to a mechanic who had it changed in 30mins or so. It was the inside tyre so they had to remove the outer tyre first. Luckily we were in a village when it blew, not on the windy road we had been on previously.

Sihanoukville Cambodia

Sihanoukville - We had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this place. But we have some lovely photos to prove that is wasn't as awful as we sometimes thought. The first are of the beach - the part where you escape from the sellers of everything from bangles to fruit to sunglasses and an endless range of goods that they wish to sell to you.
The beach was lovely though. It was trying to rain but not enough to deter us. Robert found a partly submerged boat that he had to have his photo taken on. We could say we were deserted on a island and our boat had sunk but no alas no. The other interesting thing about this beach was that there was a group of monks and they looked like they were on holiday. Monks in Asia have a love of mobiles so it's not unusual to see a monk with a mobile but we also saw a monk smoking which was a surprise. They weren't praying and they weren't seeking alms.

There were many restaurants right on the beachfront where we had meals and drinks. Cambodia are great with Happy Hour which can often last 24 hours and the beer is very cheap. And Cambodia have some good red wines which Patricia sampled and enjoyed. The Happy Menu was available at many restaurants which had one very special ingredient marijuana, but we decided not to sample.
We stayed at the Coolabah Hotel which is owned by an Australian couple. It was a great place to stay as there were many Aussies and as it rained so much while we were there we got to know many other tourists. The owners and staff were great and the food was pretty good too. One of the best restaurants we ate at while away for 3 months was here. It was called Happa (not happy food though) and the meals were just delicious.

We went on a city tour and visited the wharfs (there were 2 USA minesweeper ships in at the time), a waterfall, a temple and the Victory Airport Club Lounge.

At the temple there was a stray monk. Now in his ACODO shirt Robert would have had much better camouflage.

We visited a boat building wharf and saw wooden boats being built. The other photo shows women making fishing nets along the side of the road.

We visited the Airport Club at Victory Beach where they have a russian aeroplane in a hangar which is a bar and restaurant. We had coffee here with our tour guide and he enjoyed the experience but was amazed that we would spend so much on a cup of coffee.

The waterfall was great with lots of water due to the rains. The driver took us on a back road through jungle on a very rough road which made it an interesting trip. Robert was impressed as by using this back road he didn't have to pay the entrance fee to the waterfall. We also accessed the waterfall via a village which was situated at the top of the waterfall in a lovely environment. We thought the villagers were very fortunate to live there.

The locals sold flower wreaths which was beautifully modelling by this young girl. Her parents were just so proud of her and wanted us to take her photo.

We travelled from Siem Reap by sleeper bus at 8pm Monday 13th June and arrived in Sihanoukville early morning on Tuesday 14th June. It was a good trip and we slept well on the bus.

Siem Reap Cambodia

We rode our bikes to visit the local plant nursery to buy plants for the vegie garden at ACODO. The road followed the river and Robert got some good pics along the way. This little boy was catching fish, not very big, but he was pretty happy.

A little boy in a boat in a lotus plantation. He was also fishing.

And the lady below.

We rode our bikes further to the Tonie Sap lake. An easy ride on the way there in the morning but when we returned it was early afternoon and was it hot riding bikes.

We took a boat trip to see the floating village. Siem Reap has a problem with constant flooding so these villagers solve this problem by living on boats. They just go up and down with the water level. There were several schools and a floating buddhist temple even. A general store, hotel, restaurants and a battery recharging store. Their electricity is provided either by battery or some have solar power. There were also many TV antenaes so some have all the luxuries.

A rice paddy taken on the way back from the lake

ACODO Orphanage Siem Reap, Cambodia

We spent 2 weeks here as volunteers assisting in various ways. The photos below show some of the ways we helped.

We were at ACODO for 1 day when we were invited to a wedding of former employees of th orphanage. We enjoyed being part of a Cambodian wedding which apparently went on for days. This photo shows Robert with the ACODO Director on his left and Roun the English teacher on his right. It was a good opportunity for us to get to know everyone in a very relaxed atmosphere.

On Day 3 we were invited to a concert put on by the Government for International Childrens Day. All Siem Reap orphanages performed a dance and this shows the ACODO children on stage. They excelled themselves as usual. The ACODO band played music for many of the performances and are highly thought of in Sien Reap. One of the boys Soxvy has the most magnificent voice. As guests and sitting at the official table we enjoyed a beautiful lunch.

After this life settled down to a normal pattern of days at ACODO. No more weddings and lunches.

One of the issues that they face is the risk of flooding during the monsoon season. We were here at the beginning of the monsoon and the rains came very early this year. The grounds were flooded but the access to the buildings was ok.




Below shows many of the dances performed by the children. There are about 13 different dances and they are always learning new ones. ACODO employs a dance and music teacher. The daily show is a way of bringing donations to pay for day to day expenses. There are 70 children and they perform about 3 times a week only. More than this would be too tiring for the young ones.


Below is one of the small children. He makes the cutest monkey.










We did get to relax at night when the children were in bed. Here we are out at a local restaurant in our orange ACODO shirts drinking draught Angkor beer, except for Cheryl who rebelled and wore plain clothes.... only joking. Neroli is the other diner and she is a long term volunteer. A fellow Aussie who is a very important part of ACODO. Not sure how ACODO would fare without her. She is loved by all, children and volunteers.

Here is a photo of the back yard. One of Cheryl's projects was to clear this area of rubbish and install rows of clothes lines for the children to hang their clothes. Her other project was to start a garden. Here is a section that we added - ginger, chillies and other kmer herbs. There is a path on each side of the clothes lines. One was left as a path and the other converted to a vegetable patch. So each alternate path became a vegetable garden. It seemed to work well.

A Robert project was to bring in dirt to fill a low area where a new building is in progress. The delivery didn't come at 9am as planned but at 1pm just as the rain came. And when it rains it rains. First the truck got bogged and the tipper would not work properly. Bad went to worse and the end result was a quagmire. The older boys and other volunteers helped Robert to shift it but it turned into a big job instead of an easy one.

Patricia became the mend it lady for the week. Here is a lovely photo of one of the children 'helping'. Now the old treddle machine was a challenge and threading needles more so. Often the children would thread the needles for me which was a great help. I even got to mend some of the dance costumes.

A random shot of Robert playing with the kids. They loved to play hopscotch and ball games. The kids were very happy which was the bit that made us happy.

2 Aussies who came to help. One was a roof fixer. He increased his knowledge of roofing techniques by becoming a roof thatcher and did a very good job. We didn't get the shot of them bringing the thatch back in the tuk tuk. It was a treat....

Here they are leaving in the tuk tuk on their last day as volunteers. Anne and Kym helped Patricia with sewing for a few days which made the job much more fun. We enjoyed their company and met up with them again in Sihanoukville at a waterfront restaurant. They were great fun.

At the end of the show all the children get on the stage and sing a song and thank everyone for coming. It's a wonderful finale to the show and then the guests can take photos and or have their photos taken with the children.

Some more random photos of the dances.

The monkey dance

Hard to capture but this was a peacock dance performed by the older children. It's one of our favourites.

The harvest dance.

Another peacock dance.

This photo shows the stage and the audience. Taken from the classroom built up higher. These high spots are so important when the serious flooding happens.

All the children attend a government school for half a day. When they return from school they come up to all staff and volunteers and bow with their hands in the prayer position and say 'I am home from school'. And we in return say 'Welcome home' or 'thank you' or what ever you wish to say - to about 30 children one after the other. It's such a wonderful experience and it happened twice a day.
We will never forget these moments.

The Acodo Orphanage web site http://www.acodo.org/

Some general information about our stay.

We have been volunteers at ACODA Orphanage since Monday 30th May. Our last day as volunteers will be Sunday 12th June. We have been helping in many ways. Assisting the teacher with english and simple maths and numbers to start off with. Robert visited 'Pub Street' each day to give out fliers to the tourists for a cultural show ACODA has. Then we had an influx of volunteers so we started looking for some other ways to help. First we extended the vegetable garden with chillie bushes, ginger and several other local kmer herbs. Robert has been rerouting water run off from the showers onto the garden. Patricia volunteered to mend clothes with an old singer treddle machine (no power). The children brought their clothes along for mending.

On the weekend Robert has ordered 2 loads of dirt to be delivered to fill in a pit.

We are enjoying the experience thoroughly. The children are so lovely. We are trying not to get too attached but you just do. It's hard not to. They range in age from 3 to 18 years old, not that many of them know when their birthday is. They come from very poor families or one parent families where their parents cannot look after them, or are orphans. Some have mild disabilities.

Education has a high priority. All the children attend an international school for half a day and then they have classes at ACODA. They employ english, general studies, dance and music teachers. Many speak very fluent english so communication all round is very easy. They have a cultural show each night at 6.30pm and the kids perform 2 or 3 nights a week. The show is very good and popular with tourists (in the tourist bible - the lonely planet guide book) Tourists are invited to attend and the donations help to fund the orphanage. A bus load of secondary students from a Singapore school volunteered for 3 days and the children enjoyed the experience so much, especially the older children who had peers to relate to. When the bus left after 3 days there were many tears from both the singapore and ACODO children. It was all very emotional. We were there to try and console the children.