Showing posts with label Siem Reap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siem Reap. Show all posts

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Travel-weary Team Somerville back home in Vietnam!

Ok, so it has been 2 weeks since my last post. My excuse? Too much travel, too little time!

Cambodia, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore...yep, we're just a wee bit exhausted and over travelling (for another fortnight at least!)

As previously posted Rob and I had booked a weekend in Siem Reap, Cambodia for my birthday (sans kids) before our trip back to Australia. In summary...fantastic!

Siem Reap is a funky, vibrant town that, despite being packed with loads of hotels and bars catering to the tourist trade, has surprisingly managed to retain its charm and cultural heritage. 

As expected, our stay at The One Hotel in Siem Reap was indeed a unique experience. The staff were lovely and we were treated like royalty!

Of course the highlight was exploring the vast Angkor temple ruins. We started at sunrise on the Saturday and still only managed to cover Angkor Wat, the Bayon temple ruins at the centre of the Angkor Thom complex and the temple ruins of Ta Prohm (now more commonly known as "The Tomb Raider Temple" thanks to Angelina Jolie!). 

I'll post more about our adventures in Cambodia in the coming days, but in the meantime below are a few snapshots of our day at the ruins.

From Cambodia it was back to Vietnam to pick up the girls (who had a fun weekend without their parents!) and then back to the airport a few hours later through the heavily flooded streets of Saigon for our flight to Australia.

We spent eight days in Brisbane with a packed itinerary catching up with family and friends. Not exactly a relaxing holiday but lots of fun all the same.

After a stopover in Singapore for the night we arrived back in Vietnam yesterday ready for the return to work and school today. 

But - as you'll have come to expect from me by now - even before the plane had landed in Saigon I was busy scribbling ideas in my notebook for our next holiday in December (more Vietnam travel with visiting relatives and a trip to Hong Kong!).

Yep...I'm an addict! Here's to many more travel adventures in the coming months!
 
Angkor Wat at sunrise
 
Angkor Wat sunrise

Angkor Thom's south gate
Angkor Thom's south gate
Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom
Inside the Bayon Temple complex
Bayon Temple...our tour guide (Mr Em Somuch) knew all the cool spots for fun photos!
On the other side of Bayon Temple 

Ta Prohm - aka Tomb Raider Temple

Rob the Tomb Raider!
Our recommendation: if you're looking for a knowledgable, English-speaking guide to take you on a full-day tour of the Angkor ruins contact Mr. Em Somuch on email: emsomuch@yahoo.com or telephone (855) 12 853 271 or (855) 99 459 972. A full day tour from US$25 (contact him directly because if you book through a hotel it will cost you more!).

Thursday, October 7, 2010

More Hanoi memories and the weekend ahead...

Only a few days to go before Hanoi's 1,000 year birthday bash.

Continuing with my theme of "Hanoi Memories", in December last year we hired the very talented Hanoi-based photojournalist Julian Wainwright to take some souvenir shots of the girls at our favourite places.

Here's a few of my favourite pictures from the shoot:

On the Sunbeam Bridge on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi

Jade Mountain Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake
Hoan Kiem Lake




































Temple of Literature




































Temple of Literature
Dong Xuan Market
Our local flower market
Now to the weekend...

Before we head back to Australia on Sunday night Rob and I will spend the weekend in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Not only will we celebrate both my and Hanoi's birthday on Sunday (my downhill slide to 40!) this weekend will be our first holiday without our children.

The reason behind our sans-kids weekend is a chance for me to tick another item off my growing "travel bucket list" (i.e. my top places to visit before I die!) with a weekend stopover in Siem Reap to visit the ruins of Angkor Wat.

Just as exciting is the fact that we have booked two nights at The One Hotel Angkor - a boutique hotel in Siem Reap where, as the name suggests, we will be the one and only guests!

I saw a feature on The One on the Discovery travel channel earlier this year and have been planning a trip there ever since!

Think royalty, think exclusivety, think feeling like the only people on earth as you are handed a mobile phone so The One's staff can cater to your every whim...welcome to the hottest boutique hotel in Cambodia! (PS - no kids allowed!)

To say that I am excited to be seeing the ruins on my 36th birthday is a slight understatement, but the fact that my birthday will also be celebrated with a stay at one of the most talked about hotels in the region...as Mastercard would say...priceless!

I have promised Rob that I will shut down the laptop until we are back in Ho Chi Minh, so I will try to post some photos of our weekend on Sunday night on route to Brisbane.

A fabulous birthday weekend ahead! And to my (very) slightly older twin sister Belinda - happy birthday for Sunday! May your next 12 months be all that you could wish for and your wrinkles not as pronounced as mine! xx