Day 1

We had a easy trip down to the Gold Coast, thanks to our great friend Gambo, found the motel with ease and settled in for the night. We didn’t get much of a night sleep, either excitement or the small bed left us awake a lot of the night.

 We had ordered a taxi to get to the airport and arrived the at the airport 2 ½ hrs before our flight, lined up and then realised we were in the wrong queue. So we changed queues, for another wait, then to be told once again we were in the wrong queue. So we changed queues, to be told that the computer systems were down and we had to be checked in manually. Anyway to cut a long story short, eventually the system came back on line and the hundreds of us in line were eventually processed, boarded and departed only ½ hour late.

 The flight was only 8 hours and the XL promo seats although not as big as business class, food not as good as other airlines and the alcohol selection very, very limited, it was cheap and we were on it.

 We realised when we arrived in Kuala Lumpur how blasé we had become when we travel now. We got through customs etc, to the outside, and thought, “money”? “how are we going to get to the hotel”? But had a look around, decided on a taxi, then queued again, only to find we had to buy a ticket from the airport to get a taxi. This will get you Jane & Pete, Marty said he would stay with the luggage & I was to go looking for a ticket. I had a wander around the airport (on my own), exchanged some money and bought the ticket. I congratulated Marty on his newfound confidence in me, and jumped in the taxi.

 Traffic here in KL is much less than when we were here 4 years ago, and they have a new highway from the airport so the trip was smooth and quick. I had forgotten that when I booked the hotel, I had booked a deluxe room, so was pleasantly surprised to be taken to a lovely big, luxury room.

 We dumped our stuff, got back in a cab and straight to China Town. We found our fav restaurant in KL, had a 4 course meal, a couple of beers and once again were amazed at the cost of $25 for the lot. Short wander found the T shirts Marty wanted, coke & beer for the room, back in a cab to the hotel, and settled in for the night. Tomorrow we fly to Cambodia, so really excited about seeing a new country. We love Asia, and have already started questioning if we really want to do Europe next year, or maybe some other part of Asia we haven’t seen, and leave Europe to 2012 when Marty has long service leave.

 Day 2

 The day started quietly, we had breaky downstairs and then back to the room to pack for the next leg. (We met a couple who worked in Yamanto, close to Rosewood while eating). I had checked the time of the flight the night before and again in the morning so was relaxed about time to check out & leave for the airport. This all went well until we were on the way to the airport when I had a sudden flash of doubt, so I checked the flight time again to realise I had misread the departure time and we had only 15 minutes to get to the airport to get our flight, I interpreted the time as 3pm when it was actually 1pm. So we asked the cabbie to step on it. On arrival at the airport I bolted for the check in counter while Marty paid the cabbie and followed me. I found the queue for our flight (which was long) and then waited anxiously for Marty to find me. I saw him in the distance and started yelling, whistling, yelling again, all to the enjoyment of my fellow passengers. He eventually found me and we joined the queue relieved we hadn’t missed our flight. But alas when I checked the time of departure I realised I had misread the misread and the flight did actually leave at 3pm. So I stuffed up the stuff up, but we made our flight.

 Interestingly the Toohey party (less Pete & Jane, who was sick) had obviously waited at the airport to meet us in matching fluorescent shorts & white tops and although Marty got to see them briefly, my moment of panic had resulted in us not being able to join up with them, and for that I am so sorry.

 Anyway, we had a great flight (front seat again), and arrived in Phnom Penh (PP) to find our transport awaiting. The drive to our motel was eye opening as Marty said it reminded him of Bali, and I said it reminded me of Hanoi. Arriving at the hotel (Velkommen Inn), I had some doubts because it was down a seedy street, and looked anything but appealing, but Edvin (the owner) was waiting for us and showed us to our room. Roomy, air conditioned, reasonable bed, beer and a balcony; we were delighted.

 It had started to rain on our way to the hotel, but once we arrived, the sky fell in, a typical Asian down pour. We were on the balcony enjoying the rain when I looked up and on the eaves next to our balcony, were several monkeys (this was the third floor) all carrying babies, obviously trying to stay out of the rain. I took several photos, then they all made their way over our balcony roof to wherever.

We then made our way downstairs for some dinner. The bar, come reception, come restaurant was a little wider than a hallway and there were several people there already, Edvin told us he had a Blues Band their every Friday, Saturday & Sunday night so we settled in to enjoy the entertainment.

 And what a night, it started with just 2 musicians but then grew to 5 with guitars, drums, harmonica, piano accordion, and some other instruments I cant even name, but we spent several hours listening and talking to an array of different people, some who lived here, some who were travelling. Aussie, American, Norwegian, Swedish and of course some locals. The girls behind the bar, Mary, Lan, Nut & Teka were all very, very good bar girls, fed us popcorn with lots of salt so of course we kept drinking to quench our thirst. We finally made it up to our room at about midnight, knowing that this was going to be yet another awesome holiday.

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