Siem Reap - Cambodia

Yesterday we arrived in Cambodia. We went to this place called Angkor Artisans that helps people to learn handcrafts such as sewing, painting, woodwork and a lot of other stuff. They then sell all the crafts in a shop to put the money towards their families.

We also went to cafe called Sister Srey - there's not many cafes in Cambodia just stalls on the side of the road. When we were walking out of Sister Srey there was a man with no arms selling things on the side of the road. He said he lost them from the Khmer Rouge (the Cambodian fight where if you did have a good job or good education you got shot - they shot over 100,000 people).  He was selling books to help to afford him to get fake arms so we bought some books off him.

That night we went to the Cambodian circus...where young people are trained to be amazing acrobats. The story they told was about life before and during the Khmer Rouge - it was really sad but they were amazing - here's a video of them!!!

Zoe Project

Today we went to a place called Zoe. It is a project that rescues kids that have been kidnapped and don't have homes.There was over 80 kids and all the staff are volunteers. The kids were aged five to twenty and had a 30 acre property to learn how to live with others like themselves.

Zoe is far away from the main road and no one knows where it is. I haven't got any photos because they don't allow photos for safety of the children. It was really sad to know had happened to the kids and at such a young age.  Its amazing how so many people have offered to work for free to save all these kids too.

Skyline zipline

Yesterday we travelled from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai.  On the way there we stopped at the White temple which was huge.

We then went to Skyline Adventures. There were 43 small and large zip lines that fly through the Thai jungle.  As well as zip lines there was also abseiling down trees.   I asked our guide Nut to go slow but he was teasing us so instead they dropped us really fast.....

The Last zip line is 900 metres long and flies over water and trees. I rode with Nut and he pulled my legs back and told me to put out my
arms.....we were so high and it felt like I was flying.

On the the shuttle home we met three Swedish girls who were here on holiday and were staying in Chiang Mai too... they recommended the night market which we checked out that night

Thai cookery..."stirring up success!"

Yesterday we did a Thai cooking class. Our instructor was Aun and  we started of at the local market and got showed all the food.   We then went to the cooking school. We made a 3 course meal first, a soup then noddles and then curry. My favourite was the soup. We were in a group with a girl called Nora she was from Norway and with anther girl called Lena from Israel.

Later that night we went to the night market we got pulled in to doing the Thai Fish massage. You put your foot into a small glass aquarium and the fish nibble on your feet it feels so weird.


This is the view out of our hotel window. In the background it looks like lots of grass but it is rice paddies where they make rice.

Seeing Maijer again...

Yesterday we went to see our sponsor child Maijer - she lives about an hour and a half from
Chiang Mai towards the border with Laos. She comes from the Mhong tribe who used to live in the hills in Laos.

Because the family doesn't English and we don't speak Thai we had to get a translator.  His name was Charlie, he was awesome and he was a tour guide and was so funny.

She's in a family of five, her mums and her dads and she's got two brothers. She also has two nana's - the one who was sick last time has recovered

We went to maijers house, its a dirt floor bamboo and hay house. It's as big as a kitchen, it's got no chairs and cooks only rice on a small metal stove on the ground using a lot fire.

Most people after year eight don't get to go to high school which makes them have a bad education and that makes them get a bad job so they don't get much money.

Maijer has really good grades in her end of year test. She got something like 97 out of 100 and I reckon she would easily get to university to get a good job. The problem is her mum and dad work in Bangkok and don't see her for months.

We talked to Maijers mum and dad about the high school they want her to go.  Its quite expensive for them to send her to high school so we are helping them to get her to high school. This is with the money we are making from selling scarfs and doing Maijer meals back at home.

It was amazing to see her again two years since last time....her dad ended up inviting us to come to her high school graduation which would be amazing!

Chiang Rai - Thailand

Yesterday we traveled on two plane trips from Singapore to Bangkok and Bangkok to Chiang Rai.

I learnt the difference in money so if you take the 0 of 100 Bart its 10, then half ten so that is 5,  and take of a bit of so its 4 dollars for us.
We then arrived in Chiang Rai - it is right up the north of Thailand.....

We thought it would be a bit cooler in Chiang Rai but......no......it was so hot outside.....40 degrees at 6pm at night!

 That's not going to stop us - that we jumped in a blue truck for 100 Baht and went to the night market.....lots of lights, clothes, music, food .....  lots of cheap stuff......

Little India

Yesterday we met my mum and dads friend Selvathi who lives in Singapore.  She is Indian

and took us shopping at China town and little India.  In China town everything was so cheap. We then took the MRT (underground train) to little India.

Selvathi bought Briarley and I an Indian costume each. First she bought the dress pants and scarf then she bought the bangles to match. We also got henna art on our hands.

For lunch we went to the local food court she wanted us to try things that she liked. So we got  coconut milk very spicy curry and garlic naan.

We also went to a Temple where you had to wear long pants, long top and no shoes. When you walk round every one is praying.

That night we had dinner at my mum and dads friend Danny's house and his wife Allie and their two boys Luke and Jack.

Monkeys at the Singapore zoo

Today we went to the Singapore zoo and it was 40 degrees outside!


We saw animals from snakes to polar bears to big cats as well as giraffes, zebras, rhinos, elephants,monkey and so many others.

We got the opportunity to get photos with four baby orangutans as they were being fed.



They had some trouble getting them back down because they climbed up the tree and were eating the seeds in the tree. They got them down in the end by getting out their favourite food grapes. One by one they walk right past you with there hands in the air and holding the caretakers hand too.

In the Singapore zoo it's not like other zoos which have big glass wall and wire.  Singapore zoo has no wire but has either a small ditch or water in between you and the animals and the orangutans are roaming free.

We also met Charlie the oldest orangutan at the zoo.  When you try to take a photo of him he puts his hands on his face and turns round he was so cute.

See ya

I love the night life...

After a big day at universal studios we had a day at home we spent the day at the pool then later on

that night we went out for dinner with my dads brother Greg.


We went to a restaurant over looking the river and after dinner
we watched the laser show and after took the taxi home..





I learnt that they have a merlion as a mascot which is a mermaid and a lion just like we have a kiwi.

On the way home we photo bombed some people having there wedding photos!!!

Girls shopping day at Bugis market...

Yesterday we went to Bugis street market.  On the way there the taxi driver was talking to us about some things that most people don't now about Singapore. He said there are four million people in Singapore and how they keep it so tidy is if you drop rubbish on the ground you get fined 400 dollars.

Girls and boys have to go to do army training for a year when they are eighteen in case of a war. And if you bring drugs into the country you get killed straight away. He said that makes Singapore a safe, organised and clean place.

At Bugis Street market you walk down long skinny roads and there's lots of cheap stuff like fabric, backpacks, clothes, watches, food, sport gear, and way more other stuff. We were there for seven hours....phew!

Movie characters!!!

Yesterday we went to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS it was epic!!! We first went in the transformers ride you would be spinning around very fast in pitch black and then you would start falling from the top of a building but you weren't actually moving as the screen was coming towards you.

Then we went on the roller coaster OMG you fly up about 18 metres and then fly down 18 metres then do flips and fly around I felt sick afterwards. Then we we went and met some characters like the Madagascar animals, Minions, Donkey and the other characters in Shrek, Sesame Street, and a few others.

We watched a few shows like the escape of the Jurassic worlds dinosaur, and an amazing show called Water World where all the actors were doing doing dangerous stunts.









After the long day of rides we took the mono rail back to Vivo City (a mall) but on the way out we met this....

Adventure Cove water park

Yesterday we took the monorail to Adventure Cove which is a huge water park.  You start at the lazy river and go round all the fun activities. First we went swimming with lots of tropical fish and it reminded me of snorkeling in Fiji a few years ago.


I really enjoyed the hydro slide area where you went extremely fast and I fell off at the end. We also watched the dolphins in the pool training and they did so many cool tricks.  I really wanted to swim with them but we were to late and all the trainers had gone home.

Then we went to stingray bay you were allowed to swim with them and I learnt that they cut off all their barbs so it's safe. After that we went to the ropes course.  We had a really fun day.

Playing for the all blacks

Sumos at the sevens

Today we went to the Singapore sevens and we sat with our friends. We got there just in time to watch the New Zealand vs France - sadly France won this game but we won the next game vs Canada. In the end we came 5th losing to Samoa...

Me playing against Argentina

Well.. they had a bit of a problem with one of the All Blacks getting hurt so I had to play for him against Argentina. Just jokes!!!

Sonny stopped by for selfie...

After a long day of rugby there was 50,000 people pushing to find a taxi to get home so we took the MRT underground train. You have to stand up and hold on it goes really fast and it's really cheap


.

Olympic coaches!

Yesterday we went to United World College and Danny the Principal showed us around. There school is massive with over 2000 students. They have a gymnastics centre, art gallery, courts, playgrounds,

drama classes, dance classes and all the sports you can think of. They even have two gym coaches that went to the Olympics!

For dinner we went out to some friends from another school who's principal is also called Dan.  His
family live in an apartment with a cool pool.

I also learnt that it is illegal to walk across the road so you have to
go on a big bridge over the traffic, to avoid getting fined.
                  See ya

Arrived in Singapore

Hi guys I'm in Singapore, we arrived last night after the 11 hour flight. At 6pm it was 30 degrees! There's 4 hours difference in time between New Zealand and Singapore. We are on the 9th story of a hotel and there's a pool and its next to a river with lots of cafes. Lots of fun!!! This is a picture of the Singapore flyer that we saw when we were driving into Singapore.... its a huge Ferris wheel.  Off to explore...see you soon
CJ