Seriously, this the last post - QF2 to Sydney tonight

Mum & I saw Binky for an hour this morning. We told her to be brave on her journey to Sydney and reminded her that she has done one month quarantine before, so she can do it again.

I will see Binky next in Sydney .. yay!

Last day - now in Singapore

Singapore - chicken rice, beef satays and congee. Staying at the Tanglin Club and wishing Binky good luck for her journey to Sydney - she leaves Singapore in 4 and a half weeks.

When we descended into Singapore Mum pointed out all the land reclamation in Singapore. I didn't know Singapore has 63 islands and they are joining some of them together, as well as making the island bigger. Singapore has 10% more land than it did when Mum lived here when she was twelve years old.  Changi Airport is built on reclaimed land.

Chicken Rice - at my favourite food court

Rice congee which was my breakfast when I was 9 months old.

Breakfast at the Tanglin Club. Yes, that's rice congee I'm eating !

Goodbye Saigon & Riverside

We spent 3 days in Saigon staying at our old home, Riverside. I went to a sleepover party for Joel on Saturday night and spent time with all my old friends - the ones who are still there.

Mum and I then hung around Riverside doing what we've done for years, walking around the compound and gardens and having long lazy breakfasts by the river. I painted (like I've done for years), read (I finished the Hunger Games and have now watched the movie - it's based in the future and so unexpected because it combines ancient Roman times and about people living in poverty, with hunger and they have to fight for food - a bit like people around the world today who live with war and hunger).

I am now reading "Never Fall Down" which is a true story written by an 11 year old boy, called Arn who lived through the Khmer Rouge between 1975 to 1979.

Here are some photos of us hanging around Riverside.

Mum walked through Thao Dien to pick me up from the sleepover

Breakfast at OUR Saigon home - at least at Blu cafe!

Mum too this shot of us

The book I'm reading - it's giving more understanding of what it was like to live under the Khmer Rouge control

Our last day in Phnom Penh

We leave Phnom Penh tomorrow to start our journey home, via Saigon and Singapore. Tomorrow night I'm going to a friend's sleepover birthday party in Saigon.

Today Mum and I just went back to the markets to get a few things.

Here are some photos of Mum and me in a tuk-tuk (I LOVE travelling by tuk-tuk, which is how we get around in Phnom Penh) and in a cafe and around the markets.

We've in Cambodia for 9 days. I so enjoyed coming back to my country and exploring it more and visiting friends and familiar places.

Mum & me in a tuk tuk

And again - tuk tuk with Mum

Lotus - Chouk (in Khmer) which haven't bloomed

Lotus blooming - one of Mum's favourite flowers

Roasted snails

Mum and I at Jars of Clay

Selecting friendship bracelets - to sell to raise money to buy Christmas presents for the kids at Monivrong and Cham Chao.

Tonight Sal, Sopheak, Mum and I went to my favourite restaurant ... Khmer Surin. I've been going there since I was 9 months old

Sally, Sohpeak and Mum

Sally and Sopheak

Mum and me

Dinner - loc lac - my favourite. I have the recipe now

traditional Khmer instruments

Cham Chao

CHAM CHAO

It's always special dropping into Cham Chao  (the Missionaries of Charity) which is now really a hospice for the dying but also looks after kids who have HIV. When I lived there as a baby, there were lots more kids because some didn't have HIV, but those kids have moved to other places now.

When 22 year old Reaksmey saw us through the window she screamed "OOHHHH" and raced out to give me a suffocating hug. She has known me since I was a bump, and is very special to me.

The nannies quickly followed behind and there were more suffocating hugs because they had their baby Trinita in their arms. They also knew me as a bump, and they knew Mum very well too.

I love going to visit because it gives my nannies, Reaksmey and the Sisters so much joy to know that they are still important to me. They gave ME so much when I was a teeny tiny baby.

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Later we went to Tabitha, another NGO which has helped over 60,000 families. I met more people who knew me as baby Trinita. These are photos of ladies who are making the Tabitha silk to get money. Mum bought some silk to help them, and to have for herself.  Buying things from Tabitha is HELPING the poorer Cambodians and ALL the money goes directly to them - it's how they make a living.

Museum & checkers

When Mum first went to the National Museum in Phnom Penh in 1996, the roof was a home for bats so the floor was covered in bat poo, called guano. The Australian Government fixed the roof.

The Khmer Civilisation was very powerful and rich. The map below shows the Khmer Civilisation in red - and it covered parts of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.

I liked walking around the huge museum which showed Cambodian or Khmer artifacts for more than 1000 years.

There were a lot of Apsara's - some made of wood, some of stone, and some of metal.

This is the Silver Pagoda

This is a cool game. Checkers using blue-grey pebbles for one competitor and brown pebbles for the other competitor. It cost nothing to play - just picking up stones and drawing a grid !

This is the National Museum

Wildlife Rescue Centre - FREE THE BEARS

Yesterday we went to the animal rescue center in Takeo, where Cambodian wildlife are protected. Apart from seeing the slow loris, deer, otters, elephants and other Cambodian wildlife we spent time at the Free the Bears rescue centre. I first heard about this when Mum was writing an article for her newspaper. 

Poachers are hunting Sun bears and selling them to restaurant’s to become the main corse,(Sun bear paw soup). Upstairs in the research center was a balcony where you could gaze and observe the Sun bears basking, playing and swimming. Some of these bears were chained up in a restaurant, locked up in tiny cages, distressed waiting to become an ingredient. Now they are safe.

This has only happened because people have taken action. Everyone can help Cambodia’s bears. I wrote a pledge saying what I could do to help. I would post this on my blog sharing what I have learned about the bears to raise awareness - I also bought a t-shirt saying, Free Bears, the money will help look after the bears. 

You can check it out on www.freethebears.org.au

The presumptuous otter.

Who was begging for fish and wouldn't give up!

Sitting on a liana swing

Coconut juice - a combination of sweet and sour

Me and Sopheak

sharing a coconut

just walking with Sokha

found this tiny frog. It's skin is poisonous

Read what it says about Jamran

Look at the painting below and think about these questions.

Man logging the forest is also destroying the animals' habitat

a traffic jam

In the middle of nowhere we saw a giant dancing lady. It was really a man inside. He was collecting money for the Wat for the Chnum Ben festival which is an ancestor worship celebration. 

Monkeys were EVERYWHERE - they were arrogant and Mum wouldn't let us feed them. They could have rabies. 

Mother protecting her sick baby

deer oh dear!

snack time - banana. someone else gave him the banana

Mum loved this owl

elephants like sweet potatoes 

A happy sun bear