Phew…

AirAsia announcement this morning seven sleeps before we set off…

We were very close to booking flights to Mumbai instead of New Delhi…if we had we would have lost our return flight according to this announcement! However as we leave New Delhi late Feb, we are safe…phew

Now and then…

It’s time to go again, for Matt and I it couldn’t have come sooner, we are both desperately in need of a break. This trip we have two companions my baby brother and sister, Andrew and Victoria. Perhaps we will get them to do some blogging too and we will be more studious than our last trip where we dropped off after two days.

Our grand adventure this time takes us to Malaysia, India and Nepal. Malaysia is more of a stop over with two days of sightseeing in KL, in India we have five days in and around New Delhi and then we travel overland to Kathmandu with Intrepid (this is Matt and my first time on a tour that we organised before we left home). Lastly we have about 7 days in Nepal, which we have nothing planned for…very excited. Nepal is like my grown up Schoolies, the plan was to go in 1997 when I finished school with my step dad to go hiking, but with two young children (4y.o. and 6y.o.) this was not possible. There is some strange galactic symmetry in play, this adventure I will be travelling with my 18 year old sister who has just finished year 12… 14 years after I first planned to go.

This will be my second time to India…this photo was taken on my first trip to India.

Yes, that is a camera strap in the way, yes we didn’t discover it until we got home as this was the era of celluloid, and yes my mum was pretty annoyed as there is not other similar pic on the roll. Nine months later this happened…

This is me, 11 years old, holding my baby brother…India holds a special place in his life, though he hasn’t got a passport stamp to prove that he has been there.

So we’re all getting ready, we have our visas, the medical kits packed and our airport transport is booked. This trip has been over 6 months of dreaming and planning…and having excuses to eat at Malay and Indian restaurants…it is part of the acculturation process.

We are not going to promise anything with this blog, because quite frankly if we are having fun it is likely that nothing will get written, but check in now and then, because it is likely that we’ll miss y’all and want to send some love across cyberspace.

There is a flag flying high from the castle…

What a beautiful day in sunny Phnom Penh, not to hot at about 26 deg; not how I remember it at all.

After a lazy morning watching Korean gameshows in bed, we spent the rest of the morning at the royal palace, where the king is currently in residence – unfortunately he rejected our request for an audience.

Shortly afterwards we caught up with Amy’s extended family who all travelled from the country to show us around town. We had a great afternoon eating and shopping. Philippa got a great “original” North Farce backpack for US$10.00 😉

Still don’t like squat toilets.