I never felt sooo hard pressed to come out with a vacation spot before but this time really takes the cake. You would think that it would be super duper easy to decide on where you wanna holiday, since almost ANYWHERE is better than staying at home right?
Well, I think I lost some grey matter in my brain planning this trip.
We started off thinking about Bali... hmmmm, lovely beaches, yummy food, balmy weather and clear crystal waters....halfway scouting for villas, I started hearing about big waves in Bali, and almost daily earthquakes in Sumatra which may tigger off tsumanis which in turn may hit the southern beaches of Bali, and they include most of the popular tourist destinations.
Oh well, we thought, maybe we can still go Bali but instead of staying in the south, we could look at Candidasa up at the north. But then it was like a 2 hours ride all the way up there?
So, ok, maybe instead of the beaches (shucks!), we could opt to stay in Ubud and relax amongst the rice padis. See how much research I put into this? I have the Bali map imprinted in my head now... anyway, after narrowing down 2 villas of our choice, Mal suddenly shushed me one morning while he was reading the newspaper, and pointed out a article talking about the possibility of a super 'Big' earthquake overdue along the Java Trench near Indonesia whose effects will certainly be horrendous.
Oh boy, that led me running to the PC frantically looking for articles of possible 'Big Ones' coming soon... So there goes Bali...... OUT!
Next we started discussing about Cruising. Having gone on 5 cruises, you can tell I'm a super big fan of them. I went hunting around for good dates to go and a good itinerary. We decided on the 4 day Phuket cruise, but alas, Super star Virgo was FULL all the way till March! And it was sailing off to HOngkong in April, with another ship, Superstar Aquarius coming to take its place.
We were ok with the new ship until I read reviews that Superstar Aquaris had 1 and half decks retrofitted into casino space, which effectively cuts down other facilities and activities that the kids can do.... so bye bye Star Cruises, I guess this trip is OUT!
We thought about Australia but Melbourne and Sydney was too long a flight for the little ones, and then we looked at Hongkong. Bingo! I was confirming our hotels and flights already (Hotel Paranoma!) until we started checking hotel and airfares, and whew!
Did you know it costs easily $800 a pax for a 4 day trip to Hongkong without food expenses? And it's only a 3 hours flight! We decided to turn our sights to lesser expensive locations, and it was really lucky we did, coz now with the deadly flu virus hitting Hongkong, I would feel really uneasy about going there.
After that, I went to Silkair's website, and iterally searched every asian destination on its route map! We looked at Vietnam, Danang, and Siem Reap, Cambodia. After ding donging for many days, and discussing whether Siem Reap would be doable with kids, we decided to bite the bullet and go!
People are gonna say that we are nuts, going Siem reap with the kids, but after we researched and did extensive reading on the country, I think we will be able to manage it as long as we take it easy and stay in a good hotel.
Though Cambodia is still getting back on its feet after the war, it has exploded as a tourist town due to the millions of visitors going to Angkor Wat and now there are just soo many good hotels springing up.
One thing which I learned and which we have incorporated into our intinerary is helping the underprivilaged kids of Cambodia with their dreams of studying. We're gonna plan a trip to one of the schools with the help of our experienced guide Dara, and see what we can do to help, be it a meal or money contribution to help them continue on their way.
Dara is the brother of Ponheary Ly, also a experienced tour guide, who is heavily involved in helping the underprivilaged kids of Cambodia. Through her committment and kind heartedness, the PLF organisation was set up. www.theplf.org.
I'm feeling that this is going to be the hightlight of this trip for me, seeing how the poor survive in this beautiful country, and being able to contribute to their welfare, even if its just by a little bit.
This is gonna be a real eye opener for us pampered and overfed Singaporeans, and I think we will come out of the experience enriched and more appreciative of our life.
So guys, watch out for the update after we return from our trip in late April.
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