Another thing I want to tell you about Laos is that it was one of the heaviest bombed countries during the Vietnam War, even though they weren’t at war. Laos is beside Vietnam and during the war the country was used to send soldiers and supplies into southern Vietnam from northern Vietnam.

I learned about land mines in Cambodia. We went to a land mine museum and the guide told us that there are still many active land mines in Cambodia from the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge. We saw a lot of people who were missing arms or legs and some of them were kids who were just playing in a field or picked up something that they thought looked like a toy. People are working to find land mines and blow them up safely so no one gets hurt.

In Cambodia we stayed in a city called Siem Reap. It was busy and had a street called “Pub Street” with a lot of restuarants and crazy tuktuk drivers who liked to joke around. The biggest religious monument in the world is in Cambodia. It’s called Angkor Wat and it’s one of the wonders of the world. It was huge and neat to see all the designs carved in the stone. We went to another wat called Ta Prohm. I liked it even better than Angkor Wat because everywhere you turned roots were taking over the temple. It was really cool and Tomb Raider was filmed there.
After Cambodia we flew to Singapore. It’s one of the richest cities in the world. To own a car in Singapore you have to pay $80, 000 to get a permit for 10 years. Then you have to buy the car! Singapore is clean and there is no garbage. There are lots of rules and if you don’t follow them you can get caned. We went to Garden by the Bay and saw man made trees called Super Trees. They even have an island that’s man made and a tonne of shopping malls. It’s really hot in Singapore because it’s close to the equator. Good thing we had a pool. In Singapore we got on a cruise ship.

The ship was called the Volendam and we were on it for 14 days over Christmas and New Years. We sailed to Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar (once called Burma). On Christmas day we were in Phuket, that’s one of my favourite places. The people in Myanmar wanted to touch my skin and they were wondering about us. We went to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar and saw a monk that we met in Chaing Mai, Thailand. I recognized him and he was happy to see us. It’s a small world. We also went to a monastery to see how monks live and after that went for a ride on a trishaw through a Thanlyin Village. Another thing that happened in Myanmar is we got stuck in a full elevator for 10 minutes with no air conditioning. But we survived it.

Now we are in India. The McDonald’s just serves chicken and fish, no beef because cows are sacred in India. In Delhi we saw a snake charmer. He opened up a basket and a snake popped right out. He started playing an instrument that looked like a flute and the snake started dancing. It’s really busy with cars, tuktuks, motorcycles, and buses. Everyone is honking their horn. People are on the streets, especially men. Cows, water buffalo, dogs, goats and monkeys are on the street too. There is a lot of garbage and it is winter in Delhi so a lot of people are trying to get warm by standing near fires. Even though some people are really poor they are still friendly. I liked going to the Taj Mahal. Now we are in southern India and it’s hot. We stayed overnight on a house boat and went through the backwaters of India. Soon we will be in Australia and I will have more stories to tell you.

When we were in Dubai we took a five hour tour of the city. We were only in Dubai for nine hours because the flight was a stopover to Nepal. Dubai is really, really hot. People who live there have to remember to take their important things out of the car when they get out, or they will melt. Mr. Milmine mentioned an indoor ski hill in Dubai and we went and checked it out. It’s the best place to have fun, keep cold and drink hot chocolate. Speaking of chocolate, I tried camel milk chocolate. I thought it tasted almost the same as chocolate from home. I liked the museum, with the statues that looked so real and we also saw the 7 star hotel, Burj Al Arab Hotel.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. It’s really busy with so many people, motorcycles, cars and big trucks. You have to be a really good driver to drive in Kathmandu because there isn’t much space on the streets with all the traffic and the people. When people park they pull their rear-view mirrors in so the don’t get hit. Everyone is honking their horns when they drive. Stray dogs are on the street and sometimes cows and even monkeys are too. Most roads are dirt roads so it gets pretty dusty. Lots of people wear masks because of the dust and pollution.
We went on a two day trek when we were in Nepal. It was great. We saw a lot of nice mountains like Fishtail and we played volleyball and soccer at night with our guide and porters. They were so much fun and really nice. After that we went in a small plane around Mount Everest. It was so cool. I actually got to see the real Mount Everest and went into the cockpit of the plane.
After our trek we went to Chitwan National Park for a few days. We went on an elephant ride. The elephant was huge and had paint on its face because it was decorated for a festival. While we were riding on it the elephant would grab small trees with its trunk and pick them up. We saw a rhino in the jungle too. When we took a ride down the Rapti River we saw crocodiles and later we went to visit a Tharu village by ox and cart.

Our third country to visit was Thailand. Our first stop was Bangkok. We stayed in a really nice hotel where the movie, The Hangover Part 2 was filmed. Bangkok has McDonald’s! But one of my favourite Thai food restaurants was called Tealicious Cafe. I liked the duck and the springrolls. My sister and I liked riding around the city in tuktuks. They are motorbikes with seats on the back and are used like a taxi. The drivers are crazy! We went to the floating market, took a cooking course, went to the movies (if you go to the movies in Bangkok order original popcorn and not cheese popcorn!!), swam and played tennis and rode the ferry along the river. I even went geocaching in Bangkok!
My family and I went to the islands for a week. It was really hot. We made friends with kids from Australia and played in the water a lot. I took scuba lessons, it’s so cool to breath underwater and we went snorkeling too. We had to be careful around the sea urchins. The sand at the beach is white and soft like powder. I liked chasing the crabs and found a giant clam on the beach.
We went to Chaing Mai, a city in northern Thailand. We bathed an elephant and gave him bananas and sugar cane. We visited hill tribe villages and went down a river on a bamboo raft. In Chaing Mai we talked to monks and asked them a lot of questions. I found out that they wake up at 4:30 every morning to meditate and chant. They get their food by donations from people and can’t eat after lunch until breakfast the next day. They have shaved heads and wear robes and can’t play sports. We also went and saw Thai boxing. Brynn and I even had the chance to get into the ring. One other thing we did in Chaing Mai is volunteer at an orphanage for a couple of days. We went there when the kids were having their snack, after they came right up to me, my sister and Mom and grabbed our hands to go play. They smiled a lot and liked me and my sister, even though we didn’t understand each others language.

Sometimes I miss home but I’m glad I get to see different parts of the world. I know I’m lucky. I’ll keep you posted on more adventures soon.