Birth of baby Talitha Berends

Wonderful news! Our daughter Talitha Berends was born on March 20, 2015. We were very surprised when she came three weeks earlier than expected. We spent 7 weeks in Thailand waiting for all the paperwork to be completed by the embassy and Talitha is now an Australian citizen.

We have recently arrived back in Siem Reap where there have been days of electrical outages as many pylons providing electricity from Bangkok were blown over in high winds. When the electricity came back on we lost it again as a high truck sped past the power lines near us and cut the cable to our house. Normally the trucks go slow and someone sits on the roof or hangs out the window with a broom to push the power lines above the truck.

At our hotel in Bangkok

Selfies are not easy with a baby.

Our hotel guard holding Talitha at 2 am.

Saron from Cambodia meets us in Thailand.

Oma Berends holding Talitha while the rest of us swim.

Filling out paperwork for the embassy.

At church in Siem Reap. 

Visiting friends Lida, Any and baby Eric.

Evening ride in Angkor Wat complex

It is getting so hot now we're having to go for an afternoon swim every few days to cool down. After swimming we will often go for a ride around the temples at sunset. You may find this video interesting as it gives you an idea of what we drive around.

It starts as we get to the moat around Angkor Wat. We then head north from Angkor Wat to Angkor Thom, the huge ancient Cambodian city. You can see us drive under the enormous gates. We then stop to watch some monkeys. They are trying to drink some water from a plastic bottle. We then see Bayon, the temple with many faces. After Bayon we go past the elephant terrace where they found the statue of the leper king. From here we go past a number of temples in the jungle. Finally we reach a large swimming pool that was built for one person to use (the king) and we watch the sunset over the swimming pool.

I suggest you watch in full screen and 1080P if your internet can handle it. Enjoy!

Watch on youtube here: http://youtu.be/Jr_boEIn0RA

Charity puppet parade

Every year there is a huge puppet parade in Siem Reap to raise money for charity. Several groups will start planning for the puppet parade in September and then begin to construct huge puppets for the parade.

It is a great spectacle for locals and tourists alike. There are a number of videos below. It is worth skipping through them and watching these large puppets make their way down the street. Sometimes they are so large that someone goes ahead with a long pole and pushes all the electrical cables up high so the puppets can get past.

Traffic jam in Siem Reap

Every now and then we get stuck in a traffic jam here. The reasons range from a horrible accident to something strange. Recently we got stuck while they were replacing some of the drains.

Very quick post. Updated paypal details on the right.

Changed paypal details after being informed it no longer works. (Paypal locked us out after checking the account from overseas.)

Stan's 40th Birthday

Hi All, now that Stan is 40, Nicole can tell everyone he is pushing 50 which is exactly what she said while we were sitting on the road at midnight waiting for our night bus to be fixed.

Where Stan was at midnight when he turned 40.

For Stan's birthday party, we provided a feast for a Cambodian village about 40 minutes away from Siem Reap. We had friends and family from Geelong, Sydney, Solomon Islands and Cambodia attend. The villagers ate so much food and they had tons left over for the next few days.

After arriving, we walked out to the rice fields to see the farms, buffalo and the sunset.

Group photo with many of the group.

Waiting for the food to cook.

Feast starts to arrive.

We later did some firecrackers which caused Eric our cook's dog to run away for an hour. The little kids got really into tickling the adults and if you were sitting there minding your own business, you were likely to get a couple fingers jabbed into your side. This was ok before we ate, but not so comfortable after we had gorged ourselves.

Stan 40 today

Stan turned 40 today. Here are some photos of him growing up.

Stan and his dad at the river in Nigeria.

Stan with a baby goat.

Stan plowing with two heavily sedated cape buffalo in the first ever test of whether this would be possible (Kenya).

Stan, Matthew and their mum Henny looking at Monaco.

Stan, Matthew and Ana holding a bright blue snake near Mombassa, Kenya.

Stan looking at elephants in Kenya

Trip to Kampong Pluk (Floating village)

We went for a tour of Kampong Pluk. This village is flooded every year in rainy season when the water raises 6 meters. You can see the houses are all built on stilts to handle the flooding.

Even the school is raised.

We went out for a boat trip into the flooded forest. These trees are so important as wind breaks and protection for the village that the chief's permission is needed before cutting any of the trees down. In the flooding 90% of these trees are under water.

Second house in Cambodia

We had to move to a new house in August. This was good and bad. The last place was a little too big for us and was very hot as it had no AC and we couldn't install one easily.

The people who moved into our old house loved how we set it up, so they bought 90% of our furniture when we left. Here is the new place we are living and what we have done to make it comfortable.

Master bedroom

This was the master bedroom when we moved in.

We first added an air conditioner. After many sleepless nights, we needed on just to cool the room enough for us to fall asleep.

We then added block out curtains and furniture. What a luxury to sleep in past the 5:30 am sunrise.

Our bed was made by a local carpenter, a little pricey as we needed drawers in it as storage space is very limited!

We found a very cheap second hand TV which Stan installed. Now we finally have a TV to watch which is larger than a tablet!

Guest room/office

Identical to the master bedroom, this is what it looks like now.

Lounge

We moved in and spent 8 weeks sitting on the floor, eating on the floor.

We now have a comfy couch and interesting coffee table.

A media unit with no TV.

Kitchen

Our kitchen had a leak in the wall fixed.

With fridge and small dining table.