Cambodia

I have most of my pictures up on Flickr now, however I was using Bean's camera a lot in Cambodia, especially in Siem Reap, so I'll have to add those later.

Bean and I took a bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap ... It was a long day. We boarded the bus at 7AM, arriving at the border around 2 (I think), at which point we had to get our Visas settled and whatnot. This would have been an easy process had the rain not come out of nowhere, delaying our bus and preventing the immigration officers from wanting to leave shelter to go across the street to get the actual Visa.

Once we got on our bus in Cambodia, we drove through torrential rain on a terrible road. There are rumors that a Thai Airway is paying off the government so that they won't fix the road to encourage flying (I can now see why this might work). The road was like driving in a really bad, pot hole infested alley way for 5 hours. We didn't get much rest on this leg of the trip :)

When we got to Siem Reap, we found a guest house very quickly and went to bed. The next day (Thursday) we went to Angkor with a French girl we met on the bus, Charlotte. We started at Bayon, which is a temple with many faces "built in" to the temple. (Bean has all of these pictures, so I'll have to add them later.) All of a sudden, it started pouring rain again. So we found shelter and bright colored ponchos (since we all forgot our rain coats) and moved on to the next temple, which was Preah Khan. Preah Khan is less visited by tourists, and since it was raining, we basically had it all to ourselves. This temple was less well kept (aka it was kind of falling apart, and trees were growing through it). I really enjoyed this place, I think in due part because we felt alone there. We then went to Ta Keo, which is the tallest of the temples in Angkor. Charlotte and I decided to just walk around the temple since it was still pouring and the stairs were very steep, while Bean ran up and took pictures :) Next, we went to Ta Prohm, which is known for having been left for the "jungle to swallow" (in other words, it should have been in worse shape than Prah Khan). While it wasn't in good shape, and there were massive trees growing through it, it was being worked on, which was slightly disappointing. We ended our day at Angkor Wat. I can pretty much sum it up with one work: HUGE! It was truly amazing to see. All of the temples were incredible in one way or another, and if Angkor Wat wasn't flooded with tourists it would have been my favorite hands down, but I really couldn't decide at the end of the day which one I liked the most. I loved being able to go just about anywhere in the temples, there are few places that are off limits. I felt very free to explore :)

We went to dinner in Siem Reap that night. Bean brought a bunch of balloons to hand out to the kids when they tried to sell us stuff. I could not believe how much fun these kids could have with a balloon! These kids who we see nightly here working, always selling something, suddenly turned into a child who was their own true age. They were having fun, instead of tediously begging people to buy something. It was such a good feeling to know that something as simple as a balloon could still make someone's day. The next night, they all remembered us, and we were thrilled to be able to give them more balloons.

The next day, Bean and I just walked around Siem Reap. We got some Mexican food (a burrito for Natalie ... which didn't come close to comparing to Speedy Taco, but they gave it their best), massages and did a little shopping. It was a good relaxing day.

Come Saturday, we took a boat from Siem Reap to Battambang. We sat on the roof of the boat, in the direct sun (my nose was BRIGHT red), and dodged branches (the "path" was so narrow in places that we had to jump out of the way when tree branches and bushes came at us). We rode through a number of floating villages. It was incredible to see that people still live in places like this. They are huts on the water, many of which get flooded whenever a boat goes by ... But they don't seem phased. We felt like we were in a parade for a good hour or so, because as we rode by, we would hear all these kids helling and screaming "HELLO!!!!" and we'd look over to find dozens of naked children waving like their lives depended on it.

Upon arriving in Battambang, we got a bit to eat and went to bed early. On Sunday, we took a half day cooking class where we made 3 Kmerr dishes and visited the local market. After that we took a nap (food comas are the best), and then took a tuk tuk around for an hour to see the city. We ate dinner at the hotel, then set out to find a happening place to hang out for the night (which didn't happen).

Monday we took a bus to Pnom Penh. Besides the poor mother and son combo who were sick the whole bus ride, it wasn't too bad. We got in to Pnom Penh, ate and walked around. We saw Wat Phnom, which is on top of the only hill in Phnom Penh, listened to some music in the park, then watched movies on the lake at the guest house in hammocks the rest of the night. On our way to the guest house we were in our first fender bender of the trip (which is nothing less than a miracle considering the way they drive) ... A Land Rover-ish car scraped the side of our tuk tuk ... It was great, the driver looked back, said "Sorry 'bout that" and moved on ... No harm, no foul I guess.

Tuesday was a depressing day to say the least. We started out at Choeung Ek (also know as the Killing Fields), where we looked at mass graves, human skulls and "killing trees". Words can't describe how terrible it felt to be there. Not to say I didn't want to be there, but it's not exactly a place I'd like to go daily. Afterwards, we went to the Tuol Sleung Genocide Museum (the S21 Prison). This is where they were tortured before being taken to the Killing Fields. There are exhibits with pictures of prisoners that took my breath away. Some women had babies in their arms, some looked terrified, others looks as though they were doing everything in their power just to stay strong. While this made for a depressing day, if I'm going to be in Cambodia, I better see why they are where they are.

Yesterday we travelled back to Bangkok. All in all, Cambodia was more of an eye-opener to me than anything else. I am so lucky to have the things I have, in terms of material things and opportunity. It was a beautiful country that needed to be seen, and hopefully I'll get to go back again, but I am glad to be back in Thailand. We'll be staying in Bangkok until Saturday or Sunday, then Bean flies to Australia, and I go back to Ban Phe to start work. I'll be observing new teachers and giving feedback for the month of October with TEFL Intl ... Back in my little room with Leo Lizard :)

Koh Phangan, Krabi and Railay

It's been yet another fun filled week and now I am back in Bangkok en route to Cambodia (we don't really have a plan yet, but that will come with time). I posted a link to Kyle and Shannon's pictures from the trip, although it's with a different website than mine (it's called Snapfish). Don't be afraid to sign up for it, you might get a couple of emails from them, but it's a harmless website if you want to check the pictures out. The computer I'm using won't let me download my pictures, so I'll try to get to that another day.

Bean and I took another overnight bus to Surat Thani where we were to catch a ferry to Koh Phangan. We arrived around 4:30AM, completely exhausted, where we sat at a restaurant for 2 hours waiting for the songteau to pick us up and take us to the port. When we finally arrived at the port, I realized that in my zombie state, I forgot my purse with my credit card as well as Bean and I's passports. Ooops. I begged the driver to take me back straight away and he gladly helped me out. Luckily, it was sitting exactly where I left it, untouched. I was a lucky girl to say the least!

We finally boarded the ferry and started our 3 hour ride to Koh Phangan. It was beautiful, but I was so tired, I didn't really stay awake long enough to enjoy much of it. Kyle and Shannon were scheduled to come in a couple of hours after we arrived, so we sat at a small restaurant and waited ... Trying to gather our composure after virtually no sleep for 2 nights (we took the overnight bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok the night before ... the day I wrote the last blog). When they got there, we quickly found a guest house and hit the beach ... Where I passed out (not a huge surprise!) The water was great, although there were a few little jelly fish that creeped me out, so I stayed on the beach for the most part (I'm a wuss, I know).

After the beach, we went to dinner and enjoyed some of the night life that Koh Phangan is known so well for ... Buckets on the beach :) They sell buckets with bottles of alcohol and mixers, you just pour it all together and enjoy a drink out of a bucket. It was a fun night with a lot of laughs. Bean entered an arm wrestling contest, claiming he was Canadian, until he kicked butt, then he was no longer afraid to be American. Most people didn't get it, the next day, we could hear people walking by saying "that was the Canadian". It was great fun. Shannon and I left around one in the morning, because I was ready to fall asleep standing up, but the boys didn't find their way back until almost 4AM. They apparently went the wrong direction when trying to get back and ended up in the jungle (I think it was on purpose ... they needed more jungle trekking!)

Tuesday, I woke up with a terrible earache. I knew I was getting an ear infection and picked up ear drops the day before, but this pain was nearly intolerable. I went to the pharmacy and picked up some ibuprofin and amoxicillin and prayed it would heal quickly. Luckily the ibuprofin helped out with the pain, but it was a damper nonetheless. Kyle and Bean rented motorbikes, while Shannon and I went to the beach and rented rafts to float around on. I didn't last long on the raft, I ended up in the shade fast asleep, avoiding any contact I could with my ear. When the boys returned, Shannon and I decided to brave the motorbikes and go for a ride with them to a quieter beach they had found. In order to get to this beach, we had to go up and down 20% grade hills ... Shannon and I walked part of the way back because we were afraid of sliding off the back of the bikes :)

Tuesday night there was a "Black Moon Party". Koh Phangan is also known for it's raging parties based on the moon cycles (most notably the full moon). What a black moon is, I'm still not sure, but with my ear in the condition it was, I (begrudgingly) went to bed while the others forged on.

We left Koh Phangan Wednesday, travelling (or waiting for a bus to start moving) most of the day. It started with a ferry that took off on time, then we loaded onto a full bus with poor A/C, then we sat and waited ... and waited ... and waited ... for our next bus to pull away from the station. We boarded the bus at 3:30, the bus did not leave until 5:30, and until there were about 10 more people than there were seats. The bus then proceeded to stop every 10 minutes to let someone off/on. This was tolerable, since we had seats .... Until they started BLARING Thai music so loud that we couldn't hear our music on our iPods. Not to mention, my ear infection was not feeling any better (hence the toilet paper in my ear!)

We were relieved to get off the bus in Krabi, until we were told there was possibly a tsunami heading our way ... Grrrrrrrreat. We quickly made sure we were on a hill or far enough inland to be safe, then found a guest house with the same requirements. We stayed at a great guest house with a really nice family who translated the public announcement that we were all going to be safe and sound.

We got up early on Wednesday and jumped onto a longtail (a boat with a Chevy engine block sitting on the back, and a 15 foot rod with a perpeller attached at the end .... kind of like a weedwacker ... the engine and propeller look like something that could be used quite effectively in a horror movie, while the boat itself looks like it is straight out of a travel magazine) to Railay. Railay is beautiful ... Absolutely stunning. Limestone cliffs everywhere and clear blue sea. We enjoyed another beach day with a better view than we could have imagined. Shannon and I got foot scrubs and foot massages on the beach while Kyle and Bean "explored" and that was about the extent of our day. It was great.

That night we went out and explored some of the night life, where Bean and I ran into 4 fellow Santa Barbarians. I recognized one of them and stopped them all dead in their tracks. I recognized her because a good friend of mine (Nikki Campbell) used to live with her ... Small small world.

We woke up Thursday to rain, lots of rain. Kyle and Bean decided to do some rock climbing (that's what Krabi is known for), while Shannon and I sat and waited for the rain to go away, hoping for another couple hours on the beach. Since the rain didn't subside, we took a longtail back to Krabi and hit up the Night Market where we indulged in all sorts of amazing food.

Friday morning we went kayaking. Which, to date, might be my favorite thing we've done this month. We did about 3 or 4 hours of sea kayaking through mangrove forests. We not only saw monkeys, but interacted with monkeys. The guides put pineapple on our kayaks and they would jump right on and munch away. I had one sharing my seat with me while he tried to get to the pineapple behind me ... It was awesome.

Somehow, after kayaking and a great lunch, we ended up at a catfish farm. Yes ... A catfish farm. We had no idea this was part of what we paid for, but apparently it was, and boy was it weird. There was a place where we could look at tarantulas and scorpions ... The guide lifted a pot to reveal a tarantula ... I nearly jumped out of my skin ... I wanted OUT! We made it out alive, and my ear was finally starting to feel better, so things were moving in the right direction. Kyle and Shannon flew back to Bangkok so they could make their flight on Saturday. I was sad to see them go, but I had so much fun having them here.

Bean and I slept in on Saturday. It was raining again, so we decided to put on our rain gear and take a walk in the rain. When we returned to the guest house I "played" Connect Four with a 4 year old ... He ended up spitting on my pants while laughing hysterically, I'm still not sure what that was about, but within 2 minutes of the incident, he decided he needed to pee right then and there, so I was just thankful I only had saliva on my pants.

Our intention was to leave yesterday (Sunday), but after checking out and packing our things, we were told about a BBQ at the guest house that we couldn't pass up ... So we got our room key back and decided to stay. I got a lot of reading in and a couple of naps, staying was a good decision. We even found super cheap flights from Krabi to Bangkok so we didn't have to take another overnight bus! The best part about buying our plane tickets ... We didn't enter a credit card to purchase, we went to 7 Eleven with a confirmation number and paid there. It was awesome.

The BBQ was well worth waiting for. The people we met at the guest house were great, guests and staff alike. We sat around eating more prawns than I've ever seen in my life and played some drinking games. It was a blast

This morning 6 of us woke up for the same flight, struggling to stay awake through breakfast, we made quite the impression at the airport, I'm sure. We were all asleep at the gate, completely lethargic.

Now we're in Bangkok, about to plan the next leg of the trip ... Cambodia.

I've got a minor case of homesickness that I'm hoping will pass soon. Not quite sure how that happens when I'm having so much fun, but I guess that's just life for ya.

Chiang Mai

On Monday evening, Bean and I boarded a bus and rode into Chiang Mai, arriving around 6 AM (yawn!) We were greeted by the lovely Nice Place Guest House staff, and fairly quickly persuaded into staying there. It was a good deal, clean and I was really excited about the hot showers. I had not taken a hot shower since leaving for Ban Phe ... So that was a kicker.

Kyle and Shannon arrived soon after, so Bean and I went to meet them. We quickly decided to grab something to eat and explore the town. We walked all day, looking at the different wats and taking pictures with Larry Bird. Larry is a Pirate Parrot that our group of friends has become very fond of. Since we got him, we have taken him anywhere we can. He recently went to Costa Rica and has made a number of trips to Las Vegas. So if you see any photos of a Pirate Parrot, or hear me mention Larry ... You know what I'm talking about. We concluded our day with setting up a 3 day 2 night jungle trek and going to the Night Bazaar.

At 9AM on Wednesday we loaded into a songteau with 4 others and were off to the jungle. We had driven about 3 hours before we arrived at the first hilltribe where we had lunch. After letting lunch settle, we started out on our first hike of the trek. We hiked about an hour and a half before arriving at the second hilltribe where we were to stay the night. Needless to say, after hiking for that long in the heat and humidity, we were all tired and in need of a shower ... But at a hilltribe, showers are hard to find. So we were dirty and stinky together :) They made us dinner and some of the children from the hilltribe did a dance for us. It was really neat, considering we walked up and saw nothing but 3 huts and a little pig pen. We went to sleep fairly early on our bamboo beds and tried to get a good nights sleep before starting the hike again in the morning. Unfortunately, the good nights sleep thing didn't happen for many of us, but the whole experience was well worth the exhaustion.

We ate breakfast around 9 and hit the trail again. We hiked in for about 2 hours before we arrived at the third hilltribe, which was even smaller than the second. Before having lunch we hiked up to a waterfall. Sadly, the sun wasn't out and only Bean, Kyle and Valentina (another trekker) got all the way in, because the sun wasn't out and we didn't want to hike in wet clothes. Of course as soon as we left the waterfall and started eating lunch the clouds broke apart and it was hotter than hot ... Such is life. After lunch we started on the second half of the hike. We got about an hour into the hike and it started pouring down rain. So we did the last half hour in the rain. The end of this hike took us the the elephant camp, where we got to load our things and ourselves onto the backs of elephants. It stopped raining, just enough for this to be very pleasurable ... Not too hot, not too wet.

I'm not completely sure how I felt about the elephant riding experience (morally speaking) ... although I did have a blast. There were two very young elephants with us, although we did not ride them, we were on their mama's! The younger of the two elephants would get stuck somewhere, or start sliding down the side of a hill in the mud and freak out, squealing and running towards his/her mom. It was great entertainment. The other young elephant was a trouble maker. He/she would run up the hillside and go exploring. The keepers would be yelling commands and get very little response. When it finally decided to re-join the group, it would nudge the keepers playfully, and the keepers would laugh and knock it on the head with a stick (not abusively, I mean we stepped on their heads ... so it couldn't have hurt it ... or so I'd like to believe). So after a lot of laughs, we got off and did another half hour hike the fourth and final hilltribe.

The fourth hilltribe was a bit bigger than all but the first (which was of considerable size in comparison to what we saw of the other three). It was the same sleeping arrangements, only this time we had mosquito nets ... with big holes ... hmmmm ... effective. So we wore a lot of bug spray and stayed covered. Kyle was the only one to get attacked too bad by mosquitoes ... They got his face, poor guy. Again, they made us dinner, and then we sat around playing games, where if you mess up, they rubbed the sut from the cooking pan on your face. We all had black faces by the end of the night. None of us slept well this night. I had a panic attack because I'm afraid of the dark and I couldn't find my head lamp or flash light, then someone else freaked out for some other reason (no one really knows), then Bean walked in his sleep and sat next to Emily 2 (there were two Emily's on the trek), who freaked out because Bean wasn't there before, then someone stepped on Kyle, then Kyle realized his face was getting eaten by mosquitoes and had to get under a mosquito net .... then .... I think we all just tried to sleep, but without a whole lot of success. So the exhaustion continues.

The next morning we had breakfast and did an easy hour and a half hike to the river where we hopped onto bamboo rafts, that none of though to check for durability. Bamboo rafting involved about 4 people standing on bamboos tied together with reeds. They all stand an equal distance apart to distribute the weight and the persons in front and back steer. The water is fairly calm, so it's not dangerous, unless you get stuck on a rock and the raft comes to a complete stop so you go flying forward onto your knees and hit about 4 rocks with the same knee as you slide down the river. Which is, of course, what happened to me about 5 minutes into the trip. I was fine, and thought it was hysterical ... But I definitely had some bumped up legs to prove it. Not long after we get the raft moving again, we realize that one of our bamboo sticks is loose ... AKA if you step on it, your leg will fall through and you have to get it out. That happened to all of us, even our driver (who we're convinced had never actually driven one before) at least twice. We got a good laugh to say the least. So after an hour and a half of "relaxing" rafting, we returned to shore and hopped back onto the songteau to Chiang Mai.

Later that night we went to see a Muay Thai match, which is Thai Boxing. It's a pretty brutal sport, and they start really young. I was not too keen on watching 7 year olds beat the cr&% out of each other, but the older boys were kinda fun (teenagers and such). We even saw a knock out (note the enthusiasm here). We were going to stay to watch the 1 or 2 adult matches, but really, we had had enough after 2 hours.

On Saturday (yesterday), Kyle and Shannon took a flight down to Koh Samui, and Bean and I stayed in Chiang Mai for the day to take a 7 hour Thai cooking class ... Which was awesome. We got to go to the market and make all sorts of yummy stuff, like shrimp in coconut milk, spring rolls, papaya salad, yellow curry paste, Chiang Mai noodles and deep fried banana. We needed to be rolled out of there.

At 6 we boarded another bus back to Bangkok, and arrived at 6AM. We've just been hanging out like zombies ... We're too tired to do anything crazy, and we catch yet another bus tonight at 6 to go down south to hit up the islands. We should be at Koh Pangan by 11AM tomorrow. I downloaded a ton of pictures, and I will have even more when I get Shannon and Bean's.

Ban Phe Week 4 (a little late)

I'm going to try to break this up a little, because I'm not sure I can stare at the computer screen long enough to get everything down in one sitting. I'm in Bangkok for the day, so I'll have plenty of time to come back and update everyone on this last week :)


The last week of the course was intense. 4 days of teaching practice and a lot of preparation, however all in all it went well and again, I had a blast teaching.


We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening eating killer western food at Su's restaurant on the beach, and every day at lunch we savoured our dishes at the restaurant across the street. Come Thursday evening, TEFL International took us out for a farewell dinner. We went to a Thai BBQ sort of place where you go pick out your own raw meats, noodles and vegetables, then you cook it all in/on a funky little pan/pot at your table. It was a great night with most of us trainees and a lot of the TEFL Intl staff. Afterwards we found a pool hall and played/watched other play pool all night. We got to sleep in on Friday and were presented with our TESOL Certificates! All the hard work was finally over (until we get jobs and have to do it on our own for 5 classes a day instead of just one!)


On Friday a few of us caught the bus and headed back to Bangkok. Jess and I stayed with Kelli at her apartment just outside of Bangkok. Her place is on the 19th story and has a great view of Bangkok's skyline, as well as a river (not sure which one). After a 4 and a half hour bus ride, and 2 hours on the sky train/subway with my back pack on, I was exhausted ... We all went to bed quite early and enjoyed being able to sleep in.

On Saturday, Kelli, Jess and I went to Khao San Road, because Jess had never been there and I needed to get a place for Bean and I to stay, as he would be arriving much later that night. After walking around a little while we went back to Kelli's place to relax before going out, and just sat on her porch watching the cars drive by. Bean arrived around 12:30AM that night ... I almost knocked him over when I saw him. We ended up staying out until 4AM (his jet lag and my excitement was no match for sleep).

Sunday, Bean and I just hung out, walking around Bangkok, enjoying the food and the company. Shannon and Kyle arrived late Sunday night, but we didn't get to see them until Tuesday in Chiang Mai, which I will talk about in my next post, because my eyes are starting to burn :)

Last thing, for now, Dave, one of the trainers, presented me with another possible job opportunity that it looks like I might be taking up. It's not teaching English, but working at TEFL Intl to help train/observe the new trainees. It's a short term, part time thing, but it sounds perfect for me. It would give me some sort of income for the month of October and my accommodation would be taken care of for most of the month in a place I am comfortable and enjoy.

I am posting more pictures, although I'm not sure when I'll get them in order. There are a ton ... Enjoy!