Bidding adieu to Southeast Asia

Ahhh, the sights, sounds and smells of Southeast Asia which have been my home for the past 6 months, it seems only fitting to give a proper sum and goodbye while on a long layover in the transit terminal of the oh so clean, Singapore airport. 12 countries. Many different modes of transportation: foot, plane, train, boat, rickshaw, motorbike, bicycle, I know I'm forgetting something here and of course, cartwheeling my way across these countries. Yes, I enjoyed my time in Russia, Mongolia, China and Japan but that was an entirely different trip. My (mostly) solo time in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, back to Thailand, Philippines, and back to Thailand for a third and final time, then to Malaysia, Singapore, Bali and the Gili Islands, and finally culminating in Vietnam has been an amazing experience, each country leaving its own indelible mark. The poverty in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam broke my heart at times while the beauty of the people and the amazing UNESCO World Heritage sights will be forever etched in my mind. Thailand was just too easy to be in, I somehow managed to while away 2 months there and still didn't get my fill. I was lucky enough to see the Philippines with a good friend from Seattle and her family, an experience which was far removed from the usual touristy, backpackery experience. Try a Filipino! was the mantra of my new adopted family, hoping I'd find love :-) In Malaysia, I was introduced to a truly magnificent person, a dear friend of a dear friend, meanwhile feeling absolutely spoiled with my own room and bathroom, a true luxury after months of close quarters with others, often in dorms. The most friendly people vote goes to the Indonesians with the Laotians a close second. Best food is a toss-up between Thailand and Vietnam with Vietnam the slight winner due to the French influence of baguettes and coffee. However, I might have shifted my vote if only I had timed my visit to mango season for my favorite Thai dish of all time: mangoes with sticky rice. I lost my heart many times and regretted not a single experience save the stolen wallet in Laos. Oh and all the gross bugs, roaches and mosquitoes which call the tropics home, those I could do without. I dabbled in the spiritual side a bit trying meditation in Thailand and yoga as much as my knee would allow. But of course, it's always the people who make the place. So to all whom I shared minutes, hours, days and weeks with, you are all a part of my beloved SE Asian experience.  

Although southeast Asia was not originally on my itinerary, it was a place I wanted to revisit to experience more fully. And it did my head in, I fell in love even with the pure chaos at times,  becoming sufficiently attached to the food, friendliness and even the grittiness that is associated with underdeveloped countries, very unlike my upbringing in America. Sure, there are things I could do without and you've heard me complain about this one time and time again, to sum it is basically: lady, wanna buy something? Repeat ad nauseum. These touts vy for your business for absolutely everything: transportation, lodging, surfing lessons, restaurants, you name it, they will find a way to sell it to you and for double the price of its' worth leaving me feeling ever slightly more jaded with each encounter. And this constant haggling broke me at one time forcing me to feel like I had no other choice than to leave for a short time to Australia. But even this short digression, a mere 10 days to the most isolated city in the world, Perth, and its' environs, served a higher purpose even if it was intentionally due to visa restrictions: I gained closure from a previous relationship. In the end, I couldn't wait to return for more, a sure sign I was hooked on this part of the world. And here in SE Asia, I realized how lucky I am and how good my new, lifelong friends are: 7 friends from Seattle joined me along the way! And I made some seriously cool friends and met up with them along the journey. TUL (the unemployed traveling life) is seriously good.     

So now it's time for the next chapter in this life adventure. First, to explore more of the land down under for 3 weeks prior to more serious business. You might want to brace yourself for this one: I plan to work!!! Heart attack, anyone? :-) It's volunteer work in Fiji in my field doing exactly what I've wanted to do and been trained specifically for, finally using my master's degree to do so. So this travel wearied girl is open and ready to experience what's next!! I'm sure I'll find a way to continue to keep things spicy, just as I like it, taking a bit of southeast Asia along with me!! Buckle up, I have a feeling it's gonna be a wild ride.....  

One month in Bali (a.k.a. Eat, Love/Hate)

One month in Bali: a.k.a. my version of Eat, Pray, Love, or as it's known here, that damn book. Have had more than my fair share of comments that I'm on a trip like the author. To which I respond so far my version is more like Eat, Eat, Eat. Although this quickly changed, Indonesian food did not inspire for long, one can only feast on nasi goreng (fried rice) and gado gado (vegetables with peanut sauce) for so long. A more appropriate summary of my time in Bali: Eat, Love, Hate. As in I have a serious love, hate relationship with Bali. It's not the fault of the Balinese people as I had a preconceived bad judgment due to my run in with the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia and the time in Singasnore (incorrect spelling very much intended) just prior didn't help matters. I was due for a serious attitude readjustment towards traveling. After the long line for the visa and immigration at the airport, touts pick up your luggage and bring it to the money changer assuming you don't have Bali money as they say and then drop your bags when you don't pay up. I tried to get them to stop as I'm fully capable of carrying them myself, thank you, ok, I've become so cheap and independent, liking to carry my own bags. Off to the hotel and once out exploring the streets of Kuta, where I challenge you to try walking two steps without someone asking if you want transport, transport, room, mushroom, boyfriend? Oh and the traffic and the ultimate disappointment: Kuta beach, it's not so gorgeous, it's dirty, very crowded and not a white speck of sand in sight. Here's an example of just how dirty it is: I found a needle and syringe on the beach and Grethe found a wood block with nails in it. Yeah, step on that and your holiday is over. Where is the Bali of honeymoon lore? I had such high expectations, all of which were shattered. Even Ubud, the site of the Love portion of said book, didn't amaze. This is where I had my wtf moment despite Tarynne being with me and the poor thing, she was even sick with dengue fever. :(  

Gradually things shifted. The rice terraces and verdant, lush gardens everywhere in Ubud finally had me appreciating this exotic locale. In the idyllic waters of the Gili islands and Nusa Lembongan, I found the Bali I had imagined. But it was far and away the people who won me over. The same touts that drove me crazy at first grew on me, they would always chat you up so I just had more fun with them.  A local drivers' email response had me laughing so hard I was in tears: no worries, my sweet price for you is 400,000 rupiah and then Cheers! So obviously accustomed to Aussies and foreigners. And our chatty tour driver questioned why we say "red as a lobster", why not "red as a crab?" The Balinese are seriously cute and their smiles, so very kind! I can honestly say the friendliest people of all the countries I've visited.

And then there's the strong energy factor I felt...it's unlike any other I've experienced. Perhaps it's due to all of the Hindu traditions? 93% of Balinese are Hindu and you see it absolutely everywhere: in the temples, the little flower offerings in front of every store front placed daily, the traditional dress and rice on the forehead on ceremony days and there always seems to be some ceremony going on. And I was lucky enough to experience firsthand one of the most important ones: Nyepi, Balinese New Year, or silent day. I thought I was going to die when I found out for 24 hours we'd have to be silent to scare off the evil spirits but it turned out to be not a religious experience per se, rather the ultimate chill-out complete with warm Bintang beer and cute Aussies by the pool, woot. It was monsters on parade, ogo ogo, with traditional music and then lights out. Seriously. Imagine the heavily trafficked Kuta, epicenter of debauchery, with the clubs normally pumping completely shut down and no cars or motorbikes on the road, no planes flying, no one allowed to walk around, everyone stuck to their hotel grounds. It was a valiant effort to contain the partying, tanned, toned shirtless surfer dudes and hip young girls but I can report hedonism is alive and well. Yet I still came away with an appreciation for all things Balinese.  

Top 15 highlights (in list form vs. my usual long-winded tales):

1. Riding through the rice paddies at sunset a little buzzed on organic sangria with Tarynne and the cacophony of frogs croaking accompanying our crazy ride

2. Clubbing with Grethe at Bounty, Sky Garden and the reggae bars in Kuta

3. Getting lost on the little seaweed farming island of Nusa Lembongan and then rescued by Alejandro (name changed to protect the not so innocent) joining him on his motorbike to find the perfect beach to watch the sunset, which never happened as we got caught in a downpour of rain, gave up as we were already soaked so swam amidst the thunderstorm
 
4. Driving tour with Mr. Smiley of the Bukit Peninsula: all the Javanese in their full outfits on Dreamland beach in jeans and burkas wanting pictures of Patria and I in our bikinis, because we are "sexy" girls!

5. Seaside fish BBQ on Jimbaran, then dressing up for the place to be, KuDeTa 

6. Gettin' rustic on the Gili Islands with Patria!! Snorkeling and enjoying the most idyllic of beaches. Could've done without the massive roach in our room but using our outdoor bathroom to shower while raining was stellar

7. Gili (part of Lombok) is 95% Muslim so awoke to the call to prayer from the mosque every morning at 5 am!

8. Parties on Gili T, dancing my bootay off at Rudy's with the locals

9. Watching a woman covered from head to toe in clothes and a massive life jacket snorkeling
 
10. Eating well at the various organic cafes in Ubud by day and listening to live music by night

11. 25 km Bike tour throughout countryside with insight to Balinese culture and honeymoon coffee

12. Tanah Lot temple at sunset and being blessed with holy water and rice on the forehead

13. Visiting temples and acquiring a new wardrobe: the necessity of wearing sarongs to cover our heathen legs
 
14. Learning I have a serious fear of monkeys....they are not sacred, they are thieves! Thankfully, not of anything of mine, I'm quite capable of losing stuff on my own, thank you

15. Indulgent Balinese massages...yum!  


So that EPL effect didn't happen for me, nope, there is no meeting of Felipe to report. Perhaps if I had another 3 months like the author..... But alas, visa restrictions are calling me elsewhere. I'm off to a land even more down under!

Bangkok: Falang!

 

And my love affair with Thailand continues. I left Cambodia early to meet friends from Seattle: Ali, Sirima and their adorable 9 month old, Keegan. So Bangkok for 10 days. Hummmpph. In hindsight, I would not have spent so much time there but hey, I was in between meeting friends and the hostel was wicked cool, so why not? No one would ever describe Bangkok as boring. Lub D was the name of my new home for 10 days and was ranked high on hostelworld.com (the bible for backpackers) and was like my second family as I stayed there on 3 different occasions and even used it as my physical address. It means good sleep in Thai, and not exactly the best sleep as I was staying in a 4 bed all female dorm ("no man's land", the sign greeted me) with 3 security doors so I felt beyond safe but as I'm a light sleeper, sleep is not always my friend, I'd rather be talking. Once settled in and shaken off the 22 hour bus ride to get here, off to tackle the sky train to meet my friends. Ok, so only 4 stops away and 1 exchange should've been a quick trip but it took this sleep deprived girl two hours to find the hotel A and S were staying at...except they weren't there so off in a cab to dinner which I arrived as they were finishing but I scored some really yummy pad thai anyway. And how surreal to meet up with friends in a foreign country, great to catch up! 

OMG, I'm already talking about the food and get used to it on this post as Bangkok knows how to eat! The next day, I met the A and S crew along with their friend, A, who just arrived from Seattle too so guess what? An insider's claim to the best crab curry anywhere in the world and this from a foodie, yes, I'm in! And yum it was amazing! Other unusual suspects were eggplant and whole fish, I vowed to go back but never made it with all of the other good restaurants and street food.

Back to hostel life and meeting up with peeps from my dorm room, a cool bunch of girls, even an American who gave me hope that we could be laid-back, ha! Ate dinner on Khao Son Road, backpackers' central, a dinner of only $1, the cocktail accompanying dinner was more spendy coming in at a whopping $2. This is the road to people watch, full of bars and street food where I first came across bugs to dine on but couldn't...yet...do....it. Shopping too, lots of knock-off clothes for sale. 

AYUTTHAYA
Day trip to Ayutthaya, booyah, this is Thailand's answer to Angkor Wat and I never get tired of ruins! I was lucky enough to join Sirima's Thai family for a day trip in a VIP van with karaoke, air-con, and the family's driver, by far the most plush ride I'd had the whole trip. Bangkok traffic is legendary and we weren't spared: a bad accident slowed us for over an hour. So we were all extra hungry stopping at a riverside restaurant indulging in snake head fish, deep fried catfish cakes with papaya salad, huge river prawns and whole fish, eyeballs and all. Was the fish caught from the muddy banks of Chao Phraya river? I think so but damn it tasted good, all of it. Along with Singha beer, of course!

Off to the king's summer palace, Bun Pa. I'm always disgracing someone with my dress, this time bare shoulders definitely not acceptable so I had to wear the rogue yellow hawaiian shirt along with Sirima's niece, nice one. Too sexy for the king apparently :-) As we were in a rush getting such a late start, we took a boat ride around the grounds and then pure luxury: a golf cart to drive around versus walking in the heat, wicked! I'm sure I learned something about the history and I think it goes something like this: King Rama 4 had the summer palace built, from the King and I fame and King Rama 5 freed the slaves but quite frankly I just enjoyed the beauty of the grounds and oh! We spotted a komodo dragon, wicked! That'll save me a trip to Indonesia, well, let's be honest, no, I'm still going! We also saw the effects of the horrible flooding Thailand experienced just months prior, sand bags were still around the palace.

We stopped off at one of the family's favorite stops: a temple for good luck. And we were in luck, Buddha was being undressed, uh oh, sexy times! But then he was dressed again and we all got to participate touching the scarf and bowing.

Then on to the ruins! Wat Phra Sisanphet was impressive with its Buddha in a tree, very nice at sunset, a festival was to happen later that night but we all bailed still needing to visit the floating market and head back to Bangkok. So we just walked around taking pictures, doing cartwheels, and oh yeah, almost getting my purse stolen. WTH? I set it down to cartwheel and Sirima was watching it the whole time as this man just appeared out of one of the ruin's corners. He probably preys on all kinds of suspects but Cara Croft would have none of the purse stealing, I'm done with all of that bizness. HA! 

The floating market was pretty touristy and as it was the end of the day and nearly closing we did a quick walk through and this is when I appreciate being with locals. I so would've passed this stand as it looked like colored noodles and traveling, I'm never gonna cook (ha, even if I lived there to be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn't cook it.) Anyway, Sirima's dad bought us all roti sai mai, which I've renamed cotton candy tacos, soooo yummy! It's rope sugar cane just like sweet threads of palm sugar (coconut!!!!) in a pancake like thing, more tortilla-ish than anything. Also tried rice crackers with palm sugar and these buns with chocolate sauce. Have I mentioned I have a bit of a sweet tooth? Oh but all good things have to come to an end. Sirima and Ali were busy with her brother's wedding so I was grateful to see them but off to explore Bangkok's environs on my own.....

BANGKOK
And once I arrived back to Lub D, my good friend Jai was there!!!!!! So girl catch up time it was! Hanging out in the hostel was all we needed, woo hoo! Love to keep seeing the same people when traveling, what I love most about the backpackers circuit.

As I'd been on the go for so many days, I chilled for much of the rest of my time in BKK. Sometimes going to movies: saw Harry Potter at the imax and the facebook movie. My fav thing was at every movie they play the Thai national anthem and everyone has to stand! These people have pride and are in love with their king! Not a one of them has anything bad to say about him and I can't imagine what they would do if you did say anything bad about him. Nope, didn't chance it.

So another fav thing I have when traveling, well it's basically the art of wandering. I gave myself the luxury of no plans for a few days and some funny things happened. First off, I was just searching for a cafe with wifi to eat breakfast and apply for jobs, you know trying to be productive, and instead I ended up supposedly stalking this guy who was looking for the same thing at the same time. So he invited me to join him for brekky, as the kiwis say, and we hung out all day. Random! He's a rock climber on his way home to NZ...and now I'm off to Raillay beach this week upon his recommendation.

The other strange thing is that I had a semi-breakdown of sorts. I still had 4 days left in Bangkok with no real plans and what was I doing traveling for so long anyway, do I need a purpose while traveling? All these questions came at me full force because I was sitting still and long enough for them to rush in, yuck! Reality? Are you serious? I'm kicking you to the curb! Just when I was really getting into the traveling groove and ok with my purpose: to wander! Or perhaps it was the transition. I went from traveling with my long distance bf for a month to being on my own for about 6 weeks to seeing friends from Seattle and then my evil twin sister (this is said most lovingly:-) would be meeting me in a few days to explore Thailand and spend Christmas and New Year's Eve with me. Life was good. So what do I do now? Keep traveling? Huh? Please, just go away, uneasiness, I don't like you much. I want to travel. I will travel. I will kick you in the arse, uneasiness. And eventually....I did!

By seeing more of Bangkok and learning to love it's nuances. You see, it's not a city that wows you with its' skyline like many Asian cities. It's more about the food and shopping and so Westernized in many ways. There are western fast food joints everywhere, Starbucks on every corner, so was I really traveling? Or is this just any other city?

No. Not any other city. Not with the wats, tuk tuks and massive street markets. It has the Grand Palace, which I had visited years ago so didn't feel compelled to go again, instead I just wandered the street food stalls around it. I visited Chinatown, just plopped myself down at a restaurant in an alley with the locals; there was no menu just what size noodles would you like in your soup? Love it! Wat Pho really was impressive, the reclining Buddha that makes you say oh my god! But really it's not my God so oh my buddha is much more appropriate, dontcha think? Catherine and I visited after taking the wrong stop on the sky train and just wandering through the streets we found it, a hot hour later. So we indulged at Wat Pho by way of a traditional Thai massage, nice! Then ate noodles by the river as it was raining with a view of Wat Arun, not a meal I will soon forget. Taking the ferry across to the Wat, we climbed its' very steep steps and were rewarded with a great view of Bangkok and the grand palace right on the river! Getting around Bangkok is quite interesting as well, the tourist ferry whips you from tourist site to site along the muddy banks of the Chao Praya river.

So, remember my adventurous Belgian friend? Do you believe in random events? I don't care, I'm gonna tell you anyway, I don't and I ran into her as I was going back to my hostel at the sky train stop! In all of southeast Asia, in all of Thailand, in all of Bangkok, seriously what are the chances? So she joined me for a quick bite and we had plans to try to meet up at the weekend market the next day but it was just too massive. Chatuchak Market! Otherwise known as the best street market ever, it's (thankfully) organized into clothing and housewares and food and I'm sure much more which I didn't get to as I barely covered a quarter of it and I was there the whole morning! Scored some gifts for others and finally bought some clothes for myself, much more indie in style than the massive shopping malls surrounding my hostel, love! Ate drunken noddles in the street, tight! Then spent more on an iced coffee than my noodles at this hip joint surrounded by gorgeous dark wood furniture and airy fabrics, again, tight!

The only other historical thing I did was visit the Jim Thompson house, a great example of traditional Thai style housing. So he's known as the thai silk king, an american ex-pat living in Bangkok but what makes him even more interesting is his mysterious death. He went missing in Malaysia while meeting friends, many theories as to why he disappeared. I just enjoyed the architecture, his home on the water very near my hostel then walked along the pier and then through the huge malls to get back. Oh my am I ever tired of these malls and the huge crowds, needing some culture! So I got some in the form of night life!

Saturday night in Bangkok, oh what to do? Join Skye, an intern at the hostel, with her friends, of course! And what fun! They were wicked cool speaking English and absolutely loving when they taught me Thai phrases and I would shout them!! Khao Son Road again, it's the place to be! We stayed at this place all night as there was live music, a cover band mostly, and then once it got late enough, we headed into the disco room and stayed there until 5 am, woo! But really could've been a place in the states with the dj's music but the company.....so not! The renditions of bad romance with our hands, wow, what a night!! I will never be able to listen to that song again and not think of all of them, so fun! Falang!!! (that's thai for foreigner) I was craving a cheeseburger after all the dancing but had to wait until the next day.....

And I slept in! Satisfied my craving and just hung out in the hostel all day, oh the lazy days! And the night brought on Chang beer along with the Chang girl, so of course, I had to wear my Chang shirt, woo hooo! And then be interviewed by Paul's brother's girlfriend for school about clothes and why I choose brands, something to that effect so I interviewed her just the same. It was her first time talking to a falang, have to show we don't bite, ya know? So we shared a whole tower of Chang beer and street food: papaya salad and noodles. Yum!!!

Ok, these days of not doing much, I'm craving adventure and know I'm about to get some in the form of my troublesome friend, woo hoo!   

Cambodia, the fluff: all things bamboo in Battambang and partying in Sihanoukville

After the wonders of Angkor Wat, it was time to move on to the next destination. This my favorite mode of transportation thus far: the slow boat to Battambang; and what a phenomenal ride it was! The six hour journey through Tonle Sap Lake wasn’t the most impressive as far as bodies of water go but the glimpse into Cambodian river life was what impressed. Fisherman casting simple nets, kids waving, smiling and generally having a good time dancing as we passed by and my favorite was being mooned by these fun loving children. Or perhaps they didn’t like the slow boat disrupting their lives, who knows? Regardless, it was so fun to see kids (most of which were naked) having fun with us! I got the impression that despite the seeming poverty these kids lived in, they were happy, I can’t imagine American children being the same. The only down side to the trip was our boat scraping against the trees causing us all to huddle on one side so as not to get smacked by the trees. Although this was when Barry stopped drooling on my shoulder so I can’t entirely complain . Sorry to call you out dude but only getting one hour sleep the night before caused my new travel bud to miss half the trip.

Lonely Planet made Battambang sound so charming with the French provincial architecture. Lonely Planet, you lie! Cute enough town but nothing I’d write home about. Barry felt the same and the night life was virtually non-existent. We found a cute restaurant and ate on the balcony to avoid the street touts before heading to the supposedly happening Riverside balcony bar (where Angelina Jolie frequented while filming Lara Croft) and closed the place down (a new term for my British friend) at 10:30 pm on a Saturday night. Hmmmm, we decided then and there to take the next night bus to the party beach town in Cambodia.

I typically avoid tours like the plague but there wasn’t much of an option to see the surrounding villages of Battambang otherwise so we hired Soon, an English speaking guide to drive us around in his tuk tuk. Each village specializes in just one product and the whole family is involved in making it. First up: rice paper and rice noodles. Rice paper is made with very few ingredients just rice, sugar and salt, palm sugar is added if fried rolls are made and the sun dries it all, when it’s out that is. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very sunny day so breaks were compulsory. Curious what they do during the rainy season, many more breaks I suppose. Next up: fish paste and fish sauce where all parts of the fish, including the bones ferment in this village for 3-4 months resulting in the loveliest of smells. And the strangest behavior I’ve seen from a monk so far: riding in a tuk tuk talking on his cell phone he stuck out his tongue at us! Huh? Wasn’t aware Buddha taught such things, perhaps the smell went to his brain ;-). And the last village we visited made bamboo sticky rice. Seriously impressed as to how resourceful these people are in utilizing bamboo, it’s in absolutely everything: cooking, food, furniture, housing, you name it, I’m sure they have a way to use it. But my favorite: transportation! We rode a bamboo train!!!!! Probably only went as fast as 20 km/hr but sitting on a bamboo mat powered by a motor and sitting so close to the ground was so fun! Even as we could feel all the bumps the whole 7 km we went to…well, nowhere really. Essentially it’s just a tourist trap to a village to buy drinks and visit a tiny brick factory where kids gave us a quick tour. Plus the train had only one track, so we had to get off our bamboo mat and let the others pass, now that’s efficiency ;-)

Off to explore a temple complex complete with killing caves. We climbed up to see the view and despite horrible directions, managed to find the killing caves and along the way passed by some monkeys, kids dancing hip hop trying to sell us their services as tour guides, and a little girl blowing us a kiss so cute!. We kept asking for directions to the caves and monks all gave us different answers. But I think Barry summed up our experience well: all directions could lead us to enlightenment, wish I had thought of that! The complex had many Cambodian Buddhas, apparently each country’s Buddha looks slightly different with Cambodia’s difference in the longer ears as they are better listeners. The cave itself was disappointing but then again we didn’t go all the way in, just took some pictures and felt obligated to tip as the monk by the entrance had a deformed face, I felt so sorry for him but the cynical side of me wondered if he was placed there to do just that. The cave has a gruesome history, of course, people were dropped quite a long distance into the caves to their death. The few minutes we were exploring we made a friend, a little boy maybe 3 years old in his pajamas pushing a toy truck the whole time staying so close to us he kept getting in our way, but how can you be upset with a little boy wearing red nail polish, wow! Probably the most random two hours I’ve ever spent. Back to our hotel/hostel to the rooftop bar area where I spent the remaining time until our night bus asleep in a hammock.

At the “bus station” waiting for an hour or so was my first sighting of sparrow….to eat! The birds were fried and displayed in the street vendors cart. Not what I wanted to eat at midnight but hey, maybe later. The night bus wasn’t too bad although I never really sleep so arrived in Sihanoukville desperately needing a nap. Tried to check in to the most popular hostel and they were full so off to a guest house right on the beach and in a great location next to the disco bar we ended up at each night. Wicked! Tranquility Guest house was the name, the price was right and even though it just had cold water, that’s all I wanted anyway. Two beds and only one fan so as Ben, our new British friend commented, we only had ½ fan and it was damn hot! But we barely spent any time in the room, why would we as the well, actually not so lovely but just ok Sihanoukville beach awaited us just outside our door! But as you can guess, one does not go to S-ville for the beaches, one goes there to party and it did not disappoint.

All I wanted to do was nap on the beach after the long night bus but as I was sitting in the middle of two English boys who decided to have the locals give them pedis and manis, this did not happen. Seriously, I’m the girl here, shouldn’t it be me? But no, all I wanted to do was sleep so when the lady was using my beach chair to get a better angle for these boys, oh wow, I couldn’t believe it! And once you use their services they bug you the rest of the time so I would not buy anything from them the whole week, I just wanted to rest on the beach and not be bothered but of course this never happened, the boys continued to get massages, etc. from them. What I did get from my time with Barry and Ben was a crash course in British speak. It all started with Jai and then my courses intensified with B & B. I had to stop them in mid-sentence a lot of the time as I couldn’t understand what they were saying. How am I supposed to know what a toastie is? And sorted is used instead of to figure something out. And I still don’t understand what knickers are, it sounds so old-fashioned, are they panties or what?

The biggest decision I made the whole time in partyville was what to eat for lunch and dinner and since I missed breakfast that made only two decisions per day. We had a few memorable meals: bbq on the beach with barracuda and the most memorable was the sparrow, told ya I’d have it later. We had to let our guesthouse know 12 hours beforehand so the staff could buy it at the market, surprising that someone doesn’t order it every night, right? It actually wasn’t too bad, basically tasted like chicken but a lot of work for the small amount of meat you got but at least we were spared from eating it like the local Khmer do: the head and all. Our meal looked like chicken wings basically.

So the nightlife I keep referring to. Avoid Utopia, please. It is a sad mix of prostitutes and very old mostly White men and very young mostly Asian girls. We all got a bad vibe so instead each night we frequented the dolphin shack on the beach, where we somehow managed to get free shots of the local Mekong whiskey, ewwww. And the buckets at JJ’s made me sick every night and hungover the next day but I continued on, great music and good fun peeps. It was a great crew with Grethe and Megan, two fun girls traveling together from South Africa and met up with Jean again from Siem Reap. Good times! S-ville is on the backpacker’s circuit and small enough that you keep running into people you’ve traveled with at some other point and even the same locals, who I even saw on my day trip to Bamboo Island.

I so wish I had more time at Bamboo Island! I only took a day boat trip with a stop along the way to snorkel. Ate more bbq on the beach and then took a short walk to the other side of the beautiful, peaceful island to find there is just one place to stay: in the bungalows or the dorm and just one place to eat. But the remoteness meant no touts bother you, you can actually relax which is exactly what I was doing until I heard some people shouting, I turned and there was a goat (found out later his name was, appropriately, Rambo) headbutting this guy forcing him to run into the ocean while his friends were taking pictures of him! So of course I got in on the action and the goat got too close and I freaked a bit then as the goat left started talking and what cool peeps: Sean is from New York about to move to Australia and traveling with his friends Kate and Gus from Byron’s Bay. I was so close to staying the night, skipping my ferry back to toutville and staying in peaceful beach bungalow land where the electricity goes out at 11 pm each night. But the realistic part of me won out as I had to get back to Bangkok the next day 

And as tradition has it, it was another bus journey to write about. I was told it would take only 12 hours to Bangkok which would have given me enough time to chill for the day, rest and meet up with my friends Ali and Sirima from Seattle that night. But you already knew I wouldn’t have it that easy, right? The route changed to pass through Siem Reap on the nicest sleeper bus so very happy about that. Arriving into Siem Reap I was well rested so should have been prepared for the boiling tarantulas, they were selling them to be eaten, ewwww. And then the waiting and transferring began, I lost track of how many. One minivan took us to breakfast then a ride on a tuk tuk with the guy who almost fell out of his bed he was so drunk the night prior, to wait for another big bus. This bus went toodling along for quite some time, had an interesting conversation with Nathalie from Victoria, BC and then boom!! We go careening to the side of the road, flat tire! We all got out in the hot Cambodian sun only a few kilometers from the Thai border. The changing of the flat tire was surprisingly efficient, maybe only 30 minutes and then we were off again to another bad border crossing at Poipet, this one taking over an hour in the heat with all of our bags. Then the transfer to another minivan for 4 hours or so and I was almost home free, although 10 hours later than they said, a total of 22 hours of bus travel. So glad to be on terra firma….Bangkok, nice to see you again!

Cambodia: the heavies--Killing Fields & Angkor Wat

$2 to the Laos government to leave their country, $1 to the non-official looking health screening and $2 to the Cambodia government followed by a hot walk with all of my bags to cross the border to be told the bus is already full. This was my introduction to Cambodia, questionably affectionately termed Scambodia, to steal Roy's term. And it kept getting better as 2 hours late from a 14 hr bus ride including 5 or 6 minibuses, I finally found my hostel an hour later in the pitch black and then had a creepy, crawly thing land on my leg in the hostel and wouldn't you know it, I screamed bloody murder but the thing was huge and green, I have pictures and Jai was my witness! How nice to meet up again, she was the best thing about Phnom Penh. Ahhhh, the city that smells like a zoo. Really I'm trying to think of good words about it but I just can not. This is the dirtiest city I've ever been to, it's hot, touts are everywhere, tuk tuks pull up right next to you practically running you over and the drivers get mad when you're not interested in using their services. And this was just my first day. Then again, Cambodia really does pack a tourist punch with the horrific genocidal history as exemplified by the S21 torture museum and the killing fields and then you have one of the magnificent wonders of the world showcasing the glory days of Khmer history: Angkor Wat. My Scambodian experience also included a slow boat from Siem Reap to Battambang with a tour of villages making fish paste (yummy smell ewwwww) complete with a ride on a bamboo train then I partied in the beach town of Sihanoukville. So I thought I'd love Cambodia, thought it'd be the highlight of my southeast Asian tour blah blah blah but this was not the case mostly as you are constantly bothered with touts all vying for your business selling the exact same product and the beggars on the beach, some missing limbs which you feel horrible about, all this resulting in my never really relaxing. Even so, I did thoroughly enjoy Siem Reap and Battambang. So here are the sordid details:

PHNOM PENH

Me mates place hostel: where the sheets are dirty and ants explode all over your banana chips. Pictures to follow.

The first day we walked around in the heat looking for the torture prison. Supposedly the city is set up in a grid system like American cities but not true. Walked around looking for block 182 and it didn't exist, walked between 178 and 184 like morons in the heat. 

Eventually we found the S 21 Prison Tong Sleng, an expectedly depressing place with only 8 survivors. This was where political prisoners were held and tortured and pictures and torture equipment were on display. We walked through the cells where prisoners were held prior to being tortured. Mug shots were taken of every single person who died, prominently displayed along with some truly horrific pictures of people who had been tortured to death on the beds. A massively somber place to visit but felt to not acknowledge the genocide Cambodia went through is to not fully appreciate the country you are visiting. 

Needing to let go of the heaviness, what better way than a trip to the local pharmacy. Jai wouldn't let me go on my own and I'm so glad she didn't as trying to translate the list of things needed was too comical to experience on one's own. Imagine needing a pregnancy test, contact solution and first aid care for a burn at a street side pharmacy where English is barely spoken. Comical to say the very least. Pregnancy test needed no explanation. Very few Cambodians use contacts so they brought me eye drops at first, then had to do a massive charades act involving going to sleep at night to get what I needed but the funniest ever was burn care. Because the city was so very dirty, I needed to cover my open wound but couldn't find anything to keep the antibiotic cream from sticking to the gauze. Jai and I both went through a couple of explanations and finally all I needed to say was BURN! I was praying I did not have to go to a hospital as it did not look like it was healing well so a quick email picture to the best nurse in the world (luv ya Leah girl!) consoled me that it was healing fine, yippppeeeee. Although experiencing a Cambodian hospital would surely entail some other hilarious story, I'm sure. 

Time to experience some nightlife, well at least a good Mexican restaurant. I was absolutely craving guacamole, I'm such a Texas girl, no luck and it was really bad Mexican food, what I get for trying Western food. This is when I started getting annoyed at the touts, in the restaurants they even come up to you, there is absolutely no escape, the children will touch you and they won't take no for an answer. And "hey lady, want tuk tuk?" This was repeated ad nauseum.

The next day, ironically, is where I first saw PP could be nice, the tuk tuk ride to the countryside was really quite beautiful. But the destination not so much: The killing fields a.k.a. Cheung Eok Genocide Center. In reality, I thought they were done quite well, I was expecting to leave rather depressed and instead felt hopeful that the perpetrators would be held accountable for their horrific acts. So far only Duch admitted remorse for atrocities and crimes committed against humanity. He's been in prison since 1999 awaiting trial, other officials are still denying the killing occurred, can you imagine? Very curious history, the Cambodian government didn't ask for help from the UN until 1997, the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia almost 20 years earlier in 1979. But what the government is doing correct now is encouraging people to visit so future generations learn and don't repeat this horrific pattern. But I don't understand why the government is not forcing officials from the Khmer Rouge to trial. Another curious tidbit is not all grave sites have been excavated so the total number of people who died from Pol Pot and his regime is unknown. All in all, glad to experience all this with someone, it would have been miserable to not have anyone to talk to about the experience afterwards. The actual grounds were full of graves with headless people, one just for women and children, and another for those who died naked. :( Immediately upon entering the fields, you see the stupa filled with skulls in tiers, at the bottom there's clothing and each tier contains different ages of skulls. This stupa was built to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of liberation day. 

We had to find some lightness and it came at the expense of my fellow country men. A very badly dressed older man was very loudly commenting on a bird chirping in the tree. Oh, did I mention he was in suspenders and a very tacky Jesus saves shirt and had a beer belly protruding out of said suspenders/pants. Ok, not very nice of me but desperately seeking humor at this point. Jai just had to ask him where he was from, assuming he was American, I was so happy he was not. And I won't bash any other country by divulging where he was from. So it was off to the races, had to get back quickly for the bus to Siem Reap but not without first racing another tuk tuk full of German boys. All in all, 2 nights, 36 hours was plenty of time in PP.

SIEM REAP

Cara Croft (thanks for the new nickname Gwen) is happy to report Siem Reap is a whole different story! But really, how can you go wrong with the amazing ruins of Angkor Wat? Well, to get there was another smelly adventure, really sometimes I wish I didn't have such a keen sense of smell. It was the bus there, it truly smelled like a zoo, this country doesn't smell well at all and it gets worse in Sihanoukville the sewage system was just rank...but I digress. Truly, the buses are an interesting journey with the constant honking to let others know we're approaching but is it even possible to miss such huge buses? And the shadiest bus stations you've ever seen....never in the US would you even think of taking a bus ride from these places but alas when in Cambodia. I should mention the buses themselves are not horrible, it's the crazy driving and honking and toilets on the bus ewwww. 

Hostel was pretty cool, we stayed in a 6 bed mixed dorm glad Jai was with me though, we both disliked a pompous American who always locked the bathroom door when showering for what seemed like hours, really that's about triple the amount of time any girl needs but I will restrict my judgment any further. Met lots of cool peeps though: Barry from the UK whom I would later travel with for a bit, Jean, a tour guide from Ireland, and Tom from England to name a few. Except you boys were kinda smelly (here I go again) and the shower sometimes refused to come out, mostly just cold dribble and there were brown outs or power outages, all the pleasures of Cambodian hostel living. 

So here's how our little daily routine went: our tuk tuk driver picked us up from the bus station and apparently he was assigned to us for the whole trip. There must be jealousy among drivers, if we decided we didn't want him for the day, then what? Theour was ours and we loved him! He looked like Batman with his jacket blowing in the wind! And he loved Jai! He wanted her to try a local, oh no, he didn't, yes he actually said that! He was absolutely fascinated with her tongue ring and yes, I have to say it, her boobs. He couldn't take his eyes off her, we caught him looking as he was driving, uh oh! He got such a kick out of us! Once as we were driving we were discussing something about sex and absolutely forgot he could understand us, well he pulled a really fast turn, was laughing and said he missed his turn, RIGHT!! I digress yet again. Basically, the tuk tuk is a nice way to see the ruins, you can enjoy the breeze as you are shuttled from ruin to ruin and greeted with every sort of hawker imaginable once you stop. Lady, want water? Bracelet? Flute? Book? Lady, you promise when get back buy from me I remember you. At least it's not outright begging, they are just clamoring for your money and using bracelets instead. Sound jaded? Oh yeah, it took away from the majesty of the place, you just experienced some of the great wonders of the world only to be rushed back to the reality of the Cambodian way of doing business, in your face and unrelenting. Decided right then and there I must look at this in a different way. Jai was even more annoyed by them, they drove her absolutely mental, so when getting ready to approach the touts after breakfast, I said here, Jai, take my camera, I really want postcards and water from these kids, let's consider this a cultural experiment. So I went out with guns blazing (a.k.a. dollar bills in my hands) and wouldn't you know, I was virtually attacked, the kids swarmed around me. There was meanness and competition between the kids, this was apparent when trying to distribute the money evenly, there were ugly words and I was told I was rude when I didn't buy from each of them. Wow, Jai and I told the kids not to be rude, they didn't think they were. Sad. Unfortunately, they make more money than their parents and must give all the money they make to their family. On another occasion, a kid wanted coins from our country even as he couldn't exchange them, Cambodia only uses US dollars but just the notes and gives change in riel but no coins. This kid could name off each country's coin, this is definitely a future investment banker in the making if he can get out of the poverty cycle. He was the one kid I gave money to. 

So I guess I should go into details on the ruins themselves. Of course, Angkor Wat was our first stop and it was impressive although in scaffolding and we were not appropriately dressed as it was considered a wat even though monks don't live there, huh? Even when visiting ruins one must cover shoulders and legs, wild. It was so hot so I just showed my disrespect, sorry Buddha. The next ruin, Bayon was full of faces. Two faced people existed even back then, who knew. :) Next stop was the most popular one at sunset as was obvious with the hordes of people all rushing to the top, made me want to just casually stroll. Definitely didn't dress appropriately for this either as I completely flashed Jai (for this I continue to apologize) as I went up first climbing the steep steps. Once she glanced up she couldn't stop laughing and others tried to climb up right after me and she kept laughing and when others not understanding English tried to climb after me she wouldn't let them and I just continued to carry on my way slowly climbing up with my dress between my legs covering as much as I possibly could while tears rolled down my face I was laughing so hard! Don't wear a dress to this ruin, just a kind suggestion! And I apologize for not wearing proper panties and for whoever else I gross out by saying this, oy.

It got even better! So we were just sitting on the ruin steps minding our own business enjoying the view when I was almost pushed over! A Japanese tourist lost his footing when trying to take a picture and couldn't stop laughing, meanwhile almost pushing me off the ruins, I grabbed Jai and she would've followed after me had she not caught me. Oh and then as were leaving trying to get a head start before all the other tourists left climbing down at the same time, a man leaped onto me! I kid you not! WTH? Do I have trip me, push me, hurt me, written all over my face? Funnily enough, this was on a day Jai termed for me to be accident free. Well I somehow survived but do not have fond memories of that ruin other than flashing poor Jai! After many ruins, I knew I'd never remember the names unless I renamed them myself. So faces it became, Lara Croft, Stairway to heaven, Headless peeps, Elephant tower, and water stagnation. Ta Prohm aka Tomb Raider temple was easy enough, either that or trees gone wild! What a cool place to film a movie! 

Siem Reap itself is a cute town with lots of good restaurants, a night market, and Pub St with tons of you guessed it, pubs. Angelina Jolie has a drink named after her at Red Piano bar. As you can imagine, they love her! Had a meal at the night market for $2 which consisted of chicken lok lak and a mango shake, not too shabby. One night we went to the Butterfly restaurant which gives some of its' proceeds to benefit children. As I have a fondness for things/words lost in translation and notice misspelled words and how they are mispronounced like flied lice, I sometimes take it too far. For instance, I loved when our server said cakecheese instead of cheesecake, is it mean that I asked him to repeat a few times? And shrimps, it cracks me up every time! Ok, please refer to engrish.com and you get my kind of humor. I guess it was my karma when I walked out to the tuk tuk, Theour jumped out at me and of course, I screamed bloody murder. Anyway, another random note, I'm getting used to having others do my laundry, it's really quite nice but I had never had a place count out the pieces and then when returned all had yellow ties on them. Meticulous! The little things that never cease to amaze me. Hmmm, either that or I amuse quite easily. 

A night of cultural dancing was not exactly my cup of tea but thought I'd open my mind a bit, it was kinda interesting but mostly for the buffet, a bit too touristy for my taste or maybe it was ruined by the Russian men beside us as they left halfway through the performance and were loud and rude the other half. Afterwards checked out the night market but so low on money couldn't buy anything. Finally received my second wire from my parents and it came at exactly the right time: I only had $53 left to my name in cash which just so happened to be the exact amount I owed Jai, wicked! It was quite a frustrating thing to have your cards sent to Siem Reap and never arriving not realizing when I ordered them how terrible the post system was. We even went in to the post office to see if my card was just sitting there and the mailman instructed us to go through all of the mail and check in their book!! Not a very efficient nor private system but it amused us for half an hour. Some poor lady has a million letters just waiting for her gathering dust.

On the last day visiting the ruins, we got up for the sunrise and could only stomach returning to Angkor Wat, which truly was stunning. Even dressed appropriately this time so we could climb up the tower but wouldn't you know it, it was too early but not early enough for the men to offer to take us up for a steep price. So how is it not appropriate for them to be complete jerks to us and we are inappropriate by not covering our shoulders? So enough of the ruins, we asked Theour to drive us around the countryside and we saw some gorgeous countryside and made Theour stop when a motorcycle was passing by with 4 dead pigs on them! He must've thought we were nuts but really we don't see this in our respective countries. We tried to visit a floating forest but when we tried to split the cost with a Spanish couple and were told we were unable to, the Cambodian way of business, we were tired of feeling like we were getting ripped off so in principle skipped it and just enjoyed the ride instead!

Battambang and Sihanoukville to follow....this post is already so long!