Our new home

Our apartment on campus - only a five minute walk to school

My room has air conditioning - yes!

Chantaburi Songs

I am living in a town called Chantaburi. It's about three to four hours southeast of Bangkok about 45 minutes from the coast facing the Gulf of Thailand.  

It is known mostly for it's fruit and on most days the students' parents bring us bags full of rambutan, mangosteen and bananas. One of the parents owns a huge fruit farm about 15 minutes from school and we got a personal tour of the property and got to pick as much fruit as we could.

I tried durian for the first and probably last time. Most of the things people say about it are true - it smells wretched and after riding in a van with some of them for about 30 minutes, I now understand why it is illegal to bring them in hotels. 

In addition to the fruit, the town has an amazing national park called Namtok Phlio. I am told phlio means waterfall and yes, it has one of the largest around town. 

We went for the day and packed a picnic (that we helped to make) of boiled fish, peanut sauce and lettuce wraps, glass noodles, sum tom (a delicious green papaya dish) and picked up some Thai bbq chicken along the way.

After lunch, we hiked to the waterfall. The surroundings feel like something out of the Swiss Family Robinson movie - a tropical paradise that almost seems fake. Coming from someone who grew up in Orlando and theme parks - it is so beautiful it almost seems like something devised by the artists of Disney, which makes the magic of it even more real. 

On the way to the waterfall there is a pagoda covered in jungle moss and vines where we stopped to take some pictures. Once we got down to the water there was something we weren't expecting.

BeeBee, our Thai teacher liaison and friend who works with us at our school handed us some snake beans - almost like giant green beans - and told me to walk to the water below where suddenly huge black fish became visible. I am not sure what kind of fish they were but they looked like they could have been cousins to catfish and they looked like they were about two-feet long. 

And apparently, they like to eat vegetables! I looked over and saw a Thai man holding onto his son, who couldn't have been more than three-years-old feeding these fish giant green beans. The fish were leaping out of the water and fighting with each other to get to the food. 

I stepped into the water and broke part of the green bean off and hesitantly stuck my hand in the water. All at once about five fish came jumping out of the water flicking their tails and splashing about and the next thing I knew - the green bean had disappeared out of my hand. I was so glad they don't like to eat people.

After the fish feeding frenzy we walked closer to the waterfall. It was about three to four tears and after an afternoon thunderstorm, it was gushing over the rocks from about 100 feet up.

On a hot summer day it was packed with families having an afternoon swim.

Looking at my surroundings I thought - I could get used to this.

 Mangosteen ready to be shipped from the farm

The infamous durian

Fruit farm tour

Preparing the picnic

Mmmmm... peanut/chile sauce!Learning some Thai cooking

BBQ chicken - Thai style

Inside Namtok Phlio National Park

These fish looove their vegetables! lol

Here fishie, fishie!

Settling In

The weeks are flying by and I can't believe I have already been here for a month. 

I am sharing a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with a girl named Natasha from New York. We are both teaching at the Satit School of Rambhai Bani Rajhabhat University. It is a primary school on a college campus. It has a golf course and beautiful grounds and we are lucky to have such a nice place with balconies and air conditioning.

After a few trips to the market, Tesco (the Super Walmart equivalent grocery and more store) and a trip to the 19 baht store (kind of like a dollar store in the States but it's about 60-something cents) - my new place is feeling like home.

Our school

 

 

Cambodia

Its easy to be stressed out when your bus hits a water buffalo or starts on fire while in motion; or when you find yourself in a 5 seat “shared taxi” with 8 people, including 2 in the driver’s seat.  When the immigration officer at the border steals your money it’s easy to lose your head, but take a deep breath…this is Cambodia. 

We don’t really know how to explain the fire, water buffalo or shared taxi.  Only that there was no one hurt, except one very large farm animal and two busses.  We do know that the border official was a total a-hole who pocketed half of the money we gave him when buying our Visas.  The most frustrating part was that he made no effort to conceal this blatant bribe. 

Yet through all of the stressful moments we’ve really had a very enjoyable, and even relaxing time here.  Our travels started in Sihanoukville where we discovered the beauty of Cambodia’s beaches while sipping $.50 tap beers.  In Kampot we chilled out in a sweet, tree-fort style bungalow and spent our days floating in the river and visiting the local salt farms and pepper plantations.  From there we ventured north to the capital city, Phnom Penh. 

In Phnom Penh we visited the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields and the infamous S-21 prison.  Both of these places are grim reminders of a brutal regime who killed anywhere between 1-3 million people (depending on who you ask) in less than 4 years. Nevertheless, both museums are very powerful and informative.  Unfortunately we don’t have enough space to share everything we’ve learned, but if you are interested we have read some excellent books on the subject:  

First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung

Lucky Child, by Loung Ung

 Survival in the Killing Fields, by Haing Ngor 

At S-21 prison we learned that most prisoners were forced to confess crimes they didn’t even commit after being severely tortured.  Sadly, we’ve learned that this practice still continues in Cambodia today.  Please check out this NPR TED Talk to learn more about Cambodia’s flawed judicial system:

Besides having a lot of tragic history Phnom Penh also has French roots and a thriving expat community.  It was a nice treat to indulge in some ice cream, pastries burgers and yes…tacos.  We decided to continue north and caught a bus to Ban Lung. Somewhere between hours 10-11 our bus started on fire…good thing we’re not on a tight schedule!  Nonetheless we made it safely to town 17 hours after we left. 

Our main reason for venturing to the far north east of Cambodia was to do some trekking in Virachey National Park. So, after a quick stop at the park headquarters in Ban Lung, we were ready and took off the following morning with our guide, Sokhoeun and another traveler, Manuel, from Switzerland. We each carried a US Army hammock, a few light clothes and lots of bug spray.  Luckily for us we had a second guide named Thawan who carried all of the food and heavy cooking utensils.

We spent 3 days in the jungle, where we slept in a local village and at the top of a beautiful waterfall.  We also got to hike a section of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and somehow managed to wade through a stream for about 1.5 kilometers.  Overall, it felt really good to spend a couple days in the wilderness.

Southeast Asia’s clock of life just keeps on tickin’….very, very slowly.  We’ve managed to yet again travel to a place where there is no 9-5 (especially not for us.)  Days seem to follow the sun.  Wake up with it and go to sleep when its dark.  We’re now winding down our travels through Cambodia in a charming city on the Mekong called Kompong Cham.  In a few days we’ll be headed to Saigon, to begin our last month of adventures in Vietnam.

~Ryan and Becky

Rock out with your Bangkok out

I can proudly say Bangkok did not take me. Not even close.

On the contrary. I - took Bangkok. 

The first day I was there I saw every major attraction, went out at night by myself, took the ferry up and down the river, didn't get ripped off by anyone, rode the subway system - I even ate street food and didn't get sick.

The subway was cake compared to Paris and if all else failed - I'd be unfolding my map in the street and some friendly tourist ambassador with a name tag or another random Thai person would stop and try to help. (Do beware of the ones trying to point you towards "their attraction" - they must get paid for referrals - but they're pretty obvious).

I think there's a lot more bark than bite when it comes to the stereotypes of the "City of Angels" - but baby, this ain't L.A. 

The morning I woke up and ventured out into the city with no guide but my Lonely Planet and a map from the hotel - it was like being teleported onto to another planet. But I was surprised at how easy it was to get around. Almost all of the signs were in Thai and English.

There weren't any gangs on motorbikes intimidating tourists (although I did see a sign warning against it), I didn't contract Hepatitis C from the street meat and it took me at least two days before I saw a lady boy.

I also didn't end up roofied or in a Thai jail. (Though I did hear about someone who did - won't mention any names, you know who you are.)

To be completely honest - I was a little disappointed about the lack of debauchery I encountered that first day.

What is true, is what people say about Bangkok and temples. It is a close call whether there are more spiritual houses of worship or 7-11's (and that's saying something). Ah yes, the comfort of a slurpee in the middle of SE Asia. I digress.

The Grand Palace is the biggest and "holiest" of all the temples but of the major tourist spots - my favorite was Wat Arun. There was something about the feeling there; the monks hanging out with a dog under a tree next to six different buddhas, the steepness of the stairs when you're climbing to the top and the view, the location across the river from most of the madness and okay, maybe it was the 10 baht (30 cent) snow cone/ice cream concoction I ate - but something about it finally kicked me into believing I was really in Thailand.

The detail and style of the architecture, the flora and fauna, the people in the land of smiles smiling everywhere and there at Wat Arun... a very fond memory.

The first time I went to the bathroom in the city.

There it was. The sprayer nosal with a hose connecting to the toilet - you know, exactly like the ones in kitchen sinks in the states. And I am standing there in one of the holiest of temples and all I can think is, "Am I washing the dishes with this or my a**?" 

Welcome to Thailand. I hope you packed toilet paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

43 Pounds: Purpose in Perspective

Two weeks ago exactly, I was fighting back tears in the L.A. airport. I was writing in my journal in the bar, chugging down some Jack and Coke to stave off the fear and rush of emotions that hit me as I stared at the flight number with the destination "Hong Kong" in bright lights above the heads of a couple hundred people.

Suddenly I realized I was the only person who wasn't Chinese. And that's when it hit me - I should get used to being the odd man out. Tall, pale-skinned American girl who brought way too much on this trip. The electronics and prescriptions were enough to fill a carry on. My backpack weighed 43 pounds. I know because I saw it on the scale when I checked in for the flight. Forty-three pounds of stuff. That is everything that I would have with me for the next year.

Looking at all that stuff now, I'm wondering at what point I thought bringing 1,000 cutips, 200 bandaids and three different kinds of bath scrubs was a good idea.

Probably right around the time I decided to quit my perfectly successful job, sell all my belongings and hop on a plane to Bangkok and become a teacher. Did I mention I have never taught before?

I am just a journalist. One who cusses like a sailor and makes jokes about car crashes and Jesus. I probably should not be around children. Okay, I should give myself more credit. Kids generally find me kind of entertaining and I am really working on the language thing. And, kids in Thailand are Buddhist so it's cool about the J-man.

I was working at a TV station in Denver. I had finally made it to the "big market" - four years in college and eight years working in local news. Trust me, it's enough to make anyone run for the hills. I am surprised I didn't do it sooner.

But I was getting used to the routine. Happy with putting down some roots. Steady pay, steady hours - which is why when I tossed it aside to live overseas I got a lot of questions. Why are you going? What will you be doing? Are you excited? My answer - well.. I don't think it could be answered with a simple few words.

Why does anyone move to another country? Why does someone, who worked their whole life towards a goal - suddenly decide to throw their life into complete chaos?

Curiosity. Adventure. Recklessness. The desire to experience something few people get to. Not as a bragging right but as a commitment to oneself to not just step off the path - but take a giant leap into a river that is rushing off a cliff. To say geronimo and hope that there is something on the other side. To know that in doing that, trust and faith in one's self and the universe or God, whatever you believe, will become easier. 

Faith that when it is all said and done, you - rather I, will be a better person for it.

This is my wish for my journey. And two weeks later, I'm not crying or scared, I am only smiling.

 

 

 

Laos Photos

Back in Laos

It feels wonderful to be back in Laos; the country where life’s clock slows way down, water buffalo, chickens, pigs and cows roam the fields. Smiling, naked children run about, and wooden stilted homes and beautiful villages are around every corner.

I think Laos is what we originally thought Thailand would be like before we moved there. It often feels like we slipped into the Wild West. While on a 4-day motorbike trip last week in central Laos we came to one town where it seemed the men just drove around with assault rifles on their back. We were eventually told that they worked the checkpoints on the road we would be driving through shortly, but that we would be just fine. Lovely. =)

Our motorbiking adventure was a blast and a great way to begin our visit to central and southern Laos. Our first evening we spent the night chatting with some Australians and catching cicadas and cockroaches for the guesthouse owner and his family to eat the following day. Bugs seem to be a big thing in this area, because the following night while grabbing a drink we were offered some crickets. Since it can sometimes be seen as an insult not to eat what you are offered (you don’t want the individual to lose face in front of their peers), we decided to give it and try and actually ended up liking them. I made it through 5 before calling it quits. With a little more salt it would have been the same as eating popcorn!

By day number two of our motorbiking trip our slightly paved road turned to jagged rocks and mud – and it didn’t help that it rained on and off all day. It took us over 6 hours to drive 60km and we never took our bikes out of second gear. More remarkable than actually making it through these roads were the villages, national park (Phu Hin Bun) and people we encountered along the way. Children would run out onto the road and yell “Sabideeee” as we drove by, with big smiles and hands up for a high five. Women and men appeared to be working on a variety of projects, from building boats, cleaning vegetables, gardening, repairing homes – or just relaxing with a Beer Lao, the national (and only) beer of choice. They too would always smile and send a friendly wave or “sabidee” our way. Everyone is so nice!

Our trip also took us to Tham Kong Lo, a 7-km long cave. Here we took a small wooden boat through the winding, nearly pitch-black cave. At points it is 100 meters wide and almost as high, although our flashlights weren’t quite good enough to see the top. While going through the cave the river was too low in some spots and we had to push the boat over the rapids. The whole thing was incredible and we were both in a state of awe the whole time.

Unfortunately, on our last day, as I was coming over a hill a dog decided to take off into a sprint and ran out right in front of my bike. I couldn’t stop in time and ended up falling to the pavement quite hard. All is well now (and I believe the dog was alright too), but we made a quick morning trip back to Thailand to have everything checked out and thankfully nothing was broken or fractured. So, with bandages intact and another trip over the Thai-Lao friendship bridge we went back to Laos and headed south.

We spent two relaxing days in the Bolavean Plateau, where we embraced a slightly cooler climate and enjoyed lots of locally grown coffee. The area around Paksong is also home to some impressive waterfalls (Tat Yuang and Tat Fan). We are now in Si Phan Don, or Four Thousand Islands, where the Mekong River flattens out and leaves thousand of islands within the river. It is an incredible place – home to the famous Irrawaddy dolphins and several famous waterfalls, including Khone Falls, which is one of the biggest in the world by volume. (Check out Human Planet’s opening sequence to see the falls).

Hope all is well.

Becky

(We hope to post pictures later!)

Manbodia!

Right before the end of the school year, in March, Zach sent me a text asking what I thought about going to Cambodia. This was one of the things I was most excited about doing before coming to Thailand, travelling outside of the country. I quickly told him that I thought it was a great idea, and so a week later we headed out of the Ekkamai bus station in Bangkok on our way to Chantaburi. We planned to stay there a night with Chris before making our way to the border and travelling through the country. On our itinerary we really only had one plan, to see Angkor Wat. We’d each travelled enough with people who had every minute of our trips planned down to the second, and we were starving for some adventure and unplanned madness, and this happened before we even left Thailand.

We made our way from Chanthaburi to the Trat bus station and told an inquiring woman that we were wanting to go to the Cambodian border. She showed us the bus we would need to take, but we were still a little unsure so we asked one of the counters about getting a bus to Poipet, the northern border crossing. We were then informed that we would need to go back to Chanthaburi’s bus station to get a ride. Our lack of planning was quicly becoming obvious, but not at all painful. We were eventually able to discern that we would be entering through the southern border crossing and would not at all be close to Siem Reap, where Angkor  Wat is located. One of the fellow teachers at my school had told me that I needed to visit the coastal city of Sihanoukville while in southern Cambodia, so with that in mind we boarded the van and headed off for the boundary line.

At the crossing we dodged a few taxi drivers and got our visa situation figured out before hiring a honest tuk-tuk to take us the bus station to get to the beach. It was immediately a culture shock being in the new country where we knew none of the language and less of the customs and regularities to expect. After a few hours of riding in the bus we made a pit stop to eat and unburden our bladders. We were also informed that we would be waiting there for a different bus to pick us up so we could finish our voyage. Zach and I felt very lost, not sure of how to spend our money or what to anticipate spending.  Fortunately a nice german man began talking to us and we were able to work out that he was waiting for the same bus and would tell us when it had arrived. After about half an hour of waiting and watching the sunset, a very full bus pulled up and we got on. The final leg was about an hour or so and full of talking tourists, but gave me a chance to eavesdrop and find out some info about places to stay and enjoy our vacation. After listening to a good amount of boasting from a particularly loudmouthed tourist talking to some young girls about all his regular travels through Cambodia, I decided that Serendipity beach sounded like our best option.

At the bus stop we got off, gathered our bags and headed for guest houses near the beach. We found a reasonable temporary abode with two beds, a fan, and a bathroom for $10 per night and settled in for a few minutes of relaxtion on our beds before heading back out to the bar for a couple $.75 beers. We then took a stroll down to the beach and found a bar that was packed with young tourists, and partied a little bit to celebrate our successful venture into Cambodia. We slept heavily that night and woke up bright and early at 2 PM the next day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach relaxing, reading, and shooting the proverbial shit. The beach was absolutely beautiful but there was a rather profound annoyance in the number of children scattered up and down the beach selling bracelets. There really wasn’t much else that they were selling either, which might have made them less bothersome, and so every single kid had the same lines and retorts for anything you might tell them to deter a sale. A conversation might sound something like this “Hello, would you like to buy a bracelet?”

“No thank you.”

“Why don’t you buy a bracelet?”

“Because I don’t want one.”

“What about for your friends?”

“I don’t think they want one either.”

“What about your girlfriend?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Why don’t you have a girlfriend, do you have money?”

“Not a lot of money.”

“No money no honey.”

“Oh my God will you go away?”

“Oh my Buddha. Do you know rock, paper, scissors?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, you play me in rock, paper, scissors.”

“Okay.”

“If I win you buy a bracelet, if you win you get a bracelet for free!”

“Nevermind, I don’t want to play anymore.”

“Okay, maybe later.”

“I don’t know, I just want to relax!

“Okay, I’ll see you later.”

A girl and her bracelets.

And they will find you later. I did end up buying a bracelet from one of the nicer saleskids, but even that only seemed to invigorate him more to try and sell me another one at any passing. The sunset that evening was possibly the best I've seen since I’ve been in Asia. The clouds scattered across the sky resembled everything from giant battleships on the horizon to  delicately painted pieces of artistic virtue of which only a selct few are capable, and some other formations which defy logic and explination. After watching the sun’s final minutes we headed back to our room and called it an early night.

The next day would be our last, as we planned to head to Pnom Penh the day after, so we spent that as best we could, exploring a rocky stretch of the beach followed up by more relaxing and reading. I managed to read a book highly touted by a few of my friends here, The Alchemist. It was highly concerned with following your destiny and noticing the seemingly unimportant coincidences in our lives that are actually signs that we are living to our fullest potential and in accordance with a more divine plan. Not being a particularly spiritual—if at all—person I found the book to be a bit contrived, but could respect the message that everyone has a potential they can meet but often don’t. If anything, the book bolstered my belief that I’m taking advantage of the opportunities offered to me without shame, or fear of losing what I already have, and ultimately living life in a way that I won’t regret.

That night was begun by going back to the room for a quick shower and change into some nicer clothes. When we got back down to the beach we sat near the water and ordered some BBQ, which just means grilled, food. I got a plate with three large praws, some chicken, some barracuda, a baked potato, and salad for $3! I added a draft Angkor beer for $.50. It was delicious and mind-blowingly cheap, and perfectly complimented the relaxing final day we had spent in the city. Afterwards we hit up a few bars that had brought us flyers earlier in the day for cheap drinks to imbibe, party, and dance the night away.

We woke up around 10:30 the following morning and checked out of our room before loading onto a tuk-tuk and heading to the bus station. We got on a bus headed for Pnom Phen and Zach slept mostly while I read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, unfortunately Zach gets some mild motion sickness and couldn’t read much of his Jack London novel while we were en route.

Cambodians getting off work

Breakin' the law

We were still rigidly sticking to our plan of unrigidness, and in time we began speaking to a woman on the bus and decided to share a ride to the guest house she would be staying at and had recommended. We ended up at the Okay guesthouse and paid $10 a night for a room with two very comfortable beds, air-conditioning, hot water, and the kicker of HBO. We were both pretty wiped out from the night before and long travel, and made it into town after sundown, so we decided to just have a meal at the guesthouse and figure out how we would be travelling to Siem Reap the next day. Fortunately the frontdesk informed us that they had a sister guesthouse in Siam Reap and that we could book a bus, a room, and have a tuk-tuk pick us up at the bus stop for no extra charge.  After a dinner of roast chicken an mash potatoes, which was well worth the $2.50, we stepped outside into the city for about eight minutes before turning around and heading back in. The road was not well lit and something about the area gave us the vibe that we just weren’t as safe as we were in Thailand, plus there just wasn’t much to do around us. We slept well that night and woke up around 11 PM the next day, had some breakfast and then boarded our bus for Siem Reap.

This bus ride was about as comfortable as the rest had been, not very. But the ride itself was good. Really the best thing about all of the travelling was how much of the country we got to see through the windows. No, it’s obviously not the same as hitting the dirt with your feet an exploring, but Cambodia doesn’t really seem like the place where you’ll run into many people speaking English in small villages, or where happenstance will lead you to see something all that riveting. There is a lot of poverty, a lot of what seem like stray cows, and more trash just laying off the side of the road than I’ve seen anywhere else in my life. It gave me a respect for Thailand I wouldn’t have imagined, and a longing. But it also lead me to realize that seeing these kinds of things changed me, made me realize something.

It might sound small minded, but when I first saw the living conditions, I couldn’t help but think that these people had no concern with the health of their world or themselves. It was very easy to do, because of the conditions I’m so used to in America. But then I started looking at the trash. It was coke bottles, water bottles, empty bags of chips, empty cans, pieces of paper with advertisements on them; things we’re really very used to in the U.S. My first thought was that this is our fault. We give them all of these products and bombard their way of life with ours so much so that they can’t handle it. But what is that saying, that these people don’t understand a quality life, that they just don’t care? Well that didn’t sit right with me. That’s when I noticed, for the umpteenth time, a political sign declaring the Cambodian People’s Party, and it clicked. Blaming America, or corporations, or Coke is really just falling into a trap. In America, who regulates our health care system, who takes care of our human rights, who takes care of our trash? The government, as a simplified answer. People certainly have their qualms with the government these days, and you may believe that it’s our governments fault that the world is in the mess it is, but Cambodia’s government isn’t doing what it needs to for its people. I saw the masses going into the factories, some very young. And yes, some of the products will be used by Americans, but it’s not up to us to assure quality working conditions, just like it’s not our responsibility to take care of their health or trash. The schooling in the country is simply not up to par, which could be aided by the government, and with uninformed citizens you get an unimproved society for the most part. Cambodia’s been through a lot in recent decades with Polpot’s agrarian utopia ideals that left the country crippled and nearly without an identity, killing many of the academics, and forcing regular people to work in fields rather than cities. And I’m not convinced that the government has changed enough to fix this problem, and a little research seems to suggest that some of the leaders from Polpot’s regime are still in power today. But since this isn’t a research paper, and mostly because I don’t want it to be, I’ll summarize it like this: it's evident all over the world right now how important a change in government is, both in our country and in others, and although we don't have to take full responsibility, we could do more to show the world how democracy can work, rather than stymy each other at every turn. That may or may not have been coherent, but I wanted to try and say something about what I saw and how I felt about it, maybe one day it’ll lead to something more, but ehh….

Anyways, when we arrived in Siem Reap I looked out of the bus window and saw a sign with the words “Mr. Mike” on it, just as the guesthouse had promised, and was pleased with how well the unplanned trip was working. Zack and I gathered our bags and hopped on the tuk tuk for a short ride to the guest house. Check-in was simple and we were led to our rooms furnished with two comfortable beds, A/C, and hot water. We relaxed for a little bit before heading down to the lobby for a quick dinner. Afterwards, we made plans with the front desk to have a tuk tuk pick us up at 5 AM the next morning so we could make it to Angkor Wat in time for sunrise. We then hit the sack to rest up for the following day.

The next morning came early, but the trip had been relaxing enough to keep us from being too worn out to handle the pick-up time. We made it down to the front of the guest house and got on our tuk tuk and took off. It cost $15 to rent the driver for the day, and $20 a person for a day pass to the park. We got to Angkor Wat while it was still pretty dark, but the sight was immediately incredible. From the front all you could see was the bridge going over the moat and a big edifice that I assumed was Angkor Wat. However, after walking through the structure, we stepped out into a huge opening with a long road that stretched down to a much larger building that was more obviously what we had come to see. There were tons of people there to see the sunrise, but the complex was so massive that it never felt crowded. It gave you the distinct impression of how large and powerful a kingdom had once been there and offered some great photo ops.

We thought this was Angkor Wat...

This is Angkor Wat!

The next temple, Ta Prohm, we went to wasn’t nearly as large but was just as amazing. Time had taken an unrelenting toll on the crumbled walls an cielings, and huge strangler fig trees had grown all over the rubble, as well as on the still standing portions. By this point in the trip Zach and were beginning to budget more tightly, so we never hired a tour guide for any of the sights, but that didn’t seem to take away from what we were seeing.

Next, we visited Ta Keo which was one of the taller structures. It had a few very dauntingly steep sets of stairs that I moved up slowly; Zach flew up them.  Being able to scale the the tower really gave me a snese of the amount of work and stone that had gone into creating this city, and how wild it was that the entire thing had been erected in a jungle.

The last stop was Angkor Thom, which was a city that is thought to have once had a population of one million. The first temple we visited was Bayon, and was covered in sculpted faces. Then we took a stroll over to Baphuon. Finally, we made our ways over to The Elephant Terrace. The pictures here should do the talking for me, but I will say that a true representation of detail involved couldn’t really be captured with my lens, at any of the sites, I believed it’s got to be seen in person for a true appreciation to be had. There were also a few more temples and structures nearby that we explored before returning to our tuk tuk to head back to the guesthouse.

That blue spec is Zach.

 

When we had finished we checked the time and determined that we had spent four hours at a place that most literature suggested should be explored over a few days. Neither one of us really understood this, because we felt as though we had seen plenty and didn’t miss much. It may have been worth it to hire a few guides though, who would surely be able to point out details to us that we wouldn’t be able to notice or appreciate otherwise, but even without that knowledge I felt satisfied. One funny thing did happen as we were heading back, our driver ran out of gas and we had to help him push the cart to the nearest petrol pump. It was only about a fifty to hundred meter jog. But I’m pretty sure the driver was very embarrassed.

From the roof of our hotel

When we got back, we scheduled a pick up so that we could leave at 1 AM the next morning and get back to Thailand and Bangkok as soon as possible. The bus ride was awful though. Two of the most uncomfortable seating arrangements I’ve experienced since being here, but finally making it home was well worth it.

In retrospect, the journey through Cambodia was very eye opening and very encouraging. I realized that it was fun but slightly reckless to make no plans for such a trip, because budgeting is a bit loose. Maybe next time I would make a more tentative schedule, but I’m making no promises to myself. The trip also really made me realize how much I valued life in Thailand. Though it seems wild, dirty, and unnerving at times, it can’t compare with Cambodia. The amount of progress Thailand has made pushing to catch up with the modern western world is much more obvious by comparison, and the kindness of the Thai's is still world class, if not in a league of their own. I would like to travel through Cambodia again before I leave, but I think next time there will be more structure, and more chances taken to broaden my knowledge of the history and culture.

Till then, I leave you with a picture of three Cambodian puppies.

Songkran

Hello again world.  Becky and I have concluded our travels in Northern Thailand and have decided to catch a night bus headed to central Laos this evening.  We’ve had a crazy time over the last two weeks.  Becky’s brother came to visit from the states and we spent an amazing 12 days travelling around Thailand.  We started in Bangkok and headed north.  Highlights of the trip were a visit to the ancient temples of Sukhothai and of course two crazy days partying at the Chiang Mai Songkran festival.  Songkran is the Thai New Year, which is celebrated by splashing water on people.  The water symbolizes cleansing and renewal.  Basically, it’s the world’s largest squirt gun fight…hold on I take that back.  It’s not a squirt gun fight, it’s a water war. 

Words truly cannot explain what Songkran in Chiang Mai is all about.  I found this video from 2010 Chiang Mai Songkran which is a perfect example of what we experienced.

Sawatdee Bee Mai (Happy New Year)

Ryan and Becky