6 weeks later...

It's been tough to keep up with the blogging these last few weeks, mostly because rather than write about it I chose to lay on the beach...doing nothing.  You know how alot of people say that they would get bored to death lying on a beach all day?  Yea I'm not one of them.  I've absolutely loved being a beach bum, and what better place to do that than in the southern beaches of Thailand?? The most gorgeous cliffs, crystal clear water, and squeaky white sand are all within a three minute walk from me.  After the first 4 1/2 weeks of this trip being absolutely packed with activities, tours, volunteering, and general running-around, I was more than happy to just. chill.

Getting to paradise is never an easy task for some reason, and this proved to be true in the great Bangkok Bus Scam of 2012 (as we lovingly call it).

Expectation: Asking the hotel to book an overnight direct VIP bus from Bangkok to Krabi
Reality: a 1980's "VIP" bus that was 4 hours late picking us up from the filthy sidewalks of Bangkok with minimally reclining seats and zero leg space that was not only indirect, but required a stop over at 7 am to wait for another non-VIP (to put it nicely) bus to take us to the outskirts of Krabi.  whoa.

After that it was easy sailing for the most part.  Thailand is not exactly world renowned for its transportation systems, so all the drama has been chalked up to Asian experiences and laughed about...after very long naps of course.

So from Krabi to Phuket there has been nothing but gorgeous weather, a million too many speedos, and extreme relaxation.  Oh and a burn on the side of my leg that is bigger than a silver dollar from the motorbike exhaust pipe.  Making it out of a 6 week Asian trek with only one injury is a victory in my books.

So tomorrow is the day we fly back to Singapore to spend the final 72 hours with amazing friends, closing bank accounts, and actually moving out for good, which I couldn't feel more weird about.  Then it's onwards to the Queen's country to see some long lost friends which I couldn't be more excited about.  Lots and lots of conflicting emotions these days.  No matter how I feel or how much I can't believe it's time, the end is here.  I'll be back in Tejas in 2 weeks for a new start and new adventures and I can't wait to give the biggest hugs to my family and friends...and eat my weight in queso.

From Bamboo to Beach

After leaving Siem Reap, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  Other than Phnom Penh, Siem Reap is the only city in Cambodia that I had visited before and I wasn't sure if other parts of Cambodia would pull at me the same way.

Batambang was very different from Siem Reap. The first thing we noticed was the absence of the bombardment of "Hey Lady want Tuk Tuk?? LadySir want foot massage??".  It was quiet and peaceful. The locals acknowledge your presence without begging for you business, mostly because they aren't nearly as dependent on tourism as Siem Reap is. The place we stayed was literally under construction (which they fail to explain prior to check in), so there was no chance of ever sleeping in or taking a mid day nap.  Luckily, we found a wonderful English speaking tourguide named Saro who kept us busy all day long with fun activities. 

The first day he took us to see a few temples - one which was built in the 60's and one that was built in the 11th century.  We also saw some "killing caves" which were used during the control of the Khmer Rouge as a way to get rid of over 10,000 innocent people.  Like in Phnom Penh, the skulls and bones of the victims have been enshrined in a small temple structure inside the caves.  Haunting and heartbreaking.  We had lunch near Saro's village and talked with him about his family and background.  His parents lived through the horror of Pol Pot, were forcefully seperated and managed to each escape to a refugee camp in Thailand where they miraculously found each other again.  Saro was born while they were living in the refugee camp and he told us that to this day his father is weak and frail due to his malnutrition and mistreatment during the Khmer Rouge.  It was so incredible to hear a persoanl account from such a dark time in Khmer "history". 

We spent the rest of the day driving around in his tuk tuk stopping at random gardens, rice fields and river banks and we arrived back almost 9 hours after we started.  It was a very fun and full day.  We decided to take advantage of having such a great tourguide and booked him again for day two.

We started the next day on the infamous "bamboo train" - which basically consists of a rectangular bamboo plank to sit on (with no sides), a small motor similar to a lawn mower controlled by your "driver" and a one way track with gaps and splits in it.  Incredibly, it was able to reach pretty high speeds considering it was so simple that it would literally be taken apart when another cart would be coming from the opposite direction.  I've decided it's the closest I'll ever come to a magic carpet ride, so now I can check that off my list.  :)  After that adventure, we stopped to try bamboo sticky rice (which was delicious) and fried mouse.  Yes, you heard that right.  I, the pickiest eater on the planet, ate fried mouse that was caught in the rice fields...and I liked it.  It really did taste like chicken.  Who woulda thought. After two full days of sight seeing, I was wiped out and was staring to feel a bit under the weather, so we just vegged out the rest of the time. 

Our next stop was Sihanoukville, aka the wannabe Cancun of Cambodia.  It's a beach town that has literally shot up in the last year or so as a big tourist destination so there are tons of restaurants, tourists and westernized establishments and not so much of the Cambodian atmosphere.  We did find a couple nice beaches and I managed to fry my pale self on day one.  We also found a legit Mexican restaurant owned by an American called "Maybe Later" that boasted chips, cheese and beans direct from California.  Heaven for a burrito-lovin Californian and a Tex-mex obsessed Texan.  Sihanoukville as a whole didn't feel like Cambodia to me which made me a bit sad, but I did love being by the ocean again.  Julian and I both had some stomach issues while we were there so we didn't do much besides lay on the beach and chill out.  No complaints here.

So overall, Batambang and Sihanoukville were great, but they weren't Siem Reap.  I'm not sure if anywhere else will get into my heart the same way as that city did.  I think it's more about the experiences I had there than the actual city itself, but regardless, it is still my favorite.  I am pleased that we were able to experience more of the country that I love so much, and after three weeks it was time to officially say goodbye to Cambodia.

After 6/7 hours of riding a hot bus to the Thai border, sweating my face off waiting to get my passport stamped and sitting on the front middle seat of a mini van with a numb butt for another 5 hours, we are back in Bangkok to stopover on the way to Krabi/Phi Phi/Phuket.  The official 2 week beach binge begins now! (Well, after another 12 hour night bus.)

"Today I feel..."

Bangkok was ... in a word ... Bangkok.  Awesome, grimy, smoggy, fun, and just a little bit inappropriate.  An experience to say the least.  Julian, Thomas and I had a great time enjoying the famous Koh San Road with a tad bit of sight seeing added in.  From there it was the longest bus ride(s) ever into Cambodia.  A 3 hour ride from Bangkok to the border (which in "Thai time" is 5 hours) followed by a fake border inspection in which they try to convince tourists to buy visas and visa photos from them.  Once we realized the scam and started making a bit of a scene they were quick to show us the legit immigration office.  From there it was a short bus to the official bus station followed by a 2 hour taxi drive crammed into a car with a couple other backpackers one of whom was mumbling and snoring the whole time.  FINALLY we arrived in Siem Reap ready for a hot shower and sleep immediately but..."We overbooked and now you need to go stay at this other hostel but it's just as good". Wrong. What an adventure.  But I was finally back in Siem Reap - my most favorite Asian destination.

When I came to Cambodia in March of last year I immediately fell in love with it.  It was nothing in particular at first.  I just loved the energy and the smells and even the obnoxious "Hey Lady! Want fish massage? Tuk Tuk??"  The last day of that trip I discovered my real reason for loving it so much.  We decided that we wanted to do some good on our holiday so we decided to take some rice and school supplies to an orphanage.  There were over 100 to choose from in Siem Reap alone.  The horrific genocide of the Khmer Rouge in the not so distant past left an entire generation of Cambodians with no families, no money and no education.  Thousands of children were left to beg in the streets either because they were orphans or, even worse, they had parents who forced them to work the streets to support the family.  We found the New Life Center Organization (NLCO) on a simple black and white flyer that was hardly noticeable and decided to take the rice and supplies to them.  Within a couple of hours I knew that I had to come back...I just didn't know when.

Flash forward to now - We just finished a week in Siem Reap working soley with NLCO and it has been one of the most amazing, frustrating and rewarding experiences of my life.  We arrived everyday around 11 when the children got out of school.  One of my favorite things was when we would round the corner to the dirt road the orphanage was on exactly when the kids were walking home - their faces would light up and they would start jumping up and down screaming "Hello! Hello!"  Truly melts your heart.

Throughout the past year Ratha, the founder and sole owner of the orphanage, and I have stayed in touch through email, so I knew of some of the major hardships these guys have had.  Last year they had 18 children and it was tough for them to all fit in the two bedrooms they had.  This year they had 25.  Two rooms was simply not enough anymore.  Mats and beds had been placed in the school room and the office just to accommodate all the kids.  We knew immediately that we wanted to help with this, so Julian and Ratha hopped on a motorbike one day to look at wood and supplies while I taught a lesson.  When they came back they had an entire truckload of wood, bamboo and roofing.  It was incredible.  In the next week the structure began to take shape and on our last day (yesterday) we got to see a completed roof, front wall and part of the other walls.  Despite it not being completely finished, they moved three beds under the roof and a few of the children slept there for the first time.  It was shady and cool and much better than the overcrowded rooms they were used to.  Julian and a another volunteer also built a chicken coop and a compost bin.  We pulled weeds in the garden, played with balls and hoola-hoops, completed puzzles and sang songs.

The biggest issue with the children's school is that they don't teach any English.  With Siem Reap being such a huge tourist town, knowing English is necessary to get a good job.  The only English the kids learn is taught by the volunteers that come to the center - The only problem is that no one stays longer than about 1-2 weeks and there are about 100 different volunteers a year, some of which have never taught before.  All of this = no consistency.  I hate to admit how frustrated I got, just knowing that no matter what I taught them that week, it would probably be forgotten in a matter of days without practice.  I struggled with the idea of staying longer, but I know that in order to make a significant difference in their English I would need to commit to a year...and I'm just not equipped to do that (yet). 

Here's what the lessons generally consisted of.
- "What day is it today?"
       - SUNDAY! (this was the answer pretty much everyday)
- "Today I feel..."
       - Insert happy face, sad face, angry face, sleepy face
       - We had some issues with happy vs. sad.  Several times when one of the younger kids would start crying the others would run up and say "Cha! (short for teacher) She happy!" so close...but yet so far.
- Colors
- Some of the more advanced kids learned how to make sentences like "The fish is in the water.  The octopus is in the water."etc....

No matter what, the lessons ALWAYS ended with The Eensy Weensy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus and If You're Happy and You Know It.  They just LOVED to sing.

My favorite thing of all was the hugs.  So many hugs.  All day every day they just wanted someone to hold their hand and give them a hug.  I was more than happy to oblige.  Even Julian who isn't the biggest fan of hugs or kids couldn't resist these guys.  It was so special in so many ways. 

When it was time to say goodbye we gave our last round of hugs and climbed into the tuk tuk.  All the kids came out to the front to wave us off and say goodbye.  I made it around the corner and out of sight before I burst into tears (I was pretty impressed with myself to be honest).  Words can't express the emotions of that week, but I do know that those children have left a mark on my heart that will never go away.  I hope that no matter where I am that I can always be involved with this amazing group in some way, and hopefully one day I will be able to go back.

The last couple of days we did some sight seeing in Phnom Kulen with a group of 7. We saw the most sacred place in Cambodia, a natural spring and the amazing waterfall from Tomb Raider.  Amazing.  We made some new friends, danced the night away at Angkor WHAT? and enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner at the hostel.  Needless to say, Siem Reap hasn't disappointed me once. 

After an early mini van that took us to a bus parked on the street less than a mile away that took us to the actual bus station - we had a seamless 3 hour bus ride (which we were told would be 5) and arrived in Battambang right at lunch time.  Cambodia round 2 begins...