Nha Trang.... it's a sticky place

Holla!

I've finally arrived in Hoi An after spending WAAAAAAAY too long in Nha Trang... I couldn't help myself, I was surrounded with sun, surf, beach and beer... what more could a girl want in this world?! I spent most of my days relaxing at Louisiana Brew Pub which is a beer brewery that has grrrrrrrreat passion infused whiet beer, great lounge chairs, aaaaaaand a pool that overlooks the ocean. HELLO!

After I traded in my camera for my new, improved, super-fantastic pink olympus, I was walking down the beach I stopped for water, and met a sweet little Vietnamese lady who was holidaying in Nha Trang. She was fascinated by my $2 knock-off ray bands. She tried them on, and was striking poses all over the beach with them... gave them to the dude selling the water, and he started posing too.. so funny! So, being the sweet little entrepreneur I am, I asked if they wanted to buy them. She said, YES YES!! HOW MUCH!? Thinking she'd want to barter with me, I started and $100,000 dong... she said OK!! Whipped out a $100,000 note and just like that I doubled my money on the sunglasses. hahaha Then I went and bought new Armani ones for $50,000 dong. So awesome.



I used the extra $50,000 dong to get me a motorbike taxi to a mud bath/mineral pool spa a few kilometers outside of town. It was super relaxing, and although it felt a bit weird to bathe in dirty mud water with big black asian hairs floating around in it... I managed to enjoy myself. From the mud bath, I layed in the sun to allow the mud to try, and then showered off to get clean again. Then I moved into a Hyrdotherapy shower thing, where they blast tigerbalm smelling water at you for 3-5 minutes. After that, I sat in a hot mineral tub for another 15 minutes. In the hot tub I met a couple Aussie blokes, and a dude from Hollywood. They invited me to join them for some street meat lobster afterward so once I finished my treatment under the mineral waterfall, and the hot, and cold mineral swimming pools, I was picked up by my driver again, and went back to town to meet them.

We walked a few blocks from where I was staying and found a couple Vietnamese people with a Hibatchi BBQ sitting on the sidewalk... this was our dining room. We had a big group, so we ordered 10 lobsters and sat around on tiny plastic stools eating the lobster and dipping it in lime juice mixed with some kind of spice... SOOOO DELICIOUS!!! Half way through our meal, the Vietnamese lady came rushing over to us and said "GET UP, GET UP!! YOU MOVE OVER HERE" We were quite confused cause we were mid meal, and didn't really want to move... then we realized the police had shown up and it's illegal to sell food on the sidewalks in Vietnam.. so the lady picked up our plastic table, and we carried our stools around the corner where the set-up shop in the ally way for us! Classic!

After our lobster fest, everyone else was going to party, but I had arranged a scuba dive for early the next morning, so I declined, and opted to go to Crazy Kim's Spa and Gym instead for the best Vietnamese massage EVER!!! I went to bed in bliss...


The next morning I woke up at 6:30 and had a quick bowl of fresh mango, mixed with plain yogurt and musili (my new favorite breakfast... i kinda overdid the banana pancakes in Thailand) and headed to the dive shop. It wasn't until I was already in my wetsuit and 20meters underwater when my stomach began to gurgle..... Here's a question for you... what's the best move when you're underwater with a Vietnamese dive master named Indo who speaks very little English, and even less sign language, and you feel like you're going to shit in your wetsuit!? Answer... massive amounts of praying and clenching... Luckily I made it out of the water without having to experience a diarrhea dive.. but it was a close call. For future reference: DO NOT EAT STREET MEAT SEAFOOD THE NIGHT BEFORE A SCUBA DIVE.

After diving I took a motortaxi to one of the local markets where I wondered around taking pictures of the locals shopping, and the amazing fresh fruits and vegetables for sale there. I also found several dead bats hanging up in a shop that were for sale!! GROSSS!! Check out the picture... I just love all the little old Vietnamese ladies here that try and sell stuff too, they are soooooo cute and wrinkly! This lady was one of my all-time trip favorites... after I took her picture, she tried to make me pay her $15,000 dong! hahahaha!


A couple days into the trip, I was wondering down the beach and ran into a fellow I met scuba diving. We started chatting and he introduced me to a few friends he had made from the states. Turns out the guys from the states were part of a hip-hop dance group who were performing at the Sail Club that night... ummmm does life get any better!? So, I ended up hanging out with them for a bit, and then watched their show later on. It was pretty good, and I was happy to just listen to some good music and see some sick dancing, cause I was starting to have hip-hop withdrawals over herrrrrrrr...

The next day I was lounging at Louisiana Brew Pub again and I met some FABULOUS Aussies who invited me to join them for dinner. We went to this great restaurant where they gave us some marinated meat, calamari, and veggies to cook on a BBQ that was brought to our table. It definitely took the #1 spot on my asian favorite food list to date!! SOOOO DELICIOUS! Afterwards, I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and met them for what I thought would be A DRINK, at the Sailing Club... A DRINK, turned into many drinks as one of the girls was celebrating her birthday... After Jager bomb #2 chased by Mojito #4 I turned into a dancing queen... It was super fun, and I realized that's the first time I've been drunk since Jen Eely's wedding!! HOLLAAAAAA! I spent the next day getting nursing an epic hangover.... buuuut it was worth it!

Last night I took the overnight 12 hour bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An. Not fun. Buuut, I made it here finally! I love this city already!! It's very french looking, with loads of old architecture and hundreds of tailors offering custom suits, dresses, shoes... you name it! "Heaven... I'm in Heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak! And I think I've found the happiness I seek..." So, that said, I'm gonna blow this popsicle stand and head out to do some shoppin!

I also have to find a new hotel for tomorrow night as just before leaving my current one I noticed there were dozens of ants crawling over the second bed!!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW So disgusting! They are going to spray my room with some bug stuff, but still, it's gonna be a rough night of sleep for me there now that I know I'm sharing a room with them.

This is Christy, signing off!

New Camera = Updated Photos... Christy does Nah Trang

I have arrived safe and sound in Nah Trang, and it's gorgeous here! I was also able to trade in my old camera for a discount on a new Pink Olympus Camera!! YAY!! Now I have a camera that works, and it even came with a USB cable so now I can back up my photos and add them to my blog more regularly!! I just updated the slideshow pictures, so if you click on the slideshow on the right of the page, you should be directed to the entire album where you can view my recent adventure! PARTY ON WAYNE, PARTY ON GARTH...... EXCELLENT!!!!

Saigon - Mui Ne, Vietnam

Helloooooooooo! I'm writing this from a fancy hotel in Mui Ne- where I loiter their pool area, and internet for free in exchange for indulging in their massive breakfast buffet for $8... I'm staying in a cheap hostel down the street called small garden.

The drive from Ho Chi Minh - Mui Ne was good, and I met a couple of Austrains on the bus that have been staying at the same hostel as me. It's a good thing too, because I think the three of us have been pretty much the only ones staying at our hotel since we arrived, and it'd be lonely without them. The restaruant at our place shuts down at 5pm and then there is absolutly NOTHING to do, so we've been playing lots of cards.


One night there was the most epic thunder and lightening storm I've ever witnessed! It was craaaaaaaaaazy!! It lasted for over 5 hours and there was huge fork lightening going right down to the horizon of the sea, and massive flashes and thunder rumbles. We sat out and watched it for at least an hour and the Austrians got a few really cool pictures I'm hoping they'll email me. It was really neat!! I've never seen anything like it before...

Mui Ne is nice, but very chilled out. Not much atmosphere, just a nice beach and hot weather- not much to complain about there! There are also a few cool things to check out around the city like the White Sand dunes, the Red Sand dunes and Fairy Stream. There is also amazing sunrises!! The first two nights I was here I got up at 4:45am to watch the sun rise... although I'm NOT a morning person, it was sooooooooooooooooo worth it! Amazing, the whole sky was lit up, and you could see sillouettes of vietnamese fisherman pulling up their nets with their cute little china hats on. Made me wish my silly camera wasn't broken again!!! I'm going to have to replace it when I get to Na Trang later today.

I also did a tour in a jeep with one of the Austrians (the other one had the shiezter from some bad food... hahahaha) and we went to the dunes, and fairy creek (see picture). It was really gorgeous!! The white sand dunes seem so out of place here, its like all of a sudden being transported to the Sahara Dessert... Amazing! The red ones were good too, but the sand was soooooooo hot from the sun beating down on it, and they weren't quite as impressive as the white ones. Fairy stream was way more amazing than I was much better than I anticipated and it had giant red dirt cliffs coming down to bright red sand, and then the water trickling down the middle of the stream. Very cool. I collected some sand from here to send home... (I now have three sand samples, one from Cambodia, and two from Vietnam) I wonder how much it will cost me to send home from Hoi An!! Oh well, it'll be worth it!

In a couple of hours I'm catching a bus from here to Na Trang. I was going to take the night bus that leaves at 2am, but then a little Vietnamese lady told me that "Sometime they forget pick you up! You wait till 3am then they no pick you up and you wait next day..." Given that my plan was to give up my hotel room and then sleep on the bus, this plan would have been very shitty if I was left on the streets all night- so day bus it is!! The same lady also said "Day bus good, but sometime air-con no work, hahahaha vietnam bus funny!" Soooooooo... might be an interesting trip to say the least. The good news is I booked a hostel already when I get there so I won't have to wonder around in the dark searching... we arrive at 7pm (ish) so the sun will be down by then.

I'm looking forward to hopefully doing some scuba diving in Na Trang. It's suppsed to be one of the best places in Vietnam to dive, and it's the best time of year for it too! YAY!! Hopefully I won't get eaten by a shark or stung by a creepy vietnamese sea creature...

Anyway, I think that's all for now... Ciao!

GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAAAAAM!!

Hey, this is not a test, this is rock and roll, time to rock it from the Delta to the D.M.Z!! What's the weather like in Nam? Well, it's HOT! Damn hot, real hot! Hottest thing is my shorts, I could cook things in them, do a little crotch pot cookin... OOOOOOH it's so hot I told you again, were you born on the SUN? It's DAAAAMN HOT!

Okay, enough with the Robin Williams quotes... So I've made it to Vietnam after a looong 12 hour bus ride from Sihanoukville to Ho Chi Minh. I met a nice Malaysian couple on the bus who teach at a University in China. We had lunch, and they invited me to visit them in China, if I make it there, and offered me a job at their University teaching English, Graphic Design, and business to students there... Guess if all else fails??!

It was dark by the time I arrived in Ho Chi Minh, and within 2 minutes I was overwhelmed by the amount of traffic zooming down the streets and allys. Crossing the street here is like playing a real life game of frogger! I met up with a dutch couple and we found a hotel to drop our stuff off at and hit the street market for some authentic vietnamese food... (honestly, I've had better in Victoria!) Then we went to a travel agent to figure out where to go next... They decided to book some flights to Phu Quoc, which is a small island on the south western side of vietnam, very close to Sihanoukville... I decided to book a flight there too- which in hindsight made me wonder why I had just sat in a bus for 12 hours, only to basically go right back where I started from... HAHAH such is life.

The next morning I caught a taxi to the airport and boarded my plane. Within one hour, I was in paradise. I found a bungalow on the beach and met two identical twin girls from London who I would spend the next few days with. We didn't like the bungalows we were in the first night because the power turned off at 11pm which means NO FAN... which means that in 40 degree weather, you also get NO SLEEP! I got up at 6:30am to find somewhere better to stay. I ended up at a resort called Tropicanna which had a gorgeous 4 star resort next door that I would enjoy an amazing buffet breakfast at every morning for $5. I took the liberty of inviting myself to enjoy their pool all day everyday also. :-)

The next two days went quickly, and I burned through the book A Thousand Splended Suns, which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone wanting to read a good book and bust out a few tears in the process. All of a sudden I woke up and it was my last day on the Island. I booked a ferry back to the mainland with the twins, and decided I had better check out Sao Beach, known for its turquoise water, and white sand beach. I booked a mototaxi and head out...

Little did I know, this is when the day of EPIC failures would begin....

From the back of the motorbike, I decided I would snap a couple shots of the scenery. The first picture worked out alright, but when I took out my camera to take another, it made a funny noise and wouldnt start. bad news. broken camera. Despite smashing it on my fist many times, the problem did not fix itself. BUMMER! Next thing I knew, the driver was stopping the bike and hopped off. He started laughing and pointing at the front tire. I got off and realized he was laughing because the dirt roads we were driving on had punctured his front tire!! BOOURNS! He said, "Ok Ok no problem" and motioned for me to get back on the bike. We spent the next 2km driving (more like bouncing) down the dirt road on the rims until he found a shop that could fix his tire. 15-20 minutes later, we were back on the road to Sao beach. By the time I got there, it was basically time for me to turn around and get going back to the resort so I could catch a taxi to the ferry, so I walked to the beach, collected a bit of sand, and literally spent 37 seconds taking in the view before I had to leave.

The way back was full of more adventure... About 10 minutes into the 40 minute ride home, it began to monsoon all over us! I got SOAKED!!! Not to mention the fact I thought we both might die cause the roads were flooded and nobody else dared drive on them. The driver asked me if I wanted to stop, but I said I couldn't cause I would have missed my ferry if we did... So through the rain we went! He pulled over to put on a poncho after his shirt was completely soaked and as I got off the bike I slipped and burned my left shin on the exhaust pipe! Eventually, we made it back to Tropicana with 5 minutes for me to pack, check out, and hop in the cab- but I made it!

We then caught a ferry, which took almost half an hour longer than it was supposed to, back to the mainland of the Mekong Delta. I was going to head to Can Tho to hit up the floating markets, but since my camera was broken, at the last minute I decided to hop on a minibus with two americans to Ho Chi Minh city so I could repair my camera. (The twins carried on to Cambodia with some french and american travellers they met). There was no time to grab anything to eat or drink, before running to catch the last minibus of the day. We all crawled into the very back of the 17 seater van and were the only 3 caucasian, english speaking people in the vehicle. 4 hours later, we were all so starving we thought we might be sick... The crazy driving and bumpy half paved roads weren't helping matters. Eventually we stopped at a Vietnamese market where we had some Pho soup and bread before getting back on the bus for the rest of the journey. We arrived in HCMC at about 11pm. I had already booked a hotel, and shared a taxi with the americans from the shanty bus stop to District 1 where our hotel was located. When I checked in the air conditioning didn't work, and the room was at least 35 degrees... I asked them to fix it, and after about an hour of the maintenence man fiddling around with it he asked me if I wanted to change rooms. I said I did, and went to the room next door. After moving all of my luggage, and arguing with the front desk clerk to give me the room for $5 cheaper, I realized that the A/C didn't work in that room either. The perfect end to the perfect day. I spent the next 5 hours sweating and going in and out of sleep before I finally got up and moved to another hotel the twins had recommended.

My new hotel is a small guesthouse run by a nice couple. I told the woman that the twins referred me and she gave me a discount, a hug and a kiss! She also offered her husband's services as a motorcycle taxi... He drove me to a place that fixed my camera for only $25 and then took me to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It was a looong drive there and back, about an hour each way, and I'm pretty sure my butt is still vibrating, but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT! The tunnel system was really cool and the guide we had was amazing. I met a really nice couple from New Zealand, and numerous South Korean tourists. It's unbelievable how tiny the tunnels are! Please note the picture I snagged online of someone's photo of the same hole I cralwed into compared to the size of their foot. Good thing I've lost over 10lbs of sweat since I arrived in SE Asia!!

They have made some tunnels bigger to componsate for western tourists, but I crawled into one this one which only juuuust fit the widest part of my ass (these hips don't lie!). The good news was, that after I had lowered myself into the tunnel and taken a few candid shots on my disposible underwater camera left over from Vang Vieng (the koreans took a bunch of photos of me too) I was able to lift myself out of the smaaaall opening without getting stuck. This is more than I can say for the 6'5" Kiwi guy Mark who decided to go in right after me!! He ended up having to crawl underground through the tiny bat and spider infested tunnels until he could find a larger hole to climb out of!!! HHAHAHAHA better him than me- he actualy enjoyed it. I would have sharted myself and then choaked to death on my own toxic fumes, only to be rescued by our Ex Viet Kong guide.

Now I am sitting in a nice cafe called Sozo that employs street people who have disadvantages like hearing impairments, amputations etc. The internet here is free! bonus!!

I think that's all for now, I'm going to try and navigate through the crazy allyways to get back to my hotel and sort out my laundry situation. Then I need to go talk to a travel agent about getting the heck outta herrrr tomorrow afternoon to head north. Since it is about to get dark, I think I should get moving... Chao!!!

Sihanukville, Cambodia... Sun, Fun and Plumbing 301

The drive to Sihanukville was long, hot and smelly. The bus left the terminal on time, but stopped 10-15 times leaving the city to pick up locals, so we ended up over an hour behind anyway. I was pumped that I found a seat with nobody else sitting in it until the bus stopped and Madame B.O. And prawn chips helped herself to the seat next to me. You know what's fun? Trying not to breathe for 4 hours on a bus.

We finally arrived as it was getting dark and I shared a taxi with an English guy who was on the bus. The drivers all gang up and insist being paid $6 to get to town. To put things in perspective, I'm paying $2 on the way back and I didn't even barter. The taxi guy dropped is off at a hostel called "beach shack" and I made the executive decision that given five star hotels here are comparable to a 2-3 star at home, anything with the word "shack" built into it is not candidate for sleeping. The English guy tried it out and I continued on foot. (I ran into the guy later on and he said it was beyond nasty hahaha glad I didn't stay). As the night got darker and hostels were turning me away cause they were full I got a bit more desparate. The same taxi driver saw me walking and offered to drive me around till I found a suitable place for $1. He took me to two gungy places and then an expensive hotel ($25/night). While I was checking the room and asking the guy for a deal, taxi driver got cranky, called me stupid and drove off without letting me pay. Hahahaha so I took the room.

I was bagged and needed a shower badly so I checked into my room and had a shower right away. Well... That is.... I tried to. I couldn't figure out how to turn on the water. There was only one plastic knob and it was screwed on super tight. Eventually my huge muscles were able to turn it hard enough that it unscrewed completely and water began blasting at me through the knob area!!! Paniced, I had no way of turning off the knob now that it had fallen off. I tried numerous times to force it back on and had success after the 10th round of pushing, turning, swearing, and praying. "Please please turn off little shower....."

My make shift solution wasn't perfect but it'd do the trick... I'd so I thought. Once I was committed to finishing the shower before asking the front desk to help, ie. Put Shampoo on hair, the entire knob came blasting off again bouncing off the back of me before landing across the room. F.M.L.

Imagine repeating the above 2 paragraphs 3-4 times before finally getting rinsed off enough to run downstairs in a dress and a towel and run back up 3 flights of stairs with the Cambodian maintenence man in tow. This was my first night in Sihanukville.

Apparently there is a small grey button on the knob in question that, when pushed, starts the water flow through the shower head. Who knew!!??

The next day I lazed around the pool and then wandered up to the city area to watch a movie. They have the best theatre here with comfy couches and pillows as chairs and a big screen projector thing just like the movies. I watched startrek by myself and ate a bag of m&m's.

Day two was more sun and another movie... And today, I went to the beach and had a manicure and pedicure special for $5 and got my armpitta threaded for $2! Hahaha it's so funny the ladies come right up to you and tell you you are too hairy. Then they'll start trying to pluck hairs from your legs, arms, or pubic regions. I let her thread my pit so shed leave the rest of my body alone. She complimented me on my thin blonde Pitt hair. Is that weird? Or is it just me.... Anyway, that experience goes right up there with crab hand lady waxing me in Thailand.

Then, tonight on the beach I was finishing up dinner under the stars and had the added free entertainment of two guys juggling bowling pins, followed by an oscar worthy extended make out session involving two lesbians. For a minute I thought I had died and accidently ended up in man-heaven. Nope! Apparently it's just all part of the fun of Sihanukville!!

Anyway, my iPod is running out of battery and I gotta get up in 5 hours to catch a bus to Saigon. Keep it real....... HOLLA!

S-21 and the Cambodian Killing Fields

I took a bus to Phenom Penh and visited "Security 21"or S-21 jail/torture house and the Khumar Rouge killing fields. Never before had I realized the scope, or brutality of the crimes committed by the Kuhmar Rouge when they held power in Cambodia in the mid-late seventies. I will describe some of my feelings below, but first a disclaimer: I'm not going to hold back some of the stories, and images I saw because I think its important for me to reflect on it, and important to share with others- as understanding such conditions provides one with a whole new level of gratitude for their own problems...

S-21: I paid for a personal guide for touring this site, as I wasn't too familiar with the history and wanted to fully understand what I was about to see. It was the best $3 investment I've made so far.. My guide was a boy of 14 when the Khumar Rouge came to power. He and his family had recently relocated to Penonh Phen after they had been forced to live in the villiages by the previous repressive government. Within 3 days of finally returning home, they had to flee Penonh Phen back to the villiage where they worked back-breaking shifts on the farm under armed guards. All of their posessions were taken, and they were given one set of dirty clothes to wear that would have to last them three years. Our guide explained he would wash his clothes at night, and hang them to semi-dry before waking up at 4am the next morning to put them on wet and get back to work. The guards would make everyone in the villiages sign a horrible anthem every morning that, when translated to english, is enough to scare even Chuck Norris. Our guide says the words are still burned into his memory, and that every morning when he was forced to sing it, he wondered whether he'd live to sing it again the following morning.

At S-21 the conditions were even worse. Intellectuals (anyone who is a doctor, lawyer, police officer, government official, educated) were seen as a threat to the working class Khumar Rouge. Therefore, they sought to eliminate anyone, and all of their friends and family members, to prevent retaliation. When captured they would be taken to be held and interrogated at S-21 before being transported to their final destination at Killing Fields. Many did not even live to make that trip. The conditions were so horrible- prisoners weren't given a pot to piss in, let a lone food. Most were granted 3 spoonfulls of rice soup/day. In some rooms there would be 20-40 people shackled together laying in the floor, in other cells, one or two high-up officials, or lawyers would be held in solitude and tortured for information. One form of torture was to pluck out all of the prisoner's finger and toenails one by one. Another was to heat up plyers and then pinch off the nipples of women in custody. Oh- and let's not forget rape, killing babies in front of their mothers by smashing their skulls on a tree trunk, and drowning men in fecal water. An artist who is a former prisoner at S-21 has depicted many of these images in paintings- and there were many more tortures that were too gruesome to depict, or share with tourists.... They did however, paint a pictures of guards throwing a baby into the air and stabbing it with the knife end of a bayonett riffle when it landed while it's mother watched. Makes you wonder what was too gory to show...

Only 8 people evaded death at S-21. One of them was onsite the day we visited shooting a documentary with a french network. Its unbelievable to think of the life our guide has had in his 45 years in Cambodia. He said that his family eventually was split up and his sister escaped to Thailand, and then moved to Canada- now living in Toronto. Despite numerous invitations from her brother, she has refused to ever visit Cambodia since leaving.

The Khumar Rouge depleated almost half of the population of Cambodia in a few short years. It is estimated they murdured 3 million innocent people in total. It makes me sick to think that this crime could go on post-WWII without superpower intervention. It makes me sick to wonder if the "It's not in my backyard" policy was applied here.

Moving along to the killing fields was an eerie experience, and nearly as emotional as S-21. There were still bits of bone and tooth scattered about the paths leading to the river where the murders took place. The way people were killed was barbaric. The Khumar Rouge did not use bullets, because they were working class, and the bullets cost too much money. Instead everyone was killed using various farmers tools, and in some cases- to increase pain- a palm leaf was used to slit the throat slowly. Many of the skulls on display have visible trauma where they were hit with a shovel, bamboo stick or an axe. Remember, this happened less than 30 years ago. Think about it....

I find myself now looking at Cambodians through a new set of lenses. Anyone over the age of 30 particuarly perks my interest because they were there... they have a story. I wish I spoke more cambodian so I could share more history with survivors. It's fascinating, and truly makes me unbelieveably greaftul for everything I have been afforded in life.

It's neat to see how well the country has rebounded, though there are still abundant problems. I feel pride when I see someone like our guide- who came from literally nothing- wearing leather shoes, clean slacks, a dress shirt, perscription glasses, and a peaceful face. It's amazing to see how far he has come in his life, without anyone to help. Makes me wonder about some of the issues still outstanding in Canada, and how little motivation many people have to turn their lives around despite getting ample government handouts. Backwards.

Right...... well, I hope I havne't depressed everyone with all that heavy stuff. I did warn you at the beginning it would be graphic. Go eat some comfort food or something. BYE!

Angkor Whaaaaaaaat?!

I spent three days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat... they were amazing! Its hard to believe that something built sooooooo long ago could still exsist today. Its bizzar to touch stone you know was assembled by another human over a thousand years ago... Its amazing how so many details have persevered through weather, war, and japanese tourists!

I really enjoyed Siem Reap, and hope to come back here someday to enjoy the heritage in another phase of my life. Its sad to see the countless homelses children, and landmine victim lining the streets desperate for a dollar to afford them some food. I hope that the tourism here can help inject some wealth into the economy to eliminate some of the many problems existing here today. Obviously, its impossible to help everyone, but while I stayed, I tried to do my bit, by packing up leftovers at restaurants from my meals and offering them to street children, or giving a few Riel to landmine victims trying to earn a living by playing music.

One night a small boy walked up to me holding his six month old brother, and instead of asking for money, he asked for milk power formula for his brother. He said his dad was a landmine victim, and him mom was in Penon Penh. I took him into a corner store and bought him some formula and a large bottole of water- which isn't much, but I hope it helped him.... I saw him again the next day (with his mother- apparently he lied about that part) and gave his mom a fajita to help feed her three kids...

Today, I am heading to Penon Penh to see the killing fields which promises to be an emotional experience. I will also arrange my Vietnam visa there, and may head down to Shinoukville for a couple days of beach time as well. I am super happy to have been able to upload some of the images from my trip so far to share with everyone, and I hope that you enjoy them! If you click on the slideshow, it should take you to a page where you can flip through them in a full screen slideshow, and view my comments.

Thanks to everyone for your emails and posts, it really means a lot to me to hear from people from home. I miss everyone so much, and I get so excited when I see someone has commented on a facebook photo, or taken a minute from their busy day to write me! Hope all is well with everyone, and I'll update you again soon!

Tubing in the Vangvieng, and Day 1 Siem Reap!

I spent a total of five nights in Vangvieng being la-a-zy! I went tubing twice- once the day after I arrived, and again the day before I left. It was good fun. The first bar had a giant trapeze swing that I went off. It was crazy cause you had to let go at the right time to avoid landing on rocks... I was worried I'd slip off too soon, but it turns out I have superhero strength when adreneline is involved...

Once we were finished at the first bar, we tubed down the river to anotehr bar that had a big zipline to go off. That was also fun, but you had to make sure to let go before it hit the end cause otherwise you'd get flung forward and do a faceplant/bellyflop into the river. Its funny watching the drunk people go off!! Nowhere else in the world would the safety standards fly... but... When in Laos!!

After that, we floated down further to the Mud Bar, where they have several giant mud pits with tug-a-war, volleyball, and mud wrestling. It was pretty difficult to leave there without being thrown in at least once or twice... I thought I was doing pretty well cause I was sort of hiding over in a hammock watching volleyball for most of the time, but then I went back to get my tube, and got picked up by a random stranger and chucked right into a swimming mud hole. Dirty is an understantement.

The final bar I visited had a massive tile slide and another trapeze swing. I didn't do the slide, cause it was literally made of tile (and grout) and I thought it would basically burn my bottom off... but I watched the drunk people (who had apparently lost feeling in their backsides) fly off it. Apparently a tourist died on the slide a couple weeks ago cause she was laying down when she went off it (and incredibly intoxicated) and she hit her head on the bottom of the slide and snapped her neck before she fell into the river. Quite sad.... but I guess those things can happen when you feed people Buckets of alchohol, $2 beers, and free Laos Laos Whiskey all day long.

After that bar you can either tube another 45 minutes down the river (which should actually take an hour or two, but because its monsoon season the river is really high and the current is SUPER STRONG so its quick now), or you can walk across a small dodgy bridge and take a tuk tuk back to town. The first day I tubed, and the last time I tuk-tuked... I preferred the latter, as by the time I left the slide bar the last time it was quite dark and tubing down a rocky river in the dark when you're not sure where you're going = not so much fun.

Anyhooooo, now I'm in Siem Reap after a dodgy flight with Laos Airlines... the seatbelts didn't work. hahah. Today I spent the day at Ankor Wat and some surrounding temples in the complex. It was pretty amazing, and hard to believe that it was built with the most basic tools and technology thousands of years ago. I've met a new friend here and we hired the most awesome tuk-tuk of all time: It's a batmobile tuk-tuk. Sooooooooooooooo fabulous!! It's the only one like it.. even the seat has a giant batman logo apholstered into it. Seriously. We got up at 4:45am this morning to get out to Ankor in time to see the sunrise, but the silly clouds rolled in and now that's the second time I've woken up early for sunrise and not seen a thing.. This is why I don't do mornings. Soooo over-rated. hahahaha

After we were templed out, we went to a super fabulous hotel for lunch where we paid $25 to have a huge lunch (veggie sandwich, fries, veggies and dip, fruit salad, and banana bread) and lounge around the gorgeous pool for a few hours. It was luxurious! I may have to treat myself to the pool again tomorrow or the next day...

Tomorrow we're going to sleep in a bit, and spend the day at Ankor, and try and catch the sunset. It's too cloudy still tonight to see anything. bum-er. Anyway, I think I'm due for a nap now. I'm definitely crashing... YAWN!!