A Wonderful Reminder!

http://habitatjp.org/CO/CO_pdf/newsletter_pdf/hfhjnl_v07e.pdf

Please go to the above link and look at the site! Scroll down to page two and look at the picture and short article under the heading "Thank You."

Reading this and seeing that picture and that little girl almost made me cry. She was so sweet and just wanted to be held and played with. She was so starved of love and attention. I hope she is doing well, maybe even found a home...but I doubt it.

Since I started grad school and had to pay tuition, I can't afford to go on this year's Habitat for Humanity trip. I'm still going to India with a friend, but couldn't come up with the money for Habitat. I'm extremely upset I can't go again. Maybe I'll talk to Erica, the girl I'll be traveling with, and see if she wants to spend a day in an orphanage. It was such a wonderful experience.

My Trip, continued...

Ok, so I'll pick up where I left off. (Read my last post first if you haven't already.)

I woke up at 4 am and met my driver. Oh, did I mention that in Siem Reap I usually had a moto driver intead of a tuk tuk. That means I was raced around town on a dirt bike. It was scary at times because there is so much traffic, most of it being dirt bikes though. Anyway, we arrived at Angkor Wat very early. I was one of the first 4 people there. The other 3 were each also traveling alone. There was a girl from Australia, a girl from Holland, and a guy from Singapore (I think). We all started talking about our trip and instantly connected. We hung out the rest of the morning. There were young men bringing coffee to people and we each got a cup and sat down front row at the lake across from Angkor. We talked while we waited for sunrise and the thousands of other people arrived. The sunrise was amazing, although there weren't any clouds so it wasn't as colorful as it often is. After, we were all heading off in different directions. We exchanged emails and I made plans with the girl from Holland to meet up for dinner. As I was walking to actually enter the Angkor teample area, I ran into the guy from the plane, Luke. I ended up spending half the afternoon exploring the temples with him. The temples were amazing. I don't even really know how to describe them. Ankgor is the most famous, but there are many other temples, each with their own unique qualities. One has the famous silk trees with the amazing roots, one the faces (Bayon, my favorite, and so on... It really is the most amazing site I've ever seen. It was more amazing than the Great Wall in China, and I thought that was pretty incredible. Really, it's hard to imagine anything ever topping it. I even got to see wild monkeys...well, wild in theory. They were so use to people that I was able to walk right up to them to take a picture. The one I posted isn's zoomed in or anything. Well, many people take 3 days to explore Angkor, but I only had one day. There was so much I didn't get to see. I would definitely go back to Cambodia again!

Around mid-afternoon, my early start to the day finally caught up with me and I had to go back to my guesthouse and take a nap. I woke up just in time to get ready and meet the girl from Holland for dinner. I had also invited Luke and she had invited a couple friends of hers from Phnom Penh. We ate at the Dead Fish Restaurant. It was the coolest place I've ever eaten. There were all these platforms with tiny staircases leading to the top. There were so many different levels. Some had just one big table on them, others had a few. We were at one of the highest levels and we could look down on the entire place. There were no rails of any sort and our table was right at the edge. We were seated on pillows on the floor, but it was still fairly comfortable. If we looked over the edge behind our table, there was an alligator pit. Glad no one fell. We all had a great time talking and exchanging travel stories. Everyone had such unique experiences traveling the world. I love meeting people like that! I was able to get some great future travel advice as well as share my own stories. After dinner, the girls headed off and Luke and I grabbed a drink across the street. We talked about politics, religion, etc. I enjoyed it and have kept in touch with him via facebook. He has one of those huge cameras (like you Kelley), so I'll be stealing some of his pictures.

The next morning I was off again on a 6 hour bus ride back to Phnom Penh to catch my late afternoon flight. This time I was seated beside a family of college professors. One used to live in India and I asked all sorts of questions for my upcoming trip this March. I had a little extra time before my flight and made one last stop at Phnom Wat temple and then headed off to the airport. My friends from Japan were finally arriving that night and we were meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. On the flight there, I met another university professor, this one from Australia. He was around 65 and very intersting. We ended up having dinner together in Bangkok and I really enjoyed talking to him as well. (Actually, I probably met about 6 or 7 professors on this strip, kind of strange..but cool!) By the time my friends arrived, it was time for bed because, you guessed it, another early bus ride. We had to leave at 5:30 for Koh Phangan. It's the Thai Island made famous by the full-moon party and the movie, The Beach. I was finally traveling with friends, Jamie, Steph, and Brian. We had to take a very long bus and boat ride. Luckily, I was seated beside a girl from...somewhere in Europe, but she had lived everywhere including South Africa, Tanzania, and was currently living in Spain. We talked for most of the trip and again, she was fascinating! We took a Jeepney/Bus to our hotel, which was at the far end of the island and down the most dangerous dirt hill I've ever seen cars actually go down. When we reached our beach front resort, it was all worth it though. The sunset was beautiful and we had our own 2 person bungalows. We had plans to head out to the town, but our resort told us that taxis won't travel to our far end of the island at night and we would be stuck. So we ate and hung out for the night at our own little bar and restaurant.

We met some cool guys from England and hung out with them for the next few days. The next day (Christmas Eve) we spent laying on the beach and in the pool. When I realized I was getting burned, I decided to get a beach side massage and facial, since it was under a canopy. Unfortunately for me, just as my 2 hour heaven session was starting, the Sun moved down just enough to fry me as I lay there covered in oil and honey. That night I was really starting to hurt as we headed out to the famous Full-moon party. There were more people on the beach than you could imagine, thousands. There was everything from large group fire jump roping (which I sadly missed getting to join...next time!), fire throwing, tons of DJ's, body painting, etc. Everything you could imagine. Steph, Jamie, Brian, and I spent the night dancing and having a great time. We planned to stay all night, but we gave up a little after 4 and headed home. The next day was Christmas, but I was so burned that I had to stay inside for most of it. By that night I was feeling a little better and joined everyone at the restaurant for Mai Tai's to celebrate the holiday. We had a great time and I was sad to leave everyone.

The day after Christmas, I went back on my own and headed back to Bangkok. I met a couple guys Mike and Steve from Canada and England while waiting for the boat and made plans to hang out in Bangkok because our guesthouses were very close. They were spending an undecided amount of time traveling around Asia, Australia, etc. They had both went on their own trips alone, met in Thailand, and had decided to start traveling together. The traveling community in Asia really is amazing. I was staying in the popular Khao San Road area, so there were tons of people around. It's a very touristy area, but I still enjoyed it. After 14 hours of bus and boat, we were all tired so we just had dinner and coffee and said goodnight. The next day I went to the Grand Palace (the pictures with all the gold) and it was better than I expected. I didn't realize how large it would be. I spent all afternoon walking around the palace grounds and then went back to Khao San for some shopping. That night I met up with Mike and some other new friends for drinks. We ended up leaving after one drink and walking across the street to get outdoor 30 minute foot massages. We then went back to the bar and spent the rest of the night laughing and having a great time there.

Sadly, all the traveling started to get to me on the last day of my trip. I wasn't feeling well at all. I had gone to meet Mike, Steve, and Jeff, but ended up sleeping in their hotel while they went out for...you guessed it, more massages, lol. I finally started feeling better and went out to meet them that night to go dancing. As I was walking, I randomly ran into my friend Tom from Japan. I talked to him for a minute, but then left to go meet my other friends. I danced for a couple hours, but then I went back to my hotel to get a few hours of sleep before my flight.

So...I know lots of that info probably seemed random to you guys, but it was stuff (and people) I want to remember when I look back on my trip. I have already started forgetting names and places and I know I left lots of stuff out. But that's all I can manage for now.

I can say, without a doubt, I will travel back to Thailand. It was amazing and there was so much I didn't get to do. Because I wasn't feeling well my last day, I missed out on riding the elephants and seeing a Muay Thai fight. I also only went to two places in Thailand and there is so much more. So Caren, we can go together if you still want to go. Not sure when I'll go back. I guess it depends on whether I can find a new job or not, and where that job is! As for traveling alone, I enjoyed it so much more than I ever expected. It is something I would definitely like to do again. You meet so many more people when you are alone and it really gives you alot of freedom to travel as you choose. I know it helped make me a stronger and more independent person, which is always a goal of mine.

I love and miss you all!

Ok, I'll try...Thailand and Cambodia

Ok, so if I do one more ounce of homework today I will die. Grad school is sooooo much work! I'm exhausted and it's just the first week. But, this means I have a few free minutes before bed, so I'll try to write a little about my trip.

First off, Daddy, don't freak out. I ended up traveling by myself for a good bit of the trip. I knew shortly before I left that I would be and I was ok with it. I've met so many people recently who travel alone. It's completely normal and common among women from Europe, Australia, and even Japan. It was something I wanted to do while in Japan, but I just didn't know it would be this particular trip. Because I wanted to come back to Japan for New Year's, I needed to leave earlier than everyone else. My school allows me to take off whenever I want, very unusual for Japan. So I left several days before my friends. I started off by flying to Bangkok. After my taxi driver pretended he didn't know where my hotel was and tried to take me to several expensive ones he knew of, a scam I was well aware of, I finally convinced him it was useless and he took me to my hotel. It was around 7 pm when I finally arrvied at my hotel and I threw my stuff down and headed out. I had an early flight the next day, so I was staying in a nicer part of town, close to the airport. I walked around my part of the city, eating dinner at a very Thai place, Subway I believe it way, lol. I was exhausted though, so I went to bed early.

I had to be up at 4am the next day to take an early flight to Cambodia. I met a guy from Canada who was also traveling alone, Luke, on the plane. We talked a bit about our plans and it was nice to have met my first fellow backpacker. Before I left, everyone told me it would be fine because I would meet so many people. They were right! I said goodbye to Luke at the airport and headed out. My hostel told me it would arrange airport pickup, but I didn't know it would be in the form of a Tuk-tuk, haha. It's small carriage type thingy pulled by a dirt-bike. I'll post a picture of it. I was spending only one day in Phnom Penh, so I wanted to make the most of it. I took a half-day tour my hotel offered. I went with a couple from England who were spending one year traveling around the world together. They were my age and I really enjoyed talking to them. We first went to the famous Killing Fields. Honestly, until I decided to go to Cambodia and started doing research, I had never even heard of what happened in Cambodia. It's sad how sheltered Americans are from the rest of the world. If you don't know about it, you should look it up on Wikipedia or just google it. It was such a tragedy. The Killing Field was basically a place where they exterminated people. There were mass graves everywhere, There were clothes and hair still sticking out of the ground in many places. There was a tree that they would beat the children's head against to kill them. I can't even begin to describe everything I read and saw there. The monument there was full of skulls of the victims. To say it was a sad sight doesn't even come close. In the interest of trying to write about as much of my trip as possible, I'll move on. But really, you should all read about it, at least a little bit. It really deserves not to be forgotten.

As if an effort to lift our spirits, our driver chose to take us next to the Russian Market. It was a huge flea market type area where they sold everything from food to autoparts to silk to paintings. Basically, anything a local or tourist could ever want. We shopped for a while and then headed to our last stop. We went to the famous S21 prison. It's where the Khmer Rouge brutally tortured and murdered thousands of people. As you can see, there is a lot behind the tragic past of Cambodia. It's hard to imagine that this happened so recently. The people of Cambodia are really trying to move on and I hope they can succeed. They are such a poor nation now and have so far still to go. I wish I could do more.

That night I went out to dinner alone. A friend of mine in Japan, Amy, had suggested a restaurant called Friends. It's a wonderful place that is part of a bigger organization trying to help the youth of Cambodia. They take street kids and train them in the hospitality industry. These kids are either former drug addicts, prostitutes, were kicked out of their houses, or abandoned. I know some people don't feel much compassion for drug addicts or street workers, but these are children, some very young children. Some girls were forced into the sex industry by their families in order to survive. They face realities we can't imagine. This organization first gives them a place to live. Then they give them counseling and education and work to re-integrate them into the public school system. They train them to work in restaurants, hotels, etc. All of the waiters, cooks, etc. at Friends restaurant are former street kids, ages 15 to 20 I would guess. They also have training in making hand crafts and their is a store next door that sales them. I bought several things from that store as well. Besides being a good cause, the food was great. It was a tappas menu and everything was amazing.

The next morning I got on a 7am bus for a 6 hour trip to Siem Reap. Lucky me, I got stuck beside a woman and behind a little girl that both got car sick. It wasn't pretty. The ride was so bumby that I wasn't feeling to well myself. We stopped at a small market type place that had various fruits and foods for sale. That's where I did it. There was a lady with a huge plate of soy sauce fried tarantulas. If you know me, you know I don't eat anything, not even seafood. So as I watched a man from my bus purchase one and take a bite, I had to take a picture because I knew I wouldn't be eating it. But as I stood with his girlfriend taking pictures, he said here take a bite and his girlfriend quickly took my camera to take a picture. I guess the whole traveling alone in Cambodia got the better of me and my ambitious spirit caused me to take a bite. Luckily for me, it didn't taste bad. It was very chewy though and hard to bite through. All in all, not a bad experience. I'm really glad I did it!

On the way, I met a great couple from Washington DC. That reminds me, I forgot to email her back....anyway, it was nice to feel like I was making friends. I was meeting many amazing people and didn't feel lonely at all, which I was a little nervous about. When I got to Siem Reap, I bought my tour for Angkor Wat. I went to watch the sunset there as part of my ticket for the next day. There were so many people, but it was a beautiful sight, although quite a difficult and even dangerous climb to the top. I enjoyed freaking out the Japanese tourist by joining in their conversations with my limited Japanese ability. That night I went to a dinner show to watch Apspara dancing. It was such a great show, as you can see from the pictures. I went to bed early because I again had to be up at 4 to go back to Angkor Wat for the Sunrise.

Ok, that's all I can do for now. I'll pick up next time from my day of exploring Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. It was the most incredible part of my trip, so I want to make sure I don't rush through it. Hopefully I'll be able to write soon!

I love and miss you all.

Yuck

So I just started sending out my resume yesterday and I'm already convinced I'm never going to find a job at an international school. The more I research, the more I realize how hard it is to get a job there. I've sent out around 12 to 15 resumes so far, with probably about 100 to go. If I don't find a job, I'll stay in Japan another year. I'm not ready to come back to the states yet. I really want to leave my current job and Ise though. I'm ready for something new. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully I will have a better idea within the next month. That doesn't mean I can't find a job later, but if I've only had negative (or no) responses by then...it means the chances will be slim.

School is going great so far. Made an A on my first paper, yah! It's alot, I mean ALOT of work. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't also spending half my time looking for a new job. I hope the job thing miraculously works out quickly so that I can concentrate on school. And so you guessed it, I still don't have the time or energy to write about my trip. It may just have to be saved for phone conversations.

I love and miss you all.

Still no time!

I still have no time to write about my trip. Sorry! I could rush through it, but I feel like it was too amazing of an experience not to dedicate an appropriate amount of time to. Between going back to work, starting grad school, getting my resume and related documents ready to apply for jobs...not to mention looking for jobs to apply for, well, I don't have time for anything. Today was a national holiday and I spent the whole day inside working on school and trying to clean up my apartment. I will update my blog again as soon as I can. It will probably be after I finish applying for jobs, or at least get the first wave of resumes sent out.
Wish me luck!!

Thailand and Cambodia Pictures

Well, sadly I still don't have time to write. It's after midnight and I've spent the past 4 hours downloading and sorting through pictures. I took over 600 on my trip! But I am going to post a couple slide shows to show you a little of what I did. It was really hard to make a slide show because I have so many amazing pictures. I may download the entire album onto my picaso page, if anyone wants to see them all.

Tomorrow Shun and I are going on a short trip to Kyoto. So, it will be a few more days before I can write about my trip. Hopefully I will have time to tell you all about it soon.

I love and miss you all.

First, Cambodia....

And Thailand...