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!