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.