the day after Christmas.

I'm sitting on the balcony watching the sun set on the ocean while 2 Cambodian kids in the distance are pushing each other around in a makeshift scooter down a hill. The last few days have been a lazy blur as what usually occurs once I get to a beach town. Yesterday we drove around on motorbikes to different beaches. I had a manicure and pedicure for $5 while sitting on the beach drinking a beer. What a Christmas. The only productive thing we've done the last few days was go and get a Vietnam visa which took literally 5 minutes to complete a form at the embassy. We leave for Vietnam tomorrow- just a few hours away by car. Not quite sure what the plan is from there. Either take a boat to a small island or float down the Mekong Delta and stay with Vietnamese families. Either one sounds amazing. Then it's off to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for a few days and up the coast. We fly out of Hanoi on January 11th so there's still plenty of time for vacay. I've finished 2 books in the last few days and working on a 3rd. This book is about the Cambodian genocide during the Khemer Rouge. It's a tough read just because it's hard to believe that someone so young could go through such horrific events. It's a memoir of Loung whose family is separated when she is 5 years old. Very intense, but very good insight into what happened during the late 70s. It's so crazy to think that if I stopped someone over 30 years old, they would have lived through this violent time and still have strong memories of it. I'm reading the sequel- Lucky Child. She was the one picked to go to America and leaves behind siblings in Cambodia. She talks about how she adjusts to American life and tries to recover from what she endured. Highly recommend both.
This is a memoir by a guy who quit his job as an engineer in a cubicle to seek adventure. He starts out biking through Afghanistan and going down the Nile in Ethiopia and Sudan. My favorite chapter was about taking camels through the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia- apparently this is a whole other book and I can't wait to read that one. Owen loved this book. I liked some of the chapters, some weren't that interesting to me as I'm not really into kayaking and rafting.

Lots of beach time and poolside to read which I love.

Cambodia- Days 2-4

S-21
Monks at ceremony

The next day in Siem Reap we went to Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Hired a tuk-tuk for the day for a whopping $15. Good thing we had the driver because there's no way we could walk to each temple sight. There's the option of a 1 day, 3 day or 7 day pass. At first, I thought why would you need a 7 day pass? It became clear as the day ended and we hadn't even seen every temple. Angkor wat is the largest and most recognizable. Ta Prohm is the one that was in Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. We stumbled upon a buddist ceremony and watched as they chanted together and carried a flag to the top of the temple. Later we had a few cold Anchors (local beer) and walked to the top of a temple for the sunset. Exhausting but amazing day.


The next day I was once again awaken by 5 roosters crowing at 4am. Not a stellar start when it's a travel day. Took a minivan for $10 to Phenom Phen, a 5 hour journey, and met up with Matt- the 'littlest' brother who is 6'10''. He's an instant celebrity with the average height of a Cambodian man being 5'0''. Amazing hotel- Eureka Villas- definitely recommend it. We walked around the city and toured the Royal Palace for a shocking $6.25 entry fee. Later we had dinner on the Riverfront whilst being harrassed by the local kids to buy things from them. The kids are so street-smart with a quick wit and smartass comebacks. I ended up buying 2 lonely planet books and a memoir of the Khemer Rouge for a total of $14. There isn't a lot of bartering, but with prices as low as they are, can you blame them? Most meals have cost between $2 and $5 with pitchers of beer going for $2.75.

Day 4- History Lesson
We went to the S21 museum and the Killing Fields. Pretty intense stuff. For those of you unfamiliar with modern Cambodian history- there was a genocide that occured during the late 70s. The Khemer Rouge took over, got rid of the king, and then started killing every intellectual, foriegner, upperclass person they could find. The S-21 was a school that was made into a torture prison. They have left everything as it was- still blood on the walls. The Killing Fields is where they would take them to execute them and bury them. You know it's really effed up when there is a tree known as the 'baby-smashing' tree. Really intense and hard to comprehend. I bought the book, "First, they killed my father" which will shed light on what it was like growing up in that time period. What is crazy is that every person who we see on the streets who is older than 30 saw that regime firsthand. It's tempting to go ask someone about it, but at the same time you don't want to draw back terrible memories.

Cambodia- Day 1

At the market

Kids playing soccer in the street

a ride out of town

Seen everywhere!

I always have great intentions of blogging while travelling, but it just never happens. I'm going to try on this trip though. Flew into Siem Reap this morning at 8am. We walked around the city after breakfast. The people are really nice. Even the touts who constantly ask if you want to take a ride on their tuk-tuk, just want to say hi. One guy said he was glad we just said hi and didn't keep walking. Little kids stop playing by the road to s Little kids are playing on the side of the road, will stop and wave and shout HELLO! We also stumbled into a market. Later we went to the Angkor Wat museuem. Tomorrow is a big day at AngkorWat temples. I gotta go to lunch now and then off to a floating market before we meet up with Dan.

In one week....

I'll be in Cambodia!! This is what I look forward to:

The "planned" route is as follows. Fly into Siem Reap, then Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, cross the border somewhere, Ho Chi Minh City, along the coast up to Hanoi and Halong Bay and fly back to Singapore. Very excited about seeing a lot of temples and culture. What a much better way to spend the holidays rather than be in 5 different airports, suffering from jet lag, delayed flights, and fighting with TSA agents.

went for a hike.....

I'm about a 15 minute walk from Macritchie Park. It was built in 1868 and covers dozens of miles of rainforest. I like to see nature, but I really don't like to interact with nature. I would like to see a monkey, but I don't want that monkey jumping toward me. It makes me nervous to be really close to them, but they were everywhere! We walked up to the Treetop walk which is a suspension bridge that is literally at the top of the trees.

Across the bridge!

He's kinda scary.

Such a beautiful park. Amazing that it's so close. The entire hike took about 3 hours. Nothing is better than a nice swim with friends at the pool after that. Just like living in Egypt- er, wait no.

Speaking of adventures...

Here are the updated trips that I simply cannot wait for....

December-January- 3 1/2 weeks- Cambodia, Vietnam
February- week break- Krabi and Koh Phi Phi,Thailand
April- week break- Sri Lanka- renting a car to explore the country with friends!
May- long weekend- Hong Kong to see friends??
Summer....N.A. and Europe... details to be decided after Christmas....

Pictures to follow....

Life in the Tropics....

So what is it like living on the Equator? Well, predictable. Incredibly freakin' predictable. I know exactly what the weather will be like every day of the year. Right now it's the "Rainy Season". All that means is that it rains exactly at 4:00pm every day for 30-45 minutes. The sun rises exactly at 7:00 every morning of the year and sets at 7:00pm every night. No surprises. My wardrobe is the exact same all year. The weather fluctuates from lows of 76 to highs of 93. It's humid every day. Now you would think that this means the end of dry skin. Not even close. Because of the humidity, your skin and hair grows really fast. Therefore, you lose dead skin faster and have dry skin and hair. It's weird to use so much lotion and conditioner. Not that I can complain. Since living in the Sahara desert as well as a 3rd world country that had more chlorine in the tap water than the pool, my hair has improved sooo much! Really can't complains, it's an effing amazing city! I can't believe I leave for Cambodia in 10 days! Let the adventures begin!

November?

No one seems to believe that our weather actually never changes. It's incredibly predictable. Hot, humid, might rain for 5 minutes so bring an umbrella. The sun gets up at 7am, sets at 7pm every day of the year. Oh, life on the equator.

Happy Deepavali!!

The Hindu Festival of Lights will begin next week so we get a long weekend. After planning the trip to Borneo, then canceling, then rebooking- we are going! I can't wait! We are going to stay in Kuching in a 5 star hotel on the river. There's an orangutan national park nearby and some hiking. Super excited!


Here is the wikipedia article about Deepavali in case you're interested.

Mandela Desa

Tell me if this does not seem like the opening scene in a horror movie. On the way from the ferry to the hotel, our cab driver has to stop and ask for directions like 5 times. No one has ever heard of the Mandela Desa Estate. We go down crazy narrow roads and fewer and fewer people are seen. A lone six year old boy is smoking a cigarrette on the side of the road. As we get out of the taxi the entire staff is there to greet us, take our bags, and immediately show us to the room. How do they know we were arriving? They give us a welcome drink as we have a seat on the spacious porch looking out into acres of farmland. It appears that we are in the middle of nowhere in an old plantation house. We decide to go swimming in the pool. Towels have been laid out for us, no one is in sight. We don't see a single soul for the next 2 hours as we enjoy the pool and walk around the place. Cut to the storm in the middle of the night with the ax murderer outside the window.

We are about 20 minutes outside of Ubud. Incredibly quiet and peaceful but also very eerie. Ubud is NOT what I expected at all. It's full of shops, boutiques, restaurants, spas, etc. Thought this was supposed to be some quiet village in the mountains. Our hotel gives a free ride each night and picks us up whenever we want so we went into Ubud each night. Lots of shopping was done. It's a great place for girls to travel together because there's just so much cute stuff to buy and tons of spas that are really cheap. I would love to come back with some girlfriends for a long relaxing weekend. Loved the hotel, would come back here too. There are only like 8 rooms so you have the place to yourself. Each night they ask what you want for breakfast and 'where you would like to take the breakfast?' In your room? On the veranda? We hired a driver for the day. Ok, let me stop here and clarify. I sound like a colonial imperialist. We were going to go on a bike tour but the car was cheaper. And it's like $10 more for a driver for the day and he knows where to go. Anyways, we went all around Ubud. Hiked to a waterfall, had lunch overlooking a volcano, had coffee at a coffee farm, watched the artists painting at an art gallery/temple, wore a sarong(Owen too!) at a temple. Later we went to the Monkey Forest which might have been the most frightening time of my life. Monkeys everywhere.

this is what Bali used to be....

We took a speedboat out to Lembongan Island. Apparently this is what Bali used to look like. We were only planning on staying 2 nights and then going to another part of Bali to meet up with friends. But how cany ou leave a place like this? We stayed in these huts. Well, they say call them huts. They seem much nicer than what I would call a hut. There were only 5 huts at our place so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We rented a motor bike and cruised around the island until we got a flat tire on Day #4. This was quite a story unto it's self. Let's just say that I'm glad we had my blackberry and it can work anywhere in the world. I'll have to tell that story on another post b/c my pics from that day are on my other camera. I was also convinced to scuba dive which I've never really wanted to do. I mean, it's one of those things that looks really amazing, but when choice #1 is go get all this gear and get on a boat and maybe see some fish and choice #2 is stay on the beach reading my book. Well, it's easy to say no. To be certified you have to take a 4 day course. You are in a classroom for 2 days before you get in the water. Instead I took a 10 minute crash course from Wayan who was pretty difficult to understand. He basically told me he would never let me go and take care of stuff for me. Sweet. Surprisingly to everyone, I actually really enjoyed it and was "a natural" in the water. Wayan let go of me and we stayed down about an hour. It's such a surreal experience. We were about 10 meters down so when you look up the boats and people swimming seem pretty close. We saw some really beautiful fish and of course, Wayan found Nemo for me. I wish I knew what kind of stuff I was looking at. Maybe next time. Yes, there will be a next time. I plan on going through the certification in Thailand in January. En shallah. Anyways, I would really recommend scuba diving.

In front of the hut, there is this jug for washing your feet before you enter.

Lounge chairs out front.

Mushroom Beach. (our beach)

View from the porch. Yes, that's the ocean.

This was our hut. The top part is the room, downstairs is this lounging area for like yoga or something. It lets the air move under the hut to help cool the hut. The AC also worked very nicely in cooling the hut too.

YUM!!

Sunset Beach

Stopped for petrol where a lady poured some petrol from an old vegetable oil container into the motor bike.

View from the lounge chair. Boats come in every day from Bali with tons of tourist but then leave by 4pm.

Dream Beach. There was some property for sale on this cliff. Very tempting....

The statues around the temples are so creepy.

Outside a temple on the motorbike.

Really pretty flowers everywhere.

We came across a graveyard and each of the graves has a little shrine on top with the umbrellas that are everywhere. It rains a lot so maybe they need umbrellas too?

These are the offerings that they put out every morning. They are literally everywhere. Mostly in doorways and footpaths. They are made with a banana leaf and have flowers, rice, and incense burning in them. It really creates a nice atmosphere with incense burning everywhere. I'm now convinced that incense should only be used outdoors.

Nusa Dua, Bali

We began our trip to Bali at a quieter beach on the main island. The hotel was amazing and the pool was 100 meters long! The beach had a really low tide that would go out every evening and morning. So one evening we went walking across it.

There was a wedding on our second night there. Totally wanted to crash it, but seeing how only 15 people were invited I felt like we might stick out. It's a really pretty island to have a wedding. But a very popular place for Aussies to get married. It's like Hawaii for Aussies.

This kid was hoe-ing around. Har har.

We walked all the way out into the ocean, this is the view from the beach. Obviously the tide came in and we had to half swim back to shore.

The water is so clear!!

Each night we went to a little cafe for dinner. The other place we went to had a Balienese band playing Johnny Cash songs. The nights ended by watching fireworks from the balcony. Pretty awesome.

that's what fat people do.

Dear self,

That bag of kettle chips and pint of Ben and Jerry's was probably not part of your diet. Just saying.

Warm regards,
me

the gym experience.

So far, so good with the gym. I went to this class today called ABT. Yes, that's exactly what I need to work out. Abs, butts, thighs. The instructor was the littliest, happiest Asian man(think gay Jackie Chan). At the beginning of every class, they always ask who is new to the class. I couldn't understand a word he said. Just sounded like Whhco whaqhee zhoiechoa e? So I raised my hand. Then he laughed. Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh God, what did I just volunteer for... As the workout goes on, he sings to every single song(aka William Hung) and never once stops smiling as if he's auditioning for Glee while doing a Jane Fonda workout. I'm not going to lie, it was kinda awesome.

Also, I have to mention this because it is SO Singapore....and SO the opposite of Egypt. In the dance studio, there are mats that have a sign above them. "Sterilized Mats" and another pile on the other side of the room "Used Mats". I ALWAYS think about how gross it is that we use those things after someone else and they are probably never cleaned. LOVE it!!

why i'm excited about Bali.

I've been rereading the part on Bali. We are staying in the mountain town that is mentioned in the book. I want to see the movie before we go, but Owen refuses to acknowledge anything having to do with the book. It is a very American/naive view of the island from what my friends have said about Bali. Whatever, the book is still entertaining. We'll just have to have a girls night and go see the movie! When I first read the book, it made me want to go to Italy, India and Indonesia immediately. When I was in Italy I could totally relate to that part of the book where she eats everything in sight. The food/wine in Italy is so amazing. The part of India in the book, I couldn't relate to at all. Probably because I wasn't going through a divorce or mediating every day in an Ashram. Plus, I thought India was all about the food. We have several friends who will be in Bali at the same time so that should be fun. I'm excited about staying in Ubud, the mountain town, because it's known for it's unbelievable artwork. It's funny how that is barely mentioned in the book. We have to watch out for monkeys and stray dogs because most of them are rabid. Also not mentioned in the book, but that would take away from the romance. I liked the book because it was entertaining and about travelling. But I felt very little sympathy for her as she decides she wants a divorce and to travel the world at 35. Probably because she was married at 24 and never was really on her own. Her husband wanted to work it out, but she didn't want to try. Sorry, no sympathy for your crying fits, lady. She just seemed very selfish about the whole thing. Maybe that's why they had to have Julia Roberts play her character. Everyone loves a good Julia Roberts movie. Anyways, can't wait for BALI!!!!