Cambodia

Two days ago, we arrived in Phnom Pehn, the capital of Cambodia. This is the part of our trip I was most excited (and nervous) about. Cambodia is like no other city we have visited so far. Begging seems to be the main way of life here. It is different than Thailand though. People dont seem to want to rip us off here. The tuk-tuk and cab drivers take you where you want to go and dont drag you to some gem place to try to sell you fake jewelry. And all they ask for is a dollar for anything. The people here are really friendly. Its hard to believe that the Khmer Rouge couldve been so evil to a group of people this nice.

We were in Phnom Pehn only for a night so we didnt get a chance to see any of the city. The genocide museum was across the street from our hostel but was closed by the time we arrived. I wouldve really liked to check that place out but it is really depressing to here what Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge did to the people of Cambodia in the 70's. It was about as bad as the Holocaust. Luckily, the KR doesnt exist anymore and the country has been able to slowly rebuild.

The next day, we took a 6 hour boat ride up the Tonle Sap to Siem Riep, Cambodia. The boat ride was alot nicer than I expected. The cabin was air conditioned, thank god. We were up on the top deck for about 20 minutes and i got burnt. Lesson learned...wear sunscreen! We arrived in Siem Riep about noon that day. Sadly, the begging here in this city is even worse than in Phnom Pehn. Immediately when are boat docked, we were bombarded by children begging us for food and water. This was the saddest thing Ive ever seen in my life. Thinking about how I grew up and seeing how these children live has made me so grateful for everythign I have. I think this part of the trip has forever changed my life. Im thinking we should buy some food or clothing for them and we might check into doing this in the next few days.

Yesterday was the grand finale of our tour in Asia: the temples of Angkor Wat! They were breathtaking for sure. The grounds are so big we had to hire a driver to take us around. It is amazing that the Cambodians were able to build and carve such huge temples. Most of the temples were about a millenium old. My favorites were Ta Prohm and of course, Angkor Wat. I took some amazing pictures. We will go back to Angkor Wat tommorow at sunrise to get some more pictures and see the temples WITHOUT the 50 asian groups swarming around..

On a side note, we had a SLIGHT glitch in our travel plans. We were supposed to go back to Bangkok on Saturday and fly from Bangkok to the last stop on our tour, Taipei, Taiwan. Unfortunately, some Thai protesters have caused the complete shutdown of Bangkok Survanabhumi airport. We cannot fly back to Bangkok and will now be flying through Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, on Sunday to get to Taipei. Oh yeah, and we had to pay an extra $500 bucks. SUCKS, but at least we got out of Bangkok before the protests begin.

Will write more when we get to Taipei!

More Bangkok...

Today was a lovely, loong day in Bangkok. We spent the whole day on this tour to Kanchanaburi just outside of Bangkok. We saw this war cemetery that housed the remains of over 6,000 POW's that died building a railroad for the Japanese in WW2. We saw some awesome waterfalls AND we got to RIDE ELEPHANTS!! It was so cool. We were in the jungle somewhere in Kachanaburi. I got lots of pics to show.

After that we went to the famour Tiger Temple. This temple has been around for awhile, but its only been recently that they have tigers there. They have tigers roaming around everywhere...BIG ones..and they are so calm! I got pictures with all of them...the babies AND the adults. I swear they had to have been drugged to be so calm but the monks SWEAR they arent. I guess they are just raised by the monks and used to people touching them. They have lots of other animals there just roaming around freely. Bufffalos, pigs, horses, ect...these two girls got trampled by a stampede of animals. Glad that wasnt me I woulda been raising hell.

Tommorow we are off to Cambodia. I am super excited AND nervous about this part of the trip. Not sure if they even have internet there so if i dont post for awhile, dont get scared. We will back in this same hotel in Bangkok on friday before we head off to Taipei on the last leg of our tour..

Ko Phi Phi and BANGKOK(day one)

Yesterday was our last day on Ko Phi Phi Island. We rented a wooden long boat to go down to Ko Phi Phi lay. There are alot of gorgeous beaches on this island, including Maya Bay (place where 'the Beach' was filmed). All of these beaches have crystal clear water and white sand. It was amazing. I went snorkeling! This is huge for me because Im scared to death of the ocean. We saw so many colorful fish. I felt like I was swimming in an aquarium. LUCKILY, no sharks came or I mightve freaked out. After we got out, a guy said he saw a triggerfish following Alli...those things sting you! Scary, glad i didnt know that when we were in the water!

Maya bay was absolutely gorgeous. Just like in the movie (except there was no Leonardo DiCaprio). We had to pay 200 baht (about $6) just to step on the white sandy beach. It was totally worth it. The site is a national park now but they let people camp on it. I am DEFINITELY coming back to this beach to camp on it. It is probably the most beautiful place Ive ever been to and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I didnt want to leave.

We keft Ko Phi Phi island this morning by boat and went to Krabi on the mainland. We walked around Krabi town for a little then headed to Krabi airport. From there, we flew to Bangkok and arrived here around 5 pm. This time, since we were flying within the country, we didnt have to go through customs. But we DID get stuck in about 2 hours of rush hour traffic. That sucked. But the cabbie took us right to our hostel which is the Green House. Its on Rambuttri which is right by the main road in Bangkok, Kao San Rd. There is SO many things I am going to buy here and everything is ridiculously cheap. I will look around tonight then buy tommorow. Our hostel is really nice, too. A/C, hot shower, everything we need. And super cheap. Besides everyone trying to hassle you to buy a suit or ride their tuk-tuk (motorcycle cab), I think I like Bangkok so far.

Next up, 3 days in Bangkok. We will hit up TONS of shopping, the Grand Palace, riding with elephants and more.....

Thailand: The greatest place on earth

We left Kuala Lumpur last night at 8 pm. I was glad, two days was enough there. We went to the Petronas towers in downtown KL that morning. These towers used to be the tallest in the world, up until 2004. They only let you go up to the skybridge that connects the two buildings but it is still pretty high up. After the towers, we did a little shopping. Then we tried to find this "market" that ended up being non-existant and we were lost in the ghetto of KL. Luckily, we found our way back.

We arrived in Phuket, Thailand last night around 10 pm. Thailand is completely different from KL. Everyone is so friendly! But everyone is always trying to sell you something which is pretty annoying. As soon as you get through customs, you have people haggling you to get in their taxi or limo van or stay at their hotel. Thanks to the Lonely Planet book on Asia, we were expecting this and we were prepared.

We took a van to Phuket town where our hostel was. This hostel was a HUGE upgrade from those in Malaysia and Singapore. It was clean, air conditioned, and with our own shower!! It was great. I finally got a good nights sleep.

In the morning, we took a boat to where i am now...Ko Phi Phi island. It was a 2 hour boat ride from the coast at Phuket. This place is paradise, no joke. The island is actually two islands: Ko Phi Phi Don and Kho Phi Phi Lay. We are on Kho Phi Phi Don. It is in the middle of nowhere and no cars are allowed. The people on this island are friendly just like those in Phuket. This island was completely blasted by the Tsunami in 2006 but they have since rebuild. They have pictures of what the island looked like after the waves hit and it was pretty bad. Alot of people lost their lives and everything they had. Pretty sad since this is such a beautiful place.

Our hotel here is amazing. They are these cute little bungalows with AC and our own private bathroom. We have a pool and a swim up bar and everything. After we checked in, We just hung out and walked around and shopped on the island all day. We got Thai massages which were AMAZING. After carrying a 40 lb backpack around and walking about 300 miles a day, I NEEDED a massage. They are so cheap we are going to get another one tommorow.

Tommorow, we are going to Maya bay on Ko Phi Phi Lay. This is where the movie "the Beach" was filmed. If youve ever seen that movie you know how GORGEOUS this beach is. We are going snorkeling there. I cant believe im going to this beach... i remember seeing it in the movie and never imagining I would ever be there. Hopefully there are no sharks! The water is crystal clear Im sure I will be able to see if there are any.

This place is so amazing we decided to stay another day. We were supposed to leave for Krabi tommorow morning but we booked another night at our hotel here and we will go to Krabi the next day. We are gonna try to change our flight to stay here longer. Words cannot describe how awesome this place is...im definitely coming back.

Singapore Day 2 / Malaysia Day 1

WOW the past two days have been SO much fun! Singapore was a blast. On Sunday, we went to Sentosa Island. It is a resort on a man made island on the south end of Singapore. We spent all day there on the beach, ect. We did a luge down this street and visited the famous "Merlion" statue. Singapore is obsessed with their "Merlion". Its a giant limestone statue (about the size of the statue of liberty) of a half lion-half fish creature. Apparently, the Sumatran prince that discovered Singapore saw a lion when he first landed there and named the island "Singapura" ('singa' meaning lion and 'pura' meaning city). The "Merlion" was created by the people of Singapore to represent their country. The lion part of it represents the lion the prince saw and the fish part represents the country's ties to the sea. I dont know why, we just think the thing is hilarious...
At night on Sunday, we went to the Night Safari. It was amazing. There were lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, everything...just roaming around! A tram took us through to look at everything. After that, we were beyond exhausted and decided it was time to head back to the hostel.
That night we switched to a PRIVATE room at the Cozy Backpacker hostel. It had air conditioning...well, an oscillating fan they called an "air conditioner". It was better than nothing and definitely better than sleeping on the roof.
Yesterday was our last day in Singapore. We ate alot of Singaporean food, made up of a mix of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian. We went to the Boat Quay and to Orchard Rd. Orchard Rd is the shopping mecca of Singapore. They had the biggest Louis Vuitton store Ive ever seen in my life! After that, we went to a bar in a hotel and got a couple "singapore slings", the signature drink of Singapore. They were fruity and good. Except they had gin in them and i HATE gin. After that, we headed to the airport via the MRT, a super-organized subway system in Singapore.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last night around midnight. WOW, what a change from Singapore. This country is like nothing Ive ever seen. Our bus driver was going about 100 mph taking us to the city, I thought I was gonna die. There are rats and cockroaches everywhere at night and it was totally freaking us out. Our hostel is the Pujannga homestay and its pretty nice. We are staying in a room with these two girls from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and they are really nice and cool. They went to Thailand for a month and came to KL only long enough to renew their visas so they can go back to Thailand. Our room at this hostel is alot nicer than the one in Singapore. The air conditioning is freezing and i love it. I saw a cockroach this morning in the shower though...I MISS THE UNITED STATES AND MY CLEAN SHOWER!! But I have to admit, this is quite the experience...
Today we went to the Batu Caves just outside of Kuala Lumpur. These caves are home to the largest statue in the world. It is of some Hindu god but I cant remember his name. This place is absolutely gorgeous. They showed us a video of people making a pigrimage to this place and they pierce their bodies and faces and bring the Hindus gods gifts..it is insane. We had to walk up about 270 steps to get into this cave. We bought flower necklaces to give as a gift to the statue. But get this: there are monkeys EVERYWHERE and apparently they want to eat the flowers!!! This one charged right for me and Kate and STOLE our flower necklaces!!! So I had no gift for the statue when I got there, so I just gave him 10 ringgits. Hope he doesnt mind.
Right now, we are at a mall just outside of the Petronas Towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur. We are EXHAUSTED. Its been a long 3-4 days so far. Tommorow, we will wake up early and go up in the Petronas Towers, then head off to THAILAND at night. More to come..

Singapore- Day 1

We made it to Asia!! Barely...We had to suffer through two excrutiatingly long flights. The flight from Seattle to Tokyo from 10 hours and the flight from Tokyo to Singapore was 7 hours. They fed us twice and i watched 3 movies and slept for about ten hours. When we FINALLY got to Singapore it was about 12:35 in the am. Singpore looks like a regular city, almost like Los Angeles. Except it is 500 degrees here and about 100% humidity. We took a shuttle to our hostel, called the Backpackers Cozy Corner. That is when we found out...our reservations were for the 16th and 17th, and not the 15th and 16th. They had no rooms available except for a dorm style room for three and one open space in someone else's dorm (which means us four wouldve had to split up). So we decided to go try the YMCA to see if they had any rooms. Thank god for Lonely Planet book and the maps in there. We walked to the YMCA and they had rooms but they were sooo expensive. So we decided to suck it up and go back to Cozy Corner and sleep in the dorm rooms (YUCK). When the guy showed us our room I about died. It was on the roof, literally. All four walls were open but there was a roof. Abotu 5 people were already in it sleeping. They handed us some sheets and said goodnight. Luckily, I bought a silk travel sheet at REI and I slept in that. Those sheets looked gross. Tonight we will stay in the same place, but now they have private rooms available with air conditioning. THANK GOD. Words cannot describe how humid it is here! I tried to straighten my hair, what a waste. It went wavy in about 5 seconds. Oh well, I can deal with it. Today we are going to Sentosa Island and hopefully the night Safari at night. The weather looks like a huge typhoon is about to blow in. Oh yeah, and we TOTALLY stick out like a sore thumb here. I am about 2 feet taller than EVERYONE in this country, minus the other tourists. People just keep staring at us..lol. Alright, off to get some food. Just took my malaria pill on an empty stomach, that wasnt a good idea./...

10 days to go....

Ten days from now I will be taking my first trip OFF of this continent! When Cynthia first proposed the idea of going to Southeast Asia I thought it was pretty crazy...I always envisioned my first trip overseas would be to Europe or somewhere a little bit more like the U.S. Im glad I decided to go because I think this will be a trip of lifetime and truly life changing experience. It still hasn't sunk in that next Friday I will be flying across the Pacific Ocean. Im going to try to update this blog as much as possible to keep everyone informed of where we are and how we are doing so everyone knows we are still alive!!! Most of the places we are going to have internet so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Below is our finalized trip schedule:


Day 1 - Depart Seattle, Stop in Tokyo, Japan, Arrive in Singapore, Singapore.
Day 4 - Depart Singapore, Arrive Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Day 6- Depart Kuala Lumpur, Arrive Phuket, Thailand
Day 7- Depart Phuket, Arrive Koh Phi Phi, Thailand (by boat)
Day 8 - Depart Koh Phi Phi, Arrive Krabi, Thailand
Day 9 - Depart Krabi, Arrive Bangkok, Thailand
Day 12 - Depart Bangkok, Arrive Phnom Pehn, Cambodia
Day 13 - Depart Phnom Pehn, Arrive Siem Reap, Cambodia (by boat)
Day 15 - Depart Siem Reap, Arrive Bangkok
Day 16 - Depart Bangkok, Arrive Taipei , Taiwan
Day 17 - Depart Taipei, Stop in Tokyo, Arrive in Seattle, WA USA!

Yeah, its an ambitious schedule...Im just hoping everything goes as planned. Im excited to learn about the culture and experience something I never ever thought I would experience. Its definitely going to be a trip of a lifetime.....