Thailand: Day Six

I'm at that place at the end of a trip where I have some time left (like an hour or so) and I'm sad that I'm leaving and I'm also happy to be going home to where it's comfortable. I'm sad because I don't want to go back to work (duh), and sad because I'm pretty sure this is the last chance I'll have to travel while I'm living in Korea. I'm sad because I haven't been able to go to all the places I had planned: Laos, Bali, Malaysia, Singapore. I'm sad because I'm sure this is the last time I'll be in Thailand. I'm also sad and worried about the uncertainty of the future.

I'm happy because right now I'm in Thailand. I'm happy because I've been here three times, and not many people can say that. I'm happy because I've traveled around South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand and Cambodia in the last 3 years. I've also paid off my debt. That's something to be happy of. I'm happy/sad as well about the changes that are going to take place in exactly 6 months. I have that feeling you have when you finish University, the end of an era. Even if you physically do go back, you can never really go back. I was sad when school was done, because I didn't think anything could be as fun/fulfilling again, and I was wrong. Let's hope I'm wrong again about leaving Korea! I do have to say it's starting to feel like it's time to go. Everyone I started with is starting to plan their exit strategy or has already gone. I don't really want to make new friends because I know I'm leaving so soon. Three years ago I would have told you that 6 months was an eternity! Now I know that it will be over so soon!

I have some tentative plans, but nothing is concrete, which in some ways is nice, but others scary. In lots of ways Korea was an excuse to delay making decisions and I guess you can only do that for so long! As long as I can avoid feeling like I'm settling, I think I should be ok. I'm happy to go home, and happy to have people be regularly in my life again.

This is where my mind goes when I'm about to end a trip!

Thailand: Day Six

It's my last full day here. Today was just like yesterday. Walk on the beach, sitting on the beach, swimming at the beach. There was pad thai, as was there massaman curry.

It's been a good day, but I'm leaving tomorrow.

All good things...

Thailand: Day Five

Today was one of the best days I've had all vacation. I was up really early. For some reason I can't sleep past 8 am this vacation, and I was up today around 7. I went for a long 2 hour walk down the beach. Almost no one was out and it was very peaceful. There was the odd beer bottle on the white sand, though. Leftovers from last night. After that I found a place where I could exchange books, and I did. I then took those books to the beach and laid out all day. I kept mostly to the shade (anyone who has been around me anytime but winter knows how important that is) and also got into the water. Ah, bliss.
The heat does drain me, so I headed back to my hotel of awesomeness and washed the sand off of me in my waterfall/rainforest style shower.

The one downside of today is that when I walked out to have dinner it started raining. It's raining now. I'm hoping that this goes away for tomorrow so I can have another beachtastical day. In anycase, I'm happy for my hotel room because now I can go back to the room and have a bath instead of sitting in the rain. I haven't had a bath since I was in Vietnam.

Alright, that's enough out of me.

Oh, and the pancake was AWESOME!

Thailand: Day 4

I arrived in Thailand in the late afternoon. I was supposed to get here earlier, but for some reason I couldn't really understand, I had to transfer in Bangkok instead of flying direct. No biggie, it's not like I have plans. So far the weather has been great. No rain, which beats last time when Mike and I were here. Also, I went back to the hotel Mike and I stayed at and after mentioning I had stayed there before they gave me a deluxe room for a discount. Still way more expensive than most people pay in Thailand, but I'm traveling alone, am only staying for 3 nights, and let's face it, I like nice things. I'm not a backpacker type person for sure, especially not alone, but I'm not a 5 star resorter either. I think the term is flashpacker? Though this trip I'm maybe more on the high end of things. I blame my mom. If there is something suitable, but someone shows us something better, the suitable thing begins to look like crap. I'll make up the money, sitting on the beach is free and that's all I plan on doing.

After setting in to my hotel and giggling with glee I went for a little walk and found some food. This is my third time to Thailand and I always have pad thai as my first meal. It's always delicious. They also make some delicious street pancakes here and after I finish this up I'm going to get one. Imagine crepes, and inside is anything you want. I usually go for nutella, peanut butter, bananas and then they top it with condensed milk. YUM.

Alrighty. I'm off.
xo

Cambodia: Day Three

I have been really lucky so far and it hasn't rained hardly at all since I've been here. It's been perfect for buzzing around on the tuk tuk visiting all the temples. Today I did less templing than normal (maybe around 5 hours?). I went to the Roulos Group, which is three of the earliest examples of Angkorian architecture. They consisted of 3 temples, and there was only one that I was really impressed with. I had some extra time so decided to revisit Angkor Wat. I'm glad that I did. I didn't feel as rushed this time and that says how huge this place is as last time I was there for over 3 hours. I think you could easily spend a few days just at Angkor Wat. I had lunch with a guy from Northern England and he told me a slightly scary story. He was down at the beaches in Shanoukville and for no reason a gun was pulled on him. I've heard this kind of thing before. Apparantly it's illegal for anyone but cops to own guns but money gets you anything here. So people who have a little more money, get guns and they wave them around sometimes as a show of masculinity. I don't think many people are actually shot, but guns do go off in the sky. This hasn't happened around me, though I've been really tame this trip. I don't have the security of other people so I do my best to stay out of trouble. Anyways, this guy had a gun pulled on him for LOOKING at a car. The guy with the gun told him not to look at his car or he would be shot. I guess he just slowly backed away. By the way this was at 5 pm. I think there is also a pretty big crystal meth problem here as well. One guy was telling me that his friend is the son of a cop and his dad gives him money to go to school. He has never gone though, and he just spends the money on drugs and girls. He says he just found out that he has HIV but that he (the guy with HIV) isn't that concerned about it. It's a shame that his life has come to this, so few are given a chance here and this guy blew his on drugs and girls.

On a more positive note!:

Today I also decided to veer away from eating delicious noodles and to try the traditional Cambodian dish, Amok. Man am I glad I did! It was scrumptous. It's kind of like a curry, served in a banana leaf with your choice of fish, beef, chicken or pork. It's also pretty garlicy. I've taken to having 2 dinners a night. No, not lunch and then dinner. I will eat lunch, walk around, have a small dinner, get a massage and then go out for ANOTHER dinner. I'm not embarassed by this at all. I'm exploring the country with my tastebuds! Not literally of course, that would be super gross as I almost stepped on a dead rat last night.

I also went for a long walk by the river, to get out of the touristy areas and to see the regular daily workings of the people here. It was interesting and I wish I could say I was surprised by the amount of poverty, but I've been around Asia too much to not know what goes on.

Alright, I'm off for a massage! I'm flying into Thailand tomorrow late afternoon and it's calling for thunderstorms so let's hope that doesn't happen! The last time I was in Thailand it rained constantly. If I miss out on some relaxing beach time again I'll be upset!!

Love ya,
Jen xo

Cambodia: Day Two

So I never made it to the hammock last night. When I got back to the hotel some of the guys that work there offered me some Chinese wine and I hung out in the kitchen with them. Yeah, Chinese wine is not what I'd call delicious. Anyways, it was awesome because I feel like I'm learning a lot more about Cambodia (society, politics, culture) from them than I would if I were just hanging with foreigners. They use the word culture here a lot. I find this interesting because in Canada we don't. Everyone always says that Canada doesn't have a culture, but I don't think that's necessarily true. Though I do feel we associate ourselves with politics more so than culture. Politicalization of culture?

Today I went to more temples. I'm impressed with every single one, and today we had no rain which was nice. At one temple I met a girl named Marjorie, Melaine, some M name and she was nice, though young. We had lunch together and she talking about her boy problems to me. I felt very wise, being 5 years older than her and all and tried to indirectly give her some advice. I was put back in my place after visiting another temple and meeting another girl who has been traveling for months, and doesn't plan on stopping. I'm jealous of her, but don't know if I have the guts, independence or cash to ever do this forever. That temple was great, though. I had to hike up a mountain to reach it, when I did I also had to climb these really steep steps to reach the top. Seriously, did Cambodians a long time ago have really thin feet? These steps are always thinner than my foot, and go directly up. Anyways, I was lucky to miss the crowds and it's pretty popular because there is a good view of Angkor Wat from there. I've heard that up to 1000 people go up there sometimes for the view. Ew.

I went back to my hotel and played some cards, I apparently learned a traditional Cambodian card game which turned out to be asshole. I'm now in the Old Market again and am going to get another massage, and then try a restaurant suggested by the M girl.

Tomorrow is my last full day in the area and am going to see some farther off temples (which are near where my tuk tuk driver was born). 10 bucks to have a driver to yourself ALL day aint bad!

I'll write again tomorrow, I'm sure.

xo

Cambodia: Day One

I'm here, and it's technically Day Two, but since I didn't do much last night other than discuss Cambodian social issues with the guy who sometimes works the front desk at my guesthouse, this is going to be Day One.

I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get up early enough to see temples (everyone apparantly goes BEFORE dawn) because I'm not much of a morning person. This was not a problem because I was bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6 am. Maybe it's the time difference, or sleeping in a new bed in a new country. I also don't have a watch, so I'm constantly wondering what time it is, and that might also be a problem. I have no idea how much time I'm spending in each temple. When I think it's an hour it turns out to be three, when I think hours have past only 20 minutes have.

Anyways, I was up and showered before my wake up knock (my hotel room lacks technology -- no tv, no phone) and went to meet my tuk tuk driver at 8 am. The first temple he took me to was Angkor Wat. I apologize to all other culturally relevant institutions but it blew everything else I have ever seen out of the water. I actually fought tears when passing through the main gate. It's that impressive. What's not is the amount of poverty in this country which forces people to use their adorable children to try to sell wares. How can you not feel like a bad person when a half naked, tiny child with grubby hands asks you to buy postcards for next to nothing but you turn them down? I do this because mainly I don't want to feed the monster, and because in my experience, saying yes to one makes the others either angry or pester you more. In anycase, at every temple I went to my heart broke a little bit. One boy actually sat in front of me while I was sitting and eating pineapple trying to sell me postcards. When I said no thanks, he proceeded to sit there and count them. He was SO CUTE. Sigh.

After spending 3 hours in Angkor Wat, and dealing with a huge amount of heat I went to Angkor Thom. This is more of a city than a single temple and includes the famous Bayan which has those 216 faces which stare into the jungle. There were some other temples as well which I took pics of and will upload them when I get back to Korea Town.

After this I went to tons more, and off hand can't remember all of the names. I did go to that temple that Tomb Raider was partially filmed at. I know this not because I've seen the movie but because it's written everywhere. I drank tons of water but didn't go to the bathroom once! That tells you how hot it is. I met one man named Steven at Angkor Wat. He asked me where he was, and I kind of surprisingly said, ""Angkor Wat". He asked me if I was sure, I said I'm pretty sure. Then he sighed, "That's it?" He's from Malaysia and we decided that I'm more impressed with it because Canada doesn't have anything that comes remotely close to Angkor Wat, or the history that goes along with it.

After templing for a good 7 or 8 hours I went to the Old Market in Siem Reap. This is actually where I write from (the internet is dreadfully slow at my hotel). Here I got some eats (yellow noodles with tofu) got a 5 dollar hour long massage and walked around for a bit. The shopping is exactly like it is in Thailand, except where the t-shirts and key chains say Thailand in Thailand, here they say Cambodia. It hasn't made me want to shop at all, and I haven't found any souvenirs for anyone. I did buy 3 small bracelets from a girl at a temple (breaking all my rules) but only because she took my picture for me, and after I stupidly climbed these ridiculously narrow but steep stairs she helped me get down. I was actually too afraid to go all the way to the top.

Outside my hotel room is a hammock and I think that's where I'll spend the rest of my night. It's only 7ish right now but I'm meeting my driver again at 8 am to do more templing.

Miss and love ya,

Jenny xo

Beginning my Trip

I'm at the airport with way too much time to spare. There was no traffic so my bus ride didn't take long at all, and then when I arrived there was a "no luggage" line! The only hiccup is that the airport didn't have any Cambodian Riel for me to buy. I'll hopefully get that sorted when I land in Siem Reap. The weather looks a little dodgy right now where I'm going so I hope I get some clear time for the temples.

Either way, being on vacation sure beats work.. rain or no rain~
Will update later.

The Clouds Seem to be Clearing

I'm hoping that the past month of pure stress is over. The visa issues got cleared up, with probably just hours to spare. I couldn't have done it without mom, who rushed around at super-speed in Canada to get things sent to Korea.

Just this very day I finished my stats final, and it went pretty well, I think. So no more studying! For awhile, at least.

Also, I'm off to Cambodia tomorrow! I'm going to see the temples of Angkor and then after that I'm headed back to Thailand for a few days of relaxation. I know I should probably have some travelers guilt for going back to the same country 3 times, but I don't!

Anyways, I'll let you know how the trip goes.

Han River Cruise

This weekend was beautiful. The weather was awesome and it's beginning to look a lot like summer. Mike planned a great day for us which included badminton, a picnic in the park and a Han River cruise at night. I always say how pretty the Seoul lights are at night time so I was pretty pumped to see them from the water.


This is the 63 Building. 63 floors (3 are under ground!).

Mike and I (with the sun in my eyes)

Our set-up which included a Doggie blanket, complete with many grammatical errors on the print, badminton raquets, deviled eggs and pasta salad.



This is the Assembly building. My night pics aren't so hot, I know. I haven't really figured out the best way to take pics with my newest camera.

Saturday was great but today I have to study all day for my statistics exam on Thursday. I'm also still playing the waiting game with my CRC. Keep fingers crossed for me!

Finally, a break from the stress

Well I'm less stressed but not because the things I mentioned in my last post are cleared up, and there's a good chance that once the weekend is over I will go back to being the stress-ball I have been. However, I had a fantabulous weekend.

On Saturday I went to Namhansanseong with my friend SangMi. Namhansanseong is a walled fortress up a mountain. It was pretty cool and I've included some pictures below. We took about an hour bus ride up the mountain and then spent the afternoon hiking, picture taking and chatting. Afterwards we had some delicious food on a patio. In the evening we went and saw the new Sex and the City movie which made me sad all over. No more Sex and the City! Plus, Sangmi is leaving Seoul to live in Daegu so I was sad about that too.

On Sunday, my friend Tristan (from Daegu) came to Seoul for a visit and we had an awesome day girl talking, going to our nails done, eating yummy food and having more girl talk. I have been in serious need of the support only good girlfriends can give and I finally got my fix this weekend. I am constantly surrounded by dudes these days, and though they are all find upstanding gentlemen, it's just not the same. None of them would watch SATC with me while having a cosmo AND reading a cosmo at the same time. Not a one.



Me and Tristan~
From left to right: SeonDubu (a hand-made tofu), bibimbap, lots of kimchi and rice.
Part of the wall at Namhansanseong.

Hiding Buddha.
Pagoda.
Sangmi texting~
Sangmi posing~
Me sitting on the East Gate.