Good-Bye Thailand!

Throughout my six months in Southeast Asia, I have visited Thailand a number of times. As well as visiting Bangkok, I have traveled up north to Chiang Mai, and most recently down south to the island of Phuket. My various trips around Thailand has landed it in second place of my favorite country in Southeast Asia (second to the Kigndom of Cambodia of course!). After this weekend, with my departure to the states a week away, I know that this was my last trip to this beautiful, friendly, interesting country (for now...).

When I left Southeast Asia in 2007, I flew out of Bangkok. I remember walking through the airport and thinking how strange it was to leave somewhere and know, for a fact, that you would never return. How wrong I was! With all of my various connecting flights and visits to Bangkok, I returned to the airport 10 times. Funny how that works out.

This past weekend I was on the beautiful island of Phuket. The views were stunning and the quiet white sand beaches allowed for a lot of time of reflection on my past six months here. Though usually Phuket is a crowded place for backpackers, in the off season you can find a number of deserted beaches. Unlike the beaches of Sihanoukville in Cambodia, there were not any children selling trinkets or women trying to offer you massages and hair beading. As such, it allowed for an entire weekend of alternating between napping and eating pad thai.

One thing that struck me when I was in Chiang Mai and continued to interest me on this last trip is the ability for me to travel back and forth between two countries with a violent border dispute. Though Preah Vihear was declared to be a part of Cambodia in 1962, Thailand still claims that the temple should be awarded to Thailand. In 2008, UNESCO declared the temple to be a World Heritage Site. Violent border clashes have errupted periodically since then, with over 18 Cambodians killed and thousands displaced. However, I was still able to make all five trips to Thailand without a problem.

My thoughts on this are that the two countries have an interesting relationship, with Cambodia semi-dependent on Thailand, and Thailand being far more developed and thus unconcerned with its smaller neighbor. They can look at Cambodia's tanks, recently acquired this year, and not be worried by the threat. Conversely, a UNESCO World Heritage Site benefits Cambodia greatly. For a country that is so recently recovering from a devestating genocide, it all helps.

My self-reflection on my past six months led me to begin making a list of things that I will miss, as opposed to things I am looking forward to when I get home. The ability to take a short flight and visit Thailand was high on that list. Sure, I am still looking forward to eating sushi, turkey sandwiches, and spending time with friends (in that order of course), but all in all, I recognize that Southeats Asia has become home and will be greatly missed.

Visitors

This past week I was lucky enough to have a visitor stop by Cambodia. Beginning in Siem Reap, we spent a day shooting guns/grenades in Phnom Penh, then a few days in the beautiful beaches of Kep, finally spending the last few days exploring Bangkok and playing with tigers. Yes, tigers.

Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm, and the other numerous temples we visited were just as spectacular as the first few visits.

Michael visiting Phnom Penh put the city into a new perspective as we skipped the city tour to travel 45 minutes by tuk tuk out to a shooting range to shoot M-18s. He opted for the hand grenade as well. The training consisted of the man handing him a rock and telling him to throw it underhand into a small pond.

We next traveled down to the deserted colonial beach town of Kep. It had beautiful views, interesting beaches, delicious food....and humongous snakes. Though neither of us got close enough to confirm, we did see a multi-foot long snake skin hidden amongst the rocks we were exploring. Needless to say, we turned back quickly. The next day we explored caves straight out of Jurassic Park before heading to the airport for our last destination.

Finally, Bangkok. Besides eating Pad Thai for every meal, we were able to explore the city a little and I was finally able to go to Tiger Temple. Visiting Tiger Temple has been a dream of mine since I was last in Cambodia in 2007. On the way, we were even able to stop by the Bridge over the River Kwai.

For a small extra fee, we were able to go to baby tiger cub feeding and play with 7 adorable tiger cubs that were about a month old.

In addition, I got to wrestle an elephant in the river, splashing each other and playing a game where you would sit on her neck while she tried to throw you off. Safe? Absolutely.

Overall, the trip was, in a word, amazing. Being able to see more of the Cambodian countryside at Kep was a high light as it let me see more of the country I have called home for the past five and a half months (lets be honest, nothing compares to feeding a baby tiger cub or wrestling an elephant in a river, but it was a close third).

Chiang Mai and Pin Bwong

Needless to say, my blogging has been neglected. Ironically, the reason I have stopped blogging is the reason I wanted to start a blog in the first place: travel. In the past month since returning from Bali, I have been to Singapore, the jungles of Cambodia, and Chiang Mai.

With Chiang Mai fresh in my mind after returning two days ago, I will start with that.

I decided to go to Chiang Mai not only because I heard it was beautiful, but also because I wanted to meet up with a woman who works for the Free Burma Rangers, a NGO based in Chiang Mai that does cross-border relief to IDPs in Burma. Unfortuntely, she was unable to meet.

I arrived on Friday afternoon after a small mix up in the airport which resulted in me needing to refund my current round trip ticket, and buy a one way ticket to Bangkok, in cash. With the thought that maybe this was a bad idea to be buying a one way ticket into a foreign country from another country tht was currently fighting with said country, I went ahead and did it anyways.

I spent Friday walking around the town and did a little temple viewing. What I discovered, is that once you have seen a few Southeast Asian Wats (in four countries…) you can guess whats coming. The scenery, however, was beautiful.

Saturday, however, is where the real fun begins. I signed up to do an “Elephant Mahout Training Day.” What is that you might ask?

Well, I was given an elephant and a set of incredibly attractive Mahout Training pants and shirt, complete with a scarf, for the day and told the commands. So, with me up riding on its neck, we set off into the jungle not once, but twice, complete with me ending the day by giving Pin Bwong a bath in the river.

To tell you about my friend Pin Bwong:

She was working at a lumber yard in Burma when she was rescued about ten years ago. She is currently 30 and very happy with her new life. She was abused before, but the Mahout I was working with said she smiled at me and thought I was pretty. Not sure if he was being creepy or Pin Bwong is my newest best friend.

There were three baby elephants, aged 3 months, 1 year, and 3 years, but since they had not yet been to “Elephant School,” my guide (his English name was Tony) told me in broken English that I was more at risk of being trampled or hit by a baby than the adult. Though cute, the baby elephants still weighed over 200 lbs and was the size of a small pony.

It was around the time when I was caught in a rainstorm while riding my elephant throught he jungle, just riding on its neck with a very small Thai man meandering around next to me, that I realized for the second time how badly this trip could go. I thought of it a third time when my mahout offered me moonshine his village had made to warm me up after the rain.

No harm no foul and I left the trip not only able to say that I have ridden an elephant without a seat (saddle?), but all in one piece.

Bali

To celebrate Khmai New Years and my week off work, I went to Bali with three co-workers. 

We stayed at a hotel that looked like it was right out of tomb raider.

 I made a friend!

The beaches were beautiful and the waves were perfect for a surf lesson!

However, we did not lay around the beach all day by any means--our days were filled with activities from white water rafting to hiking to snorkeling to petting turtles at a local turtle farm.


Rafting was easily my favorite day of the trip. After a 2 minute tutorial of what to do if you fall out (go down river), they sent us into the boats and on our way.  It was rafting for beginners (or lazy people) despite being advertised as having 3 and 4  rated rapids, because realistically we barely had to paddle and could often stop to look at the scenery as we went through the jungle at points and by rice paddies at other points. The scenery even included a few naked locals bathing, making it a little awkward. Incredible photos will be added once I get them from Alexia.


For my second favorite adventure of the trip, we trekked up a volcano to see sunrise.  We got up at 1230AM for a 1AM hotel pick up to drive two hours to the base where we then got out and hiked about two hours up to the top to watch sunrise. 

Our guide also had the bright idea to feed some wild monkeys we found...

We finished by hiking along the ridge to look out over the mountains--the island is so small you could see both coasts from the top.  

Easily one of the more beautiful things I have seen, and I think that the early wake up was definitely worth it. 


The day finished by going down to the lake to bathe in some hot springs, but by that point after no sleep and over 5 hours of hiking, we were a little tired. 

All in all, Bali is as spectacular as they say. Despite being very active and busy, relaxing definitely took precedent and I returned very well rested and ready for work tomorrow!

Half Way

The week has been filled with decisions--decisions of when to come home topping the list. After making my final decision to go to Notre Dame Law School in the fall, it seems that the flood gates of choices have been opened. Not only is it now time to send in deposits, find housing, find a roommate, find out when to drive up...but also sadly time to realize that my Cambodian adventure will not last forever.

In many ways, three months in with just about four left to go, I am not in any way ready to come home. However, with the upcoming exciting developments, in many ways I am ready to head home now. Not to say my time with IJM hasn't been amazing and rewarding, it is just often hard to be present where you are when you are so excited to be where you are going.

The upcoming months are filled with more traveling adventures and a few special visitors. Khmai New Year in Cambodia means that everything shuts down, so naturally a trip out of the country to Bali is in the cards for myself and three co-workers. My wonderful parents come in just a month, conveniently arriving on May 1 (my birthday). After that more friends come at the end of May to come with me to pet the tigers in Bangkok. After that, it's June and with a departure date of July 13, it is a harsh realization that my days here are limited.

Battambang

Battambang is the fourth largest tourist destination in Cambodia. While I know that people go to siem reap for the temples, sihanoukville for the beaches, and phnom penh for the killing fields I am still not sure what the main attraction is here. It's pretty small, quiet, a few hiking excursions and some colonial architecture but that is just about it.

Our hotel was a small boutique will only a few rooms, cheap prices, and allowed for some relaxing downime to be sure. The main attraction here is at phnom sampeau, a mountain about 18k outside of the city which is filled with caves and temples. We spent Saturday morning exploring and enjoying bei out of the big city and in the country.

After spending the morning climbing stairs and hiking, in flip flops thanks to alexias poor advice, we returned to the hotelfor a late afternoon swim, map, and overall just enjoying a vacation weekend. On a historical note, sampeau is also the location of the killing cars, a place where the Khmer rouge killed ever 10,000 people as a part of their genocidal regime in the 1970s. Over 1/5 of the population was killed, explaining why 75 percent of the population today is under 30.

Hiking through not very well marked paths or maintained temples remind me again of where I really am. Seeing the killing caves similarly made me realize the reason for so many of the social economic and political issues and reminded me to have a little more patience. Many argue that half of the country is struggling with some degree of PTSD after the Khmer rouge genocide. Pol pot wanted to bring the county back to year zero and create an agrarian community. The methods used were brutal and men and women were killed for things as little as looking at someone the wrong way. They targeted intellectuals and those who were educated in the west. As a result, there are only 717 lawyers in the country of almost 14 million. The education system simply isn't still in place

Biking to Oudong

Last weekend I took a bike trip 65K outside the city to Oudong Mountain.

 I signed up knowing very little about the trip, except that it would be a day trip of moderate biking to a mountain. I did not realize it was 65K, nor did I realize that this trip would consist of me, a guide, a mountain bike with no shocks, and a random Swiss lady. Luckily, Carrie decided to join at the last minute so I had a comrade.

The trip was beautiful, about four hours of biking through small villages with little kids running out to greet us and smile and wave. We got to taste freshly made palm sugar

and saw a man climb a palm tree to get the sap.

We passed rice paddies (dried up currently, rainy season is still about a month and a half out), and it reminded me of what Cambodia really looks like--being in Phnom Penh, a city (though perhaps not by the standards of some of my US city dwelling friends), it is easy to forget how agrarian the rest of the country is.

The top of Oudong Mountain had a number of pagodas and all sorts of beautiful sculptures. After a little touring, we ate lunch at a small Khmai "restaurant" (hut) which had the most delicious chicken I have had thus far.

Instead of having an organized bus to take us back, the method of transportation back to Phnom Penh was to hail down a car, disassemble all of our bikes to fit them into the trunk, and then ride the hour back to the city with karaoke music blasting. I would have rather biked 65K back.

This pas week was exceptionally exciting as I received my very first care package. It just so happened that it arrived on a Monday, the day before I had no work on Tuesday for International Women's Day. I thought the best way to celebrate the holiday was to finish off the entire bag of Peanut M&Ms that were sent by my amazing parents. Happy women's day to me!