Thailand and Cambodia - part 2

We spent the entire next day on the beach.

A freshly chopped coconut

Enjoying a freshly chopped coconut, with enough water inside to supply a small army.

Fruit for sale on the beach: tiny bananas strike again!

The water was the perfect temperature.

I acquired a gnarly sunburn in my joyous fervor at not wearing 2 parkas everyday (as I do in Boston).

We bussed it back to Bangkok so we could catch our flight to Cambodia.

At a market in Siem Riep, I searched high and low for aloe vera gel, and finally stumbled across a humongous jar of it in a corner of a fetid market. It was $22 (basically a month's wages in Cambodia) and way too big to take on a plane, which I would be doing the next day. As I pondered buying it anyway, no lie, a ginormous spider crawled across it as the nonplussed shopkeeper looked on. The decision to find an alternative became easier after that.

The market, with shopkeepers snoozin' on their wares.

Spider Vera aside, Cambodia was brilliant. We met one of Grecia's yogi friends, Gabrielle (her blog here), who was staying at the same hostel as us. As we settled in for the night, we reluctantly set our alarms for 5:00am - early enough to take a tuktuk from the hostel to Angkor Wat and see the sunrise there. Since we only had one full day in Siem Riep, there was no time for leisurely lie-ins. Luckily, it still didn't feel like "rush rush rush," the day unwound perfectly in a blur of friendly locals, adorable children, and ethereal temples.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is to the northwest of the zoomed-in portion.

We had a wing of the building before the droves of tourists ventured from the main entrance, so we took advantage of the gorgeous sun rays to get some yoga in!

Ball of light

Grecia shining.

Lovely hallway entrance  

A few hours after sunrise.

Exploring Angkor Wat

Carvings low on the walls of Angkor Wat

After being up since 5, walking around and lots of posing, it was time for breakfast. This little teenager (named "Darling") expertly corralled us to her "restaurant."

Breakfast was actually a full meal that resembled dinner, and no one complained.

After breakfast, we were off; on our way to the next temple.

Ta Prohm temple is in about the same condition as it was found in. It was built as a monastery in the 12th century, and abandoned at some point afterward, at which point the surrounding jungle took over; hence the overgrown roots.

Ta Prohm temple, with magnificent tree growing over stones.

When we were ready to leave each site, we went out to the tuktuk valet lane and looked for our trusty driver, Bahnet. At one point we wandered for about an hour looking for him: he had fallen asleep in his tuktuk, as many drivers do while waiting for their clients.

Like this. Note: not Bahnet.

Angkor Thom was the last city of the Khmer empire. Its temple is found far within the city walls.

Walls of Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom, or: The Temple of the Faces

Dancing Buddha in Angkor Thom

View from afar of Angkor Thom

We went back to the hostel for some r&r before deciding what to do with the rest of our day.

Back to the tuktuk! With Gabriella.

Sadly we could not use our newfound Thai skills. Cambodians speak Khmer.

While the other girls stayed at the hostel for a much needed nap, I went to Phnom Bakeng to see the sunset. Among the regular sites I spotted these two monks.

Side note: Lotus chips are sooooo good.

Sunset through the guardian's mouth at Phnom Bakheng. Additional side note: I was paralyzed with shame when 2 American frat boy idiots started climbing over the ruins which are roped off. When called out by security below, I heard one say, "What can they possibly do? Come up and drag us down?" and they continued to ignore the frantic cries and whistle blowings of the guards, screaming "We don't understand! We speak ENGLISH!", frolicking among ancient ruins and instagramming themselves. Oh god, the shame.

The clear barrier.

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng

Off to the market: making the transportation as efficient as possible!

After a day full of temple visits, it was time to hit the town.

AMAZING food at open air noodle place in the middle of the busy streets downtown. 

 After some much needed sleep, we headed to the airport for the last part of my trip: couchsurfing in Bangkok, which will be part 3/3!

Bahnet the tuktuk driver and I wish you well!

Thailand and Cambodia - part 1

Look at me, only one month late on my blog! What a pro.

This month marks my 9th month in Boston. About 6 months of that has been below freezing, windy, snowy weather. I've had a really rough time adjusting (60 degree Texas winters anyone?).

Remember this picture from fall?

Same lovely white gazebo building. It's safe to say the charm has receded.

Instead of focusing on how wretched the weather was, as a Christmas present to myself I bought a ticket to Thailand with a short trip to Cambodia. Man, was that ever a good idea.

First day arrival - Koh Samet

The 20+ hour flight was actually quite bearable, I would go so far as to say it was borderline pleasant. Maybe I'm getting used to long-haul flights! I had a stop in Tokyo, then landed in Bangkok late the next night and stayed in an airport hotel so I could get an early start the next morning. My friend Grecia had been in India for several months (here's her awesome blog) and agreed to meet me for the majority of the Thailand/Cambodia adventure, so it was time to meet up with her at a small, nondescript bus stop in downtown Thailand. Despite the lack of phones/wifi for whatsapp, my expertise in frantically communicating the idea of "bus stop"with wild bus-driving hand motions delivered yet again, and we met up with minimal drama.

Bus stop:

We bought some fruit from a vendor on the street for sustenance on the 3.5 hour bus ride (tiny bananas, guava, elusive apple/pear blend that we didn't know the name of and could not remember nor pronounce when taught to us several times). The bus ride was amazing and went fast because Grecia and I had to catch up, both of us had made some substantial life changes in the past year!

Apple/pear/je ne sais quoi

The bus took us from Bangkok to Ban Phe, a small coastal town with ferries that go to various islands. Our destination was Koh Samet.

Bus route and duration

Ferry from Ban Phe to Koh Samet - about 30 peaceful minutes

I was so desperate for sun I was hanging out of the window on the ferry trying to soak it all up. The shy teenager working on the boat gestured for me to go sit on the front of the open part of the boat ("the starboard crow's nest," for those less acquainted with the salty, grizzled life of the seaman) and I happily obliged. When we landed on the island, we hopped on a truck with some danes to make our way to our little bungalow.

When we cooed at this (rather miserable) cat, the boys running alongside it dutifully held it up for a picture. Well, if you're going to hold it up anyway... yes I'll take a picture!

Despite getting there around 4-5pm, we went straight to the beach. From there we had dinner on the sand (maï thais and pad thai) as the lanterns twinkled in the leafy beach trees and the wind whipped our hair around as it came in off the gulf of Thailand.

Maï Thais

Fresh crêpes and beer

As if this experience were not magical enough, in the distance we heard the tell-tale fuzzy bass notes and fearless off-key warbling of karaoke. Someone was on the same beach doing Thai karaoke, and we didn't have plans for the night. Naturally, we promptly went to investigate.

Sure enough, there was a bumpin' party at one of the beachfront bungalows. We swayed in the sand next to the party, just enjoying seeing such a surreal scene in front of us, for about .00005 seconds before the party-goers (a motley crew of mid-20's to elderly thai people, who we later found out were all teachers from a clearly amazing school) grabbed us, gave us drinks, and started teaching us traditional thai dances. Can you please try to imagine how amazing this was? Let me help.

A passionate performance.

Finally got the hand motions down. It's harder than it looks!

One guy clearly more into than everyone else, aka my life story.

We learned an awesome new song because of these Karaoke boyz.

**The original is by the industrious group "Job 2 Do." Note: you will get this in your head and then try to sing it from memory in Thai and it will be nonsense. It still feels awesome.**

At a certain part in this video, you will see an awesome girl dancing with her husband. Her name is "G" (stands for a different spelling of Gisele) - she and her husband are both from the Philippines and both teach at the school. She can sing karaoke like no other.

After dancing for hours we were invited to have (more) drinks with the teachers and school directors. Thai lessons were exchanged for English lessons. Strange drinks were tried, stories were told and toasts were made ("Cheung gao!"= "cheers!"). We left that friendly group with appreciation for the once-in-a-lifetime experiences they had shared with us, face muscles tired from smiling, and the beach a thick pit of sand churned over and over by dancing, happy, bare feet. That was our first night in Thailand!