The crazy world of Cambodia

January 26th, 2011 - Day 10 of our adventure. The morning started out with a goodbye to Ben. He was heading back to Bangkok to meet up with some other CTLCers. The rest of us - Cliff, Andrew, Marie and I went to go find our minibus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Marie was in charge of Cambodia research and she had read bundles of warnings about the trip across the border. Do not heed them lightly - the warnings are correct. The first portion of the trip went according to plan, we took a bus almost to the divide between the countries and stopped for lunch. That is when things went downhill. The head of the tour came up to everyone (it was the four of us, a backpacking couple, a guy from England and two other slightly older guys who we didn't talk to) and said that we would each need to pay 1300 Baht for our Visa before crossing. Now the true visa costs $20 which equals 600 Baht and Marie had heard that you NEVER need your visa before crossing the border - you get it in the middle ground between countries - and that if anyone tells you different they are lying and trying to cheat you out of money. The three guys by themselves each got out their wallet and paid the money. The couple and our group were both looking at each other like 'that is not right'. The boyfriend eventually spoke up and said that they weren't going to pay the money. The leader came up to us and said that this was the only way and that we needed to give them money. During his speech the boyfriend kept saying no and things like 'don't listen to him'. The leader got annoyed, glared at him, and left. A moment later he came back, pointed at the couple and said 'we don't have enough room on the bus you need to go with this guy to get across the border' pointing at one of the other drivers. They looked unsure but couldn't do anything else so they went with the driver. The leader then came up to us and told us that since those two were being difficult he sent them on the wrong bus and now they will have to take a taxi to Siem Reap which will be over 2000 B and asked if we would like to pay for the visa now. We stood our ground and said that we would buy the visa at the border. After lunch he came back to us and said that the bus was again full and we would have to take this van to the border. Not really wanting to leave the three guys who had paid for the visas, but not having a choice, we boarded the van. Luckily for some reason in the end the three guys also ended up getting in our van so it made us feel a little bit better. To also give us moral support on the back of the seat in front of us was written "they'll sound convincing but trust your instinct". Well we made it to the boarder, got our visas (which ended up costing 1000 B since we didn't have US dollars on us), got across and got to the bus station to take us to Siem Reap. And when we got there we met back up with the "troublesome" couple who were making it through just fine and didn't need to take a taxi. So moral of the story - DO NOT trust anyone on the Thailand side of the Cambodian border.

During the bus ride we stopped alongside a little town for a bathroom break. The first impression I got of Cambodia was that it was dirty, sad and poor. Right when you step off the bus kids swarm you trying to get you to buy little bracelets from them. If you wouldn't pay for it they would start saying "here you can have it for free, just take it!" We all made sure not to take anything from them. I really wonder what would have happened if we did. We were afraid they would scream bloody murder that we stole from them and next thing you know you're in a Cambodian jail - not good. We grabbed a few snacks from a local stall and got back on the bus. When we arrived in Siem Reap we took our first tuk-tuk to the Happy Guest House - our favorite of all our hostels. The people there were SO nice. In Cambodia they use Riel (their currency) and the US dollar since their currency is so weak. It is 4000 Riel for 1 dollar. We only had a few dollars so we got a tuk-tuk guy from the hostel to take Andrew and I to a Union Pay (our Chinese bank) ATM. It took us three tries. The first one didn't accept Union Pay, the second the computer was broke, but on our third try it was success! It was great because we got a small tour of the city along the way and the tuk-tuk driver was great about pointing everything out. What was even more crazy was that on the way back I saw a bunch of CTLCers hanging out at a bar so I shouted out to them and we chatted a bit before heading back to the hostel.

The next day we rented two tuk-tuks for the day to tour Angkor Wat. Marie and I received Tom, the best tuk-tuk driver around. He was such a cute little guy and tried his best to entertain us. He would shout things back at us about the temples and he would swerve in and out with his bike and turn around and grin at us to see if we were having fun, which we were. The downside of the day was that I had gotten a pretty bad head cold so I had a small fog over my brain for the day. During the trip we saw Angkor Thom which includes Bayon (has the large face statues), Terrace of Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King, Angkor Wat (actually smaller than Angkor Thom but the iconic site of Cambodia), Ta Prohm (has trees growing all over the buildings), Banteay Srei (the pink sandstone temple), and Phnom Bakheng (where you go to watch the sunset). A little fun fact - Tomb Raider used Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm as sets during the movie. The temples were breathtaking. They all looked slightly similar but also each had something unique. Angkor Thom was gigantic and you could always seem to find something new to look at. The different sections were each terraces with different etchings. When Marie kept telling us there was a Leper Terrace we kept convincing ourselves she was saying Leopard. But sure enough there was a Leper Terrace - though it was not etched with pictures of people losing body parts. This specific area had changed colors over the years due to the rocks that were used and people thought it was very similar to the leper disease, hence the name. We found another building in the area that has extremely steep stairs that were halfway falling apart. Warning signs and "Climb at your own risk" postings were up everywhere. So of course Andrew and I wanted to get to the top. Once reaching the peak there was a little old woman asking you to light incense for the gods (leaving a small monetary tribute as well was encouraged). Touring the top we were going to head down, which would have been the scary part, when we found a new wooden staircase built in the back...so much for the need to climb the steep side - but it was more fun. At one part we were really lucky because in one of the wats we observed what was either a movie/commercial/music video/? being shot. There were a bunch of girls in traditional Cambodian dance costumes. Two of them were up on the outcroppings of the temple performing a dance while being filmed. There were even lighting guys and helpers that shaded the girls between takes. The other thing that I greatly enjoyed about the day was the tuk-tuk rides. The pink temple was out in the boonies so it was a 45 minute ride there and back. You passed through tons of local villages on the way that partly survived because of tourism. There was the typical stalls and food for sale but you also were able to see some of the daily life as you went by. One interesting part of the temples was the renovation efforts. Due to their age, large portions of the wats were falling apart. Generations have gone by that have been trying to help preserve these areas. There were piles and piles of stones around the wats that some group of people had taken out and numbered at some point. Well of course since then the notes have been lost and a lot of the curators are not positive how the system works. So now it is a giant puzzle to find where to put the stones back. We ended up finishing the day early. We were all tired and hot and the only thing left that we were supposed to do was to watch the sunset at Phnom Bakheng which wasn't for another hour or so. Instead we reached the top of the temple (which was up a large hill might I add), looked around and went back down to go get some rest. That night we went and saw some traditional Khmer dancing. The dances tell stories, most of the ones we saw were about relationships and the historical day to day life of the Cambodian people. Afterward we had told some CTLCers that we would meet up with them so we headed for the tourist street of Siem Reap. We were a bit early so we stopped by the night market beforehand. While there we got a fish massage! For $2 you got a 20 minute fish massage, a can of beer and a back massage. A fish massage is where you take off your shoes and you put your feet in a large fish tank full of small fish. The creatures come and eat your dirt and dead skin off. A gross thought but it actually felt pretty good. It tickled a lot at first but you get used to it. I was the first one up on the seating area and there were already three women who were probably in their late 60s with their feet in. I was really nervous and they were really funny because they were yelling at me to get my feet in and that if they could do I could too. Poor Cliff and Andrew though, they both had sores on their feet from traveling and so the fish were biting them open. It was a bit disgusting because once the scratches opened there would be blood and the fish's mouths would get all red. We ended up staying for over 40 minutes because we were live advertisement for the stall owner. Eventually some other people came and we were getting over the excitement so we headed out and found the CTLCers. It was nice seeing everyone but we didn't stay for too long because we were all very tired.

The morning started with going horse back riding through the rice fields. It was this cute little ranch away from the city. The guide was a woman who had been a tourist in Cambodia two years before and had asked to start working for the barn and next thing she knew she had a semi-permanent residence there. The owner was a Cambodian from California called "The Sheriff". He was a nice guy and chatted with us after the ride about politics and tourism in Cambodia. The ride itself was great and we got to see some temples, schools and neighborhoods of the locals. Next we went back to the hostel for lunch and had our first experience with Chicken Amok - the signature dish of Cambodia. It is sort of like a yellow curry. We spent the afternoon at the butterfly garden and landmine museum. The butterfly place was very beautiful. You got to walk around and just take in all the butterflies fluttering past you. We also got to see their hatching closets and the whole process from egg to butterfly. The workers go around and collect the leaves with eggs on them and then sort them according to species. The worms get placed in tupperware containers until they start to make their cocoons. Then the cocoons get moved into the closets in the garden. The landmine museum was the first taste we got of depressing/inspirational information about the countries we were visiting. Aki Ra is an amazing man (he is in the top 10 CNN heroes this year) who has spent the last section of his life removing active landmines from around Cambodia. So far he has deactivated over 50,000. The museum is all about his life, the life of Cambodia, the terror of landmines, and exhibits of mines they have found. He has a movie playing on loop explaining the museum and the effect landmines have had on Cambodia's history. It included an account of how much damage some of the main landmines would cause - whether it would blow off one leg, two legs, or your entire body. We unfortunately were a little bit rushed during this time because we had to get back to the tourist section of town for a Cambodian cooking class. We got back just in time and joined a French woman, her five year old daughter, and an Australian man. The class allowed you to each pick an appetizer and entree to create. I chose fried steam rolls with vegetables as a starter and amok chicken with rice for my main meal. The class was a lot of fun. We all got to put on cute little aprons and chef hats and started learning. The lady running the class, in my opinion, seemed to hate her job. The others thought she might have just been a bit stressed by having to teach so many people how to cook at once which is understandable. Luckily the class was set up in a way that you almost did everything yourself. So the teacher would come around, tell you what to do, give an example, and then move on to the next person. We got to slice and dice, chop and mash, fry and boil, etc. In the end we all had great food. The four of us shared a bit of each others. Marie had fresh spring rolls, Cliff had a unique salad, Andrew had pumpkin soup, and those were just the starters. There was so much food that I couldn't even finish my meal. Sadly half of my chicken amok was left over, but I was very content and had a happy belly. After dinner we headed home to relax a bit. Cliff, Andrew and I ended up heading back out for a nighttime stroll of the pub street. On our way we saw an unfortunate tuk-tuk accident! A bicyclist and tuk-tuk driver both tried to merge into the same lane and slammed into each other. The rider fell off his bike and landed underneath the tuk-tuk as it tipped over. We ran over quickly to help lift the tuk-tuk off of him. Luckily he wasn't hurt and we walked away as he was shaking it off. Pub street wasn't too exciting, we hung around for a bit and then headed home. On our way back a motorcyclist started driving alongside us. He stared at us intently and quietly said "You want skunk?". We said no. He replied "You want coke?". Again no. Finally "You want opium?". Still no. He finally got the hint and rode off.

On day 13 we found about the power supply of Cambodia. There was possibly a commercial shoot...or a wedding...or something that needed a lot of power (we kept hearing different stories from the same tourist that obviously didn't have a clue) and they had cut the power for the entire block to meet their needs. Classy. So we didn't get our usual morning email check, but that's what vacation is for. We soon left and got on our next bus to Phnom Penh. This was one of our worse riding experiences. We were second or third row behind the horn crazy driver. Literally every person, animal, or tree that he saw deserved a honk - just in case the thing decided to jump out in front of the vehicle. If it was another car, it got 2-15 honks. The constraint we all kept to not hit him before the ride was over was admirable. Also along the way we saw a military procession. Six or seven tanks and soldier trucks passed on their way to who knows where. Arrival didn't come soon enough, but we were thankfully quickly to our new hostel. As circumstances would go we ended up staying next door to our reserved space because there was not room for us - but luckily the next door hostel was much nicer so we got it easy for a night. To get a feel for the town we walked around a bit, got stalked by a shirtless guy, stopped for a few beers at a local restaurant, were seated directly next to the bathroom where the door didn't close, and had an appetizer kindly bought for us by some Cambodians. Overall it was a very good end to a not so good day.

After moving to our new room at the original hostel we started walking to the Cambodian Royal Palace...and ended up going to the National Museum instead. In certain places you have to wear pants out of respect and the boys didn't have theirs on so we couldn't go to the palace, but it worked out. Out of all the museums we went to this one was the least note worthy. It had some interesting information and some great artifacts, but the best part was the courtyard which had a beautiful garden and small ponds. Going back to the hostel for lunch and a nap, everyone got on long pants and we headed back to the palace (along with requiring long pants, a lot of places are closed from 11ish-2ish for lunch). I really enjoyed the palace - mainly because I quietly followed around this couple's tour guide for a bit so I actually learned some things that were not written down. The thing I liked the best was the palace has a color of the day. There are seven colors and you are supposed to wear a specific one each day and it will bring you luck. This is a tradition that has been occurring for generations and is still in use today. In case you want to start the trend: Mon-Dark Yellow, Tuesday-Violet, Wed-Yellowish Green, Thur-Green, Fri-Blue, Sat-Blackish Red, Sun-Red. On the outskirts of the palace you can also go see silk scarves being created on looms. Then in the upstairs section there is a man playing the xylophone. There is a second one and he will teach you to play a simple song so you can play along with him. Of course he expects a small donation afterward, but it was fun. We had a bit of time left before dinner so we went to Wat Ounalom - the supposed location of one of Buddha's eyebrow hairs. The place turned out to be a functional wat and there were people living and praying within the walls. It is always a bit awkward walking into a temple that is in use since you don't want to seem like the annoying tourist who has no respect for the local religion, so we didn't really want to walk up to anyone and request to see Buddha's hair. Instead we looked around for a few minutes and went on our way. The central market was our next location, but we quickly found out that all the markets shut down around 5pm (which seems weird) and we were just a bit late. We ended up grabbing dinner at a local restaurant and headed back to the hostel for a quiet evening hanging out and chatting in the room.

January 31st was our day of depressing activities. (Just in case) For anyone who doesn't know, in the late 1970s the Khmer Rouge, a communist political group, took over Cambodia. They believed that Cambodia would be better off if they started anew. To do so they evacuated Phnom Penh, the capital, and sent most people out to the fields to start farming. They believed they needed to wipe out the educated citizens to help start over as well as remove anyone who might question their efforts. Anyone who was known to be a doctor, teacher, student, etc was rounded up and killed. A fourth of the population - about two million people - were murdered during this time. Now parts of the areas used are museums and memorial sites. We first went to the Choeung Ek killing fields, one of the largest of its kinds, where trucks of people arrived every day to be beaten or stabbed. A tall Buddhist stupa stands in the center of the area to house all of the bones that have been excavated from the shallow graves. At the monument there are about 8,000 skulls inside. The different tiers of the building hold different kinds of bones with the lowest one having all of the clothing remnants that have been found. After viewing that you travel around the grassy area seeing each of the mass graves that have been dug up. The two main graves that were referenced multiple times were one that every body was missing it's head and one that had over 150 bodies with only women and children. In total there have been about 20,000 bodies found on the property. After touring the area there is a small museum where you can view a short film. The museum spoke about the individuals responsible for the terror that took place there. The trials for the crimes these people committed are still going on today. After the killing fields was the genocide museum. This was placed in the S.21 prison used to hold intellectuals and people against the Khmer Rouge before they were sent to the killing fields. The museum was set up where you walked through the cell rooms to learn about different portions of the prison. A large part of the presentation was rows and rows and rows of pictures of the prisoners. Each prisoner had a head shot taken when they arrived and all of these were on display. In 2006 a large tour was given of the killing fields and the museum for Cambodians who had suffered during the Khmer Rouge's rule - one woman found a picture of her brother among those in the museum - she had never known what had happened to him. Another part of the museum had biographies of men and women who had served the Khmer Rouge and what their feelings of their actions are today. The whole day was very heavy but informative. Cambodia notes that this was an extremely dark part of it's history but the people feel it is important to keep these areas preserved and let Cambodians and the world know the crimes that were committed so that it does not happen again. During our time in these areas our group was very somber, none of us even took out our camera to put what we saw on film. Other tourists did not have the same reaction and were still taking pictures of each other while doing the peace sign. Not very respectful... After the museum the tuk-tuk took us to the Russian market which turned out to be a regular trinket selling market but it was fun to walk down the aisles searching for the best deal on whatever it was that you wanted as a souvenir. We got back early so Andrew and I took a walk around town. We ended up finding a large stadium that the neighborhoods had taken over. There was a local soccer game going on, tons of women doing aerobics, little food stalls, kids running around, etc. Andrew and I just sat and took it all in for awhile. Then we went back for dinner and every night the hostel has a showing of a movie about Cambodia so we stayed and watched The Killing Fields - a Hollywood film about the reporters and some locals when the Khmer Rouge started taking over.

We had one day left in Phnom Penh so we decided to go see the animal sanctuary. We were hoping that it would be happier than a zoo because a lot of the animals were rescued from poachers...our hopes didn't really come true. The sanctuary started off with an area where you could pet Samba Deer and see some crocodiles and monkeys. A couple of men were following along with us telling about each of the animals. Their hope was that we would hire them as guides for the rest of the park. One of the Gibbons that we saw was blind and obviously had been fed by a lot of foreigners because once he heard you coming he would stick out his hand for food. You could hold hands with him for a bit until he realized you had no treats and he lost interest. We left that enclosure and headed for the next set - the small ground animals and some more monkeys. Our guide admitted defeat that we weren't going to hire him and left so we didn't get the same input and fun facts about these. We were standing around the next gibbon cage watching a baby excitedly swing through the fake vines - they are very fast monkeys. All of a sudden the biggest one swung over to us reached his hand out of the cage and grabbed Cliff's arm and started trying to drag him towards the fence. Cliff obviously freaked out and smacked at the hand and jerked away. Luckily he got away with not bites or cuts. We were very wary of our distance from the cages and the locations of the animals after that. The next stop was the birds. There were some fun ones that were like parrots and tried to mimic the tones they heard. We had fun teaching them how to say "Wei" a common Chinese phrase for hello. Then there were larger birds such as eagles, hawks and owls. These were a lot more sad to see because the cages were large but they were such big birds that there wasn't really much room for them to move about in. After seeing some bears the last stop was the elephants. This was also a very sad enclosure. Each elephant had chains tying their feet together. Most of them did have some evidence of poacher attacks so they probably were rescued creatures but it was still sad they didn't have much freedom. It was time for lunch and there were was a section of tables and hammocks inside the sanctuary so we decided to stop. Our tuk-tuk driver helped us order three different chicken dishes and we asked him to join our meal. He told us all about his life in Cambodia so far and the general life of the majority of people in the country. There was a set of little boys that also surrounded us while they ate. After getting us to buy some coconuts for drinks they stuck around and were very curious about our language. At one point I pulled out my notebook to write something down and one boy stared at it very intently so I got him to say his name so I could show it to him written out. After lunch conversation turned to our driver's tuk-tuk and he offered us a lesson on driving! It actually wasn't hard at all. I was the first and went up and down the road a few times, even making tight turns to get back and forth. Soon after we headed home. That night we walked out to the waterfront, got some pizza and walked along the sidewalk, watching the water. In the morning we were headed out for Vietnam. It was our earliest morning yet, we had to get on the bus at 6:45am. But no worries! Dragon practice for the upcoming new years started at 5:30. So there was loud drumming coming from the building next door and it made the perfect wake up call. With the end of our time in Cambodia I rethought my reaction that it was a poor, dirty, sad place. It is a poor country with a recent tragic history, but they have done a very good job rebuilding themselves since then. Phnom Penh was a bit strange because the town shut down at about nine every night and it wasn't what you would really expect of a capital but it was still an interesting place to visit.

"Welcome to Thailand!!!" yelled the snorkeling guide for the 100th time

January 17th, 2011 - Day one of our three week adventure around Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Marie Sweetman, Andrew Wanko, Cliff Burke, Ben Engelbach and I showed up to the Hong Kong airport excited for the oncoming voyage. The start was a bit shaky - I had been sick right before we left with a head cold and due to the pressure changes I developed a migraine on the way into the air and on the way back down I thought my head was literally going to explode. It resulted in a three day headache, but I wasn't going to let that stop me! We arrived in Bangkok and headed for the Rainbow Hostel on Khao San Road. Cara Miller, a fellow CTLCer, had run into us at the airport and joined us at the hostel as well as the following day of site seeing. Khao San Road was a crazy new world full of food and trinket stalls, backpackers, dreadlocks, drugs and sex shows. It was a dirty dirty place, but a great location for people watching. Due to our hostel being close to the chaotic loud road, none of us really got much sleep that night despite our attempts. In the morning we still headed out bright and early to start seeing what Bangkok had to offer. The first stop was the Grand Palace. On our way there we met a number of the locals - not a good thing. The one we talked to for the longest had a tourist police badge on and was informing us that due to Buddhist Day the Palace and the Wats (temples) nearby were closed. He said that some of the Wats farther into the city were still open and he could provide us a tuk-tuk to take us (for a small fee of course). We thanked him for the information but didn't want to see the other Wats and figured we could find something else to do. Continuing in the same direction we crossed paths with some fellow foreigners and asked if they had gone to the Grand Palace. They had and were just leaving - they said we should never believe anyone who says that anything is closed especially for holidays. Damn Buddhist Day. So we got to the palace and Wat Pho before lunch after all. The palace was beautiful and very shine. Everything was covered in small mosaics. The place also housed the Emeral Buddha which has different robes depending on the season that the King changes himselff. What Pho, the largest Wat in Bangkok, was also very bright (a common theme in Bangkok) and housed the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand which is gold plated. We crossed the river by boat and had lunch on the West side of Bangkok before going to Wat Arun. This Wat wasn't as large but gave you the ability to climb up to the top of one of the steeples to have a bird's eye view of the city. The stairs were almost at a vertical angle so being careful was important.

The next day we left Cara and took a two day trip to Khao Yai National Park. The Greenleaf Hostel at the park offered a day and a half tour of the area. We arrived a bit late and jumped into the hostel's pick up truck (our first of many rides in the back of an open vehicle) to head to the fist stop on the tour. Joining up with the group, we went swimming at a small waterfall outside the park. Afterward we got back in the truck and went to a Buddhist temple that had an underground cave portion for worshiping. The monks had different prayer areas where they would sit for hours to meditate. One included climbing into a very small hole in the wall that was just big enough to sit up in. Though, we were in the cave more to see bats and insects than to worship. The cave was a large area for collecting guano (bat droppings) that are worth quite a bit of money. During our trip our guide pointed out two tarantulas and caught a giant centipede and cave spider. The later two we got to hold/have put on us if wanted (which of course I did). We asked if any of the creatures were poisonous - the response we got was "a spider isn't poisonous until it bites you". Reassuring. Leaving the cave we headed for another one by a large crop field. Some of the crops included rubber and tapioca trees. This cave was famous for the amount of bats it housed. Every night around 5:30pm 2million wrinkle lipped bats left the cave to go hunting for food. The sight was incredible. It appeared to almost be a river of bats headed into the night. They weren't the only ones hunting either. Hawks waited every night for them to come out and would go grab a few for their own dinner. After a bit we headed back for the truck. Before we got in our leader walked up to us and had a small baggie of something. He looked at us and wispered "Drugs, drugs, I have drugs. Hold out your hand". Not quite sure what was going on we all did so. He gave us each a few little things from his baggie, told us to wait and headed around the group giving everyone some. After it was all passed out he said that these were an old Thailand drug that had been used for ages and that we should all put the seeds under our tongues. Without thinking we all did so. All of a sudden someone let out a little yelp. It started happening all over. It turned out that the seeds he gave to us weren't some form of old drug, they were popping seeds and would pop open when wet (sort of like pop rocks). So you got a little harsh burst under your tongue, and when you're not expecting it, it's pretty funny. He was of course cracking up and thoroughly enjoyed his joke. He said that when he was a kid at sleep overs he and his friends would put wet ones in the nose of whoever fell asleep first. Nice friend. The night ended back at the hostel. We headed to the local convient store and wound up at a small store where a group of Thai guys had created their own karaoke from a laptop. All of them were dancing in very strange ways and were very excited to have us join. Eventually they got us to sing and while we were belting out Bohemian Rhapsody, Andrew and Cliff saw that our new friends were snorting coke - explaining the strange dance moves. At one point on guy was lifting up his shirt and scratching himself. The group saw us noticing and yelled "Sexy Ticks!" and turned the scratching into a new dance move. The next day we saw all our friends again as tour guides around the park for the foreigners (luckily our guide was not one of them).
The day started off with a truck ride to the park. All of a sudden, after we had entered the perimeter, the truck stopped and our guide jumped out. He jetted off and just ran up a hill into the forest. We were all confused and were trying to look around for something that he might be running from. Just as quickly he jumped back out of the forest and was running full speed towards us. He arrived and threw something yellow at us. It took a second but we finally realized that the item was a snake! It was quickly slithering around the bed of the truck trying its best to get out. Ben was closest to the opening of the truck and was screaming and trying his best to get as far away from the snake as possible. Which of course led the guide to try and put the snake on him. Meanwhile Andrew and I were trying our best to get a good picture. The guide finally pulled the snake back out and let us exit the truck and get some good pictures of the yellow whip snake. He came up to Ben and said "You scream like ladies, yes?". The rest of the day mainly consisted of walking around the forest in search of animals. To do so we all had to don some very trendy tick pants. Animals we saw between both days - whip snake, scorpion, horn bill, black giant squirrel, regular red squirrel, macaque monkeys, samba deer, wrinkle lipped bat, centipede, tarantula, cave spider, monitor lizard, big turtle, barking deer. We ate lunch in the jungle out of leaves and tupperware that the guide had brought for us. It was a great meal, but the bees wouldn't leave us alone. Right before lunch we were searching for horn bills. On our journey we passed a nondescript hole in the ground. Our guide stopped, grabbed a long stick and started pushing it in and out of the hole. He didn't say anything, just kept dong it. All of a sudden he jumped up and whipped around. On the end of his stick was a giant scorpion. We were all freaking out and backing up as quickly as possible. After the scare subsided we inched closer and the guide picked up the creator and put it on my shoulder. Andrew was next. It was a very even tempered scorpion the guide said and wouldn't hurt us. Later we came upon a huge ficus tree. The guide told us it was possible to climb to the top, get on the inside of the tree and shimmy your way back down internally. Marie and I attempted, made it up quite a ways but couldn't go any hirer without being very afraid of falling. We then headed for a beautiful waterfall. The guide gave us an hour to explore so Marie and I hiked through the forest a little bit to see where the river went and then headed to the base of the waterfall. The last stop of the trip was to go pet some Samba deer. There is a hostel within the park and the foreigners feed the deer so they are basically tame. They are called Samba because when they walk it looks like they are dancing. It was a great day tromping through the forest but we were ready to get back on the bus and head for Bangkok.

Khao San Road was just how we had left it, except that during that night there was a police raid through the street. The police were riding their bikes down the road shooing vendors out of the area. We were buying food from a noodle stall at the time and the lady would make part of our food, move her cart a bit more down the street away from the cops, stop, make our food some more while watching out and then move a bit more. This process continued for quite awhile until finally our food was done and the police had left the vicinity. Once they had gone every vendor moved right back where they had been.

Day two in Bangkok we went to the National History Museum, the Snake Farm and the art museum. At the History Museum we learned a lot about the Kings of Thailand (they LOVE their kings). The current one is 83 years old and seems like an all around nice guy. In his spare time he travels to different villages giving free health care as well as paints/does photography/writes. There were all sorts of different rooms within the museum - including a game room. Sa-Ka is an ancient Thai game that looks like a lot of fun. After lunch we headed for the Snake Farm. It turned out we missed the milkings (which is what we had been excited to see) so we split up for a bit. Andrew and I still wanted to go see the snakes so we did and the rest sat around and chilled out for a bit. The farm was pretty cool. I learned a lot about snakes - including that female snakes can keep a male's sperm active inside them for awhile so that they can fertilize their eggs whenever they want instead of instantly. Then there was a snake showing. One of the handlers got bit because he was holding the snake in the wrong spot, but the guy didn't seem to mind too much. Then it was on to the art museum. This was a very cool, free, new age kind of place. Two of the country's princesses had exhibits. One was a collection of photos of places and things that the princess and seen/done. It was fun looking at the places she had been, but it seemed an awful lot like a facebook album. There were even dorky captions along with each photo. The other exhibit actually offended me. The princcess said she wanted to capture the beauty of women and had all sorts of inspiring quotes on the walls about inner strength and the such. When you went in and actually saw the photos though they all were basically Victoria Secrets shots. Each woman was scantily clad and very beautiful. So much for looking to show inner beauty. My favorite piece of art that I saw was a statement made out of boxes that said "I am a product of my up bringing". I completely agree with that message. We all have gone our own ways in life and have changed and developed, but deep down we still have all those things our families taught us from age zero. Andrew, Cliff and I finished early so we went to find out if any of the live exhibits were running. We stumbled in on these Thai drummers practicing their routine for their later performance. It was amazing! The group was just having fun and getting into the beat. It was much better than going to see their actual show I think.

That night a teacher from Andrew's school who was also traveling in Thailand met up with us. Her friend didn't speak much English but we tried our best. We had dinner and then took a night time cruise down the river. It was very beautiful. The boat passed some stilted houses, the Royal Barge Museum and a large Buddha that we hadn't gotten to see. After the boat we headed for the market to try and find a bug stand - you got to eat weird food when it's available. To now add to my list of things eaten is a large grasshopper and meal worms. The night ended with Marie and I dancing down the street singing "The Ants Go Marching".

A day trip to Ayutthaya was our next journey. The morning started with our very nice taxi driver - Mr. Chat. And chat he did. The drive to the bus station took almost twice as long because Mr. Chat drove slowly to point out all the monuments along the way. He also showed Ben (who was in the front seat) his passport multiple times to relay his life story. I asked him a question about Buddhism since he had one of the amulets in his window and he ended up giving me another amulet that he had in his glove box. He was very sweet and lived up to his name. A bus ride later we arrived in Ayutthaya and met Mr. Noi who took us around town for four hours for 250 Baht (a little more than $8). Ayutthaya was the previous capital of Thailand. In the 1700s the Burmese attacked the city, destroying many of the Wats and decapitating a vast majority of the Buddha statues. The sights in this part of the country contrasted vastly to Bangkok where everything is new and shimmering. We walked through many ruins and saw the famous Buddha head that has been enveloped by a tree. One of the places we stopped had ruins periodically through the fields. We wandered for awhile until we passed a lake. As we were watching the local birds pick for food, we saw what we thought was a large snake swimming in the middle of the water. Just the day before Andrew and I had learned there were over a hundred different types of snakes in Thailand, 32 of which were poisonous. A couple was walking by so we pointed it out to them and they corrected us and said that it was a large monitor lizard and that there was another one sunning itself by the Wat behind us. We headed that way but unfortunately scared the creature and it slithered back in it's hole before we could get a good picture. Not quite convinced our lake monster wasn't a snake we headed back to the water to find two more things making small waves. But then along the farther shore we saw a few more lizards so..maybe it wasn't a giant snake after all, but maybe it was! We returned to Bangkok and the Rainbow Hostel that now felt like home. At dinner I felt an itch on my upper arm, scratched, felt pain, lifted my sleeve and found a tick!! My first ever! Definitely freaked me out a bit. Who wants a parasite on them?? Well luckily my friends had an array of knowledge about ticks and suggested covering it with something so that it would let go and squirm out. Sun screen was all we had so that is what it was. But it didn't work. Next option was burning it off. Nope. Also not working. The last option was to just pull it off. I couldn't do it myself (sadly too scared) so Andrew took charge and offered to do the dirty work. Marie kindly offered me her hand and instead of holding it I accidentally clawed her as Andrew went to pull the thing off. After an apology to Marie and a thank you to Andrew, I was tick free again!

The next morning we said goodbye to Bangkok and headed out for Koh Chang Island. We bused out to Trat and made our possible first mistake. At one point the bus stopped and said anyone going to Koh Chang get off now, so we did. They dumped us at a single ticket sales counter that sold you a taxi ride to the ferry and the ferry pass for 150 B when all the guide books said that from Trat it would have been about 60B to get to the island. There wasn't much we could do, so we got the tickets and headed off on the taxi. We never did find out the price of the ferry...so maybe it wasn't actually a rip off, who knows. Our first night we stayed at the Jungle Way - a beautiful little place off the beaten path. We still had some of the afternoon left so Cliff and I went on a walk through the woods while the rest went running. The two of us met a dog on the way that we dubbed Rusty. Rusty became our guide through the paths. He eventually wandered off the main road, following a smaller path. We followed. The he got off the smaller path and moved onto and even smaller path. We followed. If he ever got too far ahead Rusty would turn around and make sure we were still there. Eventually it started getting late and we had to get back for dinner. I called out to him letting him know we were leaving and sure enough a little bit after we had turned around Rusty came gallivanting through the woods to show us the way out. There was an elephant camp near the hostel as well, but it was an extremely depressing place with a few elephants who were all chained up with very short reins. The rest of the evening was very peaceful. We walked through the dark to the nearest convenient store and only got really scared once when something started running at us in the bushes - we're still hoping it was a cat. The we sat on the hostel's porch for awhile playing with their dogs and lounging about, it was great.

Andrew and I are the early risers of the bunch so in the morning we went on a small hike and found an abandoned pool full of tadpoles. Along the way we also saw our first snake without a guide. It was probably a foot and a half long and was green and black. As always it was more scared of us than we were of it so it slithered away quickly.

Before we left China we had decided to try and see all aspects of the island and had found three different hostels to stay at for the three nights we were there. So after some breakfast we headed out for Cliff Cottage, our second stop. We had to grab a taxi which was really expensive. But when we tried to tell the driver that he laughed and said "What, are you going to walk?". Touche. Cliff Cottage was in a smaller town on the island, Bang Bao, a cute little fishing village. The place itself was set away from the town by about a ten minute walk. It was right on the cliffs and had a beautiful view of the sunset. We checked in, grabbed some lunch and went swimming. While we were out on the water, Andrew found some very cute crabs and we saw a jellyfish! Since we were there, we couldn't miss the sunset and all grabbed chairs to catch the view. Before it got too dark we left for dinner on the pier in Bang Bao. Getting back, Andrew, Cliff and I stayed up for awhile playing cards and then went out onto the cliff to lie down and watch the stars. The sight was even more gorgeous because the whole horizon was a row of lighted dots where the boats were. In the morning Andrew and I went hiking again through the woods on the adjacent cliff. Still having a bit of time when we got back, I gladly read in one of the hammocks on the hostel's deck. That day was one of the more exciting days on the island. We did a snorkeling tour of four islands - Koh Yak, Koh Rang Yai, Koh Loan and Koh Wai. The fish were wonderful. There were these large pastel colored ones that had intircate scribbles around their eyes. There were also a ton of sea urchins and cucumbers. The boat staff was hilarious and very lively. At one point a guy did a very bad magic show but had us all laughing through the process. One man got an urchin, brought it up and put it on his head for a bit. While snorkeling you would just be swimming through schools of fish. If you stayed still enough they would even come bite you! At one stop we got out onto the beach and they had a turtle sanctuary where we got to see some sea turtles that were going to be released soon. The day was a lot of fun, swimming around, reacquainting myself with snorkeling (thankfully I didn't swallow almost any sea water) and hanging out. But we all ended up with very bad sun burns the next day. In the evening we went in search of our final hostel - Ice Beach. This was by far the jankiest. When we arrived it looked like the place was shut down. There was no one around and you could tell all of the appliances had been shut off for awhile. We finally found a fellow guest who assured us that the place was active and if we waited long enough someone would come along. We waited and they did eventually come. The view from the place was beautiful, it was right on the beach, but the rest of the experience was not the greatest. We got dinner, booked our trip for Cambodia for the next morning and walked around for awhile. Sleeping was a bit difficult - the sun burn, plus a large amount of mosquitoes in my room, plus a large party going on dow the way, plus a cold I was trying to get over gave me trouble but I finally got some rest. In the morning we said goodbye to Thailand and hello to our next country.