copy of email sent during trip to Thailand, December 2004 - January 2005
Hey everyone! I’m finally emailing! Been gone over a week and I haven’t checked my mail until last night, but the line was horrible - better here in Bangkok.
Short version: just got back today from Cambodia, which was just amazing. Leave the day after tomorrow for Ko Lanta, which will be nice - I’m tired of Bangkok, it is as dirty and smelly as ever. Not to say it isn’t fun, but I’m ready to move on.
So the long version is….(please don’t feel obligated to read the whole thing, I blab but part of it is just so I have a record myself, I didn’t bring a journal ’cause last year and I wrote in it once!!!!!)
The trip here was pretty bad - delayed an hour in YVR - of course they don’t tell you until you’re on the darn plane…grrr. So when we arrived in San Fran we had to sprint all Amazing Race-like to the next terminal and find the gate…no time to stop to grab a bite to eat or anything. Got to our gate and the flight is not officially delayed, but the puters are down so they wanted you to board the plane and wait. Ya right. I told them I have 30 hours of travelling to do, not adding 2 hours on the plane! Had to wait at the gate - fun. The flight was pretty brutal - 11 hours, ugh.
Got to Tokyo and the 3 hour layover was cut to 1 hour…until THAT flight was delayed. Sat in a bar & drank Sapporo and chatted to other people. Anyhoooooooooo long story short(er) didn’t get to our guest house until after 3:00 am, which is about noon Sunday - got up at 3:00 am Saturday to head out. Long freaking “day”!!!!
The first day here just kinda hung out - pretty tired. See, I can’t remember that night already…Oh ya - waiting for Jeff to show up, but he didn’t (delayed flight!!!) The next day we wanted to go to this big dept. store and we asked the taxi guy to take us there. Well, I guess there’s more than one because we ended up in the boonies. Figure it was like getting in a taxi in Vancouver & saying “take me to wal-mart” & they take you to one in Surrey!!!!!
Later that night we found an indian place in our book & jumped in a tuk tuk. The guy sayd 40 B which is really cheap, but then he tries to give us the hard sell on the tailor scam, so we got out - in the middle of no where! Ended up getting another one after being told to wait on the street by a swanky hotel guy. HA! The indian food was awesome though. We ran into Jeff’s friend Chris later that night, then jeff and had a few drinks.
The next day (Wed) I was sick SICK SICK SICK. It was like the flu - I’m not sure if food poisoning would be like that?!?! I was shaking, freezing cold, boiling hot, barfing, “etc” and just miserable. I was so upset because we were set to leave for Cambodia in the morning and there was NO WAY I could have gone feeling like that. I piled on two blankets, my fleece & a towel, turned off the a/c and took some tylenol & luckily felt better in the morning.
Thursday - Cambodia. I could write a lot……….it is really really beautiful there and really heartbreaking. The poverty is extreme. Today we went to a floating village and it was just…wow. these little tiny shacks on the water & people are bathing, washing clothes & dishes & swimming in the water. Anyways, I have lots of pictures….
Thursday afternoon we checked into our guesthouse, which was great. then we went to Angkor Wat, the biggest & most well persevered temple. It’s is just over the top amazing. I can’t explain it….this is the big one you may have seen in pictures of the temples of Angkor. it is stunning to look at it & realize just how old it is (built in the 1100’s I think). The next morning we got up at 5:00 am and watched the sunrise over Angkok Wat. Something I will never forget (I just gave myself a shiver remembering). Beautiful, amazing, spectacular…doesn’t even cover it at all.
Went to a bunch of other temples, all of which were amazing…some more than others. My favorites were the bayan, which has these huge pillars with four faces carved in each of them. TOO cool. Later that day went to…oh crap I can’t remember the name….oh tah prohm or something - it is totally over run with trees & roots growing all around it, like the roots alone are 10 - 20 feet high!!!!!! It is all crumbling & probably completely unsafe, but the coolest place I’ve ever seen. You have to remind yourself you are standing in a jungle in the middle of Cambodia, looking at something that is 1000 years old. The temple itself is amazing (that people could build it) but also that nature just takes over whatever is in its path….you’ll have to see the pictures.
Saturday was more temples, all cool…too much to explain here. At every temple there are hordes of kids selling things and they are brutal. They absolutely swarm you, but they are so incredibly cute…and filthy, it just breaks your heart. We took lots of pictures (which they then demand $1 for!). Went for dinner on kind of a touristy street in Siem Reap and it’s pretty bad there - there are so many land mine victims begging - women, children, men. Most are missing a leg, some two…some drag themselves along the ground with flip flops on their hands, dragging their stumps behind them. Women with one arm are holding their babies, little kids are hobbling along. It’s really really awful. They say there are 10 million mines in Cambodia - enough for one for every person there. It will take about 200 years to get rid of them all, and they are still being laid today. I didn’t realize the Khmer Rouge is still around, but they are (just not in power).
Anyways, I’d LOVE to spend more time in Cambodia, but we headed back today and now I’ve been typing this for half and hour!!! I guess I should go, going to have something to eat nearby since i’m pretty beat from 3 days of templing.
Oh, I didn’t mention the heat - I know you don’t want to hear me complain about the heat (sorry) but man oh man is it hot in Cambodia, ugh. At one point Jeff said “Am I ACTUALLY melting????” It’s gross, especially when you are climbing all the temples. They had a real thing for tiny steep stairs, I tell ya. So steep when you are at the top looking down, you can barely see them!! But I didn’t wipe out once - yay me.
OK better run and I’m sure my next email will be a lot shorter, as the Lanta plan is lying around and eating!!!
Merry Christmas everyone, love you lots!!!
