Last Minute Preparations for the Annapurna Circuit

On Monday, we embarked on our full day journey to Phnom Penh. Getting to Koh Rong was very easy – we took a van from Kampot, walked a few blocks to the pier, and hopped on a ferry. Getting back to civilization from Koh Rong proved to be low quality and unorganized. After walking on the beach through rain, we were met with a janky old wooden boat that claimed it would take us to the actual ferry back to Sihanoukville. On Koh Rong’s main pier, we transferred over to the ferry we were originally expecting. After all passengers were loaded and we had pushed away from the pier, a crew member got everyone’s attention to tell us, “We’re down to one engine, but I think we’ll be able to make it all the way back to Sihanoukville. Oh and we’re going to drop you off at a different pier than the one you left on, so just wait out on the street for our bus to drive you back into town. Look for a guy in a yellow shirt.” Um… what?! 

Although we could hear and feel the engine being overworked, we successfully made it across the sea… only to dock up next to another boat (had to walk across both boats with our belongings to access the dock) and were dropped off at the Supply Port…. aka the town’s trash dump. I think there was more trash than water near the dock. After walking past massive garbage bags overflowing with trash and plastic bottles, we made it to the street. Our bus arrived about twenty minutes later to transport us back into town. Flynn and I found a Tourist Information Center and booked the next bus to Phnom Penh. We were told we would get picked up right at the center, but they failed to mention it was a sketchy old van that would transport us to the real bus. By 1pm, we had taken a janky wooden boat, subpar ferry, coach bus, and sketchy van before finally hopping on a leather-seated bus for the 5 hour journey to Phnom Penh.

Normal traffic pattern for Phnom Penh… good luck trying to figure it out.

We arrived in Phnom Penh around 7pm and checked into our hostel. The 24/7 electricity, air conditioning, and wifi along with a very clean room and bathroom were greatly welcomed by us after our remote/lacking facilities in Koh Rong. After settling in, we met up for dinner with my cousin, Chantz, who has lived in Phnom Penh for the last five and a half years. We ate fried rice, prawns, and veggies in a tamarind sauce which was delicious! Flynn went back to the hostel and Chantz and I headed out on the town for some country music and rounds of Liar’s Dice. What are the chances that Monday nights are country nights at one of the bar’s here in town?! Chantz knew the lead singer of the cover band and he came over to chat with us during their break. After introducing me and explaining that I was excited to hear some country music, the lead singer said, “I figured as much. When you got to the top of the stairs, I saw your eyes get big with a goofy smile plastered to your face.”  I don’t think you understand my level of love for country music and especially for LIVE country music. This never happens in Asia!

Flynn and I hit the ground running Tuesday morning. We had booked a full day tour of the S21 prison and Killing Fields through our hostel which left at 8:30am. The S21 prison was our first stop and deeply disturbing. They showed graphic pictures of the last 14 victims found and had them blown up to the size of movie posters. The audio tour discussed in detail the torture techniques used and showed the equipment recovered. It was troubling to hear that a) this genocide happened so recently (1975-1979) yet this was the first time I had heard about it, b) 1.5 million to 3 million people of all ages were murdered in a span of 4 years, and c) there are Cambodians who visit S21 prison to this day to try to identify their family members in hundreds of mug shot pictures. Flynn and I walked through the S21 prison separately and when we met back up two hours later, we both mentioned how nauseous we felt. Is this from the food we ate last night? Please don’t be food poisoning again! Maybe it’s from this place and the gory details and pictures? This is way worse than Dachau. 

We boarded the van along with our 11 other hostel mates and drove out to one of the over 300 killing fields. The Killing Fields were again set up with an audio tour and described how the mass graves were found, how many people were killed daily (typically around 300), and their execution methods. My nausea only increased at the Killing Fields. The audio tour explained how the Killing Tree (still erected) was used to kill babies by holding on to their ankles, smashing their heads against the tree, and tossing them into the nearby mass grave. Upon discovery, brain matter and skull fragments were found embedded in the bark. It took everything in my power not to throw up after hearing that and staring at the actual tree.

After our hour tour concluded, Flynn and I sat in a restaurant and attempted to digest everything we were just told and shown, but we found it difficult to come up with words other than “what the….”. After further research, I learned the leaders of Khmer Rouge weren’t convicted until 2007-2012. Seriously, how did I miss all of this international news?!

Floor to ceiling showcases of a small portion of skulls recovered at the Killing Fields

Once we got back to our hostel, I took a much needed nap as my body just didn’t feel right. When I woke up two hours later, I was still feeling off, but wanted to try to accomplish my Nepal To-Do list. After struggling to concentrate and make any progress, I retreated back into my bed and listened to my body yelling at me to give it a break. I think it was a combination of my time in Koh Rong, the previous nights’ food, lack of sleep, and the tour that caused my body to just shut down. My insides hurt and my brain couldn’t process what others were saying to me.

I’m happy to report after sleeping for 10 and a half hours, I was back to my normal functioning self and able to actually write a coherent blog. You should have seen what I attempted to write Tuesday night… Yikes… 

Wednesday was spent completing my To-Do list and running last minute errands. About midday we headed over to Chantz’s apartment to get one last workout in and take a well-deserved break at his rooftop pool.

View of Phnom Penh from Chantz’s rooftop pool

All of Thursday was spent making our way to Nepal. Our flight from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur was uneventful. Our flight from KL to Kathmandu was a different story. The Nepalise men were very confused during the boarding process. They didn’t understand their ticket had a seat number on it so the stewardess had to show each one of them where to sit. We were two of ten white people on the flight and two of only four females. The men looked at Flynn and I as if we were aliens. Where are all the women?! I feel like we’re about to enter a whole new level of male dominance. 

Incredible sunset from the plane

When we arrived at the Kathmandu airport, again, there was an overwhelming amount of men and hardly any women around. With so many men around, my chances of finding a husband have to be astronomically high.

We arrived to our hostel (creatively named 8848 Hostel because you know, the height of Mt. Everest is 8,848 meters) and were looking forward to getting some sleep. Unfortunately, the walls and windows were super thin so I got maybe three hours of sleep. As Flynn described to her husband, Paul, the next morning, “It was like seven families and their dogs were having dinner in our room.” It was so loud that I got up to check that our windows were shut three times throughout the night…. and we were on the 5th floor!

After breakfast on Friday, Flynn and I headed out to get our two trekking permits. One hour and $40 later (each), we had our permits in our hands! Is this really happening?! The rest of the day was spent taking money out of ATMs (we have to carry all our money on us for the next 21 days), breaking down said money into small bills (the villages in the higher elevations typically won’t be able to break the equivalent of $10), buying gear (down jackets as the high has only been about 10 degrees in some of the higher elevations, Nalgene which perfectly connects to our water filter), and buying last minute items (Tiger Balm for our sore muscles, chapstick with SPF, face wash so I don’t have to carry all my Proactiv products, peanut butter for energy on the trail, etc.).

Trying to navigate the side streets of Kathmandu

Our original plan was to hop on a bus Saturday morning to begin trekking on Sunday. After a full day spent walking around Kathmandu buying our necessary items, we felt we still needed one more day to get everything done and not feel rushed. Our main problem was money. Flynn was only about to take out the equivalent of $500 per day and we needed as least $630 to get us through three weeks. Then came the issue of breaking our money down into small bills. 1,000 Nepali rupees comes out of ATMs ($10), but most items will cost between 100-500 Nepali rupees ($1-$5) while on the trail. We had been warned if you need to pay 200 rupees and only have 1,000 rupees on you, the entire village will have to combine their money to create your change or you’ll just be out whatever amount they are unable to scrap together.

I first headed to a bank to get change, but they were only able to break down 20,000 of my 80,000 Nepalese rupees. After explaining why I needed the small bills, the staff member told me to come back the next day between noon-3pm and they would be able to break down most of my remaining money. We then decided to try our luck at a currency exchange as they are not allowed to charge a commission for their services. We quickly found out most currency exchange places were either unable or unwilling to break down more than a 1,000 rupees bill (I had over 60 that still needed to be converted).

We switched to a hotel Friday evening so a) we could get a decent night’s sleep and b) two friends from high school just so happened to be coming back from a trek in the Annapurna region and were also staying at the hotel. Being raised in a town of 1,000 people, I am literally halfway around the world and hanging out with Nick Maguire from Treynor and Maureen Houser from Riverside. I mean, what are the chances?!

Dinner with Nick and Maureen

On Saturday, we headed back out to the streets to get the rest of our items. Once noon rolled around, we headed to the bank. The staff member remembered me right away (probably because I wore the exact same clothes as yesterday; trying to save my clean clothes for beginning the trek and another stash for when I return) and went into a back office. She emerged with a canvas bag in her hands, sized similar to a regular drawstring bag, and a security office to stand next to me. In a matter of ten minutes, I had changed out 45 of my 60 remaining large bills in exchange for stacks of 100s ($1) and 50s ($.50). Once the canvas bag was empty,  it was Flynn’s turn…. except I had cleaned the bank out completely… so we were back to square one to break down Flynn’s money.

$800 worth of Nepalese rupees

This specific bank was the only one we could find open on a Saturday (their Saturday is equivalent to our Sunday) so we spent the next three hours literally going into every single currency exchange place on two streets (there is one about every 20 meters) and just taking whatever amount they would break down. By 4pm, we had arrived back to our hotel with 90% of the money converted. We spent one hour going through our gear, splitting up shared items, and packing everything we’ll need for the next three weeks into two 70 liter backpacks, each weighing 35 pounds. The weight is definitely heavier than we wanted, but due to starting out at 2,624 feet and hiking as high as 17,777 feet, we have to carry warm, cold, and rain gear for the duration of our trek.

Everything that went into my 70L backpack

It is now Saturday night as I’m writing this blog. Tomorrow we will leave out hotel at 6am to catch our 7am bus to Besisahar. While it’s only 179km away, we anticipate it taking between 6-8 hours due to road conditions (still lots of destruction from the back to back earthquakes in 2015) and traffic.

Typical road in Kathmandu caused by the 2015 earthquakes

This will be the last blog until April 22 as I will not have wifi for the next three weeks and even if I did, I’m not about to add an additional 8 pounds to carry my laptop through the Himalayas. Plus, there’s a strong chance we’ll be without electricity in most of the villages once we reach a certain elevation. I do plan to keep an old school handwritten daily journal while on the trail and will type up all my thoughts and experiences for you upon my return to civilization.

Over the next three weeks, I anticipate using only my feet as a mode of transportation, being completely disconnected from the outside world, wearing only two outfits (one for hiking, one for hanging out in the villages at night), hiking an average of 7 hours per day, eating dal bhat twice a day every day, going to the bathroom outside more often than inside, and sleeping in a shack where you can hear a person fart three rooms down. So why am I doing this you might ask?! Because I’m about to see some of the most beautiful scenery on this planet, hike in the Himalayas with one of my best friends, and cross Thorong La Pass, the highest navigable pass in the world.

HERE WE GO!!!!!!

 

So. Much. Fun.

Sorry for the late post! I was without wifi and electricity was hit or miss (much more miss than hit) for majority of this last week. Gotta think all the way back to 10 days ago…. Ah, yes… back to Siem Reap and coming off food poisoning. 

On Monday, I woke up feeling great and ready to tackle our last day in Siem Reap. We had purchased a three day pass to Angkor Wat and still had one more day to use up. We checked out of our hostel, put our bags in their luggage storage, and biked our way north to Angkor Wat. Our plan was to bike the remaining half of the Grand Circuit which included five temples. I was in high spirits after the first two, but felt progressively worse with the other three.

Just taking it all in

Not too shabby of a picture after having food poisoning

While walking into the final temple on our route, I got bit three times in a row by some bug/insect. After leaving the temple 15 minutes later, my arm was swollen and hot to touch. (I’ve had this happen once or twice in every country I’ve visited on this trip, but have yet to figure out what animal causes my body to have this reaction.) We found a street vendor with some ice and jimmy rigged it to my arm using a plastic bag, pre-wrap, and the assistance of a parking attendant. Great way to test out our First Aid skills for Nepal!

Prime First Aid skills right there

With the bag of ice mostly secured to my arm, we started biking back towards the exit. I soon began to feel lightheaded so Flynn and I stopped under the shade of a tree. After a 10 minute break, I still wasn’t feeling any better so we decided I would hire a tuk tuk to take my bike and I back to the hostel. Unfortunately, there weren’t any tuk tuks near us which led us to bike two miles before we found one. By that point I was super out of it – lightheaded and blotchy vision, confused (I knew Flynn was speaking English to me, but my mind couldn’t process what she was saying), overheated (sun was blazing), dehydrated (no liquids in my body), and no strength (my diet had consisted of 4 crackers, rice, and a fried egg over the last 36 hours). While it was obviously the right decision, I felt like such a failure during the ride to the hostel. These people probably think I’m such a wimp who bit off more than I could chew with biking Angkor Wat. They don’t even know this is my third day of biking and I’ve already covered 84 miles!

Sitting on my top bunk in the hotel bus

After laying on benches in the hostel for the next four hours (we had already checked out of our room), it was finally time to catch our night bus to Kampot. It was labeled as a hotel bus and it was awesome! There were bunk beds in place of seats and slept 26 people. The left side of the bus had double bed bunk beds and the right side had single bed bunk beds. Each bed had an outlet, light, and vent. Pillows and blankets were provided. Flynn and I crawled into our sleeping bags and grabbed some shut eye before being woken up at 4am when we arrived in Kampot. We found two other people heading to our hostel and shared a tuk tuk. Because our hostel’s reception didn’t open until 7am, we got back into our sleeping bags and slept on the outdoor bar’s benches for another few hours.

Flynn snoozing away while we waited for reception to open

Once the sun came up and the staff arrived to work, we were able to see what we were about to get into for the next two days…. it was like summer camp for adults! There were eight apparatuses over the river – zipline, rock wall, rope swing, slide, blob, platform, Russian Swing, and a floating bar.

My breakfast was served beer… yep, I think I’m going to like this place! Another awesome thing about this hostel is that it’s not on any third party booking sites. It’s strictly through word of mouth – a girl I met back in Penang, Malaysia had told me about this hostel and gave me their email address to make a reservation.

Why yes, I would love a beer with my breakfast while I update my blog. How thoughtful!

The next two days were spent flinging ourselves into the river. We did take some time out on Wednesday to hike 14km to a waterfall with our packs on to check our fitness and stamina levels for Nepal. We anticipate we’ll hike 10-20km per day so while this hike didn’t have too much incline, it was still a great test.

Testing our fitness and stamina levels

Our fun at Arcadia Backpackers and Waterpark came to an end Thursday morning. We hopped on a two hour van ride to Sihanoukville where we caught a late afternoon ferry to the remote island of Koh Rong. After a 25 minute walk on the beach, we arrived at our hostel, Nest Beach Club, and had a low key night. Pretty sure we were both sound asleep before 9pm.

On Friday, we woke up bright and early and were greeted with an amazing view! Crystal clear waters, white sand beaches, hammocks, beach volleyball… really the definition of paradise.  We spent the next three days out in the sun enjoying beers and playing LOTS of beach volleyball. I played so much beach volleyball that I still have bruises on my forearms three days later (the volleyball’s quality was less than par). Every day around 2:30/3pm, we would gather up people from the beach and play until the sun went down. We had electricity for maybe six hours a day and only had wifi after walking 30 minutes through the jungle into the village.

Our daily view of 4K Beach which our hostel was located on

We met some really awesome people during our time in Koh Rong. There was a group of Israelis who walked through the jungle to our hostel to partake in our daily game of beach volleyball. There was a fellow American who has been teaching all over Asia for the last seven years. We met two Indian guys who were experiencing hostel life for the first time and talked to their mothers over 10 times a day. We ran into Frederick and Espen, two Norwegian guys we originally met at Arcadia Backpackers. During their bus ride to Sihanoukville, they met Batina, a German model, and the five of us became one big happy family for three days.

Police Beach

Saturday night we went to a rave on Police Beach. Ironic, right? It was supposed to go until sunrise, but electricity was knocked out at about 4am. While some of our crew then went back to the hostel to catch a few hours of sleep, I and a few others stayed out on the beach and caught the sunrise. This made for a hilarious Sunday breakfast as we turned slaphappy… where you are so delirious that the most mundane thing can bring you to laughing so hard you cry. Somehow we rallied through the whole day, again playing beach volleyball and enjoying cold drinks. That evening after enjoying a pot roast dinner as a family, the five of us booked a night boat to see glowing plankton. We were able to spend one hour in the water under the cover of night watching the plankton light up as we moved our bodies through the water. By 10pm, I was more than ready for bed as it had been 40 hours since I’d last slept.

Talk about a slaphappy breakfast…

This week was in the top two of most fun weeks I’ve had on this trip. The two days spent outside of Kampot at Arcadia Backpackers and Waterpark filled my thrill-seeking ways. The four days in Koh Rong laying out, playing beach volleyball, consuming too many drinks to count, and suffering from a major lack of sleep fit in perfectly with my desire to enjoy the last year of my 20’s to its fullest.

The crew for Police Beach

Country #18 – Cambodia

I enjoyed a full morning off from tutoring on Monday by running errands, training for Nepal, and laying out by the pool. The highlight came at lunch time when I enjoyed some real tasting Tex-Mex! I commonly crave Mexican food and more often than not, I’m let down by the quality here in Asia. Is this how Asians feel when eating Chinese food in America?! Sunrise Tacos Grill actually served bottomless chips and salsa (10 different kinds to choose from!!!) and a delicious tasting burrito! The chips and salsa options were so good (my favorite being the fresh pineapple salsa), I crushed three baskets of chips and took my burrito home for dinner.

Tuesday morning started off with three hours of tutoring and then checking out of my apartment. I had some time to kill between when I had to be out of my apartment and when I could check into the hotel room that Tina, Flynn, and I shared so I headed back to the Mexican restaurant and downed another extensive amount of chips and salsa. I tutored that evening in our hotel room by using my phone as a mobile hotspot and met up for drinks with Tina and Flynn after.

On Wednesday, I was woken up at 7am by Flynn and Tina willingly getting ready for a run. Curtains open, sun streaming in, excitedly chatting about their route to run the streets of Bangkok. Remind me again why I’m friends with these two?! After failing to fall back asleep, I headed out to the corner to do my laundry. Yes, their laundromats are outside on the sidewalk.

After your clothes are cleaned in the outdoor washer, you hang them up and hope nobody takes them while they air dry.

Ferry ride down the Chao Phraya River

Later that morning, the three of us met up with Nikki, another girl from Denver. She arrived through the night to begin her year long ’round-the-world-trip. The four of us hopped on a tourist ferry and cruised down the Chao Phraya River to the Flower Market and the famous Reclining Buddah. I thought I was templed out before getting to the Reclining Buddah, but man, I was blown away by the sheer size of it! It was easily 30 yards long, by 30 feet high. So impressive.

 

Reclining Buddah – absolutely massive

We capped our day off by getting massages. This one put Tiger Balm on our backs instead of oil or lotion. It felt like Icy Hot, which was really nice, and smelled even better than Icy Hot, which I didn’t think was possible. Tina caught her flight home that night and Flynn and I turned in early as we had to be out of the hotel by 5:30am to catch our bus to Cambodia.

After my varying experiences of long-haul bus trips in Malaysia, I had prepared myself for the worst. Our bus ticket said it would take 12 hours, so I assumed it would be at least 14 hours. We stocked up on snacks and drinks because we weren’t sure how often we would stop. We were pleasantly surprised when a) they fed us breakfast and lunch, b) our seats reclined back 75 degrees and had a foot rest, and c) we arrived in Siem Reap in only eight hours.

Crossing the Thailand-Cambodia border, now THAT was an experience. We were given a crash course into how to cross the border by our bus driver. “First, exit stamp from Thailand, walk, Cambodia visa, then Cambodia stamp. Meet back on bus by hotel.” Um… ok? Sounds simple enough. Five minutes later, we hear, “Quick, everybody off!” We literally hopped off the bus as it was still moving. We followed the crowd of people through the Thailand immigration. Easy, peasy.

Literally walking across the Thailand-Cambodia border

Then we walked outside, followed the sidewalk towards a sign saying Kingdom of Cambodia, and then chaos ensued. Guys on motorbikes asking if we needed rides. Buses and vans to our right getting inspected. Other people from our bus had gone off in all directions. So where do you think we go now? I think he said something about a palace? Maybe that big building? We asked one of the motorbike guys where to go and he pointed us down another sidewalk filled with street vendors. “Oh! There’s the hotel we’re supposed to meet at. And there’s our bus!” As we crossed the street and approached our bus, we realized we hadn’t gotten our Cambodian visa or stamp, yet we had somehow already crossed over into Cambodia. Our bus driver kindly showed us back to the Visa on Arrival office (still not sure how other people found it) and then guided us to the random cement building where our visa was stamped. How did we just do that? It’s harder to get into a local farmers’ market in Colorado than to enter the country of Cambodia. 

Cambodia’s tuk tuks are more like chariots compared to Thai tuk tuks.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, our tuk tuk driver was waiting to take us to our hostel. After checking in to our private room (it sure is nice to travel with a friend and not be in dorm rooms!), we found bikes to rent for a measly $2/day, grabbed a beer on Pub Street (hello $.50 happy hour!), and were in bed by 9:30pm.

Our awesome cruiser bikes complete with a basket

I can get used to these prices – all in USD too!

Flynn and I were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when we woke up to our 5am alarm on Friday. Besides the Annapurna Circuit, seeing Angkor Wat was the next highest thing on Flynn’s bucket list for this trip. Years earlier, she had visited Borobudur in Indonesia and Bagan, Myanmar which combined with Angkor Wat is the trifecta for holiest places in Buddhism. We put on our headlamps, hopped on our bicycles, and pedaled our way north to the entrance. Again, just when I thought I was all templed out, out came the Angkor Wat complex in all its glorious beauty, numerous temples, and large land mass.

Outside the Angkor Wat temple

Our first temple of the day was the actual Angkor Wat. It is one of the few major tourist attractions that was 100% worth the money in my opinion. My expectations were high and it far exceeded them. From the intricate details to the sheer volume and height, I was thoroughly impressed. After some breakfast with Angkor Wat in the background, we temple hopped the Grand Circuit for the next ten hours and covered 40 miles on our bicycles…. a feat which I have never done before.

Biking around the Angkor Wat complex

Even though I was sore and exhausted, I headed to BlackLab Coffee, a co-working space, to tutor for the evening. My original plan was to tutor inside our private room at the hostel, but a) the hostel wifi didn’t have a fast enough connection, and b) my local SIM card didn’t support a mobile hotspot. For those unfamiliar with a co-working space, they come in all shapes and sizes. You either have to pay upon entry or order food/drink to use their internet. There are tables, outlets, and chairs everywhere and everyone is on their laptop working with their headphones on while in a big open space. Some co-working spaces are very quiet while others encourage brainstorming sessions to help generate creativity and share ideas. Even though BlackLab was quiet, I still paid extra for a private room as Cambly requires a quiet background and nobody else passing behind you on your video feed. Plus, I didn’t want to be that one annoying person that everyone would be able to hear the constant conversations with my students.

Small glimpse of the sunrise over Angkor Wat

We started Saturday morning off the same as the previous morning… 5am alarm, biked up to Angkor Wat, but this time we were actually able to catch the sunrise behind Angkor Wat. Other travelers have compared this experience to watching the sunrise at Machu Picchu. And again, it was worth the hype! The sunrise was a majestic orange which pictures just do not do it justice. After another breakfast with Angkor Wat in the background, we temple hopped through the Small Circuit for seven hours and covered 28 miles on our bicycles.

So many miles were covered on this bike…

That evening, I headed back to BlackLab Coffee for a few more hours of tutoring before I take the next six weeks. Before my first student, I ordered a mango smoothie and gulped it down. It was just the right amount of cold, mango, and sweetness. Promptly an hour later, my stomach started to feel queasy. That’s odd. It progressively got worse and then in the middle of tutoring a six-year-old whose

If only I knew what was about to occur an hour after snapping this picture…

parents weren’t in the room with her, I felt it… the rising up from my stomach to my throat, my mouth salivating, no, no, no, no! “Grace, I’m sorry, I will be right back, go get your parents and tell them I’m going to be sick!” I said quickly as I ripped my headphones out of my ear, pushed the door open, and sprinted to the bathroom just in time to vomit up my mango smoothie. Phew! I feel much better now! Wonder what was in that thing…? I returned to Grace and explained to her parents what happened, but said I could finish the lesson as I was feeling much better. I finished her lesson and got through a short 10 minute lesson with a different student before I was throwing up in the bathroom again. Mango smoothies do not taste good the second and third time around.

I couldn’t see an end in sight so I cancelled the rest of my classes that evening and headed back to the hostel where I spent the next three hours violently purging every amount of liquid out of my body. I even went so far as to have an FPS, what Adam commonly refers to as a fetal position shower…. where it takes every ounce of effort in your body just to lay over the floor while the shower runs over you.

While Sunday came around with no more purging, my stomach was still very queasy, my back, neck, and core were sore, and I was beyond exhausted so I didn’t leave my bed.

Needless to say, I had my first encounter with food poisoning. I’m not sure if I got it from the mango smoothie (not sure what kind of water source was used to make the ice) or from the sweet and sour chicken I ate earlier that day, but thank God, we were in a private room.

My initial impression of Cambodia in general and Siem Reap is awesome! I really like when I enter a place country or city and immediately know it’s where I want to be. Being able to say that even after having food poisoning… yeah, I’m going to like it here!

Temple where Tomb Raider was filmed

We visited so many temples, I can’t even remember which temple this one was

Not entirely sure how the white tree was able to grow out of this temple and not crush the decaying stones… pretty impressive!

Inside Angkor Wat temple

Another inside area of Angkor Wat temple

Climbing steep stairs with a towel wrapped around your waist was not the easiest thing to do

Inside my favorite temple within the complex – Bayon Temple

My absolute favorite picture of Flynn and I to date

 

 

Back to the Grind

While Flynn and Tina headed north to Chiang Mai (same city I originally started my travels in with the family in December 2016), I jumped back into the workplace grind. I worked 53 hours this week and by Sunday night, I was exhausted to say the least. I sound like SUCH a millennial. I woke up each morning to my 7:45am alarm and started tutoring at 8am sharp. At noon, I changed into my swimsuit and headed down to the pool to lay out for a bit. After I felt tan enough, I headed back up to my apartment to take an hour or two nap before starting my second shift at 5pm. At 9 o’clock, I grabbed some dinner and headed off to bed. When I read back through this, I’m really not helping the case against stereotypical millennials. But man, after essentially being on vacation for four and a half months straight, it’s a little bit of a struggle to get back into the work mentality. 

I’ve started to get more regular/repeat students but I kind of feel bad that I will take 4-6 weeks off after I just developed a plan of attack and established a relationship with these students. I have notified some students already, but others I’ll drop the bomb on at the end of next week.

I had some rather interesting and eye-opening conversations with students this week. I chatted with a guy from Syria who escaped to Saudi Arabia during the war, but was separated from his family who ended up in Turkey. He hasn’t been able to see his family in over six years due to border restrictions on Syrian citizens.

I had a 51-year-old Brazilian divorcee who recently discovered Tinder. Tinder is a dating app that matches you with others based on your current GPS location. Two times this week for an hour each, we discussed his dating life and he showed me pictures of the women he matched with.

I chatted with a lady from Saudi Arabia about Disney movies and which ones were our favorites. Mulan and Lion King are my top two while Beauty and the Beast takes the crown for her. In discussing the topic of women being allowed to drive in Saudi starting this October (she’s a little nervous but overall excited), I learned that it’s common practice to employ drivers from India. Her family has two drivers to shuttle around her sisters, her mom, and herself. Her family provides the vehicles, separate housing on their property, visa sponsorship, and payment on top for their drivers. Her family also employs a maid from the Philippines. The maid is given a room inside the house, invited to eat dinner with the family nightly, visa sponsorship, and payment on top. It was interesting how they keep their drivers very separate from the family, but welcome the maid into their personal lives so freely.

J and I were discussed the topic of age. The conversation led towards taking care of elderly parents. J is expected to and gladly will move his parents into his own home once they begin to need additional help. I explained to him that most times, Americans will place their parents in nursing homes when they are no longer able to take care of themselves. After a shocking look crossed over his face, he asked, “But don’t you owe it to your parents to take care of them after they took care of you for all those years?!” Well, when you put it that way, I feel like a terrible human being. But let’s be real… I’m still going to throw Barb into a nursing home.

I had a Turkish student who chose the discussion topic of adventure. Oooo! This’ll be fun to compare notes! After I told him the adventurous things I have done in my life and still want to do, he replied, “Yeah, I don’t know why I chose this topic. I’m not very adventurous. I can’t even ride a gondola or monorail.”

The most shocking conversation came from a Saudi Arabian man while discussing marriage. He informed me that he has a secret girlfriend (Western style of dating is prohibited in Saudi) of over two years who he is madly in love with. The problem is his mom will chose his future wife and because his mom doesn’t know his girlfriend, he will have to marry someone else. I told him how unfortunate it was that he wasn’t going to be able to marry the love of his life. He said the only chance he has of being with her is if his cousin is empty (meaning can’t bare children for him). There must be something lost in translation here. He doesn’t actually mean his cousin. I asked him to describe what the term cousin meant to him. He said, “You know, my dad’s brother’s daughter. That’s who my mom will chose for me to marry.” WHAT?!?!?!?! I explained to him how it is illegal in the US to marry your cousin (upon research I learned you actually can marry your first cousin in 26 states, 7 of which have infertility exceptions, GROSS). As if that knowledge wasn’t shocking enough, he preceded to tell me how he has to have a job before he can marry because males have to pay the bride’s father the equivalent of $15,000 USD for her hand in marriage.  “So you are literally buying your future bride?!” “No. That money goes towards getting her ready to be married to me, like clothing and a car.” Doesn’t matter how you spin it, you’re still purchasing your bride. I was so shocked by these two revelations that later in the week, I asked three of my other Saudi students (two males, one female) and all confirmed both of these were customary traditions in their country.

My week ended on two high notes. 1) I was rated 4.97 out of 5 in my first week tutoring! I have no idea what most tutors’ overall ratings are (students are asked to rate each of their tutors), but I honestly didn’t expect THAT high of a rating. Cue happy dance here! 2) I was asked to be interviewed and featured as a guest blogger on another travel blog! Apparently more than just my family and friends get a kick out of my adventures. After researching the other travel blog (super legit, the blog was awarded top 100 Photography Travel Blogs in 2017), I said yes!  My installment will be published in June. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely share the link with all of you.