Cambodia Angkor W(h)at!?

Many of you were wondering where I slept as I traveled. I finally remembered to take some pictures of my dorm room in Cambodia. For less than $5 per night, I slept in one of the bunk beds, in a room with eight total beds. I also had a wooden storage locker for my stuff, and breakfast was included (the egg baguette). And while I relaxed at this hostel, I also found some friends who played chess with me, and there was a small pond/fountain that worked as a fish spa. It's the thing to do here, sometimes along with a massage. The fish nibbled away the dead skin on my feet. It tickled, but I thought it was cool.

Weeks 1-2: Siem Reap. The temples at Angkor, including, but not limited to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Tomb Raider temple (where Angelina Jolie filmed a scene for the movie). I rode a bicycle about 7 km (one way) to the temples on four separate occasions. I joined a Colombian woman I met at my guesthouse for my fifth day excursion. She hired a tuk-tuk for the sunrise at Angkor Wat followed by twelve exhausting hours of following around an English speaking guide to some of the main temples (many of which I had already explored on my own). He had some fun stories, history and insights that he shared, but I much preferred not being led around on a tour. I spent much time, especially during the scorching hot afternoons with a fan blowing air on me in front of a computer as I attempted to figure out 'what I want to be when I grow up.' Not exactly that, but I was trying to decide what to do when I get home...my next step, if you will. Nothing earth shattering has been decided, and I definitely didn't get the next five years planned out or anything. Honestly, I'm still deciding if I want to stay stateside or go abroad again...And of course all of the details that those imply. Sigh. It will all work out :)

Week 3: Kristina's friend, Andrea, came to hang out for two weeks. We started in Phnom Penh with a visit to S-22, a school turned prison during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. We also went to the Killimg Fields, which is exactly what it sounds like. There was an audio tour with survivor stories and crying on my part. It still hurts my heart to think about what the Cambodian people were put through in the relatively recent past. We went north to Koh Kong, where we organized a trek into the Cardamom Mountains. We met two lawyers currently working in Phnom Penh with the UN to prosecute some of the cases of The Khmer Rouge. That was interesting to hear what they do and how that kind of process works. Next, we were off to Anduong Thuek, where there is Community Based Eco Tourism (CBET) program at up with the local village of Chi Phat. We joined a group of three French people on a 70 km (about 40 miles), 3-days/2-nights mountain biking adventure. We realized that kind of distance on a bike could possibly feel like 'butt murder', as Andrea referred to it. We also carried a good sized backpack with our clothes, water and sleeping hammock. The most challenging part of the ride for me was during the second day, after I had finally gotten more confidence in riding the narrow, sometimes step or rocky trails. This was when the trail became intermittently blocked with trees, so much that our one guide was in front with his machete cutting open a small trail. Many of these required us to crawl, waddle and pull ourselves and the bike through. It was demoralizing after five instances of this, when all I wanted to do was sit on my bike and ride, no matter how much my butt hurt. We survived, and I felt so awesomely accomplished afterward that I want to bike (everywhere) when I'm back home. Next, we moved on to Kampot and stayed next to a river outside of the town to relax and recover. We did a half day cave tour, abseiling and rock climbing. We drove a motorbike around for the second half of the day, found a secret lake but then lost it again. Found a lot of black pepper plantations. This region of Cambodia apparently produces some of the best black pepper and is known worldwide. We ended the day eating delicious, fresh seafood covered in the region's famous black pepper sauce.

Week 4: As my visa was about to expire, we did a quick jump over the border to Koh Kut Island in Thailand. We had some beach time, free use of kayaks and did two (less than impressive) dives. We parted ways with Andrea who was heading to the Bangkok airport, and we got on a bus to Laos!