Yesterday was another temple exploration day. We woke up early and saw Angkor Wat at Sun rise. We began the rest of the day by seeing Ta Prohm (my favorite) aka the temple Tomb Raider was filmed. What made this one so amazing was all of the trees that are growing in it. Their tentacle roots over run the place, it's amazing seeing their roots span all over the temple walls.
Next was the Preah Khan, built under the reign of the same king as Ta Prohm. It was built to commemorate victory over the Chams in 1191 AD. This temple was near in its design. There are four entrances all leading to the center. One entrance is for the non religious, with door ways that get smaller and smaller, forcing the walker to bow when walking through. The other entrances were for Buddhists, Hindus, and royalty. Many Buddhist idols in the temples are now destroyed due to a Hindu resurgence.
The last temple we visited was Pre Rup. Built in the tenth century, this temple served as a crematorium and has a pyramidal shape. At this temple we watched the sunset. Watching it was beautiful yet a saddening symbolism of the sun setting on my trip.
This has probably been one of the best months of my life. I did and experienced so much, and met some incredible people on the way. I'll really miss the wonderful times I had. I could write a whole post on people and things I will miss. I couldn't be happier with my experience.
This experience has even more so than before encouraged me to do more and see more around the world. Riding home in the Tuk Tuk last night I talked to Chad about his Peace Corps experience in the Philippines. It was refreshing talking to somebody who's actually done it rather than reading something online. It's something I see myself doing when i graduate.
Sadly, today is my last day in Cambodia and Thailand. Good bye cheap and amazing food, Tuk Tuk rides, temples, and villages.
To my loved ones back home, see you very soon!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Temples and villages
Yesterday was temple day, it was just incredible. We biked to Angkor Thom to begin the day. Once the ancient Khmer capital, back in its prime the city had 1 million people, which is a lot of people for an ancient city. We saw several temples in Angkor Thom, including the most famous: The Bayon. The temple is a shrine for both Buddha and Hindu. A lot of the temples started off Hindu, and eventually became Buddhist as well. Oddly enough the Hindu and Buddhist idols exist harmoniously. The Bayon has several sandstone towers with several faces carved on them. The intricate detail of these temples are amazing.
Next was Angkor Wat. Pictures do it no justice, especially since it was so dark. The incredible place took 37 years to build. The huge moat around it was hand dug as well.
Today we had a free morning. I spent it by the pool reading and petting our new little kitty friend.
At 1 PM we left for ---to tour a lake side ullage. Its a village with no cars- just boats for transportation. A long, winding vein of the lake (the largest lake in South Eastern Asia) connects all of the houses together. All the houses are on massive stilts because in the winter the water level rises substantially. Once we got out of our boat, we took a tour of the village temple and school. I would have enjoyed my time there if I wasn't being pestered by local Cambodian women. A flock of them followed our group the entire time, trying to sell us overpriced pencils and notebooks that they claimed was money that would go directly to the school children. Chad explained to us that the money doesn't go to these children, and that if you really wanted to help you donate to reputable organizations. Because tourists keep buying notebooks from these women, they keep doing that rather than utilizing a skill like sewing. It's not a sustainable way to make money.. I felt very uncomfortable ignoring them, and it didn't help that one singled me out the whole time I was there. Other than that, I enjoyed seeing the temple and adorable Cambodian kids.
For dinner we ate at house on stilts a local family made us.
Later we went to a benefit concert to get donations for the local hospital. The hospital is free of charge for all children,'100 of kids a day come in with serious illnesses and accidents like dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, burn incidents, car accidents, and many other things. Without this hospital, manu kids would be left to die or be seriously handicapped for life. The hospital denies nobody, these people are too poor to pay to get treatment. The hospital relies on 90% of its profits from donations. The guy who started the hospital, Dr. Beat Richner, played the cello for us. Such a selfless person, never have I felt better about donating towards a cause.
This morning I saw the incredible Angkor Wat at sunrise
Next was Angkor Wat. Pictures do it no justice, especially since it was so dark. The incredible place took 37 years to build. The huge moat around it was hand dug as well.
Today we had a free morning. I spent it by the pool reading and petting our new little kitty friend.
At 1 PM we left for ---to tour a lake side ullage. Its a village with no cars- just boats for transportation. A long, winding vein of the lake (the largest lake in South Eastern Asia) connects all of the houses together. All the houses are on massive stilts because in the winter the water level rises substantially. Once we got out of our boat, we took a tour of the village temple and school. I would have enjoyed my time there if I wasn't being pestered by local Cambodian women. A flock of them followed our group the entire time, trying to sell us overpriced pencils and notebooks that they claimed was money that would go directly to the school children. Chad explained to us that the money doesn't go to these children, and that if you really wanted to help you donate to reputable organizations. Because tourists keep buying notebooks from these women, they keep doing that rather than utilizing a skill like sewing. It's not a sustainable way to make money.. I felt very uncomfortable ignoring them, and it didn't help that one singled me out the whole time I was there. Other than that, I enjoyed seeing the temple and adorable Cambodian kids.
For dinner we ate at house on stilts a local family made us.
Later we went to a benefit concert to get donations for the local hospital. The hospital is free of charge for all children,'100 of kids a day come in with serious illnesses and accidents like dengue fever, tuberculosis, malaria, burn incidents, car accidents, and many other things. Without this hospital, manu kids would be left to die or be seriously handicapped for life. The hospital denies nobody, these people are too poor to pay to get treatment. The hospital relies on 90% of its profits from donations. The guy who started the hospital, Dr. Beat Richner, played the cello for us. Such a selfless person, never have I felt better about donating towards a cause.
This morning I saw the incredible Angkor Wat at sunrise
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Cambodia!
Minus all of the travel, yesterday was the perfect day to end my experience in Thailand. I woke up bright and early to get a Thai massage. Although I was half asleep for a lot of it, it felt amazing. It was my first ever professional massage. Some parts of the massage were weird though, she cracked my toes and my fingers.
Although rejuvenated, the realization hit me after the massage that I was bungee jumping off of a 150 foot tower that afternoon. Although excited, I was way nervous. When we arrived I gazed upon a tall tower next to a big pond- presumably for the purpose of dipping in when you jump. I watched nervously as 5 other people in our group did the jump. When it was my turn, I got weighed and my feet were bound together in preparation. The elevator ride up could not have taken longer, and when I thought it might stop it would just keep going higher. When it finally stopped at the top, the photo guy took a couple pictures of me and there I stood at the edge. I had to discipline myself to not look down, everyone was telling me it made it worse. On the way up I told myself I had to be pushed off, so I told the guy to do it at the top. Just like that, I was falling towards the earth. My head and hands dipped into the water a little, and the recoil launched me back out pretty high up again. After bouncing around for a while, I was lowered down to the ground where I received my certificate of courage, haha. It was the most thrilling sensation ever. I had to do it, it's just something that needed to get out of the way. Looking back I'm glad I did, it was a blast. The camera guy took some great, hilarious pictures of the jump. I was able to load a couple on Facebook, but most are on a CD.
Later that afternoon we spent our last couple of hours at a quaint tea house in Chiang Mai. I got a delicious crepe with caramel and banana.
The rest of the day we spent traveling. When we got to the airport we had to say goodbye to our amazing tour leader, Milk. After our flight to Bangkok, we had to say goodbye to all the UK people in our group, since they were taking a connecting flight home. In Bangkok we stayed in the same hotel we stayed in the very first night of the trip. it was very nostalgic. It's funny, everything that was so strange about that hotel the first night in thailand, ie. the strange showers and roaming cats and lizards, are so second nature to me now.
Once I slept a couple hours, I woke back up again at 4am to say goodbye to the rest of or group leaving for their flight back home. It was sad to say goodbye, we had all bonded so much. Anything but hanging out with the usual gang is just weird.
I went back to sleep and woke up again at 8 am, and checked out at 9. We met our Cambodia tour leader, Chad, and we headed to the border in vans.
Immigration at the border took forever. When we finally passed we took a 3 hour bus ride to our hotel in Siem Reap. The Cambodian country side struck me on the way. It's very green and beautiful, yet eerie when you think about if there's land mines somewhere in there.
Our hotel is the best I've stayed at on this trip. All the rooms create a courtyard around a nice swimming pool. Our room has two floors, with a deck overlooking the pool. Im writing this post from an awesome, bouncy chair hanging from the ceiling of the deck, it's fun.
For dinner we had delicious cambodian food at a non profit restaurant.I tried some frog, it tasted like chicken. All the money goes to Cambodian kids; to get them off the streets begging and into school. The restaurant also helps with micro credit, and the owner has a school of 72 kids, some who have gone on to go to universities. Chad gave us a brief recent history of the genocide that occurred in cambodia. It was hard to listen to, it made me feel better about eating at a restaurant making a difference in a country that has had such a devastating and heartbreaking history.
Just like Thailand, everything Is really cheap here. US dollars are accepted everywhere and people drive on the right side of the road. In an odd way it feels slightly same same but different to home.
Really excited for tomorrow. Tomorrow we our touring the Angkor temples by bicycle, including the much awaited Angkor Wat I've been so excited to see.
Sorry about the lack of photos, tomorrow should make up for that:)
Although rejuvenated, the realization hit me after the massage that I was bungee jumping off of a 150 foot tower that afternoon. Although excited, I was way nervous. When we arrived I gazed upon a tall tower next to a big pond- presumably for the purpose of dipping in when you jump. I watched nervously as 5 other people in our group did the jump. When it was my turn, I got weighed and my feet were bound together in preparation. The elevator ride up could not have taken longer, and when I thought it might stop it would just keep going higher. When it finally stopped at the top, the photo guy took a couple pictures of me and there I stood at the edge. I had to discipline myself to not look down, everyone was telling me it made it worse. On the way up I told myself I had to be pushed off, so I told the guy to do it at the top. Just like that, I was falling towards the earth. My head and hands dipped into the water a little, and the recoil launched me back out pretty high up again. After bouncing around for a while, I was lowered down to the ground where I received my certificate of courage, haha. It was the most thrilling sensation ever. I had to do it, it's just something that needed to get out of the way. Looking back I'm glad I did, it was a blast. The camera guy took some great, hilarious pictures of the jump. I was able to load a couple on Facebook, but most are on a CD.
Later that afternoon we spent our last couple of hours at a quaint tea house in Chiang Mai. I got a delicious crepe with caramel and banana.
The rest of the day we spent traveling. When we got to the airport we had to say goodbye to our amazing tour leader, Milk. After our flight to Bangkok, we had to say goodbye to all the UK people in our group, since they were taking a connecting flight home. In Bangkok we stayed in the same hotel we stayed in the very first night of the trip. it was very nostalgic. It's funny, everything that was so strange about that hotel the first night in thailand, ie. the strange showers and roaming cats and lizards, are so second nature to me now.
Once I slept a couple hours, I woke back up again at 4am to say goodbye to the rest of or group leaving for their flight back home. It was sad to say goodbye, we had all bonded so much. Anything but hanging out with the usual gang is just weird.
I went back to sleep and woke up again at 8 am, and checked out at 9. We met our Cambodia tour leader, Chad, and we headed to the border in vans.
Immigration at the border took forever. When we finally passed we took a 3 hour bus ride to our hotel in Siem Reap. The Cambodian country side struck me on the way. It's very green and beautiful, yet eerie when you think about if there's land mines somewhere in there.
Our hotel is the best I've stayed at on this trip. All the rooms create a courtyard around a nice swimming pool. Our room has two floors, with a deck overlooking the pool. Im writing this post from an awesome, bouncy chair hanging from the ceiling of the deck, it's fun.
For dinner we had delicious cambodian food at a non profit restaurant.I tried some frog, it tasted like chicken. All the money goes to Cambodian kids; to get them off the streets begging and into school. The restaurant also helps with micro credit, and the owner has a school of 72 kids, some who have gone on to go to universities. Chad gave us a brief recent history of the genocide that occurred in cambodia. It was hard to listen to, it made me feel better about eating at a restaurant making a difference in a country that has had such a devastating and heartbreaking history.
Just like Thailand, everything Is really cheap here. US dollars are accepted everywhere and people drive on the right side of the road. In an odd way it feels slightly same same but different to home.
Really excited for tomorrow. Tomorrow we our touring the Angkor temples by bicycle, including the much awaited Angkor Wat I've been so excited to see.
Sorry about the lack of photos, tomorrow should make up for that:)
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Temple tour and rock climbing
Yesterday was the temple tour day. It was a nice break from the previous days of getting muddy and dirty. We got an extra hour of sleep, which was nice too.
After breakfast we headed outside where over 20 rickshaws were ready to pick us up . The rickshaw
Is an old mode of transport in Thailand that dates back to the 1800's. It's basically a bicycle pulling a seat with wheels covered with a shade. It's a lot like an unmotorized tuk tuk. The rickshaw is a dying tradition, the only city they are allowed in anymore is Chiang Mai and there are only a hundred left. Once I chose my Rickshaw (they fit only one passenger), 20 or so other rickshaws took us around Chiang Mai to look at temples. Most of the rickshaw drivers were old Thai men, I felt guilty having him pull me a long.
After seeing some temples we stopped at one of the oldest ones that was built in the 14th century, roughly 100 years after Chiang Mai was founded (Chiang Mai is 500 years older than Bangkok, you can still see the old city wall and moat in the city).
After that we headed to the forest temple, aptly deep within a forest. Before we looked around, Milk, and our guide, Beer, gave us a Buddhism 101 course. We learned about Buddhas life, basic beliefs, and how monks live.
I really enjoyed the forest temple, under the temple were a bunch of cool tunnels we also got to explore.
After that we hopped in some vans and drove up a winding road up a mountain to a little city called Doi Suthep. Many sets up stairs later,
We got to the top and explored a beautiful golden temple and stupa. I got a monks blessing for good fortune and an orange charm with Buddha in the lotus position: the symbol for thursday when I was born. The temple had an amazing view of Chiang Mai.
Not a lot happened after the temple tour. I got some dinner and shopped around a little .
Today was full of fun adventure. We all headed to Crazy Horse Buttress to do caving, rappelling, and climbing. Once we arrived we split in to two groups. Our group started off with caving and rappelling. We climbed to this huge cave where we did a Tolorean rope (it's like a zip line) a couple hundred feet above the cave floor. From there we rappelled all the way down and took an exit out of the cave. Afterwards we checked out another pretty neat cave near by.
For lunch we had a delicious fried rice before we began climbing. Once finished we walked up to the climbing area after instruction on how to belay. I climbed four different walls. The last one took me so long to finish. I got stuck at this hard spot for 15 minutes, and the more I tried climbing the less energy I had to try it again. Finally I was able to do it, it was a matter of where my feet were placed. Never have I gotten more exhausted climbing, i felt very accomplished.
Now we are just napping and chilling in the hotel room. For everyone but 7 of us, this is the last night we have together before most of our group leaves tomorrow. I can't believe how fast the trip has gone, I'm not looking forward to waking up a day after tomorrow with most everyone gone out of my life, for probably for ever. I really hate saying good bye, I feel like that's all I've been doing this summer. I guess that's life, you just have to accept change no matter how hard it can be...
Tomorrow we are all getting Thai massages. A few of us, including me, have signed up to do something which I might really regret beforehand. I'm going bungee jumping, it has to be done. It freaks me out thinking about it. I'll just have to do my best to stay present and be scared when the time actually comes!
After breakfast we headed outside where over 20 rickshaws were ready to pick us up . The rickshaw
Is an old mode of transport in Thailand that dates back to the 1800's. It's basically a bicycle pulling a seat with wheels covered with a shade. It's a lot like an unmotorized tuk tuk. The rickshaw is a dying tradition, the only city they are allowed in anymore is Chiang Mai and there are only a hundred left. Once I chose my Rickshaw (they fit only one passenger), 20 or so other rickshaws took us around Chiang Mai to look at temples. Most of the rickshaw drivers were old Thai men, I felt guilty having him pull me a long.
After seeing some temples we stopped at one of the oldest ones that was built in the 14th century, roughly 100 years after Chiang Mai was founded (Chiang Mai is 500 years older than Bangkok, you can still see the old city wall and moat in the city).
After that we headed to the forest temple, aptly deep within a forest. Before we looked around, Milk, and our guide, Beer, gave us a Buddhism 101 course. We learned about Buddhas life, basic beliefs, and how monks live.
I really enjoyed the forest temple, under the temple were a bunch of cool tunnels we also got to explore.
After that we hopped in some vans and drove up a winding road up a mountain to a little city called Doi Suthep. Many sets up stairs later,
We got to the top and explored a beautiful golden temple and stupa. I got a monks blessing for good fortune and an orange charm with Buddha in the lotus position: the symbol for thursday when I was born. The temple had an amazing view of Chiang Mai.
Not a lot happened after the temple tour. I got some dinner and shopped around a little .
Today was full of fun adventure. We all headed to Crazy Horse Buttress to do caving, rappelling, and climbing. Once we arrived we split in to two groups. Our group started off with caving and rappelling. We climbed to this huge cave where we did a Tolorean rope (it's like a zip line) a couple hundred feet above the cave floor. From there we rappelled all the way down and took an exit out of the cave. Afterwards we checked out another pretty neat cave near by.
For lunch we had a delicious fried rice before we began climbing. Once finished we walked up to the climbing area after instruction on how to belay. I climbed four different walls. The last one took me so long to finish. I got stuck at this hard spot for 15 minutes, and the more I tried climbing the less energy I had to try it again. Finally I was able to do it, it was a matter of where my feet were placed. Never have I gotten more exhausted climbing, i felt very accomplished.
Now we are just napping and chilling in the hotel room. For everyone but 7 of us, this is the last night we have together before most of our group leaves tomorrow. I can't believe how fast the trip has gone, I'm not looking forward to waking up a day after tomorrow with most everyone gone out of my life, for probably for ever. I really hate saying good bye, I feel like that's all I've been doing this summer. I guess that's life, you just have to accept change no matter how hard it can be...
Tomorrow we are all getting Thai massages. A few of us, including me, have signed up to do something which I might really regret beforehand. I'm going bungee jumping, it has to be done. It freaks me out thinking about it. I'll just have to do my best to stay present and be scared when the time actually comes!
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