Singapore Slingin' and Tokyo Tales

I met Denny in Singapore from Phuket where, literally all i did was eat ... and eat ... and eat some more, for two days. It was ridiculous. I think i gained five pounds from all the delicious grubbin we did. From the minute i got off the plane and to the amazingly grungy Cozy Corner Hostel there was food shoved in my face. First thing first, whenever one goes to Singapore eating chicken rice is absolutely mandatory--I saw Anthony Bordain, my future husband, lovin on it in No Reservations, and ever since then, i had been determined to try it if I ever got to Singapore. It was the first thing I ate and boy did it live up to its reputation. Think perfectly steamed chicken, with chicken flavored rice (that tastes like it was deep fried in chicken fat or somethin, it is so damn tasty) smothered in soy sauce, chili sauce, and garlic ginger paste. we also munched on BBQ pork and green veggies with oyster sauce. After that we thought it absolutely necessary to make our way to the mall across the street, just to be complete gluttons and go shopping for more things I absolutely do not need, and can't fit into my monstrous backpack, and what else, but to eat some more at the food court.

The food court was a glorious experience. Every type of food you could ever imagine was at your disposal here--Japanese, Italian, Indian, Korean, Dim Sum, desserts of every variety ... you name it and this mall has got it. I bought a dress from one of the stores in the mall and then started feeling a grumble in my tummy telling me I needed to take more advantage of the local cuisine. I only had two days in this culinary capital after all. We went and found a Singaporean dessert place and settled on some soupy looking jelly dessert type things that　wet my appetite for something more delicious ... downstairs there was another food court and it was a must. Here we found ourselves stuffing our faces with BBQ pork sandwiches, strawberry donuts, and fish cakes stuffed with mushrooms and cheese. It was disgusting and amazing all at the same time. I have never eaten so much in my whole life (alright that's a lie) but seriously, it was a lot of food. That is basically all I did the day I got in. Great day. Fabulous day in fact.

We met up with Rav, my friend Rikkis boif that night for drinks. We ended up checking out the Supper Club, Singapore that night and it was dead. As dead as the cockroach I saw smashed on its back earlier that day at the Cozy Corner Hostel. We were the only people in the bar, but it was still kind of a cool place to see. Denny was set on seeing it and taking pictures to show our friends what cool, expat urbanites we are cool we are. The drinks were about fifteen dollars each and it was not much different from San Francisco Supper Club, minus the crowd. After Supper Club Denny dragged me to Chinatown, where supposedly, all the best gay bars were situated. We went to one, it was dead. As dead as Supper Club ... dead like the cockroach i saw on its back earlier that day in the hostel.

The next day we went to the zoo, which was ... full of animals. It was a zoo, and typically uneventful but Denny really wanted to go so i gave in. The rest of the day was spent eating more ... more chicken rice, a pork sausage breakfast sandwich, a chicken burger stuffed inside a fried egg, Turkish ice cream with chocolate sauce .... oh the glorious gluttony. I love Singapore. Really, the food is divine. Yeah, the media is completely censored, porn is illegal, oral sex is illegal, and if you get caught smokin a doobie you might get the death sentence, but ... the food really makes the place livable despite all the totalitarian, archaic laws they have in place. Oh, and spitting on the street ... totally illegal, but prostitution? Totally legit and legal. I'm not gonna lie it's a weird fucking place but they know how to make a mean chicken rice and the streets are really, really clean. Clean like Disney land on crack.

Rav took us out again that night and luckily for me, it was ladies night at a few bars which meant everything for me ... was totally free. Free drinks, free cover all night--just another fabulous thing about Singapore and being a lady. After eating some more chicken rice, we went to a bar in Clarke Quay that was serving free margaritas for the ladies. I had four ... obviously since they were free of charge. Rav and Denny had a twelve dollar beer each while I got tanked off of passion fruit margaritas. We then ventured off to O Bar, which i got into for free, and Rav and Denny had to pay twenty bucks each ... the good thing about this place was that they had pitchers of alcohol for twelve dollars, not bad for Singapore's usually exorbitant drink prices. I waited in line for a few free, watered down vodka cranberries, then started sippin on Rav and Denny's pitchers of Jack and Coke. The crowd was overly cheesy and the bar was all hip hoppin Singaporeans, but after a lot of free bevies, its all the same really ... fun. Lots of fun and a game of I Never--me and Denny's favorite get to know you drunk game. The night predictably ended with me stuffing my face in a chicken paratha. Pretty typical.

We left for Tokyo the next day, and I sit here now at my grandparents house in Iizuka after a night in Tokyo at Eugene's house. It feels good to be in Japan again, like no time has past at all, even though it has been two years since I used to live it up Tokyo style as an English teacher for Nova. Most of my friends have now gone home, and luckily for me i still have Eugene to bring me back to the old days of Shibuya nights ending in us passing out on the train at 7 a.m. while onlookers in their business suits stare awkwardly at us drunken gaijin in high heels and mini dresses from the night before--just another day in the life of an English teacher. I'm spending a few days here with my family then off to Kyoto with them and back to Tokyo. There's so much to relive and revisit, though i know it wont be the same without all of my friends there. Regardless, I can't wait to check out my old neighborhoods that i frequented weekly, see my old school that is now something else because of Nova's bankruptcy scandal, and undoubtedly shed a tear or two while reminiscing of what my life used to be like, and what it could have been if i stayed.

I hate regretting things, but its hard not to when you realize how much you love a place and wish you could still live there. I miss Tokyo daily ... a part of me always regretted leaving when i did though i know i did it for the right reasons--love. But now my love lies within a city instead of in a person, and a part of me wishes and hopes that i can find it again through Tokyo's falling autumn leaves and crowded city streets.

Travel Lessons Learned in Ko Phi Phi

Lesson 1 of traveling alone: sharing a room with a random dude you met on the bus, who seems nice, is NOT always the best idea, even if you are trying to be adventurous.

Lesson 2: If said random dude tries to grope you the first night you share a room together while you are sleeping, probably best to get the fuck out of there as soon as possible.

Lesson 3: If same said dude shares a room with you again the next night, he'll probably try to grope you again ... and when you refuse ... again, he'll make a nasty comment.

Lesson 4: It's best to be honest if you aren't happy with a situation. I should have just told the dude to FUCK OFF instead of feeling bad for ditching the room situation.

For some reason I thought he was cool the day I met him, but after that it was all down hill. He was annoying, way too opinionated, immature, gross, stingy, a douche bag, clingy, and wouldn't leave me and my friends alone. Literally, I had to run away from the guy twice. Like literally, run away and hide in Francis's room. Thank the lord for Pete, Orla, and Francis. They were my angels who came to Ko Phi Phi and saved me from the random ass twenty-two year old I stupidly decided to share a room with, and a bed. A fucking bed. Worst decision of my life. I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt that he was a harmless, nice guy who just needed a roommate to split the cost. I didn't think he'd want to hang out 24/7 and/or grope me at night whilst I tried to sleep (while I was actually not sleeping because I was too scared of what the dude might pull). I ditched him after the first night and hung out with Pete, Orla, and Francis at the beach. Some how he made his way at our dinner table and after a few hours of hearing him talk we made excuses; I just walked away and ran into Francis's room to watch Old School and bitch about how fucking annoying this guy was. Plus, he awkwardly invited himself to hang out with us the next day on the boat trip we planned to see some Islands around Ko Phi Phi. He invited himself. Who does that? Cringe ... cringe ... cringe, whenever I think about him.

Oh another thing. The second night when I regretfully and painfully walked back to my room (openly wishing I had just crashed in Francis's bed for the night) I was definitely not friendly to him. In fact, I was being a total bitch. I went to bed, he went out for the night and I secretly hoped he would get drunk and lost, or meet a girl and not come back. He came back. He tried to grope me again while I was sleeping, I told him to get his grubby little paws off of me and the fuck away from me, and word for word, this is what he said:"stop being gay, be a traveler." I am not lying, that is what he said when I rejected him. Who says that and what does that even mean? First off, I hate it so much when people use the word gay in a derogatory, negative way. Many of the loves of my life are gay and whenever someone says that, I want to kick them in the balls. Secondly, if being a traveler means hooking up with a disgusting, immature, clingy dick face, who acts inappropriately, and is a sleaze bag, annoying piece of crap ... then send me home right now, because i'm not a traveler. Fuck that guy. I don't dislike many people, I really don't, but this guy I really, really, really don't like. I even went as far as to "de-friend" him on Facebook. This is how much I dislike this guy.

Today, I just wanted to hang out with Francis, Pete, and Orla since it was my last day with them, but dick face invited himself a long, and Francis, Pete, and Orla being the nicest people in the whole world went a long with it because we all felt to bad to ditch the poor loser. I'm being mean, I know I'm being mean, but this guy really pissed me off. I hate feeling uncomfortable and disrespected and that's how he made me feel. We got on a boat at 7:30 in the morning and went to Maya Beach, the beach where the movie, The Beach was filmed. Since it was so early in the morning, there was no one there and it was breathtaking. We had the whole place to ourselves. The water was a sparkling turquoise and magenta and prisma-colored fish swam around you in circles. The beach was surrounded by rock formations that were reminiscent of Halong Bay, and the white sand felt sweetly silky between your toes. It was amazing. Stingy roommate decided he didn't want to pay the extra 100 baht ( which is literally like three dollars) to go on the beach and stubbornly sat on the boat or went snorkeling or whatever, while Orla, Francis, Pete and I lazied around and took photos of the gorgeousness. After that our boat guy took us snorkeling and we went swimming in a lagoon. It was an amazing day and I'm glad I got to spend it with the gang, albeit the douche bag tag along.

I love Pete, Orla, and Francis. I really do. They made me feel so at home with them in Ko Phi Phi and I hope that I get to see them again some day. It was sad saying bye to them at the dock because it was one of those moments where you just feel ... this could be the last time I ever see these people and a part of you wants to cry a little with the thought of that. There's always those friends you meet that make you realize how wonderful people really can be, if that makes any sense at all. Just genuinely kind, good-hearted, fun, hilarious, and real people that you would love to have in your life. Hopefully, I'll see them again in Ireland or California, or who knows where. The sole sad thing about making friends while you travel is that you never truly know if you will ever see that person again. Regardless, it doesn't make their friendship any more significant, sometimes more so.

I left without saying bye to douche bag and ran to Pete and Orla's room to shower and then to eat before I had to leave for Phuket. I'm here now. It's a shithole. A nasty shit hole and there is nothing to do. The only redeeming thing about this place is this hostel that is surprisingly nice, clean and there is free Internet which I am hogging as we speak. Tomorrow I leave for Singapore and meet up with Denny. I'm excited to explore a city but I really will miss the beach. Even with the fucked up roommate situation, I still think Ko Phi Phi is a beautiful place.

Full Moon Party Fiasco

The rain stopped eventually. I'm currently in Ko Phi Phi and spent the afternoon lazying away on the beach. This place is beautiful, albeit touristy and overcrowded with non-natives. I'm used to that in Thailand though. I'm usually the only brown person around in a sea of white, and this is fucking Thailand. The only Thai people I see here are the ones working at restaurants and guest houses and such. I guess that's just how Thailand's touristy Islands are. I split up from Denny for a few days and am traveling on my own. I have to say I'm really proud of myself for doing it. It's always been a fear of mine to travel by myself, but so far it's been really amazing. I met a half Israeli, half English guy on the bus and we decided it would be a smart idea to share a room together in Ko Phi Phi for the next two nights and save us some cash. I've never done anything like that before. What is it about traveling that makes you throw out your bearings and inhibitions and just do these things that you would never do at home? Seriously, if I was in San Francisco would I meet a random dude on the bus and then share a hotel room with him for the next two days ... hell no. No way in hell. I'm hanging out with Pete, Orla, and Francis again here in Ko Phi Phi; It's fun to see some familiar faces. Everything is an experience though, and as a writer, it's good to have new ones everyday. Traveling is the best material I've ever had.

Before Ko Phi Phi Denny and I met Jenna in Ko Phangan for the Full Moon Party. Honestly, the full moon party should be an entry on it's own because it was by far, one of the most ridiculous nights of my entire life but I'll try to sum it up as best I can. We met up with our whole crew from tubing in Vang Vieng--Mark, Lee, and Andrew--the chill Minnesotan hippies, and Pete, Orla, and Francis, the Irish gang. The night of the Full Moon we had a pre party at the Minnesotan's bungalow on the beach, fittingly monikered, Mellow Mountain, which is known for it's "happy shakes." God, how I love the term "happy shake," it can mean anything you want it to be. Their bungalow was a typical cheap, backpacker bungalow with dirty floors, and a lonely fan, but with the most beautiful balcony with a view of the ocean. I was supremely jealous. The pre-party was a blast--full of buckets of various alcoholic beverages, our reunited friends, and loads of body paint that not so quietly made it's way ... everywhere. All over their bed sheets, on the floor, and of course all over everyone's bodies. After we were drunk and body painted up like we were going to a rave circa 1999, we went down to the beach with a big group of us, say 7 or eight of us. Let me paint a not so clear picture of what the Full Moon Party entailed--think rave on the beach, body paint, 20,000 people, techno music blaring, fire dancers, drunk drunk drunk Europeans sipping on buckets, (save a few Americans and some Israelis and a few actual Thai people), fratty douche bags without their shirts on making out with girls, girls wearing stupid outfits, loads of white dudes with dreads, and just ... an all around fabulous mix of randoms dancing to techno and house beats until 7 a.m. I think that's as clear as I can be at the moment.

Once we reached the beach, in a matter of drunken minutes, we lost Orla, who was wasted off her ass, Denny who wandered off to get a drink, and Francis who with a blink of an eye disappeared. Then it was just me and Jenna, wandering around, dancing, drinking, taking photos with random dudes on the beach. etc .etc. Eventually Jenna met a boy and was talking to him, some random Brazilian was giving me a piggy back ride and I turned around expecting to see Jenna, but she was gone. Like dust in the wind, I knew I'd lost her for good that night. I gave up shortly after, ran around like a crazy drunk nineteen-year-old, dancing with random dudes, and finally found some people who we were at the pre-party with. I kept hoping to run into Denny or Jenna, but of course, they were no where to be found and I knew I wouldn't see them in the morning. If you lose someone at the full moon party ... you've lost them for the night. No ifs ands or buts about it. I lost the other group I was with at around 7 a.m. and found myself, what felt like, all of a sudden drunkenly laying on the beach with a twenty-seven-year-old boat designer from England, I met 5 minutes earlier.The sun was coming up and I was confused as to how the hell it was morning already. Five or so buckets and a big Chang beer will do that to a girl, I suppose. So that was my night in a nutshell, save a few major details that are blurry in my mind. It was a great time, something I'm glad I experienced but don't know if I ever want to experience again. I've been hungover for three days. I need a detox, I need something to flush out all this crap and alcohol from my over-traveled body. Oh well, like Denny and I always say--detox in '09.

I wish I had more time to stay in Ko Phi Phi but I have to leave tomorrow to go to Phuket, so I can catch my flight to Singapore on the 18th morning. I heard from many travelers that Phuket is a shithole. A Thai wonderland of crap, cheesiness, and Thai prostitutes in come-fuck-me-heels. I'm over it, but I gotta do it for a night. Maybe I will make a new friend on the boat and share a room with him. Who knows ... everything is an adventure right now and I love it.

Still Raining ...

It's still raining. I woke up this morning with hope for a sunny day. I looked out the window and it was gloomy as hell, but I still had hope and even went as far as to put my bathing suit on under my dress, on the off chance that it would get nice enough to actually lay on the beach. I even said to Denny, "I don't care if it starts raining, I'm going to the beach." Then as I walked to get some food down the street it started drizzling, and I thought, shit. Then as I sat eating my mediocre and overpriced french onion soup, it started pouring. Not just like a little a mild drizzle, but a full on rain storm. Now, as I sit here in this Internet cafe, pouting over the start of my day, it started down-pouring again. I can't even leave the damn Internet cafe because it's raining so hard. I hate Ko Samui.

Last night we decided to stay in, which is the first time I've done that in a very long time. To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I stayed in and didn't drink, so last night was much needed for me--physically and mentally. We rented a DVD player and bought some bootleg DVDs--Once, an Irish movie I've wanted to see for a long time and W, the new movie about George bush that literally came out last week in the States. We watched Once first and it was fine quality, totally normal to be honest. Then we put in W and it was bootsy. Ghetto. Hilariously bad quality. The film quality was the worst I've ever seen and there were moments where we could hear the audience laughing at something stupid George said. Damn, did they make George seem dumb but I guess that doesn't take much work. Speaking of George, can I just say how fucking ecstatic I am that Obama is going to be our new president. Good riddance George. We were in Bangkok when we heard the news and a huge part of me wished I could have been in San Francisco for it, just to be a part of everyone freaking out with excitement. I sat there with tears in my eyes as I heard Obama speak from the TV in our guest house restaurant as other non-Americans sat around not really giving a shit. The prospect of living in America now for the next four years doesn't sounds so detrimental. I'm actually, for the first time in years, proud to tell people I'm American. Thank god for Obama.

Anyways, I fell asleep mid movie and woke up the next day feeling hungover. How does one feel hungover without even drinking the night before? Who knows. We leave for Ko Phangan tomorrow for the Full Moon Party. I'm excited to get the hell out of douchie Ko Samui and to meet up with our old friends (as old as travel friends can be I guess) Pete, Orla, and Francis, and to meet up with my actual old friend, Jenna. Can't wait to leave this rainy place and ... go to another rainy place. At least the change of scenery will be refreshing.

Bye Bye Bangkok

It's raining. It sucks. I hate Ko Samui today. Two of my memory sticks on my camera have viruses (fuckin' great) and it's been raining for the last two days and we can't really do anything. What's the point of being at a beach town if you can't go to the damn beach? I'm pissed. I miss Cambodia, I miss Laos, I miss Vietnam, and I'm over Ko Samui. This place is a veritable playing ground for douchiness. It's tourist central. Our hotel is across the street from a Mcdonalds, a Starbucks, and a Haagen Daz and next door to a Subway. I hate it. I had no idea it would be like this. We went out last night and it was amazingly douchie. Everywhere I looked there were major douche bag spottings. I swear, it was like a sordid convention for douche bags or something--douche bags with accents, eighteen year old douche bags, douche bags with bad hair, douche bags who can't dance, hippie douche bags, drunk douche bags, high douche bags, douche bags without shirts on, hipster douche bags ... it was amazing and horrible all at the same time. I can't believe this city. It's like spring break but in a bad, bad way. Not in the this is hella fun and I'm drunk and pretending like I'm eighteen. It was more like, everyone here is horrible, I feel like I'm at a frat party and I'm twenty-six years old. Where am I?

We are going to Ko Phangan in a few days to go to the Full Moon Party and meet up with some friends we met in Laos. I'm meeting up with Jenna too, so it should be a blast, but to be honest, I'm terrified that it's gonna be like douche central-spring break-frat party plus a few white guys with dreadlocks. I guess at this point I should just say ce la vie and enjoy it. I am in Thailand after all, and I know I'm lucky.

Bangkok was a riot. Me, Daniel, Denny, Jan, and Emma ventured to the notorious Soi Cowboy, famous for it's ping-pong shows and prostitutes, for some ridiculousness. To sum it up, we watched a show which constituted of the following ---smoking cigarettes, magic flowers, shooting darts at balloons, pulling out strings with needles on it ... all out of their vagina. It was horrifying, sad, and intriguing all at the same time. I've never seen anything like it, and I hope, I never will again. I don't really think there is anything else to say about Soi Cowboy. I think I said it all.

We reluctantly left Daniel in Bangkok to head to Ko Samui; I couldn't wait to get to the beaches. Now I'm here and it sucks. I think all in all, Thailand has been my least favorite place by far. From what I've seen it's overly Westernized and consumed with tourists. I miss Sihanoukaville, I really miss Vietnam, and I miss the lazy pace of Laos. I wish I could go back to all of those places and do it all over again. They are amazing. It's crazy that it's already almost been two months. I can't believe it. It seems like I've been traveling forever but also seems like it's been no time at all. Does that make any sense? Hopefully the rain will let up for the Full Moon party, and hopefully I'll stop being so negative and get in the groove of Thailand ...

Angkor What?

I had just drank a "happy shake" on the beach in Sihanoukaville, Cambodia and for a moment I thought, w0w, I never want to leave this beach. This is fucking amazing. Then I started to try and devise a completely unrealistic plan in my head to return to Sihanoukaville after my last stop in India and idle away days on the beach, being a bum drinking "happy" shakes all day and working with a bunch of Cambodian potheads at a random beach bar. That would be the life. I have a friend who spent three weeks in Sihanoukaville doing just that and I'm jealous. If we weren't on a time crunch to get to Singapore on November 21, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have stayed for much longer than the allotted three days of bliss.

After Vientiane, which was aight at best (the best part was meeting up with a"friend" I met and spent time with in Nha Trang), we took a plane to Phnom Penh where we met our limping friend Daniel, who we first met in Hanoi. Apparently, the poor guy fell into a hole in some pitch black village in Vietnam and sprained his ankle. Phnom Penh is badass. We painted that town red and black and blue ... and neon green all in one night. Daniel had met some friends, Jan and Emma, (a ridiculously fun English couple on their honeymoon), on part of his trip to Vietnam and we spent the night with them drinking and dancing. The night started at this unexpectedly and way-too-hip for-it's-own-good bar called Chow, where we acted like P-Diddy when Denny treated us to a bottle of champagne and we sipped it on it's rooftop terrace overlooking the lake to the beats of some Swedish DJ with a shaved head and glasses. The crowd was dressed to the nines and I felt like a tragic hippy backpacker in my rainbow flip flops and ethnic printed scarf wrapped around my waist. After uber-hip Chow, we went to a club on boat called Pontoon, and then after that got lost in a tuk tuk as the rain poured down trying to find some random-ass club fittingly moniker ed, Heart of Darkness. We found it, eventually, and it ended up being a blast but a bust at the same time. The dance floor was crowded with Cambodian prostitutes and old Cambodian men trying to grab my ass. After Heart of Darkness we went back to our hotel, the dingy, dirty and all together disgusting Wonderland 2 Guesthouse for some late night refreshments.

Phnom Penh, was of course, not all fun and games. Cambodia's history is a tragic one and it's really interesting and heartbreaking to see the remnants of what is left from the Khmer Rouge and the impact it's had on their country and it's people today. Cambodia is poverty-stricken. The kids break my heart the most. I can't resist their beautiful faces and whatever they are selling, I have a hard time not buying. My arms are full of crappy bracelets I've bought from adorable Cambodian kids, because I just can't say no. Denny gives me a hard time for it and says it doesn't really help them to buy from them, it doesn't go to them blah blah ... but I can't help it, I love them and my heart hurts for them. It's hard to be in Cambodia and not want to do something to help. It's impossible really. I wish I did more; I wish there was more that I could do. When I was in Siem Reap their was a group of adorable and sad orphans who put on dance performances, handing out fliers. I talked to one of the little girls that danced and in that moment I wished I could have adopted her and taken her home with me. The thought of all those beautiful children as orphans, killed me. I thought about coming back and volunteering at that orphanage, just because they were so gorgeous and the thought of all of them without homes or families or anyone but themselves was heartbreaking. I wish I could take them all home with me.

After our night in Phnom Penh we took the bus to Sihanoukaville where I had epiphany after epiphany about life as a backpacker and what bliss means to me. Sihanoukaville is my favorite beach town thus far. You have no idea how chill this place is. When I say chill, I mean so chill there's nothing to do but sit on the beach and drink happy shakes and Angkor beer all day while Cambodian ladies give you five dollar massages. It's heaven. I came to the realization one night as I lazily sat in a hammock sipping a bucket of vodka tonic, that this whole backpackers world is crazy. It's like the twilight zone; I feel like I have entered another dimension where everyone you meet is a traveler. No one really has jobs and you are in this constant state of happiness, adventure, and spontaneity. You see the same people over and over and over again, all over Asia and make new friends constantly. You party like you're in college, you eat like it's impossible to gain weight, and just do whatever you want, whenever you want. It's so strange, yet so brilliant. It's literally a whole new world away from having an apartment, a job, and serious commitments. No wonder people do it for years and years and years; it's fucking fantastic. I love it and I wish I could do it forever. I never knew that life could be like this and this trip has incredibly opened my eyes to a whole new way of life. I think back about how miserable I was at times before I left for this trip--getting laid off, working at temp jobs I hated, etc. and I realize that it was all for a purpose. The purpose being: me, here, now, traveling, learning, loving, and experiencing ... everything.

Wow do I love Sihanoukaville. I wish I could have stayed forever. We met up with Jan and Emma again in Sihanoukaville and spent a few nights lazying on the beach. We also ate the worst Indian food I've ever had in my entire life, which scared me from ever eating Indian food anywhere but at home and in India again. We left Sihanoukaville the next day to my dismay, and the persuasion of Denny and Daniel who aren't beach bums like I am.

We decided to go back to Phnom Penh for one night and then to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat the next day. The day we got back to Phnom Penh we went to the Killing Fields which was really depressing and the Genocide Museum which was equally depressing but necessary to see. At the Killing Fields there was an overwhelming feeling of tragedy and pain there that took over my entire being. It was something in the air, it was just there; you could feel the fear and sadness of all the people that had died there. There was still remnants of the clothes on the unearthed graves of the dead. A piece of a blue shirt or a pair of pants lay solemnly in the dirt and little white specs of teeth stuck out from the muddy ground. On their graves there are new signs of life, which is ironic and poetic simultaneously. Vines and lush green plants were slowly growing over the graves, forming new life over ones that were lost.

The genocide museum was equally as sad. Walking through the school turned prison, and now museum was intense. I kept on getting shivers throughout my body as I walked through the eerily preserved cells where inmates were tortured. I could tell that it was haunted.; like the Killing Fields their was a heavy aura of sadness and tragedy in every corner of this place. The stench of mildew emanated from the tiny prison cells and there were times when I was alone in them, without another onlooker and this overwhelming feeling of anguish and pain took over my mind. It was like you could feel all of the wrongdoings that were done there. You could feel it in your bones--their pain, their sadness, their lives. The photos of all those who died there were plastered over the walls and my heart felt heavy with sadness for all those who died, who were killed for no reason at all, and those who endured torture and losing their loved ones to a corrupt and evil dictator. I found myself asking, why? Why would someone kill thousands of his own people? It will never make sense to someone like me, or most people for that matter.

Phnom Penh was an amazing place and I feel fortunate to have been able to see the city now, slowly changing. We left for Siem Reap the next day. When we got there I felt as if I was in an urban bazaar for backpackers. The streets were filled with hip bistros and cool boutiques. I couldn't believe this urban oasis existed in Cambodia of all places. We bought a three day pass to Angkor Wat and the next morning at 8 a.m we met our tuk tuk driver and guide for the day to see Angkor Wat and it's surrounding temples. We started with some temples around Angkor Wat, which were beautiful and surreal. It felt so ancient and grand that it almost seemed fake. We saw the temple where tomb raider was filmed, and it was gorgeous. Large tree roots stuck out from the ground and covered the structure.

Angkor Wat, the main attraction, was amazing. It was massive and impressive and when the orange-pink sky set behind it, it was a beautiful, beautiful thing to see. We spent the next day with Jan and Emma exploring other temples around Angkor. Daniel had the idea to go to one that overlooked a waterfall and we spent an hour hiking up to it in the rain. When we got there, there was no temple. Nothing. Just a waterfall with some carvings. Beautiful yes, but no temple. We left disappointed and laughing.

The next day we took a cab to the border of Thailand and Cambodia and then a mini-bus to Bangkok ... wow, Bangkok, and what a night we had in Bangkok. I'd write more now, but I'm exhausted and I've been sitting at this Internet cafe for two hours. I think it's time to go explore Bangkok some more .... maybe go to a ping pong show tonight .... if you don't know what a ping pong show is, look it up. Or don't, it may frighten you.