Our second to last stop was in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is the old capital of Cambodia and home to Angkor Wat. If you haven't heard of Angkor Wat, I believe it was named one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and rightfully so. Cambodia is known to be a dangerous place, however I didn't feel endangered once in the small town of Siem Reap. However, if you venture just a few miles outside of this tourist town, the countryside is filled with run down homes and people living off of a mere $500 per year. The devastation from the mines and killing fields in this country a few years ago is incredible moving.
The first day we arrived we decided to rest from our flight, shop and explore the markets. Everything in this town, like many in Asia, is overpriced. You must bargain to get a price even close to market prices, even then you are still probably getting screwed. The market owners were not quite happy with Amanda and I. Since we had been living and traveling in Asia for a while, we knew that you shouldn't pay more than three USD for a scarf, and only a few dollars for jewelry. They were really unhappy when they asked for $18 and we said $2, but generally we would only pay about $3 for items that were "priced" at $18. Oh, and the funny thing about Cambodia is that they took USD everywhere we went, even the menu at restaurants were placed in USD. The exchange rate to Cambodian Riel is about 4000/$1 and the Cambodian currency fluctuates regularly. It's no wonder that they wanted to use USD.
The meals in Cambodia were about $3 per meal. But the meals were less of a meal and more of a feast - elaborate Western food with many courses, fresh fruit, great wine... a tourist's cheap paradise. Cambodian's speak Khmer and their local food is very similar to all Asian food, but much sweeter. We enjoyed some great curry and beef one night as our local meal, but by this time in the trip we had had enough Asian food. It will be many more months before I can stomach any fried rice, sweet and sour anything, or Indian food.
As we were walking down the busy streets, there were many foot "massage" pools filled with hundreds of little fish. We had seen these in Thailand but been to chicken to try, so before we left Asia we both sucked it up and stuck our feet in. The fish nibbled on our toes ever so lightly, removing the bacteria and dead skin. At first I wanted to pull my feet out and wash them with antibacterial soap, but after a while it became enjoyable until a huge fish decided to suck on my toes. Gross. We ended our first night with a $10 hour massage, and that was even overpriced for Cambodia.
The next morning we hired a tuk tuk for the day to take us all around Angkor Wat. There were so many temples! The first stop was at Angkor Wat itself. Each and every inch of the building was covered in carvings... the Khmer had to have taken years and decades to carve each and every inch of this beautiful structure. We spent the rest of the day hiking up each of the remains of the building and interpreting how the architecture varied from the other Asian cultures. We would return a few days later to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat, a must see! Check out my pictures, the handy work was absolutely incredible.
The best part of our trip to Cambodia was teaching English at a local orphanage. Our hotel had advertised the ability to teach English and Amanda and I jumped at the opportunity. Each of us had wanted to experience this at some point in our lives, but couldn't find the courage to commit a few years right out of college. But this would be just as good. We arrived at the orphanage to find unairconditioned buildings, dark classrooms, and many, many children playing outside. The owner of the orphanage had lived a middle class life and sold all of his belongings to open this orphanage. He currently sleeps on a mattress in the office and dedicates his life to the children. There were 66 orphans in this area ranging from 3 to 19 years old. Each of them had been sponsored to go to private school and learn just as other kids in the area would.
The manager of the orphanage gave us a tour to show us where the kids ate, how they slept on the floor (which is typical in Asia anyways) and what their needs at the orphanage are. Many westerners come for weeks or months at a time to volunteer teaching. The orphanage arranges living and meals for the volunteers at a discounted price and welcomes anyone who wants to come and impact these children's lives. The children perform a show of typical Khmer dance every night for tourists in order to raise money for their living expenses. Some may find this cruel and unusual, but the kids enjoyed it and rotated performing each night.
The last day of our trip we taught the children all day - playing bingo to learn numbers, reading books, practicing the alphabet, and coloring pictures of English words. I have much, much more respect for anyone who can go to another country and teach children who only know a few words of English. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but felt so rewarded. I really hope I made a difference in these children's lives.
We said our good-byes to the children and headed off to the airport to make our long, long journey back home. More to come tomorrow!
Cambodia Photos
Malaysia
The flight from Singapore to Malaysia is only about 30 minutes. You can actually take a five hour bus ride from Singapore, but the price is nearly the same. On this section of our trip it was only the girls: Amanda, our two German friends, and myself. It was much easier to just make decisions with four people.... traveling with more than a few is an insanely difficult challenge and I do not recommend it.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. We had heard rumors about the lack of tourist attractions in KL and were quite bored for the few days we spent there. The first day we decided to take the tourist bus around the city, stopping at all of the hot spots. Similar to other large Asian cities, there was a market, Chinatown, Little India, palaces, temples etc etc etc. However, after being to such huge cities before, we weren't too impressed. The largest icon of KL is the Petronas Towers. They truly are a beauty.
We were so lucky to have stayed in a bustling area of KL, filled with shopping malls, unique restaurants, quaint hostels and hotels. We spent an entire half day shopping in our own little area to pass the time. The next afternoon we hopped in a cab to go see an elephant sanctuary. This area was located closer to the rain forest and about two hours away from KL. The elephants were rescued, trained and taken care of at the sanctuary. We had arrived so early to the sanctuary that we decided to drive a few miles away to see "Deerland". And deer land it was... there were about 30 deer free roaming in forest. This was the closest I had ever been in my life to a deer, and they were all so friendly. The workers even let us into the area with the deer, scary! We even held a snake AND took a picture right next to a black bear. That's gotta be illegal.
Heading back to the elephant farm, we watched a cute little show put on by the elephants while feeding them peanuts and fruit. Then we took a ride and even swam with the elephants. The water was muddy and gross, but who can say they have swam with an elephant? It was awesome.
After two days we headed just west about an hour to Kuala Selangor. This area is famous for it's fireflies and we weren't about to miss the show. We stayed at some huts on the water, which was mosquito heaven for me (yuck). The resort advertised a boat trip around the lake to see the fireflies, free with your stay. We hopped on the boat and rode a ways down the river to find many flashing lights in the trees. At first we each looked at eachother in disbelief thinking we had been majorly scammed. The fireflies were nothing like the ones from the US or from Germany, they flickered in unison as they sat still on the branches of the trees - similar to flashing Christmas lights. But our driver took us closer and we could see that they were real, and really magnificent. I wish I could have snagged a picture or video, but it was just way too dark for that. We rode around for about an hour, gawking and gasping as a new tree would light up with these creatures.
We spent the night playing Uno and screaming at the cockroaches that would sneakily crawl under the door before resting up for our next trip. We headed off to Cameron Highlands, the main tea plantation area of Malaysia. The drive was about 5 hours through windy roads, but the view was worth the car sickness. Once you enter Cameron Highlands you can see beautiful green mountains filled with tea plantations. This was the most vibrant green of rolling fields that I have ever seen. We drove through the small tourist town of Cameron Highlands to our guest house that was filled with backpackers.
The first day in Cameron Highlands, we took a hike to see the famous Raffelasia flower - the largest flower in the world!! This flower was not actually a flower, but a fungus that grew on a vine and took about 9 months to grow. The flower only lasts about 5-7 days and the tour guides must hike to through the forest to find a new bloom for the new travelers. We went four wheeling in a Land Rover through the muck and the mud to begin our trek into the forest. It had been raining for a few months solid and the ground was extremely slippery and wet, almost crumbling underneath your feet. Each of the hikers was knee high in mud by the time they were done with the tour. We hiked for about 1.5 hours through the forest, many times in areas with no trail, until we reached the flower. It was quite gorgeous and surrounded by younger buds. It was interesting to be able to see the flower at it's many different lifecycles, but the most exciting part of the excursion was trekking through the muddy, muddy jungle.
The last day of our trip we took another tour to the tea plantations. As we drove up the second highest mountain in Malaysia, we could see an even more beautiful view of the rolling green hills. We learned that the tea plantations were about 100 years old and would easily last 100 more. The tour even taught us how the tea was harvested, rolled, and packaged to become this famous drink. Did you know that you're only supposed to leave your tea bag in hot water for 3 minutes, otherwise too much tannin will be released? Needless to say, we drank a LOT of tea on this trip. I might have a new addiction.
Cameron Highlands was an extremely relaxing trip and was truly a girls vacation. We headed back to KL to catch an early morning flight to Cambodia while saying "good-bye" (even though it won't be for long) to the German girls. It was so sad to leave them, not knowing the next time we will meet in life. But it was on to Cambodia.
Malaysia Photo Album 1
Malaysia Photo Album 2
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. We had heard rumors about the lack of tourist attractions in KL and were quite bored for the few days we spent there. The first day we decided to take the tourist bus around the city, stopping at all of the hot spots. Similar to other large Asian cities, there was a market, Chinatown, Little India, palaces, temples etc etc etc. However, after being to such huge cities before, we weren't too impressed. The largest icon of KL is the Petronas Towers. They truly are a beauty.
We were so lucky to have stayed in a bustling area of KL, filled with shopping malls, unique restaurants, quaint hostels and hotels. We spent an entire half day shopping in our own little area to pass the time. The next afternoon we hopped in a cab to go see an elephant sanctuary. This area was located closer to the rain forest and about two hours away from KL. The elephants were rescued, trained and taken care of at the sanctuary. We had arrived so early to the sanctuary that we decided to drive a few miles away to see "Deerland". And deer land it was... there were about 30 deer free roaming in forest. This was the closest I had ever been in my life to a deer, and they were all so friendly. The workers even let us into the area with the deer, scary! We even held a snake AND took a picture right next to a black bear. That's gotta be illegal.
Heading back to the elephant farm, we watched a cute little show put on by the elephants while feeding them peanuts and fruit. Then we took a ride and even swam with the elephants. The water was muddy and gross, but who can say they have swam with an elephant? It was awesome.
After two days we headed just west about an hour to Kuala Selangor. This area is famous for it's fireflies and we weren't about to miss the show. We stayed at some huts on the water, which was mosquito heaven for me (yuck). The resort advertised a boat trip around the lake to see the fireflies, free with your stay. We hopped on the boat and rode a ways down the river to find many flashing lights in the trees. At first we each looked at eachother in disbelief thinking we had been majorly scammed. The fireflies were nothing like the ones from the US or from Germany, they flickered in unison as they sat still on the branches of the trees - similar to flashing Christmas lights. But our driver took us closer and we could see that they were real, and really magnificent. I wish I could have snagged a picture or video, but it was just way too dark for that. We rode around for about an hour, gawking and gasping as a new tree would light up with these creatures.
We spent the night playing Uno and screaming at the cockroaches that would sneakily crawl under the door before resting up for our next trip. We headed off to Cameron Highlands, the main tea plantation area of Malaysia. The drive was about 5 hours through windy roads, but the view was worth the car sickness. Once you enter Cameron Highlands you can see beautiful green mountains filled with tea plantations. This was the most vibrant green of rolling fields that I have ever seen. We drove through the small tourist town of Cameron Highlands to our guest house that was filled with backpackers.
The first day in Cameron Highlands, we took a hike to see the famous Raffelasia flower - the largest flower in the world!! This flower was not actually a flower, but a fungus that grew on a vine and took about 9 months to grow. The flower only lasts about 5-7 days and the tour guides must hike to through the forest to find a new bloom for the new travelers. We went four wheeling in a Land Rover through the muck and the mud to begin our trek into the forest. It had been raining for a few months solid and the ground was extremely slippery and wet, almost crumbling underneath your feet. Each of the hikers was knee high in mud by the time they were done with the tour. We hiked for about 1.5 hours through the forest, many times in areas with no trail, until we reached the flower. It was quite gorgeous and surrounded by younger buds. It was interesting to be able to see the flower at it's many different lifecycles, but the most exciting part of the excursion was trekking through the muddy, muddy jungle.
The last day of our trip we took another tour to the tea plantations. As we drove up the second highest mountain in Malaysia, we could see an even more beautiful view of the rolling green hills. We learned that the tea plantations were about 100 years old and would easily last 100 more. The tour even taught us how the tea was harvested, rolled, and packaged to become this famous drink. Did you know that you're only supposed to leave your tea bag in hot water for 3 minutes, otherwise too much tannin will be released? Needless to say, we drank a LOT of tea on this trip. I might have a new addiction.
Cameron Highlands was an extremely relaxing trip and was truly a girls vacation. We headed back to KL to catch an early morning flight to Cambodia while saying "good-bye" (even though it won't be for long) to the German girls. It was so sad to leave them, not knowing the next time we will meet in life. But it was on to Cambodia.
Malaysia Photo Album 1
Malaysia Photo Album 2
Singapore
Ok, so where did I leave off. Oh yes, leaving the Philippines….
Sidebar: Blogspot has grounded me for using too many GB of memory on pictures, so you will have to check out my public Facebook albums...
We were headed to Singapore. And I realize that I never clarified who “we” are. Amanda and myself traveled with six other Germans, two girls who became our close friends over the course of the semester, and four guys who were so much fun to travel with. I don’t think I will ever forget the great friends I made on this trip.
Anyways, onto Singapore. We arrived pretty late in the night and found ourselves a private bus to our hostel. We pull up to this little hole in the wall with a paper, not a sign, a paper reading: Hostel this way -->. We were thinking “ohhh no” as we trudged up the 3 flights of stairs. This hostel could have been horrible, but to our surprise, it was the nicest place we had stayed yet. Many hostels have different options of how you can room – Full bed private, 4 person shared, 8 person shared, you get the idea. Obviously the cheapest option is 8 person shared, meaning 8 random people. Totally new experience to me. But, it turned out to be OK as we met new people along the way who were just backpackers like we were.
Singapore is just south of Malaysia and a series of islands, similar to Hong Kong. I had anticipated Singapore to be almost exactly like Hong Kong, but was so surprised at the many differences. If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed that we were in America. The buildings were very spread apart, the city was extremely clean, prices were close to the American dollar, and there wasn’t much unique culture. Now, to say there wasn’t any culture is a sin – there was just such a mix of cultures that each culture got lost in translation. The city was a mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian Muslim, and expatriates. There were four official languages: Mandarin, Tamil, Malay, and English, therefore everything was translated into each of these languages. Also, Singapore is known for its cleanliness. It’s even illegal to sell gum in the stores – I couldn’t find it anywhere and quickly discovered an underground market for this sticky product. How crazy.
Given the many different cultures, you could imagine that each of these people would have their own area of the city. We went to Chinatown, Little India and Arab Street. Chinatown was exactly what you would expect, needless to say, we were all a little tired of this whole “China” crap. So we quickly stopped through the area while heading onto the next. Little India was much more unique. I wish I could post specific pictures, but oh well. We had a traditional Indian meal, served on a banana leaf. In the Indian culture you are supposed to only eat with your right hand. Touching any of your food with your left hand is considered disgusting since your left hand is associated with bathroom issues, enough said. The restaurant, filled with true Indians, did not mellow down the food one bit. I think my taste buds had been scarred for life. Can’t wait for my trip to India, which is actually on the “to-do list”.
Arab Street was filled with fabric shops and small stores. Most notably, Arab Street is lined with bars and is the most hoppin’ bar area in Singapore. We stopped in a local hookah bar for a few beers and some hookah (but none for me, smoking anything ain't my thang). It was quite interesting to actually sit on the floor to have a few drinks instead of in a swanky restaurant or bar, like Hong Kong. It definitely added to the experience.
The famous hotel in Singapore, the Sands Hotel, is known for it’s beautiful view of the city. The hotel is located farther away from the center of the city. If you look through my pictures you can see a big boat centered on three pillars – that’s the hotel. After waiting in a long line, which is to be expected in tourist attractions, we rode the elevator to the top. I wasn’t too impressed with the buildings in Singapore until seeing the view from the hotel. Holy cow, the city is incredible. With the unique prickly melon building, more formally known as the arts center, and the beautiful Ferris wheel, Singapore definitely is high on my list of coolest skylines ever.
We were fortunate enough to spend New Year’s Eve in Singapore – it was one of the best New Year’s parties I had ever been to. The party was held on another island just a short train ride away from the main part of Singapore. There were rows and rows of beach parties with DJ’s and all sorts of music. We danced the night away to the countdown. At midnight, the Indian community thoroughly enjoyed celebrating and dancing the night away in their own unique way… we’ll just leave it at that. Best New Year’s yet.
The next morning we left the boys at Terminal 2 and made a short, yet painful, flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Backpacking Across SE Asia
Hello! It's been quite a while since I have blogged, but I think I have a good reason as to why not. I have been backpacking!! For those of you not familiar with "backpacking," well simply it's this: low cost travel (you all know how much a college student makes... zilch) using a backpack for ease of movement between cities, countries, continents, you name it. My parent's were quite surprised when picking me up at the airport and all I had was a 13kg backpack. They had sent me off to HK with 3 (yes, three) suitcases to have me come back with only a sixth of my belongings. I have really enjoyed reading this blog about the life of a backpacker and understanding how feasible it is to see the world, check it out: Art of Backpacking
Let's back up a bit, the semester finished in Hong Kong just before Christmas. The week was full of good-byes and "see you laters," however many of us were ready for finals to be finished and the next adventure to begin. After finishing up all of the finals (which I passed!) and packing/shipping my belongings back home, we were off. We checked out of our dorm and waved good bye to Hong Kong on the bus to the airport.
Our first destination was the Philippines. We were headed to a small tourist island called Malapascua, near Cebu. Unfortunately our flight left at 2am and arrived at the airport in the wee hours of the morning. Now, flying internationally is almost always a fun experience... but not always. The airports in developing countries aren't quite as nice as those that we Westerners are used to flying in to. Many times you hop off the airplane onto a field, for lack of a better definition, and take a bus about a half hour to the customs office to await a long, long line to get into the country. Just a forewarning to those traveling to these sorts of areas. There was nothing scary, of course, just not the usual.
So we arrived in Philippines, pitch black outside, and had a long, long bus ride across the island... or so we thought. After leaving the tiny baggage claim office in Cebu, we were bombarded with taxi drivers and car services that wanted to take us to our destination for a very inflated price. We had already decided to take a bus, knowing that it would take more than 6 hours to get to the port and another 1.5 hours by boat to Malapascua. Sounds terrible, huh? We took a taxi to the bus station to find buses with open windows, standing room only, and people hanging out the window. Not quite our cup of tea (just thought I would throw in a Chinese saying...). The group we were with argued over the price, in German of course, while we waited patiently for their decision. A few hours later we were on the same taxi across the island, reaching our destination around 12pm. Exhausting.
But everything always works out in the end and we were happy to arrive at one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was a picture perfect paradise: white sand beaches, lovely palm trees, and sun!!
We stayed in a very cute, but not particularly well managed, bungalow. I believe the owner could have made much more money if he would have washed the sheets and replaced the mattresses every few years, but nonetheless, it was an experience. Many people on this island were from America or Europe and had retired early to open a hostel/hotel/restaurant and live and enjoy life. If I were carefree enough, I could imagine a life like that - but I don't think it's in the cards for me.
We were fortunate enough to celebrate Christmas on the island. However, this will be the last Christmas away for a while. It's funny how much you learn about yourself and your family when you're away for so long. Anyways, enough of that. We celebrated Christmas with some good conversation, Italian food, walks on the beach, and, of course, Jack and coke.
The next few days were spent on excursions. There are many touters on the island selling their services including snorkeling adventures, island hopping, and scuba diving. One afternoon we took a 3 hour snorkeling trip around Malapascua. The water in the Philippines is the clearest blue I have ever seen. You could see so deep down to the ocean floor, it was incredible. There were these crazy fish that would jump and skip across the surface all around you while you were swimming. What an experience.
The next afternoon we went to a small island about a 2 hour boat ride away. The island was private, quiet, and so beautiful. On both sides of the island were long sandbars that you could walk out on and into the middle of the ocean. Looking out from the end of the island, you could only see the bluest blue, for miles and miles. I can't even adequately describe the beauty that is the Philippines. And my picture hardly do it justice.
We returned and explored the island for the rest of the afternoon. There were two parts of the island: tourist and local. The local areas were so worn down. The homes in this area were simply sheet metal stapled against a wooden pole. No electricity, running water, nothing. The poverty in these areas was incredibly depressing, and this was one of the more expensive islands. When driving through Cebu island, the sights were devastating. People just scraping to get by, small shacks on the road, 5 people riding on a motorcycle.... you get the idea.
But we did meet a group of small children who spoke very good English and made our 4 hour ride back to the airport just a bit brighter. The funny thing about the Philippines is that everyone speaks English. Even the signs are in English. I suppose that many of the younger students learn English not only to support tourism but because it's very expensive to have textbooks translated into Filipino. We arrived to airport, passed through border control, and were onto the next...
But, you'll have to wait until tomorrow, it's my bedtime. :)
Philippines Photos
Let's back up a bit, the semester finished in Hong Kong just before Christmas. The week was full of good-byes and "see you laters," however many of us were ready for finals to be finished and the next adventure to begin. After finishing up all of the finals (which I passed!) and packing/shipping my belongings back home, we were off. We checked out of our dorm and waved good bye to Hong Kong on the bus to the airport.
Our first destination was the Philippines. We were headed to a small tourist island called Malapascua, near Cebu. Unfortunately our flight left at 2am and arrived at the airport in the wee hours of the morning. Now, flying internationally is almost always a fun experience... but not always. The airports in developing countries aren't quite as nice as those that we Westerners are used to flying in to. Many times you hop off the airplane onto a field, for lack of a better definition, and take a bus about a half hour to the customs office to await a long, long line to get into the country. Just a forewarning to those traveling to these sorts of areas. There was nothing scary, of course, just not the usual.
So we arrived in Philippines, pitch black outside, and had a long, long bus ride across the island... or so we thought. After leaving the tiny baggage claim office in Cebu, we were bombarded with taxi drivers and car services that wanted to take us to our destination for a very inflated price. We had already decided to take a bus, knowing that it would take more than 6 hours to get to the port and another 1.5 hours by boat to Malapascua. Sounds terrible, huh? We took a taxi to the bus station to find buses with open windows, standing room only, and people hanging out the window. Not quite our cup of tea (just thought I would throw in a Chinese saying...). The group we were with argued over the price, in German of course, while we waited patiently for their decision. A few hours later we were on the same taxi across the island, reaching our destination around 12pm. Exhausting.
But everything always works out in the end and we were happy to arrive at one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was a picture perfect paradise: white sand beaches, lovely palm trees, and sun!!
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| View from our bungalow. |
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| Notice the Christmas tree in Kathi's hand. |
The next afternoon we went to a small island about a 2 hour boat ride away. The island was private, quiet, and so beautiful. On both sides of the island were long sandbars that you could walk out on and into the middle of the ocean. Looking out from the end of the island, you could only see the bluest blue, for miles and miles. I can't even adequately describe the beauty that is the Philippines. And my picture hardly do it justice.
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| Our drivers |
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| Sandbar |
But, you'll have to wait until tomorrow, it's my bedtime. :)
Philippines Photos
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