So, I have been very very bad about updating the blog :( I'll try now to do a short recap of the past few weeks:
From Saigon, Vietnam I went to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was still traveling with those 3 English guys... We spent a few days in Phnom Penh, a strange but beautiful city spotted with colorful temples. In our time here we went to the Killing Fields - a preserved area where the killings happened during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia (1975-1979). It was the most moving, eye-opening, and humbling experience I have ever been through. The four-year period cost approximately 2 million lives (about 21% of the population) through the combined result of political executions, disease, starvation, and forced labor. I was so blown away not to have known about this before coming to Southeast Asia. At the Killing Fields I did the audio tour which was very educational and helped me really understand the atrocities of what happened there - and so recently. As we walked through the fields, there were still bones sticking out of the ground where mass graves had been made as dumping pits for all the bodies. I even stood right in front of a tree upon which baby's heads had been smashed... A temple stood in the center where literally thousands of skulls had been recovered and were on display. I can't even put into words how intense it all was. [if you don't know about the Cambodian Genocide - which very possibly occurred during your lifetime, please educate yourself!!!]
After Phnom Penh we took a bus to Sihanouk Ville, a small city on the coast of Cambodia, going into the Gulf of Thailand. the 4 of us stayed in a 2 double bed private room (much cheaper than staying in a dorm) and mostly stayed in that one area of the city where all the travelers go. But of course I did my regular trips to the big market :)
On our second night in Sihanouk Ville there was a festival going on. It was a ways outside of town, but they had trucks bringing all of us out there. It was quite fun for the first few hours until everyone around us was on all different kinds of drugs...
Daryl birthday fell on the next evening, so we had a special dinner, I got him a cake O:-) , and we went out!
Next was Koh Rong - "Paradise Island" as I like to call it! We took a ferry out there and found 2 cheap private rooms. Koh Rong is quite a small island, and has only recently become a popular destination for travelers - so its still quiet and relatively secluded. The bungalows, hostels, and restaurants only take up about 400m of the beach, and the rest of the island is still pretty untouched. There is a path that leads across the island, through the jungle, to Long beach - literally a long beach of perfect, white sands and crystal clear water, with nothing on it!
The boys and I stayed together on the populated side of the island for a few days and did one trip (snorkeling, fishing, and sunset on long beach while eating our day's catches! It was a wonderful trip full of excitement and sun! First, while snorkeling, a 5 or 6 foot shark swam right by us. No, this is not a normal thing...and no it probably couldn't have killed any of us too easily, but it was still and unexpected surprise. Then, while we were fishing off the boat (just throwing in our weighted, baited hooks, attached to a coil of fishing line), Adam was searching for something in my backpack when we dropped the bag exclaiming that there was a scorpion inside. I proceeded to dump out all the bags contents, and sure enough a small scorpion came crawling out quickly. As soon as our tour guide, a native to the area, saw the it, he pushed me back, and told everyone to move away. He pulled out a lighter and chased around the scorpion trying to burn it...and succeeded! He then explained that the small ones are in fact the most dangerous and poisonous. We were then boated over to Long Beach where we grilled up all the fish we had caught (a bunch of small red snappers) and enjoyed the beautiful sunset!
A couple days later the boys left back to Sihanouk Ville (where they each got a tattoo - one that I designed and drew out :D ), and then went on... It was more than due time for us to go our separate ways.
After they left, I went to the other side of the island and camped out on the beach with some new friends! It was amazing! Just the beautiful, raw nature around us!
After Koh Rong I made my way north to Siem Reap. Oh, I forgot to mention: on Koh Rong the general hygiene is reallyyyyy bad... so I got quite sick there. For about 3 full days I was quite miserable in all the inescapable heat with a fever, puking up everything, and just without any energy. It wasn't a great way to experience Siem Reap and the Ankor Wat Temples... :-/ But what can you do...?!
Somehow, I still managed to appreciate Siem Reap and see at least some of what it had to offer!!
Next, I hopped on a bus to Thailand in order to make it to Chiang Mai for the Songkran (Buddhist New Year) festivities!
...more on my recent adventure SOON!!!
~Iolani
