Time To Get A Wee Bit Deep...

We hear it all the time...how lucky we are as Canadians. We have democracy, freedom of speech, and most of all peace. Obviously, I have always known that I come from a peaceful country, but it all kinda snowballed into a huge realization when I visited a place fresh out of war and civil unrest. I say "fresh out of war" like it just happened yesterday, and it didn't. Cambodia's war technically ended in the late '70's, but the effects of that war, the millions that were killed, and the ongoing struggles after it "officially" ended are still happening today.

Phnom Penh stole my heart almost immediately. The city's appeal might not appeal to everyone...the streets aren't necessarily the cleanest, the tuk tuk drivers are still lined up on every street corner saying they will give you "cheap price!", there are kids much too young begging on the streets, as well as adults, and many people walking around who have been visibly wounded by their country's struggles. If nothing else, Phnom Penh is a city that is clearly working towards getting better, step by step. It's a great place to take in a lot of culture and history if you are willing. Leif and I decided to dive right in. Our first day there, we hired a tuk tuk to take us to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum where mass amounts of people were tortured, imprisoned, beaten and starved. They have literally kept this place in almost the exact condition as when it was found, to the point where we saw blood on the floor of a jail cell. We walked around for a few hours, jail cell to jail cell, torture device to torture device...and we went back to our hotel pretty amazed and humbled at how lucky we truly are. I find myself looking at old women and old men, just wishing we spoke the same language; they all lived through such hell and survived, it would be amazing to hear just a snippit of their life story.

The next day, we dove right in again...another tuk tuk ride a few kilometers out of Phnom Penh to the Killing Fields. They couldn't have coined a better term. Walking in, you are greeted by a gorgeous pagoda. Inside though, are the skulls of about 9000 people that were found in this mass war graveyard. Pretty friggen intense to say the least. There are pathways to walk around and see where the pits holding bodies once were. The bones and clothes of many people still stick out of the ground. Walking down the path, I came across some molars just lying on the ground.

One of the best parts of the killing fields for me was hearing kids laughing and playing in either a school or a field nearby as we took it all in. We were walking through blatant evidence of the hell they had gone through, but we could hear kids laughing....it was just so awesome to hear....a much needed reminder that things are getting better.

After Phnom Penh we headed to Sihanoukville where we lazed around because Leif once again pushed his limits with tanning oil and looked much like a tomato. We found a place online where you can stay in huts shaped like mushrooms, so we made our way there, and can now say we slept in a mushroom :). We rented a bike on our last day to see some rice paddies and the countryside. Though it was a long ride and I thought I would never feel my ass again, it was pretty worth it...and fortunately, I can feel my ass again. The best part about renting a bike is being able to get out of the city and see places completely unaffected by tourism.

We took a night bus to Siem Reap and checked in at a gem of a guesthouse. To see Angkor Wat of course! We woke up at 4:30 in the morn, met our tuk tuk driver at five, and made it there for sunrise. Angkor wat is ridiculous. So gorgeous, so old, so historic. Leif and I walked around all day and put on 15 or more kilometers in flip flops, thank goodness it was somewhat overcast!

While in Cambodia, we had to decide what to do next...Vietnam or back to Thailand for the last month of our trip. After the first few days away from Thailand it kinda became obvious what we wanted to do. The second we leave Thailand, we talk about little things we miss...and after being told by a ridiculous amount of people on our trip thus far that we are crazy folk for not seeing Chiang Mai and spending as much time as we have in Thailand, we decided to give the Thai embassy a visit. It was a wee bit stressful handing over our passports for the day so they could process our Thai visas ahead of time, and it probably cost us more than it should have...but we got it done, and I am finishing this blog from our amazing little room in Chiang Mai. Sorry Vietnam, maybe next time :)

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum:

 The Killing Fields --pretty intense:

 Our mushroom hut village:

 Me documenting our bike trip around Sihanoukville:

 Sihanoukville countryside:

 

 Working in the rice fields:

 A rice field and a temple:

 Angkor Wat at sunrise:

It was apparently a holiday for monks, so there were sooo many! It was awesome!

Leif chillin' with a monk, no big deal ;)

Such ancient buildings!!

 Chillin' like Dylan :)

 Happy May Long!!! xoxo

Pix :)

Full moon fun!

Koh Samui!

Leif enjoying our culinary delights during our Thai cooking class :)

Awww yah baby, we be eating good!

Our message to the cooking class :)

Out for a delightful dinner.....

....with these peeps!

I love this place.

The hardest day of scuba, getting used to the equipment and trusting that we could actually breath underwater!

Hell ya, we're certified!!!!

Pool fun!

We're now in Cambodia, and I'm head over heels in love with Phnom Penh, seriously...head over heels!! A blog is coming soon :)

....On To The Next Chapter!

Well, where to even begin! The blog has kinda been put on the backburner after our travel buddies arrived at the beginning of April.  Ang and Thad were great travel companions, and it's already weird to not have them here with us...but I'm just glad they could meet up with us for a month :) Geeg, the magnums already miss you; and Thad, the bean bag chairs at Fizz are calling you back already!!!

Since my last blog, we've done tons! We went to the full moon party, which was only a few short days after what we still title "the craziest night of our lives." It may have been a combination of that, and the fact that we were in the mood to people watch, but the full moon party for us consisted of some buckets, a few dances, some glow paint, and a ton of people watching. Seriously, if you like to people watch, Thailand should be in your future.

A few days after the full moon party, we decided to hit up another island. Koh Samui it was! We actually did quite a bit in Koh Samui! A big highlight for Leif and I was signing up for a Thai cooking class. Seriously, we've fallen head over heels in love with the food here...to the point where Leif actually has intense curry cravings each and every day; so we had to sign up for this class! We learned how to make ALL our favorite dishes, so we will be eating GOOOOOD when we get home! We also trekked up to a waterfall, where Leif saw the demise of his camera. From what I gather, this is a trend for Leif and travelling. Plunk went his camera in the waterfall. Thankfully, we still have my camera along!  We also went for a ridiculously fancy dinner, clearly it was MUCH too fancy to fall into the category of a backpackers' budget, so for this I would like to thank Lorne E. Schreiner for treating us all to that dinner! Sheesh, my tastebuds have been spoiled!  Lastly, we went to a cabaret.  Probably something we wouldn't have done if we hadn't had a few drinks at dinner, but we went and watched many ladyboys put on a rather entertaining performance.  It was actually hilarious as all the performers were men, but such convincing women! Two of the ladyboys had us convinced they were women, that is until they talked to us after the show and their voices were clearly that of a man! lol.  Good times!

Our last island was Koh Tao. Ohhhh Koh Tao. This island is where me, Ang and Thad did one of the hardest things of our lives....got our scuba certification.  For those of you that didn't know me that well two years ago, my biggest fear in life was the ocean. I overcame that a bit when I went snorkelling about a year ago, and then we came to Koh Tao and signed up to get our scuba certification. With the help of our crazy instructor Klaus, and my big sister playing her role as we got used to the equipment, we all got certified and went for four absolutely amazing dives!!!!! To anyone that's a wee bit scared, just try it out...the end result is amazing! We saw so much stuff underwater, an entirely different world! I can't wait to go again!

After Koh Tao, it was back to Bangkok to say goodbye to Ang and Thad. We splurged and spent a day at a nice hotel there, hit up the pool and soaked up some rays, and then went to the airport the next morning to say goodbye. Leif and I caught our plane to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  The traffic here is ridiculous, people are crazy friendly, and the little kids still melt my heart. A little one year old Cambodian boy was yelling "hello" to us over all the traffic as we were driving to our hotel in our tuk tuk. Sooo cute.  I'm sure Cambodia is going to be an experience as we plan to take in a lot of the sites of the Khmer Rouge and the recent struggles of the Cambodian people. Will be sure to keep you all updated :)

Glad to hear the weather back home is smartening up! xoxo

Ps a few pics to come in the next day or so, I have had quite the battle with posting pics on this blog!!!