Siem Reap

So we are in Siem Reap and so far so great!
The time changed again but now it is only an 11 hour difference from back home.

The flight was only an hour from Kuala Lumpur and as soon as we got off and got our luggage we were picked up by our Tuk Tuk drivers! They are guys that work for our hotel that drive us around on motorcycles that have a cart type carrier connected to it that we sit in! It fits two a person so of course my Tuk Tuk buddy is KJ! Our drivers name is Sók (OK with an S in the front is how you pronounce it) he is soo nice! and he takes us where ever we want to go!

But yesterday was baaad we stayed the night in the airport. Got there around 11 p.m. and our flight was at 7 a.m. I did not sleep at all except for maybe a few minutes on the plane. And as soon as we landed we dropped our bags off and went to the temples. Its just non stop visiting places.

So far the place we are staying at is my favorite, The Villa! It is three girls to each room and three guys to each room then Dr. Kennan has his own room. (FYI only 10 people total are in our group) We get breakfast "free" and everything here is so cheap! Drinks - water is a dollar (all American money), soda is a dollar, beer is like 3.00 and so are other alcoholic drinks! And that is every where we go not just at our hotel! We stopped by this place to get drinks and KJ got change back which was .50 cents but instead of giving her American coins they gave her 4 500 dollar bills in Riel.

So far we have gone to a lot of temples: Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom which was really amazing!
One night we went to a concert for Kantha Bopha (a hospitla that is free for children and pregnant women that is in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh)
We woke up at 4:30 am to see the sunrise at the temples...it was incredible. Then we went and saw the temple where Lara Croft Tomb Raider was filmed! Next we are going to the landmine museum.
We also rode on elephants which was awesome! We sat in little baskets (Me and KJ) and went up a mountain...fun stuff!

We are not going to Bangkok anymore because of all the violence that is happening, like the red shirts burned a mall to the ground a few days ago according to the paper. So we extended our time here for two more days, so we are leaving Thursday, which is great because it gives us a few days to relax. Then we are going to Phnom Penh and after that Ho Chi Minh City and still going home June 8th.

Tonight we are getting $10 massages for 90 minutes.....(yea American dollars) I am telling you this place is fantastic! (and at our hotel they come to your room and give you a 60 minute massage for $16)

Except for the fact that every time we drive around in our Tuk Tuk's we see like kids on motorcycles, their will be some adult drive it and then the little child will be standing in the front, it's scary! OR there will be four people on ONE motorcycle and someone will be holding an baby in the back....i don't like it at all. Also every time we go out (period) the people try to sell us ANYTHING: bracelets, books, necklaces, scarves, purses etc. Its good but its annoying. "hey lady you want book?" ""hey lady you buy from me? You want a bracelet 10 for $1....$1.....$1"
And it is not just adults, it is little kids selling things to you, kids that do not go to school...it's sad.

But to let everyone know (mom) i bought a gift for my Mom today! I thought I would have gotten more things by now but we are going to the night market tonight so hopefully I will.

At our hotel we just sent in our laundry so i am awaiting for my clean clothes to come back folded nicely in a bag =]

I think that is all for now. I always forget something and add it back in later so re-read some of my blogs cause i add new stuff in when i remember a few days later. Ok getting ready for my $10 massage.....byyyyyyye!!

Finally Connected!

Hey

We haven't had any internet connection lately so let me cram everything into one blog right now, which may not be too long because I am paying for using the internet....
First, I am so glad I took that typing class in high school because my key board right now has all the letters rubbed off....

Ok we are in Taman Negara right now.... and we found a new way to travel....by boat!
We are on an island and there are no cars around us so if we want to go any where we just hope on our motorized boat and jet.

It took us 3 hours to get to our hostile by boat. It's 8 of us in one room and the other two in a room next to ours. Bugs EVERYWHERE and they are super sized. Must be something in the water. We eat on a floating restaurant every meal which is pretty cool and there are A LOT of cats here....a lot...but the food is pretty good, nothing out of the ordinary yet. All the juices are as fresh as can be. The orange juice we had this morning was like eating an orange, Fantastic.

Yesterday (Wednesday for us) we went on a nature hike....I died it was so intense! But the views were awesome! Then we went on a rapid water ride and got SOAKED. It's like if we jumped into a lake with all our clothes on. Then we went to an indigenous village were there were huts and people wearing clothes as dresses (which actually looked really good). We also got to use their blow darts they use for hunting! I have tons of pictures and videos but I can't upload them until after the trip...so about 3 more weeks!

We also went on a night safari....saw a deer and tons of bugs but since I am still sick my coughing probably scared all of the animals away :(

Today we did the Canopy Walk...very high up, soooo cool!
Now it is our own time to do whatever we want. After this I am thinking about either going back and laying down or maybe find some shopping...

We are leaving tomorrow at 9 a.m. going on our 3 hour boat ride back to land and going on a 5 hour bus ride back to Kuala Lumpur then sleeping in the air port and flying out to Siem Reap.

This is definitely my favorite part of the trip so far.

I got a gift for Eric here but I'm not saying what it is just yet.

Back where their are cars their are TONS of motorcycles around and they mostly drive on the shoulder....and then when some have little kids driving with them they kids sit in the front...but they are so confident in their driving I think they can handle it.

Also back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where we stayed at the University of Malaya we went to the Batu Caves which had 272 steps if I remembered correctly, that you had to do to get into the cave. There were also TONS and TONS of these little monkeys that were all over the place, they would walk right up to people and tug on their clothes and even steal their food and drinks!
The first night we were their went to Petaling Street. It was so much fun! We got to haggle which is where I bought a purse (just to carry my stuff around in). The guy wanted to sell it to me for 165 Ringet but I got it down to 62 (which is $20 American) YES!

And the international phone that I bought back in Singapore doesn't work any where else...so awesome I wasted 58 Singapore dollars which is 30 American dollars.

In Kuala Lumpur we met Dr. Kennan's friend Lucy who was the nicest person ever! She took us every where we wanted to go and drove us around with her and her own car service (from work). And then when we had to get on the bus at 6 in the morning she was there to make sure we got on the right bus!!!!

She also took us to this Mosk (church - didn't spell it right) where we had to cover up our bodies so they gave us these pink cap/dresses with hoods to wear. that even the guys wore! Great you'll have to see the pictures later!

I have adjusted to the time difference which only took me like a day but I'm still tired alllll the time because we are always on the go go go!!!! And the weather is brutally hot!!

Ok well that's it for now. Who knows when I'll be able to post again, probably soon.

Byyyyyeee

Singapore

Its Saturday morning here (7:15 a.m.)-- still Friday night back home.

Everyone here is so nice! Yesterday we went to this mall in Singapore and when KJ and I were trying to buy food the food people could not understand us so the first girl spoke to them and told them what we were saying about the dumplings, and the second girl told them that we wanted soy sauce. It was really nice we didn't even have to ask they just helped us.

It is funny, I am guessing the people here have never really seen Americans because they watch us as if we were their own television show. One lady even asked if she could get her picture taken with our group! Then while we were walking a bus of people all waved to us as they drove by.

While I am still sick, coughing just as much as ever....I almost DIED in a store coughing to death! Then I didn't convert enough money at that time to buy cough medicine and eye solution for my contacts so I used my credit card =]

But then later when I wanted to buy an international phone my card wouldn't work!!!!!!!!!!
I realized that you need to buy a new sim card in every country you go to for the phone to work....

I even called my bank two weeks before we left and told them the places and the dates where we are traveling. I was mad. It is really hard to find a pay phone here and to get internet access. So I e-mailed my parents and asked them if they could call Bank of America and see what's going on...but I'll have no way of knowing if they got my e-mail or not or what happened since I probably won't check again until Monday.

But I did finally get to talk to Eric last night =] and my dad! I just really want a phone so I can call them whenever! So hopefully told when we go to see Dr. Kennan's friend I can buy a phone where he bought his.

We also went to the National University of Singapore and the cab driver that we took drove like a mad man! He went to fast and got so close to the other cars, sometimes I could not watch! The traffic here is so fast and busy all the time even when the signs says its safe to cross the street I still have my doubts lol. But overall this place is really safe, considering there laws are so strict.

We went to Chinatown also which is not like the Chinatown in Baltimore or New York.
One day we went to a really nice coffee shop in the mall and meet one of Dr. Kennan's contacts

We are leaving Singapore tomorrow and going to Kulua Lumpur, Malaysia and we are staying at the University of Malay in their dorms. I am excited to see how other colleges live!

Singapore has been a really good transition place for all of us to become more comfortable with being in different countries so unlike ours.

Ok well I guess I am going to go back to bed for a little while, I only got up to e-mail my parents so if you are reading this CALL MY PARENTS and tell them to check their e-mail! PLEASE!

P.S. thank you to my cousin who got on fb and read the message I sent her! buut then she got off....lol

Arrived

Finally in Singapore! 2:51 a.m. (12 hour difference)

The plane rides were soooo long!! There was the one to Minnesota that was about 2 hours, then we had a 2 hour lay over. Minnesota to Tokyo was about a 12 hour flight....then we had to rush to our gate for Singapore from Tokyo as soon as we got off our plane for a 7 hour and 4 minute flight. The last flight wasn't so bad we had TVs for each seat and we got to watch any more we wanted! I watched It's Complicated (loved!) and I started to watch Dear John, but we landed before I got to finish it.

Through all the flights they feed us sooooo much food! It was actually really good food, there were salads, shrimp cocktail, tea, beef and rice, chicken, sandwiches, and lots more.

Then we got our luggage, it didn't take too long. Then we bought our calling cards and I called my parents and Eric =] (only my dad answered)

It stinks because I can't seem to get WI FI anywhere for my iTouch....

Now I am at the hotel -- Sleepy Sam's, which is a hostel. All the girls are staying in one room with bunk beds and all of the guys are staying in a common room with other guests.
I'm not really tired which is bad because it is 3:00 am in the morning but after this I'll probably just try and go to bed.

I'm a little home sick but that's probably because I haven't done anything or talked to anyone back home except for my dad. But thank you to my sister for letting me use her watch (which I wear ALL the time) and to my mom for letting me take her iTouch (even though I don't use it as much as I thought I would).

The worst is that I have a COLD! I have been sneezing, coughing, and blowing my nose the whole day(s)!!

At least there is Facebook chat! I am talking to Eric right now =]

KJ is blogging too and Dr. Kennan is on the computer and I'm pretty sure everyone else went up to go to bed. I just hope I can adjust to the time difference soon.

Ok well I guess I'll try and blog again tomorrow!!

Good morning for me and good afternoon to you!

So close....

Today was a good day. I bought a dress and three shirts! I may not bring any of them to Asia...but I can still wear them after Asia!

The stress of packing is making me break out! Everyone keeps saying what you bring, your going to have to carry....and I am one of those women who OVER packs (even for a weekend home). I have changed the luggage I'm bringing twice....it would be nice to be a guy right now and not care so much what I look like.........ppfft.
I HAVE to be prepared! I know I can buy things when I'm over there....but if I can have them before I go over there it's even better!

Sad note - I was going to get the Droid for the purpose of using it in Asia...but it cost a lot of $$$$ to even use Skype over there....I was looking forward to it for about two weeks (maybe just one) then we go to the Verizon store and BAM my dream was crushed. It really will suck not having the luxury of having a cell phone to use at any moment I choose...
Sad note 2 - we (rentals and I) dropped my sister and my niece off at the airport today for their trip to California...I only had like 4 days with them...now i'll be gone for a month and my niece (1 years old) will forget who I am AGAIN

Asia is soooo close and I'm am getting more nervous and scared then excited. I'm 20 years old and I am scared to be out of the country without my parents! lol
I guess I was like this before college too but I got over that.

So I leave on Wednesday and get there Thursday at 1 a.m. (when I went to passport health to get my shots I found out that if you are on a plane as long as I will be, you can actually get blood clots from sitting too long....)

Ok I've run out of things to talk/complain about.
Until next time
Me.