Snowy Re-entry

I am home again. I know. Sad, isn't it?

I couldn't imagine a scenario that would've seen me happy to leave my little adventure behind, so I suppose having reentered life with a minimum of tears and hair-tearing is a good thing.

We also have about a million inches of snow here, so that, too, is a hilarious way for reality to say to me "welcome back...(sucker?)"

I will continue to post about my trip even though it's physically ended. I expect that over the next days and weeks, thoughts, emotions and memories will surface that got steamrolled by the crystal clear water and hilarious company of the last part of the trip, and wirting about them, even states-side, is important in helping me share the big picture AND in my own record keeping.

Will it be less exciting to read knowing I'm writing from an english speaking louse-free environment? Well, I suppose that's the beauty of a blog. You can just stop reading it if you feel gyped by the home-posts.

Anyways: today I will share the story of how I came home (or almost didn't come home.)

After I left Steph & Jordan on Kao San Road, I asked at the airport what it would cost to change my return ticket. The nice lady at the Emirates desk gave me a very satisfactory answer (cheap!) and told me I could change it to any open date for the same price and gave me a number to call where she assured me that an enlish speaker would assist me. Hooray!

So I flew from Bangkok to Koh Samui where I got stuck staying at the Mermaid Bungalows or Inn or whatever it was. I twiddled my thumbs pool-side waiting for 8:30 pm to roll around when I could call my toll free number and speak with someone in the US Emirates office about changing my ticket. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Life is hard here by the pool. Read, read, suntan lotion, move to shade, check the time. Food? Oh yes, I should eat. Check the time? Not yet? Ok, I'll take a nap. Etc...

After several failed attempts involving payphones and the Mermaid lobby phone, I managed to get through to Emirates...where their machine told me politely and in perfect english that their hours were from 8:30 am-5:30 pm, Monday-Friday. "Yes," I said to the machine. "That is why I'm calling NOW, at 8:30 am, EST."

Only then did it dawn on me that the lady had given me a number for the Bangkok office and the extension for the english speaker's phone. Idiot.

So I moved on with life. It was the weekend, so I couldn't call again the next day and I simply preceeded with the plan: go to Koh Tao, learn to dive, love life.

Which brings me to Monday. We had a classroom session in the morning for my dive course and between that and our 1 pm rendezvous for our first real dive, I got myself to the phone to nail down the slippery details of my return.

Again, several pay phones and internet cafe phones later, I was speaking with the ever-polite Emirates People.

"Hello," I said. "I'd like to change my ticket, please." My heart was thudding because technically, I was already going to miss my scheduled return date (that night.) (Have I mentioned I'm sometimes really stupid?)

"Sure, no problem," the man on the other end told me. (PHEW.) "When would you like to fly?"

"I'd like a ticket for this Saturday, the 27th or Sunday the 28th, please."

(Sound of typing from Emirates end of the phone line.) "I'm sorry ma'am, we have nothing available on those dates."

No problem, it's a weekend, of course. "How about the friday before?"

Typing, typing, typing. "No, I'm sorry, also full."

"Ok. The Monday after, then?"

Click click click click click. "Also full, ma'am."

Heart rate increasing at an alarming speed. "Ok. How about Thursday or even Wednesay?" (There is no way I can make it to the Bangkok airport before a Wednesday flight, by the way.)

"Yes, we have a seat on Wednesday."

"Ok, can you sort of put your finger in the page there and then go look at what your next available flight out of Bangkok is after that?"

Everlasting typing over the phone lines. Heart in throat. Frantic prayers.

"After Wednesday, the next available flight is April 25, ma'am."

Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap.

"Yes, please book me on the Wednesday flight."

Leaving Wednesday (at 1:05 am, mind you,) means many things:

First, I won't get to finish my dive course. I am crushed and bitterly disappointed by this fact.

I must arrange a boat ride to the island with the airport and also procure a last-minute seat on an airplane going to Bangkok. I begin the search and come up with...nothing.

My hands begin to shake.

I'm going to be stranded here. (Actually, that wasn't a bad thought, but the following ones were.) I'm going to have to purchase a brand new ticket for my return flight. How much would those be? I'll check. Oh. $1000.00 That's an expensive mistake Sarah, you big dumb 29-year-old infant.

I'm going to have to call Stevo and tell him I'm stuck here and can he please just keep holding down the fort while I play in the sun and behave like a child?

Do I even have $1000 for a new ticket home?

Am I going to have to call my parents (on their vacation in Israel, no less,) and explain this to them and ASK THEM FOR MONEY???

Who can I call for advice? Its after midnight at home, on a school night. What do I do? What do I do? Oh my gosh. I'm such a moron. I hate myself for doing this kind of stuff. Will I ever learn?

Then I turn to the lady who helped me with the phone, who runs the internet cafe. I recall that there are boat tickets for sale in this office and that I read something called "EK Travel" over the door when I came in. Perhaps she can help me?

And help me she did. After a few communitcation errors she procured for me a taxi ride to the pier, a boat ticket, a mini-bus ride from the pier to the airport and one (business class) ticket to Bangkok a whopping 5 hours before my 1 am departure on Wednesday morning.

I could've cried.

It all cost me less than $200, by the way. And yes, I really sat in business class for a 1 hour flight. And they used real linnen on my tray table when they fed me. It was rad.

Walking back to meet my dive buddy for our first real dives and my last real dives of the trip, I couldn't figure out if I was more sad about leaving early or relieved that the shame of a massive travel debacle had been narrowly averted.

This remained a toss-up until this morning, when I was clearing off my car to come into town and was soaked to the waist and freezing after 10 minutes with only the first half of the car clean.

Clearly, I should've embraced the debacle.

Clearly.

Please don't make me leave.

Hey all!

I've been putting off this post because, well, how does one write about white sand beaches, crystal clear water and days filled with beautiful nothingness and new friends while the people at home are trudging through snow, bundled against the cold, waiting for more daylight?

I am hoping that sentence alone was like the band-aid being ripped off and now that your hideous, cold, pale skinned-wounds are exposed, I can just go on about the currently perfect conditions of my life and trust that the worst is behind you? (If I'm wrong, you should probably just stop reading now...)

I'm staying at the Sairee Cottages, (on Haad Sai Ree) which are most satisfactory. Its on a quiet stretch with other cottage resorts but there is plenty of fun at the end of a very short walk in either direction. I am, in fact, staying for free in my happy little cottage because I'm also learning to dive here and for 9000 baht, they not only teach and equip you, but also put a roof over your head. Stellar.

My first day on the beach, as I tried in vain not to scorch some of my still-pale spots, I met a handful of very funny Irish "lads" who have gravitated to this spot because several of the dive instructors here are also Irish.

Irish people and scuba did not used to go together in my mind, but, as with many things on this adventure, I've been proven wrong.

So between the friendly people on the beach and in the cottages around me and everyone's link to the dive instructors here, I sometimes feel like the belle of the ball, waving hello to all sorts of folk as I pass the time in this most gorgeous of spots. Funny to think I thought traveling alone would be lonely. Turns out, it just makes it easier for everyone else to talk to you. Ha. Something new every day...

Yesterday, I also felt like I finally acclimatized to the pace of beach life. My first two island days as I lazed about like a beached whale, I kept thinking "I should get up! The day's passing me by! What am I missing?" but now, well now I've got it down pat:

• Get up before the room becomes an inferno (no later than 10 am)
  
• Head down to the beachfront cafe and get coffee and fruit (avg. 1 mango/day for 2 wks.)
  
• Enjoy breeze, shade and company of strangers until I feel the urge to take a dip
• Float aimlessly, chat with others in water, contemplate navel, etc...until very, very pruney
• Get out
• Lay in sun
• Move to shade to read/reapply sunblock
• Go back to beach
• Repeat as necessary (or as time allows)

Yesterday I actually started my Scuba class...talk about an imposition on my routine! This has been very exciting and also bit nerve-wracking because they tell you upfront about all the things that can happen to you when you try to live in an environment that man was not made to live in. Mom, don't worry. Its nothing. I love you and I'll be fine.

My class is composed of our instructor (Lorenzo, from Italy but living here for 6 years now,) our assistant instructor (Mira, from Finland, still in training, arrived in December and hasn't peeled herself away yet) Anders from Sweden (student) and me (student.) That makes a grand total of 4 - 2 teachers and 2 students. Pretty good ratio, right?

Everyone seems great and Anders will make a fine first dive-buddy for me. After our class last night, we bonded over food, our new workbooks and a couple of beers. We are now fast friends. He even told me that if I gave him the "out of air" sign, he wouldn't wait for me to sign to him that I wanted to share, he'd just offer me his regulator. God bless Anders.

(Mom: running out of air doesn't happen if you pay attention, please don't worry! I'll stay SHARP!)

Hmm, I just tried to post some pictures and this computer is not working with me. I'll try again...yep, nothing. The more photos I get, the more neurotic I am about something happening to my camera or memory card. In Bangkok I thought I had lost my camera...that was an ugly moment. Of course it was just buried under the debris of ticket stubs and foreign currency that have created a bog-like mat at the bottom of my bag. Phew.

Anyways, this just means no pictures for today. But tomorrow, when I'm on another computer, I'll try again and so far, that method has worked for me.

Well all, I'm off to take a dip, eat a little snack and meet my dive "class" (just Anders) for a little review before our 1 pm session. We'll be putting on all the gear and getting in the water. Just knee deep water, but man am I excited!

Love you guys. Miss you. too. Can't wait to sit and tell you about it all, face to face. Of course, you might have to book tickets to come here to hear about it, because I can't even begin to contemplate leaving!

Hello southern Thailand, gee you're nice!

Sawadee from Koh Samui!

I'm writing from the icy cold office of the place I'm staying in tonight. I didn't plan to stay on this island, but when I arrived, they told me the ferries were oversold for the day and I'd have to stay. And no, I didn't get fooled...I actually went to the pier to make sure this was fact and not fiction and viola, here I am.

I'm staying in a place that costs three times what I was paying in Cambodia, but at $15, it's still not so bad for one night. Its a total resort town and I'm not even sure I can eat authentic thai food here, but my little bungalow is magically clean and adorable and the beach is across the street and the pool stays open till midnight, so I'm thinking I've landed on my feet. Ha ha, travel snafus cannot hold me down!

Tomorrow morning I will take a catamaran to the smaller island of Koh Tao where I'll (hopefully) get to scuba dive for the first time ever (!!!) and also rock climb. Since I just used three exclamation points in the previous sentence, I'll restrain myself on this one, but I am unbearably excited.

Bangkok was fun, too. I forgot I haven't written about that. I met up with the ever-hilarious Stephanie Finn and a friend of hers (Jordan) and we actually stayed right in the heart of party-central, at Kao San Road. I wrote to my dad that it was like all the spring break trips I'd never gone on as a college girl happening at full strength, right outside our door.

It was great to travel with someone I knew from before and hearing Steph's stories about India made me want to drop everything to go. She was in the Himilayas for pete's sake!

I think I'll have to come back and give Bangkok it's own post, but for now, I'll slap some photos up from Cambodia and cross my fingers that my time on the internet won't expire before they can load!

These were our boychild boat captains on the river tour we did in Siem Reap. When we got on the boat and they started it up and drove us off, Laura and I looked around like they were playing a trick on the adult who was supposed to be in charge. Nope! Anyways, our captain goes to school in the mornings (6 days a week,) drives the tour boat at night and then sleeps on the boat overnight, too. He sees his family ever couple of weeks, they live in the floating village down river a bit. Wait, did I already tell you that?

These are supposed to be the beautiful muses who inspired great kings (the dancing Apsaras) but they just looked hot and bored to me.

If you look closely, you can actually see Laura Croft raiding this tomb. No, no you can't. But did you look?

More temple-mania! We thought this one looked a bit cathedral-ish. Everything was so ornately carved - we just kept asking each other, "what would this have looked like back in the day," and shaking our heads over what the ancient Khmers were able to do. Its crazy to think how they've been reduced to such a poor, broken country. A very stark contrast when you get into the history and see the remnants of their once-great empire.

The little rooftop cafe/bar at the Popular Guesthouse. See, I told you it was sweet!

Houses on stilts above tributaries of the Tonle Sap - the water feeds the rice paddies (patties?) that you can't quite see in the background. The Cambodian countryside was such a trip after the chaos and dirt of Phnom Penh. I couldn't believe how much better off the people in Siem Reap seemed to be doing - it's quite, there's no trash and the absence of car and moto horns sort of freaked me out at first.

The start of the spread the daycare staff made for me on our "thank you dinner" night. I still can't get them doing it. So humbling.

Just another day in Phnom Penh. Really.

This is lunchtime at the day care. The kids eat the same amount of food as a grown man would and they eat family style, mostly managing to serve themselves and each other and their shirts and the table and the floor, but still mostly their mouths. Some of them are as young as 3. I think this qualifies them as geniuses, really.

And speaking of geniuses, the three older girls in the picture are some of the brightest! When we played hang-man to help them learn to spell (words like car, apple and Jesus,) they were always bouncing up and down. "Yam, yam, yam, issa letta A?" I think "yam" is like saying "miss" but it could've been that they were calling me Big Bozo Face or Hey Whitey. I'm ok not knowing for now. They also talked to me incessantly but, of course, I never knew what they were saying. I always answered and they had no idea what I was saying, but hugs and hair-braiding (lice! lice! lice!) sessions are a universal language, so we got by.

Quickie!

Hey Team,

Just a quick note as I wait for my boarding pass to print out...I'm leaving Cambodia (sad!) and am flying to Bangkok this afternoon. There, I'll meet a girl I know (sort of) and we will splurge on a hotel that costs us 300 baht each. Yes, that's a whopping $30. But it's in the right spot and they do laundry right there, same day (oh how badly I need to do laundry!!!) and they have a rooftop pool. Heaven.

Some of you knew about my transportation check list and I thought I would give you an update. So far I have traveled by:

• air plane (dull, I know)
• car (even more dull, although not in Phnom Penh traffic)
• speed boat
• palm tree canoe
• bicycle
• moto
• tuk-tuk
• elephant
• yes, elephant!

Still to go are train (night train if I can swing it) and bus. The bus is kind of dull too, I know, but I'm trying to be thorough. I'll also get a ferry somewhere in there and who knows what else. Maybe someone will give me a piggy-back ride somewhere and I'll be able to write "human"on my list. Yes, having written that, I think that should definitely be on the list. How far would someone have to carry me for it to be considered transportation?

Huh. Even though Chinese New Year was a couple of days ago, they're still banging their drums and dancing around under giant dragon puppets here. From my computer I can see (and hear, man that's a loud drum) someone starting up again now. I wonder how long they celebrate around here?

Ok, time to wrap up and check out of my dear Popular Guesthouse. I will miss this country and the people here and although I'm sure Thailand will also be fantastic, I can't imagine loving it like I do Cambodia.

Sadly, I also just wrapped my head around converting riel to dollars, and now I've got to master some new math. Ugh. Math. I guess I should be grateful, though. I met a guy last night who was telling me about converting Lao currency to dollars and I would've needed a calculator or abbicus for that one!

Time to go. Love you guys!

Next post will be from a new country. This rocks.

Slowest intenet connection in the East

I was very excited to post some pictures for you guys, but it turns out the internet in my guesthouse is dial-up's slower cousin or something. So now I will have to choose just one or two to share and trust that you'll forgive me.

Today has been a huge day, woah. I woke up earlyish and went up to the rooftop cafe/bar and had a delicious bowl of cereal with fresh mango on it and slurped down a coffee before my tuk-tuk driver (Ton?) arrived at 8 to whisk me away to the temples of Angkor.

Angkor, let me tell you, is massive, ancient, beautiful, dusty, crowded, hot and fabulous. Its also super spread out, so you have to either be a marathon runner or rent a bike or hire a tuk-tuk for the day. Yesterday's post will explain which option I went with and hey, before you look down on me too much, please recall that I'm meant to be on a vacation of sorts. Exercise is for real life. This is not that.

Ooh, wait. I already forgot an important detail. Over breakfast, I met a girl named Laura. She and I have been alone at the cafe twice now, so I took a stab and asked her if she was traveling alone. She answered, in an Australian accent (which I did not hold against her,) that she was indeed traveling alone. We struck up a lively conversation and decided to meet up again later in the afternoon, after our various sight-seeing duties were done.

Now fast-forward again to Angkor: Laura and I bumped into each other and I had a friend for the day! Actually, I present-tense have a friend, still. She and I are going to eat dinner together soon, and have also collected a few other lone travelers to make up our merry little band for the evening. Aaah, the company of strangers. What fun! '

So Laura and I reached our maximum capacity for temple viewing around 2 pm and headed back to our guesthouse, where we enjoyed the most delicious smoothies ever blended, no word of a lie. Mine was banana-coffee because I seriously needed the boost and hers was something totally healthy and sensible. Have I mentioned that Laura is in fitness as a career and also teaches yoga? So yeah, there's that.

Anyways, we came back, slurped our slushies, hosed the dust off our feet and then headed out for Massages...by blind people! Oh yes. For a mere $3 we got beautiful 30 minute massages and the money supported the vision impaired in Siem Reap, so I felt twice as good!

From there, we took a ride back down to the Tonle Sap (river and lake) and caught a boat to see the floating villages, market and other things that also floated. Like plastic bags, bottles and a boy in a metal wash tub.

The person driving our boat was 17, but I'm telling you, he was 17 like I'm 35. And the person assisting him was 13. This could've been true. So here we were, Laura and Sarah, afloat with our teenage captain and his skipper on the largest body of fresh water in all of southeast asia. And it was great. The captain spoke beautiful english and was very proud to show us the lake that he lives on with his family and friends. He took us to a floating school for lake orphans and to a restaurant where he draped a boa constrictor around my neck. Whee! He told us he lives in the boat we were riding in and that he wants to go to University to study engineering. I hope he puts our collective $5 tip toward tuition, because he was clearly very smart and personable and I'd like to see him succeed.

So now, after a breezy tuk tuk ride through the rice fields and past stilted villages, I'm here, writing to you. And after this I will run to my room, hose off my feet again, try to tame my wild hair and meet my new friends upstairs for dinner and other merriment.

Siem Reap

Hello from a new city!

After a very hectic morning ride to a difficult-to-find boarding area, I got on the Blue Cruiser and "cruised" north to Siem Reap, the city that supports Angkor Wat. (Go ahead and google Angkor Wat if you don't know what it is, its pretty cool.)

I was totally elated to be on a boat as the sun rose, watching the city fade and the countryside appear. I had good tunes and the breeze was heavenly. I had my guidebooks out, sunscreen on and a little baggie of pineapple for a snack. But for all these good things, and all that i know lies ahead, I was also incredibly sad to go.

I'm glad to be traveling alone because I have so much to process now. The long boat ride was just what I needed for remembering, praying, writing and rejoicing over the experiences I've just had- the kind I've been hoping to have for so long.

More than once I thought "I can't believe this is my life!" And that's a pretty big change from my outlook when I said goodbye to snowy Mass.

The last night in PNH was lovely. The staff at the day care cooked a special goodbye feast for me and we sat on mats in a circle over steaming plates of lemony beef and chicken and piles of sticky rice. People who had only waved at me all week summoned the courage to speak to me in broken english and two women gave small speeches, which translated, amounted to a lot of thanks for coming to their poor country and working in their small, poor day care center. These people do every day (for very little pay,) what I did for a week and they were bending over backwards to thank me? I think the word the australians use is gobsmacked. That's what I was.

But now, the present. I've checked into a sweet guesthouse called Popular Guesthouse. It was a Lonely Planet recommendation and as usual, they were right on the money. It's great. My room is small but clean, I have a private bathroom and a fan that cranks up to about 1000 RPM and there's a roof top deck where they serve food and delicious cold Angkor beer, where other whiteys from around the world mill about between seeing temples and markets and rice fields and villages. Aaah.

Tomorrow I have an 8 am tuk-tuk date with the guy who drove me from the boat to the guesthouse today and I bargained him down from FIFTY DOLLARS (!!!!) to 25 for the day tomorrow. Now, maybe some of you are thinking that $50 for a days work sounds fair, but remember where I am, please. That glorious guesthouse I just described for you is running me a whopping $5 per night. I fear that even at $25, my little driver is laughing at me, but oh well. I like to think maybe he has a family and can use the money.

Ok, the heat has won. This internet cafe has no a/c and the fan is not oscilating in my direction and I can't wipe any more sweat out of my eyes when the Popular Guesthouse is calling my name like this!

Tomorrow I will try to post again, and will get some more pictures up, too. Until then: cham reap lia! (Good bye!)

Since I'm at least a thousand words behind...

Today was my last day at the day care and also my last full day in Phnom Penh. I'm so sad, it's hard to make plans to leave, which is saying a lot since there are several things on the horizon that I'm really excited about. What a surprising feeling, really.

I found a computer that has a working USB port so I'm going to post some of my favorite pictures of my days here. Hang on to your hats...

At the market at noon on a Thursday. Roughly a million people. Roughly a million degrees out.

Yes, I'll be applying A-Lices tonight since my days at the day care are behind me.

I wish I could rotate pictures. This is by the river front. The Mekong River river front. So cool.

At the Royal Palace

Across from the Cambodian Genocide Museum

Uh oh...my moto ride is here. More to come...this weekend I'm off to Siem Reap vai speed boat (six hours on a speed boat? go figure.) where I hope to ride an elephant and spend a little more time on the internet, among other things!

Man, these posts are so inadequate. Hope everyone's doing great!

Monday

Monday was my first day at the Day Care.

I went to Bonnnie's school where Bill Rhea, the Day Care owner/founder guy picked me up.

He brought me to the building, introduced me to Micheal, the guy who runs the thing on a daily basis and then said good bye.

Woah.

So the day care has about 50 kids. And about 4 teachers. And the kids are beautiful and hungry for love and food and don't speak any english. Neither do the teachers. Just Michael.

I started in the classroom where Micheal was teaching and brought out the puzzle I had for the kids. They were very excited and all asked me lots of questions while clamoring to touch it. Of course, I didn't understand them and felt rather helpless in the crush of dirty, curious little bodies.

Once we regained some control, we used the puzzle to teach the kids the words for TIGER, ELEPHANT and MONKEY. Basically i'd point to the picture, say the word and they'd repeat it back. Very advanced teaching method, I assure you.

I won't go into the nuts and bolts of the day too much here (perhaps on another day?) but the things I won't forget are as follows:

The kids remove all their clothes, get soaped up, sprayed down, shampooed, brushed, dried and redressed in new, clean clothes while their rags are washed during the day. This is the only shower most of them get, period. This is also the only time most of them wear clean clothes.

At the end of the day, they all get showered again and redressed in their now-clean rags before being sent home again.

The kids also get a big, hot lunch of rice, potatoes, broth and veggies at lunch. They eat like you wouldn't believe and you can tell who's been there a while and who is new based on how skinny they are. This is not an exaggeration.

After lunch, they all lay down for naps. It starts as a giggle-fest and then the littlest ones drop off, followed by older and older kids until they're all asleep. Its so quite and they're clean and full and safe and they sleep for an hour and a half. I wonder how long they could sleep there if we didn't wake them?

So those are my big observations of my first day. Not being able to communicate with anyone at all was terrible and made me feel rather useless. But now that it's actually Tuesday, I can look back and give myself a little slack because it was the first day and I'm already way better.

The last big thing is that I rode home on a moto. And I freaking loved it. Its been a highlight of my trip so far and I'm not sure what will bump it from the top. Sorry, Mom. I know you won't like this, but at least today I borrowed a helmet? Anyways, it was such a good, breezy, cool and wonderful way to end a long, hard day. I could ride on the back of a moto through Phnom Penh for hours and not get bored. I love it. Seriously.

Dang. Look at the time. I can't write about today at all. This is the biggest thing I was going to write: I have lice.

And apparently that's normal around here.

Welcome to the wild, wild west.

Sunday

After sleeping for a glorious 10 hours, I awoke feeling human once again. The googly-eyed narcoleptic, greasy-haired monster from the day before was gone and I was ready to take a look at my new surroundings.

Bonnie and I enjoyed some cereal, icy cold milk and bananas for breakfast and she told me about their usual routine. She drops the kids off at a Khmer church, goes and gets coffee while they sing (because the music is too loud there,) and then joins them for the sermon. Did I want to go with them? Well yes, I did.

So we got in the car.

And then my life changed forever because I lived through my first experience driving through the streets of Phnom Penh. I've been thinking, every time we go anywhere, of ways I could describe driving here. The best I can do is to get you all to imagine everyone on the road playing the "I'm going to drive as long as I can without ever stopping the vehicle" game. And then play it with motos, tuk-tuks, bikes, cars, trucks and people on foot, all also in on it.

In this game, somtimes the best open space to drive (and not lose by stopping the vehicle, remember) is in the lane of oncoming traffic. Sometimes the sidewalk is the answer and sometime it is the shoulder. Dive through a small gap in traffic to cross? Well, yes, if it means you can keep going!

The best part about this game is that because everyone's been playing it for so long, they're really good at it. Everyone is very intentional about where they're going and everyone on the road with them sees this intent and allows for the manuever. It is awesome to behold. Intuitive driving at its very best. The biggest dance you can imagine.

Anyways, in a very brief and unfair-t0-the-great-day motion, I will now tell you what I saw on Sunday, after church. Oh - at church I got earphones and a little radio so I could tune in the english translation of the sermon. It was hilarious.

Right, so after Church, Bonnie sent her son Petra with me to see some sights. We started with lunch at an NGO where they teach poor, uneducated women to work in the hospitality industry as an alternative to the sex industry. I had hummus and fresh bread and was in heaven.

Then we went to the Russian Market where we were immediately plunged into this dark, twisty, hot and smelly maze of stands selling everything from school supplies to basted pigs heads (complete with teeth and tongues, yum.)

From there we went to the Cambodian Genocide Museum (oh wait, have I already written about all of this? I'm going crazy.) which was horrible and moving all at once. From there I had my first tuk-tuk ride. I was so happy...grinning like an idiot, much to the chagrin of Petra, a very nice but bashful 17 year old boy!

After the museum, we went to the Royal Palace (I think I must've already written about this. I'm sorry to repeat myself.) It was great. It was hot, sparkly, crowded and beatifully kept and I took many pictures which I would upload if I wasn't getting "device malfunction" from this computer when i plugged in my card-reader. Grr.

From there, we walked by the Mekong River which was smelly and full of trash but still cool because it was, afterall, the Mekong River.

The adventure ended with a very long Tuk-Tuk ride back home and a delicious dinner of white-bread, PB and banana with a heaping side of dragon fruit, mango, banana, "dragon's eyes" and something else I can't recall but didn't hesitate to wolf down.

I was again narcoleptic around 8:30 pm, so I went to bed. Stevo said I should fight this urge... ha.

Saturday

I am going to travel backward in time to try to capture the things I've missed writing about here. This will be impossible...first, because one cannot travel through time any direction but forward and second because it would be impossible to tell you about this place in a way that does it justice, even if I wasn't three days behind. But try I will, because I said I would.

I left JFK on a Thursday night and landed in Bangkok on Saturday. You do the math...even if I hadn't crossed the international dateline, that would still be a long time up in the air. The plan was to meet Tom, a friend of my Aunt's, in at the airport, leave with him, grab some lunch and then return for my 6 pm flight. Tom's flight got in later than we realized and I didn't go anywhere. But I did sit in the BKK airport for 8 hours in a crazy jet-lagged state and enjoyed some of the craziest people-watching I could have imagined. I made the following notes in my journal:

• I love asian babies
• Thai women have a way of wearing high heels like they're nothing. Slippers.
• I saw a fat white guy wearing a silver drag-queen wig, pushing an empty baby carriage
  
• Tom didn't take me anywhere
• Fanny-packs are alive and well. Rest easy.

I was also excited because Emirates was a kick-ass airline. Oh yes. Three hot meals with bread, butter, side dishes, dessert, a cloth napkin and actual metal silverware? Yes, please! It almost didn't matter that we ate them at midnight, 4 am and 6 am...

Also, when I was sitting, talking to Tom (not going anywhere,) he told me, "Oh, Phnom Penh, you're going to the Wild Wild West." To which I sagely nodded, as if I knew. But now I know. See the next few posts for more on this subject.

After 8+ hours at BKK, I boarded my flight for Phnom Penh. I was, by this hour, so tired I was experiencing that panicky cross-eyed sensation I thought was reserved only for sitting in class after all-nighters during college. I took my seat on the plane and didn't have another concsious thought until the wheels touched down on Cambodian soil.

After I got my visa (for $20 USD, the perferred currency here,) I went through customs hoping to see someone who looked Bonnie-esque. I saw no one and continued walking out of the airport where I saw a few more people standing. There, in all her "welcome to PNH, I'll be your guide" glory, was Bonnie and one of her boys, Petra, with a sign reading SARAH. I could've cried.

We rode home through darkened streets. Through the car window I saw trash, dust, dirt roads and people on motorcycles ("motos") and bicycles absolutely everywhere. All I could think of was tomorrow, when I'd get to see it by daylight.

Oh, and laying down.

I'M HERE

Hello all - I made it!

This is not going to be the post you've all been hoping for because I'm sitting in my host's office, typing furiously before I get picked up to go to my first day of work at the Daycare. The Rheas, who run the daycare, are going to be here in ... 3 minutes, eek!

After spending days on airplanes and in airports, I made it here to Cambodia at 8 pm on Saturday, to find Bonnie and one of her kids, Petra, holding a "sarah" sign outside the airport doors. I could've cried I was so happy to see them because seeing them meant they would take me to a place where there was a bed, and at that point, well, I would've done almost anything to get horizontal.

Bonnie and Co are a friendly, fun crew and have just moved to this beautiful new house that is clean and huge and located in a place called "New World 2," which amuses me more than I can explain here. It really is like a new world, based on the things I've seen from car windows or from the sides of the tuk-tuks and in it, I have my own little bed and bathroom complete with a shower (heaven!) and western style toilet that i can throw tp straight into (see future post on squat toilets...) Oh the luxury!

Hey, my ride is here! I'm going to find an internet cafe soon and upload pictures and use the notes I've been taking in my journal for some really good posts, but for now, from Bonnie's work computer just before I fly out the door, this will have to do!

if I could speak Khmer, I'd say "bye" that way right now, but again, perhaps in a future post?

Stream of Consciousness

Here it feels like this:

27°F | 11°F

There it feels like this:

93°F | 75°F

I would like to go now, please.

Also, I typed "practice pack" into Google and clicked on images

to see if I could find something suitable for breaking up the

chinese wall of words that was yesterday's post and I found this:

A non-sequitor to be sure, but I couldn't resist sharing.

Also, over the weekend, Emily and I saw When in Rome. I'm not

recommending you run out and see it, but having gone in with

lower-than-low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised when the

movie turned out to be way less bad than I anticipated.

I lured Emily into the theater (which was full of assorted single

women, from middle-age downward,) with the promise of eye-candy

in the form of Josh Duhamel. He was, I assumed, why anyone over

the age of 15 was in the theater with us.

Now that I've bored you all with that story, here he is, in all his

boyishly charming splendor:

*swoon* I was really just looking for an excuse to

post a picture of him on my blog. He is married

Fergie (the puffy-faced lady from the Black Eyed Peas)

but I think if we could spend a few minutes together,

he'd see the error of his ways. I also think if I was savvier

on the old computadora, I'd photoshop my face over

Fergie's in a tabloid picture and post that for all to behold.

It would be splendid. Let me assure you.

But who that kind of time on their hands?

Getting Closer

I've packed my bag! 

Its just a "practice pack" to see how everything fits and determine if I need to add or subtract things, but I think it was a successful practice pack in that a) everything fit nicely, b) I pared down some stuff while I was at it and c) I remembered a few things to add to my kit.

One such item was Benedryl since I do have that pesky Halibut allergy and refuse to find out if it's actually epipen-worthy. An epipen would make me one of those weird allergic people who I secretly think are just weak. So I will arm myself with Benedryl so that I can eat unidentified fish with at least a scrap of confidence. (I've just given my Mom heart palpitations. Sorry, Mom!) 

While packing, my emotions were all over the place. I'm very excited. That emotion was pretty constant. But under it, there was a fair smattering of dread, knowing that Jai gets back tomorrow and I'll have to coexist on the same continent with him for at least 2 days before I leave. These thoughts invariably lead me to thinking of coming back from this trip when I shall have to deal with this issue full-time and without the glittery distraction of solo travel in Southeast Asia. 

As I continued to pack, I found this particular subject to be so overwhelming that I tearfully stopped what I was doing and sat and talked out loud to God, confessing that I didn't have the strength to handle this, or even the focus or presence of mind to remember that I could (and should!) rely on His strength to see me through.  Erg. 

This is a main theme in my prayer-life, visited and revisited, characterized by shades of need and hope. But at the end of the day, I do believe that God is bigger than my troubles, that he has good things planned for me and that I can believe him when he says he works all things together for the good of those that love him. Even in the midst of heartbreak, when I don't see how it's possible, I ought to be looking forward eagerly, fully expecting good from even this.

Part of this trip sprang from my desire to experience God in a new, deeper way. I'm going to work for two weeks at a daycare in Cambodia where they serve kids from the slums on the outskirts of town. The people running the daycare try to meet their physical needs and encourage them to grow on the inside. They feed them, they teach them to read and they tell them as much as they care and provide for them, Jesus loves them and cares for them more.  

In my world, so filthy-stinking-rich with relationships, possessions and opportunities, its hard to wrap my head around the difference it makes to know that someone out there loves you and promises never to stop. If your mother has to sell her body for money and your father is dead of AIDS or TB, if you sleep in a house made of trash and you are just one of thousands of kids in the same situation, experiencing this love might be the only constant, good thing you've got going for you.

So I have the opportunity to be an ambassador of this love which keeps hope alive. 

It would be easier (or at least cooler to talk about) if I just hostel-hopped for three weeks, hoping to meet interesting, adventurous traveling friends in foreign cities and on new beaches, but coming home from that trip would leave me right where I started...practically strangling on hurt and fear while furiously trying to stifle this illogical, contrary, misplaced love.

So in light of all that I have, in light of all that God's done in bringing me through this hard stretch and because I so seldom live out what I believe, on this trip I'll take the bible literally when it says "whoever is kind to the needy honors God." (Proverbs 14:31b)

SUCCESS!

"WEB DELIGHT Q4" IS MINE!

It wasn't the poor Bangkokians' error, oh no. It was my bank (communists.)

Even after I called to tell them I'd be abroad.

Even after they assured me I was clear to spend away in Bhat, Riel and Dong (Dong!)

It'll take more than shoddy interdepartmental bank communication to keep me down!

And now, I get to fly with these ladies! I mean, have you ever seen jazzier uniforms?

Web Delight Fare (unless your name is Sarah Strull)

Well, I'm afraid I'm experiencing the first of many challenging* exchanges between eastern and western commerce.

ERROR

Result We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Reject: Refer to Card Issuer Sorry this transaction cannot be completed Please try again

I'm trying to book a ticket on Bangkok Air from Bangkok to Phnom Penh. Sounds simple, right? Well, I'm failing miserably. (See above.)

The message actually comes with a lovely graphic of a girl in a silk robe, hands pressed humbly together, smiling demurely as if to personally communicate her sadness that my payment couldn't be processed, but I'm also stymied on how to make her appear in this window.

Oh I've tried. But my capacity for repetitive failure is only so accommodating.

So lets get back to the initial failure!

Per the now-familiar (failure) message, I've "refered to card issuer" who ensures me I should be ready to go on this transaction. Thanks, Banker-Guy-Eric!

I've called the Bangkok Air US Representative phone number (which takes me directly to a call center in India, hello India!) and spoken with "Charles" who doesn't see the problem but has taken my phone number and will call me if he thinks of anything. Thanks Charles!

I've gone to the Bangkok Air web site, looked up FAQs, clicked on "help" and re-tried paying for my booking. I've tried 4 times now. Yes FOUR.

I've also canceled my booking and started the process all over again...

And have recieved my second confirmation number (no Charles, it's T-as-in-Tom, not P-as-in-Polly...) and have met with the silk-robe girl and her regrettable message once again.

So now I will give up, at least for the time being. Perhaps my card is just dallying in a small stubborn streak or my work computer somehow knows I'm not doing work and is sabotaging me?

One thing I won't do is pay $60 more to book through Orbitz. They do, of course, navigate these infuriating waters on my behalf, but SIXTY DOLLARS? You've got to be kidding me.

Besides, this is like acclimatization for the trip. Yes. I welcome financial misunderstandings and complications of all types. There's no avoiding them, so I shall embrace them! Well, no, that's too generous. I won't embrace them, but I seriously won't give in and pay more to let the American Company spoon feed me.

This ain't no spoon-fed adventure!

*This is not the word I want to use, but since this is a blog for everyone, I'll exercise some restraint (a lot of restraint, actually.) But I will give you all license to use your imaginations. Dig deep. Yes, there it is. That's how I feel.

Because I Told Amber I Would

Somebody got a card-reader on clearance at Target last night! This $12 treasure ensures that my blog will now have the photos I swore it would while planning my superiority over the Julie-Julia blog (see post #2).

Well. Having written that, I realize I have no clue how to add photos. Nope, now I've got it.

What I ought to do is go back and add photos to relevant posts (perhaps I still will,) but for now, I'm just going to barf pictures onto this post, since that's the surest way to follow through on the promises I've made.

Photo 1: The labor of love that was painting my tiny house (using colors that looked so different on the paint chip than on my wall it made me cry the first night but now I've embraced.)

Photo 2: the color of my kitchen still makes me cry. Lets call this the "before" shot. I have the new color in my car, picked it up last night, and relish posting the non-Tiffany-blue pictures in the near future.

Picture 3: Recent purchases that signal an eminent departure to another country!

(They're hard to see, aren't they? From left to right: small journal, tiny camera tripod - we'll see how handy that is or isn't- power adapter for Asia and the aforementioned card reader.)

Picture 4: my new rash-guard! I've never owned one before, but now that I've got plans to snorkel for days, until I'm completely prune-y and water-logged, I purchased one. This purchase falls into the"gear-nerd" category. I'm weak.

I obviously haven't mastered rotating pictures.

That's all for today. Next up (aside from work and life) will be booking my ticket from Bangkok to Phnom Pen. An internal flight on a small Asian airline...I can't wait!

Finally

At last, a day where I plan my trip! 

Today is Monday and I'm at home, on the couch and pajama clad. No, I'm not slacking. I worked this weekend, so am taking a day off while all you other poor saps slave. Yes, let's not mention the Saturday and Sunday that said saps spent relaxing while I ran around like a headless chicken. No, let's focus on the fact that today is Monday and I still have bed-hair at noon. 

With season 7 of the Gilmore Girls as background chatter, I've been flipping through my Lonely Planet books - one called Southeast Asia on a Shoestring and the other Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong - marking things with sticky notes, adding alarmingly spelled street names to a scratch sheet of paper (Th Narathiwat Ratchanakharin - huh?)

I'm also getting increasingly excited/anxious about this trip. Excitement to anxiety ratio is still in check, though, with excitement in the lead.

Even with excitement as the frontrunner, I keep thinking maybe I should've embarked on my first solo adventure in a single country rather than a region? Maybe I should've chosen a place where they use an alphabet of letters that is at least familiar? Maybe maybe maybe...

But then, no, I don't regret my choice - I think I'll just have to make sure my expectations include some tear-streaked moments where I'm completely lost, unbearably sweaty and mad mad mad about all the things things that conspired to bring me to that point. I'm sure they'll reach as far back as the breakup that initiated the whole thing, but I am already trying to cultivate that "get to" spirit, rather than the "have to" one that dogs me in tough spots. 

I'll practice now. I get to set out on an epic adventure and go and do what I please, when I please. I get to buy outrageously cheap designer crap from street vendors and get to test an unknown ability to digest mystery meat. I get to see if I can truly travel light (my goal is one backpack, not fully stuffed, carry-on sized,) and enjoy the simplicity of two tshirts, three tank tops, a skit, a pair of shorts, 2 bikinis and one dress for three weeks. Most importantly, I get to find out my limits - bravery, compassion, determination, understanding and will finally get to tell the kinds of stories I've envied for so long. 

Well, back to the books for me. I'm not accumulating stuff as quickly as I thought, but I do have all my travel sized toiletries in a ziplock baggie, a lock for hostel storage and a pile of summer-y clothes to sort through and pare (way) down. On the "to acquire" list is a travel sheet for less than spotless sleeping arrangements (I have Mexico to thank for that lesson) and a power adapter so I can keep my camera charged. 

This is fun. I can't believe I get to do this!

Blogs are for People Who Have Time

Yes, now I see the downfall of setting up a blog and telling people to follow it. I actually have to sit and write things on a semi-regular basis. Crap.

At first I was all about the blog. I thought of clever titles for various posts. I imagined putting up sweet photos. Utilizing special fonts. Relishing comments from loved ones. I even sat through Julie & Julia thinking "my blog will be way better than her blog."

One important difference between me and Julie: she had no life. Nothing but a piddly job and a perfectly loving, supportive, handsome husband and cat. No obligations to do anything aside from get to her cubicle and then go home again. Hello? Do people like this exist? Who doesn't have 700 things to do all the time. People in movies. That's who.

Its just that right now it feels like Me vs. The Blog.

What will win out? My crazy, busy, disorganized nature or the call to document detail, emotion, decisions, mistakes, thoughts and the general mayhem that I suspect will ensue on this hair-brained journey?

And now I shall attempt to justify my slow-to-blogness:

• My boss is out of town and I'm both him and myself at work (insert giddy, unhinged laugher.)
• I started painting my house last weekend and only just finished last night. Hello furniture in all the wrong rooms and nary a clear space to lay my laptop!
• We're running a program I've been planning for months this weekend AND hosting a Board Meeting at the same time. Because of bullet #1, I'll be representing my department to the billionaire business moguls who grace us with their presence once quarterly ("our 2009 financials show the following..." PUKE.)
• I've been trying to be a committed runner with my friend Emily. We hit the treadmills every couple of days...only for 30 minutes, but it takes more than an hour of travel (round-trip) to access said treadmills and this accounts for many formerly-free evening hours.
• I'm trying to stop being a self-involved ass of a girl and have vowed to stay in touch better with the people I love, priority one going to family. Talking to these people is great, but we have a lot to say and this also takes time. Hello, when am I supposed to watch TV?

Well hello shame, I didn't think I'd run into you here. "Look at me, I have friends and am getting in shape and have a job I love that keeps me hopping, a huge hilarious trip on the horizon and I love my family and friends. Life is soooo hard."

Needless to say, that was more revelation that I was aiming for when I started this post. Yick. I wonder if that'll happen a lot.

Well, for better or worse, I've got another post for this bad boy. Next post will be completely free of introspection, self-pity or reflection, I promise!

And here we are

So this is the blogosphere. Neat.

I'm writing this blog as a snapshot of an interesting time in my life. I loved someone who hurt me and it just so happened that I had been saving money to visit his far-away home, so now I am spending that money on a long awaited ADVENTURE.

And I'm going on this adventure alone.

I thought about waiting until I could talk a friend into going with me, but that logic there is the reason I have so few stamps in my passport. So wind, meet caution! (Throwing motion.)

And here's where we start: yesterday I purchased a ticket for less than $1,000, including traveler's insurance (yeah medivac coverage!) from JFK to Bangkok and will be gone from Feb 4 - Feb 23. I've got plans to volunteer at a "day care" (read: alternative to scavenging at the dump) in Phnom Pen for about 10 days and the rest is up in the air.

Tomorrow I think I'll write about the things preceding the purchase of said ticket and also about the things I'm (not) doing to prepare for the adventure. Hint: haven't read more than the intro in my Lonely Planet books. Yet.