It's Over

Well I suppose all good things must come to an end... I'm at the airport in Seoul biding my time until I hop on a plane that will take me back to my homeland. I can't say that I'm happy. Hopefully that doesn't hurt my family's feelings too much. I love them very much and am excited to see them. The familiarity of the USA conveniences and way of doing things will be nice too, but I will miss this unique life of travel and new experiences and new people. Looking back, eight weeks was so short. Maybe next time, I'll save up and make it a year.

My last week in Cambodia was great. I will miss the mini roasted bananas and potato wedges being sold on rolling carts down the street, and the silly names of restaurants like, "Nice Nice Food," and fighting to keep the kids interested in learning English, and being silly with my fellow volunteers. The trip feels a bit unfinished. There were some things I wanted to do (like participate in one of the community evening outdoor dance aerobic groups in the park, or eating a snake, or visiting the beach) that just didn't get done. Despite that though, it was a wonderful time.

I spent my last weekend with the three other volunteers that came when I did, exploring the impressive temples of Angkor Wat and the buzzing night life of the nearby town, Siem Reap. It was a blast, a good end to the trip. I have some major sleep to catch up on during this flight... My bag is stuffed full of mementos, and gifts, and birthday and christmas presents. I think I left at least once article of clothing at every place I visited. Old thin t-shirts wouldn't have been much use to me in the freezing cold of Colorado and New York anyway. Hopefully the culture shock of America won't be too bad. Seems kinda funny to say that, but I've traveled enough in the past to know it's true.

 

One more week

Hmm news... Let's see...

I just booked a bus and hostel to go to Siem Reap, supposed to be a great town, and is the gateway to Angkor Wat, which is supposed to have some AMAZING temples. Taking the night bus down there Friday (with the 3 other volunteers that came at the same time I did and went through orientation with me) and then coming back Monday just in time for my flight Monday night. Should be fun.

I've enjoyed my time at the orphanage, but it's been ridiculously short. It's tough teaching kids when their skill levels are so varied. The young ones are hard to keep control of if you're not showing them constant attention, and even then it's a struggle.

I went with my Danish housemates ( a couple of guys) to get a massage last night. It was nice and relaxing... Apparently the first time they went, they ended up at a kind of shady place, and at the end were offered extra time for extra special (inapproprate) treatment, if you get my drift. I think there are alot of places like that around here, but the one we went to was recommended by someone else and was good :)

Last weekend ended up being fun, though the girl did end up throwing up. Luckily, I had given them all ample warning that I would not be the one to take care of her, and one of he guys did the honor. Though she ended up telling him to take her to the wrong hotel room, and then I ended up lokcing myself out of mine lol... Saturday and Sunday were spent exploring Phnom Penh. We visited Toul Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields - depressing and educating. I had no idea what Cambodia had been through. It's crazy that it was only in the 70's. I can't fathom how someone could torture and kill so many innocent people. So sad... We also visited the Royal Palace and National Museum. Royal palace had beautiful asian looking architecture, along with some nice gardens. The National Museum was full of ancient statues and carvings from all over Cambodia. One evening, we ate at this wonderful little restaurant that had live music with traditional Cambodian dancing.

 

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but at the orphanage I work at, they really emphasize developing the arts in the kids lives. They are trained in traditional dance and song (singing and playing), as well as other arts. It's pretty neat. The dancers develop these amazing flexible fingers. It's a key characteristic of their dance, their fingers bend backward, past the point of normal, very unusual.

Hello from Cambodia

I sent out a couple email updates while in Cambodia since the internet wasn't fast enough to load it to the blog, but now that I'm in the Seoul Airport with fast internet and time to spare, I might as well upload them here as well...

Just wanted to check in and say hi! I arrived in Cambodia Sunday night, after arranging to volunteer 2 weeks at an orphanage at the very last minute. So far so good. The program here had a two day orientation preparing us for the struggles of volunteering and making sure we knew we weren't actually going to make a difference lol. Sounds bad, but it was actually a really good experience. They included a little city tour at the end too.

I knew very little about what I would actually be doing at my volunteer placement though, even after orientation (it was more general). I went to the orphanage today to meet the director. None of the adults there can speak a lick of English. There are no other volunteers at that placement either. The kids range from about 6-17 years old. Their english skills are about as varied as well. Since it was the first day, someone from the organization that I registered though came with me to translate and find out the details. The first thing the director said to me was, "We don't always have volunteers here, even though we keep asking for them. I don't want a volunteer for only two weeks, I want someone for much longer. These children need to learn English, and they can't do it if volunteers come and go and only stay for short periods of time."... He eventually gave me a schedule to go by, and the kids have books that a previous volunteer was going through with them, so it should be fine... It is a bit eye opening though, and I realize it might have even been sort of selfish for me to "volunteer" for such a short period of time. But I am here now, so I'll just do my best working with the kids for the short 7 days that i'll have them. Several of the volunteers are staying for multiple months, and some even a year...

I am living with a host family, as well as two other volunteers (a couple of guys from Denmark). The family is very nice, though the adults here also speak almost no english. They have two kids, both of whom speak it quite well (though I rarely see them). The food is always delicious. And, despite the language barrier, I feel like I've at least connected with the cook. I have my own double bed with fan, and bathroom, and the family even has a washing machine, so I feel like I'm at the Ritz! No internet though. I'm typing this at an internet cafe where the speed of the internet makes me feel like I'm back in 6th grade on my dad's computer with dial up. I tried posting this as a blog but the version of internet is too outdated to support the website.  



eating beetles!

Cambodia is full of unusual foods. In the four days that I've been here, I've tried at least 5 new fruits (all amazing), squid, a full fish with eyes, fins, guts in tact, a roasted frog, as well as a cricket, a beetle, a grasshopper, and some other big weird bug. They were all surprisingly ok. Just tasted crunchy and salty, with a hint of fishy barbeque flavor... They eat tarantulas here as well. We'll see if I'm brave enough to try one before i leave.

Crossing the roads in Cambodia is unlike anything else I've ever experienced. Similar to several of the other countries I've visited, here traffic signs/lights/laws are ignored. People drive where and how they want. However if you're a pedestrian here,  you don't wait to cross the road until it's clear (maybe because it rarely, if ever, is). Instead, you just slowly walk across, with motobikes, tuk tuks, and cars zooming by on either side. It is the strangest feeling to be staring at a car that appears to be headed right for you and have to force yourself to just stay put and not bolt. I'm having to retrain my brain to make myself just slowly walk across rather than wait, or run out of the way. 

 

Ok... Well this ended up being much longer than I anticipated... Hope you are all enjoying the holiday in the states. It seems so weird to type that, I feel like I couldn't be further away from Thanksgiving and Christmas right now. The heat and humidity here are killer... Happy Thanksgiving!!! As always, I love getting emails from people back home. :)

Bangkok

I only got to spend one night in Bangkok. I'd had hopes of actually getting to see a bit of the city, but it didn't work out that way. By the time I got my stuff together and found my ride to the hotel, it was getting dark. Luckily, the hotel didn't have a restaurant like was advertised though, so I was forced to leave the comfort of my room and wander around a bit until I found some food. The guy at the front just told me to walk down to the end of the street and turn right, and there should be places to eat.

Thailand is supposed to be a pretty popular tourist destination, and I believe it is too (I think 85% of the people on the plane from Bali to Bangkok were white), but I certainly did not feel like I was in the touristy part of town. There was not a single other white person in sight in my hotel neighborhood, but the driver had already warned me this was where the locals were. While it may be a bit intimidating, I like that. Means a cheaper, tastier, more authentic experience.

I was a bit nervous though. No one spoke English and it was dark. After passing a few dirt floor, open air, open flame places, I found one that looked a little bigger, a little cleaner, and a little lighter. They had the meat just displayed out on the ice for you to (I guess) choose what you want. I tried to ask/tell him to just make me whatever meal he thought was best. As I was waiting for my food, my taxi driver walked by and said hello and made sure I was ok. I think he probably clarified with them about my meal as well. I did eventually get some rice and chicken... By the time I got it I was quite hungry, but still a bit unsure about what was expected of me. I had my food, but not silverware or chopsticks in sight. I finally just convinced myself that they ate with their hands there. I know some people in India do, and I even did with my Bali friend for a meal, so it seemed like a logical conclusion... Apparently not in Thailand. As soon as I started eating with my fingers that all started smiling and looking at me funny. Luckily, the water showed back up and opened up the box that was sitting on my table, to reveal several forks and spoons :)

The Lone Wanderer

While I haven't had the same person with me the entire time I've been gone, for the most part I have been surrounded by other travelers. In India, I lived, worked, and traveled with other volunteers. Then in Bali, my friend Alex was with me all but the first and last day.
Alex flew out of Bali yesterday afternoon. I had exactly 24hours to myself to do whatever I wanted until my flight to Bangkok. Earlier in the week I had thought maybe I'd go scuba diving or try out surfing, but when the day actually got there I'd decided scuba was too expensive and probably not much fun alone, and surfing required a swimsuit that would not fall off. The trouble with solo travel is that when you want to actually do activities (versus just walking around or sightseeing), you're going to be doing them by yourself or with other groups you don't know. Some people make it work, and some activities are better suited for the lone wanderer than others, but generally it's always nice to have someone accompany you, or at least have the option. So instead of surf or scuba, I just wandered around the shopping area and until I actually did find a swimsuit. Later, after wasting time in the hotel, I headed back into town to find something to eat, and ran into my friend that we had booked our snorkeling trip through, and that had driven us to Lovina. 

He took me around the city on his motorbike and then practiced his English with me on the beach as I watched my last beautiful Bali sunset. Afterwards, we went to a traditional Balinese place to eat cheap good food. All in all, it was a great way to end my stay in Bali.

I've only very briefly experienced any kind of solo traveling, mainly in the airports and getting to my next destination. Probably, those are the more stressful times, at least for me they have been, but each time that I am forced to do things on my own, it gets a little easier. And I learn from my mistakes too (this time I made SURE I had a trolly to roll my luggage around on - that makes all the difference in the world!)... I've realized, when in a foreign country that speaks a different language, you just have to accept that everything is going to take a bit longer and be a bit more difficult than it is when you're on your home turf. After getting through customs and grabbing my bag, I spent a good hour trying to find my free transportation to my hotel. I could not get the phones to work for the life of me. I'll probably have 10 phones calls charged to my credit card when I get home lol. Finally, I walked up to an airport hotel shuttle stand, knowing good and well, it was not for my hotel, but hoping maybe they could point me in the right direction... I gave the guy the information, he made a quick and easy call on his cell, and kindly told me to wait there, as someone was on their way to find me. Hooray! Why did I not ask him 45 minutes ago?!

Looking back at my past two airport experiences, I can easily see that things go much more smoothly when you just ask someone. For whatever reason though (pride most likely), I continue to try and figure it out for myself. Maybe when I fly to Cambodia tomorrow, I will finally admit defeat and learn the lesson.

BALI!

I arrived in Bali last Monday, after a couple of long, disappointing, and stressful days. I guess every trip has a bump or two in the road eh?

I had booked a last minute train ride from Jaipur to Delhi (where I was flying out of). Planning things in the future is not exactly my forte, but I was hoping to have the whole day to just explore the city. I got there at 11:30am and had until my flight at 11pm... Well, long story short, let's just say I learned the value of a packing light and having a comfortable bag to tote around. I have an increased respect for solo travelers. I realized it was not wise to assume the metro and airport from another country would be run the same way as in the US... All this, just from spending the whole day having only seen the inside of the train station, metro station, and airport.

Later, despite talking to 3 different Air Asia offices in 3 different countries, I wasn't able to get them to refund me my money back for my cancelled flight to Thailand. The India immigration officer didn't approve me returning to India in a couple weeks either. The whole going away trip just felt like a big stressful failure.

It was cloudy and raining on and off the first three days I was in Bali. It's still flooding in Thailand, where I was supposed to originally go as well. What was supposed to be the fun ending to my travels, was not looking so good.

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I wrote that first part of the blog on my second day in Bali, not one of my shining moments. Thank goodness the rest of the week didn't follow suit! I have loved my time here! My friend Alex arrived the next day and apparently brought the sun with him! I have nice bright and painful sunburn, seen some amazing temples and beautiful sunsets, climbed up and down the steep hills of the rice terraces, body surfed and floated in the ocean, seen how the locals make their handicrafts, and walked down the busy streets of Kuta where you can find a huge western style Quicksilver on one side and a little hut with homemade necklaces for sell on the other.

Five more days. After that, who knows! Last minute plans and travel as it's best... I'm throwing around the idea of catching a flight to Tokyo and spending a couple days there, before heading to meet up with my family on (hopefully) Thanksgiving day. OR... possibly sticking around Southeast Asia a couple more weeks to do some more volunteering, and see another country while I'm at it. Decisions decisions. We shall see how it plays out.

Not enough time!

I just finished my last day teaching at the school. I can't believe how quickly a month has gone by. I think the fact that I had pre-arranged travel planned for every weekend made it go by even quicker... When I first started volunteering at the school, I must admit I was a little disappointed about being a "floater" and not having a specific class I was in charge of. Now I'm glad because it allowed me to get to know all the kids, instead of just a select few.

However, after the first week and a half, I was put in charge of the youngster class. I'm glad I wasn't really given a choice about who I wanted to teach because I probably woud not have ended up with these kids. I always just assumed teaching really young kids was more like babysitting than teaching. Looking back though, I enjoyed every minute I spent at the school. I was in charge of four tiny kids, two girls and two boys. Surprisingly, the two girls were extremely bright. They may be some of the youngest ladies in school, but they will probably be up in the top level group in a year or two. The two boys I had weren't quite so easy, but they sure were cute. One was actually pretty smart, but had the attention span of a puppy. The other one tried really hard, practiced over and over, but at the beginning of each new day it was like starting from scratch. Still though, I do think I was able to make at least a bit of a difference. The girls got further in their math and spelling, and the boys... well if nothing else they got better at saying and writing their abc's and 123's.

I have a new found respect for teachers. It's not an easy job, especially when the children are not all at the same level, but seeing the progress that kids make (and the role you play) is really rewarding.

I have only this weekend left (the first weekend with no plans at all) and then I fly to Bali, Indonesia for a couple weeks of vacation. The original plan was Thailand, but with all the flooding, we (my friend Alex and I) decided to relocate to Bali. Should be fun... After that I may return back to India for a couple more weeks of traveling, or maybe fly on over to Thailand for a couple weeks of volunteering, or fly back to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Only time will tell.

This past week has just been full of travel and teaching and shopping and celebrating (hence the lack of blog entries). Last Wednesday everyone celebrated Diwali (the festival of lights). It's the biggest festival in India. It celebrates the return of Rama after 14 yrs of banishment and is also used to worship and invite Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, into homes. Most of the day is spent with family (similar to American holidays I suppose), just hanging out, cleaning, cooking, and making Rangoli (colorful decorations on the floor outside the home made of powder/flour). In the evening we had a big meal, dressed up in our Sarees (the most common attire of native Indian women), and witnessed an at-home song and prayer ceremony performed by the coordinators of Sankalp (the volunteer org) and Punima (the lively 18yr old live-in cook). After that, we lit 30 or so small clay bowls with string and water in the them and placed them on the porch/street/balcony outside the home (so that Lakshmi could find her way). Finally, we went up to the roof and joined in with the rest of India setting off fireworks and firecrackers. The night sky was filled with bright explosions and loud bangs for as far as the eye could see and the ear could hear. It was a night to remember.

The rest of the week was a holiday, so Thursday morning Sam, Marsha, and I headed out on our last big excursion. First we visited Pushkar, the Holy City, next we made our way to Jaisalmer, the Golden City, then we went to Jodhpur, the Blue City, before returning back to Jaipur, the Pink City. It was quite a trip. We trekked up to a temple set on top of mountain overlooking Pushkar. We joined a herd of cows as we watched the sunrise over beautiful Lake Gadisar. We saw one of the famous haveli's (private mansion) and walked/shopped through the narrow streets of the impressive Jaisalmer Fort. We rode on the back of a camel into the desert, watched the sunset over the dunes, and then spent the night under the stars. We shopped at the local markets, each a little different than the last, ate the delicious, or "beautiful" as my Australian travel mate likes to put it, local cuisine, and passed the time on the road talking about whatever political or religious topic struck our fancy. Overall, it was a grand old time.