ANKGOR WHAT?

We moved on to Vientiane, which I can't say was anything special. Perhaps the bar was set extremely high with our first stop in Laos being beautiful Luang Prabang. Vientiane was extremely humid, desolate, and very underdeveloped. Every building we saw was unfinished, and there was trash strewn about the poverty stricken town. We visited their main attraction, which translated to "Arc d' Triomphe" in Lao. We hiked to the top and after blowing a load of sweat, made our way down. We found it hilarious that the sign at the bottom read "this monument is even less impressive up close"---I really appreciated the honesty. 

We crashed out super early and woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We were really "weirded out" that our ATM spit out US Dollars upon arrival. Everything is priced in US dollars and we aren't really even sure why the Riel is still used. The USD is preferred, but when you pay in dollars they give you change in Riel. Bogus! We walked probably 7 miles around town and it is by far the most humid city I've ever been to. We felt very interrogated by every store or taxi driver we walked past--"lady, you wan tuk tuk??" "hello? Tuk tuk lady?"---and it was hard to be friendly, but we had to keep reminding ourselves that we were in one of the poorest countries in the world, and work is hard to come by. 

Our friend, Ramon, was sitting in our hotel lobby early morning Friday waiting for us to awake to ask if he could take us around town for the day (just a little example of how persistant they are!) At first he quoted $158 (so specific!) and I said "no way!" to which he immediately came down to $25 each. His Tuk Tuk (think a golfcart attached to a motorbike) drove at about 10 MPR in the bike lane while other trucks and bikers honked their way past us. 

Ramon took us in the little engine that could to S21, a high-school-turned-prison camp that was during the late 70's run by Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge regime. It was extremely horrific and surreal to be standing in a blood stained jail cell that once belonged to an innocent civilian who either died there or was taken to the killing field outside the city where their life was brutally ended. We walked through room after room of torture rooms, cells, and chambers dedicated solely to displaying photos of the inmates.

The photos were taken when each Cambodian entered the prison. They had a number attached to a placard that was hung around their neck, and most of their faces were expressionless. Some of them looked horrified, and others even had a little smirk on their face. It seemed as though most of them had not a clue what their future held. I studied these photos with detail and could almost relive the horror that took place within the walls I stood inside. It was shocking afterward to be driven to the killing field, and coming face to face with skulls belonging to people who's faces I had just seen in those images.

Ramon insisted on taking us to a shooting range before our stop at the killing field. We were driven down a sketchy rocky alley way and pulled into a gated area, where we were met by a man in military garb who shut the gate behind us. He showed us a list of different guns we could shoot....AK47s, tommy guns, shotguns, grenades, etc. I have to say, it wasn't our first time at a shooting range together, but it felt very wrong to be shooting rounds before going to a scene where a horrific mass crime took place-so we left AK47less without hesitation.

When we arrived to the killing field it was eerily silent except for the laughing and screaming coming from the playground next door.We walked around with our guided audio tour for the next couple of hours and walked through the horrific mass graves. Every time it rains, more human remains are revealed and excavated...it seems to be never ending. All over the ground were pieces of  shredded clothing from prisoners that were slowly becoming unearthed. The tour ended with a 17 story stupa that housed skulls and bones that had been excavated over the years.

It was so tragic to see first-hand the evil doings of such a corrupt communist government, and it was especially strange because it didn't happen all that long ago. the Cambodian government was just starting to slowly be rebuilt and re-established when I was an infant, and is still slowly advancing to this day. War is awful, but a purposeless war against your own people is just unfathomable to me. I don't get how power can make people do such heinous things. Knowing that most of the people responsible are still alive and haven't even been tried yet is simply disheartening. 

We moved on to Siem Riep yesterday and went temple trekking at sunrise this morning around Angkor Wat today. I had no idea what to expect as I self-admittedly didn't do much research before hand. To say the least, I was flabbergasted. I feel like I keep saying this but it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. We went to about 6-10 different temples, all of which were built around the 12th-15th century. The amount of detail in the bas reliefs and sculpture were incredible and I couldn't believe it was all carved into stone. For the period in which it was built, without the use of modern technology, I was stunned to learn that Angkor Wat only took about 40 years to build. Especially considering the scrawniness of the Cambodian people today, it's hard to imagine these tiny people having the strength to build such a wonder hundreds of years ago.  The temples were created by Hindus, overtaken by Buddhists, and then seized by the Khmer at some point. We saw a lot of Hindu symbols that were changed to Buddhist symbols and then were either defaced or stolen by the evil Khmer.

It was cool too because Lauren and I were off at temples completely alone in the middle of the jungle, climbing up all sorts of stones and cliffs. In the US there is NO WAY this would fly. too many liabilities and a plethora of stupid idiots that would sue if they tripped over their stupid clumsy feet. I counted at least 45 different ways I could die and no one would ever know if I was alone. Open trenches, crumbly ceilings, steep ancient stairways (that we raced up to the top) where you would actually break your neck with one mis-step. Upon our super hot 10th temple or whatever it was, Lauren and I found ourselves at one point unknowingly zoning and staring off into the distance. I was thinking to myself, "wow, this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen but I'm so hot and ready to go home". It was like Lauren lived in my brain....after about two minutes of dead silence she turns to me and goes, "TEMPLED OUT!" I'm glad we were on the same page.

Cambodia has been very interesting with some comical interactions. Nobody really speaks english here, so our charades have improved by the ten fold. We went to a restaurant yesterday and I ordered a coffee. When they brought it out it was super strong so I asked for some milk. The server came back saying what I thought was "we only have breast milk". After turning that away out of disgust, Lauren was weirded out that I was so weirded out, and finally I came to realize he had said "we only have FRESH milk". Stuff like that happens quite often but it makes things more interesting.

Lauren was attacked by a little kid (probably 7 years or so) who grabbed her arm and told her he wouldn't let go until she bought him a meal. He took us into a 7-11 and put baby formula on the counter for her to buy. We saw a lot of young children carrying newborn babies in slings while their parents were off working. I was hit a couple weeks ago in Laos when we got off the boat. I had a big bag of snacks and was completely attacked by little boys who stole all of my shwag. I got so hungry later and was really missing my seaweed and chips but obviously they needed it more than I did.  I can't stress how poor this country is...people BEG you every 4 feet for something, and negotiating is very easy. I bought a hand woven blanket from a woman who told me it was $30 and I pitched $15 and it was immediately sold to me. It's really sad to see the state of this country, and I am so grateful for the life I have back in the States. As confused and directionless as I may be now, I know that I have the support and love of many, and the foundation to do great things when I return.

Walking around in this country has made me very thankful for the things that I do have...and those things are very simple. Public toilets with actual seats that don't charge a fee for you squat over a hole with other people's piss all over the ground, running water, trash cans, being able to eat ice cubes/water without having to spew (in piss soaked public toilets), toilet paper and soap available in every restroom, A/C, bug free-ness, etc. 

We are simply disgusted by the lack of sanitation here. I consider myself to be anything but a germ-a-phobe...maybe even a "dirt bag" as my dad calls me...

However, when a server comes up to your table and blows a snot rocket out the window while you're eating your soup that he just brought you, it may ruin your appetite (and the ambiance). It was a truck stop so I forgave him. We got a massage yesterday in a nice spa that was really cheap, and before we sat down I went to the bathroom. There was no running water or soap to wash my hands, which made my stomach a little turbulent knowing that our masseuses were likely rubbing poo lotion all over our faces and bodies. 

There are absolutely no traffic laws here. As Lauren described it, "If you zone out and un focus your eyes, the cars and motorbikes kind of look like ants that don't know where they're going". We've seen families of 5 on a tiny motorbike-Dad driving, and two sons sandwiched between a mother carrying her newborn in a sling. We've seen people hauling large ladders, glass windows, mattresses, and bikes. Everyone owns a motorbike and you can go whatever way you want on the street...and pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. 

I sound very negative in my descriptions but really everything (minus the snot and dirtiness) has been really incredible here. We feel very safe, so all you worriers can put your little panicky brains back where they belong. Plus, I have mace and some other learned jui-jitsu moves that I was taught before the trip. I never feel unsafe with the base kid, and these little scrawny asians have nothing on us. 

chiang mai & laos

Chiang Mai got off to a horrible start and I have to say I wasn't looking all that much forward to it. I left my iphone in a taxi, and our sleeper train had an accident forcing us to be woken up abruptly at 5 am by someone yelling "everyone off immediately!!!" I have to say in retrospect that I am so excited we decided to go there because I saw some incredible things.

We finally got to Chiang Mai and left for our two day trek the next morning, after spending a day petting large tigers.  Being the animal lover that I am, a day of seeing tigers trapped in small jail-like cages, and overworked elephants made me pretty uneasy. I felt sad that I was fueling the fire, but also thought it was a once and a lifetime to experience that I couldn't leave Thailand without doing. After our animal petting, Lauren made me do a fish pedicure with her. It's exactly what it sounds like and I screamed like a little girl as the little fish ate the scum on the bottom of my feet. Lauren said it felt like "jacuzzi bubbles" if you didn't think about it, but it was the whole blocking it out of your brain issue that I couldn't get past.

The next day, we packed in to the truck bed of a toyota-turned-taxi with 4 other Portugeuse travelers who were celebrating their honeymoon. We didn't really know what to expect because nothing had really been communicated thoroughly. We arrived to a station where there was a little baby elephant chained to a tree, and we explored the surrounding lush area for awhile while sipping on a Chang beer on the riverside. After a bumpy elephant ride through the jungle, we hiked up to a spectacular waterfall to eat our fried rice lunch and then continued on our way for the rest of the afternoon until we arrived at Karen Village.

We hiked through rice patty after rice patty, and the land was so lush that the only brown you saw for miles upon end was the pathway that had been carved out by humans. On our trek our leader, "Pong" (as in "ping pong") who was also a villager in another local tribe, pointed out herbal medicine remedies, edible flowers and fruit, and interesting plants and insects. The view never ceased to amaze...everywhere we walked was picturesque and unimaginably spectacular. We hiked up finally at the end of the day to our village where we would be staying for the next night. 

We were greeted by the Karen Tribe, who sat outside their beautiful bamboo stilted homes and kept a watchful eye on our every western move. They wore long colorful hand-stitched dresses with turbans wrapped around their heads and looked distinctly different from the Thais we were used to coming in contact with--their skin more brown and eyes more wide open. They seemed less stressed and friendlier even though the language barrier created a major trap on our conversation.  When we walked up there were many pigs tied to trees, chickens running around, and thai "buffalo" that Lauren and I swore were ox. It was hard for me to acknowledge that these cute little critters would soon become dinner, but when I reached to pet them and they shrieked at my touch, I knew that they knew this was their fate. 

We walked past this woman who was out chopping wood with a huge ax while her 2 year old child was strapped to her back in a colorful sling. The men seemed to have disappeared, and the women did all of the dirty work while the men stayed inside (or maybe at the rice fields?). At night, we drank Thai beer and sat around their family campfire. Their two children came running out yelling and being goofy and even though our language barrier separated us, the international high-five interaction instantly bonded us. I was particularly in love with the 3-4 year old son, who ran off with a lantern to grab all of his childhood neighbors who shortly came back by the bush load.

The 20 or so kids (all under the age of 10) began performing for us for us by singing their local hits around the campfire.. After a 15 minute or so performance, the kids pointed to us, insinuating that it was now our turn to take on the task. The Portuguese sang their song about ducks, and then all of a sudden Lauren and I were put on the spot. It isn't ironic that in the instant that we were called out, we couldn't think of even one song, let alone a childhood song---and the only one that came to mind, was "the itsy bitsy spider". One of our Portuguese friends, who didn't speak any English,  had just come running out of the bathroom right before, having an outrageous panic attack after the sight of an un-Godly sized spider. 

I begged Lauren to try to think of another song, and a million eyes were on us, although nothing else came to mind. Later we thought of " 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', 'twinkle, twinkle', and other songs of the sort. The kids loved it and followed our song by chanting one of the only English words they knew, "thank you!!!" with very wide figured claps. My favorite kid sang with the loudest most off-tune voice I've ever heard, which immediately drew me to him because I can't carry a tune either for my life.

Our home for the next day was a lifted hut with blankets and mosquito nets. There were enough "beds" (blankets) for about 18 people but luckily there were only 6 of us so we could borrow some blankets--it got pretty cold! In the morning we were invited into the family's hut for breakfast. Pong made the westerners eggs and their local tea, while he and the family had rice and fish. The kitchen was completely unlike any kitchen you've ever seen. The floor is made out of bamboo and I felt like I was going to walk right through it. Since there's no power there's obviously no refrigeration or ovens so everything is very fresh. There was a hearth where the food and tea was heated up.  

On our way back we hiked for about 2-3 hours before reaching an unbelievable waterfall that could only be compared to something that I've seen in a national geographic magazine. The rock formation was reminiscent to Half Dome, the rock glazed over with slick water flowing down it's arching back. It was nice to take a dip into the cool water after hours of blistering heat.

When we arrived back to Chiang Mai, our tour guide took all of us out to dinner to a typical Thai dinner that was banquet style, one part being fully cooked food, and the other being completely raw. The cooked food ranged anywhere from deep fried sardines to eggs and weird pickled stuff that I had no idea about. The raw stuff was little octopus babies, mixed with chicken liver and other unidentifiable meat. We had fryers at each of the tables and cooked our own meat while geckos roamed around the room by the dozens. 

The next morning we were picked up extremely early by our taxi driver. As he knocked on the door I was still in my towel and we quickly shoved everything into our bags and left. We drove around for 2 hours before we even left the city. Our driver was a total idiot and got out of the bus 15 or so times lost and asking around for directions. The bus drive to Chiang Kong took about 5-6 hours and we stayed the night and left the next morning early for our two day boat trip. The first day was fun...we met some Aussie tour guides who were entertaining. We stopped at this really small town called Pak Beng and then were awoken again the next morning by someone pounding on our door telling us we were late. 

Our next day was another full day of 15 mpr boat ride to Luang Prabang, Laos. I was so in love with this town and was so sad to only spend a little less than 12 hours before having to move on. Laos was colonized by the French, and the town was filled with twinkly lights, french restaurants, and intimate candle lit tables along the river. It smelled of campfire and was extremely quiet minus the sound of crickets and rotating bike tires passing us by. We were woken up again the next morning by someone pounding on our door again and we for (hopefully the last time) were rushed onto the next town.---vang vieng.

We came here specifically to Raft down the Mekong river. There are bars and swings along the river and it's supposed to be really fun. Just our luck that it's been happening for over 10 years and it was shut down by the government a little less than a month ago. 22 people died last year in the river from being reckless and outrageous. We are still floating down the river but alcohol will not be involved!

Anyways, I think that is enough for now...I'll check back in in the next couple days. 

Floating market-chatuchak

Our good friend mamm set us up on a day trip to the floating market Yesterday. We took an hour and a half bus ride to our destination and were completely overwhelmed by the Venetian-like city. We were paddled around in a 10 person canoe past scanty shacks and villagers attempting to sell their merchandise by pulling us in with a long staff. Floating vendors specializing in selling things like beer, bananas, and coconut milk begged for our business. A older woman selling headache medicine nearly attacked me with her cream, grabbing my arm while attempting to douse my face with her goo. It's hard not to over react when a stranger not only touches you but grabs you with all their might. I yelled "get off of me!" and swung my arm to choo her away. Woops.


I felt bad because the town was poverty stricken, and I'm sure most of the inhabitants make most of their income for the entire month based on these weekend events. What I like about Thai people is that they are very hard working. There are no government programs similar to welfare, and therefore very few homeless. I've seen two people begging in three days of staying in one of the biggest cities in the world!

Our boat cruise was a combination between the pirates of the caribean ride at Disneyland mixed with The jungle cruise. It was very lush, and locals hung out on their docks reading the newspaper while we floated past. Lauren described the smell as if, "a animal farted into the mouth of another animal who died and was then microwaved for an hour". I didn't think it was really all that bad.

Bangkok is similar to San Francisco, in that there are very interesting smells that hit you like 100 lb brick and dissipate in seconds. Only differences being that the rain here intensifies the smell, while the month long accumulation of bodily fluids are quickly washed away with California rain. The smells in San Francisco hit you hard and linger pretty indefinitely in your brain until some other aroma takes its place. 

I finalized most of my plans for the rest of my trip, and I hate to quote home alone again but it was one of the only movies I owned as a kid---"this is it,don't get scared now". 

We are headed out tonight for an overnight train ride to chiang Mai. We will do a two day trek and camp in the jungle. I'm super amped. Probably won't have Internet for awhile so, mom, since you're probably the only one reading this, I'm probably still going to be alive. No need to send a search party out for me! 

Lucky Buddha Day

We woke up this morning at the brink of dawn ready for our first adventure in Bangkok. After a long night last night of very unsuccessful travel planning (who would have thought that leaving a trip open ended could be so stressful??), Lauren and I were ready to start fresh today. We woke up to a plate of scrambled eggs and toast made to order in our hostel lobby, along with coffee and tea. Even though I am not typically fond of eggs, the meal was already a nice change of pace to break up our 4th meal straight of rice. I downed those eggs like there was no tomorrow!

We took off from our hostel with a map in hand, our plan being to hit up Wat Pho (the home of one of the largest Buddha statues in Thailand). We decided it would be nice to walk so we whipped out our map and attempted to navigate this foreign city. Within 2 minutes we were completely lost and covered in our own balmy filth. [We've come to terms with the fact that we are never going to look cute on this trip, and with that we owned our sweat stained clothing and darted around excitedly] After a half an hour of walking in the wrong direction we were approached by a man who shouted, "Wow, you are so white" in a thick Thai accent. What we didn't know at the time is that this man, named Nom, would change the game plan of our entire next month.

Everything I've studied in my Thai guide books have warned me to keep a watchful eye on overly friendly locals. When this man approached us and started giving us advice and marking up our map, the cynic in me was automatically reluctant to trust him. He informed us it was "lucky Buddha day", and that all of the Tuk Tuks (a small motorbike with a bench seat) in town charged next to nothing to ride. From what I gathered the Thai government funds Tuk Tuk drivers on these special holidays to promote tourism in the city. He informed us to make sure we only got on a Tuk Tuk with a yellow license plate, as anything else could easily be a big scam. 

He flagged us a Tuk Tuk and told the driver to only charge us $20 baht (the equivalent of less than $1 USD) for as long as we wanted. He drove us to a temple (where we were told to ask Buddha for our luck) and then told us he was going to take us to a Tailor in town. From everything I've read this is a big no-no, and I thought for sure we were going to get robbed. We walked in to the tailor, checked it out for 3 minutes and then left while our driver in the meantime got credit from the Thai govt. 

We asked him to take us to another govt run tourist agency, and sat down with a really kind lady named Mamm. We told her about all of our frustrations with booking our entire trip, and that we had finally given up after spending hours trying to book flights and figure our bus schedules without assistance. She asked where we wanted to go, and within 2 minutes she had our itinerary completely mapped out for us. We booked an all inclusive, specialized itinerary for around $60 USD/ day for the next month. That includes all airfare, buses, and hostels throughout Southeast Asia. We were thrilled, and then headed off to Wat Pho. 

The temple was spectacular to say the least. It was one of the most incredible man made things I have ever seen. Every piece of the architecture was well planned and crafted with ornate detail. The reclining Buddha was massive...probably about 80-100 Feet long and maybe 20-30 feet high. After being Buddha-ed out, Lauren had her fortune told to her by a man who told her she will fall in love with a man who has a large forehead, and that she would have kidney problems in her future, should she choose to drink alcohol.

We later found out that "lucky Buddha day" happens four times a month. If we can have this great of luck every single week, I can't even begin to imagine how epic this trip is going to be.

random thing I liked about Thailand today: the T-shirt we saw a Thai girl wearing that read "I hate Texas!"

Thing I disliked about Thailand today: the whiffs of poo, then incense, then fish, then chicken guts, then back to poo.

arrived!

oct 4th

 After a 15+ hr plane trip, a wicked slap of hot death taxi trip, and a plethora of cultural misunderstandings, I'm happy to report we are finally in Bangkok.

I really didn't think it could possibly get much hotter than it was today. The drive from the airport to our Hostel was about 30 mins, but I felt like I was slowly rotisserie baking in the deepest pit of hell for an eternity. The taxi  had no airconditioning,  and the sun was belting on our pale white girl flesh.  To sound reassuring to my dear friend, who I swore was about to lose consciousness, I whispered a hopeful, "I think we're almost there". To which she quietly responded with her head tilted backwards and her eyes dead shut, "by 'there' do you mean the brink of death?"

After a lovely sit down meal of vegetables, shrimp, fried rice, and two large Singah beers (costing a total of $5 USD), a bug landed on Lauren's shoulder. My actions  were similar to the way  Marv reacted when a large torantula  crawled on Harry in Home Alone 1. He completely annihilated Harry with his crowbar. I slapped her arm with a vengeance and smashed that bug into oblivion, but the reaction of the Thai customers was classic. It was straight out of an 80's movie where the DJ stops rotating his disc abruptly, and the gawking crowd instantly goes silent as all eyes adjust to the subject matter.

On our walk back from dinner, all of a sudden there was a torrential downpour, and we slowly walked back to our hostel without a care in the world. I thought to myself, "there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now", and I have a feeling this won't be the last time I think this. 

who / what / where / when / why?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the things that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

Tonight/tomorrow morning at 1:30 AM I'm leaving America until Christmastime. It didn't occur to me until today after several requests that I should probably document my travels with a blog. The logo above was something I made awhile ago for a different venture; it's title only relevant in the sense that I will be a total gypsy for the next few months, moving on from one unknown destination to the next and living minimally out of my pack.

One of my best friends, Lauren, and myself started entertaining the idea of traveling well over a year ago. We were both in similar places in our lives, and the idea of abandoning ship and tossing our troubles away for awhile just seemed like a good remedy. I woke up one morning with the realization that I am getting older and need to start thinking seriously about my future at some point soon. I'm not married, I don't have kids or any significant debt, and nothing else is really standing in my way. Why not get serious after I get all the un-seriousness out of my system? checkmate.

Three weeks ago I gave my notice at work, threw away a little less than half of what I own, and have since been slowly prepping for my big trip.

Everyone I've ever met who has traveled the world has an incredible perspective on life. I'm seeking adventure, knowledge, and fun, but I'm also looking to learn more about myself along the road. I tend to be a pretty introverted person, and after Lauren leaves me in November I will be alone for two months. I'm terrified but also enthusiastic to be forced out of my comfort zone.

I have my ticket booked to Bangkok, Thailand, and home from Fiji in December. The rest of the trip is unplanned, unbooked, and open ended. We have a rough idea as to where we will be traveling (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand) but nothing is set in stone at this time.

I couldn't imagine traveling with a more easy going, adventurous, and street smart "base kid". This is Lauren's nickname because she was raised on a military base with two brothers who beat the crap out of her, and she henceforth formed a pretty hard shell. While I was playing with my Barbies as a little girl, I have a pretty good feeling she was nested in a big swamp of mud, torturing snails and building forts out of her neighbor's garbage. We had a legitimate American Gladiator smackdown, and even though I can chase thieves and rip their hair weaves out, let's just say she eliminated Nitro big time.

There was a slight scare last night when Lauren couldn't find our reservation to check in. She was in a full panic for quite some time before she realized that the reservation was under a different name...

The girl only travels with the prefix "Dr." in front of her name. I have adopted her trend but prefer to stick with "DDS.", in the event that an actual emergency take place. How many people really need an emergency root canal in the middle of the pacific ocean?  I now understand why pretentious doctor schmucks always refer to themselves with this prefix. It makes you feel entitled and special. The way the flight attendants look at you when you're boarding the plane shoots a hundred pins and needles up your spine. It's the greatest form of self confidence.

She finally remembered that the reservation was under Dr. Lauren Smith and Dr. Allison Sebek, so we are all set to go and are on our way out!

On another completely different note, I will be using my iPad to type, along with a wireless keyboard that I swear was crafted by and for a team of midgets. I'll try my hardest to keep my amazon digits on home-row, but don't mind the occasional typo and/or design flaws.

Please email or Facebook us if you would like to check in with me. We should have internet access daily, but probably will not be checking too frequently. I would love to hear from you to see how all your lives are going. Email is allison.sebek@gmail.com

Sayonara!