Angkor Wat... again!

On our second day, we biked about 40km through Angkor Wat and Siem Reap. I'm tempted to say it was my favorite day in Southeast Asia so far!

We rented bikes from our guesthouse for the day.


We took a wrong turn on our way to Angkor Wat, and ended up riding through a very 'Cambodian' village... I love happy accidents!


I don't want to brag, but I'd say I'm pretty good at taking photos while bike riding with one hand...


Being a local (kind of). You know how the old saying goes, "when at a Buddhist temple..." oh wait. That's not right...


Erin and KJ, enjoying the view of Angkor Wat.


Talk about an awesome place for a wedding!


Walking up to this sort of "off the beaten path" temple, I couldn't help but think my life might turn into a horror movie.


Erin, making a new friend. She traded this woman her watch for this... umm... beautiful scarf.


We stopped to hang out with some monkeys on the side of the road.


How can baby monkeys be SO cute and SO ugly at the same time??


Inside one of the temples... there was doorway after doorway and they got smaller and smaller as they got further in. I was too cheap to hire a guide to explain why it was built like this, but I thought it was pretty cool just the same.


I realized all of my pictures were starting to look the same so I played around with my camera to spice things up a bit...


With our bikes, we almost looked exactly like the locals. Almost.


I'm still amazed by the intricacy in the carvings!


I don't think I could ever get tired of how beautiful this place is!


After two days in Siem Reap, we headed to Phnom Penh for an education on the Cambodian Genocide. Pictures of that in the next post!

Too busy getting stamps in my passport to blog!

After a 2 month hiatus, I'm blogging again! I just got home (Thailand home.. don't get too excited!) from a quick trip to Cambodia and Vietnam with two of my friends. The school term just finished and we had time to squeeze in a bit of traveling before they head back home to America! Our first stop was Siem Reap, Cambodia, where we spent two days exploring Angkor Wat. From there, we went on to Phnom Penh to see some of the (rather nauseating) sites involved in the Cambodian genocide. We then spent three days in Vietnam exploring the Cu Chi Tunnels, boating through the Mekong Delta, biking through a rural island town, educating ourselves about the Viet Cong and the Vietnam War, exploring Ho Chi Minh City, and of course eating lots of amazing food! The entire trip was absolutely amazing. Nothing I could say would do it justice, but maybe some pictures will do the job...

Our first morning in Siem Reap, we woke up nice and early and got to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. It was cloudy, but still beautiful!


A rather appropriate depiction of how my eyes were working when we woke up at 4 in the morning...


The sunrise from inside of Angkor Wat.


Beautiful is an understatement...


KJ and I at one of the temples. We're tiny, but this makes us look even smaller than we really are!


This isn't an illusion... these stairs really do go straight up! This particular section was closed off, but we climbed more than our fair share of steep steps.


One of maybe 50 statues lining the path to a temple.


Siem Reap!


Almost every inch of every temple is adorned by intricate carvings like this. I can't even imagine how much work went into it all!


Temples, temples, TEMPLES!


I'm not sure why, but this was my favorite part of the entire temple complex. There's something about the way all of the stones fit together that I think is so beautiful.


A shot of me for the folks back home...


There's nothing like frolicking through ancient ruins!


Me and Domo: same same!


I spy an elephant...


Our tuk tuk driver for the day.


My happy travel buddies, KJ and Erin.


Just hanging out, flying through Angkor Wat...


Erin, taking it all in!


I told you these stairs were steep! I had to mentally prepare myself to start down the "staircase", so I took some photos as an excuse to wait a bit longer to go down.


We almost look like we're part of the carvings, right??


These temples blow my mind!


One last photo for the fans at home...


The perfect photo to end with... happy travelers at the end of a great day =) I stole this one from KJ but it's just too cute not to post!


After going through all of these photos, I'm almost as exhausted as I was that day! Check back tomorrow for photos from day 2 at Angkor Wat!

New Layout!

I'm working on getting a new layout up and running... sit tight!

Sawadee Pee Mai!

The next stop on our trip was Chiang Mai, which is in the north of Thailand. It's one of my favorite cities in Thailand... it's got everything you need like a big city, but without the chaotic atmosphere. I thought it would be a great place to ring in the new year, and actually proved to be even more perfect than I could have hoped! We did do some sightseeing while we were up there, but those pictures will come in a later post. For now, here's a look at what may have been my favorite New Year's celebration yet!

Back in November I posted about the Thai holiday, Loy Krathong. Thais release floating krathongs down the river and they send all bad things with them. In Chiang Mai, they are known for releasing a different kind of krathong into the air, rather than the tradition ones in the water. Their's work like hot air balloons and float away until they disappear into the night sky. They also release them on New Year's Eve in order to cleanse themselves of all negative energy and get a clean start to the New Year. Seeing thousands of these krathongs lighting up the night sky was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!


We released ours at a temple, where the monks were helping all of us first timers.


Really, what could be better? If you ask me, this definitely beats out the celebration in New York City!


It amazed me that there weren't any mishaps with so much fire just floating around! Krathongs were floating mere inches over people's heads and getting stuck in trees left and right but somehow, I didn't see a single thing catch on fire. Unless you count a few of the krathongs themselves...


The view down the river, where the krathongs were being released and the fireworks were set off. It felt like it was straight out of a movie! Or at least straight out of Europe.


As if the regular ones aren't awesome enough, they even make panda krathongs! And as if THAT'S not enough, they also had hearts, soccer balls, Thai flags, and ones adorned with images celebrating the Year of the Rabbit.


My parents watching the fireworks...


Like I said, it felt like something straight out of a movie.


People looking on as the fireworks signaled the start of the New Year. It was such a different atmosphere than you find at celebrations in America. No obnoxious drunk people, no wild parties... just a happy and peaceful environment with families and cute Asian couples enjoying themselves.


Each of those little dots is a Krathong, and this doesn't even do justice to how many of them there were. I wish I could say that's a shooting start going through them all, but I guess letting you know it's a firework is awesome enough!


I'll say it again, I'll take this celebration over New Year's Eve in America anyday!

Coming Soon: A Day at Khao Yai, a National Park right here in Saraburi!

Nama Tweme

I'd been telling my parents about the kids at Future Light for months, so they were so excited to finally head up to Mae Sot and see things for themselves. As I opened the gate to the school, I was immediately swarmed by 33 smiling kids begging for hugs. I quickly found myself smiling from ear to ear and it didn't take long for my parents to follow suit.

These kids never cease to impress me. When we arrived on that first day, they were on school holidays. Tadalie (the oldest girl) was teaching the rest of the kids a lesson to make up for that lost time in school. I don't know what I was more impressed with- the fact that every single kid was giving Tadalie their undivided attention, or the fact that a 13 year old was able to HOLD their attention.


The six youngest kids had their lesson taught by Ita's (the house mother's) niece. I could tell they were antsy, but they still sat (relatively) still, payed attention, and did all of their work. Show me an American 6 year old who is that disciplined and I will bow down and kiss your feet.


Tadalie's a strict grader!


Chili playing the drum while rocking his new Nikon jogging suit...


Susa, Chator, and I!


Tastee Subs make you strong! Think they'll mail me some subs if I do an advertisement for them?


Nunu, Susa, and I think my Dad and I are in there somewhere too...


Clearly, my Mom is the civilized one out of the three of us. While my Dad and I played outside, she and JoJo worked hard on making a whole world out of clay. Which they did ALL day.


I'm starting to think Tada doesn't know how to stop smiling =)


We gave the kids glow sticks one night and they only stopped playing with them when they were told it was bedtime. They were definitely a hit!


My parents, just outside of Future Light, watching the sunset over Burma.


We got official "Future Light Home School" t-shirts printed for all of the kids and the staff. I designed them, a family friend printed them (thank you, Fana!), and my parents lugged them all the way across the world. They were months in the making, so I was so happy to finally have them in my hands. I was even happier to see how good they looked on everyone, especially when the kids accessorized with those awesomely big and grateful smiles they like to wear =)


Susa being a ham, as usual...


Adam looking nice and healthy... check out all that hair!


I swear Chator gets cuter every time I go up there...


The older girls were fascinated by a growing Christmas tree my parents brought for them. When I told them it was brought here from America just for them, I thought they were going to explode from excitement.


Naychee LOVED my parents, and the feeling was definitely mutual! She gets my vote for "Most Improved" since the first time I was there.


We gave the kids bubbles but they went through them pretty quickly. Being the little geniuses that they are, they made their own replacement bubbles out of water and soap... and dirt.


Bubbles and short sleeves in front of a Christmas tree? Welcome to winter in Thailand!


I think I've been replaced...


Solid proof that even my mom had an amazing time... all dressed up AND posing!?!


My Dad lit up by the headlights of a motorbike as the sun sets over Burma... the perfect end to a perfect few days in Mae Sot =) Nama Tweme, Future Light!


Coming up next: New Year's in Chiang Mai!