End of the Road

It's time to head back to the States! There's a mixture of both happiness and sadness that comes with the end of a journey like this. We have had such an amazing experience over here, and even though it hasn't been easy, we have truly connected with the cultures and people over here. On the other hand, we are more than excited to get home and spend some time with family, friends and the dogs. Thanks to everyone who followed us throughout SE Asia and kept us company with your comments and encouragement. We look forward to being stateside and catching up with you!

Wrapping it up

We are pretty much wrapping up our little journey and preparing to come back and enter the real world. Yikes. Nothing much to report except that we finally caved into the pirated media world. They seriously have every DVD/CD you can think of no matter how new they are for less than $2. This one guy took us to his back room which stocked thousands of DVDs and we couldn't resist. They have movies that aren't even out yet and most have proven to be of surprisingly high quality. You can get Simpsons all the way through season 15 as well. We spent a week at one of the nicest resorts in the world on Phuket for free. Quite a change from the exposed wire, non flush toilet, and general squalid room we have become accustomed to. Thank you Marriott Rewards points for finally being useful and to the years of reckless spending on my CC that provided those points. The beach was virtually empty for miles because Marriott paid off the government to declare the area a National Marine Park so no one else could build around them. Needless to say, it was incredible. Between our free week in Samui and now Phuket, we have become quite spoiled again. Perfect for our return to the west.

Phuket

So we have left Ko Tao and moved on to the other side of the Thai peninsula. Ko Tao had some great snorkeling, but not much else going on. The little bay we stayed on had a nice reef with all sorts of fish, stingrays, etc. to check out. People staying there also got to see a shark or 2 right off shore, but we were not so lucky. We wanted to go on a snorkeling trip specifically to see sharks, but they weren't running it when we were there. Something about the tide. Kind of disappointed, but I think Jenn is pretty happy that it wasn't an option even though the black tip reef sharks don't attack and they take tourists out there all the time. Would have been fun. Not much else to say. Just been bumming around in the sun and relaxing. Will post some more pics when we get a decent connection.

Bungalow by the Sea

We are currently in Ko Tao, which is as close to primitive as we are going to get. Most of the island doesn't even have electricity most of the day, at least not where we're staying. We have rented a bungalow right on Tanot Bay on the eastern side of the island. It is isolated and quiet, and the coral off shore provides plenty of snorkeling opportunities. It may be a little too quiet, but we are enjoying the slow pace and planning our next move. A few pictures from our current location... as well as one of our recent visitors.

We are still at the Marriott and getting a little too comfortable with the new level of luxury and service. We have been spending our days lounging by the pool or by the ocean, swimming, snorkeling and sea kayaking, during which I cried over my irrational fear of the ocean. Erik thought it was great fun to paddle out to where the waves were breaking, and I thought I would challenge my fear - face it head-on as "they" suggest. So, we paddled out, quite far too, and as soon as we hit the breakers, I froze, freaked out, and cried to get the hell out of there. I shook like a leaf for a good 20 minutes. I can't figure it out seeing as I was practically raised on water (but that's FRESH water...) It's all very logical to me, but Erik thinks I am a coward. Nonetheless, we are loving it here in our little paradise and dreading Sunday when we have to move out and move on.

The Good Life

We arrived safely in Ko Samui yesterday, after 2 brief flights (Siem Reap - Bangkok, Bangkok - Ko Samui). Our hotel is amazing, as you can see from the pictures, and we are looking forward to a week of sun, snorkeling, kayaking, etc. We are on a pretty secluded beach, so there are no crowds, no vendors, no bothers - it's a pretty drastic change for us, but a much needed one. How will we go back to the backpacker lifestyle after this?? Posts will be seldom until we get to the next island, but stay tuned!

Old Market in Siem Reap

We are at the end of the road so to speak. We are enjoying our last day in Siem Reap before we head out tomorrow, en route to Ko Samui, an island off the coast of Thailand. We have 8 nights at the Marriott to look forward to, and we are ready for a little pampering. We likely will not be posting too much over the course of the next 9-10 days, but we will resume when we hit the backpacking road again, crossing the Thai peninsula to the Andaman coast. Here are a few pictures from our venture to the old market in Siem Reap today. There's always something interesting to eat here. We are yet to find the worms, deep fried tarantulas, and rats-on-a-stick that everyone talks about, but we plan to spend our final hours in search of these tasty morsels. As you can see, we also found a great knock-off 7-11.

Angkor Wat : Part II

Today, we spent another day in Angkor, this time cruising around the outskirts of the main temple area to visit some smaller, less mobbed temples. We had a great time, but we are definitely templed out. We saved the best for last, and are happy to report there will be no further temple pictures. We also took a detour to visit the landmine museum. It is really just a ramshackle shed out in the middle of what used to be a minefield, but it was a unique experience. The man who runs the museum was a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge, and himself laid many mines in his country. Today, he is working to remove landmines throughout Cambodia, as well as helping those affected by the mines. Moreover, he is trying to educate the world about the problem and desperately trying to stop the countless deaths and dismemberments that occur annually as a result of these mines. Interesting enough, there was a list posted of countries that would not sign a ban on the use of landmines. There was one country amongst the rogue third world nations on the list that didn't quite fit in. It was none other than the USA. Sad.

Angkor Wat

We are now in Siem Reap enjoying our last few days in Cambodia. Today we spent the first of 2 days exploring Angkor Wat, a temple complex built from approx. 800 - 1400 AD. The heat was oppressive, and the hordes of tourists took a bit away from the atmosphere we were hoping for, but nonetheless, they were pretty amazing to see. Day 2 tomorrow will take us to some temples situated a bit further out, and hopefully away from the Japanese tour buses. Here's a few pics from the day, and as usual, Erik can't seem to keep his hands to himself... good thing there was no one around to offend.

Pics from Bokor

Here are the pics from our trip to the Bokor Hill Station. The mist coming up from the valley definitely added to the ghost town mystique. We had a great guide for this trip as well. He had fascinating stories. When he was 18 he and his family were living in the countryside and one day he arrived home from working about half an hour after they did. When he got there they were all gone. The Khmer Rouge had executed both parents and both grandparents just minutes before. He fled immediately into the jungle where he lived for almost 2 years never sleeping in the same place twice and not being able to cook due to the smoke attracting attention. All this because his father picked a potato when he wasn't supposed to, because they were starving. Unreal. The Khmer Rouge eventually took over Bokor and turned it into a lookout post and a prison. You can see the edge of a cliff with the mist rolling up that is just behind the old hotel. They would execute people by pushing them over the edge to save on bullets. It is quite a steep drop hundreds of feet to the ground. Many ghosts in this ghost town.

Boker Hill

Sorry, no pics today. Can only find Windows 98. Will post tomorrow about our trip to the ghost town. Very eerie. It was an old hotel and casino built on top of a mountain. The king loved it and would go up there all the time and a little town evolved. Once the Americans started bombing Cambodia, it was abandoned. Now it's part of a national park. More to come. Leaving in the AM for a ride back to Phnom Penh and then on to Siem Reap the next day.

Kampot

Woke up early this morning and caught a bus to a town down near the coast called Kampot. There's not a whole lot going on here, but we are looking forward to a few days in the country after Saigon and Phnom Penh. We will probably stop in Phnom Penh again on our way up to Siam Reap. It was quite an interesting place. Lots of Americans living and working there. It was the first time we have really encountered that on this trip. Not much to say today except that we made it. Here are some random pics. Hope you enjoy the German in the Daisy Dukes and our friend, Matt, from the UK stuck in a hole. Oh and the woman bathing in the nasty river in Phnom Penh is good too.

The Killing Fields

Spent the morning visiting the killing fields and the old Khmer prison known as S21. What an incredible place to see. The first thing you see when you enter the killing field is a monument erected to the millions (somewhere between 1-3 million) that died. It is filled with skulls all the way to the top and at the bottom there are heaps of clothing that were recovered from the mass graves. If this sight isn't unsettling enough, you can walk through the grounds where all the mass graves still exist. Fully excavated, of course, but the holes in the ground tell the story. In Vietnam all the craters were from bombs, but here they were the places that thousands were buried in. All around we were surrounded by fragments of clothing and bone. You cannot walk more than a few steps on any of the paths without stepping on semiburied bones. Truly a surreal experience that everyone should be able to witness. You have this feeling in the pit of your stomach while you are standing there that lies somewhere between sadness and disgust.

After visiting the fields, we went to the infamous S21 prison. This complex was used as a a school until the Khmer Rouge decided it would better serve as a torture/death camp. Notice the barbed wire on the front that was erected to ensure that any prisoners lucky enough to escape their cells, wouldn't be able to commit suicide by jumping. Around 20000 prisoners were kept here and only 7 survived. Just a sad place with many of the cells still intact. Notice that the outsideMuch of it has been turned into a memorial and the walls are lined with the mugshots of the victims. So many kids and young women. Looking at those photos, all those eyes staring back at you from people that were never seen again, so haunting. So sad. So unbelievable that this happened less than 30 years ago. Our driver was lucky enough to be born in 1979 after the killing stopped, but his family was not spared. He lost many relatives to Pol Pot, as did most of this generation of Cambodians.

The Wild West

We heard Cambodia dubbed "the wild west" by a few expats on our journey through Vietnam, but I don't think we knew what to make of that comment until actually getting here. We took a bus ride from Saigon and across the border to the much rougher roads of Cambodia. The scenery remained much the same, but with far less development. We arrived in Phnom Penh (the capital) and found a surprisingly relaxed town full of temples and trees set along the Tonle Sap River. At first glance, it seems like a quiet Asian town. But there is strange undercurrent of something we can't quite place. Perhaps it's the blatant conversations we have overheard about the corruption - things like the sex trade and drugs... it seems that if you pay attention to what is going on around you, you can actually see it all taking place. Overall, it's a very interesting place, and it makes me feel like Cambodia- the good and bad of it - is what I thought SE Asia would truly be like. I have no doubt the most interesting stories from this trip will be from our short time in this country.

Other than a short walk around the city, we have not accomplished too much here yet. We plan to go to the prison and the Killing Fields tomorrow. Yesterday, we took a short walk around town in search of the Silver Pagoda. We got a few uninteresting shots of some things around our neighborhood. In one picture, you will see a local gas station... note the refilled glass soda bottles and funnel.

More Tunnels

Today we went to the network of tunnels outside Saigon known as the Cu Chi tunnels. They were not nearly as impressive as the tunnels at the DMZ. I think a big part of it was that we went with a tour instead of hiring our own guide this time. They were about 45 minutes late so we kind of had our trip cut short. The main reason we wanted to go was that you can fire just about any gun made at the tunnel's firing range. We just really wanted to grab the AK 47's and shoot the place up, but we weren't even given the opportunity. Very disappointing. We did have an entertaining guide who told us various stories involving him and prostitutes and gay tuk-tuk drivers. The people on the tour were very nice too and we ended up going out to lunch with 7 of them afterwards. The tunnels themselves were tiny and we didn't get to walk through them nearly as far as we did up north. Got some pictures of the boobytraps the VC used around the tunnels and a painted depiction of what would happen to American GIs when they stepped into one. Funny stuff. Also pictured is the view from our balcony at dusk and our guide in front of some artillery.