miles of abbie

September 21, 2009

2 days in Bangkok

Filed under: MatadorU, Recaps — Tags: , , — Abbie Mood @ 7:37 pm

This post is the end of a series of journal entries I wrote during my recent trip to Southeast Asia.

July 14 -cont-

On the plane to Bangkok I met a couple from Hawaii who offered to let me ride in their taxi into the city (it was a ½ hour drive from the airport). I was talking to the woman about my volunteering and it turns out that she was an orphan. They insisted upon paying for the taxi ride and made sure that I got to my hotel safely. I wish I would’ve gotten their email addresses or something. I hope they know how thankful I was!

Best hostel in Bangkok, quite possibly in the world - Lub*D!

After I settled into my hostel, Lub*D, I walked what I thought was a short distance to Lumphini Park to see the Asian aerobic class. It was pretty much a 20 minute walk, but I got to see the largest public aerobic class ever, so it was well worth it.

On the way back from my unintentional hour long round trip, I was starving, and stumbled upon a random stand selling Pad Thai (my favorite) for just $2!!!

July 15

I went to the Grand Palace today via the water ferry near Taksin Bridge. It was interesting to see a palace in the middle of a city that reminded me of New York.  Just as the online guides had predicted, a tuk-tuk driver attempted to get me to go with him on a “tour” by saying that the palace was closed.  I informed him that it  was not, and I had already checked online, and he left me alone.

After the palace, I continued walking around and saw an interesting vendor – he was selling ice cream sandwiches. Literally, scoops of ice cream on a roll and sprinkled with nuts.

It was an internal battle for me  as to whether or not to go to the Starbucks I passed on Silom Road on my way back to Lub*D. On the one hand, why would I go there? I can go anytime in the States. On the other hand, how cool is it to go to Starbucks in another country? I went in and it turned out to be a good move because I found a grande plastic reusable cup that I was not able to find in the U.S.

After taking my Starbucks find back to the hostel, I decided to find a yoga class to go to that night.  I checked online and found one across town called Yoga Elements.  Sweet!  A chance to use the SkyTrain!  The class was at 7, so I left plenty early to grab some dinner first.  Which leads me to my first tip - do not assume that the waitress will know that you are a sissy American when saying that a curry “isn’t that spicy”. It will indeed be spicy and it will burn your mouth.

Second tip – do not go to yoga immediately after consuming said curry. Luckily I had an hour in between which turned out to be a long enough break, but it could have turned out very badly.

July 16

Time to go home, but not before a 2 hour Thai  massage at Healthland!  For just 450 baht (about $13) no less!  Find me a deal like that anywhere in the United States and I’m there.

***

I didn’t fully understand it then, but I’m realizing more and more every dayChoose from the most used tags in Post Tags that I experienced things and went on an adventure that will always have an impact on my life. It’s been 3 months since my trip and I still think about when I can go again…

The rest of the pictures from my trip -

Cambodia – http://picasaweb.google.com/abbiemichelle/Cambodia#

Thailand – http://picasaweb.google.com/abbiemichelle/Bangkok#

Photo Credits:  Abbie Mood

September 19, 2009

Cambodia Part 4

Filed under: Recaps, Volunteering — Tags: , , , — Abbie Mood @ 9:47 am

July 12

$2.50 breakfast at the Temple Club. Amazing. A picture is better than a description…

We went to the Bodia Spa and got a 1 hour massage, body exfoliation, and 1 hour facial, AND a pedicure. Amazing.

July 13

We dug at ditch at Khmer Chewy Khmer today and saw a crab. It looked just like a crab from the east coast, but it was in the dirt in Cambodia. It was strange.

We went back that night and taught for a bit. Everyone knew that it was my last night there, so Phaly’s wife made us a delicious meal and we had a dinner party! We had eggplant, rice, and homemade French fries. I can’t even describe in words how amazing Phaly is for what he does for those children and the people of Cambodia. The teachers there are volunteers that often drive hours to teach for hours after working all day. He inspires everyone he meets and has such a passion for making his country a better place. There aren’t many people in this world like him, and he is a person that I will never forget.not the best picture of me & phaly, but the only one I have

July 14

Last day in Cambodia. We had breakfast, then everyone left for Khmer Chewy Khmer. I rode a bike into town and putzed around for a bit, then went back and got one last tuk-tuk ride to the airport. I was really sad to leave.

Off to Bangkok!!!

Photo Credits:  Abbie Mood

September 17, 2009

Cambodia Part 3

Filed under: Recaps, Volunteering — Tags: , , — Abbie Mood @ 4:01 pm

July 9

This time we weren’t supposed to go to the school because the king was coming, and of course, Phaly wanted us to see the king. The staff at the Shining Angkor didn’t know anything about it, so Kristen and I went on another adventure into town. We looked around and went to the Lucky Mall, a big flashy mall that has no place in Siem Reap. It was nothing special that’s for sure – we got some gelato, but decided to stick to the markets for our other shopping needs. We walked back to the hotel, which wasn’t too bad, but was still a bit farther than I expected.

We went to the school tonight and a teacher didn’t show up, so I was the teacher. We talked about same vs. different, conversational skills, and fill in the blank. Even though I’m a teacher in the States, it was a little difficult to jump into teaching there.

July 10

The Khmer Rouge is still on everyone’s mind in Cambodia. At some point during the day, every day, someone brought it up. Today we found out that Phaly’s father was killed by the Khmer Rouge in 1977. I can’t even begin to imagine the devastation and destruction that caused a country to still be recovering from something that happened 30+ years ago.

We were really tired from our work at the school this morning so Kristen and I went to the Blue Pumpkin for some ice cream and to lounge in the “aircon” (it’s Australian) on daybeds, which are like futons. It was amazing.

on the daybeds – ahhhhh


That night we took a couple books, some coloring books and crayons to the kids at the orphanage. Their eyes were huge when they saw the gallon bag of crayons I had brought with me. At the end of the night, the kids tried to give the stuff back, which made me and Kristen really sad (of course we let them keep everything).

coloring with the kids

July 11

It’s Saturday! Time to visit the infamous temples! A very exciting part of the day was when we got to ride on an elephant. It took a minute to get used to the rocking as he walked, so just a tip – if you have motion sickness, you should not ride on an elephant. on the elephant! and yes, they are treated very well, i checked

It got very hot. I was very dehydrated and very gross. I took my first midday shower of the trip, and couldn’t have appreciated it more.

We went to a monk chat at the Singing Tree and learned about Buddhism from a real monk. The best quote of the night, “Destiny is like your shadow”.

Got back to the guesthouse in time to see the Angels beat the Yankees 10-6!

Photo Credits:  Abbie Mood & Kristen Ihde

September 16, 2009

Cambodia Part 2

Filed under: Recaps, Volunteering — Tags: , , , — Abbie Mood @ 6:13 pm

July 7

Phaly told us not to come to the school this morning because there was a huge parade celebrating Angkor’s Wat’s 1 year anniversary for being recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He was so proud of his country and the history and he thought it was more important for us to see that then help him at the school. We ate breakfast and wandered over to where the parade was supposed to be. Sure enough, there were TONS of people lined up. We decided to try to find the front of the parade to take a picture, but the parade started moving. 6 km later we were at Angkor Wat! Meng (the other country coordinator besides Sam) later told us that he was very concerned about us because apparently we were supposed to be stopped at some checkpoint, but no one stopped us so we kept on going and ended up all the way at the temple! We walked with locals, school children, and monks.

part of the parade

After the tuk-tuk ride back, Kristen and I rented bikes and rode over to the Artisans d’Angkor, which is a craftsman shop that supports local Cambodians and teaches them painting, stone carving, and wood carving. This is the same day that Kristen and went for a bike ride in search of Wat Damnak and Wat Bo, which we eventually found. Yes, we got lost, but we did get used to riding around the crazy streets of Siem Reap, which is an achievement in its own right, trust me.

That night we had dinner at our favorite place, Cambodian Soup, and the drinking game was invented. Turns out that men tend to travel in pairs (or threes or fours) in Cambodia, therefore, one was required to drink whenever we saw 2 or more guys together. We could have drank a lot, but I’m pretty sure we kept it down to like 3 drinks, plus a coconut. Did you know that coconuts are pH balanced like our bodies, making them the ultimate electrolyte replacement drink?

July 8

My butt hurts. I blame the maladjusted bike that I ventured out on yesterday with Kristen.

all smiles the day before!

Today was the day the hard labor began. We were moving dirt to fill in a hole to level out the ground for a new classroom at Khmer Chewy Khmer. It was very hot and very humid. Phaly gave us a break and we walked over to his mother’s house, the over to his cousin’s house. He was so proud to tell us about his land, his country, and his people. When we got back, we moved some cement from a pile near the walkway to a pile behind a classroom. He was concerned that the children might hurt themselves on it. As we were moving the cement, we disturbed a scorpion family that was living under it which Phaly scooped up and tossed into the rice field.

That night we went to the orphanage. The orphanage itself has two bedrooms (one for boys, one for girls), a kitchen, and living area, plus some play space outside. When it came time to leave, there were no adults around and we weren’t sure what to do. It was then that I learned you cannot trust the cell network in Cambodia. I finally got in touch with Sam who told me that we could leave, that the older kids would take care of the younger ones. It was another lesson in how different this country was than the United States.

Photo Credits – Abbie Mood

September 15, 2009

Cambodia Part 1

Filed under: Recaps, Volunteering — Tags: , , — Abbie Mood @ 8:39 pm

I scrunched my nose and closed my eyes.

“And that’s your first experience with burning trash,” Sam said as we were riding back to the hotel. Sam, the United Planet country coordinator, had just met me at the airport and we were in the tuk-tuk on our way back to the hotel. For the millionth time over the past several hours I asked myself, what am I doing here?

I had been anticipating my trip to Cambodia for months. I was going to be doing some volunteer work, organized by the non-profit United Planet. I thought that I was just going to be volunteering at an orphanage and teaching at an English school, but I was in for so much more!!!

I should start by saying that it takes a really long time to get to Asia. It turns out that the Pacific Ocean is really big. The biggest consolation is that no matter how far you are going, you get fed on international flights. Even during a 45 minute quick flight, you get a sandwich! And the food is good. I have found that if you get a vegetarian meal (or another special meal, such as low calorie) you get your food first. My only complaint is that when you get the vegetarian meal they assume that you are super healthy and you get extra fruit instead of a cookie or piece of cake for dessert.

Back to the tuk-tuk ride. It took about 20 minutes to get to the guesthouse that I would call home for the next 10 days. It was beautiful and the staff was so friendly! I did notice that there was no air conditioning in the lobby, but the rooms had it, so I was very thankful for that. After my orientation, I tried to take a quick nap, but overslept and almost missed meeting Erin (another volunteer) and Sam for dinner that night! We had dinner at a restaurant on Pub Street in town, which would turn out to be our favorite restaurant in Siem Reap. I was amazed that I was full off of curry and rice for just $3!

our group – Meng, me, Erin, Kristen, and Merrill

July 6

Everyone is here (Erin, Kristen, and Merrill) and we met for breakfast at the guesthouse. Today we were going to visit the two volunteer locations and get adjusted to our new surroundings. First, though, we went to a monk blessing at a nearby pagoda. The temple was so beautiful – the inside was painted in amazing, bright colors describing the story of Buddha. We presented the monks with baskets and received our blessings.

We visited the Imagine Angkor Foundation and met the children at the orphanage. There are 13 children there, and they share 2 rooms filled with bunk beds. They were so happy to see and play with us! We stayed for a bit and then we were off to Khmer Teaching Khmer English School. We met the Director, Phaly (Pauli), who is the most selfless man I have ever met. He has turned his home into a free school for children to learn English. Private English classes/school cost $5-8/month, which most families cannot afford. The teachers are past students who have volunteered to teach there, and some have moved away from their families, or travel a long way each day to meet that commitment. Many of the students are interested in practicing their conversational skills, and hearing native pronunciation of English words. Their goal is to learn English to be able to work in one of the hotels in Siem Reap or become a temple guide.

That day we also did a little bargaining at the Old Market and felt a little guilty going back to our air conditioned rooms.

our guesthouse, Shining Angkor
Photo Credits:  Abbie Mood

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