Hands clasp and bow. Jo-rep-soew

..I obviously cannot type in Khmer but that's me paying my respects to Cambodia. My title is in annotations. So, I hope it helps. Just sound it out.

Sadly, today is my last day here. I do miss home and all my friends but I've also made this place my home. Leaving will be bittersweet.

I do plan on coming back and bringing Samath, Sovana, Borin, Bobby, & Mikey back with me I pick these 6 because I feel like Samath, Sovana, and Borin would love seeing there origins and introducing a whole new culture to Bobby and Mikey would be so fun and they'd be appreciative and have shown lots of interest in wanting to come. I feel like we would all have a good time. These guys can handle it (the food and the interesting crowd). Haha. I hope no one takes offense to that.

I plan on coming back because my parents are going to move here permanently soon. I also want to explore some business ventures.

I may celebrate with a tattoo when I get back.

Airplane leaves in T-minus 12 hours.

I love you all can't wait to see you guys!

This was fun blogging. I'm glad I did it. Till' my next trip! This one comes to an end!

Love, Linda

Dedicated to Samath Sok.

As many of you know Samath Sok is related to me by marriage and he's probably my most favorite family member and greatest friend back home.

I had the privilege of meeting his family who is well known here in Cambodia. One guy stood out to me and it was his uncle, He actually looks so much like Samath in the face that it's insane. When we first met him we were just giving him items that Samath's sister wanted us to pass along. He then invited our family over get to know the family near the end of our trip.

My dad is a pretty private person, but accepted his invitation. He was absolutely impressed andy loved his Uncle who is named Saek. The reason why I admire Saek so much is because when I hang out with him and his family, I felt like I was hanging out with an older version of Samath and his future family. They are so fun and energetic and I can definitely see where Samath gets it from. It made me also miss him back home! They had photos of Samath and his sister all over the walls.

He wanted to mostly know how Samath was doing and we even videotaped a few words for him to relay back to him. He loved that Samath was a fire figther and is so proud of him. He had our family tell him all about Samath the whole night during dinner. He wanted to know everything about the family, but Samath particularly stood out to him. He even came back to the hotel so I can show him pictures of Samath and his facebook photos.

Now, what really impressed me is... Saek is a police law enforcement. He has lots of metals and honors. He is also is the personal body guard and head of security for the King of Cambodia.

I dedicate this post to Samath because it totally runs in his family and people like him and his uncle make this world a better place. Samath, I told your uncle we'd bring you with us next time and he wants to spend lots of time with you and show you around Cambodia. I can't wait. He also sent me some really cool stuff to give to you, from him. I can't wait to tell you all about it.

I LOVE YOU!

-Linda

Khmer Rouge

Well, I went to go visit the museum and original ground that the Khmer rouge took place. If many of you don't know, Pol pot was like the Hitler of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge is depicted very similar to the Jewish concentration camps.

Pol Pot died in 1998, they had pictures of him on his death bed on the front of the museum. It's so interesting how they display their evidence and a lot of them are still in the original state and you can walk into the rooms and look at them. It's very eerie. I didn't last long, because it was so overwhelming.

They had a few rooms with photo's of the tortured and even evidence of the torture chambers. There were posters next to them on how they were used. A lot of interrogation happened and water torture.

You can also see all the photo's of the victims and the most powerful effect on me was the rooms displaying all the clothes in one glass box and many bones and skulls of the victims and the description of how they were executed. It gave me shivers. I can't begin to imagine the torture and labor my people had to go through. We can only remeber that Cambodia finally has it's freedom today and we have no more assholes to ruin that.

Sihanouk Village and Attack of the kids.

So sad. I'm missing Planet Comic-con in Kansas City. I'm hoping you all went with me in spirit! BUHH!!!

but' that's okay I spent the weekend (last one sadly here in Asia) at the beach! As said above.

We woke up today going to the crab market right off the shore line closer to the islands. We ordered a so much food. Here's another list:

-Sting ray

-Little squids

-Chicken

-Swordfish

-Bass

-Tuna

-Some other fancy named fish

-That fruit that smells and taste like a toilet. (Not that I've ever tasted a toilet, I'm just guessing)

Anywho, the food was delicious, I was able to try some new things like sting ray, which is quite tasty. It reminded me of a tougher fish, but less fishy tasting, make sense? No? Oh well. We ate in a small hut that had a big opening to see the ocean and the docks of all the crab fishing boats in view. I got some excellent pictures.

After we hit up the crab market we went back to the mountain side I think it was called "Kamput" It's a mountain side with adorable baby goats and a lot of cave dwellings. (The ocean use to be there). As soon as we step out of the car we got mobbed by a bunch of kids with flash lights that try to convince us to take their flashlights. When we decline, we start walking into the caves and they follow talking a lot, trying to give us a tour. Sadly, it was really hard to enjoy and I know they were just trying to make a buck but my poor little cousin was crying because the kids were so over whelming. Sunny felt like throwing kids and my mom and dad were worn out after just a few minutes. After exploring we walked back through the caves to the van and the kids were still following chattering away in Khmer and english. My dad threw a couple bucks and we all ran into the van and drove off.

Eesh.

A tleast the Ocean was awesome haha!

Kampong Som Beach!

I finally went to the beach for a 2nd time! Ever!

A great ending to a big ol' trip if I do say so myself. I also discovered that I'm slightly terrified of the ocean and this trip further testifies me.

A good 5 hour drive from Phnom Penh to the outskirts of Sihanouk Village where Kampong Som beach is located. I have to note that Cambodia has one of the most discreet and most beautiful beaches in the world. I am very pleased that I'm able to be at one. We left our hotel at 7am and arrived around noon, stopping at the seafood market first where we purchased over $150 worth of seafood. Let me make a list of what we got:

-Shrimp

-Blue crab (boiled & stir fried)

-Rice (duh..)

-A huge pack of Angkor Premium beer (The brewery is actually located in Sihounouk!)

-Fresh pepper and limes

-Lots of clams (big and little ones.)

We had 11 people with us so that's pretty damn good for 11 people. We spend ALL day at the beach. We rented out two small cabanas right off the shore lines and chowed down on some amazingly fresh seafood. The sand was white and clean. I usually expect beaches to be somewhat dirty. Nope, this one was nice and kept up. My favorite was the views of all the black rocks, mountains, and islands surrounding the sea.

The only thing that freaked me out when I finally decided to hit the water was not the fish... not even the crabs that you can see hanging out near the shoreline. I SAW JELLYFISH. It didn't help that I've been watching lots of Animal Planet and Discovery Channel, talking about poisonous irukanji or the box jellyfish, that can kill you in minutes.

My mom and I were the first to get into the water after eating just to get our feet wet. Then as I go deeper into the ocean I see these huge black artichoke shaped objects floating on their own in the water. My mom pointed out 2-3 more then I realized it had little tentacles... and that it was a flipping' jellyfish. I freak out trying to run towards the shore(because running in water isn't effective especially when the waves are heavy). I had to have one of the little boys swimming in the ocean tell me and my mom that the ones that these guys were harmless and will only make you itch a shit ton, and you have to squeeze lime juice on your sting if it happens. Well, I was sick and tired of mosquitos, I'm not about to find out how I feel about another unfamiliar itch.

Needless to say at least I can say I swam with a jellyfish!

After that little mishap, I went and hung out somewhere, ate, drank, swam (near the shoreline) walked up and down the beach looking at people and seashells, my parents, my brother and my cousin & her daughter took off for the hotel. I stayed with two of my cousins and two of my uncles to watch the sunset and set off fire works that we bought off of some independent sellers. Totally worth the stay.

The hotel was really nice, pretty authentic even my bed had sand in it, I'm not kidding it really did). You now that saying... "Better get the sand out of your vagina!" when someone is being a jerk or a bitch. Does that apply if it happens to you literally? I mean... i know that's a lot of info but it's just so funny, I'm in the shower and I find sand in my butt crack and crevices and I didn't even know existed... I was just flabbergasted.. but I also thought it was kind of funny. I got a mad awesome sunburn too.

I had a splitting heading by the time bed time hit (9pm lameee). I thought I was dieing from a jellyfish sting that I wasn't aware of so I was hoping I wouldn't wake up dead or paralyze but I woke up and it was gone. I figured it was lack of water, roasting under the sun and loading up on junk food before bed.

Needless the say. I'm coming back. I will be brave and take on you little jellyfish!

Cambodia. I'm back.

The bus ride back was nice. I had one of those cool curvey neck pillows. I also am back in Cambodia and I have the net back. We spent all day just relaxing. I'm hoping to hit the market tonight to go shopping.

Now, I must mention, we watched a bootlegged movie called "Shaolin" that was released in Hong Kong about a week ago. It was actually a really damn good movie. I'm not into the whole warrior dynasty them, I always thought they were too historically boring and long for me. I couldn't stop watching, plus the bad guy was good looking and Jackie Chan in a comic relief in it. (Not like the lame movies he makes in the U.S.)

They played another movie that I'm trying to figure out is about this big clumsy white guy name Barney who gets picked up but some martial art kid. I cannot figure out what it's called. I want to watch it when I get back to the states, if I can find it. Story plot looks terrible... action looks fun. (It reminds me of The 3 Ninjas.)

Sunny decided to clog the toilet. Then when he clogged it this is what he says to me while we wait for the poor guy who has to un-clog it.

"I have to pee. "

"I'll just go pee on the floor"

Thank god there's a hose in there.

WE HEAD TO THE OCEAN THIS WEEKEND. WOO!

Ho Chi Minh City! Ho!

because Saigon whore is overly used.

Oh, it's a rainy day, it is.

We rented a car and left the small town in Vietnam to head out to the big city of Ho Chi Minh.. also known as Saigon. Well the car ride was slightly butt numbing, I ended up in the bitch seat between my mom and my uncle. It's better than the cramp car ride thought, let me tell ya.

During the ride, we went across two really sweet looking bridges. The river (Mekong). Which is fairly close to the ocean is like 4 times bigger than Missouri.) It was pretty nice to see these huge exquisite looking pieces of architect. When we arrived in the city the streets were just a cluster fuck full of motorcycles, bikers, cars, it was insane. You can tell its a tourist kind of place when I saw the all different races of people pour in on to the streets.

While my parents were purchasing the bus tickets we went up to our hotel to relax a night before heading back to Cambodia the next day (another 8 hours). The hotel was a bit horrid but I dealt with it. They dead bolted the door to the porch, suspicious eh?. I had bugs crawling all over me and they usually don't bug me (ha, no pun intended) but these bugs bit really hard and well.. i couldn't sleep. Even the blanket freaked me out, not to mention mirrors were everywhere.

Here's the upside:

BOUTIQUES

My favorite part is seeing all the small independent boutiques, which makes me want to definitely open one of my own someday over seas. I think I'd have better luck and happiness then doing it in the states. The clothes are extremely fun and cute. I think I'd be really happy running my own store and meeting all the different people and sharing my fashion with the world.

PHO

Seriously had the best pho and noodles here. Don't bother going to the fancy restaurants, it's the alley way street vendor pho that's the best. Totally authentic and they put every spice needed, little robin eggs, even the noodles are just amazing. Don't forget to guard your pockets from pocket pickers.

MONSOOON

Looks like monsoon season came a month early. It poured and poured while I was shopping with my dad, uncle, cousin, & brother. While looking for dryness on our way to the hotel. I swear we were standing in front of a host club. Lots of handsome asian gentleman in suits leading little old ladies out. Very fancy and interesting.

I'm tired.

Good afternoon, Vietnam!

Welps.

12 hours to Vietnam was the biggest pain in my ass bus-ride ever. We had to hit up border control not once... but twice. Let me tell you. Lugging you luggage about a mile at a time (at least it felt like it) and filling out some paperwork for Visas stink. Not to mention the bus was tiny and Sunny and I aren't little people so we were squished like bananas on that damn thing.

We finally arrived in Vietnam Monday afternoon and headed to my uncle's family house. I didn't realize that they had moved from their small hut to this large 4 story stone house with a white and gold gate entrance.

Talk about instant upgrade.

With his 5 children, then two of them with children of their own, a-long with their spouses, a maid, and a cute little black pointer puppy, a house that big is necessary for all those people! The house was beautiful, all the floors are stone or porcelon. There is a nice lofty strairway that sqaures off in the kitchen to the second floor. There is also 3 porches and another pair of metal spiral stairs that lead up to a small area on the top level. It's quite a neat house. My uncle did well.

All the kids (my cousins) have there own scooter, bike, bicycle, moped of their own. One of my cousins Lih, I clicked with right away, we got a long pretty well. She's very tom boyish has a sweet boyish haircut and is super cute. She drove me around on her cool white moped (with flower decals) to see the city and visit with my extended family while I was there.

Okay, I'm getting bored with just writing a description. I think a list will be less tiresome to write and it saves you all the skimming. Here goes:

-Shared a bed with Sunny in a 13 year olds room, with teeny bopper posters everywhere and no ac.

-Sunny and I were annihilated by mosquitos. We look like we have measles. We tried to protect our selves with wool blankets. That doesn't work well in 90 degree weather with no AC. The first night was pure hell

-I met all 6 of my uncles .My dad is short and the pale one.

-Rode in a fishing boat

-Fell asleep on a board in a jungle

-Drank coconut juice out of a cocoanut freshly cut out of a tree!

-Sunny got drunk and talked to me for hours before going to bed (about his g/f and his car & my problems). Did I mention he never talks to me and is a huge shy introvert.

-Saw my dad go clam diving in the river. He's out-of-shape

-Saw my uncles go Lobster catching. With their bare hands.

-Watch Sunny eat a freshly killed then roasted snake.

-Too many damn snails. Everyone eats them. Too slimy and creepy.

-Sunny and i finally got a mosquito net. We still look like we have measles.

-My aunt ask me if I had a face lift. I don't know if I should take that as a complement.

I HATE MOSQUITOS!

DAD-ATTACKING MONKEY!

We went to a centralized outdoor temple at the park in Phnom Penh today. It had elephants and monkeys just hanging out and chilling at the park.

So, there's this little pathway built for just the monkeys (oh they have bright red butts too). My dad tried walking up them and there just happen to be one little guy sitting right in the middle. He hissed at my dad and chased him right into the bushes. Funniest thing ever. We got it all on video. I'll have to post it later. But after his encounter here was his dialogue:

Me:"Dad, DON'T GET BIT! I don't want you to get an infection".

Dad: "It's okay they are the little ones, you can just kick them if they get out of hand."

(GIANT HUGE MONKEY SITTING BEHIND MY DAD)

Dad takes notice: "oh... it's just those big ones that scare me a little bit.."

Me:" uh huh.."

Sunny, kept' playing with all the random kittens that were staying with some of the locals by the temple and there were lots of pretty birds too. I think what I saw interesting was when they were walking some of the elephants back home and this little boy came running towards it and the keeper chased him off with a big stick.

Coincidence: I ran into the Australian gals I met in Battambang (8 hours away) right outside the river walk! I hope we become good friends.

Digraced hairstylist, No more!

I went a few days without washing my hair. Which is pretty normal for me as a hairstylist... washing your hair everyday can strip it of it's natural oils and health. (expecially when your hair is constantly bleached, colored, and tormented with hot tools like myself.) However, I ran out of shampoo.

I tried to resort to using just conditioner but that made it worse. WIth no shampoo to get rid of all the dirt and overly oily hair... I was a hot greasy mess. This gave me the excuse to go and get my hair done at one of the local hair salons.

Cambodia-style.

I also decided to try out a mani and a pedi too. I usually don't get those since I'd prefer to do them myself (or at all) but why the hell not.

I walked down the street from my hotel a couple blocks and I passed, say i don't know at least 3-4 salons. My mom is with me and we literally just walk into a random salon. This place had all the prices displayed on the door. A shampoo and style was 5 bucks and a manicure was 2 dollars. My mom told them to have their way with me so they did.

I sat down in the chair and they shampooed my hair while I was sitting down using a squirt-stream bottle and Panteen Pro-V (no big names, I am in a small city after all). I was impressed that hey didn't need the shampoo bowl till' they brought me back to rinse me and condition me. Along with the most amazing facial and head massage ever. (They massaged my head during the shampoo too) I got another massage while they point some oils in my hair and a good blow out.

While all this was going on I had one girl working on my fingers and another lady working on my feet. The only thing that worried me (but I was understanding about) was the lack of sanitation. They relied on limes and water to clean my feet and hands. When the lady accidently nipped my fingers, my god did it burn then she felt bad and put alcohol on me. It didn't bother me like I said I'm an extremely understanding person, but SHIT it burned. The paint job was magnificent and has lasted on my nails way longer than I expected. It also helps that I'm not constantly doing hair and sewing myself, since I use my hands a lot.

The hair lady straigtned my hair for me and did a great job. I normally don't style my hair like this but it was super cute. My mom told all the ladies I was a cosmetologist (from the U.S.) too so I can tell they were trying their absolute best. I think they did excellent. I normally don't pamper myself so it was a treat.

Grand Total : $7.00 (not including my generous tip for each of the ladies)

Pinchy. Pinch. Happy St. Pats!

I just woke up! but during my sleepy times, I hope all you had a wonderful St. Patty's day and were safe!

Be careful if you go out to the bars tonight too! I'll be celebrating in spirit for Bobby's Irish side

love and miss all of you immensely!

Love, Linda

Every Last Drop.

I'm leaving the city of Siem Reap today. Here is a list of things I noticed and took a liking to that I just half to mention, this doesn't really correlate with any of my entries.. it's almost like

left over blog spew.

Hoards of Sellers: Note to self and those of you who visit Ankgor Wat and the temples anywhere in Siem Reap. Never whip out your wallet (I'm looking at you Sunny!) flashing your money. Once you buy something from one independent seller, they will all mob you asking you to buy their stuff. It's hell to get out of of.

Typical Asian Tourist: Okay, think of all those (you think they'd be racist) cartoons and movies that have the big groups of asian tourist with the ball caps, sun hats, black sunglasses, floral shirts, scarves, and those huge canon cameras strapped around the neck. Korean and Japanese Tour guide to add to the mix. You think these movies exaggerate that. No. NO. I saw it. It was glorious. Which made me think of the ultimate theme party. (Don't you dare steal this idea... Actually.. if you do take pictures and credit me, I'll love you for it [invite me too!]).

Dead skin-eating fish: There are these big aquariums sitting variously throughout the city. They have a kagillion sucker fish ( called Garra Rufa) in them with big booths for people to sit on and dip their feet in. The fish will swarm your feet and eat all the dead skin. This takes approximately 25 minutes for $1 (sometimes with a free tasty beverage). I enjoyed all the signs that said "NO PIRANAS!"

Sugar cane blocks: My little cousin offered me these small soaked yellow pieces of sugar cane. You bite, suck, and spit, suckering up every piece of sweet cane juice there is. It was really tasty, better (but reminded me of) those wax bottles with juice in them.

My dad's haggling abilities: While visiting the old and new market the variety of stuff they sell is so neat: Statues, hookahs, spices, bags, clothes, even small vile' of alcohol with scorpion, alligators, and other weird animals floating in them. As things weren't cheap ($1-$10) enough anyway, watching my dad talk the price down is insane. He's able to talk down a price in half or get a lot more out of it.

Seller: "$15 bucks for this"

Dad: "how about $7"

Seller: "10 is the lowest I'll go

Dad: "What if I buy 2 for $15?"

Seller: "Sold."

Damn Dad! How'd you do that? Apparently he had years of haggling selling veggies as a kid. He looked at me and told me he was a pro. When Sunny and I went later to try the bargaining ourselves... it was a complete failure. They take you more seriously when you can speak fluently. I was only able to get a few dollars off.

Ankgor Wat, Bayon, Siem Reap +

Angor Wat is beautiful!

Ready to go at 5:30 AM. It's actually pretty cool out and it's so early that the shops are just now cooking breakfast for the locals and tourist. We all hit the taxi and take a good 20 minutes drive out to all the temples. Ankgor Wat is the first large land mark we visit. For some reason it looked much smaller to me from what I did see in pictures. Then I realized... I was only walking through the stone gate way to get to the actual temple. When I finally walked under that on to another stone pathway, I saw all it's glory and the beautiful ponds on each side and the palm trees accenting the building nicely. Workers were scattered throughout the site restoring some of the reliefs and larger parts of the building that have worn away. (this made me think of Brandon a lot ). This also made me think that some of my Art History classes really paid off despite how boring they were. (Mostly just for it's basic terminology to recognize certain historical artifacts.)

Seriously, climbing these extremely steep stairs to some of monuments reaching a good few stories up is tiring (Some of those monuments had monuments within' those monuments and those were filled with more reliefs and statues!). Parading through rock gardens, long pathways, and did I mention there were about 10 more smaller temples that we checked out? I didn't even realize there were more! Another temple that particular stood out to me was called Bayon, (HUGE smiling buddha faces). It was absolutely fascinating seeing some of the wear and tear of these huge stone temples and & the faces etched into them. It really doesn't compare to seeing just pieces of it in a museum when you got the whole she-bang in front of you.

Even the surroundings of these temples were fun to take in. Monkeys were hanging out every where walking freely and I even saw a few elephants lead around by people as well as giving rides to whoever wanted to shell out cash. I tried to drink some pond water (yes they sell it) but my stomach was already upset. The water was from a huge stone swimming pool by Bayon, apparently the king use to bathe there in his down time. Other things I took notice were huge, big black bee's nest and large trees with roots big enough to make a small home out of near these temples.

I have a whole new appreciation for history. I never really liked it or was good at remembering important events. It turns out that I was just learning about boring shit this whole time and never gave a rats ass. Today was a new-age hippie and art history teachers orgasm. (especially for those interested in the Buddhist and Hindu religions & practices), either way just seeing it all is worth learning about it.

I want to type more.. but I'm sleepy. Goodnight.

Why is my butt so angry!

That meat bun below me. Be glad you didn't eat it. It destroyed me this morning.

Why is it when I'm about to go to do something super exciting and cool! I feel like pooping my pants. Every time man. Every time.

I made this a separate entry from my description of my tour of Angor Wat and the other surrounding temples. So, it didn't take away from the experience.

Sorry for the much more needed info. But I keep it reals.

Damn Robbers.

Early this morning. (like super, duper 3am early),

I hear my mom moaning and yelling about a robbery in Khmer. I wake up and kind of ignore it and try to go back to sleep.

A few minutes later my mom starts screaming loudly in her sleep "GET BACK HERE WITH THAT BAG". I look over at my dad who's clearly awake with the most confused look on his face. Then my mom yells again and kicks him in the back. Then she punches him. Still yelling in her sleep.

I start laughing.

My mom wakes up. My dad and I are cracking up and we tell her what happens with my dad finishing with a "I was scared you were going to kick me in the balls."

I laughed myself back to sleep.

Hello Siem Reap!

"I'm afraid I'll pee on her!" - my youngest most adorable and chatty cousin, when I offered her a spot in my bed for the night at the hotel. If only kids (an adults ) can be as honest as her.

My alarm clock this morning was my dad's loud fart. Now, I understand what my mom meant when he was gone a week before we were, she said she didn't miss his gas. (she totally secretly does) and he thinks it's hilarious and milks it for all it's worth to annoy my mom.

We finally left this morning for the bus at 7:30 am for Siem Reap. I had a massive headache for a good chunk of the bus ride because I accidently fell asleep. Which I shouldn't have, especially since they had The Expendables movie playing with khmer dub. As if it wasn't entertaining enough. (I don't know why, but I like Mickey Rourke with white highlights)

We stopped a couple times and I ate some strange jelly and ice combination with chunks of soy in it, coconut milk and shaved ice. I also was offered fried chicken.. except I'm pretty sure it was baby chicks that they just deep fried. Disturbing, but it was kind of tasty. (the few bites I took anyway). At another stop, while switching busses from Battambang to S. R. I met a couple Australian ladies that were there on vacation. I striked up a conversation with them and we exchanged emails. It was really enlightening to meet people from across the world in such a small town. I hope they stay in touch.

7 hours go by and we drive into Siem Reap. I was expecting it to be glamourous like my dad mentioned but here we are still in the country side, dusty road, and caddy shack restaurants. We take a taxi (a motorcyle with a big carriage in the back,) and we finally drive into the city.. which.. was... PHENOMENAL.

It reminded me of an asian little Italy and much classier and smaller than Phnom Pen. The only downside was it was extremely tourist-ee... but at the same time It was neat seeing and hearing the different langauges and dialects around me I recognized French, Dominican Republican, German, Japanese, Chinese, the list goes on. It was funny because everyone I talked to knew I was from America because of the way I talked.

Any who, our hotel is a small villa we rented out to our 10 people and we all enjoyed the views from the porch. It's the nicest one I've been in so far. I even dig the bed covers, mine has that popular japanese blue fella with a yellow bell, you know who I'm talking about right? No? Okay, well the food out here is excellent, I had some yellow noodles with shrimp. (yay seafood!) I ate my mom's shrimp and wide flat noodles and the veggies here are to die for. I'm eating veggies, I wouldn't even touch at home because they taste funny. They just know how to season them and I trust their freshness, because I feel like i can taste it and see them literally pull it from the batch and wash, clean, and cook it right there in front of you, for you.

We're resting up tonight and tommorow (I know i've said it like 20 times) I'm seeing the big ol' Angor! I got my tennis shoes ready for some rock climbing.

and this meat bun (from a stand in front of the hotel) is damn delicious!

I'm out!

Wanna bite?

Siracha ain't got shit on this stuff.

I finally had some Pho today. FOR BREAKFAST. Man did I underestimate my taste buds. I can handle the spices in the U.S. from Thai food to chicken wings (when I feel like it anyway.) We stopped at my dad's best friends, daughters, restaurant today and ordered the soupy goodness with translucent noodles, beef, oxtail, and lots of bean sprouts. Just like at home I start adding my lime juice, a little bit of pepper, little bit of soy sauce, some chili sauce... then there is this jar.. I'll just call it:

THE JAR OF HELL. (I completely forgot to take a picture. Mental note.)

It had this nice dark red color with little chili seeds (I don't even know what kind of pepper it was) and membranes and guts of the chili in it. From a distance it looks black with a jelly consistency. Of course I helped my self a couple heaping spoonfuls. Thinking oh this will be delicious. It looks like spicy hoisin sauce. (I have a love affair with hoisin,) not even thinking that maybe... just maybe.. I should've tasted it first before putting all these sauces in there.

Sunny who practiced a similar procedure with his food... 10 minutes later... he's sweating bullets. I already ate what I could and traded my dish for my moms non-spicy rice, pork, and veggies with a side of iced coffee AND tea for my devastated buds.

My parents decided to tell us that we only need a tip of spoonl of that sauce (since it's concentrated as all hell.) after we ate. Laughing at us. Them bastards did it on purpose.

Toilet Alarm Clock + Swollen Glandulars

Location: Grandma's house & Ruby Pailin Hotel

I woke up to loud noises this morning.

Those loud noises consisted of my dad destroying the toilet, after a night of drinking lots of beer with his best friend (who happens to be the lieutenant of one of the largest Thai armies in charge of patrolling the border and in charge of land control [neat huh!) so you know he was well taken care of.

During the poopacades,

I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, only to have my mom in the next bed over join me in the chuckling over my dad's beer shits. Little did he know, the bathroom has three nice slits above the door and you can hear every little echo and sound of every bit of "business" you're doing in the bathroom. After my dad does his deed, he comes out and I'm wide awake now and he starts telling me

"in case there's no toilet paper there is a nice little hose next to the toilet (make shift bu dae [sp?]) to "clean yourself out". I give him my thanks, as I'd much rather use toilet paper. That was my pleasant morning before having breakfast.

Today was kind of a hang out day. I said my goodbyes to my relatives and my sweet grandma who taught me a few words in Khmer. I also was offered some jack fruit from my aunt before departure. It was freshly picked from the tree and tasted so delicious and sweet. Un till' I got this tickling sensation in my throat and mouth... that slowly turned into an itchy uncomfortable feeling to swelling of my lips, mouth, and throat.

I panicked but kept' quit... thinking what if my throat closes up and I can't breathe... and I die.

I thought for a second, I would have to go to the emergency room and use an epi-pen or something along those lines. I started going pale and my dad is freaking out asking me what's wrong. I finally told him. I guzzled down some water, hot green tea, and kept' spitting hoping to get the freshly cut juice out of my spit glands. The top my my throat started drying and I think the swelling finally went down. Phew. Why is it? I want to enjoy some naturally cut fruit that it almost kills me. I'm all for organic living... but it's actually dangerous to me. Haha. Last time i used organic shampoo, i broke into hives and it burned my eyes.

This is crap.

Well, early tomorrow morning, I'll be catching the bus and hitting up the city Siem Reap and visiting one of the natural wonders of the world. ANGOR WAT. I'm excited as hell.

Special Fam-i-r-y

(I let Sunny name this entry)

What happens when your parents leave to go drink with their friends and you're stuck in the hotel with your little brother chillin' for the good part of the evening.

Let's see:

1.)Throwing your left over food with good intentions (to feed stray dogs) only to have the egg fall on top of the green awning below your balcony making a loud -SPLAT- sound and shaking the awning... then hearing the people working on their cars (loud clanging) come to stop.

2.) Hurrying back to the hotel room with plate in hand like nothing happen then tell Sunny about it. Laugh for 15 minutes because it's actually pretty funny. Only to go back outside to show him the pathetic egg and then throw whatever was left on my plate which was a large sausage... that landed between two chickens. They cocked their heads and we laughed for another 10 minutes.

3.) Sunny singing and talking to himself then turning to me and saying.

"Is it wierd if i role play......"

-about to answer...(I was going to say no, because I'm pretty nerdy myself)

"in my room by myself... with my gun"

-awkward face-

4.) We're so bored and can't seem to steal the internet so we find ourselves outside on the balcony staring at a bunch of fire ants. Sunny's talking about how he wants to find a creative way of killing them. I suggest a small tsunami or a windstorm. He tells me I'm not original. Then I start talking about karma, he decides not to kill them because he doesn't feel like it. So, we just blow on them for fun. Later, one of them bit the shit out of me on my upper leg. It burned.

yup. We're special & clearly related. I'd say we can go walk around and explore but with our lack of confidence, & non-functional Khmer language (too pathetic to even be called broken) and having no idea where we are at. It's impossible and I'm sure one of us would end up dead somewhere in a ditch.

Don't Go Falling Down Waterfalls. (Literally)

Location: Phnom Kiev Waterfall (Blue Mountain)

No. I did not try to rip off TLC and no. I'm not trying to sound poetic either. I really did fall down a waterfall today and it wasn't pleasant but the waterfall was beautiful! (I'll explain later with a photo!)

After my grandma's celebration we all hopped on several motorcycles and headed 15 minutes out to the blue mountain behind the village. We stopped to grab some snacks and water, (apparently snacks on the waterfall are pricy). We drove through some farmland to the mountain side then proceeded on a windy road wrapping around the mountain. The farmlands slowly turned into a tropical rain forest. It's nothing like the zoos either, you know it's some real shit when you think you hear people chopping down wood, when in actuality it's a slew of bugs making all that noise.

After walking up steep hills so the cyclist would have some weight off the motors. We finally made it to the tip top and I could hear the sound of the water trickling down the rocks. It was the real thing, none of that cd of the nature bullshit. I can be this cheesy because this is my first time seeing an actual waterfall in nature. I'd rather it be in Asia on top of a green (or blue, not really) mountain in a rainforest. Take that Niagara Falls!

We walked down some stairs made of the tree roots and past small little huts made for people to hang out in, down into the streams where there were various sizes of waterfalls. Large ones that you would definitely die if you went down in and tiny ones that were almost like little mini-slides. My little cousin had the time of her life going down those.

When I tried to join in on the fun and wanted one really good photo of me standing in the middle of one of the water falls. The clumsy in me came bursting out, I slipped on the black mossy rock and planted a good lump on my head. Where it met the rock something fierce (not concrete, not wood, but hard ass rock). My mom freaks out thinking I have a concussion. While all this is happening Sunny is cracking up and snapping photos of my down fall. (as seen below)

My sweet cousin Lin is called over to help me find dry rock to stand on but while she is pulling me to safety, I slip into a small whirl pool and soak the rest of my already-soaked clothes. And yet again Sunny is laughing his ass off a long with everyone else. Har har. But that's okay. The rest of our family got down and dirty (and wet) soaking themselves in the pure water ( I think they were doing it so i wouldn't feel bad about getting all wet). We definitely made the rest of our time enjoyable waiting by the small pools of water.

AND I danced in the middle of a billion butterflies. True story.

(here is another excellent photo of some of the mini-waterfalls)

Have a good one!

The Park & Celebration of my Grandma

Waking up around 5-6am makes me feel productive and responsible here. (despite the time differences in USA, shut up just give me the benefit of the doubt!) Last night I went with my dad, brother, and two little cousins to check out to the nearest memorial park. It was pretty sweet to see all the kids and tweens running about playing a birdie like game (with rackets) and make shift soccer to the best of their abilities (using a small balled up cloth or whatever they can find that functions like a soccer ball).

Surronding the park is a lot of small food vendors. We had this cool concoction of fresh pure sugar cane drink, it consisted of a straw in a bag with ice and the cane juice. It tasted like super sugary pineapple. Delicious.

I tried to ask Sunny for his opinion and this was his response

"I don't have very good taste buds, I've been masking it with MSG" -Sunny

The following morning we went to go see my grandma and even had a lot more family in town to come celebrate her life. It was like her birthday. All the grandchildren were there to be with her. It was very enlightening and I was glad to be a part of it. The family had spent all morning cooking and preparing a feast for my grandma and the monks that were conducting the ceremony. I don't completely grasp the meditating and bowing but I participated out of respect ( I shall research this later.) I think what it really boiled down too was the appreciation and gratitude to my grandma as a person.

Here's a photo of the ceremony. Sunny video taped the whole thing. Lots of chanting and bowing and prayer.

Much love.

My Dad's shennanigans and the She-male nieghbor

"She is wieeeeerd... but she's cool..."

"and has an awesome personality"

-Sunny (his justification and masking on how unfamiliar and uncomfortable he is around gay/gender-specific people.)

My mom, the blunt person that she is, pointed out a beautiful lady next door (to my grandmas) and her deeper then usual voice, (I honest to god didn't even notice,) speaking to me in english "is that a man?". I shrugged my shoulders, the lady then fires back in Khmer "I'm a boy if your wondering!" and giggles. Then she proceeds to talk about her sex change, her partner (who looks like an older Yo Yo mama with a bad ass scar on his stomach from a previous stabbing) and the cute little boy she was lugging around on her shoulders, she adopted after being abandoned. I took a liking to her. She was hilarious and was cracking jokes on everyone and was a fun person.

Now that I got that explanation out of the way. My dad (might I add a very sober and conservative person.) Decides to go out drinking for the day (as said in previous post). Drinks too much... finds out he's allergic to alcohol and has a swollen leg out of nowhere. He's a man, so he deals with it. After he passes out at the hotel for a few hours we head back to my grandma's house. The first thing he notices is the woman neighbor that I mentioned earlier and what does he blurt out... "Is that women gay?" I politely tell him that she was once a man, and is now living as a women.

Well.. the lady notices our exchanges (I'm sorry I never got her name) and starts teasing and flirting with my dad.

My dad starts flirting back. (My mom's not the jealous type, don't worry.)

They are both giggling and now everyone is asking my dad to start acting like a flamboyant man. Does he get offended... no. He actually does his theatrical nonsense... then ask if he'd make a good women.

yeah my family is really cool.

Cambodia (Day 2-3) Pail in to the border of Thailand

Location: Ruby Pailin Hotel & Grandma's hut
Cambodian Time -> 6:24 PM
USA Time: -> 5:25 AM

Bus ride.

After a day of settling in the city, my mom and dad sprung a nice 7-8 hour bus trip to the deeper regions of Cambodia (totally thought it would be shorter then that). We had some breakfast and left the city by 7:30am. Sunny with the window seat snapped some awesome pictures of the monuments and temples we passed. I knew we were getting close when we were seeing less tourist around the city. 7 hours in, We made it into the city of BATTAMBANG where we switched buses and took another 1 hour trip into Pailin where my grandmother was staying.

Waddup Grandma!

When we arrived we walked into a small village down a small road to her place. Her house was a small narrow 3x12 sq. ft. hut with dirt floors and a couple hammocks. There was no way we were going to fit my family of 4 and another family of 5 (that had traveled with us) in there, of course my dad booked us a hotel a few blocks over, ($10 a night) with an excellent view of the mountain tops and the small busy market place. Might I add the sunset is absolutely stunning and has all the rustic colors of red, orange, and yellow. A good 3 mile stretch of just green mountains in view of our hotel room/balcony. It's great.

So back at my grandma's house.

My parents shooed Sunny and I into the back alley of the house residing my elderly, nearly pushing 90 grand mother. She was propped up on a wooden bed unable to walk but smiling happily and topless greeting us. She had no hair, no teeth, and quite frankly, she was kind of a little shocking to look at (am I going to hell for saying that?). It seemed like She took a liking to Sunny more than me, touching his face constantly, tugging on his arm, and demanding why he didn’t know how to speak Khmer (maybe it's a male dominance thing?). My family came trickling in laughing and giggling as they were all making fun of our pale skin, accents, and our unusually thicker bodies (Cambodian people are flippin’ tiny.) But it was all in good fun, and interesting to be around people who look similar and share the same blood as you. ( I have hardly any family in the states [blood-related anyway])

So here we are, Sunny & I sitting stiff-bodied in front of my top less grandma trying to be as polite and comfortable as possible, (I mean I’ve only met the lady once), it was pretty cool to finally see the one grand parent I had. My dad finally claimed it was his turn to visit with her and made us go back to the hotel with our uncle to get rest. We’re in bed and passed out by 7:30pm.

Day 3 (Motorcycle ride to Thailand)

We wake up by 6am and we have breakfast consisting of strong milk coffee, pork, pickles, & rice. My moms two brothers had us hop into the back of their motorcycles and we decide to go visit the Thailand and Cambodian border (only 20 minutes away!) and check out the market place there.

The ride had quite the scenery and was so beautiful and green. The air smelled so clean because of all the vegetation and the mountains were filled with nothing but trees and farmers. No damn city smog or sewage crap in sight. We even stopped at a creek with a bridge made of rusty metal and wood that was barely holding all our weight. Sunny and Dad found some cool natural glass made from a volcanic ash that was once there millions of years ago (according to Sunny & Dad).

Any who, we stopped at the border and checked out some of the shops. Nothing too crazy. I tried to walk through the meat market and couldn’t handle the cut up animals (mostly the smell) and we headed back to Pailin.

Now my dad is out drinking with a few friends and my mom is hanging out with grandma. I’m currently relaxing on the balcony taking pictures of the view and sketching some future potential collections. It’s great because this place is just filed with inspirations.

Sunny decided to video blog and we already have a ton of pics! Cannot wait to show you guys!

I'm done for the evening. Good day :).

Cambodia (Day 1) JET LAGGED? Nope.

USA ->6:57 AM

Cambodian time-> 7:57 PM

Location: Angkor International Hotel & Restaurant on the Terrace

Hello friends! I miss you immensely and I haven't even been here a full day! I specially miss Bobby and the Pig-dog (our english bulldog). I figured I'd try to stay off face book (it's hard) as much as I can so I can stay nice and involved here! If you get bored reading, I apologize but I will be breaking this down in segments in case you do. and I really felt the need to record my month of living here!

Plane Ride.

The plane ride here was smooth for the most part however just as uncomfortable as ever in the expected fancy economy class. The downside is, I'm a much larger adult as oppose to my smaller years when these seats seem big enough for me to curl up in a ball and sleep. The upside: I was surprise to have my own television and pretty up to date movies (such as Black Swan, The Social Network, & Burlesque,) it did help the time pass.

The food was pretty intense but I stomached it. Why would anyone torture someone by serving fish on a plane? Why…

Family.

It's nice to finally spends time with family and even my mom's constant nagging and poking at me is comforting. My brother is much older and we don't really get to see each other much since he's practically a hermit. I'm glad to know he's grown up to be a witty and goofy person that he is & lastly I reunited with my dad at the airport (he had came here a week earlier to scope out some potential real estate buying,) it was nice to see him all dressed and fancied up, he's been like that since we've been here. At home he dresses more like a dude instead of a businessman.

We have also seen a lot of my other relatives here Samath, Scilla, and Sidney's uncle came to visit us and showed us around the city and gave Sunny and SIM card to contact the USA (no luck.. only local calls). We also have seen my mom's side of the family and my cousins are absolutely beautiful and I thought one of them was my age and it turns out she's only 15 and all I could think was: Why wasn’t I this good looking at her age? I’m sure I would’ve had boys all over me. Made me feel like a child. Oh well.

Hotel

We arrived at the hotel at about 2:30 AM, (USA 11ish AM) Sunny and I are exhausted. My dad had booked us our own room so we had our own space(10 bucks a night for two queen size beds, not bad eh?) We both immediately whip out the laptops (I'm lame) and huddle in the corner of the room and take the very little Internet we have. We get our electronic fill for the night (20 min. tops) I played my DS till' I went into a deep sleep and dreamed that Piggy was with me and they were trying to kick us out of our hotel room because she was snoring to loud.

My Actual Day

We both wake up to our mom and dad knocking loudly on the door. They visit with us for a little bit then take off to grab breakfast. Sunny gets up first and looks out the window to see the amazing view from our window.

Sunny: "This is awesome look at the city"

"Oh look a white person!"

"Oh there's another!"

"Haha, minority!"

Crazy huh? It's wierd to be around your roots and your origins but it's almost like I adapted here very quickly. I love the hot muggy 85 degree weather it feels super nice on my unusually dry skin.

Food & Exploring

The breakfast my parents brought: lightly fried and sprinkled sugar donuts, plain bread, and a rice & pork combination. It was absolutely delicious and was only $2 to feed the both of us. While my mom went to entertain her relatives my dad took my brother and I to check out the old historic and rustic yellow king castle that over looks the river (the old king resided there). It was incredible to see all the international flags line up alongside the newly built stone side walks. All the lights and boats were pretty neat floating alongside the river down a large embankment that stretched a good 2 miles.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a small sit down area off the side of the road and had some coffee and pickled tea. We walked back to the hotel and took a nap and then woke up around 6pm and enjoyed another small dinner with fried spicy chicken, fried pork rice, & egg.

Now the fried chicken isn’t like American chicken with the flour around it. It came out in small cutlets with spices on them (no flour) on a bed of rice. Lots of bone picking but flavorful!

Etc.

I'm a scatterbrain so I apologize for all my short and choppy stories. But that’s how I work.

I feel happy to even be sitting out here in this tropical weather with nothing but palm trees and fun weird plants surrounding me. The sound of french people behind me having a conversation, motorcycles, and khmer music, yelling, clanging… it’s all so awesome.

Did I also mention I did most of the above all before 11 AM, which means I woke up and ate at 6 AM. This time change is screwy but- I like it.

One more thing-the traffic out here is insane. My dad told me the locals replace horns and breaks almost every 3 months and it's pretty common. There are hardly any cross walks, no traffic lights, it's almost like go as you please-or if you dare kind of additude. Pedestrians treat this traffic as if they were Frogger in a game. Ha.

It's 7:38pm currently and I'm ready to pass the F' out. Tommorow we will be seeing my grandma in the country side (Pailin) and then visiting ANGORWAT. Hells yeah.

Love you all

Signing off

-Linda