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.