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.