Last day of July. Weird? Where did summer go?

I just looked at my calendar, July 31st. It is the last day of July... WHAT!!! I could not begin to describe how fast this month had gone by. It began with the fun 4th of July party at the US embassy and ended with our final goodbyes, in person, with Vinita, Mahdev, Jeff and Sangeetha, well at least for now. I don't know when I will see them again, but I have a good feeling that hopefully our paths can cross somewhere in our lives. But, honestly, this time in Cambodia has gone by so fast and I am sure everyones adventures during these two months of summer are fill with stories that I can't wait to exchange and hear about.
well, I woke up a couple hours ago and I am sitting on my bed trying to decide what my next plan of action is. I decided that this weekend will just be a free weekend, since a lot of people that I have met here in Cambodia are leaving within the next couple days, its time to spend time with them before they leave. So work will be just postponed until Monday, at least I have a week and 2 days to really focus on what I need to wrap up before I get on my flight at 11:55pm on August 10th and make my journey back to where it began. It is crazy to think that I will be back in the Twin Cities and somewhat resume life again. After this crazy adventure here in the motherland of where my Cambodian culture came from, it will be quite an adjustment to throw myself back into everyday life once again.
Well, I will not think about that quite yet and will digress later as the days come to a final countdown.
What to do with the last 10 days in Cambodia? This is crazy.

So little time and a plethora of just so many things.

I love that as my time in Cambodia is coming to nears days that I can soon count on my finger. There is so much to do before I have to go back. These includes sights I want to see, things I want to eat, things I want to buy, family I need to see and naturally of course, the end of the internship stuff I must get done within these limited numbers of day.
Well, let's start with what I wanted to do today. I wanted to devote this day to my working on my AJA stuff, but it ended with our farewell to Sangeeters (yesterday) and Mah(ha)dev and Vintia (this morning), super sad and just a weird feeling that it might be awhile before I will see them again. Super sad.
Well, I went to get my photos developed and picked up right after V and M left to airport with JP and Rot. Rot and I decided we needed to take a nap, it was around 10 am and both Rot and I did not get any sleep last night. Well, it kind of failed and I ended up watching, It's Complicated. Well, JP got back and we went to.... PHO FORTUNE. Yup, pretty the best pho, as of now, in Phnom Penh. Super good. I was super happy. Well, we decided to go back to Psaa orussei to JP could get some fabric, but we first headed back to the guest house. Rot and I were so tired by this point because our first nap was a failure, as well as this 20 minute nap and confusion that happened before we went to the market.
Well, nap #2 basically failed and we went to the market. Which was pretty fun, but because of the lack of sleep for me, I was like a zombie and I squinted my eyes as I look at everything. I guess it made me look like I was a true material hunter, making sure the quality was at its best. Har Har Har. Well, we founded some awesome fabric at some fantastic prices and we headed back to the guest house.
Well, nap #3 was our success. Rot and I got back to our room and we literally conked out for like a good 2-3 hours. It was so nice, but I had to get up. It was 6pm and I was meeting with my Aunt Mao because she as in Phnom Penn from Sihanoukville. Well, we went out and got dinner. Had a fun time, we took a tuk tuk and went around the Independent monument. We ended up at the guest house and I invited her to stay with me at the guest house and it would only be for one night. I think she wanted to spend time with me and honestly, when would be the next time I would come to Cambodia. So, I took the opportunity. Well, I forgot to mention that during dinner and the tuk tuk, she wanted me to call all my uncles and aunts and tell them that I was leaving on the 10th. It was fun.
Well, she is sleeping right now. I think. But, it was fun. I know that our conversation is limited, but I hope that she likes me. I guess things in Cambodia just happen and you have to go with the flow and just continue. I guess my work will just have to wait until the time frees up and I can continue and finish it. I am coming home soon everyone. Sooner than you think. =)

July 26th. Duch's verdict. What exactly is justice? Can we ever achieved it?

Yesterday was a historical day in Cambodia. For the first time, the verdict of Case 001 of the Khmer Rouge Tribunals was announced and this would be the first time in Cambodian history that any type of punishment or sentence for the crimes that the whole country had suffered under during 1975-1979. The Khmer Rouge era. It was yesterday from 10am to around 12pm that the judge read what the sentence for Kaing Guek Ev, otherwise known as Duch, the person who ran S-21, Tuol Sleng. Over 16,000 people were killed and torture at this torture center that was once a high school. Only a handful have survived, such as Chum Mey who I met earlier in June.
But, as we found out later, the max that anyone could get imprison was 40 years which was what people wanted. But, it was knocked down to 35 years. Through all the confusion and how unclear the judgment was throughout this whole process, another 5 years was knocked off for good behavior and cooperating with the court. Also because he had served 11 years already, his sentence was basically only 19 years or so, so in 2029, he will be able to be released if he serves his entire sentence. There is a possibility of parole given to those on good behavior. Even though he was found guilty for his crime, this sentence was not found to be just for many Cambodians, including myself. I forgot to mention that the only reparations that was given was an online memorial site, to name and list the people who have died. This, I believe does not make any sense at all. Who will be able to access this online? There is only a small fraction of Cambodians who even own a computer, let alone have access to internet. How about those in the country side? I also found out that one of the civil parties' family members name was spelled wrong, he even said, "What is the point of even having this when names aren't even spelled right and a majority of Cambodians don't have access to this." This was the "creative" way for reparations. It was a shocked to Cambodians about what happened and what the sentence for Duch was. There was a lot of very hard feelings and tears, especially for all of the civil parties who were involved. A lot of them, like Chum Mey felt like justice was not achieved yesterday at all. I also forgot to mentioned that almost 20 civil parties were rejected yesterday during the verdict, which did not make sense at all. To be one of the civil parties who pour out their story, their trauma and struggle and not to get recognized must have been just terrible, especially working so hard for almost nothing.
Yesterday was a hard day for everyone, it was hard for me to accept that this was justice. I kept running through my head of the millions who had suffered through the Khmer Rouge and as much as this is a huge step for Cambodia, with the Khmer Rouge Tribunals and everything that happened yesterday, it just felt like it wasn't enough at all, it just wasn't. If you calculated the amount of time he will be in prison for each person who died in the prisons, it would amount to 11 hours for each person. I don't know, it just makes me feel angry and sad. It really made me questioned about how do we find justice in Cambodia where everyone was a victim, everyone had family and friends who they have lost. Everyone was following orders, how do you find justice in a country like Cambodia or any other countries who have gone through genocidal epidemic. I don't know the answers to the questions that I have brought up because honestly, justice, itself as a word is just so complicated, and to each individual it has a different meaning and bringing this word to the court of law, it might or most likely will differ between the my justice and legal justice. With these courts in Cambodia, I don't know if it will truly achieve the justice, the reconciliation, the healing that Cambodians everywhere deserved. I don't know how long it will take for the healing to be complete. I look back at the 30 years that have past since these atrocious events took place and even today, you can still see the suffering, through the ones who went through it and a form of secondary trauma to the future generations who may not even understand or believe that these events took place in Cambodian history. Was the Duch verdict enough to help Cambodians move on? Or did it just relinquish even more hurt and even more suffering? I have been asking myself that every minute. How do we move on and how do we ever achieve this justice?

Internet and Cafes

With the last couple weeks remaining in Cambodia, we have experience a surge of internet troubles this week after the crazy storm on Tuesday, the day that I feel ill, and it pretty much affected the internet connection at various places, one of them being the guest house I am at at. Since that night, wifi router, I believe, burnt out and it has been such eventful week of the internet guy coming several times a day to get it working for 20 minutes. So, it has been a little difficult getting work done, since emailing is heavily relied and transferring documents.
So I have been going to cafe a lot more than I usually do this week. It has been a joy because half the cafes I go to, there is an issue with the internet, so it has been super frustrating trying to find an internet connection somewhere. But, at last I have landed at Cafe Fresco, where I have had delicious soup and a wonderful blueberry muffin. The downside of it is the money you have to spend. At this joints, the prices are pretty equivalent to getting a cup of coffee or a sandwich any where else. So I prefer not to come to this, if it is available at my place. But, it is a nice change of scenery from the room and the florescent lights that loom over my bed and desk.
I am doing A LOT better since Tuesday. I feel like my old self. It is funny, that when you are sick, you feel like the world is collapsing and that you are dying. Now, I feel like I could go bungee jumping. =) My supervisors come back into town tonight, so it will be exciting and also a little weird to see them, since it has been a whole month of being on on our own in Cambodia. But, this marks about a week left of my internship, which is crazy! I can't believe how fast this has gone and I know that even though the next week will be filled with a ton of work, it will go by so fast, that I will be running right behind it.
On Monday, it will be a big day for Cambodia, when the verdict of Case 001, the Duch case will be announce. This will be big because we do not know what verdict will be and if the sentencing is not what people of Cambodia are satisfy with, I am not not sure how the country will react and how people will react about the courts. Monday will be a historic day in Cambodia as the first judgment is called on Case 001. I have also started to think about what exactly is justice? How can we find justice? I have been thinking about this word ever since I have gotten here in Cambodia and it still puzzles me because I do not know how you can find or even try to help find justice for all Cambodians, here and abroad.

Don't know what I ate, but it sure didn't make me feel good.

It all started two days. It was a normal Tuesday. I woke up, took a shower, got dressed and headed off to Java Cafe to get some hardcore work done, which was aka my paper. Well, I was there for several hours and as soon as it hit around 3pm or 4pm, I started to feel a slight weakness in my body and an onset headache. I decided to leave Java and luckily I sent and turned in my paper. I left Java and decided to take a moto back home. I don't think I could have made it home by walking. But, as I was looking for a moto and telling the moto driver where I wanted to go, another moto driver yelled out, "That is going to be a $1.00 to get home." I, in the state that I was = not the greatest, kind of snap back and said, "No, it should be only 2,000 riel, it is only a minute away, that is TOO EXPENSIVE." That moto driver was like, "Oh, I was joking, only kidding." I felt bad and I apologize for the way I reacted and said I wasn't feeling so good that was why I was so irritable. Well, I got home and I rushed up to my room. I ripped off my clothes and put on my shorts and a shirt and climbed into bed. It was about 5pm and I slept until 8pm. During my sleep, I felt really cold and my head started to spin in circles. I honestly could not describe how I felt, but I felt the world was upside down. I felt like there was a boulder on top of me and there was no way to push it off. I just kept under the covers and drifted on and off, on and off. Around 8pm, I sent a text to Rothany and asked her if she could make some rice soup with boiled egg for me. Later, she was able to do that and brought it down. I could only eat a couple spoon fulls before I was full and I went back to sleep. But, during that wait for food, I watched, I love New York, but it was dubbed in Khmer. It was super interesting to listen to it in Khmer. That night, I had such weird dreams that I cannot recount. I also felt like my logical way of thinking was turned upside down. I can't describe to you how, but it was like my normal way of thinking was finding the means to get to the end, but that night it was like I was focusing on the end than the means. I don't know if that made any sense, but it was just whacky. I tossed and turned all night and I was sweaty and I felt hot. Luckily, morning came and I got up at 7am. I did not feel great at all. Let's say between the hours of 7am and 11am, I went to the bathroom EIGHT times. I did not know you could go that many times, but I proved myself wrong. I ended up watching Cartoon Network, which consisted of ghetto Pink Panther and Tom and Jerry all morning. I just laid there in bed and I could not move. I felt that weak. I ended up that whole day laying in bed and watching television. I watched so many things on TV. Too many things, I ended up watching a lot of old school movies about cyclops and Sinbad, a movie about Minnesota and Marley and Me. I kept trying to drink a lot a water, but it was hard to keep it down. At around 4pm, I fell asleep and I guess I fell asleep during a crazy thunderstorm that shatter a window on the top floor. Even this morning, the lady of the guest house was telling me about how crazy it was last night. But, I fell asleep through that and I woke up at around 10pm and fell asleep around 11pm. When I woke up around 9am. I felt great. It was such a relief this morning to feel full of energy and full of strength. So, today I am going to make most of the day and be productive to make up the loss of yesterday.
I don't know what exactly I ate to make me feel so sick. I have been trying to look at my past meals I have had, but it doesn't seem like any of that could have caused this upset because no else got sick. I am just glad that it is over and it was nothing too serious. I kind of jinx myself earlier this month when I said, Oh, I am not going to get sick and the other person was like, everyone always get sick at the end of their stay. I am naturally bad luck. Just naturally.

Really really late nights.

Ever since I have gotten back from Sihanoukville, it has been work work work, where I have not been able to catch up on updates and emails since an hour ago. I have been up past 3am for the majority of this week and last week. I have been working into the hours of the night. So, I have been a little sleep deprived and it has been very stressful on everyone as well.
The last couple days of Sihanoukville were wonderful, I spent a lot of time with my family and it was great to just hang out, play cards and talk about past memories and events. Well, on the last day there, I felt really sad to leave my Grandmother and my family. It was a sad farewell and I hope that I can come out to Cambodia, once again, but with my family and be able to visit all the family we have throughout the country.
Well, we got on the bus and I got a surprise call from my other Aunt who was in Phnom Penh because her child was sick. When I got off the bus, I waited for at the station. A woman came and grabbed my arm and I looked up. I could tell she was my Aunt because she look like E Baet and Mom, but her face was different than any of the aunts I had seen. She took me to meet her 2 kids with her and we went to get Pho. Super good and it was super cute. It was weird to have people call me bong Sokun. Super weird. But, afterwards, we hop on a tuk tuk and she took me back to my guest house where I showed her pictures on my computer. It was super cute.
I think I am off to bed, it's pretty early. 2:31pm? Earliest this week!

More food, more family and let's compare me to Day.

I finally am in Sihanoukville and I feel super happy and full of spirit. Well, I will start off with the beginning of the day and then get into the parts you want to hear about. I got to bed at around 3am this morning, woke up at 6am. I felt like crap. I was so groggy and I felt terrible. The thing that saved me was the bus ride. I was able to sleep for a good 3 -4 hours, passed out, but there was a number of times where my head would tilt into the aisle and I would surprise myself and then fall asleep again. Rothany and I got some pretty awesome seats, right at the front with the most possible leg room, so I could stretch out my legs and sleep. After about 5 hours or so, we reached Sihanoukville, but the downside was that it was pouring like horses and pigs. It was pretty bad. I have a feeling that the whole weekend will be like this, but that is the rainy seasons. No beaches? I guess it might be a sign that we should work and not play this weekend. Well, we arrived and took a tuk tuk to our guest house. It is called Sea Side Villa, I have a feeling that I got the name wrong again, I called it Sea Village Side before. I never realized how hilly this part of the region is, it is literally all hills, we kept going up and down and the pouring rain did not help. Not one bit. Our guest house was next to Serendipity Beach and the road to it was non existent. It was a dirt road and combine with rain, a muddy one. We got 3/4 down the road to our hotel, but the tuk tuk driver could not make it any farther, so I had to grabbed all my goods for my Grandma and bring it to the guest house. Luckily, it was not too far, but the rain was not fun. Well, after we got settle in our new home for the next couple nights. I decided to call my Uncle Songli. Ahh, I was super nervous, butterflies were literally in my stomach, not only in my stomach, they were lost or a tornado had hit them and they didn't know what to do, but I dialed his number and .... no pick up. I was feeling, oh no, maybe they do not what to see me. I decided to wait a little bit and thought about calls don't always go through here. I called again.... it rang for a long time and I was getting nervous again and then it happened...." Sokun, Hello??". I was super excited and I told him that I had just arrived and he asked if I wanted to come see family and I said, yes! He came about a half hour later and picked me up around two. I was nervous beforehand. I waited downstairs with Ne and I told her about how nervous I was and that I could not help. I just thought about, what am I going to talk about? Is this going to be awkward? What if they don't like me? Oh, that 30 minutes was the longest 30 minutes of my life.
A black lexus SUV pulled down the street, I look outside and because it was so far, I didn't assume anything. I got a called from my uncle and he says that he is near my guest house, but he is not sure which one. I go out and wave my hands in the air, yes, it was that black lexus SUV. Oh, it was so great to see my Uncle Songli in real life. I have seen so many pictures, but he has a similar face to my mom. He was so nice and he really wanted me to see all the family here. First, he took me to my Aunt Li who owned a resturaunt across from a gas station. We got there and I went in and said hello. It was such a weird feeling to be meeting family that you have heard of, but never seen. I spent about ten minutes there and it was fun to see all her kids and her adorable grandson, who was super attached to me. He started crying when I left. So cute.
Now, it was time to go to my Uncle Songli's place where my grandma was staying. As we pulled up into his house. My uncle pointed out and said, " There is Grandma." I looked, but I couldn't see. He pulled into the garage and I got out. I walked to get the food in the back seat and then into the house. I then saw a cute, old woman and I recognize her from the many pictures. I saw how much she resembled my mom. Oh, it was chills seeing her. She came up and said how happy she was too finally meet her. She told me, as well as my cousin and my uncle how I did not look like anything in the picture and I got skinnier. They also commented on how dark I was because to my surprise I was darker than all of them. Crazy. Renee must be black then.
I got to meet my whole uncle's family which consisted of three kids, two young brothers, a sister and also Jin Long, but he was in Phnom Penh finishing up his semester.
I sat there next to my grandmother and we started talking about how my trip was and where I have been. My Uncle also made me stir fried noodles and he was giving me drinks up the gazoo. I spent almost 7 hours at my Uncle's. It was super cute to talk to my grandma about my mom. She also knew my Dad's side really well. She talked about my Grandparents on my Dad's side and about how my Tha (Grandfather on my dad's) was from Kampuchea Krom and how he had an accent. Oh, and before I forget, they made so many comparisons to me and my brother. I am a lot darker than he is, I speak Khmer better than and the rest of my siblings, I am smaller than him, the list kept going on, but they were all positives on my end.
My Grandma and I ended watching Chinese soap operas and then they turned into watching Khmer music videos of Britney Spears, Black Eye Peas and Pitbull, super bad, but it was fun. My cousin seemed like they liked me a lot, they surrounded me and even one of them wanted to take a picture of me on their phone. Super cute.
Oh, and more food, they ended up making dinner and feeding me beer and water. Then apples and longan. So much food. Way too much food.
It was a wonderful start to this weekend and it was super cute when my Grandmother asked me to stay and sleep with her at my Uncle's. I might tomorrow actually. This is the only opportunity to see my Grandma and spend all the time to make up the lost of spending time with Grandparents when I was younger. I am going to hang out with my family again tomorrow and I am super excited.
Oh yeah, I also met my Uncle Jumran, who came later and he took me back to the guest house on his moto, but beforehand we stopped by his house so I could meet his family. They were super nice and the kids were so cute. My Uncle Jumran is really cool, he gave me the advice to go out at night, but only with him. So I could be safe, unlike my Uncle Songli who told me not to go out at night and only day time. Super funny. After I had arrived back from the visiting them, he gave me a call to let me know if I need anything to just call him and he will be there to help in a jiffy.
Ahh, I had to write down what happened today because it felt amazing and I am so blessed to have family here. But, it is reality time and I have to get back to work. Yes, I am working on my mini vacation, but I will let you know how the rest of this weekend goes. Oh, btw, facebook pictures of my family from today will be up.

Sihanoukville, the long awaited day.

Tomorrow, I will be getting on a bus avec mon amis, Rothany, to head to Sihanoukville, the beautiful seaside city which happens to be where my Uncle Songli lives. Luck had to play in part because my Grandma, who is usually living in Takeo province, is in Sihanoukville with my uncle. So, it is super convenient, especially, now that I realize that my time in Cambodia is going by faster than I thought it would be. But, I can't believe that after a month and half, I will finally get to see a lot of family, two uncles, two aunts and my Grandmother. Man, it's like hitting the family jackpot. I am very excited to go, but I have to bring my work along. This week has been very stressful with the amount of work that I have to get done in the next two weeks. I have been working non-stop to the point that the past couple nights I have been up til 5am in the morning working on work. I know that this weekend should be relaxing, but I have to utilize every minute that I can so I can get it finished and done well. I didn't realized that July is half way done? Why didn't anyone tell me?
But, I am truly excited to see family tomorrow. I called my Uncle to let him know I would be arriving in Sihanoukville by 1pm and he told me to call him then. AHHH!! I am nervous. Will my Khmer be okay? Will I be able to communicate? I hope that they do not make fun of me!!!What will they think of me? I wonder how many of them will call me Day? So many questions and less than 8 hours til departure! I have over 30 kilos of food to deliver. I wonder if she will be surprise that I did this? Oh yeah, after writing that down, I also have to deliver eye drops.
Back to this week, it has been a pretty busy week with endless hours at cafes and endless nights of just staring at my computer to the point that my brain is like an egg that has been fried over and over and over done and then burnt to a crisp. My brain right now is pretty fried. There is a TON to get done until the end of July and the Judgement day of CASE 001 is on July 26th. So soon and it will be here before I know it.
Tonight, after 7 hours at the Cafe, Rothany and I, along with JP and Sam, we went to get massages to relax finally. Also, I don't know if I didn't mentioned this, but two days ago, we went to the Gym and did Kick Boxing and Yoga. Yup, my body is so sored. So badly. Just my upper body and kick boxing might not be the thing for me. But, we got Traditional Khmer Massages. Boy, was that a treat?! So, Rothany, JP and I decided to try the Khmer Massages because we were told to try it once. Oh boy was it fun! We got in the room and there were three beds on the floor, one right next to the other one. We also had to put on these super loose linen pants and shirt. I have never had a massage with so much clothes on, but I guess this makes it Khmer. So, we out on the clothes and we are all laughing because we have no idea what we are doing. The massage people come in and they start on massage with us laying on our backs. Wow, Khmer massages are all about twisted your bodies and moving them in fun positions. It reminded me of Thai massage, but not as deep and not as painful. Well, the massage went on for 60 minutes and there was a point where I fell asleep and I got confused. The ladies were laughing and JP told me that she saw my massage lady slap her massage lady and then money was handed over. I think they made bets on who was going to sleep first or who was the most tense. I would say me. My body was so tense.
But, it has been a great day except for how fried my brain is, but I gotta keep on trucking and tomorrow, finally, my Grandma!

The sun is always in my eyes, it crashes through the window.

I have less than a month in Cambodia. I cannot believe how fast this trip has gone. For most people who come to Cambodia, I have heard multiple times about how the days seem like years, but as you look behind you, the time will have blown so fast that you had no idea it was coming. That is exactly how I feel right now. It's been a crazy summer full of things that I never expected to happen and don't worry it is still continuing. I sitll got less than a month for many more things to happen.
This weekend I am going to Sihanoukville or in Khmer, Kapong Salm with Rothany. We both have family there, so it is a good idea that it is just us, alone, going this weekend. I am very excited to meet my Grandma, finally, it took this long to just meet with her. She is Sihanoukville and not in Takeo province because she is not feeling well. She is staying at my Uncle Songli. I am very excited to meet her and also deliver all that food I have bought in Siem Reap for her. Hopefully, I can redeem myself with all of these goods for taking SO LONG to see her.
I just got up and I made some breakfast for Rothany, since I owe her like a gagillion meals. I am excited to get lunch hopefully with some friends today before they leave Phnom Penh tomorrow. I am hoping to make this a good work day, but later tonight, all of us, Rot, Jess, Justin and me are going to THE PLACE, the gym we have been working out at it and doing the kick boxing class and yoga class at 6pm tonight, to release some stress. I never thought I would be doing so many activities to relieve stress, but it is super helpful. A note on my progress of working out, I ran a collective total of 20 miles last week. Yesterday, I almost ran 6 miles. It is going well. Oh, I don't why I keep losing weight here either. I am pretty sure my weight right now is the same weight I was in 9th grade.
Yes, but those are the latest updates in life. Today, I am going out to the streets to look for some really good street food for dinner. I think! Oh, if you want to listen to really good song, Motorcycle Drive By by Third Eye Blind. Super good.

Angkor Wat adventures

It is currently 3:22 a.m. Monday morning. We arrived back in Phnom Penh at 1:20 am, so a couple hours ago from Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. Am I tired? A little, but I will justify my actions at this hour with two things, sleeping on the bus and the world cup. This mini vacation going to Siem Reap was very fun and enjoyable. Not only relaxing, but it was so nice to finally get the opportunity to see Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is something that I have known ever since I was a little kid. In most Khmer-American homes, you can most likely find a painted picture/mural of the main Angkor Wat temple hanging somewhere visible. Angkor Wat symbolism of pride and joy for the Khmer community all over the world. Having this opportunity to be able to see this was an eye shocker, but I will get to that in a little bit. Let's start off with the beginning.
We left on Friday morning out of Phnom Penh via bus. The bus ride was not bad at all. It took about 5-6 hours to get to Siem Reap. But unfortunately, it was hard to sleep on this bus ride because we were booked the first row of seats and somehow I ended up behind the driver. So leg room was pretty much non-existent. Also, my chair was broken as it did not go back, but I had my music so I listened to that as I looked out the window. We made two rest stops, which I was pleasantly surprised. The first stop, I was able to have a bowl of pho for breakfast/lunch, as well as some steam buns. Super yummy. Our second stop, I wasn't too hungry because I got too distracted by all of the cute dogs. This should explained my random upload of a cute brown dog on facebook. It was too precious. But, afterwards back on the road again and we finally reached Siem Reap. We were dropped at the bus station, but as well rolled into it, it was a fun to see someone holding a sign with all four of our names on it. We got off and loaded the Tuk Tuks and headed off to our guest house. We ended up staying at the Tanei Guest House, which was a pretty decent place with a pool and internet, but again, the one time I decide not to bring my computer, there is internet, oh well. But, it was pretty nice. By the time we got here it was around 2 pm. We were all pretty exhausted and we deemed the day as relaxation time or at least I did. Rothany and I took advantaged of the pool right away. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was shining and there was a slight cool breeze and the humidity was low. We ended up at the pool for a couple hours swimming and laying out in the sun. Afterwards, we decided to check out the Psaa Chas aka the Old Market. It was surprising to see how touristy Siem Reap was compared to Phnom Penh, the market was definitely geared towards tourists. We ended up walking from shop to shop, confusing everybody as usual with our foreigner looks, but the ability to speak Khmer. We ended up getting a couple t-shirts and ended up back at the guest house for dinner. During dinner we met Saroun, a Khmer guy with awesome English, who works in Siem Reap. We talked about a variety of topics and it was super fun to talked to him in Khmer/English. Naturally, after the conversation, I hoped that my language skills are getting better. Well, we were going to go out that night. We had heard of a bar called, get ready.... "Angkor What?". Funny, huh? But, we all ended up passing out because we had to get up at 6 am, bright and early as usual for our trip out to Angkor Wat.
Early wake up call did not look so pretty, but we were all able to get up and get out on the road. The closer we got to Angkor Wat area, the more excited I got. We made it to the entrance where everyone had to buy tickets to get into the area where Angkor Wat and the other temples. The tickets cost $20 for a whole day, but luckily Rothany and I were both Khmer children and we had permanent visas to Cambodia, so it was free for us. =) We got back on our Tuk tuk and made it to the sight that was so familiar. As we got closer and closer, I saw the right side of the main Angkor Wat temple and the moat that surrounded the temple. I do not understand how this was made, there must have been a ton of hard labor and precision to make this temple the way it looks. As we made it to the front of the temple, I was just awed and I looked straight on to see how massive this place was. The temple had two or three gates, which made the walked from the first gate so far to see the image that we all see of Angkor Wat. I can't described how cool it was to see this in real life. It was fun to match up the picture of Angkor Wat that hung in my living room with the real thing. I never expected to see so many apsaras and drawings depicting battles with elephants and massive armies to be carved throughout the temple. We were able to get to the center and climbed up this super steep stairs and see the wonderful view. I was able to pray at top. I also got my fortune told, but it was not so good. I got three bad fortunes until the good one. So I do not know if that is a good sign and I am pretty the fortune teller told me that he was sorry about my bad fortune. =( But, after that visit we left the main Angkor Wat temple and got into our Tuk tuk and went to the nexy. I did not realized how big the Angkor area was. There were so many temples that filled this area and it was in the middle of a jungle. We were able to visit a couple of temples. We went to Bayon temple, which is the picture above with the faces. This was a very cool temple because my dad had shaved a wood carving of the four faces of Bayon. Once again, super cool to match the wood sculpture with the real thing. We were also able to see the Tomb Raider scene and this place was absolutely beautiful with the fig trees that had consumed all of the temple. Thanks Angelina Jolie for the fun Khmer you spoke in the movie and a feeling that I felt famous when I walked into this temple. We were also able to play with monkeys, but don't worry none of us got bitten. They were super cute, but some were aggressive for the bananas that we bought for them. Oh yeah, one of them jumped on Justin's back and that was a quite hilarious. We ended up being at Angkor Wat temples for about 6-7 hours. It felt like we were there for 24 hours with the extreme heat and the intense climbing.
We finally made it back to the guest house and once again, we went right to the pool to swim, lay out and took some siestas. Rothany, Jessica and I went out to the market again and got dinner at an awesome place with really good shakes. I also ended up buying over 3 kilos of fish and 3 kilos of sausages for my grandma, a request from my mom. Later that night, Rothany and I decided to go out to the bars and we ended up having an awesome time. I did not know the night life here was so vibrant and lively.
The next morning, which I guess was today, I woke up and my mom wanted me to grabbed more dried fish and also prahoc, the fermented fish paste for my grandma. Let's just say that when I left Siem Reap, I had over 20 kilos made up of dried fish, prahoc and sausages to take to my grandmother. I hope she is excited when I get to her this weekend. =) But, afterwards, we ended up just spending the entire day at the guest house because we were exhausted from yesterday's adventures to the temple. We had a ticket return on a bus to Phnom Penh at 7pm ish, so once again we ended up at the pool and doing some work as well. I got dark in the past three days. Kind of scary. =P Well, the trip was awesome until we got on the bus to go back to Phnom Penh. We found out after being on the bus for awhile that we were on the wrong bus to Phnom Penh. Oh boy, we were all confused. We had checked with the guest house and they confirmed that there would be someone to pick us up and take us to the bus. But, I guess they got it wrong and took us to the wrong bus company. But, on the bright side we were all together. On the bad side, we ended up paying for another round of tickets so we could get back to Phnom Penh. AHHHH!!! But, it is okay, we are back safe and sound and hopefully we can get some type of refund back for the other tickets. This pretty much explains why I am still up right now and I just found out that Spain won after a really long and boring match. Facebook pictures will hopefully be posted up tomorrow when I find a cafe with super fast internet.

Look at these kitties.

Earlier this evening, Rothany and I were walking to Java Cafe. As we were walking, right outside the gate of Wat Lankgar, we noticed three kitties. They were so cute because if you looked at them, they were all taking siestas in their little niches. So cute. I had to take a picture with my iPhone. Which was nice because the new update of iPhone allowed me to zoom, finally. But, oh so cute. People around were us, were amused because we were taking pictures of cats. I could hear people speaking in Khmer saying that it was just cats. It was grand.
Today was a early start for me. I woke up at 7am and got motivated to run at the gym. Oh, btw, running again has finally started coming back to me. This week, I have ran for a total of 15 miles. Ah, finally, it feels good to get in shape again. But, it has been crazy, Rothany and I weighed ourselves a couple days ago and we have lost so much weight. Even though, I feel like I have been eating very bad and not so healthy. But, it was a good workout and it felt great.
Afterwards, it was crazy work work work. I got a lot done today, but I know when I get back from Angkor Wat, there is so much to get done. But, Angkor Wat, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Finally, this is what I have been waiting for. All week, the hard work was well paid off this week to finished.
I am hoping that there is internet at the hotel we will be at. I hope that they do. Then I can give updates about the fun that goes on.
I can't believe that I am going to Angkor Wat. This is considered to be the height of Cambodian history. Ah, I have been dreaming of going here since I was little. so crazy. It is actually going to happened. But, I think we will go on Saturday and have tomorrow to explored Siem Reap, the city, or actually I don't know. We will see what happens. This will be actually our first vacation or mini vacation. Super excited. I still haven't packed, but I am planning on packing super light. I am only planning on bring my backpack and I haven't decided if I should bring my lap top, but it might be worth it. Oh, this time, my camera will not died, I charged extra batteries. So, no worries, there will be lots of candid pictures of all the cool sites, as well as me in fun awkward, touristy positions.

Frustrations turns into Relaxation

When in another country, like I am in Cambodia. There can be tons of frustrating moments when things don't seem to work or go your way. Let's just throw out the ATM not accepting one's transaction. Yes, the bank that is across so many time zones and my access to my funds so far from my hand. It did happened to lucky me. Our bill for the guest house was due and it was time for me to make my first trip to the ATM so I could pay this off. Well, after maybe 7 times of my transaction getting canceled. I, naturally, was a little somewhat panic and thoughts of how I am going to survive the next month without access to the bank. That is my irrational side taking over and conquering over my calm, rational side. I, even tried a different ATM from another bank. Of course, I got the same results. Well, at least I knew that I had to call my bank, Wells Fargo, to figure out what was going on.
Call number consisted of being on hold for almost 10 minutes and as soon as it started ringing, the call went "beep beep" and hung up.
Call number 2 and 3 did exactly the same thing.
Luckily, there was another number to call. So, call number 4 went for about 8 to 9 minutes on hold and then it started to ring and all of sudden it went dead and disconnected!
So let's go to call number 5, after several minutes, it started ringing and yes, finally, a banker to help me with my issues at hand. But, unfortunately, I had to run downstairs to grab my Wells Fargo credit card and by the time I got back up stairs, they put me on hold again and disconnected my call.
At this point I was so frustrated and I wanted to just give up. But, I made one more call, number 6 and after several minutes, success.
I found out that they put a hold on my account because I made purchases in Cambodia and that made it suspicious, so they put a hold to make sure if it was fraud or someone had a hold of my bank information, nothing could happen. But, why would they put a hold if I told them back in May that I was going to be gone for the summer in Cambodia? The banker on the phone was confused as well and said that there was never a note that was made. I was not so happy and by the end of the phone call, the hold was lifted, I was offered to join some rewards program for an annual fee and he told me to have a nice trip in Zimbabwe. That was definitely the best phone conversation ever. Just a pleasant. But, I have to keep telling myself that they were just doing there job and if someone was making suspicious and fraudulent charges on my account I am glad they put a hold. I am just happy that ordeal was solved.
After that ordeal, which was yesterday, I decided that today was going to be an awesome work day filled with lots of work. Did it happened? Absolutely! I went to Gloria Jean's Coffee and spent from 9am to about 2pm doing work, as well as trying to download the OS 4 for my iPhone which failed multiple times. I got so close to the download finishing and then the network would time out and I would have to start over. APPLE WHY DID YOU MAKE IT SO THAT YOU HAVE TO COMPLETELY DOWNLOAD THE INSTALLATION ALL AT ONCE!!! Ahh, so difficult. Afterwards, I went to Elsewhere, a bar/pool, next to our guest house and laid out in the sun for 2 and half hours with Jessica. I am pretty my farmer's tan is finally going away. We decided to also get massages together. Which is the picture above, I snapped it with my iPhone.
Let me tell you about the massage. I ended up getting a Spa Package. I have never gotten that before or had that done. It was absolutely amazing. I got an hour massage that made all the knots in my back disappear finally. Afterwards, I was scrubbed down in an herbal scrub which felt amazing. Spent 20 minutes in a steam room and than 45 minutes in a bath filled with rose pedals and limes. It smelt so good. So relaxing and you could hear the crickets chirping outside and the cool breeze come through the window. Wow, absolutely amazing. Even the shower was amazing, it was literally designed to look like a water fall. So great. I tried to snap a pic, but it was too dark. But, at least you can see the bath. I though that was a great way to end my Tuesday, which felt like the longest day ever, as I look back on today now. Wow, I love how I have a love/hate relationship with time. Things feel like years, but they are actually only days. =)

Getting my exercise in.

Working out when you are away from home, especially when you are in Cambodia, is very hard to do. So, I knew that I had to find someway to keep myself in shape and healthy. Running around the city of Phnom Penh, probably not the best idea due to all of the crazy cars, tuk tuks, motos, bike and ect. Plus, not many or actually no sidewalks literally exist. This force me to get a membership at a nearby gym called, "The Place". Super ritzy and nice. But, I got a 20 pass membership because realistically I would only work out 2-3 times a week and not everyday. Well, I got that membership/pass like a month ago and how many times have I used it since? About 3 times total and I have used it twice this week. Kind of sad, isn't it? But, this week I made the accomplishment of running a total of 10 miles between yesterday and today. I also have Rothany as my workout buddy once again. It felt great to run, but it was on the thread mill, I miss the outdoors, but the thread mill will have to suffice until I come home. At least my legs will somewhat be ready to run outdoors when I come back than nothing at all. So the past two days of workout have been really because I feel the pain, the burn, the tiredness of my muscles. Boy, does that feel good? I feel that my body is slowly getting back into shape, but I weighed myself today and I was SHOCKED that I weighed several pounds less. SO SHOCKED. I think it is the heat that burns all of the calories away, as well as the muscles mass. =( Well, I am glad that I found this gym to keep my body healthy and also not to forget what exercising/working out is. =P
My next goal for the month is to go running at least 2-3 times a week. That should keep me ready til I come back and the I will let loose to the outdoors of Minnesota.
I am really sleepy right now because I decided last night to stay up til 4am and do work. But you know, when you are in the zone and can't stop, you gotta just do it. So, i think I will hit the sacks in a little bit and sleep in before I wake up and do some more work.
But, I must say, I did do more work today at Gloria Jean's Coffee, which I was not expecting to see a coffee chain in Cambodia. So surprising, but it was nice because the wifi was super fast and I had a super yummy Iced Chai Tea Latte. So good. It was not as sweet like ones I have had before, it was just perfect with the hint of the spice of chai and I didn't feel like my teeth were going to fall out because it was not full of sugar.
Last note, I booked my ticket to Sihanoukville the weekend after this one. I am super excited to meet my Grandma, I will meet her by the beach side. Wonderful first meeeting place, if I do say so myself. Also, ANGKOR WAT, this weekend. So excited. Good night!

Lady Gaga is the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July, even though mine is ending, yours in the United States is just beginning now. It was an interesting 4th of July this year, for only one reason, I thought I would not celebrate as intense and patriotic just because I was in Cambodia. But, little to my surprise, the US embassy of Cambodia held a bash for the 4th of July. To my surprise yet again, it was pretty decent and fun. There were so many stars in colors of the red, white and blue, I thought I had just walked into the United States, itself. It was fun to see a lot of people and familiar faces that we have seen in Phnom Penh working for the many international organizations. As well as seeing the US ambassador of the United States. There were so many good food, good food in the sense of good American food. They was a stand with BBQ and I fell in the trap of the pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cobs and coleslaw. Never thought I would missed these yummy foods, but I did and it was sooooo good.
But, do you know what was even better (and this is for Tina), Lady Gaga. My adventures in Cambodia have been wonderful if it wasn't for Lady Gaga, her music showing up randomly through the clubs, bars and restaurant, surprise me so much. Of course, at this US embassy bash, they were Cambodian comedians/clowns, acrobats and dancer, as well as a live Cambodian band, made up of a band and three singers that did live covers of the most popular American music and whose music should I hear, Lady Gaga, Not only once, but several times. They play three or four sets with intermissions of door prizes and pie eating contest. But, the third set, 3 Lady Gaga songs right in a row. I felt like I died. They played Telephone, Paparazzi, Poker Face, Just Dance and Bad Romance. Again, so many surprises, Let's say I sang aloud to these tunes as well as took countless videos on my iPhone. So, when I have the opportunity to find good internet I would load them up because a lot of these songs were accompanied with acrobats and comedians. Super funny.
I believe this is just a teaser for the real Lady Gaga concert at the end of August, which has made me super excited to see her live. I can't wait to dance my heart out and make my feet hurt. This all must be signs of the universes, galaxies and stars aligning. I know that is silly, but it must.
On other notes, once again, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! I hope everyone is having the best BBQ's and family time right now. Enjoy, I hope the weather is not so bad. I am going to Angkor Wat next weekend, so I am super excited, as well as going to Sihanoukville the weekend after to visit my Grandma, finally. OMG. I hope again, I think I have said this so many times, that she is not mad at me.
Oh, yeah, it is officially, been once whole month that I have been here in Cambodia. ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY. It is currently Monday and it will be work, work , work until this weekend when I get to see the splendid site of Angkor Wat and the many temples that have been engulfed by the jungles of Cambodia. Super excited. Lady Gaga excited!

Lucky Barber

Now that I have been here in Cambodia for month. I had not ever went out in Phnom Penh to venture out by myself. Well, I woke up this morning at around 9 am. I pretty much failed at waking up at 6am to go running with Rothany around the Independent Monument area. She failed as well. So, it work out for both of us. When I woke up, I felt very groggy and just that icky feeling of ughhhh..... I also noticed that my hair was getting pretty long and very tough to manage. I knew it was time for a haircut. What to do? I asked myself repeatedly for 10 minutes. I could either do three plans. A. Don't get a haircut. B. Wake up someone to go with me and get a haircut. C. Go and get a haircut by myself. Plan A sounded really good, but I thought to myself that it would not do me any good to procrastinate and come home in August with a fro. Plan B sounded good, but it really got down to, do I really need to bother someone and make them go with to get a haircut. Plan C came along, and I knew I had to and I knew it would be good for me and also a good lesson to learn to do things by yourself. Well, it happened, Plan C was the option and it took me a good couple minutes to get the nerve to just walk out of my room and down the stairs and out the guest house. I took a left from the guest house and then took a right and landed on the main road, either norodom or monivong or something like that and walked a couple blocks down and took a left. When I turned left at the next block, I was lucky to find a barber shop, coincidently called Lucky Barber. Wow! What luck I had! Well, I went right in and an elderly man greeted me with a smile and I sat down right in the chair. Wow. Going to a Cambodian Barber shop to get a haircut is quite different than back at home. In the sense that the barber knows what he is doing and he doesn't ask you how you feel about the haircut til the end. So, it was free reigns for him, but I did tell him I liked to put my hair in fohawkish look. Lol, he laughed and he said, of course! It was interesting to observed how he cut my hair. He put white powder around my neck and he began cutting furiously with scissors in one hand and a red comb in the other. It was fun to watch, he was very particular and wanted to make sure my haircut was even. It was a good 30 minutes for him to cut my hair because he took his time and wanted to make sure the haircut was good. He used several tools, one being a electric razor minus the electric. It is hard to explained, but try to imagine that. Well, as soon as I thought the haircut was over. He pushed out the chair so I was laying back and little did I know he began shaving my face. Surprise. Ahh, it was an interesting experience and I was happy he used a new blade. Don't worry, I watch him switched blades. I felt like I was in Sweeney Todd and I had a feeling he was going to make me into a pie. But, thank god that didn't happened. I did get 1 or 2 cuts when he was shaving, but they weren't major or anything and he apologize immediately and felt bad. I told him it was all good! It was nice I got a shave that I meant I didn't have to do it back at the hotel. Well, when it came time pay, I asked him how much it was and it turned out to be 4000 riel (about a $1), but I got a 1000 riel knocked off because of the cuts. So, yay!!!! A haircut for 75 cent! Wow, what a bargain and a shave included.
Well, after that feat, I felt great. A haircut can do a lot to give one's self motivation and inspiration, as well as conquering my fear of going out there by myself. I guess, I got used to going around with people from my group to places in groups and doing this and that in group, I forgot how it felt to do things individually. I think I was stuck in a rut where I created a security blanket of keeping myself shelter and creating a sense of security that I became comfortable staying in my room when we, as a group, were not doing anything, in our recreational time, it felt really good to do this by myself, which is only a start and a beginning and heck July will be an awesome month in Cambodia. Lots of crazy things happening everywhere, going to Ankor Wat next weekend and hopefully the weekend after Sihanoukville and some beaches and Singapore and hopefully visit my Grandma finally. I hope she isn't too upset? Cross your fingers?