Holiday in Cambodia Part 1

Holiday in Cambodia

Before I begin talking about Siem Reap, and the amazing city it is, I want to pause and think about what our life was like a year ago, and just how much has changed…

Last year we were just beginning our life in Shanghai.  I was still afraid of my own shadow and was preaching to all that “WE WILL NOT BE STAYING THREE YEARS, and that will not change!”  I also remember telling people that I don’t really love to travel.  I enjoyed it, but liked to be home more.  Last October we were heading to Beijing for our first holiday.  It was an amazing city and a great adventure with fun friends.  But when we returned, I still didn’t understand why everyone loved to travel so much.  I still had thoughts that two years of living here and traveling around would be plenty! 

As the year progressed, my feelings began to change.  I began to grow a love for traveling, and started becoming more interested in other parts of Asia. Traveling to Bangkok, Boracay, and Bali certainly helped me see things in a new light!  Now, as I sit here in my hotel room in Cambodia, ready to go explore more, I realize what a different person I have become over the last year.  In general, I have a whole new outlook on life.  We have been given an opportunity to travel and learn about the world, and many will never get this chance.  I don’t want to miss out on anything or take anything for granted.  I love learning about other cultures and countries.  I get excited to travel and feel lucky that we live in Shanghai.  I feel so blessed to have the life I have been given.  Here I am, already in love with Siem Reap after one day and I can’t wait to see more of it.  I also can’t stop thinking about where else I want to go!  “The old Christy” would never have gone to Cambodia, let alone say those words.  My how I have grown in a year.  Oh, and those of you wondering, I am eating my own words as we plan to stay at least three years in Shanghai.  

So, now back to my blog on Cambodia…  It took a while to get here, our plane left Shanghai late, we had a 4 hour lay over in Guangzhou (great people watching there BTW), got stuck on the plane on the runway for an hour and then finally left and got to Siem Reap around 7.  This was our first time flying with China Southern and we were pleasantly surprised.  The food was pretty good and the seats had plenty of legroom.  When we arrived we had someone from our hotel waiting for us to take us to The Shining Angkor Boutique Hotel.  The hotel is beautiful with amazing woodcarvings everywhere, not many guests, it’s in a quiet area, and has a VERY friendly staff.  It is also just down the road from town.  A quick $2 Tuk Tuk ride will get you to all the restaurants, bars, and markets.  And everything is very cheap! 

Travis and I in our first Tuk Tuk ride into town on Sunday.

Sunday, Day 1, we woke up and had our breakfast.  Then we relaxed at the pool for a bit.  Later, Travis, Greg, and I went to explore town.  We began to walk, but as it is very hot and humid, that didn’t last long!  We ended up getting in a tuk tuk and our driver took us to town and showed us where some things were located.  We found some restaurants that were recommended, the Pub Street (Greg and Travis were very excited about this one!), the day market (complete with people selling fish and other food that smells great in 90 degree heat), beer for 50 cents, and some lovely people.  After doing a little shopping and eating a little, we headed back to the hotel in our Batman themed tuk tuk! 

 Travis and Greg finding the Red Piano on Pub Street.

 This was inside the Day Market that we found.  Everything is extremely cheap. 

Our awesome Batman Tuk Tuk!

We headed back downtown at night.  Our first stop was the night markets.  We got there a little early, so we decided to go to “The Island Bar” in the middle of the market to get a drink.  It was a super cute.  We then headed out to the markets to see what kind of deals we could get.  I scored a $5 dress/shirt that I really liked.  However, with the weather being so hot and humid, there were many annoying bugs.  They weren’t biting, but were pests, so we walked on to the Pub Street.  We picked a restaurant and had a great meal.  There were 5 of us and our bill was $35!  You really can’t beat that!  Afterwards, we walked around a little and headed back to the hotel.  It was a great first, full day! 

Day 2

A little rain won’t bother us if we go to the temples today, right?  Wrong!  Well, at least at the first temple it did!  Today was Greg’s birthday, so we decided to let him make all the decisions for the day, or rather, he decided it was his birthday and he got to do whatever he wanted to do and we would have to follow along.  J  We slept soundly during a lovely rainstorm.  When we awoke, it was nearly over with, so we thought.  It was just sprinkling and the temperature was great.  Greg still wanted to go to the temples and we decided it might be a good idea to head out for day 1 of Angkor Wat.  We had hoped that because of the rain there would be less tourists.  We set out in our tuk tuks from the hotel.  It was really close and very convenient with the tuk tuks.  They took us around to all of the temples.  I had no idea just how big Angkor would be!  It was many, many square kilometers!  We started the tour with the three main temples: Angkor Thom- Banyon, Ta Prohm (the one used in the movie Tomb Raider), and we saw just the outside of Angkor Wat (which has green scaffolding all over it, BIG disappointment).

Banyon was the biggest challenge.  It was pouring rain by the time we got to it and our ponchos and umbrella were not helping much.  We got separated from the Watt’s during our battle with taking the camera out without getting wet and then eventually got lost trying to find our way out.  That gives you an idea of how big these temples are!  After Banyon, we went to Ta Prohm.  This was our favorite.  The rain had also slowed up and made the trekking much more enjoyable.  The pictures won’t do it justice, but it was unbelievable.  You can see for yourself.  By the time we got to Angkor Wat, we were tired.  We knew we had 2 more days to come back, so we decided to take a quick look and come back at another time.

That night we headed back into town for Greg’s birthday dinner.  He chose Red Piano, which was recommended to us by many previous travelers.  It was great food, great fun, and had a fantastic view of the town below (we sat on the 2^nd floor).  This was also the restaurant that Angelina Jolie loved to go to when she was in Cambodia.  They named a drink after her- the Tomb Raider Cocktail.  Of course I had to try it.  It was good, reminded me of Squirt Soda. 

It ended up being a great day, despite the rain.  I can’t wait to go back again, especially to see the sunrise behind Angkor Wat!

Here is part of Ta Prohm.  More pictures to come, the internet is too slow right now!

This was a part of Angkor Thom.

Travis and I at the front of Ta Prohm.

Rough Start to Holiday

Well, we leave for Siem Reap tomorrow morning.  I am hoping and praying that everything goes well!  We have started off a little rocky...

1. One passport lost in a taxi, and SAEFLY returned to it's owner.
2. One trip to the bank (the night before we leave) to get US Dollars without a passport, which means coming back home, getting a passport and going back.  All of you SCIS peeps know that Standard Charter is not a quick trip, EVER.
3. One passport washed in the washing machine the night before we leave.
4. Allergic reactions to laundry detergent = rewashing LOTS of clothes the night before we leave (without a dryer).

And we haven't even begun to pack.

Water Buffalo, Parasites, and Water Fights!

That’s right, we just went on our annual rafting trip in Hangzhou.  Don’t let the title fool you, we had a great time!  This year we had about 90 SCIS teachers attending from all three of our campuses.  The morning began at 9am with breakfast sandwiches, beer, and stories from last year. 

After driving for an hour and a half, our first little stop was a rest area.  Now these are not your average American little stops on major highways.  In China these places consist of smelly squatty potties (with no tissue), stinky tofu (worst smell ever), soft serve ice cream, a convenience store, and a guy selling cigarette holders.  Random, I know, but it didn’t stop us from beginning the day with some fun.  The day officially began with fingers plugging noses, ears listening to stories of getting parasites from the water, and hands around cold beers.  We had to wait a good half hour for the Pudong crew to join us.  Then we were off to complete the trip to Hangzhou.

We arrived shortly after and were ready to raft!  To get to the river you ride a cart pulled by water buffalo.  I hate seeing the way they treat the animals…but what are you to do.  Once we got there my team wanted to get on the rafts as soon as possible so we would not be at the end.  We knew we had a BBQ waiting for us and we didn’t want to miss out on the food!  As we set off- Travis, Krystle, Zach, Bri, Matt, Tony, our saving grace translator, and I quickly realized we were well ahead of our friends and the trip would not be complete with out some major water fights.  So we did what any expat in China would do, we paid off our guide to slow down!  It worked. 

Some of my favorite parts of the trip were the following:

·      Spitting out water to make sure no parasites find homes in our bodies

·      Another teacher telling Travis he could get to know her better later (you can all imagine how I reacted to that one!)

·      Matt hopping rafts and almost sinking the other raft

·      The men bargaining for beer from other rafts

·      Tony jumping in the river for a beer

·      Zach falling down in the water at the end of the trip

·      Drying our butts off with the heat of the grills

·      The long walk through a bamboo forest back to our bus with Tony telling Travis there were snakes.

We ended the day with a wonderful BBQ of hamburgers, hot dogs, vegetarian burgers, chips, and of course cold beer.  We drove home shortly after while singing some of our favorite tunes from the 80’s and 90’s and laughing a lot.  There really is never a dull moment with this great group!  Check out our pictures of the trip from last year on facebook.

Next week…Cambodia!

Outbreak 2

Just the other day I was telling one of the new teachers that I was sick for months last year, but eventually my body got use to the new environment and was healthy for the second half of the year.  Apparently I opened my mouth too soon!  I got the bug that seems to be the new teacher plague at SCIS.  Last week one teacher had it, Monday another got it, and now I am one of four teachers that got it this weekend.   Whatever the virus is, it sucks!  The good news is, it’s a three day weekend, the bad news is, it’s a three day weekend!  Of course this is the weekend I had a lot of fun things planned, but instead I am here on the couch, feeling sorry for myself.

Anyways, Travis and I had a good week.  We had Back To School night on Wednesday.  This is always one of Travis’ favorite days.  He loves to chat and kiss up to all the parents.  He even looks forward to parent-teacher conferences!  He is a strange kind of teacher if you ask me!  I was a little nervous.  It is so easy to talk in front of little kids, but adults are scary!   Actually, it was a great night for both of us.  We feel so lucky to have such great, supportive families at this school. 

Thursday we went dinner with our Shanghai family to get our dumplings.  I think we had twelve of us this week.  It is always a night we look forward to each week.  We catch up, gossip, and laugh a lot!  Friday I was sick, but we had no students.  It was a relaxed PD day, so that was great.  We both got a lot done in the classroom.  At night we were supposed to go to dinner at a friend’s house.  I didn’t want to miss out just because I was sick and had a fever, so we went.  It was a crazy adventure trying to get there.  First it took us 45 minutes to get to Krystle’s house to help her with some folding chairs. It normally takes 15-20 minutes.  Then we couldn’t get another taxi to get to Amanda’s.  The whole trip ended up being an hour and a half.  We had many taxis just drive right past us and not get us.  It was so frustrating.  We think it is because of the holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival.  However, it was a great time eating wonderful Mexican food and watching an NFL game on their satellite tv.  However, it probably wasn’t a good choice for me.  I feel worse today.  I am hoping to get rid of this stupid bug by Monday!  Ugh.  I am not a good sick person!

So that’s it.  I know that wasn’t exciting news, but I want to keep it a habit to update the blog.  Have a great weekend!

Year 2 Begins!

Well, to put it bluntly...we SUCK at updating our Blog.  I am going to make a solid effort to change that this year!  Today, as I was reading Cam and Elisa's updates it dawned on me that we should probably be doing the same thing!  Now, their blog is a bit more exciting since they have lots of baby news to share, but I will try to keep ours as entertaining and informational as possible!  :)

First, we started this year on cloud 9.  First class on an international flight is pretty amazing.  The usual feeling of being sleep deprived and hungry for good food was replaced with sadness at the sight of land and we felt oddly full when it did finally hit the runway!

Travis enjoying our fabulous seats, curtesy of Continental!!!

The day we landed, we went to Wings, a local bar, to see some of the new meat that joined SCIS.  We met a few new teachers and felt like the big kids that knew it all!  It also felt great returning, knowing exactly what to expect, what a difference from last year.  The best part was that our apartment was spotless.  Our ayi cleaned it top to bottom all summer, and it showed.  It is so great to have her again.  This summer we actually had to clean, do laundry, and take care of the places we stayed in...sheesh, it is good to be home where clothes are washed and put away, dishes are cleaned, and clothes are ironed all without me lifting a finger!

In SCIS style, the parties began right away!  Our first gathering was at Okura Garden Hotel.  The administration treated us to cocktails and dinner where we all got gussied up!  I love a party where I can dress up.  It was great night to catch up with all of our friends.

Clare, Vaness, me, Krystle, and Amanda enjoying our reunion after a summer apart.

The next party was an 80's themed birthday party for 3 lovely ladies- Hiromi, Kara, and Cristina.  We had a blast dressing the part, acting the part, and dancing to some of the best music in history!  Check it out!

 Krystle and I posing before the rest of our friends show up.

Travis got a hold of a lovely wig and sported it the rest of the evening!

As for school, everything is wonderful!  Travis is teaching 5th grade again and I made a big move to 2nd grade on the big campus.  I love walking to work without taking the metro!  It is so nice to get there in 10 minutes.  I also love being on a campus with more people.  I loved my friends at ECE, and I truly miss seeing them everyday, but so far I LOVE 2nd grade!  I have a great class that is very excited to learn...let's hope it stays that way!

We are really enjoying our second year.  It is so nice to know where to shop for groceries, where to eat, where to go out, what to do, and all that makes a place feel like home.  :)  We look forward to many more adventures this year and will share them as they happen.

Is it really February?

As I am checking facebook multiple times, daily (maybe too often) and responding to my emails to slowly (because they seem to be never ending), I remember we have a blog and this would make the updates SO much easier!  It's been awhile since we last updated and it would be impossible for me to even begin to tell you everything we have done in the last 5 months, hence (Joey Tribbiani's favorite word) you get this...

Beijing- It was great, look at our pictures on Facebook from October to get the end of the Beijing update, which I believe was called "Beijing 1 of ???".  The question marks were quite accurate.

Qingdao- In November we traveled to Qingdao, a port city in northern China.  It was beautiful.  We went with our friends Krystle and Zach.  This is the city where the beer- Tsingtao is made.  We spent a day touring the brewery and drinking beer, Travis' dream vacation!  We ate good food, spent time at bars, met interesting people, and went down by the water.  It was a fun weekend and we can't wait to go back when it is warmer out.

By the shore in Qingdao.  It was a beautiful beach area.

Eating dinner at an Italian restaurant in Qingdao with Krystle and Zach.

In December we had our first visitors!  The moms came first and then Cam and Elisa made it here.  It was so nice to have family here over the holidays.  I had a VERY difficult time not being home in America, and was on edge (just a bit :) during the whole month.  The moms arrived on Dec. 15, the first day of snow in Shanghai!  I was ecstatic to see the fluffy white stuff finally making an appearance in Shangers.  It doesn't happen often, and quite a bit fell.  However, it made our round trip to get our moms from the Pudong airport, 5 hours long!  We stayed here for a few days, and then we met Cam and Elisa up in Beijing.  We stayed in Beijing just long enough for Travis and I to each get the flu.  It was wonderful to be sick while on vacation and in a hotel (insert sarcasm).  Besides the fact that I was not too excited to head back to Beijing since we were just there and it was going to be colder than Shanghai.  I knew everyone else wanted/needed (if you go to China, you have to see the city) to go, so I agreed to head there for a few days.  The only thing I was really looking forward to doing was going back to the Great Wall.  And lucky for me, I was sick that day and missed it.  We headed back to Shanghai for Christmas and had a nice turkey dinner thanks to Bubbas!  The rest of the time we explored Shanghai and shopped til we dropped!  Mom just loved all the shopping!!!  It was so sad to see them leave, especially knowing it would be another 7 months until we saw them again.  Although, I now realize how quickly time passes here...

The yummy turkey dinner we had on Christmas Eve.  We used the turkey as an important part of our pictures that day.  :)

The fabulous moms at Tiananman Square in Beijing.

On New Year's Day Travis and I went to Sanya, Hainan for a week.  Hainan is an island province in the southern most part of China.  We stayed at the Howard Johnson, which was actually a huge, beautiful resort!  We spent our days reading by the pool, which was amazing, but VERY cold.  The city was not so great and didn't have much to offer.  We were glad we got some sun and R and R, but wouldn't recommend the place to friends.

This is just part of the pool at our resort.

Travis and I in front of our hotel.

And then we went on the BEST trip ever!  Bangkok...

To be cont...(hopefully before the next 5 months)

Beijing: 1 of ???

Hi all,

We have just flown home from a great trip to Beijing.  Here is a quick update for those that we don't talk to regularly.

We had Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off for a national holiday and decided to go to Beijing with a group of friends from work.  We booked a tour company to help us get around and flew out Thursday after work.  Friday and Saturday were spent taking numerous tourist tours and Sunday we got to do our own thing.

Friday:  We started off our trip by heading to the Ming Tombs.  It may be a great place to see some Chinese history but the part we saw, wasn't!  We went to a huge area where 13 Emperor's from the Ming Dynasty are buried.  The tour consisted of one of the 13 tombs.  It was the one tomb that had been destroyed.  Therefore, there was no palace to walk through because it had been burned.  The actual tomb was down quite a few flights of stairs and looked like a bomb shelter.  There were three thrones, a bunch of empty red metal boxes that looked as if they came from IKEA and not much else.  There were however 12 more tombs with palaces attached that we could not go and see and one more that was open to the public but again, we did not sign up for that tour.  It was not our favorite part of the trip!

These tombs happened to be about an hour drive from our hotel and seemingly in the opposite direction of next destination which was the Great Wall.

Once we reached the GW it turned the trip around.  First of all, Christy, to her excitement got to ride a chair lift up a mountain to get to the wall!  It was easier without skis on but no less traumatising!  I was trying my hardest not to shake the chair as I turned from side to side snapping pictures and pointing out beautiful scenery, however...I was unsuccessful and ended up being sitting most of the chair ride in timeout, not allowed to move or make noise!

Once we reached the top the view was amazing even though it was a really foggy day.  We walked around on the wall for over an hour snapping pictures and posing.  We could only see a small part of the wall but what we did see in that short time was mind blowing.  On the top of mountains sits a huge wall. It stretches for over 5 miles and was built hundreds of years ago when machinery wasn't invented yet.  We all found it impossible to be true as we laughed and played in utter disbelief!  

The trip down may have been the highlight of the trip (not to downplay how great the trip was but getting down from the GW was a blast!).  We had the option of walking down something like 25,000 steps, taking the chair lift, or riding a sled down a luge.  We opted for the luge.  I went first in our group as I wanted to go as fast as possible without slow people getting in the way.  There were others in front of us but we delayed as long as possible to give us some room before leaving.  Three of us that looked forward to the ride took off in intervals first, followed by the people wanting to take it a bit easier.  It may have been on wheels instead of ice but it was still a blast.  It banked during the turns snaking down the side of the mountain (don't think it would meet US safety standards!).  It was pretty fast when you allowed it to be.  Although the people in front of us didn't allow it to be.  We caught them quickly and as loud unruly foreigners do, we began breaking rules.  

There were parts when the workers couldn't see you on the track and we would stop and wait during these parts allowing for more space and ultimately more speed.  It was a blast!  Christy, who did not ride the same way I just described, even had fun on the luge.  It was really easy to control and go slow if you wanted.  After the trip down we spent a few minutes arguing with vendors about their crazy prices and bought a bunch of "junk" (I mean well needed artifacts and decorations) to put on display in our apartment.

Friday night we went out for dinner and made a wonderful discovery.  There was a street that had booths set up as far as you could see cooking and selling street food.  Thousands or people were out for the evening and as we went in for a look it was hard to walk around or even catch a glimpse of what they were selling.  We made it up to the front and to our surprise it all looked quite good (well, not all...some looked gross and scary but in general, of the things we would actually eat, the preparation and quality of that looked good).  We were looking for something a little more restful after our long day so we went into a random restaurant.  It ended up being some of the best food we have eaten in China and after 7 or us stuffed ourselves with what seemed like endless platters of food and beer we were given a bill for roughly $56!  Gotta love that!  When the bill came, Tony took it from the waitress and began laughing out loud and passed it around the table.  It was funny to watch each reaction and then to glance at the waitress who had no idea what was going on.  We each put in our $8 and then went out for sight seeing, more junk shopping, and fried bugs!

Ok, so not quick as I wrote earlier!  I'll write more later but I'm tired of typing and you are probably tired of reading.  It was a fun trip with a great group of people.  Hope you enjoy another update!  Again, I am not proofreading and the spell check isn't working so, Sorry Jennifer!  Let me know what I need to correct and I'll get right on it!!!

T and CK