Phnom Penh, you'll have to wait..

Well. Cambodia you look really interesting.. I want to get to know more about you & your history. Unfortunately it will have to wait.
I have been here for five days, much longer than I planned to be in this city but I have been too unwell for travel & now I've decided to go home for my Uncle is really acutely sick.. dying actually.
So tomorrow I will leave for Singapore & then onwards & back home for ten days before resuming this adventure.

What I saw a lot of in Phnom Penh

What I should have been seeing instead..


I will resume this blog as I head for Singapore.. where I hope my batteries will be recharged &  I will have a renewed spirit (and a healthy one), ready for adventures & some boozing. It will leave me with only seven weeks of travel!

Goodbye Thai

I have been so lazy with this blog.. To be honest I guess like anything I do, I start with good intentions & it eventually falls behind. Yet I really have no priorities while traveling. 


My month in Chiang Mai really flew. I had a very lovely and inspiring time working with the young children at the single mother's home. It was a very enriching place to be- to see a successful organisation that was started from scratch, that is environmentally as well as socially just, was so uplifting. Going there each day was a pleasure. Although admittedly there were days when the children were incredibly challenging and loved to push me. Language barriers could get in the way but they knew from the tone of my voice when I meant business. They were ultimately gorgeous kids who loved warmth & attention like any other children. We had a lot of fun together. I would easily have stayed longer & think that would have been the best way to get the most out of the organisation. It's such a community that it's not the right place to just waltz in & waltz out again.

I don't think I will ever do volunteer service through an organisation that links me to the volunteer work. It was confirmed that none of the money we paid went to the actually place we volunteered for. This is insane. For the price, especially in comparison to the cost of living in Thailand, and the accommodation (especially it's location), the fact we had to pay our own transport daily,is really disappointing. I feared this would be the case but I had limited time to organise this for myself prior to coming. And to be honest I wasn't sure about the whole process, how easy it would be. Now I know. I now understand why the name of the place I volunteered at isn't actually written at all on the organisation's website. I guess so you can't google it, find their website and realise you can go straight to them, rather than pay far too much money to a third party. I feel I would have had a more genuine experience without the organisation. Plus the attitudes of most of the travelers/volunteers in the house were deplorable. A gossipy, clingy group of late teens who thought they were still in high school and that there was a hierarchy to the volunteer house. Oh how they sucked. Definitely a dampener. Glad expecting to meet some awesome people was not what I was in Chiang Mai for. Sure, I did meet some great people. Just still have a bee in my bonnet over the incredulous behaviour of the youngsters there. 


I'd recommend Chiang Mai. Northern Thailand is great. The city itself is rather quaint, not so chaotic, pretty orderly in fact. I'd definitely encourage a trip during Songkran. I was so enthralled with this festival. It was great! 

Hill tribe dress.

So I flew into Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Saturday. 


I have had some nasty gastro since Thursday, it totally wipes me out. Unfortunately I'm spending longer than I wanted to here in Phnom Penh has I can't handle getting on a bus to Siem Reap right now. I haven't seen much of Phnom Penh either, other than the taxi from the airport & a short walk yesterday. It seems chaotic. I really want to explore it but I will be back on the outward journey from Cambodia.


I finally sought a doctor last night. It was easier than I thought. I got a bunch of french medication and it has helped me feel a bit better. Though not entirely. I'm hoping yesterday was the peak of it. Pretty tired. Spending too much money for Cambodia in this accommodation but it will make me feel better than a hostel dorm and shared bathroom.


Flying into Cambodia was interesting. I haven't seen such arid looking country since I left Australia. I'm excited to explore this country, even though it will only be an eleven day journey- if I'm well enough to set off tomorrow for Siem Reap.

Another night, another mojito.

Chiang Mai.. Well, I have to say I now understand why so many people love spending their holidays and going on adventures here in Thailand. It feels liberated in comparison to many asian countries I have traveled through. I mean I can see the women looking to make money through male tourists more than I have seen anywhere else but being able to travel somewhere with less worries about offending the local custom makes you feel more at ease. The sense of relaxed locals with a lot of easy going tourists makes for a very smooth ride through daily life here in Chiang Mai.
Each day I wake up at about 7am (enjoying the sleep ins for work as opposed to 530am) get ready and head to the main volunteer house where I meet two others, currently one American & one Dutch and we head out to the home via a songthiew, ie local taxi/bus/public transport. It can take half an hour or so of waiting on the street to have the one we want come along. Its about a twenty minute ride out of town. Costs 15 baht ie 50cents. We ride in the back of a ute with a cover on the top, that's what a songthiew is like.
Once I arrive I head to the 'nursery' where the kids are aged 1 to 5 yrs. While the older kids are at thai & english classes I look after the 1 & 2 year olds. It can be a mission to entertain them day in and day out but they are lovely and I thoroughly enjoy their personalities and extending their vocab and numeracy in english. We do snack time where the kiddies drink their milk then we eat fruit. I've tried some amazing and new fruits here. Rose apples, unripened mango, the best watermelon of my life, nice rambutan, banana etc. After the second classes it's lunch time. I generally just eat lunch and don't have to pay much mind to the kids but occassionally I receive a welcome cuddle or one of them will come sit on my lap for a while. Then I watch and help sort any dramas in the playground & sandpit for about an huor and then have to hustle them for teeth brushing and showering. Theyre all pretty good once I can get them under control. They love the game, run away and hide from the volunteer until she gets really angry.. And then once I finally get them ready to wash and in the act of brushing their teeth, they often run away again stark naked. It doesn't test me too much, if I ignore them they tend to come back easier than when I get stroppy about it. Bath time is fun, the water is cold & they usually have a good laugh. Encouraging their hygiene & independence is really important. After wash time it's nap time. It doesn't take too much for most of them to settle to sleep but I lay with them & try to help them fall asleep by brushing their hair or just keeping them company. I generally pass out asleep for some time too. After that it's snack time again & then I choof off home. A pretty easy day. Though it is all outdoors in the Northern Thai summer heat. At the end of the day I'm pretty tired.
After work I come home via 7-11 for a cheeky snack & just relax.. Then it's dinner time. I head to town with another songthiew, it takes about 10 to 15mins. There is such a wide variety of cuisine here, it's great. Thai (of course) & Mexican rank highly on my list here. There are loads of vegetarian restaurants. Mojitos are always on special & I love singha beer, though it the most expensive you can generally buy.
Pai was beautiful and romantic. I would love to be there with my beloved.
Tomorrow I will go to the tiger kingdom after work. I've read a mixture about this place. That the tigers are heavily sedated, that they are exploited, that it is cruel.. I am keen to see it for my own eyes.
I will write about it. I promise.