Endless Summer Tiny World

Pnom Pehn ended up being a horrible last night as we found out our bed had bedbugs! So we didn’t sleep much and instead packed up our stuff and waited for the bus starting at 4:00 am. We are really hoping we didn’t bring any with us, but only time will tell. We got everything we could possibly wash done as soon as we got to Siem Reap!

We had planned to meet up with our Canadian friends Lindsay and Jeff when we got to Siem Reap and we found them right after we got here. We went out for dinner and drinks that night on Pub Street. The next morning we were up again at 4 am to get to Angkor Wat and see the sunrise over the temple. It was great! Angkor Wat is HUGE!! It is twice as tall as the london tower and the wall around it is 2 miles long and yet it only took 35 years for them to construct it! We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon seeing several other towers. We all agree our favorites are Bayon, a temple with over 50 towers with faces on all of them, and Ta Prohm, the temple where tomb raider was filmed and it is being taken over by massive trees all over the place! Everyday after our temple viewing we come home to cool off and jump in the pool. This day we also needed a nap after being up so early! We had another dinner on Pub Street and Chelsy and I stayed out dancing and hanging out at the bars there.

The next day Chelsy and Lindsey and I headed off for the temples since Jeff had gotten sick. We saw a lot that were in ruins and cool ones, but after a bit of being sooo hot and seeing so many the excitement wears off. Last night we got the best foot massages ever for only $3 for an hour and we got to watch a video all about the building of Angkor Wat.

Today was our last day of temples and then a sunset on the mountain temple. We had a great time in Siem Reap and I loved Angkor Wat! It is really an amazing place and to sit at the top of some of these temples and think about all the work that went into building them and just how big and old they are is crazy! Definitely belongs as one of the wonders of the world!

We said goodbye to Lindsay and Jeff today, as they head into Vietnam and we are headed back for Thailand, which was sad since we got along with them so well, but we are planning to meet up with them again in Northern Vietnam where our paths will cross again in April! Tomorrow morning we are making the long haul to Ko Samui Thailand to meet up with two of our friends from ship! Im so excited to see them as its been over a year! We have 5 days with them before we are off to Singapore to meet up with some other ship friends! The next three weeks are going to be super fun but are also going to fly by!!

From pakse we headed to don det, or an area known as 4,000 islands. It is a fairly tiny little island that is soon going to be very touristy and popular. We found our very humble guesthouse and headed to get a boat to see the freshwater dolphins that live in the Mekong river at the border of Laos and Cambodia. As we were looking we found our Canadian friends we had met at a temple outside of pakse. We stopped to chat for a bit, then a bit turned into an hour and having beers, which then turned into dinner which then turned into us having some great new friends and a lot of fun just hanging out for the night. The next morning we got up and rented a bike and biked down to an even smaller little island nearby where we got a boat to the dolphins. They were far away but we saw lots of them. They are so different looking because they have round little faces instead of the bottlenose or spinner dolphins we are used to! We then biked to an awesome and huge waterfall! It was about four rivers converging together at one point! We then biked to the beach so we could jump in and cool off and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach with our new friends jeff and Lindsay.

The next morning we were off to phnom phen, Cambodia. This was supposed to take most the day but it became even longer when, as usual the bus was late and then again when we had a problem with the tire that took about an hour to fix! But it was bound to happen sometime with the condition of the roads. We made it finally to our place and had dinner and drinks with our new British friend mike.

This morning we were up to get the tuk tuk we hired for the day to take us to the genocide museum. It was so crazy, really interesting and of course heart wrenching. This is the prison the Khmer rouge used to torture people and imprison people in phnom phen. It was so crazy and we actually spent about 3 hours there! We then went out to the killing fields, the area outside the city where they buried thousands of people in mass graves! It is so crazy to all of us that this only took place in 1975!! It just seems so recent! Like we all should have known better after Germany and all the concentration camps. We finished off the day with a quick visit to the Russian museum but found that it wasn’t too special. So now it’s time for dinner and a couple much deserved drinks after putting all our hearts through the wringer today. It was very I treating but definitely not an easy day!

We arrived in Vientiane late at night and mostly just spent the night finding food accommodation and wandering town! The next day we were up and headed on the local bus out to a buddha park. The Buddha park. Thus Buddha park is out in the middle of nowhere and is a bunch of quirky Buddha statues all over! One of them was almost like a big pot you could walk inside and to the top of. It was cool but oh man it is sooo hot down here!! We then headed back into the city, saw the arch they say is similar to the arc de triumph. We then tried to walk home but instead ended up getting lost! Oops!
At night we headed for the bus station and a night bus to pakse which is all the way south! The night buses are hilarious because it’s kind of like a very narrow double bed that you share with someone! Thank god I had Chelsy because otherwise I would of had to spoon with a stranger!! We got to pakse early, got our accomodation settled and bargained a tuk tuk down to take us on the hour journey to wat phou. Wat phou is angkorian ruins that are in southern Laos, similar but smaller than Angkor wat. It was pretty cool but yet again so hot! Thank goodness we saw a sprinkler in front of the bathrooms which we were able to play in after the big hike uphill! Pakse is pretty boring but we still wanted to head out and see some waterfalls as they are pretty amazing in this area so we decided to stay one more night and go on a tour of the falls. This morning we got picked up and the first place they took us was a coffee and tea plantation. This was not what we signed up for! But all was ok when we got to the next couple waterfalls. The first was the highest in the area, the second was so beautiful and a great little swimming hole, and the last was several series of little falls and watching kids jumping and playing in the rapids. After the falls we were off to a local village, which was cool to see and hear about before returning back to pakse. Tomorrow were off to an area called 4,000 islands, it’s supposed to be great relaxing and were looking forward to looking for some freshwater dolphins!

We reached vang vieng after 5 hours of windy terrible roads and only one sickness! Vang vieng is a pretty small town but it is definitely a tourist destination! There are tons of restaurants and it is kinda funny because they all play friends and family guy! We spent our first night just getting acquainted with the town and having dinner while watching the sunset over the mountains. The next day we were up and ready to hit the river. The reason this place is so popular is because people can go tubing down the river. There are lots of bars along the way with slides and rope swings so you can stop and drink, swim and jump all day long. It was a little cloudy and we were actually pretty early on the river so it was not too crazy but we had a good group of about ten that we floated down with! I tried a swing, I was terrible and fell right in, and I went down the big slide. The big slide was huge and you really went flying! It was so fun but the second time I went down I landed right on my butt and it was almost like belly flopping on my butt! That is another common thing about tubing is people getting hurt on the river. Most of it is cuts and scraps but we did see some people with pretty bad injuries! I’m just happy to say that no one in our group got hurt, besides a belly flop or butt flop! After passing most the bars we were floating down and found a bunch of water buffalo in the river, we went over to them and could actually touch them! It was so cool we were practically sitting on the back of a white one and we could pet her nose and touch her horns and all! It was really really cool! We actually finished the whole river and by the time we were back we were so tired! But after showers and dinner we headed to one of the popular bars. Mostly this place was great for people watching!

Yesterday we slept in and decided that since the sun was out and shining we should tube the river again! It was so busy on the river this day because of the sun and we went on the river a little later in the day! We had a blast tubing, enjoying the sun and watching people. We ended up at a bar that was super local and less popular and there were little Laotian children swimming all over the place! They were adorable, knew just a little English and sat on the dock by us the whole time. When we moved on they all came and climbed up on the tubes with us, so Chelsy and I each had our own tube and then we each had three little brown kids perched on the tube with us! After the sun started to go down we decided to take a tuk tuk back as it was starting to get cold. We had a lot of fun on the river but also have had about enough of it so were headed down to southern Laos. Next stop the capital city of vientiane!

The last couple days in luang prabang have been good, but so far nothing tops today. We have been hanging out with two American guys, Kevin and Alex, and a guy from Belgium, guillom, who we met on the gibbon experience. We all just kind if had the same itinerary so we have decided to all gang together. Like I said we got dropped off in luang prabang at the crack if dawn and ended up just having to hang out in front of a guest house for awhile until things opened up. When we finally found one we just took sone time to shower and relax before heading out to see luang prabang. Luang prabang is a world heritage site mostly because it has a lot of French influence in it’s architecture and cuisine. We headed out and saw the sacred hill and buddha’s footprint (it’s huge, he really was a big guy!) and then went down to the most famous temple in town. Unfortunately it was under construction but it was still really cool cause a lot if the building us covered in shiny glass, so when it is restored it will be amazing!!! We then went and had $5 massages and enjoyed the evening market, which is amazing here!! It’s a good thing I can’t carry everything cause otherwise I would buy it all! We ended the night by having some beers on the river.

This morning we woke up and went out looking for a boat to rake us to khousi falls down the river. After the hour boat ride, a twenty minute ride in the back of a pickup we were finally there! The talks were beautiful! The water was so blue, there were several tiers and it was so pretty. There was also a rope swing into one of the falls, which I of course had to try out! But the water was soo cold! Like jumping into lake superior in September! After the falls and boat ride back we all headed to the bar for a drink and on the walk home we ended up wedding crashing! There was a traditional Laos wedding going on and we headed in to see it and ended up dancing with the bride and groom and having a blast! Guests were giving us free beers and asking us to dance the while time! It was so funny and so cool! A wedding I’ll never forget!

Tomorrow we head to vang vieng for the famous tubing down the river! I’m really excited as everyone weve talked to has said it’s so fun!

so from Chiang Mai we went up to Chiang rai, even further north in Thailand. Our first night we just hung out and went to the night market and explored town. The next day we decided to rent a motorbike again and go to ride elephants. We had a great time! We did an hour elephant ride through the river and the local village and we got to feed them and everything! We drove by a local school and decided to take a look inside, just cause we were curious and we happened to stumble into the English classroom for fifth grade. The teacher then asked us to go over the alphabet and months with the children so Chelsy and I spent a half hour or so teaching the kids. It was so cool, they wanted us to come back and volunteer…. It’s hard to walk away from something like that! We then headed across the river on a bike bridge. This is a wooden bridge just big enough for a scooter to go across… It was a little freaky but super fun. We then went to a boiling hot natural springs and up to the prettiest waterfall we’ve seen yet! We were pretty much off roading and feel bad for whoever is the next to rent that scooter!

The next day we were up early to catch a bus to the border of Laos. We were hoping to do the gibbon experience, a series of diplomas and accommodation in tree huts in the bokeo national park. We weren’t able to go until the next day though so we mostly just spent the afternoon in the lazy border town and just relaxed and had dinner down by the river with some Swiss girls.

The gibbon experience was so cool!! We had about a two hour trek uphill before we got to where we could start ziplining through and across the jungle. Then it was a series of about 10 zips to get to our final zip into our treehouse which was so high up! We then had a snack and a rest and went back out ziplining for another hour or so before the sunset! The next morning we had a morning zip, breakfast and started the trek/zip back down. Our longest zip was 700 m long and they were all so high, above the whole jungle, sometimes over rivers. We had so much fun and played games and made friends with all the other people in the group. Going to sleep with the sounds of all the insects and monkeys was so cool too! We then took an overnight bus to luang prabang and were dropped off with our three other friends at 4 am, when everything is shut down. We tried seeing if anyone was awake or open but with no luck. So we hung out until we could find some accommodation. It turned out to be cool though because we saw the daily alm, the parade of monks going around and collecting offerings from locals. We’ve got two days or so in this area before heading further south.

sorry these posts have been lacking, this website, my phone or the Internet is not always working properly and sometimes decides not to let me post.

From koh phi phi we all went to railay beach…. Well actually we stayed at tonsai beach, the next beach over. Railay beach area has tons of limestone cliffs everywhere and is known for it’s rock climbing. We got our bungalows, which were super cheap but also “rustic.” by rustic I mean angie and I had a hole in the floor and two in the wall, the showers didn’t have heads on the and the toilet was a add a bucket of water when you’re done type. But it was ok, we were only there for a night and it was more than sufficient. We found a great local Thai restaurant that was so cheap and also the most popular in town. It was a really cool area cause as the sun is setting you can go watch people climb some really tough overhangs! Things I don’t think I would ever be able to do’ and then after sunset there’s live music in a lot of beachfront bars and people practicing their slacklining all over. A very cool place, though we didn’t partake in activities too long as we were worn out from our night out in koh phi phi and we were signed up for an early morning climbing session the next morning.
The next morning we all headed out to the beginners rock climbing area and man it is tougher than any indoor climbing wall I’ve ever been on! Tasia and Angie climb regularly, Chelsy has never done any indoor or outdoor climbing and I haven’t been outdoors and haven’t done indoor climbing in years! So we had a wide range of experience and we all climbed about 3-4 routes. Everyone had a great time and by the time we were finished our bodies were soooo sore! That evening we decided to get ourselves to Phuket on the ferry so we could tour phan Nga bay, the bay the has the island in a James bond movie, before flying north to Chiang Mai.

We took our bags and all up to phan Nga area, about an hour from where we stayed in Phuket town, and found a guy there to take us in the longtail boat to tour the area. This was ok, but after the crystal clear waters of phi phi, and the amazing karst cliffs in railay it was hard to compare! By it was fun to be out on the boat for the day! We stopped in a fishing village and a lady was drying something red out and I was looking at and she told me to try one… So I popped it in my mouth and oh man was it bad! It must be something from a fish, Angie thinks it looked like a bug but it had no legs, and we have no idea what it is, so we call it the small toilet cockroach! Haha!

After our tour was over we headed to the airport for our flight to Chiang Mai in the north. We got settled at our awesome and cheap hotel room, and man it’s so nice to be back in the land of cheap again! We then headed out to the Chiang Mai famous night market to find food and souvenirs! We closed the place down while Tasia and Angie bargained for all the things they wanted to take home with them! This is when I first noticed I wasn’t feeling well. I felt a little like I was coming down with the flu, I was a little tingly to the touch and felt a minor fever. It probably didn’t help that our room that first night felt like we were sleeping in the middle of the road as every person or car that went by sounded like they were going to run into you. The next day I was so so and we all went to a forest temple together and then a walk along the river, after this I left the girls to go hone and try to sleep off the fever I felt I had. I fell asleep and woke up later that evening to go to the pharmacist where I found out I had a fever of 102! So I got some meds and went back to bed. The next morning when I woke up I was worse this time now with a sore throat as well… And most of us know I’m doomed when it comes to sore throats! So I passed on our trekking excursion to get some sleep. When the girls came home and found my temp was still bad even after the meds from the pharmacy we headed straight to a local clinic around the corner from where we were staying. And yes I most likely have strep, a high fever and giant pustules at the back of my throat and tonsils! This doctor gave me new meds and I took them and crawled back in bed! The whole process at the clinic took about 5 minutes and cost me less than the thermometer I had bought at the pharmacy the night before…. My doctors visit and medicine cost only $5 USD!!

So needless to say I am now in recovery mode and feeling better all the time. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be a whole new girl, right now my biggest problem is my glands are swollen so it’s hard to talk. But this morning I decided I was going to head out with the girls. Well this afternoon really. So we rented two motorbikes and headed to the tiger kingdom north of the city. The motorbikes are so fun to ride and the tiger kingdom was pretty cool, you get to see all sized tigers and can pay to touch them if you want. We only went for the big ones and you get to lay on them and everything! We then picked up lunch at a local market and then headed to find an elephant village which happened to be closed but we will probably visit tomorrow! It was a good day but I don’t wanna over do it so the girls are at the night market while I stay in and get to bed early.

So family: no need to worry! I am ok! Just the usual strep thing! But I have medicine and am on the mend! I’m sure I just got sick because we had quite active days and sometimes late nights with early mornings! I just wore my body out!

Tasia and Angie leave tomorrow night! 🙁 were all really sad! It has been great having them here! They got along great with Chelsy too and it will be really sad to have them leave. Were probably going to finish off our last day with cheap pedicures and massages!

The good news though is that we have heard of several friends who are coming to thailand area in the next couple months so that will be fun!

Chelsy and I are staying in Chiang Mai one more night after the girls leave just to be sure I’m completely better before pushing myself to see a new place, but after that it’s off to Chiang rai to more trekking (or the first trek for me) and then over the border to Laos!

Tasia and Angie have joined our travels for a couple weeks and it is great!!! They got in and we spent one day in Bangkok. We met Joe and jib for lunch, took a ferry over to wat arun the temple of the dawn, then went down to khao sun road to shop at the markets until we headed to the airport for a flight to Phuket. When we arrived in Phuket we were trying to arrange a taxi to our hostel and the driver told us 20 baht each. When we got to the hotel we had quite a disagreement because he said it was 200 baht each. A slight lurks bump in the road but we stood our ground and we won!!! The next morning we got up and headed to the ferry for koh phi phi island. It
is beautiful here- paradise- but so expensive ecause it’s touristy. We
are staying at a resort at the top of a hill near long beach with a great view over the island for breakfast and some dinners. You take longtail boats to get most places on the island so that fun too. Our first day we went out snorkeling and went to some smaller islands near here… All beautiful! We had a great time all day snorkeling in different spots and enjoying the fish! All was going smoothly until we hopped in and were surrounded by jellyfish that started stinging
us…. It was too bad they were little but we couldn’t get out of the
water fast enough because we were all dying with laughter at Tasia
who was laughing and yelling and crying at the same time!
The next day we decided we would try out diving! Chelsy decided it wasnt for her but the rest of us learned all kinds of skills and saw amazing fish and beautiful coral and we were all hooked! So Tasia, Angie and I went through the course and did 5 dives ad now were all open water certified!!! Our instructor Jaime is from Scotland and not bad on the eyes either! We had so much fun and I’m excited to do more dives while here!!! Basically we have had a great time here, enjoying the nightlife, the diving and the beautiful beaches and scenery! But it is good to leave as my bank account is suffering from this tourist island!

Sum and chels: you know you’re good friends when you share underwear, deodorant and chopstick! 

Feb. 6:
Tasia: you’re so smart summit
Summer: did you just call me summit??
Angie: yes, yes that did just happen
Summer: I am not your dog

Chelsy: I wish they would have made Ronald mcdonalds eyes slanted

Tasia: I have a Valium this could be a real party on the beach
Angie: oh yeah one Valium, real fun
Tasia: you can all take turns licking it

Feb. 7:
Chelsy: Chang me…. Or you got changed

Summer: hey Chelsy
Chelsy: nobody has it better than us

Chelsy: what do you suck at?? I suck at drinking…. Why do you do it? Practice!

Angie: f*** putting a top on, I might sleep topless, will that freak you out??
Chelsy: nah, I sleep with my eyes closed, well be good! 

Tasia: where’d he go?? Did he just evaporate out of that room? 
Angie: yes….. Cause he’s Scottish and that’s what Scottish men do

Tasia: crying
Chin (snorkeling guide): I don’t know… Funny or you hurt??

Tasia: were gonna ride monkeys! 
Everyone else: (laughing) what??
Tasia: oops I mean elephants

Angie: now I got my white swimsuit on! Haha! 

All: this place is so ugly, let’s just go back to Bangkok

Chelsy: 300 baht and I drive (while trying to bargain down a long tail boat

So this morning Chelsy and I got up and decided we should go to the weekend market. It is one of the largest markets in Thailand with over 8,000 stalls! They sell everything. We didn’t buy much or stay too much as it is sooo crazy there, but it is definitely cool to see. We then went to meet up with Chelsy’s friends Jib and Joe. We had an absolutely great day with them! First we went to see what Joe’s house was like and meet his mom. Everyone is so nice and keeps apologizing for not knowing english, when really we should be apologizing for not knowing Thai. It was really cool to see what their house is like, since Joe seems like his family is fairly well off for Thai people. Their houses are so different than our though. But I always love getting a peek into their daily lives or what living is like as this is the stuff you generally don’t see when traveling. We then walked all over the city! We went to a golden mountain, to a metal palace and by the royal palace as well as to the waterfront and river. It was just really nice to have someone explain all kinds of history and what is going on at each place. They explained to us about being a monk in thailand, and even about how you make a wish and then use your pinkie to pick up a very heavy elephant and if you can pick it up your wish will come true. Jib says most people can’t pick up the elephant but today all four of us picked it up…. so I guess that means we are going to have our wishes come true!!

We then got to go to dinner and meet Jib’s mom. The food they always order for us at all these restaurants is so good!! and generally its stuff we cannot get since we don’t understand thai, and also things we may not know to order anyways! Joe and Jib are soo nice and it was great to have them show us around! We are really happy that though we won’t see them for a couple weeks we will be able to return a couple times, especially in April for the Thai New Year…… yes another New Year’s Celebration for us!! Apparently it’s my thing this year….

Now I am just patiently but anxiously awaiting the arrival of Angie and Tasia! They should be landing in their plane soon and then just have to make their way to the hostel! I am soo excited to see them! We have the day to sightsee again in Bangkok with the girls tomorrow and then we are on our way down south to Phuket and all the amazing tropical islands of Thailand!

We had a couple days to kill before our day with jib and Joe and before Tasia and Angie fly in so we headed to kanchanaburi, mostly famous for the bridge over the river Kwai. We settled in to our guesthouse which was really cool because they are little huts over the water! We went to the monkey school right away, only to find out it was kind of sad because the monkeys are all in fairly small cages or tied up around their necks on fairly short leashes! The best part though was that we got to hold two little baby monkeys- they’re adorable! On the way home it POURED on us as we were in a mototaxi, but it only rained on one side of the river. So we headed back to our dry side, changed and headed to the night market to get dinner. We spent the rest of the night playing cards, stumbling upon a local band we loved but didn’t understand a word of, and making friends with some older British men playing the guitar. It was very fun!
The next day we wandered down to the bridge, it’s pretty much your standard bridge. We shopped at the markets, wandered across the bridge and found a boat to take us to a cave. The boat was really cool and was like a super long motor boat. The great part was a little relief and breeze during the midday heat. We weren’t even sure what cave we were going to but it turns out it just has some stuff for Buddha set up inside. The funniest part is that this was the cave that I had said the day before we definitely didn’t care to go to! But we really enjoyed the boat ride so that’s what matters. At that point we were really warm and ready for a swim so we walked into the next hotel down with a swimming pool and went for a swim. This seems to mine and chelsy’s thing…. We’ve borrowed swimming pools in Hawaii, Kenya and now Thailand! Haha! After dinner at the night market we decided we should try out a Thai massage. Now this is not your normal massage, which we didn’t actually know, but for $5 for an hour who cares?? This massage is meant to stretch you out more, or is more like a chiropractic visit. At one point Chelsy had a lady actually walking on her and I felt like I was doing acrobats as my lady was bending me and pressing me until my bones cracked! It was definitely an experience!

This morning we got up and headed for the erawan waterfalls. These are seven tiered waterfalls and they were packed! Everyone goes swimming in them and just hang out! We hiked up most the way and then went back to the third tier to swim in the fairly large waterfall. There are all kinds of people around and a great place for pickpockets since everyone is swimming. At one point while I was in by the waterfall I looked back towards Chelsy and saw a hand trying to dig in our bags behind her….. Luckily I just yelled to her and they stopped cause they knew they were about to be caught! Tricky little guys, thank god our stuff isn’t so easy to get into! The cool part about these waterfalls is they have the fish that eat your skin and give you a manicure. Man that is a weird feeling!! If you let them they will cover your while foot! I couldn’t do it, they tickled me too much! It is just such a strange feeling having these fish suck on you, or almost like they have mini teeth that don’t hurt! I’m just glad I didn’t pay the $10 to have them do that to me!!

Now were back in Bangkok and have a tour day planned with jib and Joe tomorrow and then Tasia and Angie are flying in and meeting us and were headed to the southern beaches!!!!

Quotes:
Chelsy: it’s funny they’re sitting at an irish bar, that’s like us going to mcdonalds (talking about the Irish boys at an Irish bar)

Chelsy: you should have videoed that with your moms camera!!  

Chelsy: I’m never getting pregnant because I hate waiting and 9 months is definitely too long to wait and find out what your baby looks like and wether you want to keep it!!

Chelsy: this is kinda like a vacation from our vacation, it’s like we just took a little two day vacation from Bangkok

This morning we got up early and headed to the erawan waterfalls