I’m so sorry that I haven’t written in a really long time. I know I used to be a lot better at keeping everyone updated. Here is my sad attempt at redemption. So, the last time I wrote, it was February, and it is officially April now. Where does time go? Anyways, last month (March), was full of traveling (Cambodia, Thailand and Burma), and then catching up with school. I’m afraid way too much has happened to record it all, so I will probably just put some pictures up on the blog (www.kianalea.blogspot.com) and give some short descriptions… and give you a little bit right now.
The end of February – beginning of March was the National University of Singapore’s spring break. Three friends from my program and I left the safety of our quiet campus a little before midnight, headed to the airport, and camped out until 6am, when our plane boarded for Siem Reap, Cambodia. (I got to dance around in an abandoned hallway and watch planes take off…) After a quick 1.5 hour flight, we landed in Cambodia. (Siem Reap is the city right outside of Angkor Wat, if you don’t know what that is, please wikipedia it). After a quick nap, we headed over to the floating city of Chong Kneas. Basically, transported around in a wooden-motor boat, we advanced down a filthy river lined with less-than tree house quality shacks (often times one roomed wooden rooms hovering over the side of the river, with definite holes in the floor, and children running up and down precariously nailed ladders). The actual Chong Kneas city is a Vietnamese-immigrant river community. It was a very tourist-friendly introduction to poverty. If you look on the blog, I’ll show a picture of the boy that floats around in a tub. I’m pretty sure he’s a local celebrity.
The next two days were dedicated to our exploration of Angkor Wat. I had dreamed of seeing Angkor Wat since I was little, so it was amazing just to be able to realize that dream. I’m pretty sure my stomach was fluttering at 4 that morning, the hour we woke up for the sunrise at Angkor Wat. The tuk-tuk ride to Angkor Wat served as a crescendo for the rest of the day. After seeing this giant mass of temple appear out of the darkness, we headed back to our tuk-tuk. We were all ready for breakfast, so our way cool tuk-tuk driver drove us to a local-tourist-trap restaurant and we treated him to fried-rice and pancakes. We visited the rest of the temples on the large circuit. The day after, finishing the area with the small circuit (definitely more worth it in my opinion). Temples on the small circuit are less preserved. Ancient walls are in the process of being conquered by majestic yet reprobate trees, and we were free to climb around the ruins (Yay for playing Indiana Jones for the day!). The typical tourist also much less visits the small-circuit. My favorite Angkor was Ta Phrom. This is also the site Tomb Raider one was filmed. In the movie, Angelina Jolie walks mystically around the grounds; butterflies and the sound of cicadas surround her. I was very surprised to find the exact same peaceful and mystic atmosphere that I thought Hollywood had created. We watched the sunset at the highest point/ temple in Angkor.
The next day we woke up bright and early (or rather I enthusiastically woke up three very-tired and grumbly fellow travelers), and piled into a Camry headed for the Thai border. That was the scariest car ride of my life. The Thai border is about 3 hours away from Siem Reap. I would say only 10% of the road is paved. There were parts in which scraggly cows were crossing the road, and maybe some parts where our car’s poor tires left the ground. After finally arriving in Poipet, the Thai-Cambodia border town, also described as the armpit of Cambodia by Lonely Planet, we got onto another tuk-tuk and boarded a nice-clean Thai government bus for Bangkok.
Ok as you can see, this email is already way too long, and I’m only through one of the countries (and in far less detail as I would like). Maybe the Thailand and Burma sections will be on my blog eventually. Everyone wants to hear how Burma was, so I’ll try to write about that soon. (Burma was AWESOME and the trip of a lifetime). If not, I dearly miss In-and-Out, Ihop, and Mexican food. I come back May 26th. Catch up with me then! Um, I love and miss you all. I’ll try to keep working on the blog and upload pictures as often as I can. Unfortunately I’m still dealing with work-intensive Chinese and complicated economics classes in the heavily math-oriented Asian university. Let me know if you have anything you want me to pray about, or any souvenirs you really want. Zaijin!
