Dirndls und Lederhosen

Bier und Brezels

Lachen und Trinken

Theresa and I got all dressed up in our typical Bavarian dresses for some Bier und Brezels.

And old friends reunited in Germany
(We all once upon a time studied together in Bamberg, Germany)
Holly, Molly, Danielle


Molly in training


Danielle, Ali, Theresa, Molly

Theresa bringing over some Bavarian Bier und XL Brezels

PROST!!

After an 11 hour flight to München, I arrived exhausted, but excited to be back in a country where I knew the language (or I could more or less get by), could eat a large amounts of the foods that I was missing (fresh salads, coffee, dairy - milk and cheese, good bread and pizza) and just relax (clean hot showers, comfortable bed with clean sheets and no bug crawling all over them). I was greeted by the smiling face of my friend Ali (we went to CSU together, and she was back packing through Europe after studying in Morocco for the summer and she was currently crashing at my sister's Munich apartment).

Ali and I set off to explore the city (regardless of how many times I've been to München I've never really seen the city other than the Beer Gardens)Here we are with the Olympia Stadium behind us

My friend Holly (From England) and her boyfriendJon met up with Ali and I in Munich for a small Bamberg reunion.

Ali in training for Oktoberfest with Augustiner Bier.

The beer guardens go through a few of these Maßes of beer a night.

My first needle tree in 9 weeks. Just had to give it a hug!

I don't usually find plane ride very comfortable, especially ones that exceed 5 hours. But on my flight home I realized just how comfortable planes actually are. Yes they do have limited leg space and being 5'10'' my legs usually get in the way of my comfort, but for the first time in a long while I wasn't sitting sideways to get them to cram into the seat in front of me. One leg wasn't awkwardly crossed over the other or stepping on something that was squirming under my feet (yes at some points I had to rest me feet on bags filled with something live.) My butt wasn't going numb and I was free to move about as I pleased. I didn't have to ration my water or my food in fear of not knowing when or if the bus (Plane) would stop. There was no one to bargain for things with, and no squattlet to be used. There was water for me to drink and ample amounts of toilet paper (extremely odd, it took me a bit to also realize that toilet paper can go down the toilet again). I was just feeling a bit strange. Where was the over crowded bus with the girls I was traveling with (they were making their way back to the states, as I was making my way to Germany). Where was the intense heat and humidity causing me to sweat every morsel of fluids out of my body. Where were the locals and the mountain of things that were piled high on top of the bus that looked like it just stepped out of the 1970's. Sitting on this über clean plane, I was feeling a bit out of sorts.

2 months is such a short time to travel to see a country and experience their culture. And yet it takes even longer to get accustomed to the backpackers life, being more or less never clean, wearing the same things over and over again, being on the go and sleeping in the most uncomfortable of beds in some of the grungiest places. But some where along the way it grows on you and when stepping back into a clean a civilized world everything is just out of place. I was finally growing accustomed to the strange smells, the heat and humidity, describing things with my hands in order for people to get what I was saying, cramming the 3 of us into one bed (yes it was usually a double or two twins pushed together). I was getting the hang of bargaining and accepting the fact that everything I own would smell of mold and never look clean. My legs were bound to look diseased from all the strange bug bites acquired (right now it looks like I had a bought with the chicken pox). I had finally mastered using the squatter toilets and how to find my 'Happy Place' when crammed onto the long, over crowded, numb butt bus rides.

I'm going to miss the smiling kids, practicing the new words that we would try to learn and the discovering of new places. I'm going to miss the crazy adventures and the backpackers world (even if we hated being stuck on the 'backpackers loop'). It was a good 9 weeks exploring, learning, discovering, growing, embracing, gaining self awareness, and accepting all that came our way. I know for sure that this isn't the end of my worldly travels and cultural learning.

A few random pictures from Koh Tao...

Our Scuba Diving Team - "Wet Dream"
(no we didn't come up with that name, our crazy British instructor did) Tobias (from Germany), Avy, Bridget, Molly

Avy and Bridget in the water with Paul (the British Instructor)

and Tobias after coming up from a dive!

Me just kicking it on top of the boat.

The famous "Long Tail" boats that are the mode
of transportation when living on the water

Day 56...

...Still lost at sea. We drank all the water, and food is running out...

Rather, day who know's what, the sun is finally shining and we are still living the island life in Koh Tao, Thailand. The rain has stopped, the water is an amazing teal bule and about 30 degrees celcious. There are still way to many tourists for my liking, but I'm getting certified in scuba diving... tehehe!

A two day adventure turned in to a 3 day adventure, which turned into wanting to do one dive, and then realizing that we are in the prime location to learn and get certified in scuba diving. So here we still are...

We started the course two days ago, watching the super cheesy PADI movies in the morning and testing our skills on the water and getting to explore the world down under in the afternoon. I can't begin to explain the sea life that I've seen and the colors of the fish when they pass right in front of your mask, the markings that they have and the way they swim about, gliding right on past allowing us to have an even closer inspection, brilliant (testing out my new British vocabulary!). We were lucky enough to see Nemo, which I was told that Nemo fish are rare to these parts of the water.

ELEPHANT RIDING

Yes, that means that we rode elephants, or just one elephant!!! It was so exciting.

We took it to the river and it threw us off its back on several occasions and dumped water all over us. Rather amusing!!

"Embrace the Journey"

Bridget also did the unthinkable

We are now living the island life, and finding it hard to get off. About 3/4 days ago we landed on Koh Tao, Thailand (I would show pictures, but I have yet to bust out the camera) after 32 hours - 3 buses, 2 trucks and 1 boat, plus a few hours in the we hours of the morning at the Bangkok bus station - in order to get here. We made the decision to get out of the north where we were riding elephants, soaking in hot springs (nice reminder of home) and hanging out with the locals in the artsy town of Pai. We realized that our time is coming close to an end (only a week and a day left) and we wanted to get to an island or two before we are to make our ways home (or back to Germany in my case). So here we are, soaking up the rain on the beach, and about to become certified in Scuba Diving with Padi diving for up to 20 meters!!

Picture Time...

Just the 3 of us.

Bridget and I about to kill each other in the kitchen...

Bridget and I took a Thai cooking course in hope of recreating the most delectable dishes back in Colorado. We started off with making our own curry paste and the day ended with making some mango stick rice (my new favorite thing to eat), with 5 other dishes in between. We learned the way the Thai's cook, the ingredients they use, and their methods of making the food turn out so delicious.

Live like poetry

Avy did the unthinkable...

Molly, Avy, Bridget
At one of the biggest green tea exports in Thailand

Getting a taste of what it felt like to have the heavy coils around my neck which the women of the Long Neck Tribe are required to wear to stretch out their neck.

The stretching is started from a very young age and at they get older they get more coils. On their wedding day they take the coils off, show their new husband their stretched out neck and gain a whole new set of coils.

Avy and one of the Long Neck Tribe's kid.

We also saw the Big Ear Tribe. The big ears are just the same as the Long Neck tribe, but they just have their ears stretched out.

Every time I sit down to write in my blog I get a severe writer's block and have a hard time relaying the details of all my adventures and the stories that I have to tell. But while sitting on an overly crowded bus where the southern half of my body is completely numb I can think of exactly what I want to say and how I want to retell my adventures... but then as soon as I find myself in an internet cafe, my thoughts have vanished... we'll see what I can come up with today!

Jumping back to Lao... after the trekking in the remote parts of Northern Lao our 'small' group of five quickly became a group of 7/8 with different people coming and going (we had the Kiwi (Mark) kid for a few days, our English (Timmy) friend for a few more days, then another American (Sam) joined our group and just as the Kiwi was leaving we adopted a Chilean (Andrea) girl). As much as all of us loved staying on the tourist track and seeing all the artsy and European esque cities it was time to see more of the real Lao, where they don't speak much English, have running water in their homes, where every bit of food is made from scratch, and these places are only accessible by tuk tuk or boat.

We found ourselves in Nuang Kuheo, a little fisherman village on the Mekong River. This little fisherman village was divided by the Mekong with the small market on one side and a few random bungalows on the other side. There were few white people, and not much to do but explore the country side, eat amazing Lao food, discover caves, avoid the rats and burn down Bungalows... sleeping in bungalows there are bound to be creepy things crawling all over you in the night. We figure we had a few options to get around this... 1. just embrace it, and accept it for what it is 2. tuck yourself very tight into your bed with no way that anything can get threw the misquito net 3. place the incense bug repelling coil at the end of the bed and hope that it deters not only bug, but rats too, or lastly, 4. live in shear panic and not sleep for the next 48 to 72 hours.

There were three in my bungalow. Michelle and I were tucked very tightly into our beds with the misquito net around us, and Timmy, sleeping on the single bed that had no netting, decided to place the burning coil at the end of his bed in hopes of detouring the rats... the three of us were sleeping as best we could in these 'oh so fancy' bungalows when I woke to not feeling very good with my eyes and throat burning. I asked if there was any chance to open the window, and they both looked at me like I was crazy, thinking that the rats would be crawling in through the window. So I just tried to go back to sleep when Michelle woke about 45 minutes later asking if something was on fire. We all sat up and noticed that our room was completely filled with smoke. It turned out that Timmy knocked his pillow his bed landing on the burning coil and catching on fire. It was smoldering for at least and hour, destroying the pillow and burning through the bamboo mat on the floor, oops. We did some rearranging of the bamboo mats before we left.

It's strange being in a small group now. No more monopoly playing at dinner when trying to figure out who owes what, no more bargaining for two rooms or cramming the 5 of us into one (those were fun times), no more taking over the place with 5 American girls, and no more 5 Coloradoans, so sad, now were just 3.

The three of us have been trying to figure out our next move. Thoughts were flying around of trying to get into Burma, or maybe dropping down into Indonesia or the Philippians, but with only two weeks left we finally decided that it's better to stay in Thailand and explore this country that we have yet to really see.

We crossed the border back in to Thailand with no problems and started more Thai adventures. We made it to a city called Chaing Rai and got back to our challenge of 'blending'... We want to eat where the locals eat, eat what they eat (or something similar), and experience things more on their level. But being a white person, visiting some random town in a country that I've never explored and in a language that I don't speak 'blending' is hard. But we found some noodle shops where the signs aren't in English and to get what we want we have to point and pray that were not getting monkey's brain or somethings crazy along those lines in our noodle soup.

Northern Thailand has more indigenous tribes that have immigrated from the surrounding countries. With no idea how to see these tribes and no other option we hired a guide to take us up into the hills of Northern Thailand where we able to 'see' them (it was more that they are placed on display for the westerners to see and they have no other option of a life but to look pretty and smile for the camera). The tribes were fascinating, but then again I can't get into their heads and understand how their minds work, how they do things the way they do, and the finer details to their culture and customs. All we could do was buy things from them as a means of income and take pictures to show our friends and family what we saw (pictures will be posted later). The first village that we saw was the Karen-long neck. Where they have rings placed around their neck to elongate it starting at a very young age. This is only done to the girls and it is seen as a sign of beauty. The neck tribe that we say was the Karen-big ear. Where their ears are gaged stretching them further than any ear should be stretched. And the last tribe we saw was the Lost Tribe of China. Where this group of Chinese immigrated to Northern Thailand and were hidden away in the hills. Both Thailand and China knew that this tribe was there but yet they did nothing to remove them. In the past few decades the Thai government accepted them into their culture giving them Thai citizenship. It was possible the closest that I'll get to China for a while, but it was like steeping into China, with Chinese looking people, Chinese language, Chinese food, and Chinese buildings. Rather interesting. We ended the day by drinking mass amounts of Chinese green tea over looking a green tea plantation.

Currently I'm in Chaing Mai, the ancient capital of northern Thailand, learning how to cook Thai food, getting dresses custom made, exploring the Wats (temples), buying one to many things in the night market, and doing other random acts... so exciting!

I've left the relaxed country of Lao and crossed the border back into Thailand where things run on time, aren't so out dated but things are still the same... 'same same but different' (a common phrase over here). Our group of 5 is now down to 3 as two of them make their way back to Colorado. And that gives the rest of us only 3 more weeks in SE Asia, so sad :(

Lao has left a lasting impression on me. The people were so friendly - example...

Last night we were staying in the little town (Haungsa) in the middle of no where and we were the only white people in this town (yes we acquired a lot of looks, especially when I went for a run) and only a few people spoke a few words of English. But at one point I walked into our guest house to buy a bottle of water and there were these Lao people sitting down drinking a beer and having dinner and they insisted that I have a beer with them and share their dinner (regardless that we had just ordered our dinner). But whatever, what they were eating was more traditional Lao and it's always fun to get to know the locals. We found out through their broken English and our nonexistent Lao that they were going to the same town we were the next day and they would be willing to give us a ride in their car. (A real car, not just the back of a truck that is crammed with more people that is can hold going on this winding dirt road that is no more than 30 miles long but takes about 2 hours to drive.) We were so excited (Woot Woot)!! So the next morning we caught a ride with them (Best car ride of my life, my legs and butt never went nunb, there was more leg space than I knew what to do with and there was an "oh shit" bar to hold on to as we went flying around the corners) so we could catch our boat to the Thai border. In the end they ended up saying us about $3.50 and we got there in about half the time. We bought our tickets to take us to the Thai border and we found out that we would be riding in a Speed Boat - Lao Style (an old wooden boat, that was low to the water with no windshield and there was negative leg space with about 5 hours to go wearing out super cool helmet that made us look like we were part of 'Top Gun') When we got on the speed boat we meet another Lao Family. The father had just gotten out of being a Monk for a few days because his father passed away and they were on their way back to Vientiane. After chatting for a bit he found out where we were from, he insisted that we come visit him next time we were in Lao. So he gave us all possible ways to contact him and his family in hopes of us stopping by next time we are on this side of the world.

Bridget, Molly, Avy
Riding in the speed boat "Lao Style"

The scenery was breath taking. The jagged mountains with the low sweeping clouds that engulfed the jungle and the terracing crops. In the valleys between the mountains were where majority of the rice field lay with tiny huts for the families. The villages were small with dirt road that ran though them and the children were always out and about running from one place to the next and jumping in and out of the river.

Here is just one of the many flowers that's in this part
of the world with the rice fields in the background.

This are some of the women from a hill tribe with their children that are on their back to their village after working in the fields.

Monks are a common site over especially very young ones

Akha Tribe

The next set of pictures are from the Akha Tribe that we visited after trek in Northern Lao. The all gathered around us as we ate lunch (we felt so bad about eating in front of them, but we couldn't refuse the food that was being served to us). Most of the men were our in the fields working leaving all the children and few of the women behind. One way for them to earn some money is to see the bracelets and necklaces that they make. So while we were eating they all laid them out for us too see and to buy once we were done eating. The kids were so cute though as they sat around the things that they had either made or their mothers had made. Most of the Moms carried their babies on their back while having there many other kids circle them.

Time is going by so fast. I'm about to enter week 5 of my travels (in SE Asia and week six in all)and every day is a new and crazy adventure. Every day we are learning more and more about the Lao culture and we have been so lucky to see the country side as we go along.

The bus rides are always intertaining. We are going usually no more that 200 Kilometer and yet they take about 4 to 5 hours to get somewhere. The buses are anything but comfortable and AC is just a funny thought over here (some places have it but it's not worth the extra money to pay for it). Once you get on the bus you are usually bound for 4 or so hours (yes no stopping and if you know me, I have to pee all the time). The drives have been through the mountains on windy dirt roads that are practicaly washed out. It's hrad to catch a nap on these rides or even read a book, but luckly the scenery is amazing and the kids of the villages that we pass always come out running after the bus to say "Sa Ba Dee" (hello in Lao). Most of the time the bus driver plays really laod music that I'm assuming is in Lao, if not Thai. And after about an hour in the bus the music starts to blend together and sound the same (sometimes not to plesent after a 9 hours bus ride). And when they do play English speaking music is usually is one of the old boy bands. (good for a laugh!)

Sticky rice and veggies have become my main staple over here. With banana shakes and fresh mango and pineapple to snack on in the inbetween time. Getting food usually takes several hours, because unlike in America they have at most two cooks cooking away in the kitchens here. So our food comes out individually and usually by the time the last person gets their meal the first person is hungry again. Due to the French influence here we are lucky to bagets and creps, that has given us a little varity to our diet.

Barganing is always a task. They throw down one price and we start at the lowest price that we can, knowing that it is unreasonable, until we work our way to a cost that is good on both ends. But in the end we know that they are still taking advantage of us.

Laung Namtha, Lao

We just got done with a three day two night trek in the northern hills (or I guess you could argue that they are mountains) of Lao. As we started our trek we were all singing "In the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight." We lucked out that there were no lions, but rather tons of spiders (huge, about as big as my palm) and leeches. (We had a running count going of all the leeches that were on us (1 point for on the skin and 0.5 point for on the clothes). I lucked out with only having two but others had up to five.)

On our way to Laung Namtha (where we started our trek from) we met a boy from New Zealand and adopted him into our group. So the six of us signed up for a trek hoping that we would come across two more to bring down the price of the over all trek. Eight in all (5 Americans, 1 Kiwi, 1 English Lad and 1 Korean Kid) plus two guides (who were both Lao) and two cooks (2 people from the first tribe for the first night and 2 people from the second tribe for the second night)

We started our trek with exploring an indigenous tribe called Kahamu. And then headed off into the jungle (the mighty jungle). Along the way we learned about different herbs that the tribes use to make tea, and some fresh fruit, and we stopped and ate a lunch that was made from the Kahamu people under a bamboo hut. We had our fair share of rain along the way and we were slipping and sliding in the mud down the trail (I pretended that I was skiing). When we got to our first destination we couldn't (or I guess didn't want to) do much exploring because we were finally in dry clothes and didn't really care to get wet and muddy again. That night the guides, Pon and Jai, brought out a bottle of Lao Lao (the alcohol made from sticky rice) and a freshly made bamboo shot glass and we started drinking (for me though Lao Lao doesn't go down very smoothly and apparently my after face after drinking it is rather entertaining).

The second day of hiking was long, muddy and yet again rainy, but so enjoyable. We were all so amazed by everything that we saw and the guides kept mocking us along the way with our oohh's and aaww's. We ended the trek on the third day by having tea and lunch with the Akha tribe and their Chief. The chief brought out 3 bottles of Lao Lao and by the end of the lunch we were barley able to walk out of there (I think we had about 7 shots of Lao Lao and there was 12 of us to a bottle).

We were able to interact with the Akha tribe more, although they didn't speak much Lao (and it's not like we were suddenly fluent) and defiantly not English, but we bought necklaces and bracelets that they hand made and when we took pictures of the kids they were all fascinated by seeing themselves. I was pleased to see that there was a school in the village, even if it was a one room school house. But three of us went in on buying them books that were in Lao and in English.

More adventures still to come...

(PS I couldn't get the spell check to work, so sorry for all the spelling mistakes, oops)

It's about time for some pictures, and I finally found an internet connection fast enough to load some. (I hope)

Thailand

Here we are, the 5 of us in Koh Chang, Thailand.
Ella, Molly, Avy, Bridget, Michelle

We rented moto bikes for the day to cruse the island with our new found Thai friend. This picture is from one of our many stops on that adventure.

Cambodia
Angkor Wat... Was spectacular! All the walls had very detailed designs telling stories about the Buddhists and Hindu religions. This is the main Angkor Wat temple. It was built for King Suryavarman II in the 12th century and this was his state temple and city capital.

I'm not sure how many temples there are or how many we visited, but this one was one of my favorites with all the faces carved into the stone.

Most of the temples have become in golfed with trees.

Lao
These are rice farmers from the island of Don Det. Rice is their main crop, but in the highlands of Laos Coffee and Tea are becoming a main crop as well, especially since the government has outlawed growing opium.

This was one of the mose beautiful places on earth. We were in the middle of a rain forest with a crystal clear waterfall crashing down around us. We were soaking wet just standing in the mist from the water fall.

Molly and Bridget from one of the many swings into the river...
Vang Vieng, Laos was like MTV Spring Break (or what I imagine it would be like), but Lao style... Whenever you're up and ready to take on a full day of boozing and cruzing you rent an inter tube catch a ride up the road and spend the day on the river getting tan, drinking beer or 'happy shakes' (a fruit smoothy with any form of an illegal substance in it... mostly weed but they may come with other hallucinogens) and swinging into the river from one of the many bars along the way. All the swings are at different heights and not all the bars are happening. We tended to stop at about 3 of the many bars have a beer and swing into the river 5 or so times. Some of the swings 3 people could swing from at the same time. We've decided that we need to start something like this in Glenwood...

Here are the 5 of us once again after a day of tubing in Lao.

The 5 of us are getting good at...

Using squatlets (basically a hole in the ground to take a dump)

Learning Lao

Playing monopoly with the money over here (having to divided everything from the room to the food we get and paying each other back)

Smelling (we shower on occasion, but it's more of an effort to get clean than it is to stay smelly and we know that as soon as we steep outside we'll start sweating again)

Packing and repacking all our crap into our backpack

Sleeping just about anywhere

It's hard to describe what it's like over here. There are so many similarities between these three countries (Thailand, Cambodia and Laos (but it's pronounced Lao)) that I've been traveling through and yet, they are all very different. Thailand is the richer of the three countries. Cambodia is the poorest, and Lao falls somewhere in the middle.

Upon my arrival in Thailand I think I was in more shock than anything with the way the world works on this side of the planet. The smells were different, the language was strange, and the heat and humidity were causing me to sweat like I had just run another race. They were driving on the other side of the road and it was killing me how they try to scam all the travelers out of money.

We then crossed the border from Thailand into Cambodia and that's where the real culture shock hit me. Although we were back to driving on our side (the way we drive in the States) I couldn't stand to see kids begging for food because their parents couldn't provide for them. Or seeing them (Kids around the age of 14) sell themselves to sleazy white tourists that come through. No one at any age should have to be begging for food, and the kids shouldn't be the main source of income for any family.

I left Cambodia on a bad note. After Siem Riep we went back to the capital of Cambodia for one more night before catching a 9 hour bus ride in attempt to make our way across the border to Laos. Knowing that we were in for a long ride Avy and I decided to head out and find a store to buy snacks. But walking alone at night isn't always the smartest thing to do. We ended up getting mugged along the way.

We were crossing a street and some guy came up from behind Avy and grabbed her purse. She resisted and as he speed away we both started chasing him and screaming like a mad men. We saw him throw down the strap to her purse and speed off into the night and we started walking frantically back to the main road that we were walking down. The people that we had just passed came running to see if we were ok and the picked up Avy's broken purse with all its contents still in it. We were lucky enough to have not gotten hur and not have lost anythingt, but we were all ready to get out of the big city.

LAOS

We crossed the border about 4 days ago and set ourselves into Lao time (things happen here when they want to happen and there is no saying when or how we will get to our destination). We made our way to the Mekong River were there are about 4,000 islands. We took a boat (a little piece of wood basically) to an island called Don Det.

This little island was a self sufficient island growing most everything they needed to survive. Having cows, chicken and sheep roam the island and letting the tourists that come through be the main source of income for the islands on this part of the river.

Lao has so far been amazing. The language is similar to Thai and we figure that since we are hear the longest we might try to become a bit more fluent than we were in the other countries (we have basically only been learning hello and thank you, but know we know our numbers and good bye - we are on our way to being 100% fluent!).

We left Don Det and decided to take a "Local Bus" (Local meaning anything and everything shoved into the back of a truck with benches - I think that at one point we had 31 people crammed into the truck, live chickens, fish both dead and alive, bags fulls of crickets and who knows what else along with all our luggage and what ever else the Loations (What Lao people are called) had with them.)

We arrived in Pakse and took the next local bus in hopes to find coffee plantations, green tea plantations and some amazing waterfalls that were suppose to be hidden somewhere around this area. We found some waterfalls but they were off in the distance and everything else we tried led us to a dead end. We took the local bus once again to the next town found a room for the night and realized that we were in the middle of nowhere where ATM's aren't on the corner of every street and we had about no money in their local currency.

We begged with some guys to exchange with us allowing us to have enough to get back Pakse where we could then find a bank (Pakse was a big town in comparison to the place we ended up staying at). The next day we found a driver that took us all over the place showing us the green tea plantation, coffee plantations (where we were able to sample both coffee and tea) and took us to these water falls that were probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen (words cannot describe the scenery here). That night we took a night bus (yes a bus with beds - and no not a good way to get some sleep) on our way to the capital of Lao, Vientiane.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Out of the city once again and off to the pride and joy of Cambodia; Angkor Wat. After a 6 hour bus ride on the most uncomfortable bus EVER we arrived in the biggest tourist attraction city in Cambodia.

Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century for King Suryavarman II and is today the worlds largest religious structure ever built. It was first a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu and then later became a Buddhist temple in the 15th and 16th century. During the Khmer Rouge all religion was banned and the temple was partially destroyed. Most of the Buddhas that are in every temple had their heads cut off or removed from the stone that they were implanted in.

Upon arriving in Siem Reap we bought our overly priced tickets for the next two days to explore the inside world of Angkor Wat. We started by hiking up to the only temple on a hill and watching the sun set on Cambodia. And the next day we woke at 4:30am to get to Angkor Wat before sunrise to see the sun coming up over the temple.

We explored my first of the seven wonders of the World with bike (we rented bikes for a day as a different mode of transportation) and with Tuk Tuk. Stopping at all the various temples along the way that were built for various different reasons during the period of King Suryavarman II. After two and half days of temple exploring we were a bit templed out.

We went back to Siem Reap to give blood (yes, we stopped at the Children's Hospital on the way back to town and all gave blood. For Ella and me it was our first time ever giving blood) and kick it with some of our new local Cambodian friends (they invited us out to the locals bar for night or partying Cambodian style).

Tomorrow catching a bus for a day and a half adventure of crossing the border into Lao!! Woot Woot!

Phonm Penh, Cambodia

We left the beach and headed inland to the capital of Cambodia, Phonm Penh. The hustling and bustling city was hot and humid but a bit more low key than Bangkok. We stayed on the lake side of the city where most of the backpackers end up staying in a place that left much to be desired. We crammed the 5 of us into one room to pay about $1.60 a night. But there wasn't just the 5 of us in the room. We happened to share the room with some friendly mice (although they ate some of our snacks) and some other strange bugs.

We hired a Tuk Tuk (the form of transportation here) and set off to see the history of Phonm Penh. We started off by going to the S21. One of the concentration camps during the Khmer Rouge that happened in the 1970's. There is so much history to Cambodia that is never taught in the schools and this country is finally starting to get it's feet back on the ground.

Next we went to the killing fields where the did mass execution of anyone with some form of education from knowing a second language to being a doctor. The leader of the Khmer Rouge Pol Pot wanted to turn the country back into an agrarian society. He started kicking people out of the cities and killing anyone one with any higher knowledge.

From the Killing Fields we did something that most tourists don't see - the city dump of Phonm Penh. I'm sure you're all thinking, why the dump? There is a surprising amount of families that live at the dump because they have no money and no other way to get by. And they support themselves from findings at the dump.

We finished up the day all is a state of shock of the history that we had just learned about and the sites of the city that we had just seen.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

This was my first real step off the path of western comfort and very eye opening to see the world at a different level. Because Bridget had been to Sikanoukville last year she knew where to go and knew most of the local street kids. We started off right away by hanging out with all the kids. Getting to know them individually and wondering why these kids are working harder than any kid should have to work to earn a small income for their family. Wanting to help out in every way that we could, we spent the next few days just hanging out with them, playing with them and letting them know that there are people out there who care about them and wish the best for them. I brought over a deck of cards, some bubbles and balloons for the kids to play with. It was so heart warming to see the kids eyes light up with these few small toys that they were able to play with. I left everything for them at the Cambodian Children's Painting Project so they can continue to play with some things on a daily basis.
The poverty level of this small town caught me way off guard from the beginning. I knew that it was bad, but seeing it in person just makes it even worse. We went to the market one afternoon and watched as the workers there try to sell something to make a small amount of money, but the market was under tarps that were barely holding together. As the rain fell many of the workers tried to stay dry but with tarps that has more holes than it should they just had to suck it up and hope to stay dry and sell things.
Another afternoon we went to give our donation to Regent School so a child could attend school for a year. We were able to read descriptions on the kids and their families before we made the choice of who to choose (one of the hardest decisions of my life) we were able to see how these families tried to make money and the amount that they brought in per month to support an entire family usually between 6 and 9 people. Very shocking and sad to see them barely scrap by on 20 US Dollars a month.

Food for thought...

The Street Kids of Cambodia run the streets trying to sell various things, such as bracelets and headbands that they themselves made, to earn a small income for their families (they are so good at bargaining with you, and it's so hard to not buy everything from all the kids). And at night, if they have a sponsor, they are able to attend night school to learn English. These kids are incredibly smart, but with little direction of where to go. There are various programs in Sihanoukville that help these kids get a good nutritious meal a day as well as giving them a safe place to hang out and play during the day and express who they are.
Some other G-wood (friends of ours that also are from Glenwood Springs) are volunteering at Cambodian Children's Painting Project - www.artcambodia.org.

This little girl sitting on my lap has clung to me since I walked in the door at the Cambodian Children's Painting Project. Every time I ask for her name or try to talk with her I get no response, but as soon as I put her down she is clinging to my skirt waiting to be held again. Today I finally got her to sing the ABC's with me as well as count to 50 while clapping our hand and laughing the entire time, but once that was over she wouldn't say anything else. I was told that she is about 10 years old, although she looks to be no more than 5. (it is rather shocking to learn all the little kids ages)
Here is Ella (to the left) and Bridget with some of the street kids that have been sponsored through SCKEF. Most of these kids attend night school to learn English. With a scholarship they will be able to continue their education - check out the website again... kidsofcambodia.org

Thailand to Cambodia...

The difference was very prevalent once we crossed the border into Cambodia. After leaving our island of paradise, we set off for the developing country of Cambodia. We took a bus from the city of Trat to the border town of Hat Lek, Thailand. Before we even got out of the van, our bags were unloaded and we were told by the guys that unloaded them that they had to take our bags across the border. It all seamed a bit weird. We all took turns watching our over sized back packs as we got our passports stamped and we crossed the border into Cambodia.

We realized that for the guys to take our bags across the border was just a way to scam us out of money, as was when they said that they needed to fill out our paper work for our Cambodia visas. So 25 US Dollars later, and some more change to pay everyone that 'helped' us we were officially in Cambodia.

The paved streets turned into dirt roads and the so-called 'house' that we saw in Thailand turned into little shacks that were barely standing and looked like they were all but rain proof. The amount of garbage on the side of the roads increased and the rain stared to pour. Luckily that cooled things down a bit, but the humidity still lingered in the air and on all of our things. (None of our things have been completely able to dry since arriving in SE Asia).

We asked the Taxi driver to take us to a certain guest house, but once we got there we realized that it was not where we asked to be taken. Yet another scam to get our money (because the guest houses pay cab drivers to bring them guests for the night). Luckily it wasn't that bad of a place and we only were paying two dollars each for a 'clean' bed to sleep in.

Early the next morning we caught the bus to Sihanoukville, Cambidia where Bridget's sister has a Non Profit; Sihanoukville Cambodian Kids Education Fund (SCKEF for short). This non profit works with the street kids of Cambodia helping to get them off the street and send them to school. Please check out the website for more information - kidsofcambodia.org - and possibly sponsor a kid by sending them to school for a year.

Koh Chang, Thailand

Sea Kayaking, Snorkeling, Moto Bike riding, sun bathing, thunderstorms, new found Thai friends and the biggest spider ever named Edger!

After getting out of the hustling cities, and catching two random buses, getting dropped off in the middle of no where and bargaining our way in the back of a truck to the ferry port of Koh Chang we made our way to Paradise: the second biggest island off of the coast of Thailand. The plan was to stay for only two nights, but once we tasted the food, went for a swim in the warm water of the Gulf of Thailand and got to know the people at the guest house we decided to stay for another night.

One of the Thai guys at the guest house took a liking to 5 American girls traveling together and decided to show us around a bit. Tod (Pronounced Tot) took us to the small islands off the coast of Guest House, teaching us about various things along the way (mainly how to talk in Thai). We went snorkeling with the fish in the teal colored water that surrounded the island and were able to take a closer look at the coral. Getting back to the big island a few of us realized that we fried the hell out of our selves from being out on the water. I guess that SPF 30 is not enough.
We also were able to rent Moto Bikes (mopeds) and cruse to all the off the beaten paths of the island. With only one small accident (Bridget and I crashed within the first minute on the bike, (she was driving) and luckily we had no other problem) we were on our way for the cruse of our live. Going up and down super steep hills, passing big diesel trucks, and holding on for dear life we cursed the island. Tod was kind enough to teach the few of us that had never ridden a Moto Bike before how to drive one (and I can't wait to someday buy one). We were able to see the most remote parts of the island, how the locals live on the island and the other small towns around the island.

The food that we indulged ourselves in was amazing and the view for the patio of our guest house was specular. With the water only a few feet away. We've all been trying to get the ultra spicy food here (yes me included) and we have had some moments of near death with the amount of spice they put in (ok, well I guess just me).

Out side one of the rooms was the biggest spider that I've ever seen and we named it Edgar (we all felt safe when we saw Edgar in his web). Driving along we passed a heard of Elephants and across the street from our Guest House we had monkeys (I guess were not in the hills of Colorado any more).


Last night we crossed the border into Cambodia... a whole new language, different customs, and surroundings to get used to; should be exciting!

THAILAND

Sawadee Ka (Hello in Thai)

I arrived last Wednesday in the "land of smiles" where I eventually met up with 3 friends from home (Glenwood Springs) and another girl from Colorado. We spent 2 nights in the dirty and over populated city of Bangkok, all trying to adapt ourselves to the strang and new world that we had just entered.
Upon my arrival I was lucky enough to go to a friend of Theresa's and sleep for a bit while I waited for the others to arrive. They took me out for my first "ture" Thai meal. They showed me the streets around where they lived. I took in the city smell, noise and heat that was sudden change from my Colorado setting (Thanks Jon and Tina for everything).
After two nights in Bangkok the five Coloradoians (Not sure if that's how you spell it, but that's how I say it) took a bus to the Sex capital of the world, Pattaya. It's where dirty, old, rich white men go for some pleasure. I was more in shock about this city than anything. The way that the women were flonting themselves at the old guys in order to make some money made me sick. Luckly we were only there for one night and less that 24 hours.
After catching a bus off the side of the road (don't know how we even found the bus stop) and changing to another bus where we almost all died of heat (there was NO AC on this bus and we were basically in a sauna for the next few hours sweating our brains out) and then catching a ride in the back of some guys truck (actually that's how the Taxis work around here) we some how managed to get to a small island off the coast of south eastern part of Thailand called Koh Chang. This island is filled with white sand beaches, an amazing jungle, the best Thai food ever, friendly people, and other crazy backpackers.
After some adventues sea kyaking today and some burnt legs, we decided that this places is pretty amazing and we plan to spend the next two nights here before crossing the border into Cambodia....
More adventures to come.

(Sorry about the spelling errors, we all know I'm not known for my spelling ability and I can't figure out spell check because it's all in Thai, oh well.)

Life in Germany in never dull. Time was spent drinking beer (in one of the many Bier Gartens in München), riding bikes (Theresa has my old Bamberg Bike (yes the one that I got in two accidents with while studying abroad) and it was great to be reminded of my Bamberg days), buying dirndls (to become true Bavarians), taking trains, modeling with Porsches (at a Friends Birthday Party that was held at a Porsche Garage), steeling another beer maß (I think that makes a total of 4), going to German techno clubs, watching the sun rise (only because we were dancing till 5 in the morn.) and kicking it with my sister Theresa and all her friends.

(Molly and Theresa and one of the many Porsches)

Tonight I'm leave all familiarity and venturing into the unknown; an unknown language, culture and customs. I arrive in Bangkok, Thailand tomorrow afternoon (Thailand time). And I'll be traveling around SE Asia for the next two month. Let the adventures begin!

DEUTSCHLAND

After one to many flights, and zero hours of sleep I arrived in Germany on the start of my three month adventure through Germany and SE Asia. A few small memories started to flood my mind, reminding me of my previous years spent in Germany, as I walked through the Frankfurt Flughafen; the fact that you have to pay for public restrooms, that it is acceptable to drink in public, and that there is humidity here. I picked up my backpack with the only one thought crossing my mind... I should of listened to my mom (I'll just give my mom that much credit). Made my way to the Bahnhof and spent the next 3 hours sleeping on the train on my way to the true home of Bretzels, Bier, Lederhosens und Dirndls; Munich.

GRADUATION

I've done it... Graduated from College with two degrees in the College of Liberal Arts; one in International Studies and the other in German. The next step to my life is traveling and becoming a bum.  Way to put my college degrees to work!

On Tuesday I'm flying to Germany to visit Theresa for a week and then I'm off to South East Asia for two months!!  Woot Woot!!!

This semester is on the down side of things with only 6 weeks of school left, yikes (I have way to much to get done in the next six weeks in order to graduate)!! But I thought I would stop and update the world on the "happenings of Molly."

Taos, New Mexico (March 7-9)
13 of us loaded up the pop up camper, and three cars, for a weekend of skiing, camping, and Puuush iiiiitttt stories (don't ask where that word came from, but it caused for a good laugh all weekend).

Molly's ski, Ali's Ski, Molly's pole, and Lindy's Shotski

As it turned out, Taos was an all skiers mountain (until I think this weekend or last weekend). So 12 dedicated skiers, and one dedicated shotski (a shot ski is a ski that has 4 shot glasses glued on top so 4 people can take a shot together) skier, made the 6 hour trek to Taos.

Ali, Molly, John, Lindy

The whole group us us, plus a few others...
Molly S, Molly R, Damby, Ali

Us 4 made the hike up to 12, 481 ft to ski Kachina Peak. The view at the top was unbelievable, and the snow skiing down was amazing.


Arcata, California (March 14-22)
Tara moved out to Arcata in November, and with her being so far away I thought I would make my way to visit her for my last spring break of my college career (ahhhhh).

Tara and Molly
(Every night with my sister is a crazy night.)

Tara and the love of her life, Toby

We spent many moments on the beach!!

Molly and Tara

Nova, Tara, Molly, Nahane

My brother and his family happens to only be about 3 hours away in Oregon, so Tara and I road tripped it up there for a night to hang with our nieces and to see my brother and sister in-law.


1987's Prom
I turned back the hand in time to 1987, found some 'interesting' 80's attire, and went to prom with my date Lindy.

Lindy, Molly
(With are fabulous ring-pops)

Molly, Sunny, Lindy, Ali