Leaving

The unfortunate and inevitable end has come. Tomorrow I spend my last day in Phnom Penh (for now at least) and I fly out at 11:30 pm. I have been incredibly fortunate in my very quick 23 years to have four places that I have called home. Of course there is the island I grew up on and definitely hold in the deepest place inside of me. Second was Ithaca where I attended college, but when I left there it felt final. Southern France is the third where I only spent one semester. And the fourth is here in Cambodia. Usually moving on from these major events I can deal with. I can normally accept that it was a determined amount of time, and once its over I move on to the next step. For some reason, that is currently not the case. Something else has happened inside my head that is making my departure seem that much more difficult. Even with the comfort of knowing that I will return within six months, I still sit unsettled.

As for what I've been up to has been a combination of busy days and very slow days filled with lots of reading. Much to our surprise, our friends Heng and Lin we met on new years eve came down to Kep to surprise us. We spent the day driving around and seeing Kep, and resting in the shade. The next morning we went for a somewhat perilous ride up one of the hills and much to our surprise we got up and down without incident. The road up was very steep with only a little bit of which was paved, the rest being unsteady rocks. We went to a place to where you normally watch the sunrise because of the direction it faces. We stayed there for a little bit and decided to head back to our guesthouses to get our things and get back on the road to Phnom Penh. Of course, we couldn't get away with our last bit of the trip having a driving obstacle. About an hour and a half into the four hour ride it started to downpour. We pulled over after ten or so minutes of driving. Drenched and waiting for the rain to pass a boy and his younger brother let us park under his roadside hut to wait and cover our bags with our ponchos. After a half hour the rain started to let up but didn't stop, and we got back on the road. Normally I would be stressed beyond reason, but I had the thickest and most stable tires of the three motos so if they weren't sliding around I should be ok. The four hour journey turned into about 7, but most importantly we made it back.

Once Vilde and I got back to Phnom Penh from Kep we were quick to try and sell our motos, as well as buying souvenirs and keeping up with friends we won't see for some time. Vilde only had three days in town while I had ten, so I tagged along while she did her errands knowing I would have more than enough time to do my own later on. Saturday I woke up early because Phea (staff from school) invited me to his home in Takeo province, two hours by moto. After all the stress of traveling around I was happy to get to Phea's house and spend the morning in a hammock talking with his parents (with Phea translating everything). We took an afternoon nap, and then Phea wanted to get back on the road because he had things he wanted to do in Phnom Penh the next day. On the way Phea asked if I wanted to try palm wine, so we stopped for a half hour break. I had tried palm juice back in November, which was painfully sweet but I managed to finish my share. I was expecting the worse for the palm wine, but when I took a sip I was shocked. The taste was much more subdued, I assume because of the fermentation. I was able to drink it fairly easily. We also had some stuffed frog, which I had also tried back in November. After that, we got back on the road to the city. And again, it began to rain as we got near the city slowing us down a bit.

Sunday was spent doing a few things, but mainly getting ready for Vilde to get to the airport and fly home. She went for a massage, and I did some more reading and catching up with people from home. Me, Vilde, Soriya and Elliot (a new volunteer) all packed into the tuk tuk to get to the airport and bid farewell. We got there before the gate even opened so we sat down and grabbed quick bite to eat. Dragging out the process as long as possible we finally said goodbye and Vilde went inside and the rest of us got back into the tuk tuk home.

The next day, I had one goal. Sell my moto. This task seemed much more difficult than finding someone who wanted to haggle over price. The engine was put through a gauntlet being driven around the country. Now something in the engine was impossibly loud and I wasn't too keen to fix it myself. My only hope was to find someone who would either overlook the noise (doubtful) or someone who would accept a little lower price willing to fix the problem themselves. I was hoping to sell the moto for 400, since I bought it for 450 and put about 150 into fixing it. In reality I was expecting around 200... if luck was on my side. So I did everything, had Soriya call the mechanic to see if he know anyone interested, asked staff at school, looked for shops around town that buy bikes for parts, shops that buy bikes to fix up and resell, and my last ditch effort, I put an add on the Vietnam Craigslist saying I was in Cambodia selling my bike. Everything became dead ends, except one. To my incredible surprise I got a reply to the add on craigslist, the last place I thought I would ever have a hit. So I got a phone call and set up a time to meet. When I pulled up I met the British man I spoke with on the phone and the first thing he noticed, the noise. He took a test ride and left his girlfriend with me for collateral. When he came back he said his only reservation was the noise and of course I understood. He was interested and asked all sorts of questions about mechanics with big bikes to the issue of having a Vietnamese bike in Cambodia. Luckily I've had six years of experience selling cheap and expensive wines to unknowing fools at home, so I felt somewhat prepared to stretch the truth. I never gave him false information I made some of the realities a bit softer than they are.

We took the bike to a mechanic that he trusted, and there came my biggest challenge. Taking what the mechanic might say and spinning the words into a sales pitch. I started the bike up and the mechanic started out by saying "You shouldn't even be driving this bike around town, the engine could break at any second." Great. I'm screwed. The guy asked the mechanic what it would take to fix it, and he said its one of two parts inside the engine and it will be good to go. Ok, things are looking up. How much to fix the noise and get the bike working properly? "I'm not sure, but it's one of two things and they are quick to fix and you only have to open the top of the engine without a major challenge." And that's it, I know I have it sold. The mechanic leaves us to work out and details and if he wants to still buy the bike. "Well I see two options," I say. "I can get the bike fixed on my own, raise the price and see if you still want to buy it. Or two, I can knock the price down to 350 and you can buy it now." He thinks about it, and time seems to stop in anticipation of his answer. Finally, "Yes. I'll buy if for 350." HA, sucker. I may have been too quick, but I was eager to pass the ownership card to him and have the 350 in cash in my hands. Once I had the cash, I was quick to get on the nearest moto in case he changed his mind.

After selling the moto, I was amazed. I thought that would take all week, and in my head I was ready to take the plates off the bike and park it somewhere with the key in the ignition and the ownership card taped to the tank. Well, now I have the week to do anything I want. I passed my time by reading quite a lot, doing some souvenir shopping and driving around town on motos borrowed from friends.

The final thing I did, which seemed to turn the tides on how I've been feeling about leaving was going to a place called Kean Svai. Its a place to sit by the river and picnic. It was a combination of staff and teachers from the school. We all packed onto motos and made the half hour trip there. We spent the morning enjoying food from the small market at the edge of the riverbank. Everything from mangos, grilled corn, rice, noodles, chicken, sticky rice, and a number of fruits I had not seen before, nor do I know the names in English. There was also turtle to taste, but no one bought it seeing as its illegal. After the food was finished, we spent some time talking, some laid down to rest, and some watched the Khmer staff play a card game. Even though all the staff was perfectly able to tell us how to play in English, there were four of us putting our heads together and picking up on different aspects of how to play this one game. The staff would speak Khmer, and we would try to figure it out and speak louder than they would in English trying to determine all the rules. Then after we thought we picked up all the rules, we decided to play one round without the help of the staff and see if we could figure it out. We got it mostly right, but the staff couldn't help but laugh at our choices of cards and insisted on playing our hands for us. I lost a whopping 1000 Riel (25 cents). Then the majority of the staff and teachers decided to take a little trip on a boat, while only four of us stayed. While they were on the boat, the four of us played the same card game, but without money. Its a good thing too because I would have lost quite a bit of money.

Playing cards at that moment is when I realized that it will be incredibly difficult to leave. I've met a few people both staff and outside of school who have impacted me greatly, and I can't quite pinpoint why. I spend time with them and even with a language barrier, conversation with them is beyond easy. I realized that I am going to miss these people greatly, even though I've known them for such a short time. Not only will I miss the people, but I'll miss the country. I've never encountered a place where every single person you meet is as nice as could be and they will help you if needed regardless of how little they know you. When I broke down six kilometers outside of Phnom Penh, a stranger who I guess didn't speak English slowed down and motioned to me asking if I needed help or a push. Here is a place that is full of the most genuinely happy people I have seen. Even meeting Phea's parents in Takeo, they were genuinely interested in learning all about my life and family before Cambodia, even though his dad only knew one phrase in English. Life here is just so incredibly easy. I truly have no idea how to describe what I mean, or even an example to give to show what I mean.

All I know is that for some reason, six months away from here seems too long and it seems like too much will happen in that time. At home, that translates to another summer, or a little more than a semester at school. Here, the country is in such a rapid state of development it could mean that the next building in the developing skyline is finished. Some of the people I have met will have moved onto new jobs and it will be harder to see them. Not only is everything here changing so quickly, I am returning home where time seems to stop moving. Summers are filled with work, the beach and bars. I am excited to go home and see family and friends, which is what I look forward to the most. But after living here, going back home and having to endure the tourists for the summer, especially the August ones... It seems an impossible task.

I know how this all sounds, but I don't feel as bogged down as it sounds. I know once I get home and settle in I will be as happy as a clam with being around family and friends. Returning home will be wonderful I know, but I am bound to have some difficulty reintegrating my mind back into the proper state of thinking. But who knows, maybe the second I step off the boat and see my family all of this will wash away and I will be totally focused on life at home.

I will miss Cambodia while I'm gone, but I'll be back before I know it.

Kampot and Kep

Well we rounded out our time in Kampot with more or less a bunch of short trips and lounging around. We spent one of the days going to the caves of Phnom Chhnork, although the photos I have seen of them in other places do not exactly match up with what we saw. So I'm not 100% positive that those were the caves we saw, although the entrance off the highway said it was so I am left utterly confused. The caves were quite impressive. We were the only ones there so there was quite a sense of isolation. Our guide was a kid who just hangs out there and waits for tourists and works on tips only. He took us around and saw things created by hundreds of years of crazy cave action. There were limestone formations of animals as well as stalactite and stalagmite formations that resembled elephants. After that we went to the next thing on our list of places to visit: Tek Chou Falls.

Fortunately that was back in the direction of our guesthouse. We got to an area that was crowded with huts where people would hound you to buy something from them in exchange for the use of their hut. I wanted to try to avoid that so we headed upriver a little bit more. We then ran into the complex of a new hydroelectric dam and I realized that our only option was the huts. We bought waters and then headed down the ledge to the water. There wasn't so much of a waterfall as there were rapids. We decided against swimming in it, and we walked a little bit down stream where we found a little wading pool covered in trees and cool calm water. We hung out there for a bit and then headed back to the guesthouse. Since the place we stayed was on the river there was a little floating dock to relax and jump off of. I dove in without issue, but Vilde was scared because I told her that I couldn't feel the bottom with my feet, which terrifies her apparently.

That was our last day in Kampot, and we forgot to do one thing while we were there: get the ribs that everyone talks about. I guess I'll have to get them the next time I come back. The next day we got up and wanted nothing more than to lounge around again but we had to check out. We reluctantly got ready and made the short 25 kilometer trip to Kep. Its a very quiet town with very little in way of activities, but that is what I'm looking for right now.

We are staying in a place called the Boat House. The main building is made up of the restaurant downstairs and a few rooms downstairs. Upstairs is two large rooms and a shared veranda with a lot of open space and a separate room that has a TV/DVD player and another little sitting area. The best part about it all? No one else is renting the other room so we have what could be the equivilent of a very nice rental without a kitchen for only 15 dollars a night. Not too bad.

We went to the beach this morning and for the first time in my life, it was too hot to stay. Even in the shade of a tree, the sun was too much. Going swimming didn't help much since the water was so hot. Yes I know I won't get any sympathy from anyone in colder climates, but warmer weather is on the way. Now we are back at the guesthouse and doing what is easiest, relaxing and not doing much of anything.

Well the time of the trip is winding down and so will the blog posts. There's only a few more days left in Kep, then we head back to Phnom Penh. I am spending a night with Phea (school staff) at his hometown in Takeo province and Vilde flies out on the 25th. Then I have another ten days of miscellaneous activities before I make my departure and head home, and that will conclude my time in Cambodia. For now at least.

Some time in Phnom Penh

Well, the moto problems were worse than I expected. What we thought would be one night in Phnom Penh turned into six nights. It started out with being told that my moto had problems inside the engine and not just the simple fixes that have been the problems in the past. After a day I was told that it could be fixed and I couldn't have been happier. The next day, we got up and got ready to go pick up the moto when I got a call. The fix is harder than expected and it's going to take longer. So the next day I decided I didn't want to sit around Phnom Penh doing nothing (except going bowling for an afternoon) and I would rent a moto and drive it the last leg of the trip. So I got up early on Monday to get to school and get my passport which I needed to rent the moto. When Erin got to school I quickly learned that he had put the passports in the big safe upstairs and not in his desk drawer, which I can't complain about. And where was the key to the safe? With Sambo in Takeo province where he was attending a wedding, and the icing on the cake, he wouldn't be back until sometime the next day.

So we went out to dinner and Soriya and I had the idea to call the mechanic. We had both succumbed to the fact that it would not be fixed easily, but it was worth the call anyway. Much to our surprise we were told it would be ready in the morning and we could hit the road instantly. The only thing, the new parts needed to be broken in easily and I couldn't drive too fast. My solution? Drive slowly to Kampot right after I picked it up.

We made our way to Kampot with no issues. The engine was louder than normal but it seemed to be going fine. We got to the place we wanted to stay, just as Vilde ran out of gas, and asked for a room. Nothing until tomorrow. So we stopped at the two other places on the Kampot river to see if they had any availability. Nothing. We headed back into town and stayed the night in a guesthouse that was recommended by Soriya. There was nothing wrong with it, aside from the lack of sink in the bathroom. We decided one night there and another three in the place we wanted to stay with bungalows on the river. We spent the next day moving to our new location and the afternoon lounging around the common area, reading, napping etc.

The next day (today) we slept in a little bit, and decided to make our way up Bokor Mountain to see the old ruins from the French colonial era. Again, make a 1 kilometer climb up a mountain with a fragile moto was probably not the smartest decision, but I sit here now with a living moto and pictures from the top. We walked among the ruins of old hotels, outposts and a church which had some number of bullet holes from the battle between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese in the late 70s. We spent a little bit of time up there, and then decided the clouds coming up over the mountain ridge looked a little too menacing and we started our descent. First we decided to go to a waterfall on top that was only a few kilometers away. We drove about five kilometers and then, we came to the end of the road. Literally. In front of us was forest and the end of the road, nothing more. So after finding nothing, we made our way down without issue, aside from a sore butt from riding on the moto.

Tomorrow will probably be a bit more of relaxation and a waterfall that is only a few kilometers up the road from our guesthouse. Then we are off to the sleepy seaside town of Kep, our last stop on our trip. After that Vilde leaves to go home and I have about 10 more days in country and I make my own return home. So there will probably only be one more update after this, unless there are issues with the moto in the end of the trip. Of course I hope nothing happens to the moto, but I am fully prepared for the worst case scenario which would result in a bus ride back to Phnom Penh and a moto ditched on the side of the road.

Siem Reap, Battambang and Pursat

Well, there was always too many things going on in the last week and a half to be able to sit down and write a good post, so I guess I'll attempt to do that now. Hopefully I don't forget too many things.

Well we left off in Kampong Cham where we decided to stay an extra day because we were quite ahead of schedule and we were exhausted from the long days on the motos. So after a day of doing basically nothing in Kampong Cham, we headed out again on the way to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor.

We arrived once again, with no fan fare. Well there was the incident where we had to weave our way through a herd of ox crossing the highway. Luckily there was no issue. We got into town and for some reason we had trouble finding a guest house. In the middle of the search we managed to go the wrong way down a one way street and got stopped by a cop. He said to me:

"You are wrong, I will fine you."

"What did I do wrong?"

"This is a one way street, so you get fine."

"I didn't see a sign, I didn't know."

"It's right there." And he pointed to the end of the street which was a market, where I'm sure there was a sign, but I couldn't see it.

"I don't see it." (Probably said too matter of factly, but he didn't seem to notice).

"Fine, go."

After the quick turn around, we made our way down a small street and saw the first guesthouse, and decided to stay there. It was reasonably priced, new and the owner was an old British guy so it seemed a good enough fit.

The first day in Siem Reap we took it easy, much like our whole time there. There might have been a day in between our first day and the day at the temples, but I don't really remember. One day we got up at about 4:30 in the morning so we could get to the temples for sunrise. We got there with plenty of time to spare, and as the sun peaked its way above the temples around 6:30 or 7, everyone was snapping their pictures of the temples and the reflection pool. Even though I have my own, I couldn't help but mock some of the more over the top looking tourists. I'm not too sure, but I don't think there is a way to really describe the temples. They are too overpowering. Angkor Wat is beyond massive, it is the largest religious structure in the world. It has a massive surrounding wall with a massive entrance way, and then another quarter mile walk to the actual temple. It was made up of layer upon layer of walls, and of course the infamous towers that stretch high into the sky. The amount of detail is amazing, from the carvings in the walls, to the curved lines and intricate designs of the towers. They are truly incredible. On a side note, wherever I go in the world and see a famous structure its always got scaffolding on it. I know this sounds petty and a bit like gloating, but it always happens: the Colosseum, Washington monument, Angkor Wat, St. Peters Basilica, Big Ben... the list goes on.

Anyway, we spent the rest of the day looking at a number of temples. It would have been nice to have a guide with us relaying the history of the temples, but that on top of the heat would have made the day pretty difficult to deal with. We went through on our own, and at our own pace. I'd have to say that my favorite temple was the second we went to, the Bayon. It was pretty large even compared to Angkor, and the towers were finished off with four different faces of Buddha. As well as all the towers having the faces of Buddha, there were tons more around the whole temple.

Each one of the temples we saw had something all its own to offer and look at, and of course there is the "Hollywood" temple, whose real name is Ta Prohm. The reason it is nicknamed so, is because the first Tomb Raider movie was filmed there. More spectacular than that is the temple itself. The roots of trees forcing their way through rubble in search of the light. They weren't just small trees. They were massive roots of trees that would reach higher than the trees of the surrounding jungle.

Our day at the temples concluded at about 1:30. Because of the intense heat, all we could manage to do after that was eat some food and stay in the hotel. The next day we slept in a little bit (until 8 or so) and we arranged a trip to the village of Kampong Phluk. The reason this is well known is because the village is essentially one made up of bamboo skyscrapers. The village is right on the Tonle Sap lake, so in the dry season there are houses held up by bamboo that tower overhead. Compared to houses in the States, they would be around a three to four story home... on bamboo stilts. And of course this doesn't seem strange to the residents, they are used to climbing three stories in the dry season to get into their house. The amazing part, is that the water in the wet season comes up to the floor of the houses. The change in the water level is incomprehensible. We went by a forrest, and we were asked if we wanted to see the inside, but we skipped. I later read in my book that during the wet season, that entire forest is underwater... I still can't really grasp that idea.

We got back and had another quiet afternoon, and then we decided we would go out for the night to party since Siem Reap is known for its temples and its bars. The night flew by of course, and we ended up spending the next day sleeping/reading/watching some TV/nursing hangovers. We decided that the days were going good and easy there, so we decided to take one more day in Siem Reap.

The next day we slept in again, and arranged another long tuk tuk ride out of town to the Land mine Museum. It was a pretty small place, but it was still really interesting. The man that runs it was originally employed by the Khmer Rouge in the 70s and was given a gun to start fighting at age 10 or so. He was later trained in the intricate field of mines. He later defected to the Vietnamese army where he fought the Khmer Rouge (at the young age of 10 he had no choice but to join the Khmer Rouge or else suffer the consequences, i.e. get killed). Then, once the Khmer Rouge was finally disbanded in the early 90s, he started working with some NGOs to dismantle the mines, and make areas safe. He has accomplished quite a lot, but there is still a rule of thumb in certain parts of the country: never leave the well traveled paths.

The next day we got up and took our time getting ready since our trip to Battambang was only a 120 kilometers, or about a three hour trip. Once again, we made the trip with no major issues. Battambang didn't have a whole lot to offer, but we spent one full day there, and we rode the bamboo train. This is a platform made of bamboo that looks more like Tom Hanks raft from Castaway than a train. Its powered by a small honda engine, and every time there is a mistake on the rails, you feel it. It is not very comfortable. The rails themselves look like a few guys decided to drink some beers and had the ingenious idea to build a railroad. Then there is the issue of what happens when you meet another bamboo train coming at you head on. Simple: dismantle the train with the lightest load, let them pass and reassemble. Its easy really, you take the bamboo platform off of the two axles, which it only sits on, with no restraints or safety precautions. Then you take the two axles off the rail, let the other train pass and reassemble and you are on your way. After that, we realized there wasn't much left to do in Battambang, so we called that part of the trip short and decided to leave the next morning.

We didn't want to sit around all night so we found a circus to go to... It is run by a French group who educates children in the arts. They raise money to send students to Canada and the UK, so its a worthy cause and entertaining at that. The first half hour of the performance was a band playing songs that were made up of traditional Khmer instruments as well as western instruments. The group was made up of professional musicians as well as students from the school, and all were really good at their instruments. Then came the circus performance. It had everything from acrobats, to juggling, and fire jump-roping among others. The most stressful part was the student who joined on the acrobats. The professionals would toss this kid into the air, who couldn't have been older than 12. With a few exceptions, he managed to land all the stunts, but that didn't stop the audience from holding their breath and gasping the whole time. The performance was really great, and they did mess up a few times, but it was almost refreshing to see that especially when they would just play into it with the whole act.

Then came the next day where we would head to Pursat, a halfway point between Battambang and Phnom Penh. The plan was to stay one night in Phnom Penh and then head down the the beach for two weeks to get some rest. We got to Pursat with no problem. The town was incredibly small. There was a big island in the middle of the river which was intended to look like a barge run aground, unfortunately I didn't take pictures of it. On top of the "barge" though was a pagoda, which seemed quite nice, but we were focused on finding a place to stay. We finally stumbled on a guest house that had parking, which is what we look for so we don't have to worry about the bikes at night. We quickly realized that no one spoke a word of English, but we managed to get a room for the night for $6. There was a storm in the afternoon so we had no choice but to stay in since we had learned our lesson about riding in the rain. We realized at one point that it was a very good possibility that we stayed in a brothel, but we'll ignore that for now.

We got up quickly the next morning eager to leave the guest house and get back to Phnom Penh. The day went without issue... until the last 8 kilometers or so. I suddenly felt my bike, which was making more noise than normal, stop accelerating. I heard a bit of puttering, so I prayed that i just ran out of gas. After pushing my bike in the sweltering heat for about a kilometer I found a roadside stand selling petrol out of a pepsi bottle. I put the petrol in... nothing. I checked the battery, the headlight was bright, and the horn nice and loud. Not the battery. The next step, the spark plug. Its an old engine and it wears down the spark plugs quickly. I changed it with a new one I had in my bag for such an occasion. No change. I attempted to ask a restaurant owner if he knew where to find a mechanic, but again, no English. I called Sorya so she could talk to someone in Khmer and ask where to find one. I dialed her number and prepared her for the conversation, I asked the restaurant owner by pointing at my phone and putting it towards him. He ran off. Unsure why, I slowly followed him into the back of his restaurant which became his house. I asked his daughter by doing the same thing. I put the phone towards her and pointed at it. She also ran away. I was incredibly confused and asked Sorya to wait one more minute. Then the old man came back with a phone charger. "Otey" I said. No that is not what I want. However he kept running around looking for an outlet. Frustrated, I put the phone next to his daughter's ear and said "Hello!" She finally caught on.

After that big of a fiasco, I managed to find one about a half a kilometer away. Again I pushed my bike there in the heat and traffic. The man was fixing a cops flat tire, so it took about 15 minutes before he even looked at my bike. He tried a few troubleshooting things and ultimately came up with: can't fix. At a complete loss, I again called Sorya for advice. She talked to him and found out that the problem was inside the engine, so not a simple fix. Shit. After a conversation between Sorya and the mechanic, it was determined there was only one option: get another moto to push me the last 6 kilometers into town and then have my usual mechanic look at it. The moto I hired was uncomfortable pushing me, so he tied a rope to the front of my bike and the back of his. There was only a space of about three feet between my front tire and his back tire. There was little room for error if he braked quickly. I can say it was the longest 6 kilometers of my life. It went by ok, but I was incredibly tense and stressful trying not to hit him when he would slow down.

We got back to the volunteer house fine, and that is where the bike is now. I am off this afternoon to get pushed to the mechanic in the north of town. I have no idea what is going to happen with all this. The worst case scenario, rip the old engine out, weld in a nice new Honda engine. Hopefully it won't resort to that, but we are in Phnom Penh for an undetermined amount of time, but I hope not too long.

On the bright side, we got to meet the new volunteers and we get to see some of the staff today, so that will be exciting. We also went to pub quiz last night and won a free pitcher of beer for a caption contest. Tonight we are going to the pub  quiz we usually went to, and hopefully we can do Quizzie Rascals/Lets Get Quizzical proud. For now, I am still quite stressed about the bike, but it came with the territory so I am somewhat mentally prepared. As soon as the bike is sorted out however, we are back on the road to the beach.

Kampong Cham and Mondulkiri

 We last left off with Vilde and I getting ready to depart for Mondulkiri province and the town of Sen Monorom. After staying the night in Kampong Cham at a guesthouse on the banks of the Mekong, we were up early to set off on the long journey east. The road was in really good condition considering that the road from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham was pretty terrible. The trip there was luckily uneventful. We made the 250 or so kilometer (155 miles) trip in just about six hours, which is really good considering we were expecting more trouble and more time on the road.

We arrived in Sen Monorom and took the advice of one of Vilde's friends and stayed at a place called the Nature Lodge. It was pretty awesome. Everyone had their own private bungalow complete with small balcony and an outdoor bathroom with hot water. And a benefit here, they are even working on being 100% sustainable. Since the place was located far out of town, we decided to take it easy after the long trip. That consisted of taking naps until dinnertime. Since the lodge is about 1 kilometer out of town, we ate most of the time at their restaurant, which was pretty good food so the bit of extra money was worth the convenience and the taste of the food. The next day we decided we would go looking for waterfalls and sleep in since we had traveled so far the day before.

We quickly learned that a self-sufficient lodge with farm animals do not care about sleeping in, so we were both up around 7 or 7:30. We ate breakfast and headed to the closest of the falls, Monorom falls, only 1.5 kilometers out of the town center. A quick side note about the town itself. It reminded me a lot of home. It was small, but just big enough to solve any problems you needed with no excess. We made our way out of town on the red dusty dirt roads. When we arrived I was surprised to find that there was no one there except for a family that hoped to sell snacks to visitors. We started walking around and taking pictures and all the usual stuff. It was getting hot and we wanted to go for a swim, but the water looked a little too dirty for comfort, so we decided to wait for later at a bigger waterfall. We climbed around for awhile, and of course my camera ran out of battery so I got angry, and we changed our plan a little bit. We headed back to the lodge for some lunch and a chance to charge my camera.

After lunch the sky started to get a bit darker, but we decided to head out of town anyway to see Bou Sraa waterfall, which is known around the country for its beauty and double drop falls. The road there was even worse than any we had come accross. Parts of it were paved, not well, but paved nonetheless. The rest of the road was part red clay, some gravel, and the rest a combination of all three. We got about 23 out of 33 kilometers there, and the sky started to look much darker and angrier. We probably egged each other on subconsciously but we decided to continue on anyway. As we got to the falls and paid the dollar entry fee, the rain started to fall. We went down to the falls since we were already there, and thought we might be able to wait out the rain a little bit. After taking some photos of the falls and trying to stay as dry as possible, we decided the rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon, so we turned the bikes back on and started the long and arduous journey back to the lodge. We hoped. The whole time I couldn't help but hear the echo of Erin's warning, "Do NOT ride in the rain." Going at a regular pace, the trip should have taken us no more than 45 minutes. It took nearly 2 hours. The rain continued to pour, and the roads got worse. The only thing we could do was ride along the puddles that had formed in the tire treads of the cars already gone by. The worst part, we got to the bridge to cross to the final road to the lodge, only a half kilometer from safety. I went on the bridge fine, but I saw mud on the other side, and for whatever reason, my brain panicked and I knew I had no choice but to bail. I sustained no injuries aside from that of my ego, but the bike had the blinkers on the left hand side ripped off, and the front disk brake got a bit skewed (which is getting fixed at this very moment). After a terrible two hours on the road, we got back to the lodge, and had no hope of warming up after cruising through the cold rain, even with hot showers. Thankful that we had not succumbed to hypothermia, we ate some dinner and went to bed knowing that tomorrow would be better. We had booked a day trek on the back of an elephant.

We got up early, had our usual egg, fruit and bread breakfast and waited for our transport to the elephants and the trails. We hopped in the back of a truck with some French families, and were on our way. Much to my dismay, we were back on the terrible road we had to traverse on the motos just the day before. Luckily we only went part of the way. We got out of the truck and saw an elephant having its breakfast outside of a house. It was smaller than what I expected, but it was still huge. I started laughing when I saw the elephants head because I did not think they actually had a tuft of hair. Ever since seeing the Jungle Book I thought that they exaggerated the hair on their heads, but no, they have a pretty full head of hair. We quickly learned that we would be one elephant short for the day. Why? During the night, one of the elephants had uprooted its chain and run off into the jungle. That meant one less for the French families. Suddenly two elephants came charging out of the jungle with an 8 year old perched on top of each one.  One of the guys told us that yesterday was a wedding, and since there was a union of two families, they now had to wed the elephants before they could leave. The little kids took them off to the other end of the street where they went through a quick ceremony, and apparently drank some alcohol...

After some time, they put some baskets on the elephants backs and we climbed up a rickety ladder to get on top. After cramming ourselves into the little basket, we headed down the road for a trail. And who was our driver? One of the little kids, who most of the time got board and was singing most of the time as well as trying to find the most comfortable position to ride on the elephants neck. We spent about one and a half to two hours on the elephants hiking through the jungle. Ours seemed to be the most stubborn. She would often stop to find something to eat, then run to catch up to the rest of the group. If she managed to get into the middle of the pack, and one fell back she would stop and wait to make sure the last elephant wasn't lost or too far behind. She would make her own paths instead of taking the already made ones. She would stop in rivers and cool off by spraying herself and us with water. Every time she did something she wasn't supposed to, the little boy would try to grunt with a deep voice but it didn't really work since he was so young.

After we couldn't take the pain of the wooden seat any longer, we stopped for lunch and a swimming break. We ended up staying at this stream and small waterfall for about three or four hours. All we really did was hang out, swim, play in the water and before we left we helped bathe the elephants. The walked into the water just about up to their eyes. When they were done, I swam to where I could stand up and then the elephant started walking out of the water, and it just kept getting taller and taller, it didn't seem possible that an animal that huge could hide its body under that small amount of water. We hopped back on the elephants and made our way back through the jungle to go back to the lodge. We finally got back and again we were exhausted and ate dinner, had a drink and went to bed. Before all the 5 year old French kids.

We decided to stay one more day in Sen Monorom so I could try to find someone to fix my blinker as well as the welding of the seat-back on my bike. That was the easy part. I had the same thing fixed in Phnom Penh which cost 4 dollars, and the guy did a crappy job. In Sen Monorom, the guy did a much better job and even reinforced it with more pieces of metal (that he found on the floor of the shop) and it only cost two dollars. Now the hard part, finding replacement blinkers. I went to every mechanic I could find in town, but none of them had the part I was looking for. I'm not surprised because the bike is more common in Vietnam and parts in Cambodia are hard to come across. I made the decision to not get them fixed, but it was ok since the side they broke off was my free hand so I could signal to turn with that hand. And since it was mostly highway driving, I wasn't planning on making right hand turns anyway. We spent the rest of the day at the lodge relaxing, reading and enjoying the peace and quiet.

The next day we loaded the bikes back up and parked them outside the lodge since they were outside our bungalow the whole time. We ate our breakfast and prepared to leave. Of course though, my bike didn't start. The worst part about it, the only mechanic was about 1 kilometer away, but luckily we were on top of a hill. I had to do something I had never done, and still didn't really understand the concept of:  try to start the bike by pushing it and popping it into gear. It had never been really described to me, but I held in the clutch and someone lent a helping hand to push me down the hill. After what I thought was more than enough energy to start the sleepy engine, I put it in first and let go of the clutch. To my great surprise, it worked! I was also going too fast for first, so once the engine started and I realized what was happening, I lurched forward, but barely got it into second gear.

I got to the mechanic who I saw yesterday with the hopes that he could help. It being so far away from the usual tourist track, he didn't speak a word of English. I had to mimic the motion of charging the battery, since there wasn't a single noise when I tried to start the engine and the spark plug was brand new, and it started once I went down the hill. I knew it had to be the battery. I showed him and he started to tinker. I saw that he had ripped out a wire, so I got nervous and walked under a tree since the heat of 8 o'clock in the morning coupled with the stress was too much to bear. After about ten minutes, he started it up just fine. He pulled up a part of the batter that I recognized, but I still don't know what its called. He managed to convey to me that it was bad, and that I owed him a whole four dollars for the part. With everything ready to go, and the bikes in seemingly good condition for a ride, we were back on the road west to Kampong Cham.

And that's where we are now. We realized that we are way ahead of our tentative schedule and that we were still in pain from sitting on top of the elephant, along with the six hour ride back to Kampong Cham, so we are here for an extra day. Tomorrow we are back on the road and this time we are going to be in Siem Reap. The combination party town with the temples of Angkor Wat just outside the city. That should take us just about as long as Mondulkiri, so the next post will probably be about the temples and Siem Reap, all given that the bikes work properly and they let us get there. 

Sunrise in Kampong Cham

 The top of Monorom Falls

 Bou Sraa Falls

Our Tiny Driver

Bath time

Farewell CWF

It's officially over. Everyone spent the last week of school in a whirlwind of class, meeting people outside of class, seeing a few touristy things, getting some souvenirs, and checking things off of the house check list. The last day of class consisted of continuous parties and a full day of activities. Six of my students took me out to bumper cars after we had lunch as a class. It was of course, hilarious. Then I was scrambling to get the few drinks that I promised my nighttime classes. Everything was what you would expect in terms of farewells. The students who didn't really like the class left without much fanfare, while some would say goodbye with sad eyes, and one even said goodbye and ran back to give me a hug.

Then came the last party, with my favorite group of students. I liked all my classes, but my last class of the day was the easiest to teach and the best at keeping their own conversations going. Not many of them showed up, but those who did brought a feast. I had already eaten pizza the class before so I was on my way to getting full, but I felt obligated to eat everything they brought and put on my plate. One of my students even brought me an avocado smoothy type thing, and a batch of fresh noodles. Of course there was way too much food, but I sampled what I could. There was everything from noodles, to beef, bread, noodle salad, and what is possible the strangest of Khmer foods that I have eaten so far. As a recap, the strange things I have consumed as of yet are crickets, spider, frog (of multiple varieties), and snake among other things. One of my students was talking for months now about how he loved to eat pong tea khon, or what is translated in English to "baby duck egg." This is essentially a half fertilized duck egg, so the inside is a combination of duck body and yoke... I kept telling my students I would try it, but it seemed too much of a mental hurdle to try it, so I never did. But Tra was insistent and said he would bring some in and I told him that yes, I would try it. Luckily he was nice and gave me a fried baby duck egg, so it wasn't so runny. Everything was going fine until the last bite. I was beyond full so it was hard enough to shove more food down my throat. But as I was taking the last bite, the fried bread-y type bit came off and as I looked down to put the bite back together, I saw a duck face looking me in the face. All I could think was the cliche "when in Rome," and down went the egg, much to the chagrin of my stomach.

Then came the weekend. The worst, most terrible, most sad, most fun weekend. After classes were over, we all had to sit and digest the massive amount of food we consumed through the day. Then we decided to slowly make our way to the beer garden that is down the street. Being full, and lazy I decided to take my moto for the entire 15 second trip. Mostly because Molly had been looking for a ride on my moto and it had not happened yet. We spent most of the night there, until once again they forced us out because they were closing. Unsure what to do, I decided to put my moto back in the house, and meet up with everyone when they decided to do. They all said they were going to the petrol station on the other side of our block, so I started walking there. We all claimed that the petrol station would be our place to go for cheap beer and comedy since most people would park their motos have a couple beers, fill up their tank with gas and be on their way. Somehow we only managed to make it there a handful of times. I realized that people were only buying beer to bring back to the house, and so our second to last night ended with an "early" night in. Well most of us at least. The usual suspects were out until the sunrise once again.

The next day we only had the staff party to attend. I spent the morning doing a few odds and ends to get ready for the road trip. Then I was around the house to hang out with staff and help set up for the party. Mostly it was Phea and Pheareak asking me to come help with something, then they would beat me up. It made me feel a little bit like a little kid again, but I seem to have escaped unscathed. The party started at four, with the musical stylings of the one and only Brent, who seemed less flirtatious than normal. About half way through the party, Sambo, Erin and the Director of CRDT gave a speech thanking us, and showing us how much money we helped to contributed to the CRDT program (about $30,000 for the year of 2011). Then we got our certificates thanking us and recognizing our contribution to the program, as well as a letter of reference for future work. The most amazing part of the night? When Rich, Vicky and Liam performed a song written by a number of people and set to the tune of Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry. I can't even begin to describe how hilarious it was. The chorus is still ringing in my ears, especially riding down the road today. I could post the lyrics, but it would be a ton of inside jokes, so for those reading, not very funny. For those who know me, the two jokes about me were "crossword king" because I did a crossword in the newspaper everyday. The second being that I am unable to fix my moto without the help of Soso. There was a third joke, but it only makes sense if you traveled to Sihanoukville.

The party continued until 8 with a massive feast of Khmer food, and grilled veggies and meat and so so so much more. We all decided that we needed to go out, and someone made the suggestion that we go to KYC, and everyone else agreed. KYC is the karaoke bar that is right next to the petrol station at the end of our street, and will play karaoke as long as there are people who want to sing, so it usually goes past one in the morning every day of the week. We had to see what it was all about. Much to our surprise, some of the staff decided to come out with us. We got there and sat at a huge table, and had a pretty normal experience. I ate a massive amount of bean sprouts (more on that later), and everyone had a bit of beer until some went to TB (Top Banana), and some of us stayed for one more beer at the karaoke bar. What seemed very sudden, Kate was wondering if she could just go up on stage and dance with the group of hostesses that accompanied a karaoke singer. To egg her on, I said I'd give her ten dollars to go do it. And she did. Kate if you read this, I'll give you the money when I see you in Chicago. Before I knew it, Soso and Vilde were betting me that I wouldn't go up and join her. For only three dollars bet, I was running up to the stage, and dancing with Kate, about 10 hostesses and the singer. We're still unclear as to what it looked like having us up there, but it was funny.

Then we headed to the area of Phnom Penh where the dance clubs are, and especially Carnival bar. That was the place we stumbled upon on New years when the dance club wanted to charge us 6 dollars to enter, and I thought that was too much and found the bar next door. It's some sports bar, but at the time it reminded me of a carnival game because there was a bar to sit around the whole space that had seating on the interior. Needless to say, I dubbed it carnival bar, and has cheap beer and its in a decent location so we ended up there pretty often. We stayed there until about 1 in the morning, while some people went to the clubs afterwards, and some went to another bar. The next morning, we intended on leaving Phnom Penh in the direction of Mondulkiri around 10 in the morning, so we needed to get to sleep.

The bean sprouts from KYC... I woke up with the worst pain in my stomach and was afraid to stray too far from the bathroom, and I made the almost immediate decision that I couldn't leave that day. I was unable to do much more for the whole day than lie on the floor of the TV room and fall asleep, and barely made it outside to get to a shop to fix some of the welding on my moto. The day was full of mixed but mostly sad emotions. Jake left in the morning sometime, even though he missed his first bus. Abbie was the next to go around 11. David left at some point. And Vicky left around 4. She tried to avoid giving hugs so she could speed away in the tuk tuk without anyone seeing her cry, but we couldn't allow it. Then we all went back inside and binge ate our way through the sadness. Somehow an order of french fries stayed in my stomach, and I knew I'd be ok for the next days journey. After a meal, and a little time at the house, Vincent left the house to go to his second home of Top Banana, and once again the tears started to flow. We all went to bed and prepared to get up early in the morning for the final departure.

Today we all woke up between 6:30 and 7 to part ways, after hanging on to the very last second of being able to live in the house. The girls were the first to leave on their way to Siem Reap and Angkor. And much to no ones surprise, the tears started to roll again. They all left quickly so as not to prolong the pain, aside from the fact that they were running a little late for the bus. The staff started to show up and we knew that was our cue to hit to road. Rich was the next one to go, who is on his bike. His final destination... Australia. On a bike. God speed Richard. Then it was me and Vilde, originally the second two to leave the house, we were now second to last. Liam was the last to go, who is now somewhere in Singapore, or on his way to Melbourne. Vilde and I were ok leaving Erin, Soso and the staff since we knew we would see then in about a month anyway. We stopped and filled up on a full egg, toast, bacon and bean breakfast.

We made the long journey up Monivong boulevard and made our right turn over the Japanese friendship bridge. Erin advised me to not do what all the other motos were doing. They drive on the foot path because it is faster and no one in Cambodia walks anywhere. I made a split second decision and went on the foot path. Since I knew I was going against his advice, I pictured a disaster, no such thing happened. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. We would drive for about an hour, then our butts would be numb, so we'd pull over for a drink. We decided to only go to Kompong Cham because we didn't want to push ourselves too much on the first day. After only about four hours on the road, we are safe and sound in Kampong cham. As for the road here, I think it needs some description. For those reading from Nantucket, picture the road in the boulevard after Victor just did a half-assed pot hold patch job. Then add on two lanes of dirt on the side for ox carts and bikes. Today you added a hearty wind that would throw you around every so often. And the final icing on the road cake, the cars that would pop up out of nowhere, speed by and and not care if they had completely cleared past you before turning back to their side of the road. For those reading this that do not know the road I'm talking about, I'm sure you might have a little bit of an idea. Even with all the stress, we made it here without incident, aside from a few unavoidable potholes.

With an afternoons rest, it's off to the few sites of Kampong Cham. Tomorrow, its up early again and on the road with the long journey to Mondulkiri, the land of waterfalls, cold nights, and elephant rides. If the day goes as smoothly as it did today, I will be a happy person.

More time in Phnom Penh and a Traditional Wedding

Even thinking ahead of time, I tried to prepare myself but it didn't help. I was good about blog posts, and then of course I fell behind and it's again been two or so weeks since my last post. Although I think I should give myself a little credit. Since the last post, nothing much has really happened until recently. Well now that I think about it, and look at the calendar, a lot has happened, so this could end up being a lengthy post, so be prepared...

After Phnom Tamao we all realized that we had one of the worst bits of news since the beginning of the semester. We had a FULL week of class without a long weekend or a vacation. We had five full days of teaching. After managing our way through the whole week of teaching getting in the way of our Cambodian vacation we realized it was Chinese New Year and we had 5 whole days off.

For the vacation time a group of people went to Siem Reap to see the temples, some went to Kep and Kampot to relax on the beach and some others went by themselves to smaller towns. As Liza was walking down the stairs to catch their midnight bus to Siem Reap, she tripped and rolled her ankle, making her unable to do all the walking that is accompanied by the temples. That brought the number of people in the house to three for the Chinese New Year. Vilde and I decided to stick around Phnom Penh so we could see some more things, since we're moto-ing around Cambodia and we'll have to pass through most places anyway. Nothing much happened. We created a check list of things to do that included everything from Liza walking, fixing motos, watching the Jungle Book, visit the Killing Fields and National Museum and make some Mexican food and one of the more important things: finish the puzzle. There were a lot more but they were quite varied. That was essentially what happened over the five day vacation, we tried to complete the check list and I think we got around 75%. Through the course of the time off we also gained Rich and Leanne in the house bringing the total to five out of 13.

As for the rest of the group, they got through their vacations seeing temples, as well as seeing more beaches. Oh and Liam got into his second moto accident causing many scrapes, bruises and a stitch in the foot.

After the New Year we had two days of classes, but since it was only two days most of our students did not show up for class so they consisted of most teachers playing games, or just hanging around talking. I spent most of my time learning about different aspects of Khmer culture and getting to know some of my students better. After the short week of only two classes, we again had a full week of classes (the third and final full week we taught over the ten week course). That week went on uninterrupted by anything except for the fact that we were all invited to a Khmer wedding. The groom of the wedding is the brother of our receptionist and one of our administrators.

We went through the week with the knowledge that we would be getting out of town for a truly Khmer experience, and we were all ecstatic. Most people stayed in on Friday (except one person's regular trip to Top Banana, one of the popular backpacker bars in town). We left at 8 am on Saturday for Kampong Thom province, a little to the North of Phnom Penh. The beginning of the bus ride was most everyone sleeping, and me playing Khmer card games with our weekend cook Ali, and one of the receptionists Seanglay. It took me a little while to catch on to the idea of the game with some explanations from the two of them. I also quickly realized that the winner got to hit the losers on the knee or wrist, depending on how many red cards they had at the end of their turn. It didn't take long for my knee to start hurting. Before long I was talking to Rithy, who speaks very little english, but it was still hilarious. We talked about how he is stronger than me (kleng) and I was weaker (kasouy). He later laughed at me, pointed to my arm and said soan (soo aan), and I remembered learning that at the zoo and realized that he was calling me a monkey. I was confused and asked him what he meant. He said "you are monkey" and proceeded to pull some of my arm hair and then showed me that he had none. When I finally realized what he was saying, I was rubbing my arm in pain and he was cackling with laughter.

We were in the bus for quite awhile when we finally stopped for a bathroom break and a chance to pick up snacks. After fifteen minutes or so we got back on the bus and shared the snacks with the rest of the bus. I looked in horror as i say Sorya with a cooked spider in a bag. I decided to get over it and eat some. I asked for a leg because that is the smallest part, but she decided she would give me part of the rear because it had more meat to it. Before I had the chance to think, I threw it in my mouth and chewed as fast as I could. And of course to my surprise, it was delicious. It was a smoky flavored meat with a small bit of spice. Needless to say, I wasn't begging for more, the look was just too much. So for the checklist of things I've eaten that are "strange" to westerners: fried frog, stuffed frog, snake, crickets, spider.

After that we got back on the bus for a bit longer, stopped for a proper lunch and hit the road to get to our final destination. We got to a fork in the road where we would head for the wedding, and we dropped off some of the people because they were joining parts of the wedding we were not going to be a part of or needed to see. Then we continued on to the Sombo Preykuk temples a few kilometers down the road. The worst part was the half hour ride off the main road on the lightly traveled dirt road that should have only taken 5 minutes. The bumps slowed us down to a very slow and uncomfortable crawl. We spent some time around the temples (dating to around 500 AD), learning some of the traditions and stories from past Khmer culture. Then after that it was back on the road to get to the wedding.

We were on the bus for about 9 hours total (even though we were expecting about 4). We got to the wedding house, which because of tradition belonged to the Bride's parents. We met the bride and groom, some showered and got into the appropriate clothing for the nights party. Jake and I decided to skip the shower and get to the party. The first person we met was a man who told us to call him Phillip who spent most of his life in San Jose, California and said he had just moved back to Cambodia because he said he missed his homeland. The rest of the night consisted of a large dinner and beers in ice (since they could not be kept cold anywhere). After dinner was a quick ceremony where the couple gets a blessing and the have a ceremonial wedding "cake," which was a huge pile of fruit. After blowing out the candles, everyone's favorite part began: the dancing. There was only Khmer music, most of it more modern than you would expect, but the dancing was still traditional. It's a blend of complicated foot steps along with impossible to learn hand movements. Some of us were able to get the foot moves down but the hand movements in conjunction with the foot steps was way too much to handle. We ended up dancing through the night until around 11 (which is VERY late for Khmer people). Then it was off to bed at a home stay just down the village road. All the guys (plus three girls) were staying in a stilt house with floors similar to the bamboo ones in Koh Pdao. The difference between then and now was that we now had more of a sturdy floor with thicker wooden planks, but still with the inch space between each board. This time we also didn't have a foam mattress to sleep on so we were on the floor with nothing but a sheet and whatever we could find for a pillow (I used my backpack). I was also one of the only ones to sleep well.

Around 4 or 4:30 am came the next part of the wedding where they played music very loudly, over the speakers that were brought in on a cart by a mini-tractor (which is basically a tractor engine with long handles that you use to control it with). We were fortunately told that we did not need to get up right away because it is not considered rude if you miss some of the ceremonies since a lot of it is done in traditional Khmer that even our staff has trouble understanding some of. Once the sun came up and the rooster below me started his morning song, I decided to get up. I was thrown into the procession of the morning which consisted of everyone carrying a bowl of fruit as an offering to the Bride and Groom. I held two because I expected more people to show up, but they decided to stay in bed a bit longer. After standing for a bit everyone started giggling at me, and Sambo told me why. I had two bowls of fruit which in Khmer culture means that I wanted two wives. They were also laughing because you are supposed to stand next to someone who has a bowl of fruit with the same things you have. I kept having to change bowls with other people and being moved everywhere in line until I once again ended up with Sambo.

We walked in and sat down for breakfast which was a ton of sticky rice and fruit, as well as a porridge. Then came the most nerve racking point of the day. We walk into the house and give the bride and groom a contribution for being allowed to go to their wedding, and to help pay for us being there. In the countryside this amounts to 10 dollars, where in Phnom Penh you would be expected to pay around 20 dollars. What you do is, with a partner you give the money to the bride and groom and then tie a string around their wrist, with everyone watching. The symbolism is that they are accepting the money together and they are now responsible as a couple for everything that comes to them, and the symbolism of the string is that they are being tied to each other in every way. I got really nervous and had a lot of trouble tying the string, and after what felt like an hour of trying to tie the string I managed to get it done, which was followed by a few giggles from the audience and a photo with the bride and groom. And to top off the anxiety about the process, Vicky and I were the first ones to go, so we had no frame of reference on how to do it.

After getting out of the house, which was incredibly hot because of the number of people in the house, we sat down and hung out until it was lunch time, our final step of the wedding process. It was very similar to the lunch we had at the engagement party. It consisted of 8 courses which were in Khmer and we had translated for us. Number one: "8 types of happy" which turned out to be 8 appatizers like fresh cashews, a crab cake type thing, and a jelly thing. After that was a salad with squid, mint, greens, and other noodles. Number three was fried chicken. Four was vegetables with more squid, and other seafood. Five was steamed fish (some of the best I've ever had), and which Vincent ate the eyeball of. Number six was fried rice. Seven was a shrimp porridge. And the final course was dessert.

With incredibly full stomachs, we took final pictures with the bride and groom, changed into our traveling clothes and were back on the bus for our journey home. This time, to our extreme joy, the ride was only six hours long. We stopped at the same place for snacks, but I skipped the spider. Jack did not however. He decided to bring a live spider back on the bus to take home. It was in a small plastic bag the whole time, and many people wanted to throw it out the window (myself included). We made it back to Phnom Penh safe and sound, with one casualty. Jake had inadvertently brought the spider to the brink of death. He let it go outside of our house, and there is no doubt that it is now dead. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

On Monday we started new student testing, which consists of a stranger sitting in front of you, and you asking questions to judge their level of English. The hardest part is that some people ruin it by passing on what questions you get asked, so you have to get creative to see if they are telling the truth or they had answers preprepared. Yesterday was yet another holiday, Meak Bochea, which celebrates something to do with Buddha. All the staff and my students either gave me different answers and didn't know themselves, so I'm not too sure what its about. All I know is that a lot of older Khmer people go to the pagoda to pray and give offerings to Buddha. Vilde and I spent the day picking up our motos and seeing how well they work now compared to before.

Somehow I think this will be the last post until Vilde and I are on the road around Cambodia. The next post will also probably be very lengthy because it will be the end of the semester and I will eventually get sentimental about leaving the house, friends, students and the city. So until then, I'll be finishing up teaching and working on my Khmer driving skills.