"Left my heart to the...."

So the song "Khe Sanh" has been inappropriately running over and over in my head since I arrived in Vietnam last Sunday but luckily I don't know enough words for it to be too offensive. Mum and I have been living the high life for the last week, splurging on luxury hotels, watching pay TV (crappy crappy modelling and idol shows and ads for the new movie No Strings Attached - "you're miniature, you fight like a hamster!" )  and seeing the sights of Vietnam.

Let me take you back, however, to my last week in Cambodia. For my birthday, Kate and I went and got our nails done and hair straightened and I was an hour and a half late for my daily moto pick up. You can't hurry people in Asia. I was so late my non-English-speaking motorbike driver tried to call me ask me where I was. I couldn't answer the phone because it was in my pocket and I didn't want to smudge the nail job. In the end I just had to hurry over to him, flash him my newly painted French nails and shrug apologetically "Som toh, som toh" (sorry, sorry) I told him it was my birthday. It was so sweet, the next day, he had learnt four new English words: Happy Birfday to Yew. Awwww.
After finally making it into work for a 10am meeting with my supervisors, Allan and Matt- two of the Aussies from the office-, Kate and I went out for a lovely lunch of Khmer cuisine. One of each of the food groups: fish, chicken beef and pork :D
I bailed on work early to go and get a "Seeing Hands Massage by Blind Cambodian" where Kate and I put scrubs-like outfits on and got massages from blind people. It was pretty cool, although I did feel a little strange with a guy I'd just met with one knee either side of my hips on top of the table. He was fascinated by my right hamstring right up high... maybe a little too fascinated, but it needed a good massage because it still hasn't healed properly from the time I tried to kick over Chris' head at Taekwondo. He was pretty good: one hour, six dollars, bargain!
Then Kate, Colin and I had pizza, beer, strawberry chupachup infused vodka and a game of Mah Jong before the three of us and Matt headed to a bar to hear Allan and another guy in their first ever (maybe?) public gig together. Kate and I both fit on the back of Matt's motorbike, and I very classily flashed my underwear to the world for the duration of the journey because I was holding on the motobike rather thatn holding my skirt down. Whatevs, it's my birthday, I'll do what I want :P The gig was pretty nice, just chilling listening to live music. The guys are both from Melbourne so I've decided I'll be their dial-a-crowd for when they perform at the Brunswick Hotel.



I apologise for this blog being a little lack lustre... I'm watching America's Next Top Model at the same time.


For Thursday I slept in a little, taking it reeeally easy and skipping work to go buy presents for the people who'd helped me during my stay. When I finally went in to work at 3pm, I forgot my computer cord, so I had one hour's battery before I had to bail and go home. Not so productive. I did one transcription though. Looking for a quiet night, Kate and I went for a swim in a pool at one of our local pubs, only to have most of the westerners we'd met in Cambodia walk in a few minutes after we'd jumped in. How embarrassment. We did meet a lovely man, Troy, who told me that I'd want to make sure I was on the Pill if I was swimming in that pool. What a charmer. 

Friday was better, and I crashed the boys' lunch for one last time and we had the biggest burger, and it must have shown in my face when the burger came out because Allan offered me words of encouragement before I'd even started.  Looking for a quiet night, Kate and I went for a swim in a pool at one of our local pubs, only to have most of the westerners we'd met in Cambodia walk in a few minutes after we'd jumped in. How embarrassment. We did meet a lovely man, Troy, who told me that I'd want to make sure I was on the Pill if I was swimming in that pool. What a charmer. It was Troy's farewell the following night so he said that we should come. I'd already been invited on facebook because every man and his dog was invited. I'm not a man, nor do I even like dogs, but I somehow managed an invitation. So after Kate and I donated all our household items to the Mith Samlanh Fun Fair and then got ripped off by some cheeky cyclo drivers, we headed out. I was in a good mood so I just gave my cyclo driver/rider the three dollars, told him it was too expensive, and walked away. They laughed because they knew that we knew that they'd ripped us off, but we didn't really care. Cambodians are nice people.

Saturday Night was a big night. So much fun, but we didn't make it to either "institution". Next time.

I said goodbye to one of the lovely ladies from church, our security guards, our tuk-tuk drivers, and then I said goodbye to Kate and headed to the airport. Bye bye Cambodia, hello Vietnam.

Once my private driver had picked me up at the airport and dropped me off outside the Hotel, Mum and I had our little reunion moment and it took me all of 15 minutes to spread the contents of my pack across the room. What a mess. I don't think Mum missed that part of me.

My first full day in Vietnam we went on a trip to the Mekong Delta and I was a little scared I'd lose my buffet breakfast on the boat like I did in Siem Reap, but it was ok. We just go a bit wet from the splashes. Mum got soaked, and it was only after that our guide offered us raincoats. Thanks. We changed to a little boat and I was given an oar but it was really just to make me feel useful because I think I was actually making it more difficult for the skipper to steer. I had fun paddling along, pretending I was in charge of the boat because I was at the front.

Then we went to Hoi An (not Ha Noi as I kept getting confused... who makes two of the three biggest cities in a country anagrams of each other? Communists...) And I got some AWESOME clothes made for clinicals and a very interesting interpretation of a dress from a photo I took in. It may feature at the Whitley Ball 2011 if I can pull it off. Possibly.We shopped for two days and then went to Marble Mountain where Mum worked up a good sweat and I very sadly scuffed up my brand new tailored shoes. In the words of my mother, "it makes Pyramid Hill seem like a pimple." The caves were spectacular though, with many hidden natural symbols, pointed out by our guide, like breasts, a couple 'sharing something special', and unicorns and frogs...

After Hoi An, we went to Hanoi. I'm hot and tired and cbb continuing tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning.

Love you, see you Sunday!! xx

Bird watching??

Just got back from a hectic few days in Siem Reap, Cambodia's most touristy location, thanks to its famous Angkor Wat.







It's been a pretty busy last couple of weeks, since we made new friends and have been going out a bit. On Saturday, we went to dodgem cars and ten-pin bowling ($1 per go on the dodgems!!) followed by a bar to watch the sad defeat of the Socceroos to Japan, then out to a nightclub for dancing. I'd decided to try a night out sober, and so it was quite an eventful night, looking after a 17 year old boy, Nicky, who was staying in his cousin's room in her absence and was supposed to be in the care of a very drunk housemate (a guy who works at the same office as me, Matt, who had decided to try to drink his height in beer cans. He lost count). So I took it upon myself to keep watch, trying to talk to a drunk 17 year old boy about random things... 17 year old boys are barely even human, but we managed to keep the conversation going a little. I 'rescued' Nicky from the influence of a very big Norwegian (I think) man who was serving up shots, but then he proceeded to spit all over my face as her tried to talk to me... smelling like vomit and other really pleasant things. He asked me if I wanted to go for a walk outside with him, and giving him the benefit of the doubt (that he actually just needed fresh air) I agreed. Luckily (perhaps) he only made it as far as the toilet. As it was nearing 3am, I kept an eye out for Matt who was supposed to be getting me home safely, and also ensuring Nicky went home with him. I saw him heading out the door and had to remind him to take Nicky home. I got home safely at about 3:30am, having to wake up the secrutiy guard to be let into the apartment block. Slept for a little bit and then got up for church the next morning... Who needs sleep anyway?



My enter key is broken (Thanks to Ash and Callum) so I apologise if this blog lacks sufficient/or too much paragraphing.


So, Wednesday night I went for a 5km run around the running track that I discovered far too late in my stay here. I was a little bit buggered after that.
Thursday morning Kate and I got up at 5:30am to catch the 7am bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Arriving just after midday, we decided to get some lunch, then head out to the temples to have a look around before sunset. We checked out Ta Prohm, which I believe was featured in the Tomb Raider film. There's like, lots of trees and stuff growing on top of the temples, which is pretty cool, and there doesn't seem to be any mortar between the bricks, they're just stacked up haphazardly and wedged together to stop (or attempt to stop) them falling down.

Then we climbed up to a temple (which was absolutely swarming with tourists) and watched the sunset, which was a little disappointing because I was expecting the sun to set over the temples, but it just set over the horizon. Goes to show, you shouldn't go in to things with expectations, or you might be disappointed.Watching people (especially old people) struggle down the extremely steep stairs and not fall over like dominoes was probably my amusement for the day. But the steps were tough, so props to the oldies for making it up and down without breaking a hip. Home to bed, after a quick dinner, and we met out roommates,including a very drunk, very sunburnt, very loud bikini-clad German girl with a jug of alcohol in her hand with a straw. She was lovely, but it was no wonder she did not emerge at 5am with us to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. The sunrise was amazing, and despite me being a complete cynic and threatening to push the Korean tourists who sat in front of us into the lake, it was pretty awesome. We sat in what we thought was the front row, but soon learned that unless you're pretty much in the lake/moat/body-of-water, people will sit infront of you and block your view. My camera battery died at approximately 7:30am... on the bigesst sight-seeing day we've had yet. At least when it died at the Taj Mahal, it would turn on long enough to take one photo at a time, about 30 times... not this time. It died and it died for real. Lame. Kate and I shared Kate's camera. We spent the whole day looking at temples (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bantey Srey) and also went to the Landmine Museum and the Butterfly farm - to lighten the mood a bit after the landmines. On the way home, we stopped at a temple that was by far the least touristy, and at certain point you could walk around and not see anyone else. It was kind of eerie, but I appreciated a little peace at that point. On the way home, I stayed true to my tradition of falling asleep in any kind of moving vehicle. (Bus, plane, train, I could already cross off, and the other day a motorbike ... a little dangerous, but we were stopped at the traffic lights... and after this weekend, a tuk tuk, a big boat and a little row boat)

 Up again early, to meet our minibus at 6am to head out to an "ecotour" as recommended by my Belgian host family. Having no real idea what was in store for us, we were shuttled to a boat, where we were taken onto the Tonle Sap lake, and I think we got lost at sea for a little bit. After breakfast just outdie a floating village, we continued the 35-ish kilometre trek across open water. I lost my breakfast somewhere in the middle of the lake... I don't think my stomach was expecting to be tossed and hurled about as if it were in the middle of the ocean. Either noone else on the boat noticed (there were 6 of us plus the driver and the guide) or noone seemed to care that I was throwing up over the side... and then missed and threw up on the boat. I used my drink bottle to try to wash it away... with little success. Once there was no food left in my tummy, I was ok. I have now thrown up on a boat. Another thing to tick of my list. Yay.

Arriving at another floating village, we changed to 3 smaller boats, all tied up in a line, powered by a motor on the first one. We were handed binoculars and a laminated sheet with a whole heap of bird pictures on it and told to see what we could see. My binocular skills fail dramitically. Epically even. Anyways, Kate and I were in one boat as we headed through a "flooded forest" checking out endangered pelicans and storks... I came prepared for a day on the water so I had my hat, sunnies and sunscreen, along with a long-sleeved shirt to keep the sun off. I even had ali-baba pants that could cover my legs. After waht seemed like hours on the boat, we arrived at a viewing platform and risked life and limb to climb up rickety bamboo ladders to miles up in the sky (maybe 30m) to check out some birds nesting. Back down the rickety ladder, and then into the bushes for a "natural toilet"... *sigh* slightly unimpressed ... then back into the boat for the trip back to the floating village for lunch. I pulled the legs of my pants up for about 20-30mins because I thought maybe I could get a tan, but then it got too hot, so I covered them up again.
Lunch at the floating village I took my protective gear (hat, sunnies, over-shirt) off to eat, and then promptly put it back on after watching two ladies make boxes out of hyacinth leaves, and being told to get back on the boat. We travelled slowly through the village, waving to young children (many of whom were, for some reason, lacking items of clothing) and some of our group members taking lots of photos of said lackings. Slightly odd. Back onto the wild sea, but I slept for most of it, and we didn't seem to get as lost, so my fish soup, rice and vegetables stayed comfortably where it ought to. We watched the sunset over many little boats and floating houses that scattered the horizon, and then got minibussed back to the hostel. It was a lovely day. I got changed to go out for dinner and realised that my leg (just one side) was sunburnt from my attempt at a tan. Puzzlingly, however, my shoulders are also sunburnt... which either happened through my light cotton overshirt, or inside at lunchtime. Crappy pale skin, plus doxycycline photosensitivity. If  I get skin cancer, I'm suing Cambodia...

Today we slept in and just wandered aroung the Siem Reap marketplace, spending far too much money. Jumped on a minibuss back to Phnom Penh and here we are. Witnessed a motocycle accident, but the bus passed it by before I had a chance to see the result of the wobbling and sparking from the exhaust dragging on the road. Our bus didn't stop so I could only pray that the rider and his passenger(s) were not injured, or if they were, that help was available. Our bus just swerved to miss the moving motorbike, slowed down, then kept going. It was a little scary.

Tomorrow I'm getting a motorbike out to a "suburban" area to interview maybe one or two more women, then I think I'll be done. Transcription will be happening all week. Except maybe Wednesday, not sure how productive I'll be, probably going to get a manicure, pedicure, massage, hair straightened... you know... :D

Then I leave Cambodia on Sunday, and I get to see MUM in Vietnam! Only a couple more weeks and I'll be home. I'll try to make it to Piss In The Pond, if I'm not too dead. I don't plan on sleeping on Saturday night... there's an "institution" I have to check out and it might be a late one. Or early.










take care. love and prayers xx Miss you all a lot and praying for all the natural disaster that seem to be happening. would love to hear your news. love you :)