just breathe it all in...

hey!
I'm back in Bangkok just in time for the state of emergency to be lifted...which is a relief.
yesterday was the last day of our tour and even though it's a bit sad to say goodbye I'm looking forward to exploring Cambodia and Vietnam and then venturing off on my own for Hong Kong and China.

so...yeah. we took the overnight train from ChaingMai to Bangkok and arrived pretty early in the morning. We took cabs to our hotel and were lucky enough to be let into the rooms early to take a bit of a nap. I got a few hours of rest while Marissa read a bit and then we cleaned up and went out to explore the city a bit. we took a cab to the weekend market (or the JJ Market to locals), did some amazing shopping, got some food and then headed back to the hotel to get dressed up a bit for our last group dinner. we all headed out to a very nice restaurant on the river and our tour guide ordered maybe a dozen different dishes for us all to try and share. it was quite nice.
afterward we wasted a bit of time and then a few of us headed into the red light district of Bangkok for a bit of adventure. besides the fact that everyone in the whole frickin city tries to con, scam and trick you it was a good experience. you just need to be wary here and very firm about what you want and don't take no for an answer.
we saw some interesting stuff that I really don't feel like writing down and eventually the British ladies and I decided that we'd had enough so we took a cab to Kosan rd and hit up a nightclub.
we drank, we danced and then they disappeared. I hung out with a group of lovely Irish folks and made it back to my hotel by about 5:30 am.

[[ran out of time while updating a few days ago so finishing now.]]

the next day we slept in a bit and then moved to our original hostel for a night before departing for Cambodia. we spent the day enjoying Thai food, did a bit of shopping, spent some much needed time on the internet, booked a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia and a flight back to Bangkok from Hanoi, Vietnam. it was, overall, a very busy day. we also managed to walk right by this cute Indian restaurant somewhere in the city. we decided to stop and eat dinner there and it was such a great experience. we sat on the upstairs deck, but the tables were low to the ground with large square pillows to sit on. the food was fantastic, everyone had hookahs, the music and setting were incredibly mellow and the place had a great atmosphere. our table had jenga and we just played, talked, ate and enjoyed our beautiful view of Thai temples from our Indian porch oasis. I would go back in a heartbeat.

that night while we were trying to sleep in sticky 90 degree heat all we could hear was rioting. we would hear megaphoned "ka koe kahsdfgy smhefwr" or something ridiculous in Thai and then a huge "YEAH!!!" or the Thai version of it at least. it was ridiculously loud even though it was practically across the city and it kept us up until the wee hours of the hot morning.

so the next day we stumbled out of bed early to catch our bus to Siem Reap...home to Angkor Wat and lots of other amazing temple ruins. we crossed the border safely and made it into town at a reasonable hour. we went to a temple on a small mountain to watch the sunset and instead enjoyed watching lightning roll in from the distance. it really was beautiful...seeing the lightning flash behind these amazing ruins. it felt a bit surreal and really intense. I loved it. what a great first Angkor Wat experience! afterwards Marissa went out to dinner and I stayed in the hotel room reading my deformed Cambodian Lonely Planet book because I wasn't feeling very well. I bought it from a street boy thinking $2 was a great deal and later realized that every other page wasn't cut apart...so here I am reading this stupid book and cutting the pages apart as I'm reading it. yay. haha. lesson learned. it was in plastic wrap for a reason! Marissa surprised me and brought me back some really good soup and rice that helped settle my stomach a bit. I'm really tired of being so sick. this needs to go away but I feel like it's just getting worse! I finally got to bed at around 1am.

I then woke up at 4am to shower and catch my very own tuk tuk to watch the sun rise over the temples of Angkor Wat. it was beautiful. words can't explain it so I won't even try. I then explored the most amazing ruins I've ever seen in my life...weather in person or pictures. I realize that this is only the 8th wonder of the world but it should be in the top 7. I was literally laughing out loud for the first hour or so because I was so happy. I was exploring the most beautiful temple ruins that look like they were built only a couple hundred years ago as opposed to thousands. everything was perfect, I was alone in the temples for most of the morning and I was so happy I could pop. Marissa had opted for biking the temples...which made it more athletic but cut down the number of temples she could see to less than four in a day. I was VERY happy I had hired a tuk tuk for the day. he took me everywhere...including the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. I ended up running into Marissa at the actual Angkor Wat temple and we hung out for an hour and had lunch together...and then it was off again to see more temples. I stayed long enough to see the sun set over a large and deserted temple and then caught a long and sleepy ride back to the hotel where i met up with Marissa, showered and we went out for a great dinner in town. after that it was sleep and nothing could have been better after 14 hours of temple exploring in the hot hot heat. this was easily one of the best days of my trip so far if not the best. it could even be in the running for one of the best days of my life. I think everyone should go and spend at least three days. one is just not even close to enough.

this morning we got up early and caught our 6:30 bus to Phnom Penh. we arrived around 1:30 and quickly checked into a hotel, got some yummy lunch ( I had a calzone, OJ and chocolate ice cream...very western and very missed foods!) and grabbed a tuk tuk to see the killing fields and s-21...both historical genocide sited from the struggles just two decades prior. it was pretty depressing and not very informative. I feel like they're really trying to cover up the worst parts of the whole situation by just leaving out the information. luckily I bought the book, and it's very informative...even though it's looking a bit worse for wear now that it's all cut up.
we then came back to the hotel, got cleaned up and went out to a REALLY nice dinner in a fancy restaurant. we had the whole place to ourselves and it felt more like a boutique restaurant in Vegas or NYC than a high class restaurant in Cambodia. it was amazing! we ordered sushi (mine was veggie...naturally.), smoothies and I got a well deserved salad. it's been a while since I've had lettuce that hasn't been stir fried! we just chatted and enjoyed the atmosphere.

so now I'm here, hanging out on the internet...we catch a bus to Vietnam tomorrow morning so I'm pretty excited! I wish we had more time here, but I'm really glad that I got to see Angkor Wat and that I get to have this experience in the first place! it's so amazing being here!!!!!!!

I'll update again soon. internet is WIDELY available so far.
<3

I've been remembering this poem from when I was a child. I thought I would share it because it always makes me happy. enjoy.

listen to mustn'ts, child, listen to the don'ts.
listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.
listen to the never haves, then listen close to me.
anything can happen, child, Anything can be.

I just want everyone to rember that anything really is possible. just dream it and let it come true. <3
we must never forget it.