Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia (and South Korea) 2015-2016

Day 1: Ho Chi Minh here we come!

We goodbye to our lovely parents and set out to the airport for a dream vacation that we have been planning for what seems like months now. Some of our parents were a little on edge about our big trip but I promised Jaime's mother I would bring him back in at least three pieces.

After 20 hours of flying (luckily I've adapted this ability to pass out instantly on planes thanks to being sleep deprived and working night shift), layovers, endless airplane food (yuck), ankles turning into the size of our thighs and a death sprint to our final connection (I almost blacked out...I felt like there was an elephant in my pack) we made it to Vietnam.

 

 

We waited a little bit for our visas and then walked out and found our driver.

We headed to the Royal Saigon to check in and asked what was open because we were starving. They smiled and said "McDonald's down the street!" So here's our shameful fast food photo at 1am in Vietnam, our first stop for food eating a burger and fries! After we crashed we were exhausted and wanted to make sure we could get up early the next morning.

 

Day 2: Street market, massage, wedding shopping, motorcycle rides and more! 

Today was incredible. I love being able to go on vacation and explore a culture, the food, customs, city life and the people. Being spontaneous and letting life lead you from place to another, from person to person and restaurant to restaurant is so thrilling. Having no plans allows you to be free and step into the unknown. That alone feeds my adrenaline. I'll admit I'm an adrenalin junky. There's nothing more I love than being able to meet a complete stranger and end up in place you would never expect. 

We woke up and strolled down the block and ate a bahn mi which is the most amazing sandwich I've had. The cafe had fresh smoothies as well and we ordered one with strawberry, banana and yogurt. Then we walked around the street and looked at the shops.

    

We stumbled about a spa and I sent Jaime upstairs for a deep tissue massage which he said was one of the best massages of his life. The woman was literally walking on his back. I got a mani/pedi and then we set off again.

We found this linen store and I tried to ask the women if they knew of any bridal shops or seamstresses. I had been interested in seeing if I could have a dress custom made here for our wedding celebration next year. This woman wrote down a place called Minh Koha and said to taxi there. Next thing we knew we were on our way with nothing but a name and address we couldn't even understand. While trying to find the place we stopped at a street market for food where we met this woman named Kelly. We ate the best ribs at her place with some sticky rice (see photos below). I asked if she knew the wedding place and she said "It's in district 1 and they will over charge you. Go to my friend. She's young and speaks English!  Here I'll call her and you can talk to her. Tell her I'll shave her head again if she doesn't give you a good deal." I kinda laughed as she handed me the phone and told the stranger on the phone I was set out for her bridal boutique. Kelly also recommended some places to go for fun night life but recommended we keep our valuables clutched close to us. We thanked her for the ribs, ditched our plans and set out for this new seamstress.

    

We got lost again trying to find the place. It was cute because a lot of older couples tried to help us but we couldn't understand each other. Then we walked down the street and a woman with a shaved head walked out of a bridal place and I was like "Hey did I just talk to you on your friends phone!?" She laughed and introduced herself. Her name was Kim. She had the most beautiful bridal boutique and I told her about our wedding plans. She took my measurements and called her friend who lived next door so he could measure Jaime for a suit. Apparently he is was of the most popular tailors in Vietnam and works with Club Monaco and has hopes of signing a deal with Ralph Lauren soon. He said he went to USC and MBA at UW. Small world. He said he would have a swatch sent to our hotel so Jaime could confirm the fabric before we left for Phuket. I told Kim we would be back the 11th with some friends and could try on the dresses then. I think we just hung out for another hour laughing and talking about our lives. It was hilarious because no one believed Jaime is 33. They guessed 27 and went on about how healthy he looked. Once we were ready to head out they asked where we were going to dinner and offered to drive us on their bikes to a local pho place. We were so excited and amazed by there generosity. If you have never been to Vietnam and seen the chaos of people riding their motorcycles and mopeds through tiny streets surrounded by hundreds of other people, there's no way to explain how fast my heart was beating! In my mind I was thinking "My mom would have a heart attack if she knew what I was doing" and I told Kim "This is a trauma nurses worst nightmare" as people were whizzing by and swerving through cars and people walking in the middle of the road. At least they were wearing helmets. She kept teasing me and saying my hands were shaking but I had a smile on my face. I kept looking around to make sure Jaime and Bryan his tailor were close by. Funny thing we had to stop because Bryan had to put more air in his tire. He said "Jaime is so healthy we need more air." Jaime just laughed and said that he weighs almost 200 pounds and Kim's jaw dropped. Jaime's body mass is equivalent to 3 Vietnamese men. I was dying laughing. Kim and Bryan dropped us off at the best beef pho we have ever had in this hole in the wall place we would have never found. We thanked them and offered to treat them to dinner but they said they had to go. We told them we will be back to see them in two weeks and would catch up then!

At May Bridal with Kim

While we we eating we couldn't stop talking about how kind and generous these complete strangers we met were. It was crazy to think how we started our day with one plan which changed drastically and ended up being an amazing experience where we got to make new friends and explore a different side of Ho Chi Minh.

 

The kitchen from the Pho restaurant

Gelato from our hotel

After dinner we decided to try and find our way back to our hotel and of course stopped for cupcakes and ice cream on the way. Bryan even stopped by the hotel with a swatch so Jaime could check the fabric of the suit he was having made. We were excited to leave Vietnam for Thailand only knowing that we would back in a week or so.

Day 3: Traveling to Phuket and first taste of Thai food!

Day three was kinda a blur and consisted of a lot of traveling. It was certainly and opportunity for me to build patience...Jaime had to talk me down every once and a while before my head exploded or I explode on someone. We woke up early to get to the airport to fly to Phuket for New Years and it was a zoo! The first flight was fine and luckily we didn't have to wait to get any visas at the airport. We had a long layover so we ate some Thai food, got a Krispy Kreme donut and walked around. Our second flight to Phuket was rough because they kept changing our gate so we were running around the airport non stop with our packs and departed an hour late.

When we got to Phuket it was MADNESS. The airport was swamped because of the peak season and holiday. People were yelling, fighting for taxis and the police even had to get involved with one man who wanted a refund for his bus because he had been waiting for two hours and still hadn't gotten his ride. We walked around trying to gage what was happening and I tried to pay a taxi driver on the side to avoid the lines of angry people but he said we had to get a ticket. So we just paid a little more and got the heck out of there as fast as we could...only to sit in dead stopped traffic along the way to Phuket for 2 hours. We checked into our hotel called B'Lay tongue which was also an art museum. Then main theme for our five star hotel reminded me of the book Where the Wild Things Are. The rooms were amazing and we quickly checked in and headed outside to eat. I ordered a beef and rice dish and the lady asked if I wanted it spicy or not. I asked for a little spice. Note to self: "a little spice" in Thailand means you will die because it's like 10 stars at home. Jaime had always teased me that I wouldn't be able to handle the spicy food and I was too stubborn to back down. I ate my whole dish but couldn't feel my tongue after the first bite. My ears were popping, I went through two mango smoothies, my nose was running like a waterfall and even the waiter came to ask me if I was ok. I said "I look that bad, yikes!" All Jaime could do was laugh at me, thanks babe. After dinner we were wiped and headed to bed.

 

Day 4: Big Buddah, Island and Promthep Cape, New Years, Lantern Lighting 

We finally got to sleep in until about 10am then headed out in search of getting some motorcycles. Unfortrinately Jaime freaked out the little Thai lady that we were gonna rent from when he floored the engine...so that plan backfired and she wouldn't rent us motorcycles. It ended up being fate because we got a taxi and were able to sleep while our driver took us to all the places we had planned out (some of which were far and would have been miserable on a motorcycle). The first place we went to was called Big Buddah which is this amazing marbel structure on the top of a hill with a breathtaking view. We were able to get blessed by the monks and reflected about our new year. As Jaime said "I want to do my best to keep an open mind and open heart this year." That is going to be our goal in all areas of life. We made a donation to the monks and went back to meet Wat our taxi driver. We then set off to Nai Harn.

Getting blessed by monks for the New Year

We had planned to watch sunset at Promthep Cape but had some time to kill so Wat set us up with his friend that took us on their boat to an island...which we still don't know the name of but we ended up on Banana Beach. The boat ride over reminded me of being on the water in Colombia with my family. There's nothing like closing your eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun, the breeze across your face and knowing you're surrounded by people you love. We had some homemade phad Thai and tanned for a couple of hours before getting back on the boat.

Boarding the boat to Banana Beach

We met Wat again and headed to watch sunset at Promthep Cape which ended up being one of the coolest experienced because they were having a festival called "Farewell to the Sun" in honor of the last sunset before the new year. There were art exhibits, singers, dancers, souvenirs, food and even the governor came to give a speech. We did a count down before the sun went away and everyone released balloons as they said "Farewell to the sun." Jaime took a beautiful time lapse of the sun. He's so dedicated to his photography, thank goodness because I don't have the patience. I was running around getting balloons and trying to get a selfie with the Thai singer, check!

 

Kissing the sun Away

After Promthep we were headed back to our hotel to wash up for New Years! We were going to go to a restaurant for dinner but I got distracted by all the street food as we were walking there! I ate wings, ribs, coconut shrimp and Jaime got a noodle dish. I would say the street food was way better than any restaurant we went to. Being on Patong Beach for New Years is one of the coolest experience. I'll admit it's wild and crazy but you have to experience it at least once in your lifetime. We sat on the beach and looked our at all the beautiful fireworks and people doing crazy things while people were also lighting lanterns and setting them off to the sky. Kinda reminded me of Frozen when they set off thousands of lanterns for the lost princess, yes I love that movie still. Jaime and I bought a red heart shaped lantern and watched it sail off beautifully into the sky. JK, I WISH. I actually didn't want to let go of it when the guy counted down because I was trying to explain that I wanted Jaime to video it but it got lob sided and caught on fire and burned to the ground instead. I was sad and wanted to cry. Hope that's not representative of our love HA! Jaime said he would buy me another one and even the guy offered it to us cheap but I was over it. Just like he was with his drinks after his first one was knocked out of his hand and the second one was kicked over on the beach while we were taking a picture. Bad luck The rest of the night we laughed about our "burning heart" lanterns and laid on the beach reminiscing over our year. Ten minutes before midnight it started to get really crazy because everyone was lighting their massive fireworks on the sand and at one point one man's firework tipped over and started shooting into the crowds of people. Jaime grabbed me and we started running the opposite way while other people hit the deck. It was like we were in a war zone under attack but we didn't get shot! A woman next to us did though but luckily she was ok. Again, a burn trauma nurses worst nightmare right before my eyes. Only on Patong Beach in Thailand for New Years. You would think we were partying in the bars all night going buck wild but I'm pretty sure we were in bed by 1am, haha. We are getting old and were actually exhausted from the long day.

 

Our heart shaped lantern that went up in flames

Banana roti...the #1 reason you should go to Thailand

Day 5: Phi Phi Island, Maya Bay, Monkey Beach, Thai Massage, Banana Pancake 

Wat our awesome driver recommended we go to Phi Phi Island for the day. Since we were crunched for time we thought a day trip was a great idea. Somehow we managed to wake up at the crack of dawn after New Years and boarded a big ferry. We got to tan on the top deck as we whizzed across the water. We got to sight see at the beautiful Maya Bay where  the famous movie The Beach was filmed (with Leonardo Dicaprio) and then dropped the anchor at another placed called Monkey Beach. We got life vests and snorkeling gear and somehow I convinced my baby to get in with me! He's not a big fan of the ocean. It's crazy how many fish were swimming and nipping at our feet. We swam into shore and I thought "Oh maybe I'll see one or two monkeys." WRONG! There were monkeys everywhere! I was kinda hesitant to approach them because the last monkey we played with bit Jaime pretty hard in the arm in Mexico. I just took some photos instead but then saw a rope swing ran towards it. If you know me you know how much I love swings...there's nothing more that reminds me of my favorite childhood memories than being on a swing. The scary part though was that the monkeys started surrounding me while I was swinging and I was worried they were going to jump on me and bite me if they thought I was swinging towards them to attack them. Luckily no casualties were accounted for.

 

Incredible ships in the harbor before we set sail

The location for the film "The Beach" is right behind us

Monkey Island

 

We got back on the ferry and headed to Phi Phi island for lunch. We laid on the beach for a few hours and to be honest were weren't super impressed. The place had been pretty run down from New Years the night before but I was still nice to catch some sun.

Chillin on Phi Phi island

At last we boarded the ferry and headed back to get our bags from the hotel we checked out at in the morning. We hopped in a cab and headed to our new home away from home at Pating Pearl for a much needed shower. We went to a local restaurant for food and I had to order my favorite coconut prawns...they really are the best out here.

"We are paying how much here for this food!?"

After dinner we went to get a Thai massage. Don't ever underestimate the strength of those little ladies. They put in some work and were twisting, beating, and stretching us in all kind of weird ways! I kept worry if my back hips were going to snap but in the end I felt pretty good! My lady kept laughing at me because I was so confused on what she was doing half the time. She kept saying "Miss, miss hand here" or "No miss turn that way." Luckily I wasn't too weirded out because Jaime was right next to me the whole time getting his massage. After our massage we walked home and had to get another Banana Pancake. Hands down the best dessert in Phuket. It's a tortilla fried with around a pound of butter and oil, stuffed with Nutella and banana and lastly coated with condensed milk. My mouth is watering as I'm writing. Jaime was teasing me and said "Wow babe you waxed that!" I said I would share with him but he only ended up with a few bites. We talked to the 14 year old boy from Burma who made our delicious dessert. He told us about the violence and his life at home being the sole reason he moved to Thailand. It's incredible how much some people have to go through to work and survive. Whenever I am pouting or feeling down I try to remember the saying "Someone always has it worse." This reminds me to count my blessings and know there are other people out there who are perfectly happy with much less.  

Day 6: Flying to Chiang Mai, meeting Peter, Markets, Cabaret show 

We set off to Chiang Mai leaving behind one of the best New Years I have ever had in Phuket. Since we were traveling domestically it wasn't too bad.

 

   

We landed and got to Chiang Mai a bit early but we couldn't check in to our hotel until 2pm. We walked around town trying to find the this woman who sells street food called "the cowboy hat lady" but Jaime got us lost on the other side of town. We sat down in the middle of the road, lost once again and just laughed. Then I realized the lady isn't even open until 5pm so it wouldn't have worked anyway and we laughed again. We then walked to rent a motorcycle and I was able to prove to Jaime that yes in fact I know how to ride one. I used to ride when I was younger. We ended up passing on the deal because they were trying to hustle us and charge three times the normal amount. We ended up eating at this little whole in the wall place getting eaten by mosquitos in the garden area. On the way to our hotel we felt obese and said "we really need to workout it has been to long." So naturally we walked by a waffle and ice cream dessert place and stuffed our faces again and somehow felt even better than before. Luckily we actually did do a small wod at our hotel but it was shameful. We were so out of shape and it was so hot we were dying. "A" for effort.

 

The best waffles and ice cream we have ever tasted

It's funny how wherever we travel Jaime knows someone. He said he had a friend in Thailand and wanted to connect. His friend Peter picked us up after our workout at our hotel and we went out to dinner. He was so kind and helped answer a lot of our questions about Chiang Mai and what to do. It's so cool to meet people who love where they live and find joy in taking friends around their country. He was so helpful!

We planned to meet up the next day and Peter dropped us off at the Anusan night market. I was in heaven! We walked through all the vendors and bought lots of gifts for our family and our home.

Anusan Night Market

I also had been warned about the lady boy shows but out of curiosity had to see one once! So I dragged Jaime to the Chiang Mai Cabaret show with me...he wasn't too eager to go. I sure know why after the matter! They lady boys kept wanting to kiss him! Here's proof: I love music, dancing, acting and have to admit I enjoyed the show. The music and lip syncing was great! The costumes were amazing and man those lady boys could dance! They had awesome energy. Even though I felt really weird, out of place and kept having to remind myself that they weren't women they were men (it's so hard to tell!) overall I made it out alive! I think I only need to do that once.... After the show we walked through the market some more and had some of the famous frozen ice cream which was so delicious! We took a tuk tuk back to our hotel and crashed.

The "Lady Boy" show

Endless kisses for Jaime from the Lady Boys

Day 7: Elephants, Sunday Walking Market

This was one of the best days we had all trip! 

The trainers were amazing and the elephants were so well behaved. It was so special to be able to work directly with the elephants and be part of their daily routine. I would recommend this to anyone traveling to Chiang Mai. To think these elephants had once been in captivity and treated poorly and now get to be loved, taken care of and valued is very fulfilling. Their main goals were to rescue, recover, rehabilitate and reintegrate the elephants back into a normal enviornment. The trainer mentioned how many of the elephants had mental illnesses when they were rescued from the circus or other places. Many of the female elephants didn't want to mate which meant the population was dying off. After time at the Patara elephant farm they started to heal and would eventually take interest in a male and would mate. The elephant farm has new babies born every year. I just about died the first time I saw a one month old when we got there. It was the cutest thing to see him try and stand and follow his mother around. We learned works like "didi" which means "good girl" and "bone" which means "eat." We also learned "bye" for "go" or walk and "how" which means "stop." We had plenty of time feeding, bathing and learning all about health inspections. A healthy elephant will wag his/her tail and the ears will flap. The poop will be fibrous and moist but not smelly (mostly smelled like hay), they will have sweat marks around their feet, they will sleep around 5 hours on their back, eat multiple times throughout the day, drink about 150L of water, have active tear ducks and if they are a healthy mother will carry up to 22 months for a full gestation (yikes). I think my favorite part of the day was bathing the elephants in the water and having them spray us with water. It was also pretty cooling learning how to get on the elephants. Shanah would lift his leg and let me step on it and then I basically had to throw myself over him. Meccamoon (Shanas mother), Jaime's elephant would only let him get on by her trunk, he had the more complicated process.

Jaime's "mama" elephant

Smelling elephant poop

Me with Shanah my elephant

One month old elephant

We officially have an elephant selfie

 

 

Our lunch

So close to pushing this little guy in

Smelling elephant poop..why does Jaime look happy!?

Dusting the elephant

 

 

 

 

Bath time

Can you tell how cold this water was!?

After the elephants we showered as headed out to the Sunday market. I don't think it would have been possible to tour the whole thing the streets were never ending with vendors. There were a lot of blind people in the streets that played instruments and sand for tips which was so cool because they were amazing. You can bet we did some more shopping. We found this place called D Bistro with incredible food and stuffed our faces. Just look at this dessert! On our way back home we stopped by this small temple and enjoyed all of the beautiful lights that were up. 

Day 8: Wat Doi Suthep temple and Zabb-e-Lee cooking school

This was the first day we slept in on our entire trip! We made it worth it and didn't wake up until 12pm. We rushed downstairs to meet Peter who said he would take us around for the day. We headed out for Wat Doi Suthep temple and on the way stopped by this cool little sanctuary where people go to meditate and relax. We would have never known the place existed without help!

We drove further up the hill, parked our car and walked up the long steps to the Wat Doi Suthep temple where saw the entire view of Chiang Mai! It was amazing. Peter taught us the proper tradition when visiting the temple. He bought us flowers and a candle and said we walk around the center square three times with our hands in a prayer around our floor and candle and try minimize our thoughts and meditate. I tried my best to minimize my thoughts but I ended up saying a prayer of gratitude for all of my blessings. After the temple we rushed to our cooking class and Peter ended up dropping us off because we got stuck in a bit of traffic.

 

 

Hanging out with Jaime's friend Peter in Chiang Mai

Making our rounds and saying our prayers

Zabb-e-Lee cooking school was so much fun! I'll be the first to admit that Jaime does most of the cooking at home. I was worried I would somehow burn down the cooking school with my lack of talent but my food actually tasked amazing! We got to the school and ended up being in the group with Anne who is the owner of the cooking school. She took us to a local market and taught us about local food and native vegetables. We picked out the food for our meals and headed back to the school. She taught us step by step how to make phad Thai, cashew chicken, mango sticky rice, two different kinds of soup, two different kinds of curry and fried egg rolls. We were stuffed like little piggies. The school was so clean and they assistant were turning over the kitchen between each dish so we had fresh dishes to work with! The whole process was so efficient. Anne was hilarious and would say things like "you're a big sexy man why you no want more spice? More spicy more sexy." She would also ready the women and say "why you shake your booty" when we were stirring our soup. She also would refer to the egg rolls as "babies" and would say "now you fry your baby and then you cut your baby." Her cues and genuine personality made he class really fun. She had so much energy and Jaime and I kept talking about her business model and how well she has everything planned out. She works 7 days a week and does two 6 hour long classes a day. This lady never takes a break! It's amazing to see how hard some people work. At the end of the class she gave us a personalized cookbook with her recipes and substitutes if we can't find certain vegetables in the states. We snapped a pictured with her and thanked her for an unforgettable experience.

Learning from the master Anne

 

Fried Egg Rolls

Mango Sticky Rice

Anne, owner of the cooking school

Getting our groceries from the local market

Making Phad Thai

Fresh curry on the right

Day 9: Saying goodbye to Chiang Mai, Night Train to Bangkok

Well we were lazy again and slept in right up until checking out! Peter picked us up and we went to brunch before headed to check out Crossfit Chiang Mai! We loved the outdoor location but unfortunately they had limited classes and we could get our act together to make it at 6 or 7 but we still had fun! After Peter took us to a local market and we finished buying some gifts. We then realized we had too much stuff so we saw a post office and decided to ship out gifts home! We though "Wow perfect this post office was meant to be here!" After cramming our stuff in a box we weighed it and then the merchant said it would be $121 dollars and were choked. We said "Sorry we are poor and can't ship it but we will pay for the box." That amount of money is like a 4 star hotel for three days. We decided we would carry our stuff around instead. So much for cramming it all in.

After shopping Peter dropped us off at the the train station. We decided to travel by train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. It was such a cool experience! I have never gone in an overnight train before! It was cool to see the country along the way and we loved the kids that would wave to us at each stop. I wanted to snatch them and take them with me. Riding the train gave me time to journal and we watched some movies. We kinda felt like a kid again being on the train. It was awesome!

Running to catch our train

Day 10: Night Train, Khoa San Road, Old Siam Square, Muy Thai 

Riding the train was actually really fun! We ordered some food, snuggled and watched a movie on Jaime's iPad. Around 1am we got tired and decided we should go to bed. We had an upper and lower level berth bunks on our train. Originally we didn't have roommates but eventually one of them joined our four bunk room. I told Jaime I didn't want to sleep alone and he didn't want me to sleep on the top bunk alone either so we cuddled in a tiny one man cot. We just kind laughed and giggled as we spooned...we were so squished. We lasted two hours before I gave up and had to go up to my bunk. We tried, haha. 

Once we got to Bangkok we found a taxi and made it to our hotel which was way nicer than we had expected. We had to wait for check in so we walked around the city in search of food. I'll be honest...Bangkok does kinda smell in some areas. It's not the cleanest and people don't take very good care of the environments. Some of the streets smelled like pee, garbage was everywhere, there were people passed out on the road (including white men Thaj people aren't the only ones to blame), the water was polluted and as you can imagine the city is highly populated. We walked to Khao San road which is a popular street and ate breakfast at an American place. We perused the shops and then headed back to our hotel and worked out before heading up to our room.

 

In the evening we went to the Old Siam plaza in search of finding some decorations for our wedding celebration next year. It's crazy how booming those small street were. We ended up eating at a Chinese place in the local mall and I tried a skewer from a street vendor that literally made me cry it was so spicy....so we got a Dairy Queen blizzard after that! Traffic was insane trying to get a taxi and they all try to rip you off and quote a price refusing to use their meters (isn't that illegal?). I think we got out of 6 cabs before finding one that would quote a fair price and we still got out because traffic wasn't moving and walking would be easier.

In the evening got a taxi to Rajadamnern Stadium which is the premier stadium located in Bangkok city to watch the Muy Thai fighters. We ended up getting floor seats because we thought it would be cool to be able to see the fight close up. We were seated in the third row right next to the ring! The thing that amazed me the most about the fighters.....was that I weighed more than ALL OF THEM. The lightest professionals weighed in at 126. Ok maybe I only have one or two pounds on them but still, yikes. Moving forward it was amazing to witness 1 Muy Thai fights from young boys that weigh 88 pounds to the pro. Before fighting each contender does a ceremonial dance and greets the opponent and the coach. It was cool to see how respectful the whole process is. Even at the end the winner and loser congratulate each other and once again pay respects to the opposing coach. I rarely saw the athletes boast or walk around like they owned the place. There was no profanity or foul play, just honest competitors who clearly had a passion for what their doing. It made me think of some of the glorified athletes in the US that let their passion for fame overshadow their love for the game. Interesting how people approach athletics in different parts of the world at a competitive level. We saw two knock outs and Jaime had to hold me in my seat. I kept getting worried seeing some of the younger boys being pulled on to a stretcher and hauled off. One fight got his face smashed but ended up pushing through and winning the fight. I told Jaime I wanted a picture with him so we went back for his press interview and congratulated him and got a picture after his fight. He must have been in a lot of pain and you would have never known. True fighter at heart for sure. It was amazing to feel the energy in that stadium. People are jumping, screaming, men in the pit our gambling, children are cheering, coaches our flapping all over the place yelling at their fighters and the whole stadium is shaking. It's more than a match, Muy Thai is clearly an iconic part of the Thai culture. I was so happy to experience a fight. 

After the fight we went back to the hotel and after multiple calls we finally got a domino pizza ordered to our hotel....we really missed pizza.

 

Day 11: Hashme, Star Wars

We sleep until 4pm and felt like losers...but then again remembered that we had been up by 7am 95% of our trip so far (which never happens at home). We were trying to figure out what we wanted to do and decided that we would pass on the floating markets. Instead we wanted to go more into the modern city to eat. Once again traffics was insane. I guess the queen was in town so we were fighting closed roads and diversions. We found this place called Hashme in downtown Bangkok that was amazing! It was on the 4th floor of a building and we were able to eat incredible food with a beautiful sunset of the downtown area. Just look at this food!

After eating we decided to window shop and check out one of the many malls. The malls in Thailand are amazing and far more complex and intricate than in the states. Most of them had multiple floors organized by what they sold. One floor would be luxury/designer, next floor for women, the next for men, the next strictly shoes and so on and so forth. The top floor had a humongous movie theater and we bought tickets to see Star Wars in IMAX on impulse because most other activities were closing. The theater was AMAZING! It was very cool to experience a movie in another country and they did a long tribute to the king before the movie started that showed some of the achievements he made over his lifespan. A local told us the country is in mourning because he is in a coma and will probably die soon. P.S. Star Wars was amazing.

After we went to get pizza at this amazing restaurant. We were waited on by the owner himself who kept spoiling us with free samples and drinks!

Day 12: Flight to Cambodia, Tuk tuk, Khmer Barbecue 

We set off to the airport once again to Cambodia! Everything was going smoothly until we landed in Phnom Penh until I realized we were in the wrong airport. No joke. When I booked through Air Asia in the middle of the night on the train the only airport in Cambodia that came up was Phnom Penh so I booked our flight and went back to bed not thinking much about it. Not to future travelers to Cambodia: Air Asia does NOT fly into Siem Reap. Book through another airline. So I panicked and freaked out and got angry and Jaime was so relaxed and understanding about it. It was really humbling to see how he handled the whole situation and how he treated me with love even though I really messed up. I was able to get us on the next flight out to Siem Reap so it ended up being ok and only costing us a little more. I was still really upset and somehow Jaime found ways to make me laugh and calm down. We had to check into the airport all over again but we made it to Siem Reap only a few hours behind. Thank goodness.

We were greeted by Mr. Sophea who was our tuk tuk driver sent from the airport. It's hard to explain in words but sometimes you meet people and within an instance know they are someone special. You only know what I mean when you have experienced this personally. Mr. Sophea has the most honest eyes and kind heart and it really set a nice tone for the beginning of our trip. He took us to our hotel and helped us unload our bags and said "If you are going to Angkor Wat tomorrow I would love to drive you so I can have a job." We told him we would take down his info and book our guide through the hotel and let him know. Our hotel was called the Angor Museum Boutique and they were still in the final stages of renovation which was nice because it was quiet and we almost had the whole place to ourselves. They upgraded us to another room as well. We showered and decided to walk to Pub street which is one of the main areas to go at night with cool markets and restaurants. We walked by this amazing massage salon (that looked very clean and not sketchy). We treated ourselves and got a blank couples massage. Each of us has two masseuses massaging us at a time. It was incredible! Best massage I have ever had! They were able to do double the work. I felt like a spaghetti string walking back to the hotel. 

 

 

After, Jaime found a cool place to go to dinner called Khmer Barbecue where we are able to see traditional Aspara dancers perform various ceremonial dances. If you know me you know I lover performances and the females dances with such grace in these elaborate gold and colorful costumes with beautiful head pieces. The men looked so happy cheering and yelling as they danced with the women and sharing their culture. I had a traditional dish called Beef Lok Lak and it was spot on amazing. After the show we went to the hotel and booked our guide and tuk tuk through the hotel to Angkor National Park for the next two days. 

Day 13/14: Angkor National Park! 

We woke up and were happy to see that Mr. Sophea was our driver. It was very nice that the hotel listened to us and called him. He was so appreciative. We also met our guide Thara who was a very nice man who spoke English very well and was eager to tell us all about the history of Angkor National Park (ANP).



He had been a guide for over 6 years and said he lost count of how many people he has shown around the temples. He actually gets booked months in advance so we were happy we got to have him for a few days by a lucky draw! The ride to ANP was about 20 minutes and we got our passes and ID card for a three day pass. We set off to see temples and in short we were blown away by the majestic and detailed art of the temples. Many countries has adopted some of the temples and were working to restore the parts that had been damaged or collapsed. Some of the temples dated back to 900 b.c and it baffles me that they survived so many centuries, wars and generations. It was hot and definitely a workout walking around between all the temples we saw but it was so worth it. If you ever get a tuk tuk driver and a guide. It would be very hard to navigate so many amazing temples and actually know what you are looking at without fast transportation and someone who can explain the history. A guide was $40 and the tuk tuk was $15. Worth the money for sure. We made sure to tip both of them well because we knew that was their living and all they make in one day. They work so hard for their money every time it would come to paying I would look at Jaime and say "make sure to give them a big tip" and he would smile and say "I know I know." They did everything they could to make sure we were comfortable, suggested good restaurants, our driver gave us ample amount of cold water and they always took the time to answer our questions and make sure we felt knowledgeable about the history. Cambodian people are really amazing and if you know anything about what they have gone through in the last 30-50 years after wars and genocide you would be amazing at their humility and kindness.

On a complete side note when we got to Cambodia Jaime said "Something about this place...I feel like we are about to be here." People kept asking Jaime is he had parents from Cambodia...he looks pretty Mexican to be but he got that on more than one occasion. Maybe he has long lost ancestors there. A lot of it felt like home to him. 

Back to temples...here's a list of the ones we saw and some of my favorite notes. The first day we left around 7 and stayed until 7 to watch sunset. The second day we woke up around 4:30 to watch sunset at Angkor Wat the main attraction. If you ever go I highly recommend doing both and getting to the temples at least two hours early...it gets packed! ANP gets over 5 million tourists a year. Maybe that helps put things into perspective. Each day we went to about 5 temples before breaking for lunch. The first day I tried a traditional dish called Amok Chicken which was a dish prepared in a coconut with chicken and spinach. It was delicious. The second day we went to another local place and I was missing home so I got fish and chips with their local fish. Jaime was kinda on his typical meat and rice ride.

Overall I would say my favorite temples were:

Bayon

Our guide told us that a lot of the kings build such monstrous temples because they wanted to please the gods and get into heaven by doing so. The wouldn't live in the temples, most were a place of worship, studying and a place to honor. Bayons architecture captivated me instantly. I also loved the elephant surrounding the building.

 

Ta Promh

This temple is very popular thanks to Angelina Jolie and tomb raider. This temple was so amazing because of all the trees that grew into, on and around the temple. Pictures explain what I'm trying to convey best!

 

 

Me Neak 

This temple was a top three because it was the most unique. It is also called "water temple" because it's surrounded by water that is said to be holy. It was so simple yet so profound. Also you have to walk across this small wooden bridge with no side rails to get to it so that was exhilarating.

Watching sunset was definitely amazing. I have never seen the sun so bright and so round like we did that first day. We waited for over an hour in line to get a pass and climb the temple to see the sun. They limit the amount of people to about 200.

Angor Wat Sunrise

Sunrise was beautiful as well because our guide recommended we sit in front of this pond so the sun had a beautiful reflection on the water with the temple. It took a while and it was a little bit cloud but some things can only be appreciated best through a naked eye. No picture could do the sunrise we saw justice.

More temples:

 

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When we got back we showered and our legs were throbbing and our feet were burning from all the walking! I work on my feet for 16 hours straight sometimes and I was shocked my legs were hurting so bad!

Couple of thoughts: 

Traveling has taught me a lot about other people and other cultures...some I have learned to love more than others. Regardless we will make sure our kids know their manners that some adults clearly do not. So many tourists are so rude and cough right on you, scream to their friends in front of you, cut you off and unaware of their surroundings. There were very large groups of individuals from a few countries at ANP. At one point I was standing watching sunset and even though there was no one around me, a person from the group walked over to get a picture of the sunset and stood right in front of me. Jaime got really annoyed at this one man and was like "Seriously you're standing right in front of her!" He had no clue. Some people need travel or just proper human etiquette...soap box over.  

Actually one more and then I'm done. If you come to Cambodia you will run into a lot of people begging for money or trying to get money out of you. When Jaime and I were downtown these cheery monks came up and kissed our forehead and grabbed our hand to put a wooden bracelet on it and said "Happy New Year!" We thought "wow how nice!" Then the reality hit and they demanded two dollars. I looked at Jaime and was like "WTF" but we thought "Whatever two dollars we fell for it." As we were going through our cash the monks grabbed it out of my hand which was more than $2. That really fired me up and I was not happy. I looked at him and said "No give me that money back!" He tried to walk away and I ripped it back out of his hand and was red hot pissed. He walked away muffling something (probably not monk like) under his breath. After I was like OMG what a scam. First off a real monk never touches a woman let alone kiss them (EW) and second of all they never demand money or wander around the Pub Street bars on a Friday night. Moral of the story if you're in Cambodia and two monks try to kiss you and demand money, say "Hell no and happy new year to you to."

Second sad story gives me a lot of mixed emotions. As we got of our tuk tuk Jaime pulled out his money to pay our driver. A local girl with her baby came to over to us immediately after seeing he had $100 bill and started to beg for money. Then she said "Ok no money just milk for baby." I don't like giving money and I'll explain why in a second but she had an empty bottle and I looked at that baby and my heart sank. Jaime looked at me and said "Whatever you want baby." So I walked with her in the little convenience store and we walked through she was tapping all of these items she was hinting she wanted. Then she pointed at a $30 tub of formula she wanted us to buy and I said "I'm sorry I didn't know you were asking for a whole tub of money we only have enough cash to pay our guides for today and tomorrow." I looked for a smaller one maybe $5-10 and there weren't any. I said "I'm really sorry" and walked out and she follows me. She got really angry and started screaming at me in front of everyone as we were walking down the street. She said "You don't fucking have money, I see $100 bill fucking American." "You eat everyday and I don't eat!" She was chasing after me and I didn't say anything or make any gestures I just tried to look away and walk away. Then she kept following me and screaming really rude and hurtful things. At one point she grabbed my arm and even scratched me and I pulled my arm away and looked at her and said "There's not way I'm gonna help you and give you money when you are yelling and swearing at me." She continued to follow us yelling and eventually gave up. We continued to see her all week prowling people who pulled out wods of cash and she would do the same thing. Most just ignored her and that's what I wish I could have done.

I was actually really upset by her actions and words because I'm not a cruel person and did make an attempt to help her out of my own kindness. Then I started to see that she was trying to take my kindness for weakness and abuse my effort to help. After Jaime saw that she scratched me he said he wanted to back and find her or tell the cops and I said "It won't make a difference and I told her screaming, yelling, scratching and following someone isn't going to get you what you want. It's not right." What I really wish I could have done is sit down and tell her that the best thing she can do for herself and her baby is to try and go to school to learn so she can get a job and support herself. No I don't know what her barriers or factors are but I do know the number one factor that improves global health is not a tourist giving people money to help them get by for a day and learn to be dependent on others. The number one factor that improved global health is educating mothers. They are the ones in these countries that bear and raise the children. If you tell a mom to give a child water instead of Coke, if the water is $1 and Coke is 50 cents which one do you think they will buy? They need to have the knowledge and know WHY they are doing what they are doing and how it will improve their outcomes. Part of my desire to become a nurse and go on so many medical missions to Central America was because I do care and want to help. This whole experience honestly sucked and Jaime felt bad and asked what he could do. I told him there's nothing either of us can do if she's not interested in making efforts to do what will actually help her. I certainly would be able to get that far when she's screaming at me. :( 

Day 14 continued: 

After our second long day at ANP we headed back to our hotel and poor Jaime was wiped. He slept for a couple of hour while I tanned at our pool and read my book. We headed back into town for a burger at Gourmand Burger which was amazing. Go there if you ever go to Siem Reap. After dinner Jaime got a second dinner to bring home for a late night snack (no shock Pizza!) and we went back to the hotel and crashed!

Day 15: More temples, Kbal Spean, back to Vietnam! 

Today we packed in one more temple that was off the normal tuk tuk route. Mr. Sophea let us borrow his Angkor Thom booked and said "I'm not a guide but maybe this can answer questions you have about the temple." We were pretty quick because we had seen so many temples and just wanted a glance.

 After we drove another 45 minutes to a trail head where we hiked for about a half hour up to this waterfall. The funny part is most people had said it was pretty dry and when we got there we only saw this. Then we realized the water fall was actually further down the hill. I was really happy and it didn't take long before I stool under the holy water to cleanse away my sins! The cool part about this waterfall was that it had ancient carvings in the stones all around. It was really nice to get out and enjoy a little bit of nature as well. 

After the waterfall we stopped by this amazing land mines museum Mr. Sophea recommended. It was all started by a man that was forced into the army to lay the land mines during the time of Cambodia genocide by the Khmer Rouge. Years down the road he wanted to help his country and has dedicated the rest of his life to helping clean the up even though he is willingfully putting his life in danger. I loved reading the history and learning more about that time period in Cambodian history. 

We got back in our tuk tuk and headed back downtown to grab some Mexican food (not bad for Cambodia) and then went back to the hotel to shower and pack. When Mr. Sophea took us to the airport we had to wait on one street because a primary school was getting out. It was so cute to see all the kids in their uniforms and riding their oversized bikes. They would smile and wave. At the airport I gave Mr. Sophea some tacos I didn't have time to eat at the airport and said "Please eat these I don't like wasting food and don't have space to carry them on the plane." He smiled and thanked me and said "I will bring to my family and tell them it's from you, thank you." I'm a hugger but wasn't sure whether or not to hug because Cambodians don't really show affection, especially in public. Before I could make a decision Mr. Sophea hugged both of us and thanked us for giving him a job for the past few days. He said "Please call me if you ever come back." We told him we would for sure and that we would tell all our friends and family about him. He helped bring us to the airport door and hugged us once again. As Jaime and I walked to check in I said that it was so wonderful to meet so many amazing people here like Mr. Sophea. I will truly miss him. If you ever go to Cambodia email him. He will pick you up and take you wherever you need and he quotes a very fair price. It was nice to know we could count on him and avoid the millions of tuk tuk drivers. We would just email him through wifi when we were ready and he would show up. If you see our dear friend please tell him hello for us and that we hope his wife and boy and girl are doing well! roeungsophea@yahoo.com

I would love to say that was the end to our happy ending before leaving but oh no another flight issue. Apparently Cambodia Angkor Air didn't confirm our flight purchase even though we got a confirmation number so we had no flight. I was pissed and ended up jumping behind the counter to look at the details. Of course Jaime wanted to take a picture of his crazy wife. I think I would be escorted out in he states if that happened. Anyway we got it situated out and ends sup have to pay full price to get on the flight we needed but we made it. Thanks to Jaime for keeping the crew call and not kicking me out of the airport. 

Day 16: FOOD POISONING

We don't know exactly what it was but we got food poising, BAD. Jaime woke up in the middle of the night and puked more times than I could count. I was back and forth between the toilet as well. We felt so bad for Duy and Tam that we just got to Vietnam to see them and laid in bed all day. We were so weak though, had the worst aches, felt so dehydrated and pretty much were miserable. Somehow we found ways to make each other laugh. Duy and Tam also helped bring us water, Sprite, and the box of crackers I inhaled. They were really nice about the whole thing. In the evening we finally got our booties out of bed to go get some dessert at Cafe Bene with the boys but we couldn't eat much. It was still nice to get out!

Day 17: Flying to Nha Trang 

We slept in and went upstairs to eat some bomb pho for breakfast. The soup actually felt really good on our poor empty bellies. The top floor view of the city was very beautiful. We headed to the airport to fly out to a vacation spot Tam and Duy picked out for us. It was about a 40 minute ride from the airport I our beautiful 5 star hotel with an ocean view. Tam and Duy did well. We threw our packs down and went out for Vietnamese food. I don't recall everything we ate other than some kind of soup, rice, clay cooked pork, some kind of green vegetables I have never eaten and garlic fries prawns. Of course we didn't stop there. We walked through the night markets and stopped for some ice cream and bar hopped the rest of the night. 

Day 18: Chillin in Nha Trang

We woke up and enjoyed and amazing brunch with everything we could have possibly wanted at the hotel. Jaime and I had to find a laundry mat to do our laundry because it would have costed an arm and a leg to do at the Sheraton. After we came back to the hotel and enjoyed lounging but the pool and ordering drinks which was pretty awesome because we had a sweet view of the water. I had a massive craving for pizza so the boys took me a bomb pizza place called Olivia's or something along those lines and we ate so much pizza we couldn't eat the rest of the day. We did however, find this cool dessert place on the way home and had sundaes, waffles, and smoothies.....then we were officially done. I think I officially tired the boys out too because after we got back to the hotel Duy and Tam crashed and couldn't eat the rest of the night. They had been eating every two hours prior to pizza but I guess I stuffed them! The rest of the night we were lazy and watched movies in bed and Jaime ordered room service. I was still kinda sick and somehow contracted a cold so it was nice to be a bum before we head home for the grind.

 

Day 19: Back to Ho Chi Minh

Sadly we had to head back! We ate brunch and the boys checked us out and went out for coffee while I stayed by the pool. I'll take any bit of sun I can get! The boys came back and played some ping pong and then we went out for some more pho. It felt like heaven on my sore throat and the peppers helped clear my system. We took some pics and headed out for the airport. Our flight got delayed so we got to spend a little more time than expected in Nha Trang. By the time we landed it was late but we took a taxi to Tam's Aunt's house where we crashed for the night. Tam's mom cooked some soup for us and the boys ate some balut. I was kinda curious to try but my stomach has been so off and on since food poisoning I decided to pass. The homeade soup was amazing though! We crashed right after dinner. Lucky me I got to bunk with the three boys. Tam and Duy have Jaime and I the bed. 

Day 20: Off to Korea

We didn't have much time to do anything today because our flight was at noon. Tam's mom made us a homemade meal which consisted of fried flour with egg and papaya on top. We headed to the airport and parted ways with the boys! It was really fun to be able to see them. They have always been so support of our relationship and have been there from the start. I'm so glad Jaime has such loyal friends and it's always a good time when we hang out. We had a 5 hour flight to Korea. We landed pretty late at night at the Seoul, Incheon airport which was very nice but we were so tired and had trouble navigating. Apparently we were told you can get a free hotel or city tour but we had a 22 hour layover and couldn't check in for our next flight so we were told we had to book a hotel outside the airport. I have to mentioned the immigration officers were by far the nicest in South Korea! We got some cheap KFC and took a cab over to Paradise Hotel for the night which ended up being right next to the famous China town in South Korea which was a nice surprise the next day! We crossed this massive bridge which we had to pay a toll for but the drive into the city was really cool at night.

Day 21: South Korea China town, park, touchdown in Seattle!

We woke up and checked out of our room and Jaime looked up some places to go eat. He said that China town was supposed to be a popular place in South Korea where a lot of the movie stars go to eat because of the good food. We asked the hotel if it was within walking distance and the concierge man laughed and said "It's right across the street!" We thought "How perfect!" I couldn't have planned that out better. China town was booming with people on Sunday and I might add everyone was very well dressed. It was really really cold, like Seattle snowy winter in South Korea and thanks to our friend Billy we had jackets! We stopped by a local cafe and grabbed a warm drink. Luckily a teen age girl spoke English and helped translate because the barista was trying to tell us something and we had no clue what she was saying! We walked through the streets and ate some of the most delicious pastries made right before our eyes. One included a Chinese like Ding Dong and the second after Jaime took a bite he ordered another for the plane. We ate breaded pastries, custard like desserts and eventually stopped for Dim Sum. Some of the lines for the restaurants were wrapped around the streets. It's cool how many families we saw out and about. We also ran into some cool statures of the lunar year.

We found this long set of steps and followed it where it led up to a local park. We looked at the art and enjoyed a view of the city. There was a cool monument dedicated to an American colonel that helped South Korea gain it's independence from North Korea. We looked at our clocks and realized we had to head back to the hotel. We got our bags and headed back to the airport, boarded our plan and next thing we know we were off!

Our flight was pretty rough. Nine hours and endless turbulence, multiple movies, anagram wars and going insane but we survived and eventually touched down back at home in the beautiful Seattle. There's NOTHING like fresh Seattle air. After one day my cold was healed. My mom was so cute and probably go to the airport like 3 hours early to pick us up. She was standing at the top of the elevator with her camera ready to take a picture of our nasty faces, messy hair and sweaty BO after the long flight and immigration. Sadly we missed the Seahawks game thanks to multiple planes landing at the same time but I guess we missed the misery of seeing our Hawks lose.

It's amazing how you can travel the world but nothing is like coming back to a country where you are free, to a beautiful city with clean air, normal drivers/traffic, to a home filled with love surrounded by family you love and the list goes on and on. There were countless times we would stop and think about how grateful we were to be, well wherever we were. We had the time of our lives and got closer than we ever imagined (food poisoning was one we could have gone without!). I didn't really think that we could get much closer but the more I travel the world with my love, my love for him only grows stronger and brighter. It really was on my bucket list to travel the world and dream to do it with my best friend. To see both come true is the best feeling in the world.