To Market, To Market, To Buy A Fat Pig!! … 20.2.11

WOW! Is about all I can say for my first trip to the market!!

First of all the transport there is basically the back of a truck, which they call the ‘Bus’. All the House mums and some volunteers go in to the market every couple days for fresh fruit and veg, and anything else they might need. The bus leaves at 7pm sharp and if you want to be on it you have to stand out at the main road and the driver will stop to let you on.

Once at the markets everyone piles out of the truck and goes about getting there various shopping needs. The markets are very different from our wonderfully air-conditioned shopping malls back in Australia! It’s all very exciting, smelly, hot, crowded and very colourful! There are different sections for fruit, veg, meat, clothes, hardware, and random other bits and pieces and finding your way around is not easy! Luckily I was with Chloie and she had already been to the market on Friday while I was teaching so she sort of had an idea of where things were!

Chloie buying some clothes 

I bought some stuff I needed, but most excitingly of all … I got my very first hammock!! It’s rainbow coloured and I love it :D

Me in my awesome hammock!

At 9am everyone made their way back to the truck and piled in, along with their mountains of shopping!!

The VERY full 'bus' after we all finished our shopping

All the fruit and veg etc...

I think I should mention that the ride to and from the market is not the most comfortable ride! Needless to say I have a bruised buttocks from all the bouncing around!!  

And that was my very first trip to the market! Hopefully next time I will be able to find my way around!

Border Patrol, 3 Brits and a VERY Long Bus Ride! ... 15th February 2011

So today was the day that I made the crossing from Thailand into Cambodia. We left Bangkok 1 hour late and travelled East to the border town of Poi Pet. For the first half of the journey I pretty much slept due to the jet lag I was experiencing. 

On the bus to Poi Pet

Beggar on the streets of Bangkok

Poor puppy :(

Just for Katie ;P

Elephant Statue

Sign at the petrol station

flowers on the side of the road

About 7km from Poipet we stopped at a random restaurant for lunch where our bus driver and guide attempted to convince us to buy our Visa’s off them because we wouldn’t be able to do it at the border. Luckily I had been forewarned about this particular scam and joined forces with 2 sisters, Emily and Lucy, from Britain who had also been warned. We refused to buy the Visa from them and said we would get it at the border and eventually they left us alone. We felt bad for those who had fallen for it though as they ended up paying twice as much as us and having to wait just as long to get through the border. 

Welcome to Cambodia!!!

Sign on the back of our bus!!

Once through the border we boarded another bus that took us to a bus station where we changed buses once again. This was to be our bus into Siem Reap. 

What should have taken 1 1/2 hours ended up taking 4. Who knows why because the bus worked fine and the roads were very good so basically we decided that they just wanted to scam us again into booking rooms in their guest houses because we would be arriving after dark. 

After stopping again at a random restaurant for dinner where we met another Brit, Dave, we again boarded our bus, Dave happened to be on our bus too, we just hadn’t met him yet. 

Another hour, and a couple stops to drop off and pick up locals, later we arrived on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Apparently the bus wasn’t allowed into the city so we had to stop off in a dark alley and were given free rides on Tuk Tuks into town (it turns out the Tuk Tuk was part of the bus fare). Lucy and Emily hopped on one Tuk Tuk while Dave and I went on another. It was quite funny because our driver wanted to make sure we found our friends even though we kept telling him we were traveling alone and it didn’t really matter. He insisted on finding them, so we drove around the city a few times while he looked for the other Tuk Tuk driver until finally he got a phone call telling him where they were. 

Dave and I on our Tuktuk into Siem Reap

Our driver very kindly let me borrow his phone to call Wendy who runs the orphanage with her husband Tim so that they could come and pick me up. And to cut a long story short I arrived safe and sound at the orphanage and am now heading off to bed. 

Good night!!

Tigers, Fish, Facials and Tuktuks ... 14th February 2011

What an amazing day! 

A Thai Tuktuk

I woke up early in the morning to catch my first Tuk Tuk to Kao San Road. What an experience! For those of you who have never heard of or seen one before they are basically a motorbike with a sort of carriage on the back. You can fit up to 4 people comfortably. Thankfully it was just me and even then I was terrified! I thought we were going to tip at every corner! 

Kao San Road

I arrived at Kao San Road in one piece, paid my $1.50 for the ride and headed off to find a tourist agency to get my bus ticket to Siem Reap.

Unfortunately I’d missed the only bus to Siem Reap so, as fate would have it, I had to stay in Bangkok for another night. Luckily I was just in time for the bus to the Tiger Temple! It was a 3 hour journey there and well worth the $40 I spent on the bus and entrance fee! It was an amazing experience to be able to get close to real live tigers and actually touch them! I definitely recommend it. 

 

On the way back from the Tiger Temple

Fish Spa!!

When the other people left ALL the fish swarmed to me!

After the 3 hour journey back to Bangkok I decided to spend some time in Kao San Road, apparently the place to be for backpackers in Thailand! The transformation from the ghost town I had walked this morning to the overabundance of lights and people this evening was incredible! As I walked along soaking in the sights, smells and sounds of Bangkok I came across a very popular beauty parlour which just so happened to be having a “special” on fish spas and facials. I decided that since I had been brave enough to handle tigers earlier in the day I was definitely brave to handle a few little fish sucking my feet. Right?

Well, it turns out that it really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Although the french man sitting opposite me definitely had a different experience as he couldn’t even get his big toe in the water and as soon as one fish even came near his toe he started squealing like a little girl! Very funny to watch! 

Attempting to take a photo of my braided hair!

So, after tackling tigers and fish I decided to tackle a Thai facial. 1 hour and $16 later a very peaceful, relaxed Alicia emerged from that beauty parlour, they even threw in a free massage with my mask! Where can you find something like that in Australia!! 

I have decided that Bangkok is amazing and I definitely want to go back sometime in the near future! But, as a fellow aussie I met randomly while I was getting my hair braided said, “Bangkok is a city that’s more fun when you’re with someone else”. I have to admit that it was kind of lonely, even though I made friends along the way, I would have loved to have some permanent company. Any takers for next time? :D

Until next time!

And so it Begins ... 13th February 2011

I can’t believe it’s finally here! I’m sitting at Melbourne International airport waiting for reality to kick in. Today is the day I move to Cambodia!

Soon I’ll be on a plane, halfway between the box I’ve lived in for the past 5 years and the unescapable adventure that reality is. I don’t know how or why this is happening to me. Why have I been chosen to work and live in an orphanage on the other side of the world? What’s so special about me? 

As I ponder these thoughts it dawns on me that I’m asking the wrong questions. Instead of focussing on me, myself and I, I need to be asking questions like, “What do you want me to do God?”, “How can You use me?”, “How can I show these people the depth of Your love?”.

So, as the boarding announcements are made and I pick up my bag, passport and assorted other hand luggage, I make a promise...

“God, You have been so good to me. I have had a wonderful life, despite the ups and downs. I know that You are always with me and that I can rely on You. I give my life once more to You. Use me Father and help me to show the world Your very real and unfailing love. Amen.”