Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
I LOVE TOKYO ♥
Friday- arrived in Tokyo at around noon. It was so weird having to say goodbye to everyone though. As the 17 or 18 of us staying in Tokyo were about to head down to baggage claim everyone else had to take a separate route to their gate to continue flying to America. I really didn't have a hard time telling everyone goodbye until little Alli came up to me and asked "Are you going with us?" I told her that I was staying in Tokyo, and that I wouldn't be going with her. She then proceeded to ask "Why can't you come with us?" It was the most sad thing ever! (This convo went a bit differently, but it was still the cutest/saddest thing ever!) I got just a bit teary eyed after that, I absolutely adore that little girl. She was a little spoiled and bratty at times, but you cant blame her for being the cutest thing on the planet, and having fourty people who want to hold her all the time. I was just fortunate to be one of her favorites. Its so funny, I got called a Mom one time, because I would have to be stern with her at times so she would listen to me. At lunch one day I was telling her to sit, and to stop playing with food, and to eat her food, etc etc.. and someone goes "aww, look at Lauren being a Mom." haha.. supposedly I am going to be a good Mom one day.. Which is good to hear. I can't wait to be a Mom!! (In many many years of course.... haha. Right Mom?)
So anyways! We got our bags and checked them into lockers where they would stay for the next few days while we traveled around Tokyo. We didn't want to drag them around the whole city with us. I am glad I bought that awesome hiking backpack with me, so I could keep everything in there and carry it around with me for the next few days. Once we got all that settled, and exchanged money, and bought our train ticket we waited for the train to get there and rested while we rode into the city.
Once in the city we walked up to the ground level and made our way to our hostel. We stayed at the Khaosan Tokyo Ninja Hostel.. It was AWESOME! The little capsule type beds we stayed in were cool (pictures soon!! haha). After we all settled in we left for dinner. We had dinner at a vending machine restaurant. You walk up to this machine as soon as you step inside and push the button for what you want, you then pay for it and the machine spits out a ticket. After you take a seat, one of the workers walked up to you and took your ticket and took it back to the kitchen. After they finish making your food they bring it out to you and Vua-Lah! After dinner we all walked around the area we were staying a bit, but headed back in early to get some sleep to prepare for a BIG day.
Saturday- It was time for a big day! Bri and I slept in a little, and took our time to get ready. Before 11 we had checked out bags in downstairs (they held them for free for us all day) and we were on the subway headed for the Tokyo International Forum. We watched all the crazy people shop in the massive room downstairs through the glass windows then went and got lunch at Italian, none the less. Japanese make some good Italian! It was interesting ordering where people only speak Japanese. They spoke a few words of english so it was enough that we got by. Afterwards we walked to the Imperial Palace and then the Imperial Palace East Gardens. It was really pretty! We haven't been able to experience fall weather so it was fun getting to see and play in all the leaves!
Ok, I am FINALLY finishing this.. I got a bit discouraged and would have finished sooner had I not already written the rest of this blog before it deleted itself.... anyways!
After paying in the leaves and taking pictures we walked back to the subway station and made our way to Ginza. CRHIS, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING GINZA ON OUR LIST! It was so amazing. we were completely surrounded by tall buildings filled with familiar store and department and brand names. The apple store was cool, and we were able to get on their free wifi with our ipods. We also got to (get this) wait in line to get into Abercrombie and Fitch. It was the most amazing A&F store I have EVER been in! It was about fourteen to a million stories high and the workers had their american accent down on lock. When you first walked in they even had one of their muscular, male models available for taking pictures with, although they used their own camera and I guess you had to pay for it? I am not sure.. we did not care to get our picture taken. After walking around and taking many pictures we headed back to the train station once again to head back to the hostel we had stayed in the night before. The hostel kindly let us keep all of our things there so we didn't have to lug them around all day. We met up with everyone at the hostel and then made our way to our new "Old-Japanese style" hostel. It was pretty cool, but had less security. We stayed in rooms with bunk beds instead of little capsule things. After we were settled in the group set out to find some food, most everyone settled for getting food from a bakery. Bri and I on the other hand wanted something a little more adventurous. we were told there were several places to eat in Ueno. So that is where we headed to. it was only one or two train stops down so it didn't take long. I liked this little suburb It was full of lights and life. We ended up finding yet another Italian restaurant (I'm telling you, they make AMAZING Italian food!). It was a nice restaurant, we felt so sophisticated! haha. We walked around the city and stopped at a Starbucks before we ventured back to our hostel. We stayed at the hostel for a while, but everyone was falling asleep even though the night was still young! SO, Bri and I decided to change and go out. It was time to explore Roppongi. Let me just say Roppongi holds some good times, I had fun walking around and meeting people and having a good time.
Sunday- We went to the fish market as soon as the train station opened (5AM) just to find out it was not open on Sundays, this was a SUPER BUMMER! So after eating a little breakfast and making our way back to the hostel and sleeping for a while Bri and I woke up.. packed up our things, got dressed, stored our bags at the front desk and got on the train headed to Ueno once again to explore the temples a bit and the parks. We didn't stay here for too long, because we wanted to get to Shibuya so we could meet up with everyone at the Three-story Starbucks. Ueno was very awesome, I wish we had more time there, but time was short. Which made for unhappy campers when it took us a little longer to make it to the hiding subway station. Fourteen stops later we arrived in Shibuya. This is one of the busiest train stations/subways in Tokyo, and you could tell as soon as you walked out. Walking out of the station you are confronted by massive, sophisticated buildings and a massive crosswalk that is deemed the busiest, most populated crosswalk in the world. More people cross here in a day than anywhere else. We had to walk across this area to make it to starbucks on the other side.. Bri and I held hands so we wouldn't lose each other in this crowd filled with thousands of people. It was a tiny adventure within itself! This was until we stepped inside Starbucks, this place was huge! The first floor mainly consisted of music, many shelves of CD's as well as two starbucks stations where you could buy your coffee. The second floor was filled with mostly reading material and lots of seating areas. The Third floor was a mixture of everything. It was pretty cool though. We sat around with our coffee before everyone met up, and we discussed plans on where we were staying that night. We had not booked a hostel for the third night. Bri and I decided by ourselves that we were just going to stay at the hostel we stayed in the first night. We then broke up our little party to find some food. I think we had Italian again, haha. Once again, it was marvelous. (We had pasta this time, the two previous time we ate delicious pizza). After eating we ventured around Shibuya, It was mostly stores and shopping like Ginza was. We then walked to Harijuku, so we could see the Karijuku girls! I took a picture with this weirdly dressed figures, and then we went to walk around a bit. Once again, I wish we had more time here, but we needed to make it to Shinjuku to see the lights and then back to the Roppongi area to ride the elevator up the Tokyo Tower to see AMAZING views of the city. Shinjuku was really awesome, lights and stores, and restaurants, and clubs, and people EVERYWHERE! It was the epitome of a busy city. The view was amazing. I loved walking around here, and we got to walk around a lot. Bri told a friend she would try and find a toy for them, which was very tough to find.. Five movie/magazine/porn stores later we gave up. We boarded the subway, ONCE AGAIN, to make our way to the Tokyo Tower. It looks oddly familiar... It is set up quite like the Eiffel Tower, although not as tall, I assume. We payed approx 10 dollars and road up hundreds of feet to the observation deck. I wish my camera took better pictures at night because the view was incredible. Each window you looked out all you saw was skyscrapers and city for MILES and MILES. It was so worth visiting. (Thank you Chris and Laska for putting this place on our list as well.)
Afterwards we made our way ALLLLL the way back to our previous hostel, collected our belongings, and made our way back to the hostel we stayed in the first night. We grabbed dinner en-route and then decided to relax and shower and pack that night. Most of everyone else eventually arrived at the hostel and Bri and I met up with our Friend Sauze that we had met our first day in Tokyo and we went out to try some Sake! (Yes my mom knows I did this..) If you are ever in Tokyo you HAVE TO try Sake.. not because it is good, but it is the traditional and initiating task to do. First off all you have to ask for a specific kind of Sake. It Japanese Sake actually just means alcohol. But you are looking for the hot, traditional, Japanese kind. I don't remember the name. But I can find it out for you if you ever want to know the name. We had a fun time hanging out with Sauze and not as much fun trying the Sake, but it was a nice way to spend our last night. It was sad this night (aka, our time in Tokyo/ our time Over seas) was coming to an end. We all walked arm in arm back to our hostel and prepared for bed and prepared to say goodbye to one of the most amazing cities, and the most AMAZING trip of a lifetime.
Monday- We were packed and out the door by 9AM. It was time for all of us to make our way down to the subway station and then to the airport. We boarded the Narita express train and rode the hour and a half to the International airport. I personally did not have to be there until much later. I could have slept in. But I decided to make this last little trip with the rest of our group. Once at the airport we went to retrieve or bags from the storage lockers, paid for it, and checked in. We had quite a bit of time after we got through security, so we all ate and walked around, and got on our computers. Bri and 14 of the 17 Harding students boarded their plane for home (connection via Detroit) around 1 something which left Marcus and I behind. We were the only ones headed to California; we were also the only ones who lived in California. We sat around on our computers and such while we waited for our plane. At 330PM It was finally time for boarding and we made out way to our seats, made a little pillow mtn in between us, got comfortable, and knocked out for a while. I hardly even remember take off, but at approx 4PM (MONDAY) we departed from Tokyo, and from Japan, and from SE Asia, and from HUA. Marcus spent our time on the plane talking, sleeping, eating, listening to his ipod, and sleeping some more. We would have spent some of this time watching movies had our plane not been old and ghetto and not equipped with the nice little screens on the back of the seats.. ugh. About 8 or so hours later we were preparing to land in LA. Home sweet Home. It was bittersweet. But at 8AM (MONDAY [morning] still) we walked off the plane and into the airport. (Yes, we went back in time.. I know, pretty cool, huh?) We stayed together and made our way through immigration and customs.. then we waited for our back for like an Hour and a half.. then we finally met our parents. My Mom was holding a tiny post card that had my name on it (She say everyone else holding signs with names on them and decided to make her own... all she had was a postcard, haha.) After hugging Marcus and telling him goodbye, my mom and I walked to the car.
In n Out was my first meal back in the states. The weather was Sunny and warm. It was a good welcoming back to America.
So anyways! We got our bags and checked them into lockers where they would stay for the next few days while we traveled around Tokyo. We didn't want to drag them around the whole city with us. I am glad I bought that awesome hiking backpack with me, so I could keep everything in there and carry it around with me for the next few days. Once we got all that settled, and exchanged money, and bought our train ticket we waited for the train to get there and rested while we rode into the city.
Once in the city we walked up to the ground level and made our way to our hostel. We stayed at the Khaosan Tokyo Ninja Hostel.. It was AWESOME! The little capsule type beds we stayed in were cool (pictures soon!! haha). After we all settled in we left for dinner. We had dinner at a vending machine restaurant. You walk up to this machine as soon as you step inside and push the button for what you want, you then pay for it and the machine spits out a ticket. After you take a seat, one of the workers walked up to you and took your ticket and took it back to the kitchen. After they finish making your food they bring it out to you and Vua-Lah! After dinner we all walked around the area we were staying a bit, but headed back in early to get some sleep to prepare for a BIG day.
Saturday- It was time for a big day! Bri and I slept in a little, and took our time to get ready. Before 11 we had checked out bags in downstairs (they held them for free for us all day) and we were on the subway headed for the Tokyo International Forum. We watched all the crazy people shop in the massive room downstairs through the glass windows then went and got lunch at Italian, none the less. Japanese make some good Italian! It was interesting ordering where people only speak Japanese. They spoke a few words of english so it was enough that we got by. Afterwards we walked to the Imperial Palace and then the Imperial Palace East Gardens. It was really pretty! We haven't been able to experience fall weather so it was fun getting to see and play in all the leaves!
Ok, I am FINALLY finishing this.. I got a bit discouraged and would have finished sooner had I not already written the rest of this blog before it deleted itself.... anyways!
After paying in the leaves and taking pictures we walked back to the subway station and made our way to Ginza. CRHIS, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING GINZA ON OUR LIST! It was so amazing. we were completely surrounded by tall buildings filled with familiar store and department and brand names. The apple store was cool, and we were able to get on their free wifi with our ipods. We also got to (get this) wait in line to get into Abercrombie and Fitch. It was the most amazing A&F store I have EVER been in! It was about fourteen to a million stories high and the workers had their american accent down on lock. When you first walked in they even had one of their muscular, male models available for taking pictures with, although they used their own camera and I guess you had to pay for it? I am not sure.. we did not care to get our picture taken. After walking around and taking many pictures we headed back to the train station once again to head back to the hostel we had stayed in the night before. The hostel kindly let us keep all of our things there so we didn't have to lug them around all day. We met up with everyone at the hostel and then made our way to our new "Old-Japanese style" hostel. It was pretty cool, but had less security. We stayed in rooms with bunk beds instead of little capsule things. After we were settled in the group set out to find some food, most everyone settled for getting food from a bakery. Bri and I on the other hand wanted something a little more adventurous. we were told there were several places to eat in Ueno. So that is where we headed to. it was only one or two train stops down so it didn't take long. I liked this little suburb It was full of lights and life. We ended up finding yet another Italian restaurant (I'm telling you, they make AMAZING Italian food!). It was a nice restaurant, we felt so sophisticated! haha. We walked around the city and stopped at a Starbucks before we ventured back to our hostel. We stayed at the hostel for a while, but everyone was falling asleep even though the night was still young! SO, Bri and I decided to change and go out. It was time to explore Roppongi. Let me just say Roppongi holds some good times, I had fun walking around and meeting people and having a good time.
Sunday- We went to the fish market as soon as the train station opened (5AM) just to find out it was not open on Sundays, this was a SUPER BUMMER! So after eating a little breakfast and making our way back to the hostel and sleeping for a while Bri and I woke up.. packed up our things, got dressed, stored our bags at the front desk and got on the train headed to Ueno once again to explore the temples a bit and the parks. We didn't stay here for too long, because we wanted to get to Shibuya so we could meet up with everyone at the Three-story Starbucks. Ueno was very awesome, I wish we had more time there, but time was short. Which made for unhappy campers when it took us a little longer to make it to the hiding subway station. Fourteen stops later we arrived in Shibuya. This is one of the busiest train stations/subways in Tokyo, and you could tell as soon as you walked out. Walking out of the station you are confronted by massive, sophisticated buildings and a massive crosswalk that is deemed the busiest, most populated crosswalk in the world. More people cross here in a day than anywhere else. We had to walk across this area to make it to starbucks on the other side.. Bri and I held hands so we wouldn't lose each other in this crowd filled with thousands of people. It was a tiny adventure within itself! This was until we stepped inside Starbucks, this place was huge! The first floor mainly consisted of music, many shelves of CD's as well as two starbucks stations where you could buy your coffee. The second floor was filled with mostly reading material and lots of seating areas. The Third floor was a mixture of everything. It was pretty cool though. We sat around with our coffee before everyone met up, and we discussed plans on where we were staying that night. We had not booked a hostel for the third night. Bri and I decided by ourselves that we were just going to stay at the hostel we stayed in the first night. We then broke up our little party to find some food. I think we had Italian again, haha. Once again, it was marvelous. (We had pasta this time, the two previous time we ate delicious pizza). After eating we ventured around Shibuya, It was mostly stores and shopping like Ginza was. We then walked to Harijuku, so we could see the Karijuku girls! I took a picture with this weirdly dressed figures, and then we went to walk around a bit. Once again, I wish we had more time here, but we needed to make it to Shinjuku to see the lights and then back to the Roppongi area to ride the elevator up the Tokyo Tower to see AMAZING views of the city. Shinjuku was really awesome, lights and stores, and restaurants, and clubs, and people EVERYWHERE! It was the epitome of a busy city. The view was amazing. I loved walking around here, and we got to walk around a lot. Bri told a friend she would try and find a toy for them, which was very tough to find.. Five movie/magazine/porn stores later we gave up. We boarded the subway, ONCE AGAIN, to make our way to the Tokyo Tower. It looks oddly familiar... It is set up quite like the Eiffel Tower, although not as tall, I assume. We payed approx 10 dollars and road up hundreds of feet to the observation deck. I wish my camera took better pictures at night because the view was incredible. Each window you looked out all you saw was skyscrapers and city for MILES and MILES. It was so worth visiting. (Thank you Chris and Laska for putting this place on our list as well.)
Afterwards we made our way ALLLLL the way back to our previous hostel, collected our belongings, and made our way back to the hostel we stayed in the first night. We grabbed dinner en-route and then decided to relax and shower and pack that night. Most of everyone else eventually arrived at the hostel and Bri and I met up with our Friend Sauze that we had met our first day in Tokyo and we went out to try some Sake! (Yes my mom knows I did this..) If you are ever in Tokyo you HAVE TO try Sake.. not because it is good, but it is the traditional and initiating task to do. First off all you have to ask for a specific kind of Sake. It Japanese Sake actually just means alcohol. But you are looking for the hot, traditional, Japanese kind. I don't remember the name. But I can find it out for you if you ever want to know the name. We had a fun time hanging out with Sauze and not as much fun trying the Sake, but it was a nice way to spend our last night. It was sad this night (aka, our time in Tokyo/ our time Over seas) was coming to an end. We all walked arm in arm back to our hostel and prepared for bed and prepared to say goodbye to one of the most amazing cities, and the most AMAZING trip of a lifetime.
Monday- We were packed and out the door by 9AM. It was time for all of us to make our way down to the subway station and then to the airport. We boarded the Narita express train and rode the hour and a half to the International airport. I personally did not have to be there until much later. I could have slept in. But I decided to make this last little trip with the rest of our group. Once at the airport we went to retrieve or bags from the storage lockers, paid for it, and checked in. We had quite a bit of time after we got through security, so we all ate and walked around, and got on our computers. Bri and 14 of the 17 Harding students boarded their plane for home (connection via Detroit) around 1 something which left Marcus and I behind. We were the only ones headed to California; we were also the only ones who lived in California. We sat around on our computers and such while we waited for our plane. At 330PM It was finally time for boarding and we made out way to our seats, made a little pillow mtn in between us, got comfortable, and knocked out for a while. I hardly even remember take off, but at approx 4PM (MONDAY) we departed from Tokyo, and from Japan, and from SE Asia, and from HUA. Marcus spent our time on the plane talking, sleeping, eating, listening to his ipod, and sleeping some more. We would have spent some of this time watching movies had our plane not been old and ghetto and not equipped with the nice little screens on the back of the seats.. ugh. About 8 or so hours later we were preparing to land in LA. Home sweet Home. It was bittersweet. But at 8AM (MONDAY [morning] still) we walked off the plane and into the airport. (Yes, we went back in time.. I know, pretty cool, huh?) We stayed together and made our way through immigration and customs.. then we waited for our back for like an Hour and a half.. then we finally met our parents. My Mom was holding a tiny post card that had my name on it (She say everyone else holding signs with names on them and decided to make her own... all she had was a postcard, haha.) After hugging Marcus and telling him goodbye, my mom and I walked to the car.
In n Out was my first meal back in the states. The weather was Sunny and warm. It was a good welcoming back to America.
SINGAPORE.
Tuesday- After an couple-hour long plane ride, a layover in Malaysia, a complication in Malaysia, and another hour-long plane ride we finally arrived in Singapore. Sadly, Michelle did not arrive with us. She left her passport on the plane from Cambodia to Malaysia and had to stay behind while she worked things out. On the way from the airport to the hotel we got word that her passport had been found and she would be joining us in Singapore the next day. In the meantime, we settled into our hotel rooms and headed back downstairs for dinner. We just had pizza. Later that night many people from our group met together and walked down to the movie theater to see none other than HARRY POTTER!!! The movies cost 8 Singapore dollars (which was 6 US dollars) for us. This was a completely amazing deal, this theater was AMAZING! Everything was so nice and the theater itself was HUGE. We sat down on red, velvet, cushioned seats. I cannot believe we only paid 6 dollars.. in the states this theater would be worth about 15 dollars!! On top of all of this, Harry Potter was AMAZING, most likely the best movie out of all of them. I wanted it to keep going, I cannot wait for the second half!
Wednesday- After "sleeping in" we met downstairs before walking to lunch. On our way to lunch we stopped at a temple, which was more updated than all the traditional ones we had seen in other countries. We continued walking to lunch, and ate close by. After lunch we had a little time to walk around then we got on the bus to head to the Singapore ZOO! I loved the Zoo, we got to see so many animals! (duh). I had fun though, and afterwards we went on a "Night Safari" that was pretty cool too. We rode around on the "trams" and stopped and saw animals at night. It was a lot like the Zoo, but we also saw bats (walked through a cage with them in it) and we saw many animals who are only awake/ more active at night. After we were done with the Zoos, we headed back to the hotel and worked on journals before falling asleep.
Thursday- It was our free day but we woke up earlier to walk with the group to the "Ferris Wheel". Its kind of like the one in England, so I have heard. It was HUGE, and it took about half an hour to go all the way around, but we saw some amazing views of Singapore. Afterwards we walked around the city, headed back close to our hotel and ate lunch. Afterwards we walked around the "markets"/ shops.. Then that night was our goodbye dinner. We all dressed up and looked nice, and got on the bus to head to our mystery dinner destination. Guess where we arrived... None other than the OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE. I was extremely excited.. haha. I had steak and mashed potatoes and an awesome dessert! ha.. We stayed there forever, and took tons of pictures afterwards.. It was so weird that our trip was coming to an end, and that for me and 17 other people we would be saying goodbye to half the group the next day in Tokyo. After dinner we went back to the hotel, then some of us went to the movies or walked around town or just hung out before making sure we had everything packed and staying up late talking because we left for the airport at 230 in the morning! ugh..
Friday- Left for the airport (at 230 in the morning!) and just hung out there until it was time to leave. After checking in a handful of us stayed behind and talked to Ms Pam and Chris before walking to the gate.. we werent ready to say goodbye to them yet! I was going to miss them both so much! But we finally detached from them, after giving tons of hugs, and went to our gate, then boarded the plane for TOKYO JAPAN!!
Wednesday- After "sleeping in" we met downstairs before walking to lunch. On our way to lunch we stopped at a temple, which was more updated than all the traditional ones we had seen in other countries. We continued walking to lunch, and ate close by. After lunch we had a little time to walk around then we got on the bus to head to the Singapore ZOO! I loved the Zoo, we got to see so many animals! (duh). I had fun though, and afterwards we went on a "Night Safari" that was pretty cool too. We rode around on the "trams" and stopped and saw animals at night. It was a lot like the Zoo, but we also saw bats (walked through a cage with them in it) and we saw many animals who are only awake/ more active at night. After we were done with the Zoos, we headed back to the hotel and worked on journals before falling asleep.
Thursday- It was our free day but we woke up earlier to walk with the group to the "Ferris Wheel". Its kind of like the one in England, so I have heard. It was HUGE, and it took about half an hour to go all the way around, but we saw some amazing views of Singapore. Afterwards we walked around the city, headed back close to our hotel and ate lunch. Afterwards we walked around the "markets"/ shops.. Then that night was our goodbye dinner. We all dressed up and looked nice, and got on the bus to head to our mystery dinner destination. Guess where we arrived... None other than the OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE. I was extremely excited.. haha. I had steak and mashed potatoes and an awesome dessert! ha.. We stayed there forever, and took tons of pictures afterwards.. It was so weird that our trip was coming to an end, and that for me and 17 other people we would be saying goodbye to half the group the next day in Tokyo. After dinner we went back to the hotel, then some of us went to the movies or walked around town or just hung out before making sure we had everything packed and staying up late talking because we left for the airport at 230 in the morning! ugh..
Friday- Left for the airport (at 230 in the morning!) and just hung out there until it was time to leave. After checking in a handful of us stayed behind and talked to Ms Pam and Chris before walking to the gate.. we werent ready to say goodbye to them yet! I was going to miss them both so much! But we finally detached from them, after giving tons of hugs, and went to our gate, then boarded the plane for TOKYO JAPAN!!
The last of Cambodia!
Saturday- Woke up in Phnom Pehn and it was ready to take our suitcases downstairs and get on the bus! Before we officially headed out of town we went to a place called The Killing Fields where thousands of people were murdered and buried during the Khmere Rouge. Afterwards we drove back into town and toured the Kings Palace. After the Kings Palace we drove for HOURS, until we eventually reached Siem Reap.
Our hotel was really nice, and it felt so good to land on that soft bed. But we didn't have much time to relax before dinner, and after dinner we headed out to the Markets. I bought my most favorite pair of "pants" at the markets, I love them! Afterwards we hung out and walked around the city, then got back to the hotel later, showered and went to bed!
Sunday- ANGKOR WAT! Completely amazing! We rode in "tuk-tuk's" which are little covered carts drawn by motorbikes! haha. It was very interesting, and it felt so cool to be walking around all those ancient temples, and ruins. (You will see pictures soon, haha.) I had so any experiences today though. One of them being the children "beggars/sellers". It was so crazy, as soon as you walk or drive into the food and market areas you are hounded by children of all ages asking you to buy something they have. "One dolla... ten for one dolla... you have you have (talking about money)... you can buy." The broken-english phrases never end. They would walk by you and keep asking for you to buy something until you enter your restaurant, and as soon as you walk out they are right there again waiting. The hardest thing was that these kids are so cute and beautiful! They would always say "you so beautiful" and I would turn around and tell them no, and that they were. A few of the girls gave me a free bracelet for being "so nice," one girl even wrote me a note! They were precious. After we were done at Angkor Wat we bought paintings if we wanted then headed back to the hotel. We had a nice PIZZA dinner and then we went back to our hotel where we watched a traditional Cambodian-style dance show. Before bed we had church service, and then we slept!
Monday- After waking up it was time for breakfast and then into the bus for a daytrip. We left and drove through the town and country side until we made it to the Mekong River. We boarded a big boat and set off down the river to one of the river villages. We first stopped at a place where women who are uneducated can work and earn a living. Afterwards we visited a school. I absolutely loved all those kids. There were maybe a hundred of them in a "classroom" about the size of my living room. We handed out toys, candy, markers, and more. We also sang songs to them, and they sang songs in their language back to us. It was definitely an uplifting experience! After we were done here we rode back to the hotel, rested for a bit, then headed back out for dinner, where we watched a dance show again (very similar to the first). After dinner we went out to the markets again (different markets) I bought three paintings for twelve dollars! We walked around for a long time, then finally got a tuk-tuk to take us back to our hotel....after getting lost. We showed the driver which hotel we needed to go to, he said he knew the way. Obviously he did not know the way because we ended up on the opposite side of town. a twenty minute drive took us a good hour, but we finally made it back! I packed, and stayed up late to work on journals with Bri, then headed to bed.
Tuesday- we were all packed up. After taking our bags down stairs we ate breakfast at the hotel and then it was time to be off to the airport! It was a bit bittersweet. I really enjoyed Cambodia and I wasn't ready to go. I was going to miss all the kids, the people, Laska, and everything else about Cambodia. (I wasn't going to miss the sticky heat though!) Cambodia will forever be in my heart.... oh, and I WILL adopt a Cambodian baby!
Our hotel was really nice, and it felt so good to land on that soft bed. But we didn't have much time to relax before dinner, and after dinner we headed out to the Markets. I bought my most favorite pair of "pants" at the markets, I love them! Afterwards we hung out and walked around the city, then got back to the hotel later, showered and went to bed!
Sunday- ANGKOR WAT! Completely amazing! We rode in "tuk-tuk's" which are little covered carts drawn by motorbikes! haha. It was very interesting, and it felt so cool to be walking around all those ancient temples, and ruins. (You will see pictures soon, haha.) I had so any experiences today though. One of them being the children "beggars/sellers". It was so crazy, as soon as you walk or drive into the food and market areas you are hounded by children of all ages asking you to buy something they have. "One dolla... ten for one dolla... you have you have (talking about money)... you can buy." The broken-english phrases never end. They would walk by you and keep asking for you to buy something until you enter your restaurant, and as soon as you walk out they are right there again waiting. The hardest thing was that these kids are so cute and beautiful! They would always say "you so beautiful" and I would turn around and tell them no, and that they were. A few of the girls gave me a free bracelet for being "so nice," one girl even wrote me a note! They were precious. After we were done at Angkor Wat we bought paintings if we wanted then headed back to the hotel. We had a nice PIZZA dinner and then we went back to our hotel where we watched a traditional Cambodian-style dance show. Before bed we had church service, and then we slept!
Monday- After waking up it was time for breakfast and then into the bus for a daytrip. We left and drove through the town and country side until we made it to the Mekong River. We boarded a big boat and set off down the river to one of the river villages. We first stopped at a place where women who are uneducated can work and earn a living. Afterwards we visited a school. I absolutely loved all those kids. There were maybe a hundred of them in a "classroom" about the size of my living room. We handed out toys, candy, markers, and more. We also sang songs to them, and they sang songs in their language back to us. It was definitely an uplifting experience! After we were done here we rode back to the hotel, rested for a bit, then headed back out for dinner, where we watched a dance show again (very similar to the first). After dinner we went out to the markets again (different markets) I bought three paintings for twelve dollars! We walked around for a long time, then finally got a tuk-tuk to take us back to our hotel....after getting lost. We showed the driver which hotel we needed to go to, he said he knew the way. Obviously he did not know the way because we ended up on the opposite side of town. a twenty minute drive took us a good hour, but we finally made it back! I packed, and stayed up late to work on journals with Bri, then headed to bed.
Tuesday- we were all packed up. After taking our bags down stairs we ate breakfast at the hotel and then it was time to be off to the airport! It was a bit bittersweet. I really enjoyed Cambodia and I wasn't ready to go. I was going to miss all the kids, the people, Laska, and everything else about Cambodia. (I wasn't going to miss the sticky heat though!) Cambodia will forever be in my heart.... oh, and I WILL adopt a Cambodian baby!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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