On to Siem Reap

Sunday 21 March

I woke up feeling like a completely different person! Good thing, after wasting an entire day! I spent the morning figuring out what to do… which I seem to do a lot of these days! I decided to head to Siem Reap and see what I could figure out up there! I wandered through markets, paid my hostel bill and got a ride to the bus.

The bus was interesting… but not the craziest I’ve been on by any means! It was very modern, AC, tv, etc. It was more that it stopped at the bus depot for 30 mins and not even the locals could figure out why. The Cambodian soap was quite interesting… so much it put me to sleep in 10 mins! We road through countryside for 6-7 hours and saw: lots of Oxen pulling carts, rice paddies, villages, local stalls, and vendors. I’ve always enjoyed riding buses around countries as you really get to see what a country is like. Too bad I didn’t get to stop and play with any of the kids playing volleyball, or stay in a village. Now that would’ve been awesome!

I got to Siem reap and decided to go the cheap route and stay in a dorm for $1! Now, the average cheap room here is $4-5 and that includes a fan, and a bathroom with cold water (which is not up to any western standards). Now this ‘dorm’ was something else! I wasn’t tired at all after sleeping for so much the day before but I wasn’t in the mood to be social! I got in bed and decided to read. Now my ‘bed’ was located in a walkway to the back of the property in this guesthouse. Each side has mattresses with mosquito nets. Now as I was lying under my net, sweating buckets, going insane from the blaring rooftop bar music (that was directly above my bed) and being bitten to death I wondered if it was worth being cheap! I toughed it out… and only woke up every 15 mines or so to chase down something that was biting me! And I saved 4 on the room for the night! That’s one drawback about traveling alone, rooms are cheaper as its not split between 2!

Monday 22 March

As normal, I started my day online. I seem to spend parts of every day looking up schools/orphanages, texting and calling people. I made three appointments and called my tuk tuk driver from the night before. I like to make a connection with one driver and have them be my guide, per say, for a town. It supports them, and usually they’ll show you around and take you out with their friends on a night or two to see where the locals are. Well, Ree showed up with a moto! Ahhh!! I was scared!! I knew we had to go into the countryside and of course, a moto is easier, faster and cheaper to get around!! I held on for dear life and we were off!!

I checked out three different places. I’m REALLY struggling in deciding where to volunteer. I’ve got 2 (or 3) main problems. The first being that most of the places are outside the city. The problem comes to getting there everyday. Do I pay for a driver to take me, pedal a bicycle for 1-2 hours in 35 degree heat each way? The cost of being dropped off would be more than I’m paying for accommodation or food everyday. I feel like money shouldn’t be a problem while volunteering, but obviously, I’m on a limited budget and want to give my time. The second problem comes in that most of the schools will close next week for 2-3 weeks for Khmer New Year. While being here during that time will be awesome, its going to take away my time from volunteering. I find it a bit odd to start somewhere and know I won’t be able to give that much of my time once they start back up again. I started observing at a language school last and will start teaching on Wed. I feel a bit odd about this as the classes are at the end of the term and the teachers are finishing up lessons/units to get ready for the final next week. I’ve no experience in teaching English… but I speak it.. and much better than many of the Khmer teachers. So it’s a catch 22, let me help co teach for 2 weeks to get to know a class I’ll teach next term or just wait?

I haven't really explored the ciry much. I did walk through the night markets and around the old market, where I'm staying. This city seems to be the tourist capital of Cambodia.... which makes sense seeing that it caters to those visiting Angkor Wat. I haven't even thought about visiting there yet though!

I haven't taken any pictures in a few days... and still haven't figured out how to get pics from my picasa albums to this blog. So sorry, I'm just full of words! But whats new, right!!!