Home sweet home

We made it in one piece! Other than the crazy bug bites i still have on my legs, we've made it home safe! Looking back i can't believe how much we accomplished and went through over such a short time.
The past couple days have been so nice showering, relaxing.. graduation..long ...... I'm almost back to normal with the sleeping schedule. I've been sleeping at weird 4 hour intervals but i think i'm getting there.
Not too much else to say. It is very nice to be home and living in luxury once again. Thanks to everyone for following my adventures and for your support and encouragment, it was so nice to have you all along for the ride. Can't wait to see everyone once i get settled...
Up next... i need to find one of those things called a job!

Lindsey

The Great FIREWALL...homeward bound

So, we've been in Beijing for a few days now and again, the blog isn't working because we are back in China.... oh well.. i can post and i'l upload photos another time!

Anyway, I can't believe we'll be heading home tomorrow. I feel like i havn't been home in forever but at the same time everything past very quickly. The past few days have been great. We climbed the great wall our first full day in the city. We woke up early to drive 3 hours out of town to go to a part of the wall that requires a 4 hour hike. We weren't told the conditions and the lady said we could do it in our flip flops no problem... ahahha right. There we were deserted on the great wall, Julie was feeling sick and we had an 'english speaking guide' who didn't speak english and all the locals were laughing at our choice of footare. We didn't have a choice because our runners were long gone in Thailand since they wer taking up souvenir space as well as being really really stinky form the jungle treck. The wall was amazing though. This section of the wall isn't visited as much and isn't completely restored o it was a peaceful experience. I expected to be surrounded by Japanese tourists in yellow hats but it was just us and 2 other couples ahead. We weren't prepared a tall fopr the 4 hour hike up and down stairs however it was well worth it in the end. The end bit of the wall was much more populated and i realized how lucky we were to have done the hike without so many people. It really would've changed the experience.

The next day we visited the Forbiden City and Tianamen suqare. The Forbidden city was beautiful and housed many ancient relics from its time. It was also massive. We were expecting a huge building and a few courtyards however each gate opened to an entire other setion larger than the one before. Tianamen quare really is just a masive square but neat to see anyhoe because of its history.

Yesterday we visited the temple of heaven park and were pretty much the only foreign toursits which was great. The locals use the park as their backyard and practice tai chi, kareoke and traditional dances... and anything else they feel like, chinese checkers (maybe they're just called checkers here??), cards... It was great fun and the temples were beautifully detailed. We followed by a visit to the antique market where i bought a great shadow puppet made of leather and then to the silk street market where i bought way more than i needed... These markets are insane.. anything you want you can find ...and a lot of things you didn't think you wanted but you do! It was halrious to bargin with the ladies. They would start at 340RMB and i would say no way maybe 40RMB and then it would continue like this until i purchased the item for 60RMB....and thats not the craziest price. They opften quote 10 times the amount they end up selling it for. It was the best to walk away and be chased by little chinese ladies when they realized you weren't going to budge and gave in anyway screaming "okay okay special price, lucky day for you...Canadian ..Canadian..okay..okay".

And finally, today we went to see the olympic buildings including the 'birds's nest' and the aquatic center that looks like a masive ice cube. It was diapointing that we couldn't get very close at all since everything is under such high security but it was great to see. The bulding are absolutely massive. From there we walked..foprever and finally decide dto take a taxi to the Hutong (i think thats what its called) This refers to the old narrow street of Beijing. It was really neat to see such change in the city. It is obvious the government has celaned up everything and built many walls top enclose the thing they cannopt clean up. The hutong walls were all painted greay and lgith grey which was disapointing because you really had to use your imagination to feel what it might have been like in Beijing hundreds of years ago. It was however amazing to see so many small abodes that people still live in in such tight spaces coutryard after courtyard. Later, we went back for some last minute bargainning at the silk street market for more things we couldn't resist!

Well, i better get packing all the goodies, i hope i have enough room! I can't wait to shower without wearing flip flops and to eat fruit and vegetables oh and cheese too!!!! mmmm cheese.. i'm thinking my welcome home meal should be Duffy's wings..mmm hot honey garlic here i come!

Can't wait to see everyone!

Welcome to Beijing!

Ni hao! (hello)

We've left Phnom Pehn, the past few days were good and we walked all over the city however the killing fields and S-21 prison/museum (a.k.a Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum)were a bit difficult to handle. Especially the prison. They documented each prisoner along with a picture and a detailed biography of their lives. After walking around the grouds you enter another space that used to be used as interrogation rooms/cells and see row upon row of balck and white mug shots. It is amazing how many there were. Men, woman, soldiers, foreigners, children.. all documented. Their phtotos staring back really made an impact on just how unimaginably terrifying the 4 year occupation was and how many people were killed. It is estimated that the prison held as many as 20,000 people in total. Only 7 people survived the prison after escaping in 1979 when the Vietnamese finally came to infiltrate and end the occupation of the Kmer Rouge army. S-21 was only one of the many sights dedicated to the killings that happened during these 4 years.

After a relaxing last day in Phonm Penh we mad eour way to Beijing today and arrived at around dinner time. The flgiht was good, a little bit long but we're set up to hit the Great Wall tomorrow! We'll be travelling 3 hours out of the city to a more remote part of the wall to walk from one section to another (about 10k. We're told its beautiful and it will take about 4 hours with breaks at a normal pace. Its also supposed to be sunny tomorrow which is good news.

When we arrived at the airport i arranged for a driver from our hotel to pick us up however when we arrived a the hotel they had no recor of us booking even after i showed them 8 or 9 emails... ??? and the criver had my name and brought us here... ??? after all the confusion we got a sweet room with lots of space and its very very clean! (well everything is compared to Cambodia and Bangkok!)Ashely said a woman called the house in toronto..ahah thats funny.. how random!

Thats all for now.. only a few more days and i'll be back home! And my mother can exhale!

Take care and stay tuned,
Lindsey

The KINGDOM of Cambodia

Are you ready? get comfortable, its a long one...
Wow!

We've been super busy the past few days. After crossing hte border we borded a bus that took us to our pick up point. We arranged a taxi in advance instead of taking the bus all the way to Siem Reap. The bus takes 5 hours and the taxi only 3 because the road are so awful. The airlines pay the gouvernment a lot of money not to fix the roads so that foreigners will fly into or out of Siem Reap or Phom Penh insted of going by land even though int isn't very far.

After navigating our way through millions of house sized pot holes we arrived in Siem Reap and found a nice (and more importantly Air conditioned)place to drop our stuff. We walked abound pub street to check out a tour for Angkor Wat as well as book our flight to Beijing. Both were suceesful so we were pretty happy with ourselves! We have it down to the night market which had beautiful scarves and jewelry and all the other things i've already bought too much of. I am now on a hunt for an extra bag to put all the things into!

The next day, our mini van picked us up at the hotel. It is difficult to get large tours, most guides only do private tours (which cost about $50 for the whole day) so we decided to give that a try since there is three of us and i'd imagine that temple after temple isn't very interresting in the heat all day when all you see is a bunch of rocks without knowing the history behind them. We lucked out because our tour guide was awesome. I think his name was Lynet (girls name??) but he was really interrestin gand informative and knew something about every topic we discussed. He was also only 28 so it was interresting to see what he was u to. He lost 10 members of his family during the genocide however he'was so excited to speak about his country.

The day was beautiful, overcast and not oo hot. I guess we just arrived the week after the two weeks of rain! It was fairly busy but nowhere near as busy as usual Lynet said. We walked around the ruins and he spoke to us about the inticate and detailed carvings on the walls of the Wats. It was insanely impressive and vast. It was also so beautiful because its a short distance from the city, in the middle of the forest (all of the wat sites are) which makes it easy to relax and appreciate the ruins. Like amny other things we've seen, it's difficult to really describe how cool the ruins are. Our guide took a lot of pictures for us though! We continued to a few different sites and by the end of the day we were whipped. Lynet arranged for us to have a buffet dinner and watch traditional Cambodian dances that told many of the same stories as the carvings of the Wats.

The next day (yesterday) we hung out at the town and took it easy, it rained most of the day but we wanted to go back to a couple of Wats that we hadn't yet seen. It rained quite a bit but it was acually really great because the last two Wats were pretty much deserted. At the last one we were the only people there which doesn't happen very often. It was really eerie to walk through long stone halls at dusk with trees growing through them and rain falling.

After a 5 hour bus ride today, we've arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. I finished the book the Killing Fields last ngiht and we will be visiting the actual killing fields in the morning as well as S-21 (the highschool, turned prison/torture camp now a museum of the genocide). I'm sure it will be interresting to see however really sad as well. I glad that i had the opportunity to do a bit of background research before visiting the site however it will make it that much more real. Cambodia seems like such a peaceful place, i couldn't imagine the suffering the people have gone through. It's hearbreakign to see so many people and children begging and trying to sell things. Its so hard to say no and to see many missing limbs from the landmines that are still present in part of Cambodia.

I'll write about our experiences tomorrow i think,
thanks for tunning in.
Linds

Cambodia

We've arrived after a long bumpy day of travel. Cambodia seems exciting and very different from anything else we've seen so far. Tomorrow we plan on touring Angkor Wat... more details later, i just wanted to let you know we're safe, border crossing went over really well.

later
Linds

Floating MArket, Art and Girl time...

Good evening all,
Finally, our last night in Bangkok...its getting a little hectic! The floating market was pretty neat. Exactly like a normal market only instead of street; water (think Venice asian style!)

After touring around on boats for the morning we headed on a hunt around Bangkok for the freaking South China airline office.. it was quite the adventure which ended in us running (literally) around Bangkok to get to the office before it closed. IT felt like we were on the amazing race! hahaha We made it but didn't get anythign accomplished since the prices were too high.. oh well... ahhaha We met a crazy cab driver though. So far all the cabs and tuk tuk are insane drivers and ofcourse when we were in a hurry we met Art, the slowest cab driver ever who was more interrested in small talk than getting us anywhere in a hurry.. haha poor Art, not cut out for the world of transportation in Bangkok, more of a Loas driver i would say or an elevator operator, the small talk would come in handy there.

We made it back to the fancy cinema bought some cheesy popcorn and a frozen coke, got cozied up for 'Sex and the City'...Julie cried, JEss laughed at julie crying and a couple hours later... here we are.

Not much else to say, walked Koh San one last time for last minute souvenirs and now i better wrap it up and try to squish everything in my already overpacked pack!
Wish me luck... i swear i keep thinking its full and then i buy something else and it fits, amazing, like MAry Poppins magic bag, only its really heavy! haha oh well only a couple weeks left to deal with it!

Bye for now, see you in Cambodia
Linds

ps: thanks for the message mom and ash. Yes i found a comfy cowboy hat since i've gotten more than enough sun... you can find anything on Koh San Road! Oh and mom, take another look at the atlas, i'm not in china with jess....i'm in Thailand silly!

Cruisin' in Ayuthaya

HEllo! Yeah! Jessi is here! I picked her up at the airport a couple of days ago and the three of us have been touring the city.

Yesterday we headed to Chinatown, which was an insane mess of wholesale stores and markets stalls. My favorite was the sticker/patches store where i purchased 5 awesome tiger head iron on patches that i will find a use for one day. I had to hold back on the stickers...
After manoevering chinatown we headed to Siam square to go see a movie with JEss since the movie theatre is so amazing however 'Sex and The City' isn't opening until tomorrow.. change of plans.. instead we were weak and went to the Outback Steak House for Ribs and mashed potatoes! hahaha

LAst ngiht we found great live music at a makeshift bar set up on the street beside our hotel (pictures below). We had a couple of coktails and listened to a Thai lady singing Tracy Chapman.. awesome... and then a couple guys singing Bob Marley ...great!

Today was gogg too, WE woke up super early and decided to go against the pre-made tour thing and took a local train 1 and a half hours to Ayuthaya; an ancient city just outside of Bangkok. We had met a guy in Hanoi that mentioned he rented a bike and toured the city and it was great so we figured we would do the same. We got to the rental shop around 9 (also the police station??? ahah)and pciked up some sweet cruisin' bikes! We toured around and checked out old Wats, huge Buhdda statues and a lot of dogs!(pictures below).

We hopped back on the train after a long hot day of riding and pretty much past out becasue we were so tired. Other than the man moping the floor of the train, then putting it inside the squatter toilet that was luckily right beside our seats and ringing it out with his hands... the ride was quite enjoyable.
A quick tuk-tuk ride and now we are back on Koh San. Tonight will be an early night i think since tomorrow we will be visiting the floating markets at 7:00 a.m and then heading to Cambodia the day after.

I'll try to post the floating market pictures soon since it looks pretty crazy in the pictures i've seen. Hope everyone is well.... we'll be home so soon!
miss you,
Linds

ps: Thanks for all the comments dad, you make me laugh.
pps: Happy Anniversary Uncle Mike and Aunt Claire!