cambooooodia

yesterday, we (laura, kanako, and i) arrived in siem reap. we went to phnom penh saturday from bangkok.
sunday, we visited the killing fields, the genocide museum, and a couple other places.
yesterday was a loooong bus ride.
today we went to angkor wat. we will go back tomorrow and thursday as there is a lot to see.
eventually, i will put up pictures, but i'm not quite sure when yet!
we leave siem reap and go back to phnom penh on saturday (our plan is to take a boat), and sunday we head back to bangkok. there, kanako and i will say goodbye to laura, and we'll head to hanoi while she meets her brother and travels with him.

before cambodia..

i should probably throw a few random posts up before i am out of thailand.
that would mean..
probably tonight since this week looks a bit busy. i get to go to work 2 more times =(, spend a day taking finals (one final, one presentation), i have to mail 203948029348 things home, and we have a goodbye lunch on wednesday.

fist i will write about a night long, long ago. i'm not sure how long ago it was, but i'm thinking before koh chang, so that would be a while..

i went out with a group of people, and we ended up going to a mojito bar. after a good period of time, we were going to leave, and one of the men working at the bar came outside with us.. with a lantern.

we'd seen these lanterns floating in the air all semester. i had no idea they were so large, though.

here are pictures of us lighting the lantern and sending it off.. into some power lines.. and eventually into the night sky.













i don't remember if this was the same night, but on one occasion, when we went to north gate jazz (my favorite place to be!), i spent a good portion of the evening watching this man who appeared to be on some sort of drug.

after several hours of watching him, i, of course, took some pictures. excuse the lack of.. clarity.. i couldn't exactly use my flash..



we will not discuss my reasons for interest.



note the backpack.

mae sot..ish

i just got back from mae sot.
i have several pictures that i would like to share with people, but because the issue is rather sensitive, i will only post those which are not really controversial.

if anyone would like to talk to me about the visit when i am home, that would be wonderful. i also have plenty of sources about the situation if those are needed.

we stayed in a little guest house in mae sot.
outside my room, there was this sign:





we visited several ngos and groups that dealt with issues with burma.
i do not have pictures.

we saw the refugee camp.
i have many pictures of this, though i think i would rather not post them. i will show you if you ask.

i will show pictures of the border.
we visited "friendship bridge" this morning before heading back to chiang mai.



according to adam, there have not been soldiers posted at this crossing when he previously visited. there were several today.





on the bridge, there were people legally crossing the border.







underneath, in the water, people were crossing in inner tubes.











the soldiers did nothing.



we asked why they don't arrest the people crossing illegally.
we were told that there are just too many people crossing for them to all be arrested, so there are only arrests during crackdowns.
the burmese police, whom we could vaguely see from where we stood, did nothing as well.



from another soldier, we learned that people crossing illegally, thought to be on drugs, were stealing from tourists and running back over. because the soldiers were sitting on the landing, many of the people crossing illegally would not cross the landing, and they would try to sell us items--like cigarettes--from the land (disputed land) below.



many people crossing illegally would squat on this land, knowing they would not be arrested if they did not attempt to go up into the town.





my favorite image from the trip was on a sign for refugees looking for third country resettlement:

elelelephant island.

so, after an hour plane ride and 4 hours on a bus, we arrived on koh chang after a 40 minute ferry ride.
we all were hoping to see a gorgeous sun rise--leaving on the ferry at 6 am, but we just got gradual light.





we paid a fortune for a ride to the beach we were staying at (lonely beach) to find that not all of the rooms were going to be ready that day, so reid and i stayed in a room across the street.

we spent most of the day at the beach.
i fried through 3 applications of spf 50.
then we took naps and went to get dinner.

meet treehouse: restaurant, bar, hookah.
we went there nearly every night.









thursday, we moved into a bungalow back where everyone else was. reid insisted it have 2 beds.
i think we were closer on the 2 beds than in the huge one.. considering the room was the 2 beds on one platform thing.
we had a bathroom.
with no ceiling.
it stormed twice during the trip during the night.

i spent thursday and friday..
on the beach.





i took some pictures of this dude.
he was decked out, metal detecting.



we watched the sunset on thursday, and we swam during it, which was amazing.







we went back to treehouse.



we ate at the restaurant at the place we originally thought we'd stay (too expensive.. no rooms)
i ordered crab.



we ate outside, as usual.
the bugs ate more of my crab than i did.

friday night, we went to a "moon party".
if you want to hear that story, you need to ask, though.
it was a bit.. strange.

saturday we went snorkeling.









i went black sea urchin kicking, actually.
i do not suggest this as a sport.





souvenirs!
after reading a bit, i've found that they may stay in for months.
i may need them surgically removed.
they still hurt like fuck.

so, i took pictures of everyone else snorkeling...



























or maybe playing dead..







on sunday, we got up bright and early, checked out, and started our journey back to chiang mai.

buses take much longer during the day.