Saturday, June 1, 2013
noonish
Life has been crazy busy here. We've met a great group of friends, so there is always something going on. Have been out to trivia night a couple of times (my team kicks ASS!), lots of good dining opportunities and last week we went to Boxing night at the new arena. Cambodian boxing is similar to Muay Thai boxing, only they use elbows more and it seems to be a bit slower paced. The matches werent great, but it was an interesting night out.
The official bell ringer
A couple of weeks ago I started going to a program called "Talk Time" at a local cafe. It's a free meetup for English speakers to meet with locals for open conversation time. It helps not only to build language skills, but builds confidence too. Through this program I have been fortunate enough to meet a couple of really great high school students, Marina and Chhunly. They are very dedicated students and super nice kids. Last week we went on a "field trip" to Kbal Spean, a mountain top waterfall about an hour away from Siem Reap. I did not know where we were headed before we left, so I wasnt prepared for the treacherous hiking that was required to get to the top (I thought we were headed to a local temple!) and didnt have the best shoes for the job... but somehow I made it both to the top, and back down, without dying.
noonish
Life has been crazy busy here. We've met a great group of friends, so there is always something going on. Have been out to trivia night a couple of times (my team kicks ASS!), lots of good dining opportunities and last week we went to Boxing night at the new arena. Cambodian boxing is similar to Muay Thai boxing, only they use elbows more and it seems to be a bit slower paced. The matches werent great, but it was an interesting night out.
A couple of weeks ago I started going to a program called "Talk Time" at a local cafe. It's a free meetup for English speakers to meet with locals for open conversation time. It helps not only to build language skills, but builds confidence too. Through this program I have been fortunate enough to meet a couple of really great high school students, Marina and Chhunly. They are very dedicated students and super nice kids. Last week we went on a "field trip" to Kbal Spean, a mountain top waterfall about an hour away from Siem Reap. I did not know where we were headed before we left, so I wasnt prepared for the treacherous hiking that was required to get to the top (I thought we were headed to a local temple!) and didnt have the best shoes for the job... but somehow I made it both to the top, and back down, without dying.
at the start. its a 1500meter "hike" to the top.
The jungle was full of butterflies, and they loved Chhunly.
One of the easier passes. I don't have many shots of the path, as I was too focused on not breaking an ankle to worry about my camera.
Our driver/guide/friend Pheakday. We took a break about halfway so he used his time to write a beautiful poem about the mountain and his memories there.
I took a nap.
Chhunly and his friend.
At the top. When the water is low you can see the ancient carvings. This is the temple of 1000 lingas.
Beautiful Marina resting on the path.
The kids took over the camera on the ride home.
We stopped for dinner when we got back to Siem Reap. Had some yummy noodles from a roadside stand. The yellow juice is fresh Palm sugar juice. I swear its magical. It's cold and delicious and refreshes all of your cells.
-more later-
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