Thai country with Tiffers!

Words can not even describe the incredible-ness Tiffany and I shared over 3 days in Thailand...

(you'll have to hear the story of how it went from 5 days to 3.  Although we were both sad in the moment, we cracked up at it upon finally finding each other.  All good stories!)


I will just summarize by a few keys metrics (namely the food we ate, the beaches we visited and the fun stuff we did).

Types of Thai food we ate:

Red Curry
Green Curry
Massaman Curry
Sweet and Sour
Fried Basil & Garlic
Pad Thai
Fried Noodles
Yellow Noodles
Papaya Salad
Mango Salad
Fried Shrimp with Spicy Red Pepper Sauce
Spring Rolls
Fried Rice
Curry Crab legs

Beaches I visited:

Patong Beach (on the main land in Phuket)
Karon Beach (on the main land in Phuket)
Kata Beach (on the main land in Phuket)
Maya Beach on Phi Phi Leh
Tonsai Bay on Phi Phi Don
Monkey Beach #1 on Phi Phi Don (yes! we saw monkeys!)
Monkey Beach #2 on Phi Phi Leh (you guessed it - more monkeys!)
Loh Dalum on Phi Phi Don
Our own beach on Phi Phi Don (we kayaked over, no one there but us!)

Activities we participated in (to some extent):

Kayaked on Monday to Monkey Beach #1

Got "fish pedicures"... they eat the dead skin off your feet. I know, gross, but how cool?!?!?...

Drank a few Thai beers....

Watched a fire show (AMAZING!)

Hiked to 'view point' which looked just like pictures online...

Ate breakfast each morning on the beach right outside of our hotel...

Stayed at the 'Princess' resort (was just too fitting to turn down)...

Snorkeled with SHARKS! On purpose, and it was incredible...

Cliff jumped! (can't upload at the airport, but will definitely share this video!)

Feed the monkeys! (on Monkey Beach #2)...

Met some very cool girls from all over the place....

Took a long boat all the way around Phi Phi Leh...

Climbed through caves on our way to Maya Bay...

Kayaked again, this time we found a beach of our own and snorkeled till we were wrinkly!...

Watched the sunset from a cliff-top bar in Kata Beach...

Laughed our heads off...

Cried multiple times...

Took tons of pictures and videos...

Saw butterflies at the most unexpected, perfect moments...

...overall, had the time of our lives and a trip that we will never forget.

I am missing the kids like crazy, and have already emailed Leng several times to see how they are doing, make sure they are still liking their shoes, and to tell everyone I miss them and BINGO! :)

It is surreal to think that I am coming home already.  It's been an incredible, life-changing trip, and I can't thank all of you for supporting me in every way possible - from the time this was just an idea, to even now as I am venturing back. 

I definitely look forward to seeing all of you, and sharing so many more moments in person.  I will tell them as long as anyone wants to listen!  It is my full intention, and personal obligation, to share what I've seen and learned in order to make this experience complete.  Hope you've enjoyed following along.

See everyone soon!

off for the 2nd part of my adventure!

As expected, yesterday was a very sad day as I said goodbye to the children.  We had probably our best day yet together, and the 'no hugging' policy went straight out the window.  Fine by me!! :)

Here is how my last day was broken down...

6:45am - woke up, packed a bit, got all the last stuff together for the kids

7:30am - had a cup of coffee at my place, yum!

8:00am - started by bike ride to the orphanage, a little slower than usual as I was thanking God for my time there and asking that I truly be present for my last day, and not anxious about the 'goodbye' part.

8:15am - during the course of my bike ride I picked up some of the kids favorite treats to give out as prizes for games.  For a whole $2.80, I got so many goodies that I knew the kids would love!

8:40am - of course, I stopped to watch the monkeys again (I don't think that would ever get old.  In fact, one of them just had a baby monkey, and it was holding tight hugging the mom's belly as she walked, and was so tiny and frail looking.  It must have been born during the time I have been here as it's the same pack of monkeys in the same place every day, and was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  Ok, maybe tied with when I caught a couple of them partaking in a certain 'physical' activity that we would get arrested for doing in public.  haha! :).

9:00am - arrive to the orphanage, and you could tell the kids knew it was my last day.  They were all super energetic and excited and wished me so many 'good mornings'.  Class was awesome, we did a long school lesson, learned some new words, and then played a LOT of games, including of course BINGO.

11:30am - we have some super nice visitors from Germany stop in and bring a bag of rice (which will last them 4 days... they eat it for every meal!), some fanta and sprite (the kids LOVE), some lychees and bananas and some dish soap.  It was another very nice treat for the day, as lychees especially are one of their favorites and something they don't get very often.  I had many while over here, and they are delicious fresh!

12:00pm - lunch!  they actually had my favorite... rice with cooked cucumber, and sauteed eggplant. I have definitely gotten better at the eating thing over the past few weeks, and now get seconds every day (which is very customary in Cambodia.  Never just one bowl of rice).

1:00pm - helped Leng with some MBA work he had to get done... (he got a scholarship that Shirley helped him apply for). Although it was way over my head, it was fun to help him research and explain what certain things were and meant.

2:00pm - off to the local Market (which is nothing like I have ever seen before) with 2 of the older girls, and 2 of the older boys.  They all picked out new shoes for all the kids, and not too surprisingly, the boys took longer than the girls! ha!!  Was a 2 hour long process, but we walked away with 27 pairs of new shoes for all the kids to start school with.  Thanks to all those who supported, the kids LOVED them!

4:30pm - arrived back at the orphanage and gave out the shoes one by one.  The girls all put on quite a fashion show for me, and the boys all guarded their own pairs with their lives and hid them immediately in their bins.  Was one of my best moments.

5:00pm - Pholy, a 10-year-old amazing, brilliant, beautiful, graceful, super happy girl came up to me, grabbed and hand, and in an excited state, said 'here! come with me!' and pulled me into the girls room.  As I ran with her, kicked off my shoes before entering and went with her into the room, she ran over to her bin and gave to me an amazing painting of a butterfly and flowers.  WOW!!!

Oh, but it doesn't stop there...

Then Channy gave me her painting of 2 butterflies and flowers.  Then Sok Vun.  Then Sak Maly.  Then Chanda.  Then Leak.

Then, Tong Heng (shortnamed Heng) came into the girls room, grabbed my hand and took me to the middle room, to give me a painting he had done of a butterfly.  Then Loth.  Then Pheary.  Then Pheak.  The Srei Vet. Then Thai Hong.

You can probably guess my reaction.

I was completely overwhelmed and amazed, especially since none of them had every painted butterflies before.

5:30pm - I packed up for the venture back to town, gave lots of hugs (that rule went out the window last week!), gave kisses to Leng, exchanged lots of 'thank yous' (but never enough, right?), and then headed on my way.  As I was leaving, all the kids shouted out "BINGO!" as I rode away. And, turning back at one point as i rounded the corner, I yelled also at the top of my lungs, "BINGO!".  It was perfect.

Onto my adventure with Tiffany, in another part of the world, and another part of this journey.  I am certainly missing all of you, but do feel as though I could have stayed longer.

As I told the kids as I was leaving... I will be back.  That is certain.  

I can't believe it's my last day...

I am sure I will post something more profound later, but right now I am feeling a million emotions about today being my last day with the kids, and here in Siem Reap (for now at least).

I can't begin to explain how surreal it is that my time is up for this part of my trip already.  Everyone said it, but time truly did fly by after those first few days.

I am ecstatic to be meeting Tiffany in Thailand tomorrow, and know that our 5 days together will be incredible.

So with that, I begin my last bike ride 12km into the temples, my last English lesson, my last time speaking Khmer,  my last lunch of rice and veggies prepared by the kids, my last time being called 'cha april'... (they have shortened it), my last time seeing them paint artwork... until I return.

A weekend of discovery...

I'm leaving this email to be described by photos... the stories behind them I will hint at, but will need to be told in person.

On Friday, we had a group of 4 Italian people come by the orphanage and visit.  They were very sweet and we chatted for a bit.  When they left, I was regretting not trying to make plans to meet up before they left on Sunday. They seemed incredibly fun, although the couple (Marco and Lucia) were the only 2 who could speak English (Marco typically spoke for them all).

Friday night was really fun with Merel & Laura... we each shared a lot about ourselves and our stories, and compared our lives back home.  It definitely assured me through talking about it, that although our country has some things to figure out, I am proud to be from the USA.  We had delicious food, walked around the 'touristy' places which we had all avoided until then, and then parted ways.  It was so fun, and made me excited for the first time I will see all my girl friends back home!

Well, after my girls dinner (which was SO FUN!), I came back to the hotel only to find the Italians hanging on the patio outside of our hotel.  Ha! How awesome?!!  It turned out we were all going to do sunrise at the temples, and they asked if I wanted to hang with them for the day.  As much as I enjoy time to myself, I gladly accepted, especially knowing sunrise was going to be somewhat emotional.

The day was an adventure from the start, and it quickly felt like I had known them for a long time.  

We watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the most well known of the temples), visited 2 of the other main temples, took a drive out to one of the less visited 'floating villages', ate lunch at a floating restaurant, took a swim in the little pool at the hotel, then went out to watch football (soccer), eat pizza and drink wine (they had already checked out all the Italian places and this one was the best pizza in town!).

sunrise over Angkor Wat...

Bayon & Angkor Thom...

my favorite, Ta prohm...
(my camera battery died, but Marco promised to send more of their pics other than this one!)

We spent nearly 20 hours together nonstop, and I laughed out loud constantly in between being mesmerized by how beautiful their language is.  Although I didn't understand anything when they spoke, and it was hard for 3 of the 4 to understand me when I spoke, it was exactly what I needed.  God blessed me with them for sure, and we were all sad to say goodnight (they left super early the next day).

Sunday morning was hard (per previous blog post), so the temples alone that day was very fitting.  I went around to 5 other smaller temples, hiked to watch the sunset, all in a light drizzle of rain that kept it cool, kept some of the crowds away, and kept me feeling refreshed.

Pre Rup temple...

Preah Khan temple

being silly, and yes of course I walked through this way...

sunset on Bekeng mountain...

It is now the start of my last week here, and I am trying to soak in every last minute with the kids.  Yesterday was a great start, with us playing lots of games, including a simplified rendition of bingo, that proved to be AMAZING.  Winners got candy which made it extra popular, and the little ones took naps after (of course they slept on the desks...why wouldn't they?!)

We also had a large group come in to visit from Australia, and the kids were so excited they decided to put on a show of Aspara dancing.  They get lessons every morning and afternoon (before I get there and after I leave) so it was the first time for me to see them dance as well.  So fun!!



Oh, and I got caught in the rain on my bike ride home (looking at the monkeys again!), and when I say rain I mean down pour!  Probably the biggest storm I've ever been in with no shelter other than trees.  Thankfully, a guy nearby in the same position had a 'dry bag' that I quickly swapped my computer and camera into.  Whew, that could have been bad!  After figuring out it wasn't going to stop, we biked back into town through the rest of the storm, and it was actually quite invigorating.

So strange to think I am leaving in less than a week! As Leng said today (photo below is him looking over his catfish pond), it's a shame I am going, as I was just starting to really look Cambodian. Ha!