Go All Blacks!!!

After our trip to SE Asia, we flew in to Chicago for the most exciting sporting event of all time. Now I'm not normally a sports girl, but when my husband and I started dating, he introduced me to rugby. Being from New Zealand, he was a PROUD All Blacks fan, so he and I watched the Rugby World Cup in 2011 in the wee hours of the morning. We watched every game that NZ was in...staying up until 1am or waking up at 4am for the game (thanks to it being held on the other side of the world).  They ended up winning 8-7 to France in the final...so from that time on, I was an All Blacks fan.  So back in June 2014 I found out that the All Blacks were coming to the US for the first time since the 1980s to play. It's pretty much a huge deal, so I decided to make it work and buy tickets. When the SE Asia trip rolled around, everything worked out perfectly because Chicago was a stop on our route home...so we just decided to have an extended layover :)

We landed in the afternoon on Halloween.  In Asia the average temperature was 80-90 something degrees...when we got in to Chicago, it was about 30. And we didn't have any winter clothes, or closed toed shoes for that matter...WHAT?!?@!?@!? Talk about a temperature shock! It was snowing on the train ride to town and when we got off the subway stop near our hotel, we had to run through what had turned in to freezing rain about 4 blocks to where we were staying.  I felt like I was going to die.  Andrew's mom was coming in the town the next morning with all of our winter gear...but it was Halloween so we decided to run to the shops to buy some shoes and a coat so that we could go out. We stayed at the International Hostel (which is pretty nice for a hostel, just in case you were wondering) which was really convenient to everything. We checked in then went up the street to hit the DSW for boots and then Macy's for a coat.  Both for me because Andrew had closed toed shoes and he felt he could suffer through the cold until his mom came the next day.

Macy's in Chicago is fantastic...but only because it used to be Marshall Fields. My mom lived in Chicago for a while growing up and her mother modeled for Marshall Fields so I especially love it.  I had a great time going up the escalator, seeing all of the Christmas decor, and then finding the perfect down coat :) After shopping we headed over to a pub that supposedly had great Chicago style pizza.  Andrew had never been to Chicago, therefore he hadn't ever had their pizza...so we figured why not?  It ended up being delicious...and while there we saw the Pope (remember it's Halloween), so I would say we had a pretty great night ;)

The next day was the big day...the day I would see the All Blacks play, in person, for the first time.  I was SOOO EXCITEDDDD! We started by meeting Andrew's family at their hotel just a block away. We got ready in our fancy All Blacks gear that I had bought online a few months prior, and painted our faces...I pretty much had the best fern uni-brow ever (unintentional but I went with it).  While we got ready we did a bit of pre-gaming before we headed out to tailgate with my sister-in-law's rugby friends. She plays rugby up in Boston, soooooo they were pretty much the best people to tailgate with haha. After a few drinks at the tailgating area, Andrew and I decided we needed to rush in to the game so that we didn't miss the infamous New Zealand haka.  It's pretty much the best thing ever as you can see below (note Ali Williams face...my favorite player that unfortunately retired from the team)...

Anyway - in came the All Blacks...they did the haka (it gave me chills) and then the game was off.  We had awesome seats, not so much because of where they were, but because of who was around us.  We had a great mix of USA fans and All Blacks fans.  It was so much fun watching it with them because the USA fans KNEW that they were going to get creamed...so they just laughed the whole way through with us.  The final score was brutal...74 to 6...poor USA...

After the game we went back to the girls hotel and my husband passed out haha. Poor jet lagged thing. He was SO tired and his mom ended up falling asleep too haha.  So I hung out with the girls. They're crazy. And it was great. But I was getting soooooo tired. When my husband and mother-in-law woke up we decided to go get some food. We walked down to a lovely diner called Eleven City Diner. Pretty good! I definitely suggest it! However, after that, we were all stuffed...and tired...and jet lagged...so rather than going out with the crazed fans...we were lame and fell asleep early.

The next morning we were up early so we decided to take my husbands mom to breakfast. His sister had just got back to their hotel like an hour earlier (if only I could party that hard) so my mother-in-law snuck out and came to eat with us at Wildberry Pancakes & Cafe...Talk about AMAZING! There was a huge wait to get in, but once we were in...it was go time. I hadn't had a real American breakfast in over a month...so my husband and I went to town. 

After breakfast we decided to check out some shops with my husbands mom before she left to go back home.  As we were walking around we kept running in to NZ fans and Andrew and I were wearing some of our gear so we kept getting nods and "how ya going?"s.  It was pretty cute.  We did a bit of shopping and then said our good-byes and decided to walk to the Navy Pier.  Bad idea...because I was in new boots...and the pier was ages away.  After an hour and a half we finally got to the pier. I was so pooped...and Andrew was so pooped....we took a look at the view, went and ate a hot dog and then turned right back around to find the subway. We grabbed our stuff from our hotel, and then headed back on to the subway to the airport.  While at the airport, my husband fell asleep under the chairs in the terminal...classic. We got home that night around 10pm.  We were tired...but we did it.  We made it back from SE Asia, to Chicago, through the cold, and our first New Zealand All Blacks game together...and it was great.

Three Nights in Bangkok - Part 1

View from our AWESOME hotel

Bangkok is...well...Bangkok. It's HUGE! It's a crazy huge city with crazy energy. There is SO much to do in Bankgok and having only 3 days made us feel a bit overwhelmed. We reached out to our Thai friend and a friend of mine who spent a month in Thailand and tried to figure out a plan...because having only 3 days, you need some sort of a plan. They sent us a few ideas so I've condensed them in to a list of top 10 things just in case you're interested:

Top 10 Things to Do In Bankgok:

1. See a temple, one suggestion was Wat Po or the Grand Palace Temple

2. Check out the shitshow on Kaosan Road
3. Take a river taxi along the Chao Praya river
4. If you're tired of touring, see an English-soundtrack movie in "Gold Class" seating, and never be able to watch a movie in the USA again
5. Go to a night market and eat street food
6. Ride in a three-wheeled tuk-tuk, making sure you agree on the price (and destination) before you get in. Hang on for dear life!
7. Visit Nana Plaza hahahahahahaha (this advice came from a man...)
8. Go to Ayutthaya
9. Go to the Lebua State Tower at sunset and have a drink

10. Go to a ladyboy show (and this advice came from a woman...)

Only being their 3 days - we were not able to do all 10. So this is what decided to do...

Unfortunately our flight was delayed that morning, and took forever, so after landing and taking the train in to the city, we were pooped.  We hauled our packs up to our hotel, the Pullman King Power Hotel which was Andrew's pick (he picked all of our Thailand hotels and did a fantastic job!).  It was AMAZING! We looked like total bums walking in to this gorgeous 5 star hotel (for only $90 a night).  It was beautiful. There are 5 restaurants, 4 bars, and an infinity pool.  Out of sheer luck, we got upgraded to a room on the very top floor...high rollerrrrssssss! When we entered the room the tv displayed "Welcome Mrs. Patricia Hofland. We hope you enjoy your stay". Snap. We were all tuckered out so we decided to take a bath, get all dolled up, and have a date night, taking advice #4. We looked up places to see a VIP Gold whatever whatever movie and found the Paragon Cineplex theater that was at a giant mall...sounded promising. So off we went to figure out the train system (which was pretty awesome by the way). 

When we arrived at the Siam Paragon Mall we were pretty much in shock. That place was freakin HUGEEEEEEE! It is home to the largest aquarium in SE Asia, 16 theaters with the largest movie screen and seating capacity in Asia, an opera concert hall, an art gallery, bowling alley, gourmet market and huge food court, 10 stories and over 270 stores. Wow. We started the evening by purchasing our tickets to a showing of Fury (there weren't a lot of great options) for a hefty price of like $25 a piece, and yes that was in USD. However, we were there for the experience so we sucked it up. After purchasing our tickets we went down to the food court to check it out. Oh my amazing. I ended up getting a bunch of different dumplings from one of their little stands, including a durian dumpling which was disgusting. We also got our first bubble tea.

After a while of checking things out it was time for our movie so we went up to the VIP lounge to get our snacks and drinks that were included with our purchase. It's no american sized treat - but they were cute and I got a baby Ben and Jerry's ice cream so I was excited. The theater itself was filled with awesome leather lounge chairs all sectioned in to two's.  Each seat had a pillow and a blanket and reclined so that you could put your feet up and lay back. Pretty much...amazing.  After the previews (all in English but dubbed in Thai), the national anthem came on.  It always comes on
in every movie and you have to stand or else you look like a jerk. So that was interesting...especially since the country is going through their whole Marshall Law thing. Then the movie started and all was normal. The movie was good...but not $25 good haha.  However, if you're an avid movie-goer, you must have this experience. It was quite unique.

The next day was our touring day. We started the day with breakfast at our fantastic hotel. They had the best buffet ever! Fresh fruit, fresh pastries, real pancakes (most places made crepes instead of American pancakes), and fresh hot dumplings, noodles, and more. It was a dream.  After a big breakfast we caught a cab and went to the Grand Palace Temple, suggestion #1. We paid too much for our cab because they didn't sue the meter (which we learned later) but that was the least of our scamming worries haha.

When we arrived we were approached by a man who seeeeemmmmmeeeeddddd to be really nice. He gave us a map and said that unfortunately the temple didn't open until 12:00 so he suggested that we get a river boat and see the canals. Sounded fun, so we decided to go for it and check off to-do #3. He said that we needed to be sure we told the boat people that we "are living in Thailand", not visiting from the US, and he taught us how to say hello in Thai so that we wouldn't get "scammed".  Then he "called" us a tuk tuk and they dropped us off at a pier to "catch a boat". First thing they said was "hello" and so I answered "Sawasdee ka" (yes!) and Andrew said "Hello!" (no!) and they said "Oh, you speak some Thai"so I had thought I saved us. Then they asked "Where are you from?" and Andrew said "The United States". Fail. There went our we're from here so you can't scam us bit. So we haggled on a price for the boat and though it wasn't as cheap as we probably could have gotten it, Andrew still got it down to a price we were ok with...$20 for the boat ride. And it was a private boat. So we said sure. They took us all around the canals, even to a sad little floating market of 3 boats (haha).  It was pretty neat to see some of these homes on the water...barely being held up by wooden stilts that were eroding.  It lasted for a little under an hour and then they dropped us off at the pier in front of the Grand Palace Temple.

When we got off the boat we realized that though it was fun...we were definitely scammed...so we vowed not to listen to the "nice" people who "offer to help us". We walked through the crowds and little vendors set up along the street and got stopped yet again by someone who said "the temple is closed until 2:30pm, you should go to the blah blah temple instead, it's free today only" and yada yada. "No thank you" I said, as I dragged Andrew away haha. Once finally in the temple, Andrew had to borrow some pants because shorts were not acceptable. Luckily I was fine in what I was wearing.  We toured all around the temple and it was absolutely beautiful. Loved every minute of it! They had lovely paintings on the walls telling stories that I couldn't really understand since I didn't know the history of their religion...still gorgeous though. A few hours later we were pooped, I was getting hangry, and it looked like it was going to rain so we decided to grab some ice cream then head back to the hotel for a shower.  Andrew took to the streets to haggle for a cab that would take his 150 baht but after about 30 minutes of no luck, it started to rain, and luckily we found a tourist stand that called us a cab. It was $5 the first time we took a cab and "haggled" vs. only $2 to go back when the tourist services staff made them use the meter. Now we know.

That night we went out to do activity #2...check out Kaosan Road. Apparently it used to be a crazy time, but now that Marshall Law was enacted, it was pretty tame. It was like all of the other night markets we visited except this time the stuff they were selling was pretty crappy.  Very touristy stuff that didn't seem unique at all which sucked considering I still had people to shop for.  We did a bit of shopping, bought nothing, ate some curry, and got asked multiple times if we wanted to go to a "ping pong show" (ummmmm NO). Andrew got adventurous and ate a scorpion...gross...and then we decided to retire in because the trip was definitely wearing on us...we were so tired...but we still had one more day of adventures before we could call it quits...so off to sleep we went to prepare ourselves for our final day in SE Asia. 

Thailand Tastes So Good

We landed in Chiang Mai, Thailand on the evening of the 25th of October. The week was going to be jam-packed with things to see but we were really pooped so we ended up heading straight to our hotel to rest.  The hotel Andrew picked was lovely. It was called the Raming Lodge and it was central to town, had a delicious breakfast buffet, and best of all it had AIR CONDITIONING and a WARM SHOWER! Something we reallllyyyy missed after our time in Cambodia haha.  We only had 2 full days in Chiang Mai so we had to fit a lot in to the time we were there. The first day we decided to go check out the tigers at Tiger Kingdom, climb to the top of Doi Suthep, and check out the markets.  We walked down the streets, got some cash from an atm,  and found ourselves a taxi that we hired for the day for $30. Not bad.

The first stop was our trip to see the tigers, which I'll talk about in my next post.  After that we headed up to a mountain temple called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.  The walk leading up was filled with shops and food stands. After that you hit the 309 steps that lead up to the top of the mountain where the temple is.  Once there, you pay a little bit to get in (30 baht or $1) to the actual temple area.  It was an absolutely gorgeous drive up the mountain and an even more beautiful view from the top.  If you go to Chiang Mai, you must see this temple.  Because we were there in the off season, it wasn't really that busy so that made it extra nice. They had you dress in appropriate attire, covering your legs and shoulders, and you take off your shoes and go in to the actual temple. The walk around it was really lovely. There were bells and statues and all of the decor was so intricate. I love all of the mosaics and how everything was shiny and gold. It was such a gorgeous spot. I felt so alive up there.

On the way down we stopped at some of the food vendors. We got our first street food in Thailand at this spot that was basically a hot waffle on a stick with honey or chocolate on it.  Pretty darn good. Then we headed down the mountain again, back to our hotel.  We showered off the sweat from the day and decided to go check out the Sunday night market. They have lots of markets, all the time, but the Sunday Night Walking Market is the one to beat. It was AMAZING!!!! We started off on the east side and got ourselves a delicious mango drink to sip as we perused through the stands.  It was so big that we couldn't get through the whole thing! It was also ridiculously crowded...like, I was feeling claustrophobic crowded...and I've never felt claustrophobic. Andrew wanted to punch me in the face because I started having a panic attack and made us step off to the side to breathe. However, that step aside lead us to the best street at the market...the street with the FOOD!

I cannot believe how much we ate. We had sticky rice with mango, fresh smoothies, egg rolls, meat on a stick, noodles, and so much more. I can't even remember all of the things we tried. It was the best feeling ever until it finally hit our stomachs and we stalled and determined we needed to sit down. We found a bar a few blocks down that wasn't too busy and had a sit and a drink.  After a while we determined we needed to attempt to do one last round at the shops to try to get the last of our souvenirs. After all of like 10 minutes we were DONE with shopping (mentally, not actually done because we still needed to get a bunch more for family members), so we headed to a bar that a friend of ours recommended called Zoe in Yellow.

It was pretty neat, but it was a slow night (or maybe just too early because it was like 9pm) so we sat in the "beer garden" and each had a beer as we people watched.  There were surprisingly a lot more females than males...and they were horribly dancing...it was pretty funny. Unfortunately we were really tired, so after a short while, we determined we needed to go back to the hotel to sleep. So off we went back to the hotel, passing by the hilarious food stands (ex: Tacos Bell and Burgers Queen haha) until we got back to our nice air conditioned room and passed out. Oh how I love air conditioning...

The next day we rode elephants for the first time. It was a day of mixed feelings...but I'm glad we got to do it. I talk more about it in my next post.  Anyway...after the elephant riding we decided to go out for some Khao Soi, one of the dishes that our Thai friend (who was from Chaing Mai) said that we HAD to try. We ended up at a restaurant that was close by called Dash Teak House. It was a really pretty restaurant with great indoor/outdoor seating. They had a live band that was surprisingly really really good and the food was AMAZING! We decided we wanted to try two restaurants that night because we had limited time in Chiang Mai, so we split an appetizer of bacon wrapped shrimp and then the entree, Khao Soi. Oh my was it the best thing I have ever had. So flavorful! So delicious! And when I think of Thailand, I will forever crave this dish. We were kind of bummed we didn't just stick to eating dinner at this restaurant (because it was so good) but we really wanted to try out a different place that seemed to have a good nightlife feel.  So off we went to restaurant #2 and on the way we ran in to the strangest looking dog I have ever seen.  There are LOTS of dogs around SE Asia and they are all small...like mini sized large dogs...its very strange. However, this was the strangest dog I saw on the trip so I feel it was worth noting.  It was spotted with this long black stripe in the shape of a question mark...weird.  Anyway, after taking pictures of the dog, we arrived at the next spot, Loco Elvis, a Mexican restaurant...yes, I said Loco Elvis...haha.

Loco Elvis was a restaurant we had walked by the night before that seemed to be pretty poppin'. They had a great band playing and it was packed full so we decided we should check it out. We sat outside at a table on the sidewalk and ordered some food. Originally we were going to split something but then each wanted something different so Andrew got a burrito and I got a quesadilla (not expecting much).  It was surprisingly really good for not having much cheese. While we were eating we noticed a flier on our table for a Muay Thai match that was happening that night. It was our last night in Chiang Mai, and Andrew was DYING to see a fight, so we figured, why not?! So we asked our waitress about it and she said they would give us a discount on the tickets and get us a tuk-tuk to get there...$30 later we were SOLD. Around 30 minutes later our tuk-tuk arrived. It was one of the most dangerous ride's I've ever been on (second to riding in the back of a truck in Haiti). These contraptions are ridiculous. The cart where you sit is strapped OVER the motorcycle...not connected by a hinge...it's alllllllll one thing. So when you turn...oh dear, hold on. And did I mention they like going fast? Yikes!!

When we got to the fight we were a bit weirded out haha. There were pretty girls everywhere and they lead us to our seats in the middle of this strange area surrounded by lots of bars. A girl ran and got our drinks really quickly and then we waited for a long time for the fight to finally start. We were thinking it would be packed so we got there early. It ended up being almost full, but we definitely had a while to wait. The atmosphere as I mentioned was pretty strange. One of the bars had GORGEOUS transvestites working there. There were kids walking around trying to sell flowers and leis. Girls were basically running to be the first person to take your drink order.  It was odd. The fight started and I thought we had been jipped and we were at a fake fight because they were clearly rehearsed in their fighting, but apparently its tradition to do a dance before a fight, which was what we were seeing. We watched like 6 rounds of fights, all pretty hard core. No one bit off an ear or anything but it was definitely some real fighting! The final fight was an "international fight" between a Frenchman and a Thai fighter...when he came out Andrew decided it was a waste of time because he sucked haha. So we headed out to get another tuk-tuk and go back to the hotel.

Overall - I would say Chiang Mai had the potential to be my favorite place of the trip. There's something about a mountain city that I just love. The food was great, the markets were great, the people were super nice, and it was a beautiful place.  The city was pretty modern and it was relatively cheap. I feel like it would be a great place to live for a while some day. I definitely plan to come back because 2.5 days were not enough.

What Could Koh Rong? Top 5 Things I Liked and Disliked About Koh Rong, Cambodia

Ok enough with the puns...or maybe not, I love puns. After traveling through Cambodia and seeing more of the serious side, it was time for some vacation...finally.  The purpose of Andrew being with me was to celebrate our marriage with an AWESOME honeymoon and the whole trip had been work focused with a side of fun, until now. We started off our "real" honeymoon in Koh Rong, an island off the coast of Cambodia. We had originally planned to beach it up in Phuket, Thailand, but a coworker of mine from Thailand said that we should skip the touristy beaches there and head to Koh Rong. So that's exactly what we did.

The boat ride over kicked everything off to an interesting start. We had booked the ferry over on a "faster boat" that took about an hour but when we got there, they had over-sold (which is apparently always an issue with them) so we were bribed to go on the "fast boat" that was supposed to take about 1.5-2 hours to get there. They offered us 2 free beers, and we weren't in a hurry so we figured, hell, why not. The boat was jam-packed with young people...probably ranging in age from 18-30 but mostly on the under 21 side. Off we went on our lovely boat ride to the island when suddenly, we stopped...we were broken. While they were trying to fix the boat, some of the crazzzyyyy youngsters said "are there sharks?" and when "no" was the answer, they all decided lets go swimming! So off they jumped in to the water...and Andrew went right along with them haha. After some time of not moving, a new boat came to rescue us. We piled on the smaller boat and finally headed on our way to the island. All in all the trip took about 3 hours.

Koh Rong is a very small island, with a very small strip of restaurants/hotels right when you get off the boat. And when I say very small I mean like 10 restaurants haha.  No roads, no tuk-tuk's, just sand, young people, and beer. Lots of beer. It was quite funny to watch these girls with their rolley bags going through the sand...luckily we had backpacks. Our hotel was called Paradise Bungalows, and though it was a bit expensive compared to other places on the island (still only $50 a night) we liked it. The first 2 nights we were in the honeymoon suite, not sure why it was called that, then the last 2 we were in a much better spot - beach front bungalow. It was more expensive ($65/night) but it was beach front so WHO CARES?!

We spent most of our days lounging around reading and thinking about our next meal. We tried almost every restaurant on the island and especially loved the burgers at Bongs. The highlights included making friends with Boris and Morris (the two water buffalo we named), seeing a monkey, and being able to finish our books haha.  We also met a really fun Aussie couple that let us go with them on a private boat tour to see the glow-in-the-dark plankton one night.  Pretty much the most amazing natural wonder I've ever seen.  Every time you moved in the water it sparkled like the stars. Think of that one scene from Life of Pi.  Amazing.  Absolutely amazing. I think that was one of our most exciting nights because we got to see the plankton and we got to drink with someone other than ourselves haha.

We spent a total of 4 days there, which I think was plenty. You wouldn't want to stay longer unless you like the party 24/7 and sleep all day vibe.  I'm a bit more in to seeing and doing things than that.  However, with 4 days, it was just enough relaxation and getting yourself out of your routine to make it an awesome trip.  I would say it's definitely a place I would recommend, but only to certain types of people...to make it a bit easier to see why, I made a list of my top 5 favorite and least favorite things about Koh Rong.


Top 5 thinks I liked about Koh Rong:

1. Lots of young people - meaning lots of fun, laughing, and having a great time. Most of them were westerners but it was rare to see an American. Everyone spoke English. 
2. Lots of outdoor activities you can do - There's trekking, kayaking, fishing, boat trips, beaches, scuba diving, snorkeling, and my favorite - glow-in-the-dark plankton!!!!! All if it is really relaxed too - totally on beach time. You just take the kayak for the day and bring it back - or as one of the bars/hotels if they can take you to see the plankton. 
3. It's small and pretty undiscovered - This place is touristy, don't get me wrong, but it isn't commercialized touristy, which was really refreshing. It's going to explode so fast once people discover it. We talked to a few people that had been there for a year and said that the "town" is double in size. If you want less people though you can go to Koh Rong Samloem which is very remote like Koh Rong was a few years prior. 
4. It's beautiful and cheap and friendly - All of the people that run the businesses are friendly, the food and hotels are cheap, and its absolutely gorgeous. The water is super blue, the sand is pretty white, and it's pretty natural. We especially loved the monkeys (that I hear can be pests) and the water buffalo. I love water buffalo.
5. It's basically Neverland - This is the place you go when you don't want to grow up. You party all night, have no responsibilities, and sun tan all day. When I feel really stressed out and ready to quit life - this is the place I take myself back to in my mind. 

Top 5 things I didn't like about Koh Rong:

1. Lots of young people - Though it can be a pro, it also means lots of drunken loud people partying all night and keeping you up. They were also rude in that a lot of them didn't respect the local customs (lots of girls sunbathing topless though it's considered disrespectful to the locals) and they threw their trash everywhere.
2. No air conditioning - We were lucky and had a fan, but it was HOTTER THAN HELL and all we had was a dinky fan. Our hotel was one of the few that had power through the night so we were lucky to have the dinky fan.  It got cooler by the middle of the night but the heat definitely woke you in the morning. 
3. Expensive for Cambodia - Hotels were a bit more expensive as well as the food and drinks - but it was still like  $3-5/dish and $1-3/drink soooo that's just me nit-picking. It was also frustrating to see the price differences. If it's not high-season and sold out, it's definitely cheaper to just do everything once you're there rather than booking in advance. Our hotel charged WAY more for the boat ride over, WAY more for food, and WAY more for a room. There were places on the island you could have stayed at for $5 a night. You probably shared a room with drunks, but still. Speaking of money, DO NOT BRING LARGE BILLS ON THE ISLAND - no one wants them so it took us a while to find a place that would let us eat there. 
4. Lots of trash - Unfortunately, Cambodia is filled with trash and they don't know what to do with it. One of the days we were there, the wind blew the wrong way and trash came floating by. Not just a little trash, so much trash that the tourists that were trying to clean it got so overwhelmed that they just stared at it. 

All in all - I am really glad I went. Would I go back? Probably not. Especially once I'm over age 30......however, I think it was the perfect experience to kick-off our honeymoon. We were able to relax, have fun, drink cheap beer and meet great people. The island really is a beautiful place, but as I said before, it's just a matter of time before it's over-run with tourism like any other beautiful place ends up being.  So if you're going to go, go NOW before it's too crazy.  We definitely had some experiences that I will never ever forget and for that, I will always remember my Neverland, Koh Rong. Now off to Thailand!!

Angkor Wat?

Before coming to Cambodia I did a little bit of research on the country to see what I was getting myself in to.  I read a few things online, watched some YouTube videos and tried my best to learn a bit of the language.  However, being there, is completely different from reading about it.

When we arrived, we had to apply for our visa. What an easy process that was! In my past job I booked a lot of travel, so I applied for a lot of visas.  The process is always dreadful and takes forever and your visa can get rejected for the tiniest mistakes made on the application. In Cambodia, not so much. We handed them the money, a one page form and our passports, and then paid $2 extra since we didn't bring a photo. Then our passports were passed along a line of about 10 people, stamped at each stop, and then they called our names and we picked them up.  Took about 2 minutes. Wow.

I asked for a pickup from our hotel since we got in late. They were there with a sign and we grabbed our backpacks and headed in to the parking lot. Andrew made a joke saying "are we driving in a tuk-tuk?!"...and he said..."yes". AWESOME! So off we went in our tuk-tuk, through Siem Reap, Cambodia. We stayed at the Wooden Angkor Hotel. It was completely adorable and the staff was amazing. We took our shoes before going inside and they gave us a warm towel to wipe off with. When we got to our room, they had made us an adorable display since it was our honeymoon. So cute!

We decided to spend the next day sleeping in and then going out on the town to explore. We walked all around the town and went to markets, a few shops, and then we were starving so we went for food.  We decided to stop at a Mexican/Khmer restaurant...because Andrew wanted Khmer (Cambodian) food and I wanted Mexican...because who doesn't want to try Mexican food in Cambodia? After that we went to the local convenience store to grab something to drink and some chocolate.  As we were browsing the sweets I noticed some Cadbury chocolate and got very very excited...and then I found it...MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE FROM NEW ZEALAND! Cadbury Black Forest...YAY! So we bought a few bars and headed back to the hotel to gorge on our chocolate and get a good nights rest.  Even though we had figured out what my stomach problem was (taking my malaria meds wrong), I was still suffering from it and wanted to take it easy to avoid making it any worse.  So we went to bed early to get ourselves rested and ready for our big day at Angkor Archaeological Park.

Angkor was absolutely amazing! We decided to go with a tuk-tuk driver rather than a scheduled tour or a bike rental. It was a quick way to get around yet they gave us enough time to explore at our own pace.  Funny enough, our pace was actually quite fast.  We left in the morning and started touring around 9am.  By the early afternoon we had seen all of the temples in the "small loop".  We started with Angkor Thom with our first stop being Bayon Temple. On the way we saw some funny tourists taking pictures of monkeys...walked by people riding on elephants...seemed like we were in another world. Getting there early was a great idea. There weren't that many people in the park so we got to take our time and take great photos. We wandered through Bayon and Baphuon, through Phimeanakas and then out through Elephant Terrace.  I think my favorite part was the ceiling. It was so amazing!  As we tried to leave, we had to walk through the dreaded vendors.  Goodness it's hard to say no! So many people selling the same things over and over. The worst part was how they enlisted their children to sell things for them. Oh it was heartbreaking. Surprisingly we were able to say no almost the whole way through.

A lot of the temples began to blend together over the two days. They were all a bit similar and we squished so much in to a short time. At that point I decided it would have been helpful to have a guide.  I'm sure there were lots of details that we missed.  However, there were some temples that stood out.  We jetted through Thomanon and Ta Keo, but the next stop was one of my favorites, Ta Prohm.  Most people know it as the spot where Tomb Raider was shot but I definitely see it as the tree temple.  And as all of you probably know...I love trees :) The temple was absolutely amazing. I can't believe how resilient the tree's are! They grow over the largest walls with roots surrounding the temple and touching back in to the ground. So beautiful!

We went quickly through the next temple, Banteay Kdei, took a look off of Sras Srang, got suckered in to buying some drinks from two kids who gave us bracelets, and then went to my favorite temple, Angkor Wat.  I really loved how grand it was. The entrance was gorgeous and the temple inside was huge!  We were able to climb to the top and the view was wonderful.  Unfortunately the pollution in Cambodia makes things a bit hazey, but you could still see throughout the temple which was really awesome.  All around the base of the temple were these carvings that told a story. That was definitely my favorite part.  We walked around the whole thing trying to understand what was going on. It didn't really work out for us, but after going home and googling it, it turns out the carvings were actually Hindu, which was surprising to me because I thought the temple was Buddhist.  It made much more sense after figuring that out though because I knew I saw Vishnu in there...

That night we decided to go out to the night market and try some food we found online.  Unfortunately we couldn't find the restaurant but we did do a bit of shopping.  Andrew found that he was quite the haggler.  It was like he was fighting back after sucking at it in Hoi An haha.  He was amazing! I would just leave him and let him do his thing...they would go back and forth and back and forth "there are lots of other shirts I can buy" (that was his line haha).  After some shopping we went and had dinner at a place on the legendary "Pub Street".  We decided to split some spring rolls and crocodile curry. Tastes like chicken ;) After that we went to the Blue Pumpkin for some ice cream and man was it delicious!!! Oh how I love ice cream shops. Especially ones that sell cinnamon flavored ice cream...

The next day we decided to do the "big loop" of Angkor.  The first stop was Preah Khan, right outside of Angkor Thom, which was our first stop the day before. There was basically no one there. It was so peaceful. The only person we saw was a guy reading when you walked in to the temple. This temple was pretty cool. It had lots of intricate carvings and some more fun tree's growing over the structure. The next temple was Neak Pean, built out on an artificial island. It was so peaceful walking out on the wooden bridge over the lake in to the temple area.  There wasn't a lot of people so it was nice and calm.  Little boys were fishing off the bridge. It was a really nice break from the chaos of the temples and the town.

Ta Som was the next temple and had some really neat carvings scattered around the temple. We also found another really great tree :) The next temple was East Mebon which had some lovely elephants hanging out on each corner. This temple was different from the others we had seen so far. It was a different color and it had a different feel to it.  The temple was very tall and had a wonderful view. We decided that giants with chicken legs (or tiny feet) built the temple because of the huge height of the steps vs. the tiny width of them. This temple was one of Andrew's favorites, so was Pre Rup, a similar temple and our last stop.  Pre Rup was rumored to be a temple where they performed funerals.

At the end of our tour we decided to go out on the town.  We started with lunch at a restaurant we found on Trip Advisor called Genevieve's Restaurant. I was finally feeling up to eating and wanted to celebrate so we went on the hunt for this restaurant that was a bit off the main street.  The food there was so delicious! I ended up ordering some Khmer noodles and Andrew had some sort of bean salad.  Those noodles were the best thing I ate in Cambodia! It could have been that it was my first real meal since my stinking heart burn went away (that I got from taking my malaria pills wrong), but either way, they were FANTASTIC!  Our waiter actually ended up being one of the owners. He was a nice Aussie guy and gave us great recommendations. He was really nice and didn't understand why people had given him such good reviews online. He said he was ranked the number one restaurant in Siem Reap by one Chinese reviewing site so he always had heaps of Chinese customers. He mentioned a restaurant around the corner that is also gets great reviews and said that they get so packed that you have to have a reservation to get in...so naturally we were curious.

 On the way out we popped our heads in to the restaurant called Haven House which was actually the #1 ranked restaurant on Trip Advisor for Siem Reap. We put our names in for a reservation and sent Rebecca a message to see if she would want to join us for dinner.  We headed back to the hotel to rest because it's too hot in Cambodia to do anything in the afternoon.  Around 6 we headed out to meet Rebecca at the restaurant. The restaurant is actually a training restaurant for kids wanting to get in to the food industry. The staff was so attentive (unlike our past experience with Vietnamese and Cambodian staff) and the food was absolutely delicious.  Rebecca even bought a t-shirt. It was great!

After that we decided to go shopping in the night market.  By the end of it we were getting pretty pooped so we decided to try out the fishies.  We walked by them a few times and kept commenting on how we were going to do it but never did...well then we did. They sold us on it by telling us we could have 30 minutes and a beer for $3 haha.  OH MY GOODNESS IT TICKLES!!! I was screaming and hootin and hollerin and causing all the tourists to come by and see what the heck was going on.  It was the oddest experience. I highly suggest trying it.  While in the tank we got a few people to come join us and made friends. Turned out they were from the US so Rebecca and I got to talk about our job and handed them a business card ;)

From there we wandered across the street to a bar that had some interesting music playing.  We went upstairs and they had swinging tables and all kinds of fancy lounge chairs.  Some girls were singing covers of US pop songs on stage.  It was a fantastic spot to people watch.  Some of the strangest people were in that bar...from drunken kids to creepy old men who clearly had bought their dates :S  After a few drinks we gave up on the place and headed downstairs where Andrew worked his haggling skills again and managed to get himself a Beats Pill from $45 to like $17.  He was pretty proud of himself. It was the funniest exchange...I had to get a photo.  Then we went back through Pub Street and had a few beers, and called it a night.  The Cambodian heat sure does make it hard to stay up late. I was in bed by 10pm (sometimes as early as 8pm) every night. What a party pooper.