Cambodia Day 1

With our adventure at Railay Beach complete we had a day to do laundry and repack and then we got back on a plane and headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. My first encounter with the idea of Cambodia came about 10 years ago. I dated a man who had been a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He had served his mission in the US but was Cambodian speaking. He introduced me to a book I read and my eyes were reopen to the atrocities that had taken place during my lifetime. My next interaction with Cambodia was when I went to the airport to pick up a Cambodian refugee. His spirit was strong and his smile contagious.

I was excited to finally meet Cambodia in person. I found that I wasn't prepared for the experience I was about to have. I am so grateful to have had my trusted friends at my side to experience it all with me.

After a short plane ride we arrived in Phnom Penh and headed outside the airport to catch a taxi into town. Once outside we were immediately surrounded by a host of men offering their transportation options to us. There were several options for riding into town including motorbike, tuk-tuk and taxi. Surprised by the mob that greeted us I asked them to leave us alone for a minute so we could discuss our options. We decided on the taxi and made our way to our hotel which was so lovely. We were greeted with cold fruit drinks and a cold wet towel to cool us down from the intense heat. The host showed us to our room where we left our luggage ready to meet the city. We only had an hour or two left before the sun would set. We stopped by the front desk and booked bus tickets to Siem Reap the next day and then began walking towards the riverfront where we found all sorts shops, restaurants and hotels. We selected among the many a french restaurant to enjoy dinner. During dinner we were approached several times by children wanting to sell us bracelets, postcards and other items. We turned each of them away slightly heartbroken. That's when we began to fall in love with the darling children of Cambodia.

After dinner we returned to the riverfront and walked back to the hotel. Along the way we met the personality of the city. The feeling was light and festive. There were several dance and exercise groups moving to various types of music...some more enjoyable to watch than others. One woman in particular looked like she was having convulsions. Poor thing. :-) There were food vendors and families strolling along the walkways. It wasn't a rich city, it wasn't a clean city, but it was a city full of seemingly happy people making the most of their situation. I had a good feeling about what lay ahead.

Railay Beach Day 5-Rock Climbing

Our last day on the beach. It had been so enjoyable. I love exploring a new area of this beautiful country. Doing so with friends was even more fun. We had done so many fun things up to this point. Our flight would take off this evening and return us to Bangkok but we had all day to enjoy ourselves. This meant relaxing on the beach for Cheri and Nate and for me it meant getting up early to meet my climbing team.

I was the first to arrive at the meeting point. I got my harness, shoes and chalk bag and then waited for the others. Two other girls showed up and one man. None had done any climbing which meant our guide would have to go through all the basics of climbing. I hoped they would catch on quickly so we could move on to the fun stuff...climbing. Once everyone had been issued equipment our guide gathered the necessary ropes and gear and we headed to the climbing site which ended up being just a short walk from my resort. There were several other groups already set up and ascending the limestone cliff. There were about 5 different routes. We dropped our gear at the foot of one climb and the guide began to take us through the important safety instructions and then he began to teach the role of each piece of gear and the basics of knot tying. I was glad that we were able to move through this quickly and then our guide started the climbing with the initial ascent to secure the rope and prepare the way for the rest of us.

It felt so good have my hands on the rocks, to use my muscles differently than I usually do and reach the top of a climb and then have the enjoyment of looking back to see the view, the sea, the sand, the cliffs, all from a different angle. Then then comes the fun part, the belay back down to the start only to start all over again on a new route.

After 4 climbs my muscles were exhausted! The last was the most difficult as my muscles had given all they had and the technique involved challenged my strength and nascent skills. About a third of the way from the top my body failed me and I was grateful when I fell, to be in the able hands of the guide. He held me steady and I clung again to the cliff and gave it another try. Again I failed and again I fell and again he caught me and held me until I have it one final effort. Determined to not to give up despite my fatigue and raw hands I drew all the energy I could find in my body and directed it to my arms and legs in an effort to hoist my body upwards. The efforts paid off and I finally reached the top. Once there I turned to enjoy the view one last time. The sense of accomplishment filled me as did the thrill of doing something I thoroughly enjoyed.

I left my climbing friends, the quiet girl who methodically took 3 times longer than anyone else to climb to the top, the valley girl who about drove me batty with her "Oh, that's totally cool" and other annoying mannerisms and the guy who tried too hard to impress everyone around him. Gee, I wonder how they are describing me in their blogs. :-) I went to find Cheri and Nate at the beach where they informed me they would be when they passed by between my second and third climb. I found Cheri basking in the sun and Nate swimming in the cool water. Starving, I went for a walk down the beach to where several vending boats were set up selling a varitey of food including sandwiches, noodles, omelets, smoothies, roti and more. I ordered a roti with egg and banana for Cheri and pad thai and a mango smoothie for me.

We spent the next few hours on the beach, in the water, soaking up the last drops of the salty water and the last rays of the Railay sun. Nate decided to go for a hike to the summit of one of the cliffs as Cheri and I were enjoying our final moments on the beach. When it was time to pack up we waited for Nate at the bottom of the path and when he descended we headed off to the pier. We had to wait for 8 people before the boat would take us back to Krabi or pay the equivalent of 8 people. After waiting and waiting I negotiated back and forth with the captain and finally decided that for 300B each he would take us to the pier as well as drive us to the airport.

Well, the rest of this adventure is very uninteresting. We caught the plane back to Bangkok and instead of being greeted by the warm evening air there was a surprisingly cool breeze, unseasonal for March, the month before the hottest month of the year. We breathed it in and made our way to the taxi line and headed home.

Railay Beach Day 4-Seaglass and Seashells

Cheri and I have a lot of things in common...and a lot of differences. Our similarities make our friendship so much fun and our differences balance and enrich us. We often end up purchasing the same clothes, the same bed spread and we have similar hobbies. One of the hobbies we share is the collection of sea glass. Since a mutual friend introduced me to the collection of seaglass and I saw how beautiful her collection was I started my own collection. I've collected glass in the Dominican Republic, throughout Thailand beaches and wherever I can find a beach. Seaglass or beach glass as some call it, is glass that has been roughened by the waves and sand. It's washed ashore and that's where I find it.

After having seen several pieces of glass on the beach we were on the day before we decided to start day 4 combing the sands of the beach collecting the glass. Sure enough, there was plenty to collect. There were also countless seashells in such great condition and such a variety of shapes and colors that we just couldn't help not picking a few as well. After several hours walking the beach with heads down and eyes focused on picking the glass out from all the shells we neared the end of the beach. I lagged slightly behind picking up the pieces that Cheri and Nate had passed up. I found them on a sandbar jetted out into the water. They were so excited to have found several large shells in great condition.

Hot and sweaty we decided to take a break at a little restaurant on the beach. It wasn't much to look at but all we were interested in was whether or not they had cold water. What a delight to enjoy the coldest water we had found thus far. It was refreshing on such a hot day. Inside the restaurant with us was a man and woman who had obviously been traveling a long time. They were dressed in typical "backpacker" style with dreadlocks. The man was helping the owners with something computer related behind the bar and the woman was busy redesigning a crotchless pair of pants into a skirt. I wasn't particularly fond of the style she had chosen for her redesigning but I didn't have to wear it!

With 2 large water bottles emptied it was time to head back to our beach. This meant once again climbing over the boulders and walking through the water. We all made sure to check our pockets to ensure there wasn't anything electronic we didn't want to drown (having learned from yesterday's experience) and began wading back. At one point of climbing over the rocks, Cheri was in the lead and she turned back with a look of fear in her eyes and declared that she had just seen a snake. Luckily we had brave Nate with us and he went ahead looking for the snake and navigating us safely over the rocks. Once we were over we had a better view of our snake which we then found out was a lizard. Not knowing which of the snakes and lizards are venomous we were sure to take all precautions possible.

We took our loot back to the hotel, enjoyed a late lunch and then were excited to rent a kayak and go out on the water. We initially tried to fit all 3 of us into one kayak but the kayak rode so low and was so unstable that I opted out and let Cheri and Nate have a go while I enjoyed sitting on the beach soaking up the rays of the end-of-the-day sun. After about an hour I saw Cheri paddling the kayak back to shore alone. Nate's recovering shoulder just couldn't endure the activity any longer so he opted to jump ship and swim back to shore. It was then my turn to head out to the open water. With me in the back and Cheri in the front we set out. We headed around the bend and out to twin islands side by side. We paddled around them and then over to the beach we had spent the morning. It felt so good to be out in our small kayak in the big sea. The feeling of insignificance was strong as I contemplated the vast creations both above and beneath the water. I took a moment to soak in the reality of my experience. I was in a kayak, on the Adaman Sea, just off the coast of Thailand, where I live and have an amazing job, hanging out with one of my dearest friends. I seem to have a lot of these moments these days. It fills me with gratitude to God for the opportunities he has guided me to.

We paddled back to shore and as we saw that there was a wedding reception taking place. Cheri and I deviously decided that they needed the added flavor of a kayak in the back ground of their photos, so we paddled back and forth trying to get in the photos laughing hysterically! All in good fun.

Once again we ended the day with mangos and sticky rice. That night there was a fund raising fire dance for victims of the recent events in Japan. We watched for awhile and then wandered up the walking street. Nate pointed out a shop that was offering 1/2 day climbing and I signed up for the next day. How could I leave this place without enjoying the climbing? Having not climbed for about 2 years I knew it would be a tough morning and that I would feel the effects for days afterwards but I also knew that because of my Bootcamp style training which I've participated in for 9 months I was up for the challenge. Guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Railay Beach Day 3-Elephants and Snakes

Day 3 began with what we thought was a 15 minute walk to a nearby beach. It ended up being an hour long trek through the jungle. The sweat poured from our bodies as we walked the path that lead us into the jungle, up a steep hill, directly into the mosquitos lair, past a monitor lizard, through the back packers bungalows (meaning wooden boxes on stilts furnished with barely a mat on the floor) and finally to the beach. Before reaching the beach we began to get nervous as it was drawing near the time we had been told a boat would pick us up to take us to Krabi for our elephant trekking adventure. Upon reaching the beach I found a group of boat taxi guys and asked them how much they would charge to taek us back to our beach. They laughed and told me just to walk around the bend and we would be at our beach. Getting there would require us to walk through the water and boulders. So, we followed the boulders partially buried by the water that reached mid thigh, climbed up and over some of the large rocks, tried to keep balance with the waves doing their best to throw us off balance and finally we reached the beach close to our resort. Unfortunately, in the process, we lost Cheri's IPhone as it was in a pocket of her board shorts and drown.

Luckily, we got back to the hotel just in time to catch the boat to Krabi. We arrived to the location of our elephant trek and the elephants were eager and waiting for us. We immediately hopped on and headed out for our hour long trek. We started off with me in the lead seated comfortably on the bench strapped to the back of my elephant and Cheri and Nate sharing an elephant behind me. Almost immediately my elephant began searching for food. She ate vines growing along the jungle floor, tore branches off of young trees, whatever she could find went in her mouth. I looked over my shoulder and found that Cheri and Nate were having a similar experience. For an hour we trekked around the jungle perched atop our elephants as they wandered about happy not to be hauling logs. At one point my mahout (elephant driver) asked if I'd like to sit on the elephant's neck. This is my favorite part of elephant rides. I climbed on the neck and the mahout dismounted. What he did next started off as cute but soon became creepy. He began talking to the elephant and whispering sweet nothings to her. he pet her affectionately and gave her lots of kisses and hugs. It turned creepy when this went on, and on, and on and then started chewing on her ear! NO, I'm NOT kidding! I'm totally serious. He really went on and on and on. Finally, he pealed himself off her and we continued on our way. We turned around and began to make our way back when in front of my eye s slithered a big 'ole snake! I was so grateful to be so high off the ground. He slithered into the growth and disappeared.

We made our way back to the beginning without falling off (despite some close calls for both Cheri and I) got off of the elephants and then went to get bananas to thank the elephants for toting us around. We watched as one of the elephants walked into pool of water in the nearby stream and bathed. The experience was a fun one and, as fun things often do, it came to an end. It was time to head back to the pier and back to the resort.

At the pier we found there was just one other couple waiting for the boat and we needed 8

people for the boat to leave the pier. We waited over 30 minutes and then talked to the other couple to see if they were interested in pitching in some extra money so we could pay the captain to take us back. They agreed and off we went.

Mangoes and sticky rice was the perfect way to finish off the adventure.

Railay Beach Day 2-Lion fish and Sharks

After our first night at the resort on Railay East Beach we woke to an alarm, dressed in our swim suits, ate breakfast at the resort and headed to the meeting point for our day on the water. The day would begin with a 2 hour boat ride to the dive/snorkel site. The water was somewhat rough the whole way. About 30 minutes into our ride the captain yells "SHARK" from above and we all ran to the side of the boat to get a better view of the dark shadow swimming around and the black fins that came in and out of the water. When it was determined to be a bull shark several people went for their fins and snorkels and got ready to jump in the water. "Are you crazy?" I asked one eager boat mate. "Sure," he responded, "it's just like a big cow in the water." A cow in the water huh? He didn't convince me to wanna jump in. I decided to see if the others got eaten first before I was going to volunteer to be shark bait. About 5 people jumped in as the captain tried to circle around and keep up with the sharks. Unfortunately, by the time they jumped in the sharks had moved on their way. They climbed back into the boat and we continued on.

The sun was already high in the sky at this point. The feeling of the breeze on my skin beaded with perspiration from the hot sun felt nice. I sat on a bench watching as we sailed past inhabited and uninhabited islands. I could see the change in depth of the water close to the shore as the water color changed from dark to light as the sea turned into beach. The landscapes along the way were lined with palm trees, white sand beaches and inviting blue green water.

At long last we reached the dive site, Bida Nok. I dressed in my wet suit, placed the weight belt around my waist, donned my Buoyancy Control Device attached to the air tank, placed my feet in the fins and giant strided into the water. The waters were rough and visibility wasn't terrific. It didn't help that I had forgotten to spit in my goggles to keep them from fogging up. Once at the bottom of the sea there was a variety of fish and sea creatures including box fish, moray eel, crab, scorpion fish, mantis shrimp, sea stars galore, crown of thorns starfish, sea wards, and trigger fish to name a few. I even found Nimo! But the highlight was taking a look at the lion fish, a strange looking fish with these spiky fins. A glorious, wonderful sight. I felt so privileged to enjoy its crazy company. If that had been the only dive of the day I would be happy just to have seen the lion fish. But NO, I still had another dive to look forward to.

We took a break to eat lunch and rest. I was sad to learn that the snorkeling experience for Cheri and Nate hadn't been good. The equipment inadequacies mixed with the roughness of the waters made for a much less enjoyable experience. They decided to give it another try when it was time for dive number 2-Maya Wau. Dive two displayed many of the same fish and creatures as dive one sans the lion fish, unfortunately, but in it's place some puffer fish, porcupine fish and you can imagine my surprise when several feet in front of me swam a black tip shark and then a leopard shark! And you can imagine my nervousness knowing that they were out there somewhere but I couldn't see them! It was exhilarating to see such marvelous sea kings on their turf, in the wild, and not in a glass box at the aquarium. This diving stuff is pretty terrific. The dive soon came to an and it was time to surface and swap stories with the other divers.

I was happy to hear, as the boat began to make it's way back to shore, that Cheri and Nate had enjoyed a better experience this time around and that they too enjoyed a swim with a shark. I happily pealed back the layers of my dive gear and welcomed the warmth of the sun to dry me off. I made sure to keep fairly covered both in sunscreen and in my blue sarong to avoid the unwelcome effects of too much sun exposure. I had lent Nate and Cheri my jelly fish repelling sun screen which they lathered on multiple times. However, to our surprise both had the craziest, diseased looking sunburns. We learned the hard way that while the cream may be good at repelling jelly fish, it was terrible at sun protection. Oops.

Back on shore we enjoyed mangoes and sticky rice...mmmmm. And when that was all gone we planned our next adventure. Tomorrow, elephant trekking!

Railay Beach Day 1-Monkeys and Toads

I had the great pleasure of receiving a visit from 2 of my dear, dear friends. Cheri and Nate were my Sugar House neighbors in Salt Lake and we had been talking about their visit to Thailand for quite some time. I could hardly believe the day had arrived for me to meet them at the airport. In fact, even on my way to the airport I was half convinced that they wouldn't even be there...kind of like when we would go to pick up a refugee family from the airport in the States and we never really knew if they would be there or if they missed a connection or in the situation of the Cubans, maybe they decided to deplane in Florida and start life there. To my amazement, they did arrive and the familiarity of being around old friends felt as delicious as Lyn's chocolate sheet cake.

The first week that Cheri and Nate were in Thailand I left them on their own to explore Bangkok while I went to work. I tried to fill their heads with all the information they would need. How to ride the sky train and the metro, how to ensure the taxi uses the meter, nearby restaurants and grocery stores, where to go, what to see, maps, keys and much more. Off I went to work as they went off to explore. I felt like a mother dropping her children off for their first day of kindergarden. Or was it that I was just so jealous that they got to play that while I went to work that I convinced myself that they would need me?

Luckily, that first week went by rather quickly. I would meet up with them in the evenings and we would have dinner while I listened to their various adventures for the day. The week soon came to an end and I made arrangements to be out of the office for the next 2 weeks while I joined Nate and Cheri on their vacation...now, our vacation.

First on the agenda was the beach. We took a plane to Krabi and from the airport headed to the pier to catch a boat to Railay Beach, a beach best known for it's limestone cliffs making excellent rock climbing. As Nate is an avid climber this was an area he was really looking forward to. Unfortunately, a recent shoulder surgery removed the option of climbing for him. Cheri knew it would be painful for him to be surrounded by climbers, ropes and quick draws but not be able to join in the fun. Nevertheless, we would have a great time.

Knowing from our guidebook that the longtail boat ride from the pier to our beach shouldn't cost more than 100 Baht ($3) we were surprised when we go the pier and the woman tried to charge us 600B. After some back and forth in my weak Thai the woman wouldn't budge on the price and we suspected that the driver had brought us to the wrong pier...one he was hoping for a kickback from. I pulled out my cell phone and called the hotel. I asked the voice on the other end how to reach the hotel and she said to go to the pier and take the boat that cost 60 B. I told her we were at the pier and they were charging us 600 B. After some back and forth we finally understood each other and I handed the phone to the woman behind the desk at the pier. When she hung up she gave instructions to our driver to take us to the pier we had asked to go and which was just 30 seconds up the road. Once inside the car driver said he had taken us to that pier since at the other pier you have to wait until there are 8 people for the boat to take off. I told him we would have appreciated if he had just taken us where we had asked to go. Once at the right pier we waited maybe 15 minutes and enjoyed the sounds of the calls to prayer from nearby minarets. We paid our 60 B ($2) and took the 20 minute boat ride to Railay Beach.

The boat ride was beautiful. We skidded across the bluegreen water, around the cliffs, by the white sandy beaches and finally arrived at Railay Beach. We unloaded the boat by stepping out of the boat into the warm water, grabbed our bags and walked the remaining distance to the dry beach. Not knowing exactly where to go we followed the signs pointing to our hotel and found ourselves walking in circles. Stopping to ask for directions we found that we had found the right place and we checked in. We unloaded our bags, grabbed our cameras and immediately headed out for a walk that lead us to a beach. The sand was so fine and almost silky on my feet. The feel of walking barefooted felt romantic and worlds away from the office.

Walking along, enjoying the heat of the sun and the sand beneath our toes we found a clan of monkeys swinging in the trees and walking along the beach. We joined the other tourists in the feeling of excited and joined in the photo shoot. The animals found snacks left unattended by sunbathers and took the "finders keepers" approach claiming the bags of chips and tall iced coffees. The sunbathers were too intimidated to put up much of a fight and some even freely offered their snacks to the monkeys. Once the monkeys had had their fill, they moved on and we remained enjoying the beach until sunset. Our stomachs indicated it was dinner time so we indulged and as we walked about continuing our exploration of our new surroundings we found a company that booked both diving and snorkeling adventures. We decided the following day would be perfect for that so we booked tickets, diving for me and snorkeling for Cheri and Nate. On the walk back to the hotel we passed a climbing shop and stopped to look at guide books (guess whose idea that was). The owner had a pet monkey and I asked if I could pet it, not knowing if he was friendly to others besides his owner. The shop keeper said yes so I began to pet the monkey (named Harry Potter) who proceeded to climbed on me and stole my barrett from out of my hair. When I tried to take it back the monkey got mad, hissed at me and gave me a little bite. With the help of its owner Harry Potter finally gave up my hair pin.

As we found our way back through the maze of the outside walkways through the resort to our room we had to be sure to walk lightly as we found along the path numerous toads hopping about and we caused a few near death experiences for them.

That ended our first day on Railay Beach. A great start to our grand adventures.

Exchanging Smiles, Warming Hearts, Making Friends

Making new friends isn't always easy. It takes work to let people into your life, to trust them to know who you are. But when you let a friendship take root it makes even far away places feel like home.

A few weeks after moving into my apartment in Bangkok a nice man appeared on the path I walk home. Every evening there he was, sitting on the sidewalk, in front of a store with his life's possessions neatly packed into a backpack. Sometimes he has cans or bottles of water, tea or other beverages lined neatly up in front of him. Sometimes he's eating dinner, and if i'm getting home late enough he has already laid out his blankets and with his backpack for a pillow he's fast asleep.

At first I just walked by and paid little attention to him but it soon felt silly and, quite frankly, rude to not acknowledge him. So, I started smiling at him as I walked by and our eyes met...and to my delight he smiled back. And, that's how our friendship began. Nearly every day since then I've seen my friend.

There were some long periods of time when I didn't see him starting with the period of demonstrations in the city. For weeks I didn't see him and I wondered if he was out protesting along side the others where he would be provided with food, money and camaraderie. I just hoped he was safe. It was a happy day for me when he returned, our eyes met and he had a huge smile for me.

One night I was walking home and the police were talking to my friend. Knowing that often when the police are talking to homeless people in the US they are encouraging them to move along and telling them they can't stay there I became nervous, wanting to tell the police that they were talking to my friend, a good man who was welcome to come stay at my house if needed. But, unable to communicate coherently in Thai and not knowing the conversation that was taking place I walked by, hoping all would turn out well. To my delight I saw my friend in his usual spot 2 nights later.

Sometimes, when I'm up early and out exercising I see my friend. It might be that he's still asleep, that he's packing up, or that he's walking around the park. In the park he might be swinging his walking cane or just meandering along with his crooked walk. You see, my friend has a twisted leg and walks with limp. It takes him a while to get far.

I've never spoken a word to my friend, we've only exchanged smiles but that's all it's taken. My friend gives me a sense of home. Seeing him lets me know I'm in the right place. I'm so grateful my friend has opened himself to me and allowed me to be his friend. Maybe he has a million other people he smiles at too...but he makes me feel like for that one, short moment when our eyes meet and smiles are exchanged...we are best friends.