beauty in crumbles (lone wolf series - 3)

Out of all of the places that I visited during my winter holiday of country-hopping, my favorite place was Cambodia. It was not only stunning and warm (after being in Shanghai during a cold and dismal winter), but the simplicity was refreshing. Cambodia is a struggling country, its economy struggling and the people poor. A majority of the population depends on the influx of tourists bringing in money, taking the tuk-tuks, staying the hotels, and eating at the restaurants. The Cambodia people (specifically Siem Reap, as that is my sample) are kind, sweet, and generous. Yes, there are those hawking their wares and whatnot, but the pushiness that I've experienced in Shanghai or Beijing. It is just a lovely place, the vibe is good, and the world needs more of that.

This post won't have any stories, but some of the pictures that I took while going around on a tuk-tuk for the days I was there. But I will offer one piece of advice here: bring tea tree oil with you, it is the best thing for bug bites.

This is a part of Angkor Wat, a massive temple complex outside Siem Reap. It is HUGE. It didn't even realize how big it was until I got to the back and it took me two hours...I still didn't see everything. It is more well taken care of because it is the largest tourist attraction in the area, if not the largest attraction in Cambodia.

There are some good, steep stairs to get you to the top of that thing. They only admit 100 people at a time and because Angkor Wat is a religious site, one needs to follow the dress codes. Be easy on yourself, just be modest when you go to Cambodia. The nice, loose, long trousers are everywhere and so cheap, so where those and a modest shirt that covers your shoulders--you'll be golden.

I'm not a photographer and I took a majority of these pictures with my Google Nexus 5 phone, whose camera isn't all that great, but I had to share a picture of the detailing. Everywhere, the surfaces are covered with detailing of so many types. It's hard to believe that the 12th century craftsman were able to do this.

This is a view down into some of the complex from the top of that tower (two pictures above).

This is probably the shot that's the most famous because it captures the three main towers. 

They loved stairs, let me tell ya. I climbed A LOT of stairs in Cambodia.

I went to a temple that had massive faces carved into it, so awesome.

This is Bayon, a ruined temple complex outside of Angkor Wat and is part of Angkor Thom. very cool and full of amazing wall carvings.

See....stairs.

This is the backside of the entrance to the "Tomb Raider" temple. There are all of these really old trees that have grown in and around the buildings, which is good in some places because it is helping some of the walls stay up. In other places, it has crumbled the walls down completely. This temple is falling apart and there isn't a lot of money to fix it, which is sad. Restoration is very expensive and the weather doesn't help it.

Pineapple on a stick = best thing ever

This is Bunny, my tuk-tuk driver for the days I was in Siem Reap. He took me everywhere and is the sweetest and coolest guy. All he wants is to go to university, but he can't afford it. He can't find work, so he drives a tuk-tuk for $15 a day. He is wonderful, so if you go to Siem Reap, please use him as your driver. Let's get this man to university!!

This is Bunny's information. Yes, this is shameless promoting because he needs it. 

This is why you need to bring tea tree oil. Even though I was wearing loose trousers all say that have a fitted elastic at the ankle, those bugs will get you. I rubbed my leg down with tea tree oil after I showered and those bites were pretty much gone the next day.

Isn't that coloring beautiful? 

 More about Cambodia to come soon....oh, and for you information (just in case you were curious) I felt safe my entire stay in Cambodia, never felt worried at all or had any issues. I think one reason I love it is because it reminds me of Cairo and I miss that city loads.

beware of monkey pee (lone wolf series - 2)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Just to state a fact: the Kuala Lumpur (KL) Airport is not actually in KL. It takes a good 45-50 minutes to drive from the airport into the city. It's a lovely drive and both directions it was fabulously free of heavy traffic (well, anything compared to Shanghai is fabulously free of heavy traffic). Anyway, I was able to spend a few days there and have some interesting experiences, one of which I will share here.

First of all, this is a monkey:

Of course I have seen monkeys in person before--in a zoo. I've never seen monkeys roaming around in the open like pigeons or squirrels or foxes. It was a bit shocking but also quite funny. I was not the only one to find the large population of wild monkeys running around to be entertaining either, a lot of people were stopping an taking pictures. Where was I, you may ask? I was here:

These are the Batu Caves. Those stairs? Yeah, there are about 285 of them and I went alllllll the way up there. I went with a friend that I meant in the hostel, Ana, and we were both loving seeing all of the monkeys running and jumping around. They were absolutely everywhere and did not care in the slightest about people. They are like pigeons, but with fur and tails. It is hilarious to see them sauntering on the stairs and making themselves at home, like the people were just invisible. There was a monkey eating a sandwich:

I have no idea where he got that sandwich, but he was sure loving every bite. Ana and I were about one-third of the way up the stairs and and stopped to take a breather. We turned around to look at back at the city because the higher and higher you get up the staircase, the more of KL city center you see. As we turned to continue our upwards trek, I made a comment that if these monkeys that were sitting on the balustrade and the ledges over the stairs decided to, you know, do their business, we were going to be in the direct line of fire. Ana looked at me like I was nuts and laughed, so we kept going. 

When we reached the halfway point, we stopped for another breather and to admire the view. Just as we and a few other people around us were stopping, we feel this spray of wetness come over us. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I dive down and Ana lunges to the side. We cry out in this rather squeakish manner, not really wanting to admit that we were probably just hit with monkey pee. Some of the tourists around us dived as well, just in case another spray was coming.  

Ana looked around and started to laugh because low and below, there was indeed a monkey, but a monkey with a water bottle. (Seriously, those little critters are quite smart.) The monkey was twisting the cap off a half-empty bottle of water and when it got it open, it decided to make it rain on the people around it. In retrospect, it was a rather nice gesture considering how hot it was there. 

We continued our journey to top, laughing the rest of the way about getting peed on by monkeys and hope if felt any wetness again on the way down, it would just be water. Alas, on the way down there were monkeys sitting in the paths to the point of obstructing the stairs and everyone was trying to skirt around them because they are known to get a bit vicious, hence the sign:

So, if you ever find yourself in KL, take a a morning to visit the Batu Caves and admire not only the views and the cardiovascular experience, but the monkeys as well...just beware of monkey pee, you might not be so lucky. 

17 days, 7 countries, 1 backpack (lone wolf series - 1)

I write this post after reentering normalcy--well, as normal as life can be in Shanghai. The weather, though cold, has been surprisingly clear of pollution in the last few days, which gives me high hopes of a good spring here. Anyway, why back to normalcy? We just had our winter break, which is about three weeks for teachers, almost 5 weeks for students (lucky ducks). What did I do during that time? Everything.

Not skydive or bungee jump. No extreme anything, except country hop solo through southeast Asia. In 17 days, I stepped foot in 7 countries, 8 airports, stood in 10 customs lines, slept in 4 different hostels and took all of the following modes of transportation: private car, airplane, metered taxi, tuk-tuk, motorcycle taxi, longboat, ferry, canal boat, train, and a skytrain. 

It was both an amazing and exhausting journey, full of new experiences, new friends, and a love for new places. Over the next few posts I want to share some of my experiences, highlighting what it is like to travel as solo female (hence calling these series of posts the lone wolf series) and reviewing some of the places I stayed, and so forth. Yes, there will be pictures (and one of those pictures will include me petting a real, totally high, tiger). 

I'm really excited to share these things with you because it is a truly unique and fabulous experience to travel alone and do significant country hopping in a compressed period of time. I hope that you enjoy the lone wolf series, it's going to be the best thing you read for at least the next 56 hours. 

Here's the first of many pictures, enjoy:

Large backpack: Cabin Max Backpack, available on Amazon.

Small backpack: Honestly, it's a fake Diesel bag from the Han City fake market here in Shanghai.