Siem Reap!

Sorry for the long hiatus on blogging! Its been a busy week!
Last Friday I said goodbye to all my new friends at the Fatima Center. It was bittersweet, since I felt like I was beginning to find my place there and could have done more to contribute if I'd planned to stay longer, but I was also excited to say goodbye to Bangkok and begin my travels across the rest of SE Asia!

Angkor Wat at Sunrise

Satrday morning I left bright and early and boarded my bus for Siem Reap Cambodia. I was fortunate in my seating partner- a Californian girl the same age as I am, of Cambodian heritage. She has also been doing a fair bit of traveling this year, and we talked for a really long time and really connected. We were booked into different hostels, however, so we parted ways upon arrival.

Backing up a bit...despite being warned of scams at the border, a bunch of us definitely fell for the trickers that lay in wait. Our bus was no help. The driver likely has some kind of deal with the scammers, so he dropped us off at their office which is right outside passport control. We were told this is where we got our visas, so we paid the money, waited 20 minutes, and were given our visas, and then they started to fill out our entry forms for an additional 200 B. (approx $7). Once we realized what theye were doing, we told them we would fill out the forms on our own, and headed for passport control. After completeing that, we stepped out of the office and saw a very official looking sign that said "Visa On Arrival" for about $15 US less than we had paid. Oooooh well. Live and learn.

I stayed at the European Guesthouse in Siem Reap on the advice of my trusty Lonely Planet travel guide. While it doesn't win any awards for cleanliness, it has a nice small pool, a decent bar/restaurant, and it comes at the low, low price of $5 US/night. Having lived in treeplanting camps probably helps me get over a bit of bathroom grime!

My first morning I met  (read: nosily wormed my way into a conversation and introduced myself) a Colombian girl who was also traveling by herself. We hit it off, and decided to take a Khmer cooking class and wander around the city together, and then rent bikes to ride to Angkor Wat the next morning. I am so glad I met her, as we had a great time hanging out over the next few days, and sharing my Siem Reap experience with someone made it so enjoyable!

We got up at 4am on Monday and cycled to the temple, joined by throngs of tourists in tuk-tuks and taxis. I was a bit dismayed by the crowds of selfie-sticks, but we moved to a less-popular and populaced location to watch the sun rise and snap a few photos. It was really beautiful, though I remain a bit jealous of those who had the opportunity to see the magical area before it became such a tourist hotspot.

The rest of the day was spent wandering through the main temples, riding our bikes in the hot sun, and snacking on dried mango and salted cashews we had bought cheaply at the market the day before.

On the way home, we missed a turn and ended up way off track, out towards the airport! It made for a VERY interesting ride back to the hostel as we were obliged to cycle along one of the busiest main roads in the city! It was quite an experience, and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for how calm I remained, especially as I have never been much of a bike-riding expert, and helmets literally do not exist here. Traffic patterns in Cambodia are different from anything I have seen before- they seem even more chaotic than what I saw in Cusco, Peru! So there we were, pedalling hard on a mix of pot-holed dirt roads and random brick sidewalks, while cars, motorbikes, and tuk tuks are zooming by, occasioinally honking at us to get our of their way (which I would have gladly done, had there been anywhere to go!), and then out of nowhere some random will cut directly across traffic, or just go right against the flow. Literally everyone is just going everywhere and hoping they dont get hit. I just kept my eyes wide open, and kept on pedaling!!! It was actually kind of hilarious. My friend and I were just like...what is even happening right now....

Needless to say, we survived, and it is something I will never forget!

Yesterday we took it easy, swam in the pool, did some skyping and facebooking, went to the market, ate some spicy frog stirfy and then delicious ginger and black sesame ice cream, stuck our feet in a tank of fish that ate our feet, and visited the night market with some new aquaintances! It was a fun, relaxing day, and a nice finale to my Siem Reap visit.

Evidently my feet have more to offer....

This morning I hopped on another bus for my next destination, but that's another story for another day!

Weekend Wonders

Where has the time gone??
I'm on my last week of volunteering/staying in Bangkok, and preparing to strike out on my own come Saturday.  I can't believe how fast the last 3 weeks have flown by!

I've been much busier since the two other volunteers arrived, which has been nice. We have gone out exploring on a few nights, and spent our long weekend (last Friday was a holiday here...what the occason was is still a mystery) about an hours drive outside Bangkok (read: 2 hours for the whole trip, because it takes an hour to get anywhere in the city) at the historic UNESCO World Heritage sites of Ayutthaya. This was a good warm-up to starting the backpacking portion of my trip :)

Checking out some ruins at sunset on my first night in Ayutthaya

I stayed in the cheapest room I could find, which was about 200 Thai Baht ($7.45 CAD). It was a private room, with a shared bathroom. Creaky floorboards, opaque plastic windows, and a small fan sitting on a plastic chair serving as the A/C lent it a rustic charm. The bed was big, fairly comfortable, and clean, so I was satisfied. The bathroom was sketchy as heck, and I spent very limited time there! haha!

I ate the street food served piping hot from the little pushcarts on the corner- delicious! - and drank SO much water, iced drinks, and coke...anything cold. It was ridiculously hot outside. As soon as I took a drink out of the cooler, it began to sweat almost as much as I was, and in a matter of minutes it's lukewarm, and then just plain warm and gross. So I guzzle while its chilly.

And heaven knows I needed hydration. Most people rent bikes or hire tuk tuks to get around Ayutthaya, but one of our party was nervous about riding a bike and tuk tuks get expensive fast, so we decided to walk! And since I was detirmined to get to a certain temple at the far reaches of the town, I continued walking long after the other girls turned back. It was an adventure, as my free tourist map was fairly useless, and I had to stop to ask for directions several times. But it was good. And a nice Thai lady on a motorbike saw me tootling along sweating up a storm, and stopped to offer me a free ride to the temple! I took her up on it, and got my first motorbike ride- what a thrill! I loved it! Once I'm out of Bangkok I think this will become a more regular occurance :)

I visited 3 temples in total, and they were all very beautiful. Wat Phra Mahathat was of special interest to me because it is the location of the intriguing Buddha head that is tangled up in tree roots. Its an image I've seen a few times, and its always appealed to me, so I wanted to see it for myself.
I guess I had never seen a picture with it next to a real person, to get the scale of it. For some reason I imagined it was this massive boulder of a sculture, locked in roots the thickness of a giant's arm. I was slightly taken aback to discover that in fact, the Buddha head is about the same size as mine, if not smaller, and could easily be missed if not for the crowd of tourists snapping selfies with it.

I was a little disappointed, but then realized how ridiculous my expectations were, and snapped my photo. I like it.

Next we visited Wat Pha Si Sanphet, which was cool, but very crowded with tourists, and also caters to the Elephant-riding crowd, which made me sad and a little peeved. I get that its cool and exciting to ride an elephant, but that doesn't make it ok. Especially when you can clearly see that they are being mistreated, ie: scars and marks on their bodies from the hooks the handlers use to control them.

After that point, my friends and I parted ways for the afternoon and I carried on to Wat Chai Wattanaram, which was my favorite! It was a bit further out = less crowded, and very well preserved. While not very large, I spent a fair amount of time wandering and taking photos, cuz that's how I roll. I even took a selfie! Gasp!

Despite sunscreen usage, I burnt to a crisp.
Thanks to frequent application of Burt's Bees After Sun lotion, it turned to a tan. Hooray!

I finished the day with a quick trip to the local floating market, which I'm sure lacked authenticity, but was fun nonetheless. Again, not what I expected, but it was interesting to look around.

On Sunday, back in Bangkok, I visited the Jim Thompson House (pretty, if not really as interesting as I'd hoped), and took a Thai cooking class! We learned about some of the key ingredients while shopping at a local market, prepared each dish separately, cooked, and ate! It was fantastic and we had a lovely chef to guide us. I walked out with a small recipe book I am very excited to use!

Now, I am back to work at the Fatima Center for the rest of the week, and then I carry on to Siem Reap, Cambodia on Saturday! Wish me luck at the hectic Poiphet border crossing!

As always, more photos & anecdotes can be found on my instagram, jllkc79, or #jillgoesbackpacking.

Remember That Time When...? (A Tribute to Treeplanting 2014)

As I move into the school year, I find myself reminiscing about the past planting season, browsing photos, and missing my treeplanter family. What better way to procrastinate from homework than to create a photo tribute of some good Spring/Summer memories? So without further ado...

Remember that time when...

I got up a 4am every morning to make breakfast?

 A random blood blister appeared on the side of my pinky finger?

 A 5 minute windstorm trashed our camp?

 I went into public looking like this? (Official symptom of serious sleep deprivation)

The mosquitoes were absolutely unreal and made life a living hell?

...but then you drive to the only spot with cell reception and you see stunning landscapes like this, and it makes it ok somehow?

 Nights off were spent in the tent trailer drinking gin and tonic with great friends?

 Korey and Caitlyn dropped in for an afternoon to see the camp and help with dinner prep?

 We threw a French themed dinner, followed by wine and cheese tasting?

 Karissa and I got pedicures on her birthday? And it was the best.

We stayed up late when we should have been sleeping?

We drove through the Rocky Mountains and it was beautiful?

The planters had the energy to play soccer on their day off? (seriously...)

We were hillbillies for a night?

There was a cheesies/spam/twinkie eating contest?

We delivered freezies to the planters on Canada Day? And it was so hot they just turned to juice right away? And then Beth sank into a mud pit? 

Steve offered to wash our dinner dishes (and I began to suspect there was something there that wasn't there before)?

Karissa was in her own world as she was making brownies and didn't notice that the blender had created a cloud of cocoa that had coated the whole kitchen?

 Scott and Tony threw an epic going-away party?

We kidnapped Sam at McDonalds and threw a bachelorette party for her?

We ate all our meals off tin plates, sitting in camping chairs?

There was a camp-wide talent show, and Karissa told a bedtime story?

 Us girls had some girl-time, soaking our feet and painting our nails?

Everyone went to the swimming hole after a long hot day, and it was one of the best things that happened in life?

We bought 6 flatbed carts of groceries to feed the planters for 4 days?

 I finally saw a good sunrise?...incidentally also the day Steve asked me out.  Guess it was my lucky day :)

I got to spend the season with this pack of gems?! Love these people. 

Ps. I should mention that photo cred for any and all photos that are in focus and look like the person who took them knew what they were doing belongs to the lovely Elizabeth Ashton Roth :) 

Summer Vacation RBF Style

Dear friends... what can I say about this blog's neglect other than that it has been for a worthy cause? I have been enjoying life offline over the past couple of months, and even did some traveling which I can't wait to tell you about! 

My hopes to keep up on blogging while cooking for the treeplanters was at best optimistic, and at worst delusional. Its true that as an experienced camp cook I did have more free time this year compared to last year, but I ended up spending most of that free time napping and hanging out with my lovely treeplanters...this guy in particular. 

You may recognize Steve from the NYC 2013 trip in December, and you'll be seeing a lot more of him in posts to come, because as it turns out we kind of, you know, sorta like each other and now we are dating...crazy times! The point is, while technically there was free time to blog, blogging just wasn't a priority. If you follow me on Instagram you will have caught some snippets of treeplanting life, or you can try looking up the hashtag #timscamp2014.

After the planting season Steve and I made a short trip to Vancouver Island and then flew from Comox BC to Calgary Alberta to begin an epic roadtrip across Canada with friends Katharina and Malerie (also a part of the NYC team)! We took about 20 days to trek from West Coast to East Coast and back again...a whirlwind trip to say the least! In that time we were able to visit Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, Newfoundland, Halifax, PEI, Quebec City, and Ottawa. I will be documenting the trip in more detail in posts to come, so stay tuned!

First Shift: Complete

The day before we leave Prince George, and it's 20 degrees. Shorts and Toms are appropriate. 

The next day: driving to camp...

Our new (dirty) kitchen trailer, about to be set up!

The snow is really coming down as we set up the WeatherHaven.

It was a chilly week, but now we have blue skies...things are looking up!