It does not get more khmer then this my Cambodian bride photos

My host sister took me on a day adventure where i got so khmer out i dont think i could top it so the pictures many of you have been waiting for me dressed up as a cambodian bride you will notice how much whiter i have become in these pictures how much they try to emphasize my nose lmao!!!! all in good fun

this they had me take for luis

see how they spent hours on redefining my nose haha

i think this hand position is supposed to be like their dancing

you know when ever i see a beauty competition i cant help but laugh but now its even worse.

i think this one i look pretty crazy in the face like i will kill if i dont win that crown lmao!

since i have no real husband they had this girl dress up as the man.

let the water fight begin khmer new years pic

making of the water balloons

my host sister thought someone was going to throw water on her

jentee throwing water

the rigshaws on their way to a party at the wat

clearly this guy got soaked hehe

jenta son churey had a little to much fun with the powder

besides the throwing of the water you throw powder on people

It’s the final countdown aka Khmer new years

Well its finally hear my last new years of 2011 3 out of 3 down whoo hoo its nice to re celebrate over and over keeps the year fun! Well I got back from my vacation to not really start work but to party with a however many day festival that’s the fun of Cambodia you never know when a party will start or end im told new years last about 3 weeks so the actual party is like 4 days though like I said who really knows. Well in Cambodia new years is supper big deal to say the least no one has birthdays etc so its one big birthday party and just a renewal of everything and of course on big events like this they have to included the dead appease the ancestors. Because it khmer new years no one stays in the city all big events people that are Cambodian that is leave the city and go to the small villages where they most likely have family this makes taxi rides a bit more expensive. Due to the fact im a barong I was excepting the worst doubling the price but lucky the taxi I go into had some lady who informed me she was my aunt this is a common occurrence in Cambodia people always telling you they are some how related to your family im pretty sure everyone in my village is my family seriously its that crazy! Well this aunt of mine deff hooked me up cuz I did not get ripped off yay I did not call my sister to tell her I was coming home I thought surprise would be better in hand I had some gifts from my trip and at the request before I left bought some whiskey so knew they would all be excited to see me. My host mom was so excited she was telling me how scared she was o yea I dunno if I mentioned but I was told numerous times that when I was going to bali I would die because of the title waves that she was happy that I was alive and all I could say was yes I am happy I am alive to.  Well the front of my house was one big alters with massive amounts of fruit and food everywhere!!! Incense this of course was for the dead. My host mom asked me if this was what Americans did in new years and I was like no and we don’t celebrate in April they find it hard to believe we are not scared of ghost. So the next day is when the fun begins so that day around noon you start to stand on the side of the rd and throw water and people passing bye especially the big groups of kids in the rigshaws there sort of like hey rides but a bit smaller anyways water gets thrown in their version of water balloons and with just regular cups. At first I thought humm this is sort of tame bc I was thinking of Halloween in American how at first its just silly string and then it gets pretty out of control with eggs and nair etc that Cambodia’s are good they don’t throw eggs. However at a second glance it gets pretty crazy you know that game chicken that you play in the pool where there are teams of two one person goes on top of someone shoulders and u try to knock the other team off well the water fighting sort of reminded me of that because there would be two people on a motto some even standing while the other drove throwing water at other mottos or people on the side of the rd and no one seemed to be scared of the dying while standing riding a motto while people are throwing things at you. The first day I did most of the throwing of water but my host sister jentee deiced that she wanted to get me wet so she wanted to take me on a motto ride except it back fired bc people get to excited to see an American to bother to throw things at me and even when she asked them to they told her no lmao this cracked me up! That night the whiskey bottle got open and things got a wee bit crazy okay so I like to refer to jentee as the mom of the family bc she never lets things get to crazy however she went to bed after one drink leaving me and jenta the youngest girl in the family who is I think about 27 and some random neighbor girls haha so with the cat gone the mice come out to play hehe as the saying goes. Jenta set out that we kill the whole bottle, which I can say we did. Mean while this is all going on my host mom does not sleep inside ever she always sleeps random places outside so she could deff hear all the craziness going on but she is not an uptight person so she let it all happen. Every time jenta got up they would fill her glass with more whiskey o yea I should note that its customary to never let someone’s glass not be full like they just keep going around and fill it and fill it again if you don’t want it you have to be pretty forceful. So knowing this I was like I have to go pee but if I leave my glass I know ill have like 9 more shots in my drinks so I think humm ill just carry it and put it down on a table where they cant see well this did not fly so jenta ends up bursting in the bathroom aka my squatting toilet being like where is the whiskey I am like dude its outside (I am still making fun of her for that). Well the night does end with the bottle being killed this was a big bottle to but with jenta throwing up everywhere and the two girls running home and me cleaning up with water while I can barely stand its not like in college were I could drink I never drink any more so I cant handle anywhere near the amount I used to be able to put away anyways she wanted to sleep out side on this table with me so I agreed feeling if she throws up again better be there so she doest choke in her sleep. The next morning my host mom was laughing at both me and her for like the 2 hours but she was saying like she is surprised the American can drink so much whiskey side note to Americans most countries think were weak or something bc there always scared that something bad will happen to us or like we have never worked manual labor a day in our life its sort of weird. My host mom gets really excited that I do stuff with the whole family so it could be something crazy but she would think it’s a great idea. Another traditional thing to do is to buy the family fruit and give them money so I did this and my host mom was soooo excited bc I think they knew I might forget or not really know which I didt really but I talked with my coworker who explained it to me better so I got it right on the first try! After you give the mone and fruit whish she was so surprised to find the money they have to wish you good luck for the rest of the year. Side not I joked around told them if I don’t have good luck this year I am holding their family personally responsible jkjkj Well once again the water throwing began but this time this man in the village who knows me and has a crush on my sister jentee even though she is married drives his own rigshaw he actual only has one leg land mine I think but he is a really nice random villager and me and him started to become friends bc I walk so far out into the middle of nowhere he will see me however the first few times when ever someone offers me a ride I say no I have no money but then he was like no you no give me money I am friends with your family etc. anyways he stops on the side of the rd to offer to take me around which ended up being to the wat where there was a big party and dancing lots of fun and on this ride I got soaked people got so excited to be able to get a barong wet they went crazy. It was more funny to see the people inside the wat like what is this American doing hear omg  it also got him a lot of attention gave him good face as the saying goes in Khmer so we both made out on the deal this whole festival thing has made people think of me more as one of them which has been the best part. Now that I told you all the good things about khmer new years let me tell you about the things I am not getting okay so there has been this orphan boy who is mental challenged running around the village and spents lots of time at my house he actually told my host sister he knows me from when I had a peace corps meeting in Battabong. Well I have been trying to figure out why there are kids with no parents running around with out any one watching them at first I thought maybe bc he is slow he has family they just cant take care of him so I ask my host mom she is like no he has no family he is an orphan. Then I ask my host mom okay I get that he doest live in the village and has no family but how did he get to the village where is he staying etc. my host mom o he came on a watermelon truck and he has no home in the village me where does he sleep host mom don’t know. Now im starting to think this kid ran away or the orphanage kicked him out or something crazy bc he is 9 years old mentally challenged boy with no money my host sister has been giving him 500 real to go play and people have been giving him food. If he was the only one I would think run away but there has been like 5 of them running around so im not sure for Khmer new years do they let them lose with no money I just cant seem to figure it out. Until next time peace out from the other side of the world!!!

Bali Pictures

he poops the best coffee

monkey has hair clip

crazy stick lady 

Funny True life stories

Okay well there are some longer stories I could not fit in the last few blogs that I thought would make for a good random blog all together. Naturally every day life for me is never normal but sometimes it just goes to the extreme of “did that really happen” “I feel like this happens only in the movies”.  Well first ill tell you about my passport I thought I had it in a really safe place under my bed in a suit case zipped away to prevent it from getting wet or stolen. Well I had to get my passport out for my trip to discover my safe place was not so safe from the rats that’s right a rat ate part of my passport humm im like wtf what will I do well the code number is still on so hopefully they except it and since you have read my blogs you know they did but ill fill you in on all the conversations I had to have bc of the rat. First Cambodia what happened o randal com eng a rat ate it Cambodian people give me a look like yea that happened to me to I understand okay stamp stamp. Singapore your passport has something wrong yes I know a rat ate it Singapore people look at me in their clean country humm what are these animal you call rats we eradicated them a century ago. Sigh me okay so I live in Cambodia and some how the rats got into my suitcase okay fine but get a new one when you get back stamp stamp. Bali people look what is this me yet again a rat ate it o humm you should put it somewhere safe yes I thought I did but rats are slippery fuckers okay well we don’t know what to say to you so stamp stamp.  So when we went to the cliff temple there are these really crazy aggressive monkeys they rip out any thing in ur hair or jewelry when we first arrived to pay our money this random lady gave me my purple sarong to go into most temples in bali you have to wear one anyways she quickly runs after me and taylor as we walk away to tell us she is our guide and we are like no thank you we are okay well then she quickly tells us its her job to beat away the monkeys as she has her stick in hand. We are like your job is to beat away the monkeys yes she tells us THEY pay her 50,000 rupe o they pay you because we have no money yea they pay me humm I know your like why be so untrusting but if Cambodia has taught me nothing it’s they love to play dumb with tourist. Well as we are walking we see all these people with out a monkey beater we ask her o why do they not need a monkey beater her reply should have told us right then to tell her to beat it “o they come here many times the monkey’s know them well” o really bc they have oxford tee shirt pretty sure the monkeys don’t know them. Well we were warned about these crazy monkeys however I did’t think it was quite so serous until the girl right in front of me had her clipped right from her hair that’s when I took off anything I had as you walk you just see a grave collection of all the crap the monkeys steal flip flops so much. When I was watching these monkeys all I could think was that movie monkey trouble when the monkey steals and brings it to the boss guy I could see these monkeys working for the crazy stick lady! Well we go all over the place and the crazy stick lady did beat away the monkeys but of course once we get to the end she is like okay you pay me 50,000 you ask any one I give you cheap for two people. I had no money on me which I will go into my next story but Taylor paid even though I think we should have told her to shove it but I guess it was a nicer thing to do even though she deff was a liar. Well for half my trip I had no money because my dear old bank loves to block my card when ever they can so there was a few panic moments lucky I made friends with this awesome German girl at the chill house viola who lent me money and once I was able to call my bank and bitch them out to get the situation fixed fyi they blocked my card when I bought tickets to fly to bali and Singapore you would think after I had them unblock it that time when I arrive in said country they would not re block it but that would be a no go. I really wish we could just store money in a glass jar and call it a day.  If you want to know how many hoops I had to jump though with the bank it is crazy their response are like o it is us law we don’t want you laundering money o really bc im not sure 100 dollars can be considered the big times! Then I should act so grateful that they are willing to unblock MY MONEY sigh well I guess the moral is take out money be4 hand and if ever possible just don’t keep money in a bank lmao. This next story really is out of some dumb movie staring me but we were running for the train and the doors were about to cloths and I just did what any New Yorker would do which is throw my foot into the door forgetting how much shit I had in my backpack I fall backwards while these really well mannered Singaporean people just look like wtf is with this girl well taylor is in shock looking at me while im like jump in the train do it like its life or death then I could not lift my self up with the backpack on the ground so someone had to help me while im still trying to throw my whole body on this train I was like mission accomplished taking one for the team! (I am still not sure how I did not get canned in Singapore bc feel like my every action was an offenses). Finally our trip home I sit in front of the loudest person snoring this guy was horrible everyone was laughing bc they felt so embarrassed for him did I say anything to this armian dude no but of course later on I wish I had and this is why… so we did not go direct to Phonm Penh instead we had to fly into semi reap to pick up more people and they made us get off the plain then back on anyways this whole process made me and Taylor be like yep were back in Cambodia bc everything was so disorganized and even the way the plain was going in cicrles reminded us of the taxis that take like 3 hours to leave trying to fill up so we are just joking around and this annoying guy is like you guys need to cool it Im like really for 4 hours I had to listen to u sleep deal with me for 10 mins! That sums up my life peace out until next time! 

RIDE ON BALI

I got their at night so I did not get to see much on the drive to the hotel but from first impression it was more built up then Cambodia. I stayed at a place called the chill house, which is a surfer’s retreat have to be honest never been in a place with anything with the word retreat in it. Okay well anyways went with my friend Taylor and it never crossed my mind that taylor is a very unisex name so when we showed up for our surf and love package people deff assumed couple which would not be bad except the house we stayed in has different rooms you share the house with people and they deff set us up with this other couple so you could tell they were deff taken aback when we showed up. The way this place is run is very group mentality you eat together you surf together can go on trips as a group etc which was cool bc I did get to meet a lot of people kept things interesting but you can also go off on ur own. The funny thing about the “type” of people in this place was that it was all Europeans mostly from Austria all I can say when u get 5 weeks off every year it gives you lots of time to travel so all these Europeans have been everywhere! I would classify them, as the yoga retreat type people were they pay for top accommodation but live what they think is a simple life I called it rich peoples camping.  For me this was funny bc this place has hot water a toilet all these things which I do not have in Cambodia so to me it was a 5 star resort I don’t think they even understood the difference between there simple way of living is supper high end for me haha. With my surf and love package I had some cool stuff added one of the best being surf lessons so for those of you who don’t know after graduation of college I bought my self a board determined to teach my self this has been an up hill process bc all I had was you tube videos to learn from I actually have been able to get my self to stand etc but with these lesson it was way more constant after! Also I found out I am goofy foot im wondering if that’s why I suck at snowboarding to who knows hah im such a weird kid im right handed but left footed at soccer rt for snowboarding and I guess left for surfing my brain must be confused a lot. Well the surfing coaches were deff the best aspect of the trip so being in Cambodia I want to be around the locals I know they know all the good places to go where I don’t have to see the rest of tourist so we became quick friends with them because for one we actually understood their life and they were really interested in life in Cambodia and due to the fact no Cambodians can ever afford to travel we were the first Cambodians they ever met. It was also a huge cultural difference in bali from Cambodia it was like okay for them to goof around with us with out it being taken like we our broken girls etc they were pretty funny and obvious like o we are cold I think I need a hug or I am looking for the sexy girl to be my wife. Things that a Cambodian man would never say in front of us it kept things fun and less o I have to think about my every action or every person will talk about me.  Well Saturday we ended up going shopping with them to the materials district where there was no tourist which meant I could afford sarong fabric for my host family I have to openly admit until living in Cambodia I had 0 interest in clothing material bc its not like I would ever so my own clothes whatever was at the store in my mind was it but since Cambodia and being able to pick what ever you want has made me a bit ocd about finding unique fabric.  However because I can I have no idea how much material you should buy to make stuff im sure I over bought 2 meters etc but I figured be on the safe side I also got my self some and a whole Balinese outfit to have made. After shopping going to a random market that’s the other thing that is different they actually have malls in bali so there is not so many markets made me feel things were much more high class not having to pick out shirts with the fish right next to me just didt seem normal anymore haha as sad as that sounds really! They do sell more flowers and things at their market but its more expensive in bali Cambodia the dollar goes so far makes me happy to live in Cambodia vs bali! We also went to some little stand and got some local food which was really good the place we stayed at provided food so we did not get to many chances to eat out on a street corner which made things easier in the long run but you know when you go some where new its good to try to explore and try out different things so it was cool to do that. The other part of the bali trip is deff the temple trips there were so many and crazy things to see the first day we got their it was offering day so their was music and so much to culturally experience it was great the other really amazing thing about bali is that for 50 bucks you can rent a car for the whole day and go to all the places you want to go which bali being the small island that it is makes it so your not running around like most vacations trying to see all the things you want to see so it really did make the trip a relaxing one. On the car trip I really loved the cliff temple I wish it was not raining though to see the pretty sunset and the spice stop was cool with the coffee except they sold all of it for double the price but it was free to taste everything except the kloopia coffee which is coffee that comes from this animals poop the most expensive coffee in the world so naturally my Cambodia ass could not afford it. We attempted to go to the top of the volcano, which was one big white foggy mess bc of the rain so we did not get to see much which was a bummer. The rain is much different in Bali then Cambodia bc it will lightly rain for hours but in Cambodia it just monsoon rains for like an hour which I much rather so you can get on with your day with out it being interrupted with drizzle. My trip would not be complete with out a scuba diving trip of some of the best diving in the world I ended up going to this place called blue lagoon and saw an octopus and all sorts of other crazy fish there were sharks but I sadly did not see them would have been cool im told seeing sharks diving is some of the best diving. After diving my guide took me out to eat it was included in the price where I ate at a traditional place and had some really yummy fish and sat Cambodian style on top of a table. My dive guide married an Indonesia so it was cool to hear some cultural stories from him I guess you must get your teeth filed down when you want to get married in Bali. When it came time to leave bali it was hard bc it was such an easy culture to fit into but I was ready to go back to Cambodia just not to excited to spend another expensive night in Singapore however I did get a really pretty sari to wear to this embassy party im going to so its was not a total loss. Peace out from the other side of the world!!!

Pictures of Singapore