Chiang Mai!

Monday:

This was one of the coolest days of my life because we got to play with elephants all day long!!! We arrived at camp, had an orientation and then cut pumpkins up into small pieces to feed them. I never realized how big they were until I was standing next to them, I honestly was a little scared at first but then it was amazing. We brought them over to a little water trough and got to help give them a mud bath! After this we broke out for lunch. There was a sugar cane farm near by and elephants love sugar cane apparently so we were taught how to cut it down and feed it to our buddies (I felt like a local here haha) Next, we walked side by side with the elephants down to the river where we were able to get in the water with them and swim and splash around! This is was the coolest part, Monday was a fantastic day! 

Tuesday:

Mary was able to get Monday and Tuesday off work which was so nice because we got a few full days with her to explore and adventure. Tuesday morning we woke up and met Rose's family for breakfast and then headed to "The Sticky Waterfalls" with a random but fun group. Mary's friend Andrew from school was in town, Rose's brother Ryan joined and then Mike, Mary and myself. We rented motos so we all biked about an hour to this waterfall. We walked down some stairs to the bottom and then literally climbed UP the waterfall back to the top. When Mary first told me about it I didn't quite understand how it was possible, so hopefully my pictures will show you how it was. Most of the rocks were not slippery but towards the top they were and Ryan fell and cut his head open. He is okay but it was a little scary! We had such a fun day on Tuesday. 

That night we went to a famous pork and rice street food cart called the "cowboy lady". She was featured on Anthony Bourdain's show and her food was really good! 

Wednesday:

Mary headed back to work so Mike and I woke up and got some breakfast. Mary had a break from 11:30-2:00 so she met us and took us to one of her favorite markets. It was a local Thai market with a lot of cool cooking stuff, I really enjoyed it. In the afternoon we visited this 3D art museum and then just hungout.

Thursday:

We were supposed to go to school with Mary but they had a fire drill on campus that was going to take all morning so it wasn't worth it. Again, Mary met us on her break and we just adventured around town. For dinner we met one of my teachers from school and his wife who had happened to be in Chiang Mai too! We went to the cutest restaurant and they treated us to a nice meal. We had a lot of fun and it was silly seeing a familiar face so far away from home!

Friday:

We finally got to go to school with Mary and it was so cute! She was such a good teacher and her kids just love her. We made bracelets with some classes and practiced body parts in others. She teaches little ones and they were just so cute, they kept just saying "teacher teacher". That night we went to a sushi dinner which didn't make any of us feel very good and then went to the Chiang Mai University Market. 

Saturday:

Saturday we adventured to Chiang Mai Grand Canyon which was beautiful! We spent the day jumping off cliffs and hanging on bamboo rafts in the water. Kaila, Mary and I then got massages when we got back to town and then we all went to a nice dinner on the river last night. Today is my last full day here and I can't believe it! 

Phnom Penh

A lot of people do no like Phnom Penh as a tourist but being with Mary we had our own personal tour guide. Cambodia is her happy place! She was so excited to be there and show us around, we had a great time.

Day 1 we checked into a hotel (big upgrade compared to the hostels) and hungout around town. We got a yummy lunch on the river and just told her everything about our travels. That night we took a sunset boat cruise around the river and we practically had our own boat! It was us 3 and an Irish guy named John. After we walked around the night market and got some street food there. On our way home Mary and I got a foot massage and drank some wine, perfect end to the night! 

Day 2 we woke up and headed to the Russian market in the morning which was hot, sweaty and crazy. I got food poisoning the night before so it was a little brutal but I'm glad I saw it. Mary and Mike got pork and rice for breakfast, which was Mary's favorite, and then we all got this delicious iced coffee. They put condensed milk in it, so it's not healthy but who cares because it tasted good! Our friend John decided to join us for the day. 

After the market we headed to Silk Island! Wow...what a cool experience. We were welcomed into a family's home and they taught us how to use the weaving machines! After we headed to the beach by The Mekong River. They had the coolest huts set up all over and we got some lunch and played cards. The island was very rural, much different than the city. 

Once we returned back to the city we showered up and met Mary's teacher aids for dinner. We went somewhere that they didn't speak English and didn't have an English menu so we told them to order up a bunch of food and we would eat it! Before we knew it, shrimp came out with the heads on, full crabs and other funny food. It was an experience. The women of Cambodia have a curfew from their parents so after we said goodbye we headed to this fun rooftop bar to meet another one of Mary's friends. It was a long day but a fun one!

Our last day we had a nice morning. We were going to go to the Killing Fields but Mike and I have been doing so much, we decided to just have a relaxing day in the city. Mary took us to Central Market and then to this place to get a beer tower. She had never been during the day and the place we picked was a little sketchy but we were okay and just played card games. Before we knew it we headed to the airport and traveled back to Chiang Mai! I cannot believe I only have a week left of my trip. We are here the rest of the time and have a fun week planned! 

Siem Reap!

After one of the longest days of my life I made it to Siem Reap! My first impressions of the town were that they were very clean and the roads were so nice. I got a TukTuk to our hostel and eventually met up with Mike. That night we walked around Old Market, got some dinner and went to bed because the next morning we woke up at 4:30 to go see the temples at sunrise.

We were at "Ankor Wat" (the most famous temple) at sunrise but as soon as it started getting light we decided to go inside and explore. Most people were still on the lawn out front so it was cool because there was only like 10-15 of us in this giant temple. This is the most famous Buddhist Temple and it was incredible. The detail on every stone and every part of it was amazing. By the time we had seen everything we headed to Bayon which is also a very famous one. We did this same routine for 4 temples and had hired a TukTuk driver for the day so it was nice because we could stay for however long we wanted.

Eventually we went back to our hostel and were so exhausted we took a nap. That afternoon I got a massage and just relaxed. Mary had told us about a cool circus to go to in town so at night we decided to check it out! Every night they tell a different story but ours was about bullying. The kids that perform in these shows come from really poor villages but they all are apart of this really elite circus school. It was fun because most of the show wasn't in English but they had subtitles and we still understood the storyline. After the circus we walked around Pub Street and hungout.

The next morning we slept in and eventually made our way to The Ankor National Museum. Rose (Mary's roommate) was supposed to be the English audio for the tour but sadly it wasn't her voice! That was the main reason we went to see it but we ended up loving the museum and had a great time. It was cool to learn more about their culture and the temples that we had seen the day before. On our journey back to town we found a handcraft festival but it was so hot outside we didn't last long. Siem Reap was over 90 degrees and so humid so everywhere we went, we just sweat.

That night I took a flight to Phnom Penh where Mary used to live. Mike thought he was on my flight but he was not so he took a night bus. We are now with Mary and are having such a great time!