The problem is that sometimes you aren't quite inspired by your own experiences to fill up a page or two. This time I'll try to get you caught up and throw in some pictures at the end.
Travel: In hindsight, probably should have seen these countries in reverse order. We started in modern, westernized country with amenities galore and ended up in a shabby hotel in the grimey capital of Myanmar.
Our first stop was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Very modern, clean city with an interesting mix of cultures and religions. The particular mix of Malays, Chinese, and Indians was a composition I had never really considered, but am definitely interested in. It was also our first exposure to an Islamic country, during Ramadan. We traveled extensively around the city by train, fantastic rail system, stayed in a good hotel called the Seri Pacific and were able to get our hands on the nectar of the gods, McDonalds. We ate there 4 times in four days, half for the food, half for the free wifi and A/C. Visited Batu Caves, Petronas Towers, Chinatown, Little India, got Visas for Myanmar, went to a mall or two, ate street food, tried to go to the national mosque, but it was closed for prayers. Crossed paths with some other buddies from work that were there too, ate Indian food. 2014 has seen more Indian food consumption for me that the previous 32. Good place, worth a visit, would like to see other parts of the country.
Good English speaking, public transport, reminded us a little of home.
Bad Taxi drivers during Ramadan are cranky as hell.
Ugly: New theory on economic indicators. Everywhere you go in Kuala Lumpur, there are advertisements, no big deal, we got billboards and enough ads to effectively melt our brains back home, but what struck me was the type of ads that were all over the train system. Like the US, urban Malaysia seems to have a bit of an expanding waistline. It is no coincidence that along with Ronald Mcdonald and the venerable Colonel Sanders come other American exports like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The problem is so bad that they have gone to the en vogue regulation of posting calorie counts for all of their food. Health risks aside, these people are not worried about corruption, third world poverty, hunger. They have enough money to be most concerned with how many calories of fat the colonel can squeeze into one of his roided up birds. As long as they are counting calories, I think it is safe to say that they're doing just fine financially.
On we go to Bangkok, Thailand. Best way I can describe it is:
Facade
Everywhere you look there are construction sites for new highrise condos, being built next to rapidly decaying 10 year old buildings. The roads are severely overcrowded, so they put in a state of the art "skytrain" that only accepts coins at their ticketing machines. Everyone gets in line for change, then gets in line again to buy the actual ticket. Great idea to alleviate traffic, lacking in execution. It is a big, dirty mess that seems guided by the makers of sim city.
Good AMAZING ( hi syna) street food, chicken, pork anything else you want on a stick barbequed up, served with som tom salad, darn good. Two people can eat for less than $3 and be full of good food. Loved it, would go back, just for food, and maybe head down to beaches
Bad Poor design, planning, too many malls (another unfortunate US export) literally, the only thing to do in Bangkok is go to the mall, really, that is it.
Ugly SLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZYYYYYY
On to Yangon
End of our trip blues or maybe there is just little to do in this dirty, run down, in my opinion worse than Cambodia place. Buddy recommended some really cool things to do and we enjoyed all of them, trouble is we were done enjoying the city in about 6 hours. Next time I suppose we need to get out of the city, started to feel like a jackwagon when we're completely unimpressed by yet another Pagoda, Temple, Shrine, Holy Place, etc. Schwegadon Pagoda (famous for 8 strands of Buddhas hair that are enshrined there, if that doesn't rev your engine I don't know what will
Good 50th street bar on pizza night, woohoo Myanmar beer, same urinesc beer you get all over Asia, just with different label.
Bad by this time we were both pretty grumpy about everything and missing our beloved 4 legged companion somethin fierce.
Ugly: YANGON
Made it back to Siem Reap, Phans cousin held down the fort in our absence, took care of our aforementioned muse and looked after the abode. He was off to Battambang the next day and we layed low for the next week.
I just finished my first week of school, no students yet, just lesson planning and many wonderful meetings. All of the staff that I have come in contact with have been nice and inviting and welcoming. It is definitely a younger group of teachers so the vibe both on and off campus is something I am not used to. They all have ideas about teaching and starting clubs, and I keep reminding myself to avoid being cynical or negative and allow them the room for creativity. Hopefully removing some of my own jaded tendencies in the process. Looking forward to seeing the kids next week and teaching.
Dave got us slingbox, so I've been watching U.S. TV here and there, the other day I woke up in the middle of the night watched the pads, nascar, swimming, golf. It was great. It'll be fun to be up in the middle of the night for Charger games and NFL Football, most of them will start at 3am so that'll make for a good Monday morning.
Phan and I both got traditional Khmer massages this week at this place called Lemongrass Spa, $10 for an hour massage, we have a discount card and get it even cheaper now, just an awesome thing for $10. Phan is starting to see what is out there and what if anything she would like to do, either volunteering or working in some sort of part time capacity.
We are continuing to meet new people and get to know folks here and there. I am taking a Khmer language class every Sunday, its going good, but it's going to take a while. Our town is relatively small so you start to see some of the same people again and again, most are very nice and slowly we are blending into the local expat community.
Some NGO's that we are interested include
The Center for Khmer Studies
(they have one of only a handful of libraries in the entire country)
check it out
Smiling Hearts Association
(Friends of ours are volunteering there and doing some good things.)
smiling hearts
We are still very much enjoying Siem Reap and Cambodia. Really getting to know the place a little better and finding our groove hopefully. Hope to hear from you
Petronas Towers
ask phan if you'd like to see more, these are all jumbled up.
love from Cambodia
