backofhouseca

So Siem Reap was a very cool place to go visit! lots of “western” restaurants for all the “farangs” (tourists), and lots of bars they even have a street called “PUB STREET”, and oubviously the amazing temples, but it couldn’t compare to our next stop on our Cambodian adventure. Battambang , once a thriving city in Cambodia in fact it used to be one of the busiest and most modern cities is now barely recognizable. The streets are wide and empty with a few scattered stores that are so infrequently visited that the dust is a few inches deep on all the candy bars and clothes hanging. Theres not much in Battabong, theres a few restaurants, “the white rose” is a town favorite, and then there is the famous bamboo train. Its more like a bamboo board that goes up and down this old train track that is powered by lawnmower motor. Not as thrilling as you might imagine but non the less entertaining in an otherwise empty town.

However we didn’t go to Battambang to see the sights we  went to teach english. We volunteered for a wonderful organization called KNGO. This organization was run by a local man and his family.After our first day there we decided to stay with hm and his family in his village and  get the whole “home stay” experience. The funny things was that he and his wife lived in a basic hut  but just a few feet away in the jungle was huge mason supposedly owned by his late uncle who had move to the USA. His mother and father stayed on the lower floor to look after rthe house and that where we stayed for the next week. Our schedule was pretty organized..

• 6:30 am wake up
• 7:00 breakfast
• 7:-00 to 11:00 free time
• 11:00 lunch
• 1:00 pm reading with local children
• 3:00 till 6:00 pm classes
• 6:30 dinner
• 8:00 pm bed time!!

Get ready, set, go.. Cambodia is about to mind f–k you! Our Journey began in Siem Reap not the capital of Cambodia but still a thriving city due to its tremendous tourist appeal and all thanks to the great Angkor Wat temples! For those of you who don’t know Angkor is the biggest temple in a of Asia and is one of the seven wonders of the world! Its huge and spectacularly  beautiful . Its almost like a small city of temples, each one different in its own way.

The Journey There…

The journey to Cambodia from laos was interesting to say the least, firstly we had purchased some sketchy bus ticket to take us to the the border but instead of dropping us off at the border the driver of the minibus left us at this random road stop where we were told to wait for someone to get us, who? we didn’t know! when ? they never said! He basically kicked us out of the car and said “wait here they’ll find you!” After about 2 1/2 hours we had given up finally some man came along and said ” I heard some tourists got abandoned on the side of the road ! That must be you! lol . Come with me ill take you to the border” How he knew we were there is a mystery but we were very grateful he found us! He stuffed us into an already full car and we made our way to the border.

So we survived and made it to the border, the next mission was crossing the actal border. From Laos to Cambodia you must cross by foot and you must, i repeat must have lots of cash to cross cause it aint cheap! you pay to leave Laos, you pay to physically cross the border, you pay to get a medical exam ( they take your fever), you pay for you visa and then you pay to be in cambodia! Alex and I like the geniuses we  had no money on us whatsoever, we were screwed, thankfully my very intelligent and generous co travelers Jeanette and Tom saved the day came to the rescue and bailed us out!

Border check! Now we just have t get to SiempReap, the bus ride was a long a grueling 15 hours, with  a changeover 3/4 of the way thru. The second bus we took was jam packed with people everywhere sitting on the floor and doubling and tripling up in chairs, we all got smushed into the last row. It was like sitting on a cement block, hard like a rock and you absolutely could not recline not to mention the ride was so bumpy that I felt like a boble head on crack !

Siem Reap…

Siem Reap became  the kind of adventure that was exciting and filled with unexpected problems!

Problemo numero uno, Alexandre has become bed ridden due to an insatiable cold consisting of flaming hot fever, cold sweats , coughing maybe some stuffiness and the 24 hour a day desire to sleep! So yeah day one in Siem Reap is off to a great start! I wake that same morning feeling about 90% except for this increasing redness in my left eye. No problem, I go to the pharmacy I grab some drops and some antibiotics! Done, Tom Jeanette and I decide to soldier on without Alex, so we left him behind with a handful of codeine and some valium that jeanett bought in vietnam (well i hope it was valium)and forged onwards to the mystical temples. The day went relatively smoothly from there on. Sighseeing, wondering , loosing Tom and the Tuk Tuk driver for 2 hours they miraculously finding each over at the end of the day! Going to see one last temple and then having torrential downfall that forces you to hide in a shelter for the fear that your SLR will be permanently f—ed. You know the usual. We finally decided to make a run for it. Get in the monkey swarmed Tuk Tuk and ride out the storm . We get home wet soggy ,cold but a little more knowledgeable!

By day 2 Alex is still out of commission I’m scared hell have to go the hospital because his fever won’t break but he’s tough and were both a little stupid so we try to self medicate! Being the good fiancé I am I abandon him again for the Temple ( I did pay 40$ for a three day pass, and were on a budget). With my two Aussie companions by my side we return to the faithful temples for another day of sightseeing! At this point my eye is clearly infected and its causing me some pain. Im in complete denial that I most definitely have pink eye, even though my eyeball is the color of crimson and so swollen I can barely see through it, not to mention blurred vision to top it off. Regardless of my injuries we set out and I put some sunglasses on ( wich eventually i will never remove ) and go about our day. Today we go see the biggest temple of the all, the actual “Angkor Wat”. We tried to hold off for Alex but he didn’t seem to be recovering. So we got scammed into some shitty fake tour, got some lame explanation and a half ass visit. As we were leaving with our shoulders shrugged and this ooh of confusion over our faces the guard quizzed us on our visit.The guard was appalled that we had missed so much of history  so he decided to give the proper tour to us in Cambodian and half slang vietnamese. Jeanette speaks fluent vietnamese and she still couldn’t understand him, it was torture. Tom loved every minute but I was hungry ,in pain and plain old bored, anyone who knows me knows not to mess with me when I’m hungry!!!!!!!!!So  after three hours of looking at beautiful and amazing wall carvings that I couldn’t care less about, I said “I quit your either with me or against me, I have to get out here and eat a pork bun very badly, I might hurt someone otherwise!” So we left.

As we left however we saw the coolest thing happening in the grass, hordes of kids were running towards this small body of water. I was told that after it rains and the water drops a little the fishes all get left on the grass, so all the kids try to grab what they can and bring home some grub for mom and dad! I thought it was pretty cool that right here in the middle of all these ancient relics and tourists kids were just being kids and the chaos was amazing to whatch.

We skipped touring the next day and just chilled , waiting for Alex to recover. My pink eye which was now officially diagnosed thanks to Web MD was getting worse and worse, it wasn’t so much the oozing that got to me because the puss seemed pretty under control it was the massive swelling and quasi-moto style I was rocking. Then to top it off when i shut my “good” eye I could barely see out the bad one. I thought for sure I had done some permanent damage. I obsessed compulsively about it and only wore sunglasses ( yah even at night) i becomes one of the cool people that wear them in clubs and where ever we went and maybe a home made burka on one special occasion!

Finally the next day Alex felt a little better and looked 15 pounds lighter, so for out last day at the temples the four of us were together. We toured , we took lots and lots and lots of photos and we all got to experience the last day together. Lucky for Alex his cold wasn’t the problem anymore, on the tuk tuk ride home he had a visit from a little friend. Being the lucky man he is Alex somehow managed to get bitten by a mysterious creature on his elbow. It left what looked a huge oven burn about 6-8 inches long and 4 inches wide across his elbow. It was so strange. BUt it didn’t end there as the days went by the skin began to deteriorate but almost in a flesh eating manner. The scab soon became wet and green and flaky and just generally creepy looking. Poor Alex didn’t know what to do lucky for him I started a fight that very night which turned into huge blowout, or as J likes to say “a domestic”. So in the morning he took himself to the Cambodian hospital all alone (so i would feel really bad) and got diagnosed with a spider bite. The doctor gave him some pills and sent him home saying that he should be fine, but in the unlikely case it doesn’t heal and it starts to spread rapidly please come back and well “fix it” (if you know what  the means). So here we are the lovely couple , me with insatiable pink eye , and Alex with a potentially life threading skin eating disease! What a pair!!!

There was one day however in Siem reap that was no laughing matter. We went to see the war museum. I did not take any pictures because it did not seem appropriate at the the time. The museum was not that impressive to see at first it just kind of get like an old junk yard. Other then the plexi case of skulls and bones and clothes that greeted you out front it didn’t look like much.  Just a lot of old war guns, bombs, gun and some tanks and what not.We had seen some of this type of stuff already along the way . However what really made this special was the young man who guided the tour. He was a soldier and survivor of the war. And he gave us a personal account and very detailed story about what happened to him and his friends. He showed us the guns he used and the bombs that he built. He showed us how he the lost his finger and the shrapnel that was left inside his face and chest. He showed us pictures of the people he had lost . The most touching moment was when he started to cry . We were standing by a wall of photos of which he did not have the strength to look at. Soldiers that were deformed or had lost limbs, people who had died and suffered. These people were his friends and in some cases his family and it was too hard for him to look at the pictures. He began to tell us how lucky we were to be alive and healthy and to have our family, to have a home and money to travel , to be able to live a normal lives free from all that violence and loss. He just kept saying how lucky we are to have a family to be able to make our family grow, to have money to eat and clothe ourselves. To have somewhere to sleep .You couldn’t help but cry and think how right he was. The tour only lasted about 25 minutes but it was the best 25 minuted I spent in Siem Reap.  I use made you think about how cagy our priorities have begun, whats really important to us. Im not saying it bad to think about superficial things, were lucky we have the luxury to worry about such banalities, but just keep in mind that we are so blessed in so many ways. Just to be Canadian and live in such an amazing country, just to have ruff over your head and pod to eat! For a lot of people he things that we take for granted on day to basis are the things they cherish and dream of most. So the next time I start to worry about how i ned to lose five pounds or that I can’t afford the new Christian Louboutains, ill remember that day in Cambodia and things won’t seem that bad.

Vientiane

The capital of laos, a nice city, not much really to be said other then nice monuments and a beautiful walkway on the lake, with an abundance of good restaurants all with the “oh so popular wifi!”

But a little story is due for this city, after a long bus trip in the rain. We arrived in vientiane and started looking for hostels and guesthouse. I forgot to mention that we had friends with us that we met the week before , so after 8 hours of looking because one of our new found friends is ( and im saying this in the nicest way possible) is CHEAP!!! Come on, is one dollar really worth carrying 50 pound bags around for 8 FUCKING hours, and the worst part is that we just ended up back at the first hotel we saw…since Im on the subject of one of our friends , we will call him bob! He is a vegetarian who eats at none vegetarian restaurants. Who in their right mind orders a fried rice and pours half a glass of fish sauce in their rice and then gets mad and wants to return it because he didn’t KNOW! Your in asia, they put fish sauce in there water (not really but you get the point).You think the 400 portions of pad thai you’ve had while traveling haven’t had any fish sauce or oyster sauce in them, come on!!?? Its like this guy we met in Thailand who ate double portion of spaghetti made with eggs and garlic bread made with butter and still claimed to be a vegan. Selective vegetarianism!!

This next paragraph is going to be a rant of HATE towards the fake veggies and tree hugging vegans.

This hole bullshit of pescatarians and I’m a vegetarian but I eat chicken BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT! ITS EITHER you eat meat or you don’t. There is no fucking difference in killing a farmed fish, cow, or chicken. So if you eat any of these things you can never call your self a VEGETARIAN!!!

Heres a hint vegetarian hence the word veggie, oh and eating an egg is fucking cheating.So now that I got that out of my chest ill get back to the story, we were in our hotel and it rained hard for two days and our room got completely flooded with yellow water, yes I said YELLOW WATER.All our clothes got wet and stained, it took 2 days to get the smell out and 2 more days to get the stain out.

So basically theres not much to do in this city, we got flooded , it rained and rained some more and the high light of our visit was leaving Vientienne and the mazing dumplings we had at the only dim sum place in town! Thank GOD for dumplings they make any gray day a little brighter!

4000 islands

Don dep, theres really not much to say about this place, its a paradise and a trap in one. The beautiful mekong river covering 4000 islands of all sizes , the sun rise and sun set. The hammocks, the amazing ability to do nothing , absolutely nothing but sit around and listen to austria born rasta’s trying to sell you there happy shakes, witch is just weed grounded in a mint and pinapple shake.

Smoke weed , eat and sway the day away…As the people from don dep say “been there, don dep”

Pakse

Somewhere in-between the two previous places we stopped in this nowhere town called Pakse there wasn’t much to see or do but Alex cooked the most amazing meal and we all ate and enjoyed together!!!

Vang vieng… now what could be said about this city

There have been worries that the town is in grave danger of losing its charm as it becomes packed with tourists. People that cant remember their names, mushroom shakes ,family guy and other mind numbing shows are played on repete all day and night while the people of Laos are given the worst examples of western culture and its people. A news paper once wrote, “If teenagers ruled the world, it might resemble Vang Vieng”. Safety measures for the tubing have been described as “non existent” and a mixture of tubing and heavy drinking has even lead to death. To explain the tubing experience, you must first picture the mekong river, big rubber tubes and make shift bar on each side of the river with boys anchoring the intoxicated tubers into each of their respected bars to dance, smoke and drink until night falls. Young adults from around the world come to this city to show off their talents in lazy tubing and unimaginable ability to consume copious amounts of alcohol in mutli colored buckets all the while spray painting there bodies with profanity and wearing the same bikini and tank top for five days straight. Im not saying that I am better then them because I was also once a teen and made my fair share of mistakes, but there is one thing above all that is worse then all the dubacherous acts we commit in Vang Vieng, it is the ability to waste the day, the week and in some cases our lives .

The town has been described as “The finest example of how to let a town be spoiled by tourism.”A man once said “Each time a young Australian woman strolls down the street in a bikini, a bearded American smokes a joint on a guesthouse terrace, or a group of Koreans tumble drunkenly out of a restaurant, it saps a little more of the essence of a town like Vang Vieng.”. Now look its not all bad, I just feel a responsibility towards the people of laos. When we arrived into town it was around 7pm, and the first thing we saw was a boy (I hope) stumbling and talking to himself, his skin was red and covered in what looked like war paint from afar but up close all that was once thought of a respectable warrior stumbling from a battle, was actually a “burnt to shit”, piss drunk teenager covered in profanities. We started to laugh and look away in awe. Little did we know we soon became that person, tired, sunburnt and drunk, stumbling the streets looking for a place to lie down and watch family guy and try to eat our alcohol out of our system. But that was nothing compared to the morning hangover that was heavy enough to sink a boat. And we would end up sitting or lying down for half the day stuck to the TV’s, surrounded by fellow drunkies. Then one of my nightmares came to life, I AM OLD. This happened when I noticed all the kids that were with me the day before were going at it again and again, I tried to follow through to prove to myself that I wasn’t this old man I have come to know I am today..So six days later w left Vang Vieng a little bit humble, a little bit embarrased , with a little bigger bear belly and a lot of good memories (photos below: me suffering from hangover, Toms chilling out! Jeanette and Alex getting started and RoRy!!just being himself)

Louangphrabang

This wonderful city witch was the first stop in Laos didn’t miss anything other then really good food, i’m not saying that you cant find it, you just need to look. This city is like a buddhist monk wearing a new pair of air jordans, holding a book writen by Elizabeth Gilbert and drinking a cafe latte, but you would never know it.

Not to worry though i’m not leaving this city just yet. I wouldn’t do it justice if I didn’t further explain the beautiful Louangphrabang. As you will see in the pictures below, on a short walk or bike ride you’ll notice that you’ve passed by a temple that is still filled with monks, street venders selling unbelievable soup (keep your eyes open, they seem to hide in the alley ways).But be weary the most popular places to eat on the streets are usually cheap but not not good at all. After your amazing soup, you can grab a really bad ham and brie panini and for desert and pies galore.

The sun starts to set and you notice how the light from the sun makes the beautiful architecture stand tall over the wide streets pop out. The buildings can remind you of Paris or Cuba, especially when the vintage 1930′s to 1950′s boat sized mercedes cars drive by. Then you hit a stop in the road and its the amazing night market, but just to give you a piece of advice. Once you step in you aint getting out…. well for a while at least. Its like a mouse in a maze every time you hit a corner you think its over but all you see is skirts, pipes baby, mothers, slippers, and fake silver (IF ITS CHEAP AND ON THE STREET “ITS FAAAAKE”). As for the night life, its a wonderful place to make friends drink for very cheap (.50 cents for jack on the rocks), play pool and once again when you think the nights going to end you end up with a bowling ball in one hand and a bottle of Lao whiskey in the other.And lastly the greatest cure for a hangover are the unreal waterfalls witch even with the worst fucking headache will blow your mind.

Besides the obvious weirdness that someone named their restaurant after one of the most devastating and life shattering natural disasters to come to Thailand, i would recommend TSUNAMI sushi to anyone passing through CHiANG MAI!

Im obsessed with Asian food this is no surprise but my real true love is Japanese food so anywhere theres an opportunity to indulge in some raw fish or a little barbecued Unagi i jump right on board.

Alex had been to TSUNAMI sushi five years earlier when he was in Chang Mai and he raved about the quality of the food and the great energy from the restaurant. The night we decided to splurge on this amazing dinner the heavens awoke and dropped a massive rain storm on us, i mean torrential downpour what should have been a ten min drive turned into 30min adventure. However despite the rain (almost fitting giving the name ) we arrived but we weren’t the only ones craving Tsunami that night, we were but to lonely  fallings (aka tourists) amongst a sea of beautiful blah hair!

the octopus, the eel, the many different types of fresh fish, and by far the best salmon teriyaki i have ever had. all that i preach is true , one of the most vibrant and delicious meals in thailand

When i was in chiang mai about 5 years ago , it was very easy to find  open minded ladys and boys dressed as open minded ladys. great  deals on fake  name brand  electronics and clothes and even a lady that has the incredible talent of playing ping pong with her hands tied behind her back , oh and shes not using her feet or her mouth. ill let you tell me how she does it . but the hardest thing to find was a descent peice of meat. well those days are over, im just talking about the steak, you can still get and see all that other stuff and more alot more.,

dukes was the name of the restaurant that supplied the piece of meat  that could block out the sun. i felt so wrong seeing that steak on my plate glistening, knowing that im about to eat a piece of meat that could feed a family of 12 (starving family).

the second i cut it open the random sound of Raegans voice and the crowd behind her faded away and as i put that oh so glorious 330g of flesh in my mouth and started to chew, my pupils were dilated, as i looked up with the biggest smile  and saw the the hole restaurant was cheering  my name and raegan was wearing the same thing that blond chick  from happy gilmore when adam sandler was in his happy place. the year was 2011, the month was july and the day was tuesday., it was a wonderful and unforgettable time in my life. and then my stomach started making funny noises and that great time didnt end so great.

I’d like to take a moment to discuss with all our readers why I have fallen head over heels in love with Thailand! Before i do however I’d like to say that i will not be following up Alex’s blog about me with an homage to him (he only wrote that blog to avoid my merciless furry ) No all jokes aside I still have not uncovered his ulterior motivation behind it but i know i will in the meantime heres is my Thai top ten

10) You can get fired chicken on every corner, im not talking KFC either, home made freshly fried, freshly battered crispy golden chicken

9) Im not the shortest person everywhere I go

8) Thai people are amazing and always smiling and are kind and funny and helpful

7) You can get my favourite Harribo gummy bears at almost every 7-11

6) The wether is amazing , somehow even in a torrential downpour the weather cant bother me

5) PORC NOODLE SOUP ( a new diet staple)

4) The freshest sweetest fruit I have ever tasted available on every corner

3) Thai girls seem to always be eating something (Im talking sausages, fried fish, pork balls, rice , noodles, and anything unhealthy but they all manage to remain a size 0, a mystery Im trying my hardest to uncover

2)My muay Thai teachers are getting me in top wedding shape!(I’ll have to come back for a pre wedding boot a camp next summer)

1) The food, the people and doing all of this my beloved fiance, who has gone from publicly declaring my beauty yesterday to privately claiming my “evilness”  (love you)

love always

Raegan

why im so into her….

i know im a loser made out of very stinky cheese ,HA HA HA laugh it up .

but remember im the one that gets to sleep with her . and wake up to her ,witch isnt always so bad ….if she goes to sleep  well fed….

first we would like to apologize for not updating this project of ours like were suppose to. but thats about to change. new updates will be given daily on a regular basis. pictures with stories behind  them. recipes and drawings. and even if you have been nautghy  or nice, good or bad, i will tell you stories (based on the truth ) about raegan and i from this trip that will without a doubt  get me in trouble,  ohhh and there WILL BE VIDEO lots of  VIDEOS (for those who have a look of curiosity  and excitement on there face  i have one thing to say

YOURE GROSSSEEE!!!!! OUR PARENTS WILL BE  WATCHING OUR BLOG.  but if you follow this site to my e-mail , and send us a generous donation , then will see….

all jokes aside  we will make you smile , cry (out of jealousy ), make your stomach growl, and last but not least expand your minds and make you laugh the hole way through, soo please be patient because i cant really write anything else without the approval of the MAN, THE BOSS, THE HEAD CHEESE!!! but you can call her RAEGAN!!!!!  I WILL STAND UP TO HER (wish me luck)

im really just kidding she’s a doll…..help……….she just walked in

will alex survive

stay tuned