What's Next?!?

After my stop-off in Japan and a 18 hour plane trip, I was home. It's been crazy & I'm still adjusting to things, but it's great to be back!

Right now, I'm going to school in Missoula. My work with HIV/AIDS patients in Thailand made me want to go into health care. It'll be a long road (I'm working on some pre-reqs right now & will be applying to the program in the spring), but I'm looking forward to it.

I don't think I'll continue this blog as it was purely a means to let my family & friends back in the States know how I was & what I was doing (but that doesn't mean I won't start another blog should the occasion arise). So goodbye for now...or as they say in Thailand sawadee ka!

Japan

After a couple of days in Bangkok, Chad and I split up...Chad was off to Nepal & I was heading to Japan to visit some friends.

Akiko & I met when she came to the States to study as an exchange student...we were roommates in the dorms. We've been able to keep in touch & I even went to Japan for her wedding. I am in love with her family & was soooo excited to see them all again!

We were able to do & see a ton of stuff (but I have to admit after about 9 months I don't remember the exact order of our trip)...

We went to a really neat Japanese park.

And Akiko & I were able to enjoy a nice mug of green tea.We went to the fisherman's market in Tokyo...I was really surprised to see that wasabi looks like this before it becomes that paste that you add to your sushi to give it a bite...After that, we went to eat a breakfast of sushi...delicious!We made a trip up to Mt. Fuji. We made a stop at Chinatown and Akiko & Taka had this made for me...We went to a model of an old Japanese village. This is where they film some of the old-style Japanese movies. I found this candy when we stopped in a convenience store...not sure if I would try it.We even made it to an old Japanese castle.

One night, we made sushi rolls for dinner...

We also went to see a traditional Japanese play. Luckily they had audio tapes for the tourists to listen to because it was in ancient Japanese & Akiko said that she had trouble understanding it (not that I would have been able to understand it if it was in modern Japanese). We went to an art exhibit, the pier, and temples.

They all came to see me off at the airport.

I had so much fun with Akiko, Taka, and her family. Her younger brother made me laugh harder than I had in a long time (you know that laugh that makes your gut hurt & your eyes water). I love her family & can't wait to visit them again (or even better for them to come visit me)!!!

Cambodia

After Vietnam, we headed over to Cambodia. Our first stop was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. They evacuated the entire city & slaughtered millions of people. (According to my understanding), Pol Pot (the leader of the Khmer Rouge) was terrified of the Vietnamese and feared that anyone with an education could possibly be undercover Vietnamese soldiers...so they were all executed. Doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists, lawyers...anyone with an education...or even thought to have an education. It soon spread to anyone who once lived in the big cities. The exact numbers of those killed is still unknown...but is thought to be about 1.5 million people, about 1/5 of Cambodia's population.

We took this time to visit the Killing Fields just outside of the city. This is where a large number of Cambodians where killed & buried. It was a somber day...

This is a pagoda that was built in remembrance of those who died. Inside are bones and clothing that were found in the nearby fields.

I don't know if you can read the sign, but the soldiers grabbed babies by their leg & swung them against this tree to kill them.

The fields where they found mass graves.

After that, we went to an old school that had been converted to a prison camp during Pol Pot's regime.

It was devastating to think that a place where children once laughed & played & learned had been turned into such an evil thing. When the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia and entered this prison, they found bodies that had been tortured & left on the tables to rot. Phnom Penh was not a "fun" experience, but a very educational one.

After that, we headed to Siem Reap...where Angkor Wat is located. As I've already posted pics from a previous trip, I'll only post a few fun ones here...

Chad & I found this neat little place in the night market where they had "fish massages" so we decided to give it a try...

You put your feet in a little pool, and a bunch of little fish come & eat the dead skin off of your feet. It tickled like no other!!! We couldn't stop laughing!

I thought it was more of a pedicure than a massage...my feet were sooo soft after!

After Siem Reap, we headed back to Bangkok where we split up. I flew to Japan to visit some friends & Chad flew to Nepal to explore Mt. Everest.

Vietnam

I can't believe that it's taken me so long to get these pictures posted. My only excuse (and I think it's a pretty good one) is that I've been having computer problems. As you know, my laptop was stolen in Thailand so when I got back, I got a Mac...and while I LOVE it, I'm still figuring out how some things work. I've had some issues with being able to move the pictures to the correct place in the story...so I've had to wait until I can get onto a pc. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of the trip up here soon. So here we go...

After all of that water & swimming, Chad ended up getting an ear infection. So while we were still in Laos, we went and got him some antibiotics. On our last night in Vientiene, Chad found a "restaurant" on the river...we ate some "ok" food...and the next day I got sick (I'm pretty sure it was from the restaurant we ate at the night before & Chad didn't get sick because he was taking the antibiotics). Which sucked because we were on an airplane to Vietnam. I didn't eat any lunch, but we did go out to dinner in Hanoi. The next day, I woke up, took a shower, then went back to bed. I had no energy whatsoever. At noon, I told Chad to go out without me as I was not going to make it out of the hotel. We were in Hanoi for two full days & I did not make it out of the hotel for the rest of our stay. So here are Chad's photos of Hanoi.

We flew to Hue on our 3rd morning in Vietnam. I decided to go to the hospital as I hadn't been able to eat anything for three days. And let me tell you...the hospital was horrible. I went by myself (didn't want to make Chad wait for me) and I was impressed when I first walked in. It looked really nice, but no one was there - for some reason they weren't using that area of the hospital. I followed the noise to an outdoor courtyard & saw that each corner on each floor had a different "department." After waiting for an hour in gastrointerology, I was finally directed to the emergency room because that is where the only English speaking doctor was. He told me to lay down on a gurney...and I almost left...I don't think they had changed the sheets all day. He ended up giving me some antibiotics (and a bunch of other stuff) and sent me on my way.

The next day, we headed down to Hoi An...and I just have to say that the beaches were AMAZING! The waves were pretty big, but you pretty much had the entire beach to yourself!

We stopped at Nha Trang for some more beaches & again they were great & there were hardly any people there. (I loved it even though I got sunburned pretty badly)!

We then headed down to Mui Ne where Chad got to play on sand dunes...

and hiked up a river to see some really neat cliffs...

and saw the fisherman's market...

it was great!

Then we went to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City). There we took a tour of the Viet Cong tunnels.

And the "American War" Museum.

After that, we hopped on a van to Cambodia.