Beach Bums

Ugh, this is getting dangerous. I can't keep thinking I can take a two week hiatus from writing a blog post and think that everything is going to be just peachy keen. Procrastination is definitely sweeping this personal Cambodian nation, and admittedly, it needs to stop. So here's a blog post; let's do this thing.

Where to begin... hmmm... oh! Okay. I've decided one of the absolute worst things that could happen to me would be if I was diagnosed as being celiac (sorry Tori). My name is Dustin George and I have a severe addiction to all things bread. Ever since I was little my favorite Thanksgiving food was homemade rolls, a favorite before-bedtime snack has always been toast with butter or honey, and I have a weak spot for donuts. I say all of this because Cambodia has some of the best bread of ever. Cambodia used to be French colony so it still has a large French influence in the baking department. There are bakeries EVERYWHERE in Phnom Penh and generally the baked goods are extremely cheap. In fact, if you go to most bakeries an hour before closing you get everything half off. Hooray for making already cheap things even cheaper! This only feeds my addiction. I have this intense need for delicious pastires and breads. In fact, my breakfast this morning was a small individual french baguette dipped in sweetened condensed milk and some purple dragonfruit. Quite delicious is you ask me.

Here's one of the best bakeries in Phnom Penh. I had an amazing strawberry frosted and filled donut here. And the filling was like real strawberry jam, not the fake strawberry crap you get in the States.

There's my food plug quota for the day. Hope you enjoyed it. Well, as all of you know, the World Cup is pretty much dominating the international scene and Cambodia is no exception. I'll admit, I've actually gotten quite into it. Dan and Zoya have spread a love for the World Cup amongst us interns and I've caught that bug. There's a really nice sports bar in the heart of the city that I've gone to at five in the morning to support the US team. It's been quite the feeling to chant "USA! USA!" with all the other Americans in the bar each time a goal is scored and hear our chants echo through the streets of Phnom Penh. It's kinda sorta a blast. You can get World Cup jerseys for super cheap over here (like $5-$6) and I may or may not be wearing one to the USA v Germany game this Thursday. #IBelieveThatWeWillWin.

So we interns went on another excursion this past weekend! This time we went even further southeast to a coastal city called Sihanoukville and decided to be beach bums for a weekend. I think I'll do what I did in the last post and show show you pictures with some of my obnixious comments scattered throughout.

To start off, I'll show you a peek into the bungalow I stayed in! I know this is a weird picture but I'll show it anyway. And yes, I know my bed isn't made; so shoot me. I've never slept in a bed covered by a mosquito net before and that was an interesting experience. As you can see the walls were wood but we had nice tile floors. Another nice feature was a nice little bathroom with hot water for showering! I hadn't had a hot shower since I'd been in Cambodia so it felt incredible. I approved of this place.

We took quite the risk going to Sihanoukville becuase the forecast said it was going to rain the whole time. But, we were SO lucky because we had beautiful overcast and occasionally sunny weather for the big event we did on Saturday.

Our day started off by eating breakfast at a local restaurant. I had pineapple juice and a veggie omlette inside a small baguette (bread addiction, remember?) and then we headed out to our boat for our 'three island' tour. 

One of the benefits of being tall is having calm waves only reach your waist; therefore making walking out to a boat like this far easier than if I was short. I loved that water btw. Although it was incredibly salty it was super warm and I could've sat in it all day long. Oh wait. I kinda did.

Anyways, we then embarked on a decently long but enjoyable (I don't get motion or sea sick... suckas) boat ride to a nearby island where we were given pretty sketchy snorkeling equipment that I'm hoping and praying didn't give me herpes or something. Less than desirable gear aside, the sights were pretty cool. See?

I mean, it's no great barrier reef or anything, and granted the water wasn't as clear as it could've been because of the recent rain, but it was still pretty breathtaking. There were some parts where the water got more shallow and the coral was like centimeters away from my body. And with all those sea urchins it kinda freaked me out.  I'm not the only intern who experienced this but when you get freaked out, you start to pant more, and usually start sucking in ocean water; which then makes you put your head above water and your feet start to slip closer to the coral, which makes you freak out even more. It's a vicious cycle. But hey. I enjoyed it nonetheless. Oh btw, all the photo creds other than the first two go to Dan. He has a sweet waterproof camera. I alas do not.

Off to the next island! 

We spent probably two or three hours on this island just chillin' in the water, eating grilled fish and cabbage, and playing soccer. We schooled a group of Americans who decided to challenge us. That's what's up. Oh. And look what I'm holding in that picture. Bread. I'm telling you I have a problem.

After a last snorkeling tour at the third island, we ended the evening by going to an outdoor concert in downtown Sihanoukville. Some members of the US Navy were present and one of the Navy bands performed live for us. We were like the few token Americans there and for two or so straight hours we jumped, danced to, and screamed songs written by Paramore, Miley Cyrus, Neil Diamond, Pharrell, Brian Adams, and Journey. I was pretty much drenched in sweat five minutes in but ho'ma'goodness was it fun. I think we either amused or terrified the Cambodians watching us. Either option is highly likely. We also had amazing crepes filled with Milo (again, I channel my inner Miley with bread, I can't stop and I won't stop) I must comment on this picture though, despite the sunscreen I put on, the beach trip made me get baked like a cake. Not in the marijuana sense (although it was defintiely readily available at the beach), but man, I look so red in that picture. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Imma post this baby before my internet decides it wants to crap out again. I can't tell you how frustrating it's been to write this thing but here it is despite it all. Just FYI, I'm leaving this Friday on a nine day adventure to parts of Cambodia and Laos! So I won't be posting again until I get back but I promise at least two post detailing my experiences. From what I've been told about our itinerary, I know it's gonna be epic. So stay tuned.

Until text time.

A Thousand Words

Excursions. When I first applied to this internship, I knew that fairly regular trips throughout Cambodia and surrounding regions would be a thing... and I was super excited about it! Unfortunately because of all the NGO craziness that happened upon our immediate arrival we've been fairly excusion-less. That is until last weekend! It was defintiely a much needed break from the unique stress that my actual internship has provided me thusfar so that was a plus.

I admit though, this post will be a bit more of a travel log than most of my other ones. I don't really mean it to be but I have no other way to really share with you what a great weekend I had! Don't worry, I'll employ my sharp wit to entertain you the whole time. HA! Not. The pictures you will see will be MUCH more entertaining than my silly ramblings. I assure you.

Well now, let us begin. Friday morning started off bright and early with an extremely exciting bus ride to a coastal city in the southwest part of the country called Koh Kong.

I believe this picture was taken while I was drifting in and out of sleep while listening to my girl Marina from "Marina and the Diamonds." Don't ask me how I found this position comfortable. Because I didn't. Six and a half hours of driving, kinked necks, and random stops for diahrrea ridden Cambodian men later, we arrived to Koh Kong.

How do we celebrate our arrival? We eat food.

Our resort had this pretty sweet restaurant built over the bay. You can't see it but our little dinner hut has stilts for legs and we have strange skinny fish swimming beneath us. This restaurant boasted the best crab in all of Koh Kong and while I didn't order it for myself, it was pretty bomb. Fun little tidbit, do you see how my poor long legs are being jammed up against my chest? That's because I had this little visitor in front of my chair.

Meet Pugnacious. I normally dislike pugs but this one made me smile more than twice. I mean, how could I reject that admittedly cute frying pan smashed face? He followed us around the resort like our own personal guard dog while he entertained us with his dog/pig identity crisis. Dan loved him the most by far and named him Pugnacious out of pure endearment.

Anyways, after dinner it was kayaking time.

So you'd think that we'd go kayaking to enjoy the picturesque scenery and glassy water right? Well, for some reason we decided to go visit some rather grotesque statues first. This is what I'm looking at in confusion in the above picture.

And apparently it was a good idea to get out of the boats and pose like the statues. Makes perfect sense, really. We all joked that we were the ideal subjects for a horror movie. Naive college students, in a foreign country, touching and making fun of creepy statues, statues come alive at night and brutally murder said students. It's perfect.

Moving on. I promise we did actually kayak with the aforementioned purpose of scenery and water viewing. And I'm glad we did to be honest because there were some very breathtaking and even spiritual moments as we paddled around the bay. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't even think a thousand words can describe the beauty of the sunset I was blessed to witness.

Gorgeous ain't it? We brought our vista-induced high with us into town to a delightful little restauraunt called Cafe Laurent where we satisfied our western food cravings by dining on pizza, french fries, and creme brulee. All while looking over the night darkened bay. We were really roughin' it.

After some classically Asian karaoke and a wonderful night's sleep, I had this nutritious breakfast.

Yes that is cartoned milk and yes we ate ceral out of the bag. Milo is a chocolate drink that is very heavenly so obviously the cereal form was equally delicious. I'm sure I looked super attractive as I fought with the bag to get cereal into my mouth while not geting milk all over me. And that was fun.  I share this only because I promised certain individuals a look into Cambodian cuisine. I think that fulfills that promise for this post. Yes.

The biggest part of Koh Kong came from our trip to the Tatai Waterfalls. The journey consisted of a short van ride and calm but rather loud trip on a boat up a river to the falls. 

The engine on that thing was unprecedentally loud and left our ears ringing for a good twenty minutes after it was shut off. It was totally worth it though, because we were met to this awesome sight as we neared out destination.

Obviously I wanted to jump right into the water and play in the falls. Except our guide played a mean trick on us and made up climb over some rocks to get there.

Clarissa obviously looks super thrilled at this trick. But believe me, it was all worth it.

With no further ado, pictures of the frolicking. And frolick we did do.

Obviously hated every second.

With all of our rabble-rousing, we doubtlessly worked up an appetite. Barbequed shrimp, chicken, and fish anyone?

But the day still wasn't over. We decided to visit the biggest Mangrove tree forest in all of Cambodia. Don't know what a Mangrove tree is? It's okay, I didn't either. Here's what they look like.

This forest tour resulted in us climbing a bunch of stairs so we could take in the beautiful Cambodia countryside around us. Have I mentioned that Cambodia is incredibly stunning? I don't think I have. Cambodia is incredibly stunning people.

Pictures really just don't do it justice. I wish you all could've seen it with me.

While I don't have pictures, we finished our evening by having a romantically candlelit dinner cruise and we ate while admiring cloud-lightning shows and fireflies that lit the trees like Christmas trees. It was all to much, really. 

That pretty much all wraps it up. Please know I was not trying to brag or rub it in how wonderful my weekend was. In all honesty, I couldn't stop thinking about all of you back home and which friends and family would have loved each aspect of my trip, and how much I would've given to have you here experiencing it with me. A thousand words couldn't really convey how much I felt that way.

Life is good you guys.

Until next time. 

Cricket Bells

Remember how I made that goal to write three times a week? Ha, yeah. I'm OBVIOUSLY doing that. But hey. I feel like at least one good detailed and thought out post a week is better than three small and only okay posts right? That's my rationale at least.

Cambodian culture never ceases to amaze me. Every day gives me new insights into the little quirks this country has and most of the time I can't help but smile. A little while ago we visited the weekend night market here in Phnom Penh and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a completely fun and new experience. It's pretty much a primitive outdoor mall complete with a food court and live entertainment. Have a look see.

 

Nothing like live Cambodian pop music and dancing. 

 Okay. I realize that this isn't the BEST picture, but the market is just interweaving rows of these little 'shops'.

 

At the food court! You just grab a basket and fill it with anything you want, and then they deep fry it all for you. It's not necessarily as scrumptious as you might think. It may or may not have wrecked my insides for a few days after.

Did I mention that some things were already fried so you could get double fried food? And can anyone find the mystery meat Angry Birds? I used my D.A.R.E skills and said no to that.

Instead of tables they have mats you sit on while you eat. It's just important you remember to take off your shoes before stepping on the mat. You get chided if you don't. Guess how I found that out!

So there's your brief look into the Phnom Penh night market. You should feel privileged. Actually you should feel jealous because I had a BOMB pineapple shake from one of the vendors. Best one I've ever had; it even had sweetened condensed milk in it. A few girls have taken it upon themselves to experience everything mango here, so I've begun retaliating by eating everything pineapple.

Rainy season is finally upon us! This is both good and... interesting. For starters, the rain makes it not so hot so I'm not "sweatin' with the oldies" as one of my friends called it so that's definitely a plus. The lighting is absolutely spectacular even if everyone in my ESL class I teach told me people die often here from lightning strike. No big deal; I'll just jump into a fruit stand or something if that ever becomes a problem. 

But when it rains in Cambodia, it rains. The raindrops get so big it feels like you're getting smacked by tons of tiny water balloons. And riding a bike during a downpour is quite the adventure. You have to raise your feet in the air to avoid sketchy puddles and constantly blink water from your eyes ALL while trying to navigate crazy Cambodian traffic. To make things worse, the little bells on our bikes that we use to signal our presence become muted like sad little crickets when they get wet. So that pathetic noise becomes your only defense if tuk tuks or buses come barreling at you (one of the girls has a perma-cricket bell and tried to ring it at a bus once to get it to not hit her, I make fun of her often for it because of how ridiculous it sounded and looked). But despite all the hazards, I think biking in the rain a total blast.

 Here's a view of the rain from inside a gas station. None of us had ponchos so we sought refuge inside just as a downpour began.

 

In other news, we said goodbye to one of the interns today and I'm not happy about it at all. One of the girls had to go home due the sudden death of her brother. I feel like there's nothing you can really say to someone who loses a loved one. I mean, we have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, and that is incredibly comforting, but unfortunately that doesn't completely heal the pain of the now. I've never lost anyone in my immediate family so I cannot imagine all she is going through right now. But I do know that Heavenly Father will give her and her family all the strength they will ever need to carry on. We'll all miss her dearly and we're so sad she doesn't get to stay with us for the rest of the summer. She's an incredible example to me and I'm grateful for the chance I've had to get to know her.

So this most definite unforeseen event has caused me to change work venues. Again. I am now replacing her back at NGO CEDAW and will be also trying to get some work done for CYN. I feel like this change will be a good thing. So we'll see. I was warned that Cambodia was full of surprises but I did NOT expect it to happen as often as they have been. Life can really feel like a giant bus that is coming straight at you while you're on a bike and you only have a stupid cricket bell to help you. There's absolutely nothing you can do stop it and all you can do it pedal your heart out so you don't get smooshed. But hey, at the end of they day we always make it through. And that's gotta count for something.

Until next time.