Temples, Monkeys, Monks, and... Justin Bieber?

After Vientiane I was pretty determined to get down to Cambodia, but it wasn't going to be a quick bus ride. Because of money/planning purposes I had to unfortunately sort of rush through this part of SE Asia. I was aiming to get to Australia with enough money left to make it worth traveling to and visit some old friends there, so although cheap, I didn't wanna spend too much time/money in SE Asia if I was going to make Australia (and hopefully New Zealand) feasible. So after over 24 hours of travel consisting of an overnight bus, a couple minibuses, tuk tuks, and a border crossing, I was in Cambodia on my way to Siem Reap to check out Angkor Wat; one of the top places I've wanted to see for a long time now in this part of the world.

The incredible Ta Phrom temple. My favorite temple at Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is one of the most famous temple complexes in the world, and after seeing some pictures of the place a few years ago I knew it would be on my list. So now was the best opportunity to tick it off and I was looking forward to checking it out. After getting in late to the town of Siem Reap and coordinating with my Airbnb host, I made it to a more local style homestay a bit outside of town. It would be a quick three night stay in Cambodia, so I spent the first day just checking out Siem Reap. It's a cool, more modern town that's mostly been developed straight from the tourism that Angkor Wat brings, but I enjoyed riding around by bike. One of the highlights of the day consisted of dinner, and one of the more bizarre foods that I've had on the trip: Dog. Dog was interesting. The meat quality wasn't all that great and there wasn't a whole lot of taste either, but there was these sausages that had a bit more of an exotic taste. Wasn't horrible, but wasn't great. It was one of those foods you'd rather not think about while you're eating it.

So after that meal capped off my day I was ready to check out the temples the next day. It's a $20 entry fee for the day so I thought just renting a bicycle and checking out the main sites for the day would be enough. I started off in the morning and made my way to the complex to check it out. Overall, the day was a success but IT WAS EXTREMELY HOT. Hadn't sweated that much in awhile, but I survived.

The temples were nice but I need to admit, I think at this point I was definitely getting templed-out on the trip. People will typically spend at least a couple days exploring most of the complex, but one day was enough for me at this point. Don't get me wrong, the temples were impressive, but I think I could've gotten more out of it if I hadn't traveled through temple-ridden India, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos beforehand.

I LOVE TEMPLES...

Unfortunately, I only had Angkor Wat planned for Cambodia which means I obviously didn't spend enough time in the country and didn't get much of a cultural experience, but it's all the more reason to come back and see more of it the next time around.

After departing Angkor Wat I was set to go back to Bangkok for a week before flying to Australia, and there was one last thing I really wanted to do in Thailand while I was staying in Bangkok...

I stayed in a homestay when I returned to Bangkok after my Myanmar detour. While I was staying at this homestay, the owner had encouraged me to check out another homestay in the countryside. This was a special place because while staying there, the guests had the opportunity of volunteering and teaching English to some of the local kids in the town, including some young orphan monks that come once a week on Sundays to interact with volunteers and learn English. It sounded like a pretty special opportunity, and it was something that I really wanted to do. I didn't really get the chance to do it until now, so I took that chance and headed up north a couple hours to the province of Singburi to see what this place was all about.

I arrived early on a Friday morning, and as I was messaging the owner of my arrival, she had asked if I could teach alone because they were short on volunteers for the weekend. I told her I had never taught English before and was a little intimidated, but once I got there she gave me some basic instructions I ended up being okay. I started with a group of teenagers in the morning which ended up going pretty well. We went through a quick vocabulary crossword puzzle and went into basic conversation practice before it ended up being drawing time and we each just ended up drawing something for fun. They each had their own cartoons that they wanted to draw and I decided to do a portrait of Justin Bieber. They all knew who he was which I think was the inspiration for me to give it a shot at a portrait, and it ended up turning out pretty well for my standards. It was hilarious. They were all good drawers but I've never been an artist myself, and they all got a kick out of my portrait. At the end of it they each gave me their artwork with a nice message and a thank you, and I got myself some souvenirs from Thailand thanks to them.

The Biebs - A Masterpiece

It was a good start to the day, and after a lunch break I got to pair up with one of the two German girls, Nathalie and Ti Mea, who were also volunteering and we took on the young kids; a wild group of over 10 kids ranging in ages from about 5 to maybe 8 years old. It was hilarious trying to teach them and I had a blast. We would go through some basic words and after a few minutes they'd be off and running somewhere or trying to pick playful fights. It was great, and we did some fun activities with them after teaching time. I was exhausted by the end of it but it was a really cool experience and we finished up in the afternoon. We spent the rest of the day visiting a small farm feeding baby goats and even riding a buffalo. It was a great day and the homestay experience was off to a good start.

Teaching English for the first time with these fun and crazy kids.

The next day was a day filled with monks and monkeys. We started the day off visiting a monkey temple in nearby Lopburi. I had been to a couple monkey temples before, but this one had by far the most monkeys. They were everywhere, and at one point I had about 4 of them crawling all over me. It was pretty fun actually and a good start to the day. Shortly after that it was time to hang out with the monks. So we headed over to the orphanage/monastery and got ready to do some more teaching. They all showed up and we grouped together to go through some more crossword puzzles. I think there were almost 40 of them and they were a blast to hang out with and teach. They were all between the ages of 4-13 and they were really interested in learning and interacting with us. We went through some more games with the whole group, and after the lesson they got some candy as a reward and they walked us up a hill to show us an amazing view of the surrounding area. After that, we headed back down and into a cave pagoda which was really cool. It was funny having all these little mini monks leading us through these caves and showing us around. There were monkeys on the property as well, and after feeding them we headed to a local market to buy some food for dinner. We went back to the homestay for dinner and the next thing I knew I was back on a bus to Bangkok to finish up the rest of my stay in Thailand.

Ti Mea and I having fun with the monks. How and why they know about flipping
off the camera is a mystery to me, but it added a bit more hilarity to the moment.

Although it was short, I had an amazing stay in Singburi at this particular homestay. I've got to give a huge shout out to Peetim, the owner of this place. She is a truly incredible person, and talk about generosity. She specifically designed her home to not just be a homestay for guests, but it's an entire facility with multiple classrooms and other amenities for the local children to enjoy when they come here to learn. It's sort of a sanctuary for these kids, especially the monks, who grow up with very little and don't have a lot of opportunities right now in their lives. It was such a rewarding experience being here and was definitely a highlight of Thailand for me.



I more or less relaxed during the last few days in Asia and hopped on a plane to the next continent: Australia, readying myself for an entirely new batch of experiences.