Cambodia and Our Return to Thailand

Jennavid (Jen and Dave), Tim, and I headed for the somewhat seedy beach town of Sihannokville, Cambodia. We were assaulted by tons of vendors on the beach but enjoyed swimming in the incredibly warm water and trying out the seafood. The next day we headed off for some seclusion on Koh Rung and island 3 hours off the coast. We stayed at the treehouse bungalows for 5 nights where we had our own private beach and bungalow in the jungle. There were so many critters everywhere; monkeys on the trees next to our outdoor shower, huge geckos guarding our room, enormous spiders, ocean crabs, water buffalo, fish, and the list goes on! We spent most of our time snorkeling, fishing, taking boat trips, swimming, and sharing klang beers and buckets with our Aussie friends. We were very sad to leave.

The four of us took a ferry boat back to Shiannokville and the next day departed for a return visit to Phnom Phen. Unfortunately we had to part ways with Jennavid the next day. (We miss you guys lots and hope to meet up again on the trip!!)

Tim and I headed to Siem Reap for a few days to check out the temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. We left the hotel at 5am to catch the sunrise over Angkor Wat which was beautiful! We went to a bunch of temples but our favorites were Bayon (the one with the faces), Ta Phrom (tomb raider), and of course Angkor Wat. It was incredible and we hope to go back one day!

We continued on to Bangkok and met up with my friend Lindsey from Los Altos and her friend Lauren at the central market. It was so great to see them! We spent the evening drinking Chang and enjoying Bangkok's nightlife. The next day went to the Floating Market. The four of us ate papaya salads and split a whole grilled catfish from the river. That night Tim and I caught an overnight bus to Koh Samui and parted ways with Lindsey and Lauren. (Let's meet up again soon girls, it was so nice to see you!)

It was a very long trip to Ko Samui and Tim and I very nearly were robbed by a wandering hand in the middle of the night. Luckily all of our belongings were ok but a few people on our bus lost a significant amount of cash. We finally made it to Koh Samui and met two Englishmen, Mike and Gordon that we've been hanging out with ever since. Unfortunately the four of us got caught in a huge storm. There was tons of flooding and we had no power for a while. Tim and I had to switch rooms because ours almost flooded. We waited out the storm for a few days and moved to a part of the island with electricity. When the storm finally subsided we rented motor bikes and toured around the island. It was a beautiful island but very poor timing to be there!

Yesterday the four of us ferried over to Koh Phagnan. We are staying in some great bungalows right next to a white sand beach and the weather seems to be pretty good. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it stays sunny!