I am much better at teaching children than adults. My adult classes tend to be fairly casual affairs, and I don't often do a lot of preparation beforehand. (I've really embraced the "conversation" concept in "conversational English".) Luckily this is pretty much what my adult students are looking for, so I don't really worry about it too much. Tonight's lesson, however, was even more random than usual.

It started with grapes. One of my Tuesday students brought me grapes, and I was sharing them with my other classes. Now, Japanese people have managed to turn eating fruit into an elegant process...everything must be peeled and sliced. (Ok, obviously the grapes aren't sliced. That would just be ridiculous.) I, on the other hand, just shove stuff into my mouth.

Ok, I admit, if I'm eating the large grapes with the slightly tough skin, I will peel those. But these particular grapes were small and sweet, and the skin was soft and barely noticeable, so I didn't bother. This attracted the (shocked) attention of my students, and we started on a discussion of why Japanese people peel everything.

Which led to me writing "pesticide" on the board.

Which then led to me idly pointing out that the suffix "icide" means "to kill".

Which led to me listing a few of the more common "icide" words that I could think of off the top of my head....homicide, patricide, matricide, regicide, suicide, infanticide.

Which led to a discussion of the difference between "infant" and "baby".

Which led to a mini-lecture by me of how English has many of these words that mean the same thing, but one derives from French and the other from Old English. (The English words are the ones we use most often in everyday conversation, while the French ones are more formal and are more likely to be found in legal and medical terminology. When was the last time you cooed "Awww, wookit the widdle infant!"?)

And then we ended on me explaining the idiom (used most often by my mother. Hi mom!) "If it was a bear, it would bite you", which....I'm not entirely sure how we segued into that.

I love my job.

Oh, shut up. I have NOT been in Japan too long. It's just that on the day this was taken, it started off rainy, but by the time I got downtown the sun was out in full sullen force. And since I had to carry this umbrella around anyway, it seemed to make sense to use it as a sunshade.

STOP LAUGHING.

Ok, this is one of those things that really doesn't work as well without a visual, but bear with me anyhow.

It was nearing the end of the class and I had taken out the picture of the beach and was getting the kids to make sentences. (This is, for the record, the class with the "I like to whack-a-mole!" kid. It's entertaining, that's for sure.) I asked them "What can you do?", to which Hiroki replied "I can act like a crab!" Oh, kid. You KNOW I'm gonna need you to demonstrate, right?

Probably there are funnier things than a skinny little six year old jumping up from his chair and scuttling about sideways like a crab, hands in the air, making pincer movements, but I'm hard-pressed to think of them right now.

Huh. So about 5 minutes after I added that tracker thing, I got a comment on one of my entries. A comment from a stranger. That's the first time that's ever happened, and the timing seems too coincidental. What's up with that? "I can see you now, you'd better comment or ooooh, will I be mad!"?

Not that I'm anti-strangers-visiting-my-bloggy-blog-thing, it's just the timing. And the novelty.

On another note, the next time I am in a supermarket and thinking, "Ooh, I would quite like some wine with dinner", but it is a supermarket that does not sell particularly good wine, and I think "Meh, I can't be bothered to go to a decent wine shop, one bottle of cheap stuff won't hurt me", and so I buy a bottle that costs less than 1000 yen, please smack me upside the head. IT IS ALWAYS WORTH THE EFFORT TO GO AND BUY A DECENT BOTTLE. Thus endeth the lesson.

Joe just showed me how to add a tracker to this site, so from now on, I can see how many people visit and where they come from! I feel like a stalker. I also suspect I'm going to be slightly depressed when a week from now the counter reads "3 visits".

I have yet to see Snakes on a Plane, but this? Is brilliant.

What an uneventful week this has been. It's been rather insanely hot and humid, and since I don't have any amazing, 1000 year old giant temple complexes to motivate me to get outdoors, I've mostly been sitting indoors, racking up my electricity bill. Ah, AC. How I love thee. I actually woke up this morning going "Gah! Hot!", moved to the living room, turned on the AC, and proceeded to sleep for another hour all cramped up on my tiny couch. Surely it's only a few more weeks until the weather breaks? Surely?

I remember my first September in Japan...I was on vacation in Kyoto when, overnight, the humidity disappeared. I woke up one morning in a youth hostel freezing my ass off (while all the people fresh off the plane were still complaining how hot it was.) Wow. Now THERE'S an indicator of how long I've been here...I still used youth hostels.

Work has been going well. Because Japanese people only believe in sunscreen use for adult women, the kids are all in various stages of amazing tans. Seriously, most of them no longer look Japanese, their skin is so dark. (Sunscreen, of course, is only used for cosmetic purposes. What? Japanese people don't get skin cancer. That's just the gaijin's curse. No, seriously. What? Why are you staring at me in disbelief?)

This weekend looks set to continue the whole "big fat nothing" of this week, which is actually good, because payday isn't until next week, and I feel like I should be trying to avoid spending all my money. Although, of course, if anyone emails me tomorrow and suggests going out, I wlll be unable to say no. I'm hoping I can just spend Saturday holed up in an (air conditioned) cafe, catching up on all the letter writing I didn't do this summer.

Only a few more weeks (hopefully) until the weather breaks. I love the bit right after the humidity departs but the temps are still high...bliss.

Also, two thumbs up to this year's cockroach spray! Much more effective than last year's!

I spent the last two Saturday nights wandering around KL. Tonight I'm going out for dinner in Hamamatsu, which is kind of a step down. If nothing else, you can't get fresh coconuts in Hamamatsu.

I confess I'm looking forward to going back to work on Monday. In retrospect, it was a huge mistake to end my vacation when I still had a week of holidays left, as I've just been sitting around my apartment bored silly. Usually I get back on the last possible day and stumble into work less than 24 hours after de-planing. At this point it's a little hard to say if my recent restlessness is just boredom or a sign that I need to make some major life changes.

However, in the meantime, I need to go and finally finish up unpacking so that I can accommodate my guests tonight.

Apparently "Alisa", in addition to being both a Japanese and a Brazilian name, is also Cambodian. Rieng said he was surprised to see I wasn't Asian when he met me at the airport. Considering I'm named after my Finnish grandmother, I find this rather odd. It would seem I have the most common name ever.

Know what I miss about Cambodia? Cheap transport. I mean, all you'd have to do is go outdoors and look non-local, and you'd be beset by hordes of moto and tuk-tuk drivers all offering to drive you places. For very reasonable prices. (Not that I ever took advantage of this, what with my hotel being located about a five minute walk from everywhere and all.)

Taxis in Japan are far too expensive and should only be used for special occasions.

Well, Rieng just emailed me the list of all the temples I actually visited, and while I have no plans to go back through all 300 photos and double-check the identification, I think it's safe to say that most labels are tentative and that I missed rather a lot. But hey, not like any of you lot is going to call me on it, right?

Met up with the Matsui's and Andrew Embree for lunch today. (Andrew is an old family friend from Vanderhoof, just in Japan for a few days.) I think he's seen more of Japan than I have in my NEARLY SIX YEARS (holy crap. How time flies.) thanks to Mr. Matsui's patented "insane schedule of insanity". The man likes to pack your time full. They climbed Fuji yesterday and are both impressively sunburned, with some pretty great tan lines. (Andrew has a shaved head. He was wearing a bandana up Fuji. Best tan line EVER.)

We all went to the Science Museum, which was a first for me, although it turned out to be geared towards small children, so not quite what I was expecting. Then the others continued on to the Music Museum while I begged off and spent the next hour sitting in a cafe with a cup of tea and a book, before meeting up for lunch.

And that was pretty much it for today...it's 530 now and while I am harbouring some vague notion of going out to the grocery store, I suspect I'll end up vegging in front of the AC with a book instead.

A few last photos that don't appear to have made it onto the dropshots site...

Me and the guys from the restaurant. Chan is the one standing directly behind me.



Rieng and his father-in-law, and the trusty taxi that took me around in air-conditioned comfort.

Friday, August 11th

And that's about it! Also check out the Saturday and Sunday files, as they contain slightly misfiled photos.


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Thursday, August 10th


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Wednesday, August 9th

Also, for some reason, some pictures are turning up in the file marked August 13th, so go check there for more.


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Tuesday, August 8th.

I've done my best to put a name to all the temples, but there were a couple towards the end I just couldn't remember...will do my best to correct that.

You know the drill...click away to see all 72 photos. Yes, 72 photos for just one day.


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Well, my "short break" turned out to involve getting of the aforementioned groceries, and then evolved into a trip down to Yaizu to see the fireworks and a night spent in Shizuoka, followed by a pedicure and (just for the hell of it) an eyelash perm, which in turn was followed by a private English lesson downtown, with the result that I didn't actually get home until after 1030 tonight.

Ok, so, Friday. Friday I went out to Beng Melea. It took almost two hours to get there, so I was quite grateful that I was riding along in an airconditioned taxi, rather than bouncing around on the back of a moto. It's an amazing place, almost totally consumed by the jungle. There are special guides to greet you upon arrival and show you around. Because it is so poorly preserved, you can't just go wandering about at random, but must stick to a path that is not clearly visible to the untrained eye. And by "path" I mean "piles of fallen stones", and by "wandering" I mean "climbing about said piles of fallen stones", which is where the guide comes in handy, as he will offer a steadying hand and the occasional boost. Needless to say, the guides at Beng Melea are all quite fit and sure-footed.

After about an hour of this, we headed back to town for the lunch break. Sadly, Beng Melea was my last temple, as in the afternoon we headed out to the silk factory. It's related to the Artisans d'Angkor facility. It was very interesting to see the silk worms and find out how their cocoons become gorgeous silk threads. Everything is woven by hand, so the more complicated patterns take quite a while to make. The boutique is a bit pricey (well, by Cambodian standards), but the quality more than justifies the price. I didn't buy anything, however, as I'd neglected to bring my credit card with me on that particular trip.

After that we stopped at another small workshop, this one specializing in shadow puppets. I wanted to buy one, as they're quite cheap, but I wasn't sure if it would fit in my suitcase, so I settled for some smaller, non-puppety ones. This workshop was also of the "giving jobs to disadvantaged youth" variety.

Then he drove me around Siem Reap, just on a tour. It's a fairly small town for somewhere that gets so many tourists. And that was that for my day.

In the evening, I went for another foot massage (even though I'd basically spent most of the day sitting in an airconditioned taxi, rather than climbing about temples for 6 hours), which was followed by a bit of shopping (I bought a couple of books from this man and then dinner at...where else? This time Chan invited me out after work for a drink with some of the other waiters (a nice, non-alcoholic fruit smoothy) and this time I was able to gladly accept the invitation. So I hopped on the back of his moto and off we...well, "sped" would be something of a misnomer. Off we putted? We went to one of the local markets (as opposed to the ones downtown that largely cater to tourists) and had some yummy smoothies. The party didn't last long, as everyone was exhausted from working, so at about 1130 Chan drove me back to the hotel.

I felt bad, as I wanted to pay for all the smoothies and ice cream (seeing as how I can afford it and all, and they, um, can't), but it came to almost four dollars and all I had was two (this was an unexpected outing and the rest of my money was at the hotel. Plus it was all in twenties, and this was not the type of place that could change a twenty.) So I put in my two bucks and some riel and Chan threw in a dollar, too. (I made up for it the next day, though.)

Saturday morning was spent doing some last minute shopping, finished off by a visit to the restaurant for an ice cream, where I left a $15 dollar tip. (The ice cream cost $1.) I promised Chan I'd email the picture we all took the night before, but when I got home I found out that the address as he wrote it down doesn't work. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to send it or not...I hope he emails me instead.

Then the rest of the day was bleahy airplane travel...although at least the panic over in Heathrow didn't affect us in any way. There were no problems with carry-on luggage (heck, Malaysia Airlines still uses, brace yourselves, metal knives. Amazingly, people only used them for buttering bread. No one tried to hijack the plane or anything.) I was a bit worried that it would affect my plans to leave the KLIA during my six hour layover, but no worries there. An hour after landing, I was back down in Chinatown looking at more watches. I did some last-last-minute shopping, and then headed back to the airport for the remainder of my flight, which, while it didn't suck, wasn't exactly the best experience ever.

On a side note...the first time I landed in KLIA, I ended up forking out 120 ringett to a taxi driver to get to my hotel. The second time, I took public transportation and spent 72 for a round trip.

And that's it! Although probably I'll continue to talk about this trip for some time to come. I'm working on getting the Cambodian pictures up, so prepare yourselves for lots of shots of temples. Shopping pictures are now up, however. Oooh! Aaaah!

Ok then. Where was I? Oh yes, Thursday. Oh, I forgot to mention that on Thursday, my driver brought me to a huge souvenir shop situated on the road to the temples. Inside, I was greeted by an 18 year old girl who was just the sweetest thing ever, and who started walking around the store with me, pointing out the merchandise and chatting. First she tried steering me towards the gems...shiny and pretty, yes, but the bracelets came with a $2000+ price tag, which made me laugh and laugh. She told me that she could give me a discount, but that just made me laugh more, because sweetie? That would have to be one hell of a discount.

I ended up buying a handbag (What? No, I don't have enough handbags. I don't think there is any such thing.) $15, down from $24. No, I didn't haggle, I didn't have to. When I asked the price, she told me that, especially for me (and me only!) she could give me a discount, because I was so brave, traveling alone. I love how everyone would tell me that they could give me a discount, especially for me. Like everyone else is having to pay full price. Hee.

I did end up going back to my restaurant that night (really wish I could remember the name) for a coconut shake (which was my dinner). It was yummy, and I had a nice chat with my favourite waiter, Chan. He's 22 and just finished 5 years of being a monk (it's fairly common for most young men to become a monk for a short while before getting on with the business of life). He'd like to become a tour guide, but because he was busy being a monk instead of getting a high school education, it'll cost him $1000 to get all the requirements he needs (I mean, he could probably do a fairly good job right now, but to be a guide, you have to have the official paperwork, otherwise BIG trouble). Considering he makes $50 a month, it is unlikely that this is gonna happen anytime...well, ever, really. He's a very sweet young man (seems younger than 22) and seemed so very, very happy to have found a real live English teacher to talk to. This amused me, as I could barely get a word in edgewise, so really, what was he basing my teaching skills on? He invited me out to see a movie with him and his friends the next day, which I think would have been a fantastic thing to do, but of course I already had plans.

Phew. On to Friday next, but I think I'm gonna take a short break and go get some groceries!

Monday, August 7th. Click for more pics and descriptions.


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Honestly, who has prettier shoes than me?

These babies were assembled right in front of my eyes. They didn't have any in the red brocade in my size, so she whipped out a pair of size seven clogs and attached the brocade right there, first measuring it to make sure it fit around my feet perfectly. Cost? $28.98 Canadian. They were the last thing I bought on my holidays, as I'd decided to spend my layover in downtown KL rather than spend 6 hours at the airport. Wise decision, I think.

Oh, and the soles? Handpainted.

This site is for mom. And, really, anyone who likes silk. It's my new favourite store.

Artisans d'Angkor

Last of the KL photos, plus one last-minute watch.

The Cambodian photos will come in a day or so, once I've gone through them and managed to figure out which temple is which.


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Click on the picture to see more, including my fake brand-name merchandise. Who knew fake stuff was so much fun?



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Kuala Lumpur photos. Click to get a bigger view.

Saturday, August 5, 2006

Usually towards the end of a holiday, sneaking thoughts about how nice it will be to get back home start flitting through my head. Thoughts about sleeping on my own bed (well, technically, pile of futons), about wearing different clothes, about access to my laundry machine, about being in familiar surroundings again, about having a day to just relax and veg and not rush around doing all kinds of touristy stuff.

Not this time. I mean, yes, I was getting kind of worn out from all the touristy stuff, and could definitely use a day off to just read and snack and nap, but I would much rather be doing that in Siem Reap. I would have loved to stay longer and maybe get beyond the non-touristy stuff. My young monk-turned-waiter friend would have been more than happy to show me around (I know because he invited me to a movie with him and his friends...alas, I had previous plans. He also invited me out to the local market - the non-touristy one- for drinks [of the fruity variety, not alcohol]...that invitation I was able to accept.) I would like to eat in an authentic Khmer restaurant instead of the ones aimed mostly at tourists (I think the one I ended up favouring was sort of a mix...quite a few locals ate there too) (For those who kept claiming I was brave to go by myself...I wasn't quite brave enough to wander into one of the roadside restaurants with no English menus and dubious hygiene by myself)

I cannot help thinking that teaching English there would be far more rewarding than teaching here...not that I don't enjoy working with my kids, but English is more of a hobby than a means of survival.

The street kids. So clever. (I'm talking here about the ones who try to sell you postcards -"Ten for one dollar, lady, see? 1, 2, 3, 4.."etc, not so much the beggar children, who are just sad and heartbreaking) Cheeky little monkeys! My guide said most of them learn English from NGO schools, which leads me to wonder if they are actually taught how to tout bamboo bracelets and bootlegged books and postcards in school? A lot of them also hand out pieces of paper with a flower drawn on it and some text that usually runs like this..."Hello, my name is ... I give you this flower for souvenir. I wish you good luck for your job and all your family. You are very nice and friendly. Nice to speak with you. Thank you for coming to Angkor Wat. I give you good luck. I hope you keep it forever. I hope you like my flower. I hope you keep it. I like your smile. From ..." I mean, do they learn this in school? "Ok kids, what you want to do is establish a human connection. If the tourists know your name and think you're cute, they're more likely to cave and buy something." Fantastic!

And the scenery...wow. Ok, so at $20/day, $40/3days, or $60/week, going to Angkor Wat all that often is out of the question, but there are heaps of other, further away, less touristy temples to go visit. I loved, loved, LOVED Beng Melea, which is basically a big pile of rubble with some walls. Wow.

We'll see. Maybe this feeling will wear off next week once I go back to work and get back into the swing of things, or maybe not. In the meantime, I have laundry to do, and I think I need some fruit. Also some water....I haven't drunk half my body weight in water yet today. Granted, I'm also not clambering around big piles of rock in the direct sun, but still.

More details on my adventures (rides on motos with strange boys! Late night market smoothies! Mastering the KL public transit system!) to come in a bit. And let's not forget about the pictures...

Well, so far I haven't managed to have breakfast at the hotel yet. I'm not too worried about it, as it means I get to take a short moto ride with the cute check-in clerk. Hee.

ONLY ONE MORE DAY!! Not enough time. Um, I wonder if Masami and Andrew would let me take a year off to teach English here? It'd be great...I could teach all the kids to say stuff like "Lady, you wanna buy a postcard lady? 10 for one dollah, lady. You come back, you maybe buy? You buy from me, ok, lady? I remember you, lady!" Which makes them sound like wee little Mafia...

Yesterday we went to Angkor Wat. Climbing up it wasn't too bad, but the near-vertical climb down made me go all whimpery and rubbery-legged. Unfortunately I was on my own today...turned out Kim double booked and he'd already had a previous commitment for today and tomorrow. Poop. So today his father-in-law ferried me around in his taxi and I explored by myself. Which was also nice, don't get me wrong, but I liked having someone to talk to. We went to a great temple this afternoon...the Bakong. I climbed up to the top and just sat there for about 20 minutes. It was very peaceful, as there weren't many other tourists about.

I think I have a slight case of heatstroke, as I'm extra-super-duper tired and also kind of hot, although the hour-long reflexology session I just did (Six. Dollars. An. HOUR.) has helped immensely. I think I will go back tomorrow. And maybe try to smuggle the girl back home with me. Think I could fit a small Cambodian woman in my suitcase?

Also, my stomach has been feeling slightly oogy since last night. I went to a different restaurant...one that offered a buffet and a dance show (traditional Apsara dance interspersed with...um...folk dances? Most of them seemed to involve a bunch of peasant boys stealing the baskets of peasant girls. I'm pretty sure that's a metaphor for something.) See what happens when you break out of your rut? You get oogy stomachs. I haven't had dinner yet, but I think I'm just gonna try and find a fruit-shake seller. Or else go back to my restaurant (I wonder if they miss me?) and have a coconut milkshake.

Tomorrow the FIL is driving me out to a remote temple...it will take about 2 hours to get there. Then back to town and then off to the silk factory, where I will probably drool all over the boutique. Then I have an evening of massage and shopping planned, followed by a morning of more shopping. Unfortunately for my budget, I have this tendency to patronize the shops were the goods are a)authentically Cambodian, b)made by disadvantaged/disabled/women/kids and c)fair value for the skilled labour. This translates to "not dirt cheap", although I think I will pay a visit to the market and haggle for at least a few crappy cheap items mass-produced in Thailand.

Sigh. I kind of want to try and stay up, but a)the stomach issue makes sitting around a bar kind of a bad idea and b)I am meeting the FIL at 8 tomorrow. Trial and error seems to indicate that this will involve going downstairs and requesting breakfast at around 715, because apparently, meusli with fruit and yoghurt takes a really long time to put together. (Actually, today it came fairly quickly, but the girl who ferried me over kind of sort of forgot to come pick me up, so I walked back after waiting for a bit. Only 5 minutes, but still.)

Plus I have to try and hit the Western Union tomorrow, as my budget does not seem to be going according to plan. Let's all give a cheer for credit cards!

Two days in Cambodia and already I'm in a rut. I went back to the same restaurant as last night for dinner (and, um, also for lunch). What? The food is good and hoo boy, do they love me now. I spent the before and after period of my dinner chatting with one of the waiters, who totally lit up when he found out that I'm an English teacher. This is a refreshing change from the reaction I generally get in Japan, which is one of fear.

I was gonna go exploring some more of the town tonight, but then it rained and the streets turned into a muddy, puddly mess. Add that to the lack of streetlights and my inablity to see in the dark, and I decided to save the exploring for tomorrow at lunch.

Spent today wandering around various temples and...heee! The music in here is great. Right now they are playing...brace yourselves...Achy Breaky Heart. But not by the original artist, oh no. It appears to be some sort of karaoke cover. HEE!

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yes. Temples. Climbed around many piles of fallen rock and up rather a lot of steep stairs (apparantly, ancient Cambodians had long, storklike legs and teeny tiny feet...either that, or a death wish), all the while playing a game of "dodge the Korean tour groups", not to mention "avoiding the urchins". No, I don't really want to buy bamboo bracelets, even if you WILL give me 20 for one dollar. What the heck do I need with 20 bamboo bracelets, anyway? I do want to do some shopping out by the temples at some point, but since you tend to get mobbed the minute you show interest, I think I'll wait until the last day.

One of the temples we went to today is also one of the most famous...Ta Prohm. I recomend googling it and looking at the pictures. Amazing.

Tomorrow we're hitting Angkor Wat (hopefully not literally), which is gonna involve more steep, narrow stairs. I hate it when my fear of heights clashes with my sense of adventure. Adventure usually wins, but only at the cost of great mental suffering.

I poked around the Central Market a bit today on the lunch break (we broke from 12-2, avoiding the really hot part of the day). They have some pretty stuff (I don't have enough handbags, right? Right?), but I suspect most of it is made in Thailand. I'd prefer to go somewhere where I can be sure the products are Cambodian...I know of a couple of shops, but I'm waiting for daylight to go find them. I already bought some silk pillowcases from the Artisan's Centre yesterday...at $12 each, they're pricy, but the quality is good and I know the people who made them are getting paid a living wage. Now I just have to try and not spill chocolate on them.

I think I've taken about 150 pictures so far. Yikes.

Dang. I just noticed I spilled curry on my only nice shirt. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to buy another one.

I wonder if my hotel will have breakfast tomorrow? It's included in the price, but today the cook forgot to come. Or slept in. I'm unclear. So the guy at the desk hopped on his moto and drove me over to a nearby restaurant, where he proceeded to act as a waiter (second job? what?) until I finished my meusli and then drove me back to the hotel, where I was 10 minutes late to meet my guide, Kim Rieng. It was kind of an adventure, and the restaurant had better breakfast choices then my hotel, so I'm kind of hoping for a repeat tomorrow.

9 pm and I'm not totally exhausted! Perhaps I'm slowly adjusting? However, I think it is still time to head back. A nice relaxing bath and a half hour writing postcards sounds good. Probably I'll be back here tomorrow night...if not, then definately Thursday. Talk to you guys later.

I'm not staying at the bungalow place. Sigh.

When I met up with my guide (Best. Idea. EVER.), he pointed out that Palm Village was actually quite far from the city centre and that it might not be safe for a girl alone to travel back and forth at night. Which sounded like a good point, so he found me another hotel right smack downtown. Sadly, there is no swimming pool, and I discovered too late that it doesn't accept credit cards, so I'm going to have to attempt to get cash from my credit card at a bank somewhere...Woo. Hoo. However, this one is only $20 a night, which means an extra $10 a day for shopping. Whee!

I'm very sleepy, so I think I'll give you the condensed version. (I HEARD that sigh of relief. You hush.) KL was good, although not so very exotic. I got your wallet, Chevy, although not in red. I also picked up three watches for 20 ringett, which is..um...I dunno. Go find an online converter or something. I think I'm gonna keep one for me. I rather like my fake Gucci watch.

I also got these wrap around pants that are just about the comfiest thing ever. I may need more. The only drawback to them is you have to take them off altogether if you want to use the toilet. Oh well. Did I mention how comfy they are?

I didn't buy as much in KL as I thought I would, but I still spent more money than I'd planned on. I assure you, the bracelet is very pretty and came from an actual jeweler's shop, so the jade is actually jade and not just a green stone.

Today I arrived in SR. So far I have been out to Tonle Sap, the Artesan's craft...um...thingy, the killing fields (cuz nothing says "vacation" like looking at the bones of victims of genocide, whee), and seen the sunset at the temple one is supposed to see sunset at (names to come later), which was very nice, but somewhat spoiled by the several hundred people milling about.

And yes, this IS the condensed version.

I am stuffed. I spent $5.70 on dinner and got rice (non-Japanese rice! YUM), a big ass bowl of fish soup-curry (steamed in a coconut), a beer, and a litre and a half of water.

I think it's time to waddle back to the hotel and maybe take a nice bath before passing out. It's 9:20 pm, and I spent half the day napping on an airplane. Yeesh.

Instead of being sensible and coming home right after work to finish packing and straighten out my apartment, I went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean. While there were (sadly) no animated fighting skeletons, there was a guy with an octopus for a face, so it gets two thumbs up from me. (I don't really ask a lot of my movies)

Now I'm paying for it, as it is 130 am and I still have to shower and wash dishes and then be up by six. I think I'll be ok, though, as I have plenty of time to nap tomorrow.

Ever since my horrendous experience with Air Canada a few years ago (they misplaced my luggage. Twice. In the same week.), I have tended to overpack my carry-on. All my toiletries plus a change of clothing...and of course, more books than any sane person needs for one flight, not to mention all my valuables. This time, however, I am attempting to pack light. While I do have one of those little duffel bags that folds up into an itty bitty pocket (in anticipation of shopping. Mega! Sale! Carnival!), I am determined that my carry-on will be limited to my lovely new anti-theft bag (it's the one in black) So far this is not working out well...while I do, technically, have everything crammed inside it, the zippers are not going to be zipped up, and I dread trying to get anything out of it.

I may very well do a few updates during my travels...if nothing else, I'll have a lot of time to kill in airports, and they all offer such handy internet access...but no promises.

Start preparing yourself for the 600 photos I plan on taking!

Talk to you in a week or so!