So I had another day at the temples, and I am so happy I had this second day to take my time and absorb everything. Some people scream through that thing in one day and it's too much, but for me, 3 days would have been overkill, so I decided to move on after 2. Some of the temples are just awesome, esp the main one, the Angkor Wat. But hoenstly, it wasnt my favorite b/c it was soooooooo crowded with so many of the package tourists that made me want to vomit. it would have been the coolest thing in the entire world if there werent twenty billion rude and pushy tourists....i basically had the other temples to myself though. and i started getting sick of saying "no, no cold drink, no no flute for me...." but they just kept smiling so i moved on smiling from them. No use in getting upset, as some people did. Why you gonna yell at a 4 yr old? calm down!!!
      So that night i just went back to my guesthouse and relaxed, reading my book and writing in my journal and reflecting on this past year. And i decided to move on to Phnom Penh, as i have to catch a bus from here to vietnam. So even though its only 240 k's (150 mi) it takes 6 hrs. its nonstop rice fields, but looks a lot like southeast georgia (near honeycreek) except the houses are like wooden shacks on stilts and everyone is selling cold drinks for passer byers. So when we rock up to the bus station, i had to prepare myself for these hawks. Literally about 20 drivers and bikers are waiting for you to exit the bus and try to persuade you to go to their guesthouse and for you to ride with them. then they start reaching for your packs and you have to literally scream at them to stop and just walk away. PP is wayyyyy more intense than Siem Reap, and this city is dirtier, noisier, and more hectic, but its still cool.

      And today i went to get a massage by blind people for 4 bucks an hour and it was awesomeeeee. the lonely planet recommended it, and i was a lil nervous b/c it looked like a ghetto mess from the outside, and poor woman a/b tore my piercing off but i couldnt tell her b/c 1. she didnt speak english and 2. she couldnt see it and 3. i wasnt a/b to grab her hand and let her touch my face to feel it. but i loved it. my time is up but i'll update more later! peaceeeee

Wow, so i havent written in this thing in FOREVER but i guess its time to do it so y'all can see whats goin on in my life. So...after traveling 3 weeks in europe (with a brief stopover in kuala lumpur malaysia...loved that!!!!) i am now here in cambodia, which is basically the opposite of europe, esp. norway. europe was an absolute blast (minus a few hilarious episodes which i dont have time to go into now). Started off in England to visit phil which was sooo great. had myself a blast and laughed the entire time. he has the worlds worst american accent (sounds like he has autism slash cerebral palsy) but he was an excellent host. then france...lots of drama initially but loved every second with maree in lyon and paris was incredible (minus the first hour). Denmark...of course super cool but cold and then norway which im obsessed with. I got to see Noelle, Christine, Maria, and Lawrence....gahhhh i had a great time. Anyway, i flew 20 hrs from Norway (via london and bangkok) to Siam Reap, Cambodia, which is where the Angkor Wat religious temples are located. basically theyre from the 8-12th centuries and are a shitlload of ruins....many of which are just magnificent and breathtaking. but let me start from the beginning:

   So I had reserved a place at this guesthouse and they were supposed to pick me up in a tuk-tuk, like some big ass bike, so i get my visa, and my bags and i exit, excited to be whisked away. Except from all those people screaming in the arrivals hall and trying to get me to take a taxi, i didnt see my guesthouse. Damn. All this way and look what happens. I havent been too successful at arrivals since i left sydney (KL, Paris, now SR) but whatev, its part of the journey, or at least thats what i told myself. but i was prepared. i sat my ass down and ignored everyone telling me that they knew a good place, very cheap, nice people and did a sudoku puzzle. it was 730 pm and i had all the time in the world. but eventually i was like, i need to go, so i hired a motobike for $1 and he drove me into the city. Ok, now let me expain about motobikes. Its like a step above a Razor scooter and it buzzes at like 30 k's an hour. So siem reap at night feels like a muggy night in july in Albany Georgia, which if you havent felt, i am soooo sorry b/c its amazing. SIKE. its so damn humid but a slight breeze but i dont know where the hell that breeze went during the daytime.

    So i make it to my guesthouse and theyre like "you were supposed to come last night." HM...No, i wasnt but whatev. So i hired that driver to show me around the temples today. Oh so let me explain about traffic. 1. We dont do lines on the road 2. We dont do traffic lights 3. We dont care if your bike drives on the right or left 4. We dont care if your car has the steering wheel on the right or the left. 5. Lets make sure we cram tuk tuks, motokes, cars, tourist vans, and buses on the same stretch of 10 foot road. Simply, its quite awesome. organized chaos no lie.

    My room is so simple. its got a bunk bed but i have no roomie (sigh) and no AC, just a fan, and a sheet, and no hot water. whatev its like 4 bucks a night. So i went today to the temples, and seriously some were breathtaking. there are japanese and korean package tourists EVERYWHERE and its quite entertaining. theyre all like 60 and take pictures like someones a/b to prohibit them. At times, i wish i had a friend here, but then it was so cool doing it at my own pace. the cambodians are sooo curious a/b my eyebrow bar piercing. I kinda got tired of being asked if i wanted to buy some uglyass flute or tshirt but theyre just so friendly....and genuinely too. most of the time. they smile so damn big and you just gotta love them.

    There's a constant sound of horns and then this horrible cicada (spelling?) which makes this highpitched scream in the midde of the forest. you would have this amazing temple in your face, sometimes by yourself, and then this squeal which would drive you insane. And then lil monkeys are all over the place and my favorite thing was this GIANT hog tied to the back of this skinny ass motorbike. and yes, it was ALIVE. they apparently transport them to differnet locations, but this beast was HUGEEEEE!!! Its quite funny that all the white people sweat like pigs as well b/c of the humidity. cambodians can keep it together, but we white folk...no where close. Esp the older men...hahaha their shirts are DRENCHED in sweat and all i can say is....DAMN.

    So tonight, my motobike driver invited me to dinner at some local place. He talked a/b his ungrateful wife the whole time and i pretended to laugh a lot. food was actually really good...a bit spicy but im so terrified that i'll get sick, as i did in KL. lawd jesus please dont let that happen!! Ill post pics when i return to sydney....kinda hard to do it here. So anyway, im gonna head back to my guesthouse and chat it up with all my pretend friends and then sleep. Hope all of y'all are doing awesome, whether youre in Australia, the US, are Europe, much love to y'all,

     Travis

Currently Listening Demon Days By Gorillaz see related

Hey y'all, whats up?? So i still havent written a/b melbourne, but thats ok. I'll get to that sooner or later, but i have something more important to write! My parents' visit to Sydney!!! Ok, so this trip was the first time my parents have ever been outta the country, and the longest flight theyve ever had was 2 hours. And now they flew 14 hours to Seoul and then 10 hours to Sydney...they are the epitome of WILD. haha! So let me give some background info: I've been gone now from the US for 6 months, and it has flown by, honestly. You know you always here people say you find out so much a/b yourself by studying abroad and its a real eye opening experience and all that, and of course i knew it was true, but i dont think i realized to what extent that was until the week before my family come. Of course i think a/b my friends and family back home all the time, but i have my two separate worlds: my US and my Aussie one, and theyve been separate. Ive never really analyzed my world back home to a great extent, but i was somewhat forced to look at my life back home and see whats happened since i left. Very strange feeling. A lot of surprising revelations, both a/b there and here. So it was going to be the first time my two worlds crossed, and i was soooo excited a/b seeing them. I couldnt/didnt want to go home, and home came to me.
     So I got to the airport at 5:45 and waited on their delayed plane, and I got more and more nervous as the time went by, but not b/c i didnt think they would come. It was such a strange feeling....i dont even know how to describe it. And i started walking around the arrivals hall and i saw a georgia tech hat, and there was my dad! Good ole Nelson!!! So I said, "dad!??!" and we hugged and said "its so good to see you" etc etc. But apparently mom was a lil further down the hall and i ran up to her and we hugged and yeah, mom screamed a lil bit and teared up. "I'm sooo happy to see you" kept escaping me and we hugged for a good 30 seconds. I couldnt believe it. My parents were in Sydney!!! It was so normal and yet unfamiliar at the same time. I loved it. So I grabbed mom's bag and we headed to find a taxi to take them to their hotel. Thank God we had amazing weather the entire time, as it was b/w 18-22 everyday!!!! (upper 60s-lower 70sF!!) and it didnt rain once, even though it's been raining nonstop since they left. It was so funny when we got outside b/c obviously it's cold here b/c it's winter (hard to imagine it's summer at home!) and i had warned them a/b this but seeing as it was min 100F (upper 30sC) at home, packing a lot of jackets was foreign. So mom was SO sad that she only packed one jacket; poor Patrice was photographed wearing the same one all the time! haha.
      Anyway, we dropped their bags off at the hotel and headed to Circular Quay to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Yeah they were obsessed. The whole time we kept squealing "I cant believe youre/we're here!!!" So here we are at the Quay.

That night we went to Darling Harbour, which they were also obsessed with and went every morning for breakfast, and we ate a fat-ass delicious supper. Oh my GOD i had such good food!! B/c the college here..er dorm, serves us food for free (we of course pay for it in our fees), there is no reason to eat outside b/c its just money wasted. But i mean, after eating the same thing all the time...uhhhh.....so it was SO nice to be treated to good food. Anyway, here's mom and dad at darling harbour that night:

So the next day they came and saw my room, which was also strange but fantastic. My room really is homey now, and i love it. I bought a map and blew up 14 of my favorite travel pics and theyre surrounding the map. And then i have pics from my friends abroad and at home all over my room, and then a map of the US and pics from home near that as well. It looks good, not gonna lie. Then, we walked to Randwick, which is up the street, and saw where i worked. Boost!! I dont even have pics of that, and i need to do that soon i guess, that way y'all can see where i work. Love my job!!! But then, we continued to walk to Coogee Beach which is down the road, where we sat for 30 min b/c it was gorgeous outside and then did the 2 1/2 walk b/w Coogee and Bondi Beach, which is spectacular--def one of the highlights of the trip. It's like the Riverwalk in Albany, but along the ocean and just a teeny bit cooler.

The next day we went to Taronga Zoo, and they saw dingos, wallabies, all that good stuff. Let me just say to my Albany friends that it's not like Chehaw. ha!! But you have to take a ferry from circular quay which was gorgeous. But to show you how cool it is, look behind the giraffe and you can see the opera house!! And then, we stayed at the Quay for sunset, and here's Mom and me.

The next day we went back to Bondi and hung out on the beach b/c it was sooo warm and nice, and we stayed there for almost 3 hours. And that night we went BACK to circular quay (its that cool) and here we are in front of the bridge.

The following day we went to the top of Sydney Tower and overlooked the whole city, and i pointed out where i lived and it was such a cool view. I really like that place---and then we did a lil shopping for souvenirs/clothes, which i dont even need. I have too much crap here that i dont even use, but they couldnt take it home b/c they packed too much crap. Oh well! I'll find a way for it to go home. But we also hung out all over Hyde Park, shopped in Paddy's Market, ambled around Chinatown, and just trekked all over this city. They never got used to traffic being on the left hand side, and it was weird thinking a/b that b/c now im used to it. It will definitely take me time to adjust back to driving on the right...ahhhh just thinking a/b driving is crazy. Anyway, the next morning (or i dont know, sometime later) it was time for them to leave Australia. I had become accustomed to their being here, and it was just so much fun laughing and talking and telling stories with them. Mom and I had a few drinks one night and had some serious conversations a/b my future plans after uni, and that was good to have. And then we were exchanging stories and laughing SO hard---i am my parents. seriously. we all have the same sense of humor and tell stories in the same way. hahahahha im thinking of this one time---we had to watch this STUPID movie at the tower, and it was 2 guides in the wild or something and it was designed for kids, and we were in this quiet theater, and mom took off her headphones and whispered to me, "Hmm....what she (the girl guide) needs to do is get a better pair of shorts." b/c they were big and boxy and just disgusting and i of course started busting out laughing and neither of us could stop. i think it's one of those stories that you had to be there. 
    And i have 2 favorite stories w/my dad. oh my gah he was so funny the entire time. But on our last night we went out to eat at this nice restaurant, and everytime he had ordered a beer, he had gotten a "Tooheys" which i recommended him--its really popular here. Well, he couldnt remember that name for the life of him. I kept reminding him that no, they dont sell budweiser here, but its like everything i taught him went out the window at this restaurant. The waitress came up and asked what he wanted to drink, and he curtly replied "beer." haha, so i was already laughing, and she asked "waht type" and you could see in his mind he was trying to remember the name, and he said "uhhh....Tootsey's" and i busted out laughing. Then, they said they were out of that (after i clarified) and he said "budweiser" and continued talking to us. hahahaha im laughing thinking a/b it---b/c of course she had no idea what he was talking a/b. but dont worry we got it clarified.
    The other story is when he went to the movie theater and sat down in his seat. Well, he loves his space and he was eating his popcorn when this girl came and sat down RIGHT next to him, even though most of the theater was empty. So he told us that in his mind, he's thinking "damn! you have this whole place to yourself! why do you have to sit RIGHT NEXT to me?" hahaha so he actually got up and moved down. Then, a couple came and sat down RIGHT NEXT to him again. So now he's getting mad (inside of course, never outside) and scoots down again, and then when it happened for a THIRD time, he looked at his ticket and realized they had assigned seats. hahahah!!! love it
    Anyway, the visit overall was SOOOO good and i loved seeing them. I miss them already, but it just revitalized me, seeing my family. I wish my brothers and sister could have come---that would have been awesome, but at least i saw my parents. And I'll see them again in a lil over 5 months (so strange) and that will be good. But final pics, the Tower and then Dad and I at the airport before they left (very sad). Hope y'all enjoyed!

Currently Listening Greatest Hits By Red Hot Chili Peppers see related

Ok, so part 2 of my Outback experience. Let's talk a/b the people: Seriously they made my experience. I met some of the funniest, coolest people ever, and even when we had to drive for several hours on the road, they made the time fly by. So I'll tell you a/b a few of them:

Jeremy: On the first tour, that joker asked me, "where are you from?" And i responded, "the states." He continues "where?" And I said "Georgia." Again, "where?' And he ended up being from Marietta, right outside Atlanta!! how wild is that? we were the only "yanks" on the first leg of the tour. There were actually five, yes 5, people from Bristol England who didnt know each other, and they were almost all cool. But back to Jeremy. He was really cool, and he was the type who would be fake-annoying and just mess with everyone---and most people liked that, except on our last leg where he got on the bus drunk and told the exact same stories literally four times and was excessively loud and brash. haaha but it was funny. He kept us all entertained. For example, we were driving and this bastard in front of us would speed up when we tried to pass and then slow down, so our guide said, "i wish someone would moon him," and literally five seconds later, Jeremy's pants were down and his ass was out the window. Here's a visual aid:

Meet Bérénice! This little gem hailed from Paris and she was SO fun and cool. She, Jeremy, Mariana, and myself became pretty close b/c we spent 9 or 10 days together. She was shy at first, but she quickly warmed up to us and was so interesting. I even got to pratice my (limited) French w/her and learned useful phrases such as "my little creamy cabbage" (really, they call each other that. They're strange people...).  But the poor girl injured her arm on this really difficult climb (right after the 2nd picture) and she is getting it checked out in paris as we speak (it was the end of her time in australia unfortunately)--hope she's ok!! But one of my favorite memories of her is on the last night in Darwin, it got really wild and everyone was drinking in our favorite bar, the Hotel Vic, and she was stressed out b/c she kept missing the phonecall of her "Special friend" in paris and drank to make up for her sadness. Next thing I know is that she is dancing in her bare feet on the beer-soaked table. It was classic. But i really do miss her and really wish she was in Sydney b/c she was so cool to hang out w/. Je te manque, mon amour!

Mariana was my friend from Intl House in Sydney who traveled with me, and we got along really well--she was sooo much fun and never complained and was gung-ho about everything. We laughed so many times at everything, and we seemed to buy ice cream together at every stop. Love those magnum and splices!! We hung out together but we still socialized with everyone else and so it was the perfect friendship. But here we are in front of Darwin Harbour, which was spectacular actually.   

I'll talk more a/b the people later, but I'll continue now w/the rest of the story. So anyways, we finally arrived in the North to Kakadu Nat'l Park which was worthy of the hype--our first stop was to see these giant termite mounds, and guess what? I ate one of the termites!!!! yes, literally you grab them and crunch on them w/your front teeth, and it tastes identical to pepper. Then, we got back in our safari truck and drove deep into the park to these brilliant waterfalls, where we got to get out and swim (keep in mind just a few days before i was shivering in my scarf and jacket) and it was so reinvigorating and refreshing. We swam in so many waterfalls that it was almost ridiculous. Loved every single one. After swimming, sometimes i would get back on the van and whip out my own Peanut butter and jelly (jam---ugh, they dont have a difference b/w jelly and jam; our jello is their jelly) and make a sandwich. One day, i made sandwiches for all the Brits as they just dont know the pure satisfaction of that simple sandwich. Anyway, we went on this crocodile boat cruise, where we saw an insane number of bigass crocs---ive always had this fear of crocodiles and alligators, even though i sorta grew up around them. I literally would have died if that boat had capsized, but thankfully it didnt. PHEW.

So during our tour, we learned heaps about Aboriginal culture, which was really fascinating for the most part. It's hard to imagine that this culture has been around for tens of thousands of years, and within 200 years, Europeans/white folk have managed to wipe out everything--The govt used to come in and actually steal the children from families, which is truly barbaric. But anyway, we went on these vigorous hikes and on this one came across Aboriginal art that was over 20,000 years old, which is almost impossible to imagine. There you are, starting at something that's been around longer than every material thing you own. You cant even stretch your mind to think that far back, and then it's so strange that there were families who lived at that exact spot which you were standing. So cool. Anyway, we went to this one place where the Aboriginal people were making didgeradoos by traditional means, which were awesome, and our guide lived with them for 2 years and was a pro--i mean, look at this beast!!!

So i think it's a known fact that I am not the most experienced person when it comes to the outdoors or camping, but I mean, im up for adventure and for winging it, but there came a point where I thought i was gonna die. It was our first night in Kakadu and we were unloading our crap into these tents, and all of a sudden we see this snake slither through and stop right in b/w our tents. So im already thinking "oh lawd jesus help me if that thing goes in my tent." And no, dont worry, our guide says its a brown snake, one of the most poisonous in australia and the world. YESSSSSSS. I almost shat my pants right then b/c i had visions of that bigass thing slivering all over me at night. Then, we check our tent and we discover poisonous FROGS, yes frogs. Damn it, is everything around me going to kill me? We go take showers, and HUGE spiders dangle from the ceiling. We go to our tents, wary of everything, and freaking dingos and wallabies are all around us, and to top it off, mosquitos were biting the shit out of us. I think that was the night where I couldnt wait to have a bed. I literally was just hoping to wake up in the morning! hahah!!  But to make up for it, the sunsets and sunrises there were w/o comparison, as they stretched over the swamps and wetlands.

So we finally arrived in Darwin, exhausted and battered but in good spirits, and we all went out big again to celebrate the conclusion of our big tour. We were all going our separate ways, which sucked, so we all deserved one night together. But I hate hate hate saying goodbye to people---its the only thing that can make me upset, esp. if i really like the person, and i really liked a lot of these people. It's like, you meet these amazing people from all over, and you create this bond, some definitely stronger than others, and then poof, you have to take off in different directions, and youre never sure who youre gonna see again. I'm lucky b/c i'll see a few in sydney before people fly home, so that's good news. Anyway, they had this contest where each group of people had to nominate two people to come up and play a didge on stage, and I somehow got nominated b/c i could make a sound w/it, and I had to play this frekaing vacuum cleaner on stage. Well, the people before and after me were AMAZING, like making all these wild nature sounds, so i scoff at them and roll my eyes. But the best part was that it didnt matter who was good, but rather the applause you received. And i ended up getting in the top 4, and the girl who won the contest (and thus a $250 didge!!!!) was from my group, so I came in a close 2nd. It was SOOO great to see Anne win...i was SO happy b/c she was SO hilarious!! But we drank and drank and danced and danced all night; the music was SO good and we had a blast. i loved the two danish girls (next to the scottish guy in the pic) b/c they danced like i did....dirty and wild. Yes, i did shock a few people but im alright w/that!! I would love to go to denmark so does anyone have any extra bucks? No? Oh well.

So there it is, my Outback trip. It was just AWESOME. loved every second of it, even the times when I thought i couldnt handle any more camping. I would definitely recommend my tour if anyone came out here and wanted to see "the real australia"---hopefully your group would be half as good as mine. But I will write later a/b Melbourne and Coldplay, but hope y'all enjoyed it!!!

So I just returned from my big Aussie trip and it was so incredible. I had the most amazing experiences and I met some hilarious, awesome people. I really do think I meet some of the coolest people when I am abroad---dont worry american friends, i still love y'all. But I spent 4 days in Melbourne and then flew to Alice Springs, had a day there, and then took 9 days up to Darwin, then spent 2 days there before flying back last night. So in this entry, I'll focus on the Outback part b/c I'm actually returning to Melbourne tomorrow (crazy I know) to see Coldplay in concert, which i am SOO stoked a/b!!!

But where to start?? We woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight to Alice Springs, which is some podunk town in the direct center of the country, and there is nothing there. It's like an Old Western town in a movie with one main street loaded with tourist shops and Aboriginal people are all in the streets. I met the first few people in my group, and I became excited b/c we all clicked and I knew we'd get along fine. Having a good group can make or break a trip, so that was definitely a relief. Well, Alice Springs was relatively warm and durin the day (18C, upper 60s) but freezing at night (-2C, 29F) and so i started panickin thinking of me camping in the coldass weather, but oh well. So we started the day at 5:45 and drove to this camel farm about an hour from the city and yeah, i rode a camel w/Mariana, my mexican friend I traveled with. Oh yeah, let me warn you. I looked like a hot mess for 10 days straight b/c showers sucked and I mean, I was in the outback. Looking good was not a priority. Anyway, back to the camels. They are SO awkward...kinda like an ostrich actually. We then had to stop to collect firewood, and if we got any splinters, we immediately had to seek first aid b/c the wood has some kind of harmful bacteria in it, so that was our 1st introduction to all the dangers of the Outback---there were a few random cars way back from the highway, so it was a bit strange.  And then we drove on to Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas, and did a big climb, and it was so cool. And to wrap up the day, we drove to Uluru (just in time) and ran up the hill to view the sunset, and no lie, the rock changed colors right before your eyes. Speaking of sunsets, I saw every sunset and sunrise for 10 days--we got up at 5 or 5:30 every morning. But Uluru really was fantastic---it was so weird seeing something in person that you have read in books for years and years. That's one of the best parts of traveling for me actually. So we traveled back to our campsite there and started a giant fire and ate, and the food was actually good. We sat and socialized for a few hours and then hit the sack---we slept outside on the red dirt beneath the stars (which were awesome) inside a sleeping bag and swag, and it was surprisingly warm!! We woke up the next morning at 5 to witness the sunrise, and seriously, sunrises in the Outback are like nothing I have ever seen before. Ahhh soooo amazing. But we did a 10 km walk around the base of it (you could climb it but I refrained b/c of Aboriginal culture). Honestly, the rock started off a dark brown, and suddenly, it changed to a brilliant red/orange and then shifted to gold/yellow and then returned to a darker red. It happened in a span of 20 minutes. So here are some pics so you can get a visual:






And the next day we went to this place called King's Canyon, which was soo cool---i think I liked it more than Uluru. It was this giant canyon (duh) and just had spectacular views, and the hike was really nice. You could see for miles and miles, and there were lush trees and a big river at the bottom, and it was beautiful weather again. Then we stopped at a gas station and I loved the signs (even though they misspelled Sheilas) for guys and girls---reminded me of Outback restaurant in the States.  Many of the people on my tour (i'll talk a/b them later---SOO great) were Brits and Irish, and I found myself actually saying bloke and even lads. Whoa i know. but Ive officially adopted "queue" instead of "line" and I have a tendancy to say "Woht" instead of "wut"--yes!!