This weekend is full of cherry blossoms and a trip to Korea....
see you on the other side...

Yutaka and the way to count
Wee-chubby-faced cute third grader today was caught saying this, when teacher told all to be quiet and listen to me:
10-9-8-6-7--8--9--10... huh?
I felt the confusion...I feel it everyday

hugging monkeys
On Saturday I went with some friends to see the monkeys of Shimokita. It was a three hour(ish) drive, with a few designated stops at conbenis. We didnt see the wild monkeys I had hoped for. The various maps along the roads had monkey pictures that teased us into thinking we would happen upon a monkey commune; complete with all-singing, all-poop-throwing cute monkeys. We settled for the enclosure, where we didnt pay because the man was having a snooze in his hut. The monkeys were in their little families....hugging. It must be too chilly for them to be walking around, so they just hold on to each other. Some part of me wanted to jump over the fence and join in on the huggins. I felt their pain as we raced from chilly winds into the car. I still have my dream to see these famed monkeys in the wild, throwing poo at anything that moves. I will be hit...oh yes...

a hug for all

Oh back to school...
This morning I am driving out to Shingo to start my final semester of teaching in Japan. Gulp.
I will have some new six year olds to meet. I hope they aren't scared of me. I can be quite a scary concept to a mini person I imagine.
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I LOVE YOU
Today Kikuko showed me a shiny purple rock
She bought it in Jusco, she said.
The 5th grade wrote in English for the first time
until the word Aomori appeared on their pages.
Keisuke showed me the words I LOVE YOU in his wibbly writing.
He is my best student ...

Happy Drug Rage
This lunchtime I went to Happy Drug to pick up some things, and I watched an old lady with her big basket push in front of me in the line at the checkout. She then decided to redeem Happy Drug Points, buy things separately, and ask if they could bring her a lighter to add to her basket. And then when I sighed, as one does at such a time, she found it quite fun taking her sweet time counting out her money and asking for the lady to change her 5000 yen bill into 1000s. Good gravy lady! I would like to think that I am a patient kind of girl, but this lady really made me want to bust out my numbchucks. Maybe her hips were hurting, and she didn't like my youth, but I felt the name of the store was not quite fitting today...

the place to get happy

I was flicking through my dictionary,
and found this word:
dorojiai o suru
which means...
engage in mudslinging at each other

The end of the adventure...
So I am back from my trip away. I will spend the next few days filling in the holes since I have been away. It really has been an experience like no other, so I need to share it all. Here goes...

My journey back to Japan began after saying goodbye to my group and hanging out at the hotel for a few hours, with a quick swim to attempt to cool down. I flew from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh and then on to Tokyo. Being back in Japan was a little overwhelming as I saw the swarms of people in Tokyo before I got on the bullet train. When I had to pay 6000 yen for a seat on the train I was shocked to have lost my yen. All was ok though, as it usually is...

Losing blood to Celine Dion
One last temple today...the women's temple called Banteay Srey. It was a long drive through the jungle to see it. We drove past endless villages of locals who were enjoying cooking and swinging in hammocks. I stocked up on a few more postcards, because at 10 for a dollar, one has to have at least 40. On the way back to the hotel, I got dropped off at the local hospital in Siem Reap with another lady in our group, Jane, who is an eye doctor in the UK. We were taking up the challenge to donate blood. Now, this was a first for me, and I was super nervous...but Jane made all the necessary hazard checks and told me what to expect. The doctors working there looked younger than me, and other foreigners trickled in as we were on the beds, so I tried to be brave. The doctor heard my request for some relaxing music, and found some Celine Dion on the radio, being played by DJ Monkey. This and the feeling of blood escaping my body was quite a surreal experience. Jane and I were treated to a can of coke with a straw and a goodie bag to show appreciation. When we left the hospital, we looked around for a tuk tuk. And we couldnt find one!! Irony...
After a little food and lie down to replenish my energy, I met up with Joy and we went to the market and some craft stores in town.
As it was my last night with the group, who would be traveling on to Thailand the next day, we all went for a fancy cocktail and a nice meal at a place called the Soup Dragon. I realised how fortunate I was to be with such a lovely group of people exploring Cambodia together.

my fellow travelers

Sunrise...sunset
Sunrise over Angkor Wat...it was so beautiful! It wasn't as peaceful as I would have liked as there were noisy tourists shrieking every few seconds, but still it was nice to sit and wait for the orangey red sun to appear by one of the towers of the temple.
We then headed over to a restaurant opposite the temple, and we were surrounded by children selling postcards, bracelets, books... As we sat down at the table, I felt tears and I couldn't even think about eating when there were children outside struggling to make a dollar. Call me sentimental, emotional, soft....whatever. So I didn't eat breakfast that day...instead I went outside and made friends with the children. They had the most amazing English. Early in the morning they are out with their arms full of things to sell to help pay for school. One boy sold me a pretty scarf, and they showed me how to put it on. I hope I let them be kids just for a few moments. They beat me everytime at thumb wars.
Inside the Angkor Wat temple are some HUGE steep stone steps that lead to the top. I wasn't going to attempt to climb them, due to my intense fear of heights, but up I went. I knew that the descent was inevitable, but I swallowed my butterflies for a short while.
Sarah and I met a few more monks at the top of this temple. One had a photographer following him, as well as some locals, and he approached me and asked me to pose in a picture with him (hmm, strange?). The other monk was backdropped by the most amazing view. He then used his English phrases to talk with us, and was rude to Sarah when she said she wasn't married. Sarah and I then vowed to only spot and look at monks--when they speak, they disappoint. Cheeky monk-eys. When I looked at those stone steps again, I started to shake. Irish man Jim helped me all the way down, and the crowd at the bottom gave me a cheer and clap after Jim told them I was scared. Funny. My group were more worried about Jim, as he is in his 70s...but he has no fear, so I appreciated his help.
We also watched the sunset from the top of another temple that evening. So I said hello and goodbye to the sun today. That's a first for me!

sunrise over angkor

the friends i made outside of the temple

the crazy steps that surely people fall down

Temples and monks
We set off early early by aeroplane to Siem Reap, further north in Cambodia. Once checked into the Freedom Hotel, we set off to the spectacular temples at Angkor. We had to get a pass to get into the temple area, and Sarah taught us how to take a funny photo by saying "fudge". It really worked. I look like a movie star being all seductive. I guess my usual big cheesy grin prevents such a look. So we went to a temple that is surrounded by the jungle...called Ta Prohm. There were trees growing out of the walls, which made this place a photographer's dream. But it was so HOT, and this made it difficult to follow the story being told by our new local guide, Sokhom.
In the afternoon, we saw another temple, and nearby were a few orange monks hanging out. I seemed to encourage others into my new monkspotting hobby, so Sarah and I braved a closer look to get some sneaky pictures. We were waved over by a monk and he then proceeded to ask us strangely personal questions, like whether we were married and our ages. Possibly, the orange monks are not aware that it is rude to ask a lady such questions. As we told of our encounter with the monks to our group, our leader looked a little disappointed in us and told us that we had caused a monk to sin and therefore we had sinned. Gulp. But we didnt touch the monk, which is forbidden by women, so I didn't feel so bad for long. I think we must have made the monks day by stopping for a chat, so I was happy enough.

double monkage!

my, what big roots you have!

Phnom Penh
Tuesday morning was an emotionally challenging time learning about the recent history of Cambodia. We visited the Tuol Sleng museum and the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh. I couldn't believe the things our local guide, Rahn was telling us about what the Khmer Rouge did in the late 1970s--in my lifetime! It challenged me to learn more about this country.
The afternoon was spent trying to cheer up, by experiencing the Russian Market in town. There were many bargains around, but I don't know how to haggle, so could have done better I think. On the way to and from the market we spotted many monks dressed in orange on motorbikes or walking. Here began my fascination with monks, and had to take a picture everytime I saw one.
In the evening, we were invited to experience a homestyle Khmer dinner at the house of our guide, Rahn. When we arrived, the local neighbourhood kids welcomed us with cheerful hellos, where-you-froms and what's-your-names, and we got to join in on the end of their English lesson. I met their teacher and gave the children some paper cranes I had made with some students in Shingo. There was so much food to try...all of it interesting and tasty. Rahn shared his story with us, and it was a very cool end to our stay in Phnom Penh.

paper cranes for the kids

boy walking in the sun

the faces at the Tuol Sleng museum that confronted me with the history of Cambodia

Good morning Vietnam...
Joy and I woke up early to spend the rest of our Vietnamese Dong before we left Vietnam. We bought fruit, coffee, strange foodstuffs and had a couple of close calls with people carrying dead pigs over their shoulders or on motorbikes. It was great to be in the crowd of locals, experiencing shopping in another country. Our stuff was later loaded onto a little white speedy boat, and we headed up the Mekong river towards Cambodia. A couple of hours later, we had to get out of the boat with our bags and get them x-rayed and our passports stamped to leave Vietnam. Little local boys wanted to help us. One boy with blonde streaks showed me his big muscles to prove his strength.Too cute. We got out of Vietnam, loaded the boat and traveled a few metres up the river to enter Cambodia. Three little girls welcomed us to their country, in wonderful English! I had to get a visa on the border, so a few of us sat in a hut while officials made sure we were suitable to enter. I learnt the word for thank you...awkun. Another couple of hours on the boat brought us past floating markets, many houses on stilts and wavy children helping their families to fish. We reached Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, at around lunchtime. It was soooo hot! We got to the hotel, ate lunch, and then Joy and I headed out to the Royal Palace. It was a beautiful place, so full of colour and interesting shapes. We took our first tuk tuk ride on the way back, after we tried to find a monastery. A tuk tuk is a motorbike with a little carriage attached that you sit in while the driver takes you wherever you want to go. Our driver was called Nick and had a killer-comical Australian accent.
That night we were treated with a performance of traditional Khmer (Cambodian) dance by some children in a kind of orphanage centre. It was super. Some of the little boys kept winking at the audience, which was hilarious.We got the chance to dance and play with the kids afterwards---it was lovely to meet the local children.

dancing around

The next day we headed out on a bus to a city near the border with Cambodia called Chau Doc. The scenery from the window was amazing...so green, and we could see the Mekong Delta river with many many people wearing the Vietnamese conical straw hats.
Chau Doc was more friendly than Ho Chi Minh. The people were busy in the market, and kids shouted hello to us as we walked around.

the market at chau doc

vietnam

my new friend masa

My travels over to Vietnam were pretty uneventful...I sat next to a Vietnamese monk on the plane, who told me in a sinister kind of way that scared me, "Trust no-one". My first night was spent trying to get used to airconditioning, seeing as my body has become accustomed to an electric blanket every night for the past few months. When I woke up, I had Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) waiting for me to explore. I was a little nervous because I was on my own, and I wasn't due to meet my group until 6pm. I made my way to the War Remnants Museum, which really was shocking because of the photographs they had on display. They also had US tanks and guns outside, which I found a little creepy when I saw a Vietnamese school group jumping all over them with joy. After this museum, I felt a little like I wanted to escape my white skin. I felt ashamed of being foreign, when a lot of the pain the photos showed was because of foreign people.
I went to the Reunification Palace in the city in the afternoon, after I had braved a trip on the back of a motorcycle to the hotel I would be staying in the next night. I held on for dear life, and ended up getting conned into paying the driver 5 times the amount he said it would be (trust no-one). At the Palace, I met a Japanese guy, Masa, who was also traveling alone. I was happy to find a friend to be in the big scary city with. There are so many motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh, and the sound of honking is constant. Masa showed me how to cross the road safely--you just walk slowly. No panic or you die. We went shopping in the afternoon and wandered around until it was time for me to meet my group. I was very thankful to make a new friend on my first day in Vietnam! I was diddled of my dong on my way into the hotel (once again, trust no-one).
There were to be nine of us in the group I would be traveling with for the next week and our leader, Marlo was from Australia. She told us that we would be leaving at 9 the next morning, and we went for dinner that night at a vegetarian restaurant. This was the first time I was faced with begging children. It was hard to know what to do. My roomate was called Joy and I knew straight away that we would get along.

drive by frooting

vietnam war museum