bum leg = no sunrise biking to angkor wat

So sadly hurting my hip flexor during a fun, competitive pickup in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) and overstretching the next day shot our chance for biking in Siem Reap. But taking a couple days of rest has been nice.

Yesterday Adam spent the 2nd of 3 days of our Wat sightseeing pass with a rented bicycle while I rested in the hotel. But today we both rested and went to "Joe to Go" for coffee and studying. Their profits all go to The Global Child NGO. Website is www.theglobalchild.org We also got a couple things from their upstairs boutique. For lunch we ordered a "make your own sandwich"with all the vegetables including grilled eggplant and then added avacado. Can we say A-MAZING! So delicious so we ordered a second.

Tonight we watched a free cultural dance all run by children. They played the instruments and danced several dances in costumes. Adults choreographed of course but it was worth the entertainment. You can donate after the show. All the children sang a song with a clapping audience at the end. One performer had his scarf on and his non-performing friend behind him proceed to wrap the other end of the scarf around himself and then pretended to put the first boy in a choke position...woulda loved it on my camera but my camera flashed twice so i got the shoulders of the two audience members in front of me. The dances consisted of a folklore about monkeys, a tiger and a fish princess from what I gathered. I kind of tuned out during the narrative at the beginning. Then one dance was with coconut halves clacked together between different dancers and the last of ladies and fishermen. The smallest of the girls and boys did a cute playful scene at the end where the boy took the fish basket away from the girl and teased her about returning it. The best part was that little of it was acting since it seemed more real as children tend to go off-script.

Now for dinner I am at the Mandalay Inn on their computer while Adam is getting our pasta from "Joe to Go". The food was so good we had to go again, especially by helping students achieve better education. Mandalay Inn has a full staff of very friendly English speakers. They have been very helpful in the smallest requests like hot water, calling a ttuk ttuk driver and allowing us to fill up a 1 Liter water bottle from their water station. We ask for a knive or spoons or something every day since we got some food from the market to save on food costs. I recommend staying here. Very good people and the rooms are nice. I guess the only one thing that seems petty is the smell of the water...a bit like rust to me but it could be a 'well' smell. I'm very keen on scents and I'm sure Adam hasn't even noticed it.

Tomorrow we will ttuk ttuk it to a sunrise viewing of Angkor Wat and then see the other temple that Hollywood celebrities enjoy (the one from Tomb Raider). Then we will head to Thailand for the very last leg of our SE Asia trip...AWESOME! There's no sadness anytime this year since there is always something awaiting us for the next step. So thankfully Adam and I can enjoy every step we take this year. Always something good around the corner.

Additional note, since we are nearing the end of our trip we seem to be getting souvenirs more than we had before. Partly because we don't have to lug it around for long and also because we sense the end is near and can't lose the opportunity to have a keepsake or two for others and ourselves.

on the farm

wed nite we got off at a bus stop too early. luckily a nice taxi driver let us borrow his cellie while we waited. neil the farmer took us to the next town. the fam is at bang phra. after being warned of snakes and loud trains adam and i got ready for sleep. he peed on a tree outside and i opted for sqatting indoor by the shower drain. both were recommended as better options than using the testy toilets. the spray bidet is in favor of tissues. if u did use paper u need ur own ziploc. since i have neither i will maintain the permaculture goals. daytime we must use the outside bathroom. therefore all pooping will be scheduled before a shower in case i feel the method of pouring water from a handle bucket is too much. i asked for a demo because when u r squatting u find it much more difficult to clean with water u have to pour. basically one hand pours with small pot shaped bucket and the other wipes so make sure u have soap afterwards. all to say that is why i will wait to use the bidet inside before a shower. turns out with our timing the 10 days at the farm turns out to be only 6 days of work. after weeding our first day we are on break today and tomorrow. we walked over an hour on hot asphalt to search for band aids for adams newly formed sandal blister and find wifi and some form of entertainment. got ice cream from 7_11 and now at a small cafe with the net. going to a night market with other wwoofers and troy, the second in command after neil. gonna collect friut and goods to cook for the next couple days. also in china we couldnt use gmail or facebook at the wifi at an airport cafe but we still made it. so far so good. all thoughts and prayers welcome. i prayed while prepping to land in bangkok. surprisingly bad turbulence. we prolly outwarmed our welcome at this cafe. but we will have wifi at the farm by end of next week perhaps. till then. ciao. kob kun ka for reading.

justinking

as a kid my dad would say stinkin' for thinking so i'm just 'stinkin' for this post

Looking at the banner of my blog and listening to Aqualung with lyrics of glimmer in the sky I think how soon this blog will be nostalgic of my time in Korea. How starting and ending this blog with my life in Korea will be complete. When I look at this blog again it will all be a memory check up and no more a way to gauge on how much I need to catch up on my readers. One day soon I will look at the picture and think of how I saw the sun over the hill of Namsan Tower from my roof. Or how I will remember the times I commuted on the clean and sometimes sardine-like metro. I'll remember singing back the jingles for the metro or repeating back the Chinese version of a stop.

But I didn't start this post to reminisce. Not yet. Here are some pictures to update you before I seek more captured lifeshots in SE Asia.

Love the English and Korean combo. (the Korean says chee-je aka cheese) This was inside a pizza/chicken store.

Last weekend our hands were so cold we couldn't feel much beyond 'ouch'. This past Sunday the temperature was above 40 so we had twice as many out here at Ichon Fields. Our last day at KUPA. Many farewells at the end of the day but hoping to see a lot of people at tournaments in the future. I'll miss the Koreans a lot.

Jisoo and I love eating Shabu Shabu together. Our last meal. Ate for lunch today.

Some Vietnamese money. They have cutouts with clear plastic over them.

Did someone say "Benjamins"?

Birthday and February.

My birthday coffee.

For Lunar New Year we went with some friends to Jin-do. Adam went on a trailblazing hike.





Met my Incheon coworkers once last time before moving out of Korea. They got me a gift from Benefit. We also had a unique experience at Mr. Pizza. Don't go there! Ha.




My last day at Eonju Elementary School the teachers in my office took Adam and me to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. My co-teacher knows I love Korean stationary/pencil store items so that's what they got for my goodbye gifts. So sweet.