Budapest 7/27-7/30

Oh Budapest, you beautiful city! Neyka and I had an incredible time discovering Budapest. Our fun was largely attributed to recommendations and direction by my local friend, Zsofia, who I met 7 months ago in Krabi, Thailand! We reunited over dinner at Konyha (Neyka and I split rosé, this delicious Hungarian meat spread with veggies, cauliflower risotto, a pancetta dish, and topped off with chocolate mousse, it was all phenomenal) and then the following day we met for lunch to eat the best gyros I’ve ever tasted at Kerkyra Gyros. Reuniting with Zsofia in her hometown was a unique experience… I’ve met so many travelers along this trip but getting the opportunity to see a fellow traveler in her own element offers a totally different perspective from the woman I met months ago when it was hot, humid, and pouring rain for days while we were staying in bungalows on the coast of Thailand.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Zsofia offered an extensive list of fun, local activities that kept us busy throughout our 4 days. We walked all over the city, up to view points from Gellért Hill overlooking parliament and the river, through parks and islands. We took in the local architecture and visited a couple museums. Most importantly, we took an incredibly soothing soak in the Rudas baths – Neyka and I would alternate between the 40 C (104 F) and 14 C (57 F) pools, which purportedly enhances your immune system, muscle recovery and metabolism, followed by a soak on the rooftop pool over looking the river and city.

Budapest city views

Neyka blending in with the locals

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

At Fröccsterasz, an outdoor bar overlooking a park in central Budapest, we tried a local wine drink, called vice fröccs, part rosé and part sparkling water – which sounds like a sin to many, but we loved it! The drink was so refreshing and no hangover because we were hydrating while dehydrating (you know that just screams “BRIE”). On our last night, Neyka and I took a bottle of champagne and a delicious spread of meat, cheese, fruit, and nuts to the Liberty Bridge to watch the sunset and see the city light up the night. We then went out to a ruins bar called Szimpla kart – this bar concept is built in an abandoned building with a million different rooms, wild decorations, and music throughout. After an entertaining couple hours of people watching and drinking our vice fröccs, we danced the night away at Fogas ház before stumbling home in time for sunrise. Before departing for Romania, we took one last trip to the Lukas baths to sweat the Budapest out of our system.

City views of Budapest from Liberty Bridge

A huge thank you to Zsofia, I’m delighted we had the opportunity to meet again and your recommendations made visiting your beautiful city a marvelous experience!

 

 

Croatia 7/19-7/25

I was feeling a little lost in Italy and unsure where to go next, I figured I may as well go to Croatia to figure out how I want to best maximize my time elsewhere. In order to make my trip to Europe last as long as I want it to, I need to make sure I split my time accordingly between Schengen (majority of Europe) and non- Schengen countries (UK, Ireland, Croatia, Romania, and a few others)… US travelers can only spend 90 days of every 180 days in Schengen countries visa-free. After asking a few Italians and doing a little research, I decided to set myself up in the coastal town of Rovinj, Croatia – 4 hours from Treviso, Italy.

The bus ride along the coast was absolutely stunning and Rovinj was gorgeous seaside village with a rocky coastline, however it was packed with tourists. I ended up spending my couple days avoiding the crowds… I ran and biked to the coastal park early in the morning, I brought my breakfast/lunch, blanket and book with me and hung around on the rocks overlooking the Adriatic sea until around 1PM when the crowds came, and then spent the afternoon and evening lounging in my room. Croatians are initially pretty rough around the edges but end up being lovely people once they warm up to you. As I spent my time moseying about the bed and breakfast one afternoon, the owners invited me to have a cappuccino and croissant, then a beer, and we managed to hold an entertaining conversation despite their broken English. I’ve had the following conversation several times so far here when people say “DeLisi, Italian?” and my response, “a little… I’m a mutt” listing my extensive European heritage – one of the owners here said it best though, “Internacionalan!”

Beautiful town of Rovinj – the only shot I could get without crazy tourists

Rocky Adriatic coastline

I hopped on a bus inland to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, to get away from the beach crowds. On my way there I decided it was time to get a haircut and made an appointment for the following morning at 10:30. With the help of a little liquid courage, I ended up cutting it all off! And it feels wonderful.

Hostel conflict story: I shared my Zagreb hostel room with two 60+ women from Argentina, who recently retired from teaching. I solely communicated with them in Spanish since only one spoke broken English. I felt incredibly fortunate to be sharing my room with such inspiring women taking on hostel life and to have the opportunity to practice my Spanish. That feeling didn’t last long as they chatted loudly until midnight and then woke up at 6:30AM, digging through their luggage, which were apparently FULL of plastic bags (hostel etiquette 101: plastic bags in dorms are a huge NO-NO in the morning, they make so much noise). The following day I did my best to explain in Spanish that I need to sleep and maybe they could be a little bit quieter in the morning, and please no plastic bags. I received an incredulous look and the question of “how am I supposed to get my things and pack in the morning??” and my response to “pack tonight and leave out the items you need for the morning,” followed by the deer-in-the-headlights expression of someone who couldn’t argue that logic even though she really wanted to (semi-reminiscent of Grandma Gloria that I’m sure I’ll adopt one day). As a peace offering, I gave her all my unused hair elastics and I didn’t even hear those ladies leave in the morning!

I visited Zagreb’s Museum of Broken Romances, a display of stories and items of broken relationships. The stories and items on display ranged from a son’s letter to his absent father to a stuffed animal of a woman who’s husband of 20 years said he never loved her. The stories were a sobering reminder that the causes of a broken heart range so greatly but the resulting pain is universal. My favorite was a letter from a UK man who fell in love with an Australian woman over the course of 3 weeks while she was visiting, he wrote her 10 reasons why she should stay in the UK.

Central Zagreb, Croatia

My favorite display in the Museum of Broken Relationships

A former Sikorsky coworker, Neyka, and I finally connected in Plitvice Lakes National Park. She and I met during her last week at Sikorsky back in December; a mutual friend put us in touch since she was leaving her engineering job to travel the world for a year as well. It is incredible to think that the last time we saw each other was in the Sikorsky cafeteria to trade planning and packing notes. Our reunion included an 11-mile hike through the infamous Croatian lakes. The National Park was magnificent, the 16 lakes were an incredible bright blue and each viewpoint hosted a number of scenic waterfalls (and tourists). Now we’re off to Budapest, Hungary.

View from our room in the peaceful Plitvice Lakes region

Neyka and I halfway through our 11 mile hike

Incredible views of the Plitvice Lakes waterfalls

Italy 7/12-7/19

I landed in Rome and found my way to EcoHotel Roma where I planned on hibernating for a couple days. The location outside of the main city was perfect, I was within walking distance of a huge park, a few shops and restaurants, and the hotel provided a shuttle to the center if desired. I spent two days walking, napping and eating – I didn’t really hit any of the tourist sites since I was jet lagged and I find tourists en masse maddening. My first meal was a 4 € (~$4.5 USD) margarita pizza and I think I scarfed it in 2 minutes, maybe less – there was no opportunity for a photo. The food was everything I dreamed of, the cheese, carbs, wine and gelato were sent from heaven directly to Italy.

After two days of recovery I traveled north to Florence to meet my parents for the weekend. While looking up my travel options, I found this website called BlaBlaCar, which I have to say is my new favorite transportation option. It’s a ridesharing website that sets you up with drivers who are already making the trip, and they charge a [comparatively] small amount for you to ride along, ex: I paid 11 € / $12 USD for a 3 hour drive from Rome to Florence with a friendly woman named Elena. Passengers and drivers leave ratings and comments, which is incredibly valuable to me as a solo female traveler – so I’m happy to hop in Elena’s car with her 70+ reviews with 4.9/5 stars.

Visiting with my parents in Florence was idyllic. We shared delicious meals of pizza, salad and veggies, seafood, spaghetti, bread, steak, wine and, most importantly, dessert… all eaten tapas-style so we could maximize our flavor-to-taste bud ratio. We took a road trip south to Siena, which was both terrifying and incredibly beautiful as the entire drive overlooked the scenic Tuscan hills and villages. The roads in Italy are wild and I commend my dad on his top notch driving skills. Siena is a small, medieval town that banned cars except for residents, which made it perfect for moseying through the streets. We explored the shops, churches and center; the center hosts a horse race two times a year in which the 14 village neighborhoods compete against one another and earn their bragging rights for 6 months. This was also home to my favorite meal thus far – everything from the Chianti to the zucchini flowers, fresh potato focaccia bread, pasta with beef and chocolate pear cake were mouth-wateringly delicious (again there was no opportunity for pictures, we finally remembered at dessert).

Sitting pretty in Siena square

Looking fabulous in front of the Florence Duomo

Views from Siena

I tearfully parted ways with my parents to make my way up to Treviso… it was a painful separation for me but I quickly recovered on my fun ride north with Damiano, Ricardo and Arianna. In Treviso, 30 minutes north of Venice, I was hosted by Fabrizio (via AirBnB) and I was welcomed by him and his friend with prosecco the second I walked into his home. Treviso is a quiet town, perfect for me to avoid the tourist scene in Venice, and I walked for miles through the town visiting the square, markets and gelaterias. Fabrizio was a wonderful host, he made me breakfast in his cute, bohemian apartment including eggs, fruit, tomatoes, and espresso, and also invited me along to the beach for the day and the bar with his friends. Yesterday, my birthday, I woke up to the kindest note since I was leaving early, to make sure I woke him up to make breakfast.

What a good morning note!

Treviso, Italy

Fabrizio’s apartment

Now I’m off to Croatia – but never fear, Italy, I’m coming back for you in the fall when the tourist season is over. I still have kilos of pizza, wine and gelato to consume. My first impressions of Italy were slightly conflicting – the people are wonderful and the warmth of Italians makes you feel like a longtime friend even though you are a new acquaintance. However the flip side is women always look you head to toe with utter disdain and I always wonder if I look like walking garbage or if they look at everyone like that.

On another more personal note of reflection, one year ago I was a wreck– Jonathan moved out a couple weeks earlier and he very kindly took me out for a birthday dinner since I didn’t have anyone within dinner-distance on a week night, but that didn’t make my situation less painful. I can’t believe how far my life has come since those hopelessly isolating days… I’m proud of myself. To the incredible number of new friends who reached out to me on my birthday everywhere between British Colombia and Germany, and my dearest long-time friends and family from coast to coast who loved me through my worst – I thank you from the bottom of my heart, you’ve made my life perfect.

This year my birthday evening was a little lonely, an emotion that was exacerbated by my disappointment with the town I’m currently visiting. Don’t get me wrong, the Croatian coast is beautiful, but during the high season it feels like Fort Lauderdale during spring break*… fortunately this time I have control over my happiness, next please!

 

*Update: I did just go for a run through a park along the coast which was incredibly peaceful without very many people around in the morning. Maybe its not so bad…

Hitting the road again! 7/11/16

I’m thrilled to be back on the road and living out of my backpack! I should also mention at the moment I’m also pretty nervous, although not even close to the same tear-inducing anxiety that plagued me 7 months ago. I had a wonderful two months in Florida, which offered a much-needed opportunity to settle down for a minute, reflect on my travels and save a little money while working for my dad. Living with my parents again for the first time since I graduated was a blast; not at all surprising considering they are a couple extraordinary human beings. Their support throughout this phase of my life has been unreal and I’m beyond thrilled we get to reunite in Italy.

Goodbyes in Naples, FL

Before taking off for Europe, I managed to squeeze in a western Americas trip. I started off in Denver to visit Corey, who I met while living in Florida. The adventure life is real in Colorado: hiking opportunities galore, spring skiing at A-Basin, excellent live music, and a thrilling 24 hours of surprises including camping, stand up paddle boarding around Lake Dillon, followed by whitewater rafting down some exhilarating class 3 rapids, and a visit to the hot spring caves in Idaho Springs to warm up after getting smacked in the face repeatedly with the frigid river rapids. Needless to say, I left Colorado blissfully exhausted.

Stand up paddleboarding on Lake Dillon

Corey fly fishing in Lake Dillon

My next stop was Seattle to visit Grace and Ezra. Every time I go to Seattle, I fall a little bit more in love… the city is so weird, outdoorsy, foodie-oriented, and naturally stunning. I managed to meet up with Johanna, my travel buddy through Laos, for a yoga class and coffee to catch up on life since our travels together. The big event of the weekend was marching in the PRIDE parade in downtown Seattle. I marched with Grace and her company, Rover (which meant puppies, score), decked out in our festive rainbow costumes. The solidarity of LGBT support and love was palpable, and the experience was particularly uplifting when our world is constantly struggling with discrimination and intolerance based on sexuality, race, gender and religion.

PRIDE Parade in Seattle with Grace and Ezra

After my weekend in Seattle, I rented a car to make my way up to Kelowna, British Colombia to visit my one and only travel wife, NORI!! I cannot even begin to express how exciting it was to reunite halfway across the world in her picturesque town. We picked right back up where we left off… Highlights from our escapades include seeing a moose and her calf run across the road right in front our car (in case you were not in-the-know, the elusive moose is my favorite land-animal), our hikes brought us to incredible views of the Okanagan mountains, waterfalls and lake, and we wrapped up our visit with a decadent winery dinner. My heart was so heavy when I had to leave… but that just means I’ll have to return again soon.

Winery dinner

Doing what we do best

I went down to southern California for the 4^th of July and managed to squeeze in a jam-packed trip including visits with my wonderful Orange County friends, old colleagues, hiking, a night in San Diego, and a pool party in West Hollywood. From there on up to San Francisco for a few days to stay with my oldest friend Cori and visits with friends that brought me everywhere from a delicious Greek lunch spot to the NASA and Facebook campuses (shout out to you, Seamus and Siina). Both visits completely reaffirmed my belief that the west coast is indeed the best coast. I ended my journey back in Colorado with a weekend trip down south to camp, hike and visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Orange County and my beautiful hosts, Dayspring, Meena and Sarah

Former UTAS colleagues and family

San Francisco visiting my oldest friend, Cori

Overlooking Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

Thank you to all my wonderful friends/hosts including Corey, Grace, Ezra, Nori, Meena, Sarah, Dayspring, and Cori for taking me in, feeding me and sharing in my year of nonstop adventure. My spur of the moment walkabout ended up being a remarkable addition to my year of travels and I’m incredibly grateful I had the opportunity to share the fun with you.

And now I’m off to Italy and beyond!! I’ll probably be in Europe for 5 months or so, returning to the US for the holidays. Reflecting back on my travels in Southeast Asia, Europe is shaping up to be an epic trip. This is going to be a totally new experience as compared to the first three months of this year. I met so many new friends from Europe while in Southeast Asia and now I have connections in almost every country! Visiting my friends totally changes the game and will allow me to hop off the tourist track to get a taste of the local life. As far as planning goes, I reserved a room at a bed and breakfast for the first two nights in Rome and then I’ll go to see my parents in Florence… After that I really have no plan. I do apologize to all my European friends for the lack of coordination thus far, but we all know that traveling is much more enjoyable!

Singapore 3/28 – 4/4 and the end of my Asian adventure

Well time certainly flies – here I am, on my first of 3 flights back to Florida. The last few months flew by and yet my first week in Thailand seems like a lifetime ago. Before I get ahead of myself reflecting on the trip as a whole – I still have my week in Singapore!

I really struggled the first few days in Singapore, it was a total culture shock – I had grown accustomed to life in developing countries and I was slow to adjust back to being in a fully developed country with reliable public transportation, drinkable tap water, options to pay with a credit card and not having to carry toilet paper with me everywhere I go. Not to mention the endless options that are available in the developed world – why do I need to pick from 20 different types of yogurt, muesli, and coffee? For the love of god just give me one or two so I don’t have to stand there for 20 minutes comparing labels and prices to pick the ‘best’ for my budget and body. I think that’s why I like Trader Joe’s back at home so much; you only get a couple options for each type of product and as a result, it is so damn cost and time effective.

Singapore’s diversity absolutely floored me, my first day on the train I listened to everyone around me having conversations in English but with accents from all over the world. I was used to this in hostels through my travels but this was a first for being out in the general public… A group of ladies in their 50s with British, Indian, French, and American accents chatting about the latest wine bar and how the selection is lacking but the sommelier is a cutie… they’d be back. I walked 40 miles all over the city, visiting parks, cafes, gardens (and gardens and gardens) and the various neighborhoods like Chinatown and Little India.

Marine Bay Gardedn

Botanical Gardens

VIP Orchid Garden

Chinatown

Ringing the bell of Happiness

I ran into a bit of a snafu with my hostel situation over the weekend. I was accustomed to only booking my accommodations no more than one day in advance, sometimes the day of, and assumed that Singapore would be no different. I didn’t account for Coldplay being in town, and that everyone from the surrounding nations would travel to Singapore to see them. I ended up realizing on Thursday evening that I had nowhere to stay Friday and Saturday… all the hostels were booked, the only hotels available were 10-20x my budget. Well shit. So I took to emailing friends and coworkers, and posting on Facebook asking if anyone had friends in Singapore who had a couch I could crash on for the weekend. Within a few hours I had 3 offers for spare bedrooms! I ended up staying with my new friend Dan, who went to University with my friend Cori from high school. Dan took me under his wing and I got to join his expat group of friends in birthday dinners, party bus rides and beach days. And for the first time in months I got to order in dinner, share a bottle of wine and binge-watch Netflix. A huge thank you again, Dan, you saved me, gave me shelter and showed me a wonderful time in Singapore.

Birthday Dinner

Beach Day

Coming home was a bit of a beast – I woke up April 4 at 3:00AM to find out my 6:00AM flight was cancelled. I ended up being rebooked for 1:00AM the following day and so began my 26-hour journey home via Seoul, Korea and Detroit, Michigan. My first flight was overbooked so they bumped me up to business (score!) and from there I got to see my last Asian sunrise of the trip.

So what now? I will be in Florida for 2-3 months taking a temporary break in my travels to work for my dad and right now my plan is to go to Europe next. If you happen to be near Naples, Florida over the next couple months – let me know! I’ll also make my way up to Connecticut a couple times for visits…

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap 3/16-3/28

After having way too much fun in the sun, Nori and I ventured north to Phnom Penh for one day. Nori already visited the cultural side of Phnom Penh so she spent her 8 hours shooting RPGs with the Cambodian military (that’s not a joke – she’s that much of a badass). I spent the day visiting the Choeung Ek killing fields and the S21 museum, both of which were from the Khmer Rouge Regime. I was fully prepared for a heart wrenching day learning about the tragic 4 years in the 1970s when approximately 25% of the Cambodian population was murdered. The Killing Fields were exactly what they sound like – they were fields in which they killed anyone who was perceived as a threat to the government for any reason whatsoever… for example if you wore glasses, you were considered intellectual and therefore a threat. Men, women and even babies were killed here and their bodies were dumped in these large fields. I almost got sick at a couple points during the audio tour… when I was guided to the killing tree against which they struck babies and when they played the national anthem on repeat along with the sounds of generators, the last thing those people would hear before their death. The S21 museum was a prison in which people were tortured for information on conspiracies against the government. Here I saw the torture rooms and holding cells, along with pictures of those who worked or were imprisoned there, sometimes both. I’m astounded that this only happened 40 years ago and yet this country and its people are so happy and beautiful.

S-21 Prison Torture Room

Killing Fields Ch

S-21 Prison

Choeung Ek Killing Fields

In Siem Reap we had a couple down days, one of which was a hangover day after celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day with dancing and drinks. Our hostel was ideal for down days with a pool on the roof and a big TV downstairs where we could play movies. We met a ton of fun people at our hostel – including reuniting with Frank and Stefan, our friends from the Netherlands who we originally met in Vietnam and kept bumping into throughout our travels. We also had the pleasure of meeting Calixto, from California and living in India teaching yoga, on Saint Patricks Day which is one of the few days a year he always himself to imbibe- just our luck! This generous soul also helped me with my yoga lifts (which I got to show off later on at my yoga retreat) and gave me a Thai massage in exchange for hugs.

Crew from the hostel

Nori and I with our green beers

Pub Street in Siem Reap

We bought 3-day tickets to visit the temple ruins including the famous Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm (or better known as the temple from Tomb Raider). Our first day we were picked up at our hostel at 5:00 AM to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat with hundreds of other tourists… people gathering from all over the world to witness sunrise over ancient temples is a marvelous experience. We spent two days temple hopping with Morl, our tuk tuk driver and guide, through several centuries-old temples. Ta Prohm was by far my favorite – this temple was built over 800 years ago, after which it was abandoned and nature took over, gigantic trees overtook the temple.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Morl!

Nori and I had a wonderful last week together – made particularly special when my friend Jake hooked us up with a luxurious hotel experience, no more wet hostel bathroom floors for two nights!!! Parting ways with Nori was bittersweet… we reminisced how we met in Thailand and Laos, finally deciding to travel together through most of Vietnam, and then meeting up again in Cambodia, totaling 6 weeks of travel together. I can’t tell you the last time I laughed so hard; we had several of those tear-streaming, stomach-cramp inducing bouts of laughter, usually due to me doing or saying something ridiculous. Nori, you were a wonderful adventure buddy and I’m sorely missing you, my travel wife!

Celebrating with a bottle of rose!

Our last evening together as travel wives

Living it up pool side at our swanky hotel

I decided to set myself up at Angkor Zen Garden yoga retreat south of Siem Reap. I thought it would be a great way to kill some time before heading south to Singapore, get my butt back into gear and practice more yoga. I ended up getting more than I bargained for; during my second meditation I ended up in tears when I unexpectedly opened myself up to feelings that I was apparently hiding deep down inside… honestly I was shocked, thought I had done a pretty good job being in touch with my emotions. The following 24 hours I hated everything: how I felt, my bungalow, the mosquitos, the neighbor’s music, the people – I had never been more uncomfortable in my own skin and I was not going to subject myself to this insanity for one more night. However after a night of sleep and a long discussion with our small meditation group, I decided to stay and confront my discomfort. I couldn’t be happier with my decision and I extended to a total of 6 nights. My stay had its ups and downs, sometimes I was blissful and other times I found myself beyond frustration. Ultimately I was introduced to the benefits of regular meditation and self-reflection, and as a result, I feel like my soul healed a bit – I know that sounds so corny so I’ll save you from the uber yogi details.

https://instagram.com/p/BSPRY6qBrTw/

Sunrise before morning yoga

Bungalow accomodations

Cambodia was a beautiful treat and I have so much to thank this country for – I was only meant to spend 5 days and ended up spending almost a month. Cambodia brought me beautiful beaches, romance, a reunion with my travel buddy, delicious mangos and smiling Cambodian faces everywhere I went and I will fondly remember this country as being one delightful wonder after another.

Opportunity for Cambodian Education Support – Siem Reap

I am currently in Siem Reap and had the honor of visiting Opportunities of Development through Art, ODA, which is an incredible organization that provides a home for disadvantaged youth in Cambodia, provides education and a creative environment, and provides a support system that is largely unavailable in Cambodia.

A show put on by ODA students

Touring the ODA gallery

A student touring visitors

Leng, the founder of ODA, was an orphan himself – his parents were killed by Pol Pot in the Khmer Rouge Regime and he was taken in by his Aunt and Uncle. He began this organization to provide the same care, home and education for children in similar unfortunate situations. They support seven schools in the area, teaching English to the children after government school has concluded for the day FOR FREE. The teachers in these schools are also former students of ODA who are now studying at University during the morning and their University education is funded by ODA. They focus on teaching English and computer skills so that these children can find sustainable, well paying jobs in Siem Reap, where tourism is the main source of income.

Leng, the founder of ODA

ODA Gallery

A show by the students

A show by the students

I started my visit with a ride from Trai Van, who was in the care of ODA when he was young – since then he has completed a degree in Industrial Engineering and now helps to renovate and build the schools. He brought us to the ODA Center and 3 schools to meet the students, teachers and volunteers who make up ODA – there are now over 1,000 students in the area learning English through their program.

Trai Van showing us a school

60 kindergarten students learning English

I can’t even begin to describe how incredible this organization is and the exponential growth they’ve experienced over the last 14 years is inspiring. A portion of their funding comes from art purchases, both at the center and temples – these beautiful paintings are from the talented students themselves and 25% of the purchase goes to the student and the remainder to the school.

If you would like to support ODA and make a painting purchase, I’ll bring one home for you! The paintings, several pictures below, are $15 each, if you are interested in buying one (or more) please email me and either:

1. Make a donation through this website with the caption “# Paintings – to be picked up by Brie” OR
2. Wire me the money via paypal/venmo and I’ll pay here in cash

Please let me know by Friday March 24 9:00PM Eastern time, brie.delisi@icloud.com I’m coming home in 2 weeks for a couple months and I’ll drop off or mail the paintings to you myself!

Also a huge thank you to my friend Jake, who set me up with this visit. Jake supports this organization through AmaWaterways and I can’t even begin to express my gratitude for showing me this side of Cambodia. Thank you, Jake!

Southern Cambodia 3/3 – 3/14

The southeast corner of Cambodia ended up being a delightful, quirky escape. Gordon and I reunited in Kep, a sleepy, little seaside village 45 minute past the border of Vietnam. This town is known for their crab market and the abandoned french villas from Khmer Rouge. It was so incredibly quiet, perfect to recover after a whirlwind trip in Vietnam. We stayed in a spacious bungalow a mile outside of the main town and made our way down to the local market to enjoy dinner (fish curry) and breakfast (fresh fruit and coconut pancakes) over looking the water.

 

We hopped on a ferry to bring us to Rabbit Island 30 minutes from Kep. This tiny island only had power for a few hours a day and a handful of establishments with barebones bungalows for $8/night along the beach. These couple days were spent lounging on the beach, reading, sipping coconuts and pina coladas. There were also baby animals everywhere for us to play with – puppies and kittens galore, obviously I melted every time. This island is a big destination Cambodians; my morning yoga session on the beach was delightfully interrupted by some vacationing Cambodians using my practice as a photo opportunity. It was a hilarious interaction when I couldn’t stop laughing as they took turns to get their shots in and they graciously sent the pictures to me instantly via Airdrop.

Coconuts and lounging all day

Our wonderful British-Cambodian couple

Puppy love

Our young ferry captain

Melting

Rabbit Island views

Strike a pose

Cambodian crew

Bungalow

From Rabbit Island, we made our way up the coast to the river town of Kampot, Cambodia and we spent out first night was in a bungalow along the river with some delicious food and a chill vibe. After several wonderful days – I split ways Gordon after a wonderful few days today; Nori and I met back up for slow exploring around Kampot. We weren’t totally in love with this town even though we kept hearing that it was amazing. But our attitude adjustment came when we discovered Epic Art Cafe and spent the whole afternoon eating couscous salads with fried dumplings, reading and journaling – they had calming music and a steady breeze from the open windows that just put us at ease for the entire afternoon. Of course we returned for breakfast the following morning. We also had a hilarious moment when a whole bunch of kids on their way to school swarmed us with hellos and giggles, at one point we must have had at least 20 kids following us through the street which added on to our good moods.

Kampot

Delicious breakfast at Epic Arts

Adorable Cambodia students

Upstairs at Epic Arts

From Kampot we hopped on a bus to Otres Beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. This town is an expat, hippie oasis. There was a small village with dirt roads that comprised of this village and the whole area was built for those who now live there – little cafes with poetry readings, shops with ‘happy’ food items, local crafts, and hostels. They built a local marketplace with stalls for food, crafts and live music. Once a week there is a rave in the jungle that goes until 10 in the morning, followed by a ‘Bangarang’ all day party at Neverland hostels – Nori and I attended the Bangarang party and loved the vibe, everyone was incredibly friendly and happy (most likely due to the drugs and lack of responsibility, IMHO). We spent our days at the beach under the shade of a tree, snacking on fresh fruit, poking around the local markets, watching the various performances and, of course, eating delicious things. I did have the best quesadilla of my life from a stall in the Otres Market. One day we went to a BBQ and pool party at one of the hostels and they actually had hot dogs and pasta salad, I felt like I was at home again. The people-watching was top notch given the various walks of life from 25 year old hippies to 70 year old bachelors who call this expat oasis their home. We loved this little town so much we kept extending our time, I think we ended up spending a total of five nights when we only had intentions of one night.

Cutest kitten

Bangarang at Neverland

Good old BBQ

Otres Beach views

Locals

Pool Party

In case we got lost…

From Otres Beach, Nori and I took a ferry to the island Koh Rong Samloem. We arrived in the small village on M’Pai Bay which had about 20 restaurants, markets and accommodations along a sandy path – again we find ourselves in a delightfully quiet spot to continue our relaxation. During our 3 days we went for a walk along the coastline and ended up finding accommodations with Eco Dive, the only accommodations available on this long beach. Wifi didn’t exist and my cell service barely worked, making us pretty disconnected from the outside world. We spent our days hiking through the jungle, walking the beach and over rocky coastlines, lounging on the beach on hammocks and reading. And obviously eating. We had a great couple dinners on the pier at a place called Fish Hook. For $6 they did an all-you-can-eat buffet with 14 vegetarian dishes and seafood BBQ, with $1 of our contribution going to local children’s medical care and any leftover food went to the locals. We also came back for breakfast to have some monstrous chocolate banana pancakes that required 45 minutes to cook to perfection. We splurged for a bungalow on the beach one night and the sea views from the hammocks on our front porch and sunrise views from bed when we woke up was totally worth the $40. When we got sick of sitting in hammocks, we went for dips in the Gulf. Some of the sea life we encountered included sea stars the size of your head, tiny jellyfish and anemones with defensive fish parents who came whipping out when you approached.

Clearwater bay

M’Pai Bay Sunset

Trekking through the jungle

Chocolate banana pancake heaven

Clearwater Bay

Our beach bungalow view

Dog’s life at Eco Sea

Bathroom buddy

Morning walk views

Little village of M’Pai Bay

1 mile walk along the beach with our packs

Sand dollar

 

One night we ended up chatting with one guy named Nat from England over dinner. The guy managed to get himself down to almost $1/day (due to his own budgeting issues)… he slept in trees, mostly surviving on noodles and bread. We have no idea how he managed this because you have to buy all the water you drink here – tap water is not safe and water bottles cost around $1. He did mention occasionally eating other’s leftovers including half-empty water bottles but I wasn’t under the impression it was a daily occurrence. At home he lives in a van and he is interviewing for a job to work with children’s outdoor development program – both of use wondered if they had any qualms with him living in a van and working with children. We gave him huge props since we spent $15 that day and did absolutely nothing except sleep, beach and eat, so we couldn’t imagine trying to do $1/day – he even slept in a few of our favorite spots, like the waterfalls in Luang Prabang and the abandoned water park in Hue!