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Published: January 5th 2008
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Christmas at Big Blue
This was the evening before Christmas eve at the "Friday night" party at Hadd Tien... member when we were there Marky?? Happy New Years from Cambodia!! We’ll begin this blog from where we last left off... but hold tight because we promise some excitement near the end!!
We had an absolutely amazing Christmas at Big Blue in Hadd Yuen, Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand. We spent almost 3 weeks and I think we found the true definition of RELAXATION! We spent the majority of our time sipping mango shakes and sunnin’ on the beach and Bri even got a chance to take the surf board out.. But failed miserably... (Damn beach break, Long beach styles, Enahs). The evening before Christmas Eve, we stumbled upon to the famous Friday night party on Hadd Thian. We definitely missed all of you during the holidays, but Bri still got to enjoy his un-Christmas traditions and we had a fabulous time together. We opted out of the full moon party on Christmas Eve (I suppose once in a lifetime is good enough for anyone), and we spent a nice Christmas eve with our good friends and neighbors, Steve and Laura!
Christmas day was amazing! We even got a visit form Santa who left us bottle of Gin on our doorstep.. Santa knows us WELL! It
New Years Eve
News Years eve on Bar Street, Siam Reap, Cambodia was also so great to talk to most of the family as we celebrated the night with a free buffet dinner and dacin’ on the beach at Big Blue.
After our time came to an end in Ko Pha Ngan, we headed up to Hue Hin, where we wanted to surprise my uncle with a visit.. Unfortunately he had left just 2 days before to travel to Malaysia. Hue Hin is a very beautiful city... very different than any we had visited so far in Thailand. I suppose we are more used to the “back-packer” travels whereas Hue Hin is geared far more towards more wealthy tourists. (So Bri felt right at home!!!) The city is very clean and there are tons of shops and markets! (The first time Bri was asked “Where’s your shoes”)’. We left Hue Hin on December 30th and made our way towards the Cambodian boarder. We had a quick stop off in Aranya Prathet, where we had just enough time to arrange our visas and transport across the boarder.
We made into Cambodia the morning of New Years Eve and we were astonished with how different a culture may be even within a
few minute drive though an artificial line (the border). Cambodia, what we have seen is AMAZING. We arrived into Cambodia into Poipet which is filled with Casinos and lawlessness. Please be warned by our mistakes to never do your currency exchange at the border.. As we learned the hard way.
Our drive to Siam reap was interesting. Although it is only approximately 120 kms to Siam Reap, it took us about 5 hours to get there. The roads are bumpy, dusty and unpaved. The scenery of the country side is unlike I have ever seen before. The roads are lined with fisherman wadding in the streams catching fish with their hands. You’ll see wicker baskets on the back of motorbikes filled with piglets waiting to be slaughtered, bodiless vehicles, with only an extended steering shaft and motor carting around loads of people and supplies to be sold at the market.
Our first impressions of Siam Reap and Cambodia have been wonderful! The name Siam Reap means Siam-(Thailand) and Reap-(loss) and the people here are very proud of the victory won here against Thailand. The city is safe and the people are extremely friendly. We have found that many
Bayon, Angkor Thom
How many faces can you see?? of the locals learn multiple languages and most can speak far more Japanese than Dana!
On New Years we hit up “Bar Street” for the “biggest street party ever”. We spent the evening with $5 buckets of G&T in hand and dancin’ in the streets. We spent the count down with thousands of other drunkards.. Just wait till you see the video.. I promise you some good “drunkard Brian”.
New Years day was pretty mellow but as we nursed our hangovers we were so ecstatic to talk to most of you!!!!!!!!!!
We started the tour of the temples on January 2. A 3-day pass to tour the temples is expensive and costs $40/ person, but is well worth the cost. Our first temple that we visited was Angkor Wat. Built by King Suryavaman II around 1100 a.d. When we first walked up we thought we were crossing a giant river. To our surprise it turned out to be the kingdoms giant moat. Completely breathtaking in size and complexity.. No explanation or photos could do it justice, with jaw dropping, awe inspiring carvings and ruins, one could not even know where to begin.
We moved next
to Angkor Thom. It was one of the largest Khmer cities ever built and spans over 9 sq kms. Inside the massive stone perimeter wall and across yet another moat, lays the ruins of Bayon. How may stone faces that form and covers these amazing ruins is disputed but it is definitely a lot.
On day 2 of our tours, we awoke and prepared for another day of “Tombraider” style exploration. We visited a few smaller ruins and then made our way over to Ta Prohm, made famous by its overgrown jungle breaching though its temple walls. In this overwhelming atmosphere, Brian got down on one knee and proposed!!!!!!!!!
Fortunately for us our next stop was a beautiful quiet temple ruin with no people around where we were able to appreciate the previous event in peaceful serenity. For now we are soaking up our excitement and enjoying this very special time together.
Thank you to everyone who has sent us warm wishes who have heard through the grape (Ally) vine!! We appreciate all of your blessing! Now if you can excuse us we have an engagement to celebrate!!!
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Celina
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YIPPEE!!!
Congratulations!!! That's so exciting. Hopefully I will be in the country at the time of your wedding. I miss you two. Glad to hear you are having a great time. Stoked you are engaged. You guys rock the show! Love you, Celina xo