Where to begin... We arrived in Siem Reap 2 days ago and had a free afternoon to explore. We looked around the market a bit and bought some cool cotton pants to wear to the temples. We also signed up for a Khmer cooking class. It ended up being just the two of us, but it was a lot of fun. I made fresh spring rolls, chicken curry and pumpkin custard. Trev made green mango salad, fish amok (a Cambodian specialty) and banana dessert. During prep Trev had a little accident with the knife... it wasn't too bad, and I think the girls teaching us were more worried than him. Some iodine and a waterproof bandaid and everything was all better. After our cooking class we met up with our group and went to a restaurant ... read more

We started our afternoon tour with a visit to the Genocide Museum (S-21). We had a local guide that was very knowledgeable. The prison had been a school, but was taken over during the Pol Pot regime. During nearly 4 years of the regime 20 000 people were tortured there. It was a very sad place to be. Some of the buildings have been left as they were at the end of the Regime, with the evidence of the horrors so apparent. There was another building with photos of many of the victims as they were brought into the prison. It was hard to look into their eyes. After we went just outside of the city to the Choeng Ek Killing Fields. This was the place where all the people from S-21 were taken to be ... read more

We landed in Hong Kong at about 6am. We stashed our bags at the airport then headed out. First we took the subway into town. It was easy to figure out. It also happened to be rush hour, so that was an experience too. We stopped at a few stations and went up to street level to look around. We didn't have any maps, or any idea what we could go look at, so we didn't see anything in particular. The skyline in HK is amazing and the harbor view was great too. After our subway adventure we took the train back to Lantau island. We took a bus up the hill to see Po Lin monastery and Big Buddha. The bus turned out to be more of an adventure than we had imagined! The road ... read more

Our countdown is getting nice and small...only 3 more sleeps! Yesterday I wrote my CASLPA exam (whew! glad that's over!), so now it feels like we're getting really close. AND, I don't have to study anymore so I can finish my packing. Trevor finished packing yesterday and his backpack is pretty empty. This is good for me, because I am guaranteed to fill it up with stuff once we're there. I'm sure packing will be slightly more challenging for me...I generally pack too much stuff (big surprise?) My brain just can't comprehend how I will survive 6 weeks with 5 shirts, other than buying more there. Yay shopping :) That's about it for now. I'll just need to keep myself busy until Wednesday night. Probably cleaning the house and baking... I'll need some volunteers to accept ... read more