Journey to Africa, pt.1

hello all!

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, my transition to South Africa took some time. But I’m here, I’m in Africa!!! Now that things are settling I have so much to write about so I’ll have to do it in a series of posts.

First off, the journey from Cambodia was long but not awful. I flew from Phnom Penh to Bangkok on Sunday with plans to see the city on Monday morning. I checked into the airport hotel and during the night there was a huge storm. The bad weather continued the next day, plus the hotel was really nice and I was in desperate need of a rest between my continental adventures so I decided to just chill in the hotel and check out late. Here are a few things I noticed are different about Thailand vs. Cambodia from the airport/hotel/road between:

• They use their own money
• They have change (no coins in Cambodia)
  
• The signs are in Thai first, English second
  
• The airport is super luxe
  
• Starbucks!!! (sorry Khaldon, I couldn’t find any Bangkok mugs)
  
• They drive on the wrong side of the road
  
• You don’t have to pay $25 to get out of the country and you don’t have to pay anything to get in either.

I checked in and next to me was a Thai couple checking like six boxes with “FARGILE” written in huge red letters on the side. It took everything I had not to laugh out loud. 

The BKK airport is beautiful. It just opened in Sept 2008 and they really paid attention to every detail. There are huge golden murals in baggage claim, temples in the hallways, every luxury brand you can imagine, and even pictures of gods sketched into the glass in the gates. It’s beautiful. However, it does not have free wifi so I hate it. While waiting for my flight I sat at a Starbucks watching movies on my computer. *Note: BKK airport has a lot of Boots drugstores in case you are in need of some last minute items.   They also have a Burger King and I was soooo happy to have my first Whopper Jr. and fries in a long time.

I flew Thai Air to Hong Kong and had quite a nice flight. Below is a list of reasons I heart Thai Air:

• Free alcohol
  
• Man walking down the aisles with tray of cognac after the meal. Yes, in coach
  
• Real tea with fresh milk. After three months of condensed milk which results in cakes like buttery bricks, coffee like sweet sludge and bottled water with breakfast, I finally had real tea (no Lipton grossness) and FRESH MILK. Hallelujahs people, hallelujahs.
  
• George Clooney featurette

2.5 hours later I landed in HK with about an hour to catch my flight. Purportedly the HK airport is bigger than Hong Kong itself (slight exaggeration) so I was unsure about my chances. It didn’t help that I only got a ticket to HK at BKK, I didn’t understand why I hadn’t gotten boarding passes all the way through. I got off the flight with a plan:

• Step 1- find gate number
  
• Step 2- run
  

Coming out of the runway I saw people with signs, which I thought was odd since limo drivers don’t pick you up at the gate. Turns out they were people holding signs for people with close transfers and one of the signs said, “Calvin, Miss Kat. Johannesburg”.   Woohoo!! A remarkable and incredibly tiny woman hurried through the gate (she was hurrying, I was following at a leisurely stroll- she had small legs) and led me down the long hallway to the train. She then gave me directions for where to get off and hurried back. I got on the train, went down one stop, and got off at what turned out to be the transfer gate. 

Apparently everyone in HK who is transferring flights has to go to a special gate for their boarding passes. It is beyond stupid. I waited in line as my flight time tick tick ticked away and eventually it was my turn. I got my boarding pass, ran down another hallway, went through- I swear on all that is holy- the slowest security checkpoint in history, ran up the stairs, past the super swank duty free line, saw my first black person in weeks and knew I must be getting close to South Africa Air, and found my way to gate 22 with ten minutes to spare. Just enough time to take advantage of the free wifi to tweet about the free wifi and email my mom. Yaay to the yaay. HK is awesome at having escorts if you’re running late but sucky at not making you run late. I would bet good money that everytime unemployment gets high they just build another checkpoint at the airport and hire 50 people to run the foreigners to their gates. Whatevs, I made it and I was finally going to AFRICAAAA!!!!

Next up:  Arrival.

Travel well,

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

My Last Day in Cambodia

It's finally here! It's my last day in Cambodia and I'm having breakfast at a rooftop cafe in BKK1. Then I'm hoping on the back of a tuk-tuk and heading to Bangkok!!

Travel well!
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Another Friends Story

Friday happened to be my Friends day somehow. I had never been to either restaurant and after they took us there for work my roommate and her friend wanted to go to the other Friends for dinner so of course I was in. The food was amazing. They specialize in Tapas and we got a wide variety of delicious foods. We also got some great margaritas, I got pomegranate and lime (I think it was lime...) and Marianne and Cat (the other Cat) got pineapple and chili. Theirs was delicious but super spicy towards the end. Mine was just yummy. We also had chicken curry, grilled fish, delicious spicy tacos, mushroom and leek spring rolls, sweet potato french fries, cucumber and yogurt salad that tasted like the cucumber salad that my mom used to make, and a bunch of other delicious dishes. I can't recommend this place enough, the food was great and it was really cool to see the staff members with "Teacher" on the back of their t-shirts quietly watching over the staff members with "Student" written on the back. They're doing a lot of good work and with food that delicious, they'll keep doing it for a long time.

chicken curry deliciousness

sun-dried tomato hummus

us and our drinks

a close-up of the drinks

Travel well!

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Goodbye UNICEF :-(

I had my last day at work! I'm so sad. I am really going to miss all of the people that I worked with.  Ana and Elayn and Jini were like my Cambodia moms.  Ana literally saved my life when I had less than no money, Elayn and her husband gave me a free place to live and delicious meals and were amazing, and Jini gave me a job when I needed extra money and always brought me snacks and peanut butter sandwiches to work for snacks.  They were all incredible, as well as everyone else I was working with and I was incredibly lucky to meet them.  

The week ended well, I attended a training that was the very first thing that I worked on when I started.  It was pretty cool to see a bunch of judges and prosecutors sitting there learning about appropriate child interviewing skills from a presentation I wrote.  Yaay me for being effective!  :-D

On Friday we all went out to lunch at a fantastic restaurant that is a staple in Phnom Penh dining. The two Friends International restaurants are delicious and extremely popular (and too expensive for me to afford), so they took me and Kimsray and Jini (it was all of our last week) to the Khmer Friends, Romdeng, for lunch!  Friends is actually one of the best NGOs in Cambodia, they get street kids off the streets and train them in cooking, service, sewing, etc.  They also have a store that's just as expensive and do-goody and with really nice stuff as the restaurants.  

The Friends restaurants specialize in all sorts of traditional foods, including fried tarantula. Yes, they ordered it, and no, I didn't try it. Sorry guys. However, the rest of the food was delicious (especially this amazing beef curry-ish dish that I couldn't get enough of) and we had a fantastic time. They even gave me a beautiful bracelet! I'm really sad to be leaving UNICEF but psyched to be leaving Cambodia and wicked excited to be getting to South Africa!! I have one more night in Phnom Penh and tomorrow I fly to Bangkok and Monday I fly to South Africa. Woohoo!! Time marches on people, time marches on.

fried tarantulas... eew

fish amok... so delicious

all of us having a great time, so sad that it's over :-(

Travel well,

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Noodle Amazingness

There's an amazing place a block away from my new apartment called Chinese Noodles. They make amazing fried dumplings and noodles and goodness knows what else and they are so cheap. Three of us had meals and drinks and the bill came to a total of $7.20. My kind of place. Anyways, the best thing about this place is that they make the noodles by hand! It's pretty amazing to watch, the guy takes a big pile of dough and turns it into strings of noodles without any obvious effort on his part except throwing them up and down in a wild, repetitive motion. I can't explain this very well but luckily for you, I have a video. Enjoy!



Here are some pictures of the finished product:

fried noodles with beef

fried dumplings

Travel (and eat) well!

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

A Gift!

Kimsray and her mom got me the nicest gift! It's an Angkor Wat table runner, which I am sure I will put on my table as soon as I get one, but for now I will give it to my grandmother for safe keeping. :-)



Check out our blog, Send Kimsray to College, to read about all of the exciting new developments!

Also, tomorrow is my last day at work (well, in the office anyways)!!!

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Dresses

I finally got the three dresses I had made! I absolutely love the shorts, in fact I wish I had gotten a million pairs of them. The dresses are okay, not the best in the world but not unnattractive easy. They'll be nice with a little accessorizing when I get home. It's definitely not the tailor's fault though, she's phenomenal. I just chose the wrong fabrics and hate the way I look in most dresses... Anyways, they're nice. Sorry the pictures aren't though, I'll never be a photographer for Vogue. There is one more shirt coming, while we were picking up our clothes Elayn had some extra silk from silk island and she gave it to me to have a shirt made. Since the fabric was free it will only cost me $6! I'm picking that up right before I leave so I'll post it as soon as I can.

a black A-line dress with a satin sash

a black cotton sheath w/belt, also got one in navy

Travel well!

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

The Last Apartment

I'm finally in the last apartment! I had to move again because Elayn and Pep's wonderful offer for a room (that I was sooo sad to leave) ended on Saturday when they had friends coming in from England. Luckily, another friend had an apartment that has seen many people come in and out. We are now the last two inhabitants and are both leaving at the end of the week. I'm actually going to spend the day trying to change my flight to leave from Phnom Penh rather than Bangkok. It doesn't make any sense to spend two days getting to a city that I'll have less than 48 hours in. So we'll see. But either way, I have exactly a week left until I'm out of here!! Woohoo!!

Here are some pictures of the new apartment:

the kitchen

a large balcony

the bathroom

the living room

the bedroom

Travel well!

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

More Indie Travel News

My new article reviewing the Lonely Planet SE Asia on a Shoestring Guide was just published! Check it out if you're looking for info on a very popular guide... it's certainly been my lifeline here in Cambodia!

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Silk Island

This weekend I went to Koh Dach (Silk Island) with Elayn, Jini, and Kimsray. Silk Island is the home to a lot of silk weavers and though it used to be a bit of a tourist attraction, it receives few visitors now. We didn't know what to expect but figured we would go out and see what's what, maybe buy some silk. We drove out to a tiny ferry that we didn't think would hold the car, but it did! After about a 10 minute ride across the river (the current is pretty strong right now), we precariously backed out of the boat and drove along a rickety dirt road. After asking directions at a fork in the road, we kept going straight until a young man on a bike beckoned us to stop. Elayn stopped and we climbed out of the car. In the space under the stilted house a woman was weaving purple silk. It was detailed and painstaking work and very cool to see.
Here is a 30 second clip:


Unfortunately, in typical Cambodian and developing country style, as soon as word spread that a couple of tourists were in the area we were attacked by men, women, and children wielding silk and begging us to buy something. Also in typical Cambodian style, although we were in the middle of nowhere and the only customers these people were likely to see for days, weeks even, the silks they were trying to sell us were madly overpriced. It gets hectic and confusing when your group of four is surrounded by six or seven people all shouting at you to buy at once. It's unpleasant and uncomfortable and after Elayn and I both bought overpriced items to make them stop (It didn't. After we bought once each person asked, "Now you buy from me?") we went back to the car. As we drove down the road trying to find a place to turn around, the unsuccessful salesmen got onto their motos and followed down the street. We finally turned around and they did too, following us all the way to the river and knocking on the windows of the car as we waited to board the ferry. However, we simply couldn't afford any more expensive items (particularly since they clearly send the good silks to the markets in town and were selling us the imperfect silks with knots and runs). We took the ferry back to town and decided to go to Tabitha, a non-profit organization across the street from our apartment that sells silk and silk products and supports Cambodian families trying to escape from poverty.

Tabitha is a pretty cool place. There are women working in the front, making silk quilts and pillows and goodness knows what else. It's a pretty big building and they have tons of goods. They're also pretty expensive but it's really nice stuff and the money is going to a good cause. They do a lot of programs like encouraging Cambodian families to save money, building wells and houses, and even buying piglets for the families to use as the first step to self-sufficiency.

After Tabitha we headed to the Russian Market so I could try on the clothes I had made. Fabric and tailoring are incredibly inexpensive here and I absolutely could not leave without getting at least a few things made. I got three dresses and two pairs of shorts, fabric and all, for about $80. The two shorts are awesome and I brought them back today. The dresses needed to be altered a little and I'll get them sometime next week. I'm really excited about one of the dresses, it's beautiful. The two sheaths didn't work out as well, the fabric I chose was not as nice and they look better on a thinner woman. However, with some accessorizing, they'll be fine for every day office wear. Anyways, the poor girl worked so hard to make them that I have to buy them now.


Now I'm staying home for the rest of the weekend, to watch TV and read and relax.

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

International Soiree

I learned a lot about the world last night. Elayn and Pep had a small get together for their Moldovan friends who came to visit. After a few drinks I finally got brave enough to ask (ever wary of looking like the dumb American) where in the world Moldova even is. Turns out it's not such a stupid question because who can keep all of those post-Soviet Union countries straight anyways?? So, I got a little lesson about Moldova (and these two friends happen to be politicians so they know what they are talking about) and also got a lesson in the joys of Moldovan wine. I now have an open invitation to come stay at the Moldovan presidential palace whenever either the wife or husband (apparently either is a possibility) is elected president.

On the other side of me was my friend from Kenya who works in HR, Zip, and her family. After a lively debate about whether Obama is Kenyan or American, Zip's husband taught me the difference between the GREAT (you have to say great) Kikuyu tribe and the lowly Luo. You can guess which one he is. He then declared that he would never have voted for Obama's Luo half, since there isn't a good one among them, but only for his Hawaiian half, because Hawaii isn't really America after all. I have the feeling that I will have this debate a lot when I get to Africa. Luckily, I know my history and was able to retort that if Hawaii so recently became a part of America that he's not American than Obama's Kenyan half is really English because Kenya wasn't even a republic yet when he was born, and so we should all thank the Queen. He wasn't such a fan of that!

Zip's family was lovely, even her 8th grade son who was trapped into sitting around with a bunch of adults for the evening, and we're all having dinner at their house tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Kenyan food! Fortunately for me, Zip's family will be in Kenya during the holidays when I was planning on spending a couple of weeks there, so I'm going to go stay with them. They have a house in Nairobi and in their hometown which is, according to Zip's husband, the best part of Kenya in the best part of Africa in the best part of the world, so hopefully I'll get to see and experience Kenya through the eyes of the GREAT Kikuyu.

It gets exhausting having to defend America all of the time, even from people who should know better. It never ceases to amaze me how little even the British know about us, and how much bunk they believe. It is so difficult for most people to comprehend how incredibly big and diverse we are and that condemning a country as large as ours for the acts of say, one man in Texas, would be like condemning all of Europe for the acts of Stalin. They also never seem to understand that for the average American to travel to Washington D.C. or New York or Los Angeles is as much of an expense and accomplishment as an Italian traveling to Moscow and a fair bit more difficult than taking the Chunnel from London to France. We would all have passports if we needed them to go from Massachusetts to Connecticut but the fact is we don't. We have a large, beautiful and stunningly diverse nation through which we are free to travel at any time and for most Americans just seeing most of it is an accomplishment. I have been to or through 44 states and no matter where I go in the world nothing amazes me as much as what I've seen at home. So leave us alone damnit!

Maybe people should realize that when they spread lies and hold assumptions about Americans without any facts or experience to back it up (the answer, when I ask if that person has actually been to America is always either, "No, but that's just what I've heard" or "Yes, I've been to (either California or New York)", that they are being just as ignorant and biased about us as they accuse us of being about them. I'm sorry that I don't know the detailed history of Moldova and that I don't speak Malaysian but damn. It's a big world. And I can't imagine that any European child knows the detailed history and native languages of 50 of its nearest countries, so why is it so strange that we should start with the knowledge of ours?

Aargh to the aargh people. Aargh to the aargh.


Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Reasons #238 and 239 Not to Have Children

Poor Whitney is still in labour! It's been like 30 hours or something. Ouch is all I have to say.

Also, Joe wrote another amazing story, this time about how homelessness has become a crime in this country.

Not much new going on here. Pep is an amazing cook, I am loving living in this house! Work is also good, but it's pretty much all I'm doing right now. Work, home, DVDs, good dinners, bed. It's a pleasant rotation. I'll update you as soon as I hear any news!

Travel well,
kat


Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Full

I just had an amazing dinner cooked by Pep, the husband of the house I'm living in. I really got so so lucky living with him and Elayn, besides the beautiful apartment they are also incredibly kind and have totally made me feel at home. They also have a phenomenal collection of DVDs that I am steadily making my way through!

I haven't written much lately but that's mostly because not much is happening! Most of my friends have gone back to the States now (I'm so jealous!) and I have settled into my last few weeks of chilling in the comfy apartment and reading and watching as much as I can. I have two weeks and two days left at work and two weeks and about three or four days left in Cambodia and I'm determined to relax and rest before I head to a new continent and a new adventure.

This week was great though because my cell phone provider had a five cents a minute to the U.S. sale so I got to talk to my mom for like five days in a row!!! I haven't spoken to her on the phone since my first night in Cambodia so it was really really nice to get to talk to her, especially now that I'm so homesick. Being here has given me a lot of insight into the development game, into my own working style and talents, and into how much more passionate I am about the challenges and opportunities in my own country than anywhere else. I may well fall in love with Africa and decide that I never want to leave but it is far more likely that I will continue to want nothing more than to be home and working at such a pivotal time in our history. That being said, the people who I have met and experiences that I have had here have been incredible and have prepared me for any work that I may want to do whether at home or abroad. I have been so lucky. Who knows what else I'll learn in the next two weeks?

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email






Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

My new place!!!

Sadly, my roommate Becky is going home tomorrow and I had to move out of our apartment. :-( I was planning to be off traveling for the month but now that I'm staying through August to help out at work, I needed another place to stay. I am incredibly lucky though because one of the wonderful women who I work with offered to let me stay in the guest room at her apartment with her and her husband. I really do work with amazing people. So, Becky and I moved me in today and the apartment is sooo nice.


Mom, you'll be glad to hear that like my last apartment, and everywhere else here, there is 24 hour security. The building is beautiful and I even have a balcony in my room!


I also have a big, comfortable bed, beautiful built in shelving and- the best part- a beautiful bathroom.


Definitely the best bathroom that I've had so far. In fact, it's the first bathroom that has an actual counter and a separate shower. No more getting the toilet and floor wet when I bathe!


I even have a bathtub!! I can't believe how many exclamation points I'm using, man have my standards sunk over the past few months. But I am so happy to be here.

I'm staying until just a few days before I leave, E and her husband are having house guests so I'm either going to stay at a guesthouse or with a friend if everyone is still here then. Then it's off to Bangkok for a few days and I'm out! I'm sad that Becky is leaving but happy for her and happy that I only have four weeks until Africa! I know it's going to fly by, just like most of the rest of the summer has.

Travel well!
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

I must have eaten my spinach

I sometimes forget how smart I am until something happens to remind me. You know what I mean. We do the same things every day, rarely being presented with a new challenge (or an old one that we think we forgot how to do) and master it and then remember that we are, indeed, the shit. It's like the Black Eyed Peas say, "My mama's always saying 'My baby's a genius'!". Or, to quote Mos Def, "I am the Earth, wind, fire and the thunda. You don't believe me? Go ask my Mama!"

I had one of those moments today. I had to give a presentation with my boss and another attorney and I did a pretty good job. I wasn't as prepared as I should have been but luckily, I'm great at cold reads thanks to years of theatre and I think fast (when I'm speaking in public. If someone insults me it'll take me weeks to think of a comeback) so I was able to pull together a pretty convincing presentation. Yaay me.

In other news, yesterday was a pretty fantabulous day. I can now officially pay for my last year of law school (thanks Uncle Sam!), I have secured a lovely place to stay with a coworker and her husband (because I work for the best people ever) and I now have three new sources of income that wont'be too shabby for my last month in Cambodia. I'm not making it rain or anything, but I will be swimming in potatoes and pasta.

This weekend my roommate and I have to pack and move. I'm leaving the apartment, she's leaving the country. So sad! Becky has been an awesome roommate, I'm so sad she has to go! Hopefully the next four weeks will fly by and then I'll be on my way to Africaaaa!!!!

Woohoo!

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email






Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Tuk-tuk relationships

One of the interesting dynamics in Cambodia is the relationship that a person has with their moto or tuk-tuk driver. Once a man drives a westerner to a specific location they will do anything they can to become the regular driver. They'll wait outside of restaurants even when you ask them not to. They'll insist on not getting paid until you come back from wherever it is they dropped you off, so you're obligated to ride them home. They'll even show up outside of your house every morning and your workplace every afternoon, hoping you'll let them give you a ride. And don't even think about trying to walk down the street. They'll yell at you, they'll follow you, they'll occasionally curse at you as you pass them by. And once they have you, they become very possessive. One of my co-workers got stuck with an old man who didn't know his way around town. She left Cambodia and when she came back months later, he found her, and she now has to sneak around to take a tuk-tuk driver who knows what he's doing.

My driver was Jack. Yes, was. I'll get to that soon. For the first month that I was here, Jack was great. I'm sure I've written about him. Funny, kind, super responsible. He was a great driver. I paid him an exorbitant price to take me to work and back every day. Seriously, $25 a week. He also drove my friends and I around on the weekends for an extra price. When I went to Siem Reap I found a couple of girls who were on their way to PP and made sure they got him to drive them around town when they got there and I always made sure that my friends here took him when they needed a ride.

Sometime after the first month Jack had some sort of emergency and disappeared for a few days. He arranged for a friend to pick me up like he always does. He showed up a day later than he said he would with red eyes and looking exhausted. After that he started to change. He used to change clothes at least twice a day, now he wears the same clothes sometimes two or three days in a row. His eyes are red all of the time. He has yelled at me at least twice, and I mean yelled. He has constantly been late to pick me up, and lately I have had to wait 20 minutes or more for him to pick me up at work. It's been getting ridiculous. I have wanted to fire him but after he yelled at me the first time I told him not to pick me up the next day and he got a terrified look in his eyes and started apologizing profusely. I hated the feeling that someone's livelihood was dependent on me. It was terrible and I felt guilty, so I didn't fire him. And I put up with his awfulness and irresponsibility because hey, it's Cambodia, everything sucks.

After I realized how broke I am I started walking home from work and paying him half. He never said anything to me, although I tried to explain that I was running out of money and needed to cut back (he pretended he didn't understand) but I could tell that he wasn't happy. Finally, this week took the cake. I paid him for the week and he seemed fine. Then he called me a few minutes after he drove away and started yelling at me. He yelled that I didn't pay him enough, that I didn't pay him for Saturday (this confused me because he drove my friends and I for about half a day and we payed him $12, quite more than it would have cost with anyone else), and a host of other things that I didn't understand. When I broke down the cost of each ride and how many rides he had given me over the week I realized that I had miscalculated and owed him $1. ONE DOLLAR!!! However, he wasn't happy with this and, although he couldn't tell me how much I owed him or why he was even calling, he wouldn't except my math-based answer for why I had paid him the same rate that I have paid him for two months. We ended by agreeing- not amicably- that he wouldn't drive me anymore.

I'm relieved because every day I have wanted to fire him and every day I haven't because I feel guilty. I'm also angry because someone who I have been so good to and given so much money to (at least $200 myself plus all of the work I've sent him. The average salary in this country is $290 a year and most days, I was his only customer) tried to cheat me. My feelings are also hurt because the more I try to help people the more I get screwed. Basically, I'm just upset.

From now on, no more regular drivers. I think I'll start walking to work and back. It's cheaper, healthier, and will avoid getting my feelings hurt.

Travel well,
kat


Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Angela Davis, Can You Hear Me?

**This post has been amended. There is now nothing in here that could get me arrested.**

Some things will never change.

While out last night, after watching a particularly powerful film about video journalists in Burma (Burma VJ, check it out if you can) I was having dinner with a few girls. Somehow the conversation shifted to our automatic negative perceptions of people based on the images we are fed our entire lives (i.e. all Arabs are terrorists, all Southeast Asians are sex slaves and the men who sell them, Black people are bad, etc.) and how those affect our experiences when we travel. Girl A, a tall, gorgeous blonde girl, was talking about how she and her six-foot-something boyfriend are always laughed at and taunted in Malaysia and how upsetting it can be to get so much negative attention when doing something as innocent as walking down the street. She and I commiserated for a while, since Blacks and tall blondes often face similar trials in mostly homogenous nations. I was talking about my experiences, being laughed at, pointed to and taunted, having random strangers ask if they can get pictures with me, and asking if I'm from Africa even when I'm with a large group of Americans, when Girl B at the table cut in, "That's not true, I don't believe that."

Really?

Here I am, telling you my personal experiences and about certain negative things that have happened to me, and you're calling me out in disbelief? See, this is why we don't talk to white people. If you came up to me and said that while in Siberia you had been abducted by tiny pink aliens, I wouldn't call you a liar. I might think you're crazy, I might run away before you abduct me, but I'm going to accept that this is your personal experience and that, at least in your mind, you really were abducted. Just like none of us had a problem believing that the gorgeous blonde girl gets scared when people laugh at and taunt her. But I guess to you, Black women aren't supposed to get scared or something? Or maybe you really think that when people from other countries look at us, they just automatically assume that we're Americans. Because, you know, that's likely. The insults continued when Girl C, after Girl A and I brought up that these kinds of things happen all over Asia, battled me in her insistence that these things do not happen in Japan (she lived there for two years) and that she knew Black people in Japan (probably one dude) who neeeever had any problems, so I must be wrong. Right. Because Black folk are going to be more honest with you than with me. Because you probably know more Black people than I do and have far more discussions about race and experience which are far more frank and understanding that I ever would. Because everyone is as honest in mixed company as I am.

Right.

And this is exactly why we're not honest. Because you don't really want to know. It's just so much easier to call me a liar to my face. And the funny thing is that I wasn't even angry about the situation. I was trying to explain (and this is how the conversation started) that it's perfectly understandable that Cambodians would be uncomfortable around us. It doesn't make things any easier for me personally, but when our kind of people aren't visiting certain areas in any kind of numbers and all they see of us are the negative Hollywood images in the media, what the hell are people supposed to think? There are no native Black folk in Asia. And to be honest, if we only get one $2000 trip of a lifetime, most of us are heading to the motherland. So it makes perfect sense that uneducated, untraveled, and unexperienced (I know, I made those last two words up) people from a pretty damn homogenous nation (in the Western sense, it is extremely diverse in Asian ethnicities) would have certain perceptions about us. And honestly, it even makes sense that they would think I am from Africa. There are more Nigerians here than anything.

I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. From them. From Cambodians. But from white folk from Ohio? Hell no. And these are the well traveled ones. These are the ones from good law schools and educated families. Awesome.

Somebody find me a black leather jacket. I'm donning an afro and pumping my fist in the air on the regular. I can't wait til I get to Africa.

*********UPDATE*********
I guess Angela heard me because when I got to work this is the first article I saw

**This is where "Leave Skip Alone" belongs. Sorry for the confusion but I just wasn't happy not having this up."


Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Free Documentaries and Good Food!

The other night some friends and I went to an awesome place called the Meta House in downtown Phnom Penh. Meta House is a Goethe Institute supported art and media center that educates young Cambodians and offers free art and entertainment to the masses (their "About Me" page does much more justice to the place than I ever could). Meta houses (unavoidable pun) some really fantastic contemporary art on the first two floors, mostly that of Cambodian artists. On top of the building is a bar that serves really excellent food, about ten rows of really comfy black leather movie seats, and a big screen. Here, Meta House shows documentaries, Cambodian films, and films set in Asia, to name a few. It's quite an enjoyable and inspiring space.

We were there to see a documentary called Burma VJ, about a group of incredibly brave video reporters fighting to tell their story. The film itself was moving, depressing, and highly emotional, but Meta House was the perfect space in which to experience it.

It's surprising but even in Phnom Penh there are surprises around the corner and places like the Meta house make you feel like maybe there is hope for democracy, art, and modernity after all.

Travel well,
kat


Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

Photo Friday (It's Friday for Me, Thursday for You...)

I haven't posted any pictures on the last couple of posts, mostly because the internet in my apartment wasn't working so I had to use the computers at work. So, here are some random photos to enjoy!

Monkey on a Wire

Creative Tuk-Tuk Driver in Siem Reap

Random Elephant on a Busy Street

Dancers in a Traditional Performance

Having fun at a Pool Party

Travel well,

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

#37

I've moved again! Don't worry, this was always in the plans. My two roommates from #27 have left or are leaving Cambodia and all of us were moving out of the apartment on Friday. So now I'm rooming with a friend who's two other roommates conveniently decided to leave early, leaving a room open for me!

I like the new place. It has an elevator, which is key. It's in a new part of town so I get to explore some new places, and I have hot water, which is absolutely thrilling after 2 1/2 months of cold showers. I'm also glad because it's either closer to work, which means a shorter walk for me, or further, which means better exercise... Here are some pictures. Excuse the mess, there's no housekeeper and no cleaning supplies!

view from the balcony

the kitchen

the bedroom

the living room

Besides hot water we have wifi (the girls had it installed when they moved here), A/C, a tiny balcony, a roof that is only good for parties, and the usual gas stove with the gas tank that you have to turn on and off (we had this at my last apartment too).  There are also security guards downstairs and bars on the windows (so I'm safe mom) and I'm on the sixty floor (so I'm really safe mom).  It's a nice place.  It's weird being indoors again after my last apartment, which was basically a balcony with rooms but I like it.

Less than a month left... and then, who knows?

Travel well!

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Enter your Email



Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz