*A local boy reads the ancient inscriptions carved in a doorway at Preah Ko, one of the Roluos Temples in Angor, Cambodia*

Some Parting Thoughts on Cambodia

Jenne Raub April 29, 2015

So. Generally speaking, I've had apretty good time in this dusty, hot country known as Cambodia. I can't say that I loved Cambodia beyond comprehension, but I did learn to appreciate and quite like Cambodia. It's a pretty laidback place, the people are nice and friendly (but not overly so), I've loved the beaches and the seaside towns of Kampot and Kep, and am glad I braved the heat to take in Angor Wat.

*A woman in Ho Chi Minh City watches the world drift by*

Here today, Saigon tomorrow

Jenne Raub April 23, 2015

That's the headline I would have used if I was smart and had written a blog post before leaving for Vietnam! But I couldn't let a good pun go to waste.

Technically I will be back in Saigon the day after tomorrow, anyway, so maybe on some level it works ... OK, no it doesn't. Moving on.

I arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday and had a very smooth arrival here, thanks to having done some research about the right bus company to take (Giant Ibis for the win!). The process couldn't have been easier: I bought the ticket online, Giant Ibis came and picked me up at my hotel in Phnom Penh, we left almost exactly on time, and arrived at the Vietnam border around noon. Our passports had been collected prior to letting us out at a café just across the Cambodian border and they were processed while we ate lunch. Easy! Then we just hopped back on the bus, drove about 20 feet, got off with our luggage and made our way through passport control in about 2 seconds.

How I Did Cambodia

Jenne Raub April 21, 2015

Finally! A post where I give you the lowdown on how I did Cambodia -- the good, the bad and the ugly (ugly = using band-aids to fix a mosquito net, come on!).

Where I went

Siem Reap

Lonely Planet said anything less than 3 days with the temples of Angor is a travesty, and boy were they wrong. Unless you are a scholar of Hindu carvings or a masochist who loves spending extraneous amounts of time in excruciating heat, you'll be fine with one. The tuk tuk drivers have a pretty solid circuit that took me a morning to bang out. Sure, if you walk slow and are the kind of person who needs to stand in front of a carving for 30 minutes to bask in its glory, you might need more time. Given your tolerance for oppressive humidity and competing with all of China and Korea to see the sights, you probably will finish before noon (I started at 7 am and was passed out in a state of exhaustion/heat stroke by 12:30 back at the hotel). If you really truly believe you will need more time (you're a bonafide photographer or just love being in heavily touristed environments), go ahead, plan for three days.

*Bed where a prisoner (in this case a “VIP”, a member of the former ruling party) lay shackled to the bed, tortured until finally executed at the Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia*

A visit to the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

Jenne Raub April 20, 2015

The Tuol Sleng Museum is located in an old high school. That's because when the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, they swiftly converted the high school into a detention center that would come to symbolize many of the great horrors that took place during the Khmer Rouge's reign until the Vietnamese invaded in January 1979. So that when you enter the compound, the first thing that strikes you is not the grim horrors that took place, but wondering what it must have been like to attend high school in Phnom Penh during peaceful times, picturing teenagers coming in and out of the shuttered classroom doors carrying books and lunches and hopes and dreams.

But as you move from room to room, you realize how quickly things can turn on a dime, how one wooden desk can be quickly transformed into a work station for an interrogator, and how all the other furniture can be removed to make way for torture facilities and imprisonment. It is, after all, just a building.

travel

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One day after I got back from my SE Asia travels, Jessica announced that she'd be moving to London. Once I got over my initial bummed-out-ness (and realized that one less friend in SF now meant one more person to visit in London, hopefully with a decent sofa!), I knew the only way to celebrate her departure was with another epic outing to check out more of the glories north of The City.

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Overlanding Do's and Don't (Or, How to Make Your Overlanding Trip a Great One)

In life, sometimes the best decisions are the ones we make impulsively. That’s how I found myself in Bishkek, Krygyzstan, about to embark on an overlanding trip for which I was blissfully unprepared and stupidly excited.

To be honest, I had not put a ton of time or energy into researching the trip before booking it. I had been longing to take a trip for a while; I knew I wanted to go somewhere obscure and preferably in Central Asia that would allow me to hike and sleep in a yurt. If there was a campfire and a brilliant sky full of stars to see, well, I would be beyond satisfied.

Some Parting Thoughts on Cambodia

Here today, Saigon tomorrow

How I Did Cambodia

A visit to the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek

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