Hello again! I'm back in Cambodia again... who would have thought I'd
be here twice in two years?? Anyway, here I am. Before we arrived
into Cambodia we spent 5 days in Bangkok meeting up with some friends
and doing some work for Silversisters. Then we spent a few nights on
an Thai island having seafood BBQ's every evening... and that's when we
came to Cambodia.
Perhaps you remember my LAST description of crossing the overland
border into Cambodia? This one was just as bad. It turns out the
ferry we wanted from the border only leaves once a day at 8am. We
arrived at 11am and therefore had to spent the night in the worst town
imaginable. It was here that we found out about the moto mafia. Motos
are just little mopeds; it's an easy, common wasy to get around. But,
the people that drive them seem to wield some sort of power. We
couldn't even buy our own ferry ticket without using a moto driver as
our go between - they get a cut of everything. We bumped into a
Bostonian (?!?!) who lives in the town and he helped us out with how
things work around here.
Finally though, we got to our desination of Sihanoukville, a coastal
beach town in the south and it was worth it. It was Chinese New
Year... and to me, it was just another day. But, to all the billions
of Chinese, it means vacation time! I think they all came to the same
beach as we did. The place we stayed in came eqipped with it's own
cow, pig, donkey AND dog. One night they locked the front gate and we
had to wake up poor old grandma sleeping in the mosquito net in their
outdoor living room. I imagine she can sleep through ANYTHING given
the 24 hour karaoke bar next door. We had to really yell loudly. Here
we discovered more about moto mafia: if they pick you up from the bus
station, ferry etc and take you to a hotel, they "own" the right to
moto you around for the duration of your stay. We walked to the beach
the first morning and came back after sunset... only to have "our" moto
driver yell and say to us, "Where have you been all day?" We never did
take a moto ride from him.
Today we rented our own moped. I was the passenger and Rob drove. It
was a little nerve wracking at first and even the pair of oxen carrying
pottery seemed to be going faster. After getting used to the potholes
- we were on our way. Just like India - Horn okay please. You just
beep if you are going to pass someone. Most traffic is on bikes
anyway, but beware of cattle etc. It was great! We tooled around,
check out the town of Kep which is a deserted beach town. It was where
the ruling French built mansions. But, in the late 70's there was a
famine and the locals took everything of value and sold it to the
Vietnamese for food. Fair enough. The basic structure of the building
is still there though and we snuck in to have a peek.
That's it for now! Must go! To everyone who has written... I will
respond soon! Thanks for writing!
Love,
Alison
Fun Facts:
- All Cambodian moto drivers wear baseball caps.
- The Kmer (Cambodian) word for thank you is "akun".
Hello everyone! After a four month hiatus of not sending updates, I'm
finally back! I left Boston way back on Octber 30th. I spent a week
in Iceland before heading over to England. I stayed in England for 2
and a half months where I stayed with Rob. I met Rob last year when I
was in a swamp in Brazil! We really hit it off, he visited me in
Boston over the summer and then I visited him... then we decided to
take this trip together! I arrived into England in the beginning of
November and went with him to different cities around England while he
worked - Manchester, Reading, and London. We spent most of the rest of
the time in Ipswich, where he lives. My parents and sister came over
for Christmas and we spent New Year's Eve with my sister and the
Mannequin Piss in Brussels, Belgium. Rob got laid off from his job (as
he knew he would) and a few days later - we came to Thailand! We
bought a one way ticket. The plan is to travel around South East Asia
before going up to China and to Russia. From there we will take the
Trans Siberian Railway across Russia into Eastern Europe. I just have
to get back to England by July to go to the World Interhash in Wales.
I'll try and write as regularly as I did last year, and please stay in
touch. It is always great hearing from everyone! I posted lots of
photos on my website from anything between April of last year and
January of this year. You can see them at
http://www.crazyhappenings.com
Bye for now! Alison
finally back! I left Boston way back on Octber 30th. I spent a week
in Iceland before heading over to England. I stayed in England for 2
and a half months where I stayed with Rob. I met Rob last year when I
was in a swamp in Brazil! We really hit it off, he visited me in
Boston over the summer and then I visited him... then we decided to
take this trip together! I arrived into England in the beginning of
November and went with him to different cities around England while he
worked - Manchester, Reading, and London. We spent most of the rest of
the time in Ipswich, where he lives. My parents and sister came over
for Christmas and we spent New Year's Eve with my sister and the
Mannequin Piss in Brussels, Belgium. Rob got laid off from his job (as
he knew he would) and a few days later - we came to Thailand! We
bought a one way ticket. The plan is to travel around South East Asia
before going up to China and to Russia. From there we will take the
Trans Siberian Railway across Russia into Eastern Europe. I just have
to get back to England by July to go to the World Interhash in Wales.
I'll try and write as regularly as I did last year, and please stay in
touch. It is always great hearing from everyone! I posted lots of
photos on my website from anything between April of last year and
January of this year. You can see them at
http://www.crazyhappenings.com
Bye for now! Alison
So, after a four month traveling hiatus (well, if you don’t count Baltimore and Maine) I finally managed to take another trip. This time it was a little shorter than 11 months though! I went to Denmark for a week, and then England for a week.
What prompted Carla and I to take this trip was that the Aarhus Hash House Harriers were sponsoring the bi-annual Eurohash. What more could you ask for than three days in the Danish countryside with 350 hashers?? First, we spent a few days in Aarhus, hosted by our lovely Danish friend, Claus. We even did a few cultural things, like check out Den Gammle By. It’s a collection of houses from different places around Denmark, all brought together in the Botanical Garden in the center of Aarhus. Kinda like Sturbridge Village, only farther away. I did find out an interesting fun fact about Carla though; she’s an expert stilt walker. There were these stilts as part of the village…. and off she went. I thought it was just something that was easy to master until I tried it myself. She admitted later to growing up with stilts in the backyard.
We did a few more cultural things… and then it was time for the Red Dress Run. Have I not mentioned these before? Everyone gets together to go for a run, and we all wear red dresses. Even the men. We made the local paper! Right there of the front the Aarhus Daily Times (okay, I made that up, but the name of the paper was in Danish) were photos of our run! By the end of the night every bar in the 300,000 person city was filled with hashers in red dresses.
One of the most hilarious things about the Eurohash was the floating bar! They built a huge picnic table-like thing with oil drums and steel and wood. Claus, Carla and I actually hitched a ride with the guy who made this contraption, so we got to christen it right in his front yard. The last day of the Eurohash we spent a good part of the afternoon using the large raft. One of the best parts about this hash though, was seeing so many of the friends we made from last year. Lisa even flew up for the event from Brazil! And, including Carla and I there were 6 of us there who were on our tour bus in India. Fantastic! Hi guys!!
After a very long, fun week in Denmark we flew to England… but only after bumping into about 20 hashers in the airport, also on our flight! Our old friend Kerry, who Carla and I met on sailboat in the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago, picked us up at the airport. She was such a great hostess, and it was great to catch up. She even took a day off from work and the three of us went down to Brighton Beach, Beachy Head and to the Seven Sisters. She also took me to my first English Pub… my new favorite thing! How do we live without those?? Carla and I also spent a few days in London doing the sightseeing stuff – Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, Camden Markets, etc.
One night, Carla and I had a “trip reunion” at a pub. Lots of people that we met and traveled with throughout our trip live in and around London, and a whole bunch of us met up! There was Dave and Rob who I met in the Pantanal in Brazil, another Dave that Carla met in Bolivia who also spent a week with us in Rio, Kerry who we met in Australia (who we were staying with), Bridget who we met in Turkey (and whose parents and brother took us out for dinner when we went to her hometown of Hobart, Tasmania), and last but not least, Neill who we met in Czech and who came with us to New Zealand. He is also the one who we bought the car with… and you long time readers might be wondering what happened to that car. We bought it for $500 and sold it at auction for $400. So, when we saw Neill, he gave me my third of the money back! It didn’t take long to spend.
I spent the next few days in Ipswich with Rob. He took me waterskiing, to a surprise birthday party, to his hometown pub, and to some castles and little country towns. One night we went to a dance club with the name of The Betty Ford Clinic. No one appeared to be “reformed”.
I also found out some interesting things about the queen: she owns allthe swans in the country. I guess they are her official pets or something. Therefore, it is illegal to KILL (or eat) swans. But apparently, some immigrants who have been living in the park outside Buckingham Palace have been ROASTING and EATING all the swans, and there were none to be found when we walked through. I guess there has been a big uproar over that. The queen also has 2 birthdays – an official one that gets celebrated by the public with a holiday (and day off from work) and her real one.
And… I just signed up to run a half marathon. WHAT, you say?? That’s right, the slowest runner on the team will be running 13.1 miles on October 12th. I am running in support of Dana Farber Cancer Institute. My goal is to not finish last! I need to raise money! It’s for a good cause, and although the race may torture me, it will save others. So, if you would like to support my race against cancer you can pledge your support at my very own half marathon webpage.
Talk to you soon!
Love, Alison
What prompted Carla and I to take this trip was that the Aarhus Hash House Harriers were sponsoring the bi-annual Eurohash. What more could you ask for than three days in the Danish countryside with 350 hashers?? First, we spent a few days in Aarhus, hosted by our lovely Danish friend, Claus. We even did a few cultural things, like check out Den Gammle By. It’s a collection of houses from different places around Denmark, all brought together in the Botanical Garden in the center of Aarhus. Kinda like Sturbridge Village, only farther away. I did find out an interesting fun fact about Carla though; she’s an expert stilt walker. There were these stilts as part of the village…. and off she went. I thought it was just something that was easy to master until I tried it myself. She admitted later to growing up with stilts in the backyard.
We did a few more cultural things… and then it was time for the Red Dress Run. Have I not mentioned these before? Everyone gets together to go for a run, and we all wear red dresses. Even the men. We made the local paper! Right there of the front the Aarhus Daily Times (okay, I made that up, but the name of the paper was in Danish) were photos of our run! By the end of the night every bar in the 300,000 person city was filled with hashers in red dresses.
One of the most hilarious things about the Eurohash was the floating bar! They built a huge picnic table-like thing with oil drums and steel and wood. Claus, Carla and I actually hitched a ride with the guy who made this contraption, so we got to christen it right in his front yard. The last day of the Eurohash we spent a good part of the afternoon using the large raft. One of the best parts about this hash though, was seeing so many of the friends we made from last year. Lisa even flew up for the event from Brazil! And, including Carla and I there were 6 of us there who were on our tour bus in India. Fantastic! Hi guys!!
After a very long, fun week in Denmark we flew to England… but only after bumping into about 20 hashers in the airport, also on our flight! Our old friend Kerry, who Carla and I met on sailboat in the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago, picked us up at the airport. She was such a great hostess, and it was great to catch up. She even took a day off from work and the three of us went down to Brighton Beach, Beachy Head and to the Seven Sisters. She also took me to my first English Pub… my new favorite thing! How do we live without those?? Carla and I also spent a few days in London doing the sightseeing stuff – Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, Camden Markets, etc.
One night, Carla and I had a “trip reunion” at a pub. Lots of people that we met and traveled with throughout our trip live in and around London, and a whole bunch of us met up! There was Dave and Rob who I met in the Pantanal in Brazil, another Dave that Carla met in Bolivia who also spent a week with us in Rio, Kerry who we met in Australia (who we were staying with), Bridget who we met in Turkey (and whose parents and brother took us out for dinner when we went to her hometown of Hobart, Tasmania), and last but not least, Neill who we met in Czech and who came with us to New Zealand. He is also the one who we bought the car with… and you long time readers might be wondering what happened to that car. We bought it for $500 and sold it at auction for $400. So, when we saw Neill, he gave me my third of the money back! It didn’t take long to spend.
I spent the next few days in Ipswich with Rob. He took me waterskiing, to a surprise birthday party, to his hometown pub, and to some castles and little country towns. One night we went to a dance club with the name of The Betty Ford Clinic. No one appeared to be “reformed”.
I also found out some interesting things about the queen: she owns allthe swans in the country. I guess they are her official pets or something. Therefore, it is illegal to KILL (or eat) swans. But apparently, some immigrants who have been living in the park outside Buckingham Palace have been ROASTING and EATING all the swans, and there were none to be found when we walked through. I guess there has been a big uproar over that. The queen also has 2 birthdays – an official one that gets celebrated by the public with a holiday (and day off from work) and her real one.
And… I just signed up to run a half marathon. WHAT, you say?? That’s right, the slowest runner on the team will be running 13.1 miles on October 12th. I am running in support of Dana Farber Cancer Institute. My goal is to not finish last! I need to raise money! It’s for a good cause, and although the race may torture me, it will save others. So, if you would like to support my race against cancer you can pledge your support at my very own half marathon webpage.
Talk to you soon!
Love, Alison
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