Ta Prohm

If there is one temple you might recognize (other than the iconic Angkor Wat), it is Ta Prohm. Made famous (or at least identifiable) from the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Ta Prohm is one of the most important temples at Angkor due to the fact that it was erected as a Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in a similar condition in which it was found. The incredible Spong trees grow over the stones to create an eerie, mesmerizing feeling that you are absolutely not in the 21st century. Definitely a crowd-pleaser, this one.




Andrew!!

Koreans EVERYWHERE. Seriously, could not escape them.


slangin'





I was wearing my Buddha every day for two months until I broke it playing Kinect. Damn technology.

Seriously...these trees were out of this world...

Banteay Kdei

Before I go too much further, I should mention that the temples at Angkor are both Hindu and Buddhist. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king." It wasn't until the end of the 12th Century that a descendant of Jayavarman II (Jayavarman VII to be exact), departed from the faith of his ancestors and adopted Mahayana Buddhism. The temples built from this time until the fall of the Angkor Empire (in 1431) were Buddhist, not Hindu. Banteay Kdei was one of these first Buddhist temples to be erected at Angkor.

Srah Srang

The monarch's private baths (or baray), Srah Srang was dug in the mid-10th century.

Prasat Kravan

There are a lot of temples at Angkor (over 1000 according to Wikipedia...) but only a few still standing. I am going to do a separate post for each one (and include a link in case you have any interest in learning more about them). This is the first one, Prasat Kravan. Not too exciting, but hey, its a temple right? Right.

First Day in Siem Reap

This is David.

If you ever go to Siem Reap, you should meet this guy. Best tour guide ever.



Also, this food we are eating, while you might not be able to discern what it is, is incredible. The one to the right is called "amok" - probably the most famous Khmer dish. Served with either chicken or fish, its kind of like coconut curry with tumeric, collard greens (or something!) and all sorts of other secret delicious stuff. Omg.

The Kingdom of Cambodia

I can't lie, I am pretty exhausted only half-way through my Cambodia edits to make too much of a comment about my trip...but I will tell you it was amazing and beautiful and fantastic.

To go into a brief description of my trip...I left Seoul on November 29 with 6am temperatures hovering around 20F and arrived in Phnom Penh at 6pm and 90F. Needless to say, I had to shed some layers.

The next morning I headed to Siem Reap to meet friends of friends (my co-worker at my school in Seoul had a best friend - Denny - who moved to Siem Reap seven years ago). Denny's "brothers" David and Andrew were Khmer (or Cambodian) and they graciously showed me around the temples and Siem Reap for seven days. It was pretty incredible seeing the temples with an "original Angkor boy" (ie: he sold books and trinkets there when he was a kid). The temples were even more breath-taking and magnificent than I imagined...and my expectations were pretty high. We swam in the West Baray (reservoir/lake of the Angkor Empire) and had a party for David's birthday on the Angkor grounds (his family has lived there for generations), went to a "floating" village, went to a silk farm, ate so much delicious Khmer and Indian food, and generally had a fantastic time drinking way too much Angkor beer/riding motorbikes, etc etc.

Then it was on to Sihanoukville (the main port town of Cambodia and its only "resort" destination; ie: backpacker central). I took an overnight bus and met two incredible NGO-ers from Flagstaff, Arizona. When we arrived that morning we hung out on the beach and they bought me breakfast as I couldn't yet check into my hostel. The following day I went on an overnight dive trip with a Texan, a New Yorker and two Canadians and slept on a tiny island inhabited by monkeys, dogs and a handful of out-of-control Cambodian drunks (12 bottles of whiskey between 10 people...that next morning wasn't fun lemme tell you). Our four dives were under-whelming but we did see some seahorses and crazy-lookin' fish.

Two days later I made the trek to Phnom Penh. I CouchSurfed for the first time and it was incredible. I was shown the most unwavering, incredible hospitality by a complete stranger, Elma. She is from the Philippines but has lived in PP for 8 years with her German husband and 7 cats and 8 dogs. (I didn't stay with all them though...she had another apartment nearby). PP was beautiful and also sad. Home to the S21 and Killing Fields, Phnom Penh has seen its fair share of horror, starvation and devastation for the next several centuries thanks to the horrific Khmer Rouge who killed millions only a few decades ago. While Cambodians don't like to talk about it, they are some of the most gracious, hard-working, beautiful people I've ever met. I spent my five days in Phnom Penh, roaming the many markets and streets, feeding Sambo (a 60-year-old elephant), visiting temples and also working at a soup kitchen that fed the homeless. Elma took me to the Philippine Embassy's Christmas Party to play bingo with about 200 other Philippine expats living in PP. Hysterical.

Anyway, this turned out to not be a short summary whatsoever, but there are lots and lots (and lots) of photos to come. I will continue to upload until they are all up (not all, but the decent ones anyway).

Enjoy! And if you ever want to go to Cambodia, I'll gladly be your tour guide ;)

The Phil In Two Phorms

The Phil. What a guy. Gonna miss this kid that's for sure. First person I met to share my love of Phish in Korea. I gave him my Phish poster I've had for almost 9 years. I think he looks especially good in blue.



air mattress taco

Last Day of School :(

I don't think I could appropriately summarize my 16 months of teaching in Korea. I don't want to sound trite and blabber on about how it was "one of the best years of my life" and "changed my life" but both of these things are true. It's hard to quantify/qualify an experience with words, but there were so many things about this year that forced me to grow up a little bit (and also regress at the same time).

Living alone was so much better than I ever anticipated. Living in a country where you don't know the language and no one around you knows yours led to so much frustration but also so many hilarious, awkward encounters. Korean food ranks up there in the top one or two foods for me. My best friend/wife of several years (Helen) and I got to spend a year being goofy slobs, cooking, teaching, watching far too many movies and LOST, running, and generally over-analyzing everything together. I met a few folks who I will be friends with til the end of time (Sarah, Matthew John J. Hennessey Baker, Nick the Dick, David, Kristine, Emily, Sean, Scott, Mikey, The Phil, Steve, Jasmine, Jon, Frank- I'm talkin to you). And became better friends with old friends (Clark and Brandon).

Regardless. My reason for going to Korea was to teach. And while the way that I was forced to teach was not exactly what I thought best (or my style of teaching), I love love loved (most of) my kids. The last day was rough and I definitely got teary more than a few times. It's strange knowing that I won't see any of these kids again...and even weirder to think, "will they even remember me in a year?" Either way, they left a pretty significant mark on me and I will miss them.

Here are some photos of my favorite classes on the last day.


Lucy

Pizza Party....(Back Row:) Tony, Tom 2, Eric, Bella, Rosa, Lucy, Tom; (Middle:) Ellen, Reese, Julie; (Front:) Sunny and Eileen

Bella, Lucy, Tom

Joseph, Charlie, Harry

(Back Row:) Charlie, Lina , Olivia, Wendy, Julia; (Front Row:) Sunny, Harry, Joseph, Jenny

Phamily Thanksgiving

In the last two months I was in Seoul, I had the very fortunate chance of meeting an entirely new group of people, musicians, artists, etc. This was the group I had been unknowingly been looking for all along in Korea (of course I didn't find it until the end). They are the biggest reason I've been considering going back in the Spring. Ultimately, I know I couldn't recreate the scene/experience that I had this Fall but I love these people with all my heart.

Steve (the biggest Deadhead I know :)), had an amazing Thanksgiving Party at his place. He was great host and his wife and daughter flew in from New York for the occasion. The night went something like this: whiskey/wine, music, food, music, food, wine. It's pretty amazing to be 7,000 miles from home and feel like you are part of another family. I will never forget this motley crew and am especially thankful for Sarah, Matt, Steve, Phil, J.J., Don, Alecia, Zee, Fred, Dave, Patricia, Soju Matt, etc etc. lots of <3


Isabell

In my element - with the 10-year-olds...

Steve's Thanksgiving Speech/Toast

Matt Mangano and Tim

Steve and J.J.

Matt and Patricia (Texas represent!)

J.J.'s a Dirt Bag (The Phil in background)

party animals - Steve, JJ and Matthew John J. Hennessey Baker

My besties - Sarah and Helen

Love this, love you MJJHB.

thisth isth mah sexthy posth - Soju Matt and Tim

Who knew a brilliant saxophone player could do a damn-good Neutral Milk Hotel rendition on the guitar!?

My Favorite Class All Year

The last three months of working in Korea, I was able to teach a special "supplemental" speaking/grammar class. I saw these three kids William, John and Annie two days a week for about two hours each day. We had so much fun watching "Annoying Orange," Inspector Gadget and talking about baseball. These kids are super smart and I am happy I got to hang out with them for a few months :)




Annie, John and William

The Blog Formerly Known As Seoul Shakedown Party

I would imagine the majority of viewers of this meager phlog are aware that I am no longer in Korea (last teaching day was November 27). It was a pretty stellar 18 months and I have been seriously debating going back (although that is lookin less and less likely now that I'm back in the world of good beer). Unfortunately, I haven't made much time for photo-ish and have about 25GB of photos to edit from Thanksgiving Phamily Style, my solo trip to Cambodia and Spanish reunion in San Francisco.

My resolution is to edit these photos within the next two weeks. And get better at walking on my hands. And learn German. So hold tight...