Island Hoppers

Cambodia has finally come to a conclusion, complete with a grand finale birthday party for Phil at Elsewhere Bar. After taking a 2am taxi home and getting a good 3 hours of sleep, Allison and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn to endure the 12 hour tuk tuk, bus, minibus, ferry, and taxi journey that awaited us. Why were we enduring such varied modes of southeast Asian transportation??... because we were headed to the island of Koh Chang in Thailand! That's right friends, we had finally sent our last goodbyes to Cambodia and were off to Thailand to dabble in the life of a beach bum.



We arrived to Koh Chang late and went straight to our beach bungalow for much needed zzzzzz's. It was dark and a bit foggy on our arrival so we didn't even bother to check out the scenery. This made the experience all the more better. I can't describe the feeling we had of waking up in the morning and stepping out of our bungalow onto the deserted white sand beaches of Koh Chang. It was truely badass (for lack of a better expression).



We spent the day relaxing on the beach, taking an elephant trek through the inner rainforest, and swimming in the crystal clear water of the island's coast. That night we ventured down the shore to check out the Koh Chang nightlife scene. I believe "Euro" is the best way to describe it. The one bar we went to shared the same cocktail buckets and Beer Leo pitchers that one can expect in Thailand, but was pumping out the "Euro" house tunes complete with a fire twirling show.



I ended up getting very sick the next day, likely due to some sketchy Cambodian stir fry that I partook in on the bus ride down, so the rest of the Koh Chang trip wasn't as magical as anticipated. Luckliy it was just the 24 hour bug. After a long, nauseous Sunday morning trip, we said goodbye to life as island dwellers and hello to our home for the next 2 weeks - Pattaya, Thailand... but that my friends is another posting altogether....

Cambodia?... You mean Gam-poo-cha?

Welcome friends, family members, co-workers, random internet stalkers. This is to be the first entry of Fried Sweet Bananas, my stomping ground for brief glimpses into life in Thailand and Southeast Asia. For those of you who don't already know, I recently took a hiatus from my job as an online course management software guru and packed my bags and sailed on over to Thailand where I am teaching English and Mathematics, and indulging in beaches, boulders, and bamboo shoots.

My travels began in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where I was trained in the art of Sunday evening jazercise, hacky sack with a shuttlecock, and happy pizza. Happy pizza was of particular surprise to me. What is happy pizza you ask?... Well... imagine happy brownies, except pizza. Phnom Penh (and Cambodia in general) is littered with restaurants blatently advertizing these (not so) innocent delights. The odd thing about this is that drugs, and marijuana in particular are illegal in Cambodia. So how are these restaurants allowed to advertise such blatently illegal cuisine? It just gives you an idea of how corrupt and lazy the whole police force is in Cambodia.



Besides the questionable food selection I actually found Phnom Penh to be quite enjoyable. Most of my time was spent TESOL training at Panasatra University, but I was still able to find some time to explore and mingle with the locals. Some of my favorite memories include playing sai (essentially hacky sack with a badminton shuttlecock) in the park for hours, drinking vodka buckets and Ankor pitchers with the group in Siem Reap, and relaxing with a "JD Extreme" by the pool at Elsewhere Bar. In the end, my Cambodian experience was a success. I met some really great people through my TESOL cours and would certainly reccommend Phnom Penh as a great place to visit if you are looking for cheap prices, an authentic experience, incredible temples, and "lax" rules.