Jessica Luibrand 12/14/16 Jessica Luibrand 12/14/16

Cambodia

We took a bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap about 5 days ago. I've been writing all sorts of random things but I have this necessity to talk about my travels chronologically, so I'm going to try.

Our first experience in Cambodia was crossing the border with our bus mates, all from different counties. Crossing the border was mostly just waiting in long lines only to get through and wait in another line. We saw many other backpackers doing the same. John and I passed the time by listening to Alan Watts wisdom.

Back in the bus about 2 hours later we stopped for food at this amazing farm-restaurant where we saw the sun setting over the rice fields. Vines hung from the ceiling of the restaurant and cats, kittens, chicks and chickens ran around our feet as we ordered noms and drank Angkor beer.

We landed in Siem Reap not to long from then and were told the bus couldn't drop us off at our hostel so we boarded a Tuk Tuk with a driver named Chen. Chen was nice, spoke English well and was expressive and fun. He dropped us of at our hostel and told us he'd meet us tomorrow morning to begin our Angkor Adventures.

The hostel we stayed in was Garden Villa hostel, just around the corner from The Night Market and Pub Street. It had a pool and a hang out area with loud music and flashy lights. Super bro-y, but fun and the staff was very sweet and attentive.

The next day we woke up and had an amazing breakfast of Dragonfruit, my new favorite fruit (sorry strawberries!) and eggs, and of course, coffee.

Chen was waiting for us outside and he recommended us seeing the Floating Villages before Angkor. John thought that sounded exciting so we went there instead of Angkor. We spent the morning boating with Chen and a few other friends we made. We had beers on Lake Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia.

After boating on the lake and buying rice for an orphanage near by, we heard that there were crocodiles so we went to see them. After that we realized it was a crocodile farm where they were made into handbags so that was a little sad, but I sent them my love anyways.

On our way back to the land there was a mangrove jungle and we took a tinier boat through it. I love trees so much and Redeoods and Banyans are a few of my favorite, mangroves are as well but I've never seen them in person like I was able to in this jungle. Rowing through them is so incredibly peaceful and relaxing, being amongst the water and the trees is so serene. Then we got to climb some so that was pretty awesome as well. I made John go up first so if there were spiders he could take care of them before I saw them (the spiders here are scary as fuck)

Chen invited us over to his house afterwards and his wife prepared fresh fish with a peanut sauce and cilantro with rice. It was so delicious and we were so happy that we found such a nice Tuk Tuk driver (more on this so keep reading!) Chen took us home to our hostel and we jumped in the pool, excited we had had such an amazing day out on the water and among friends.

the next day Chen picked us up at 330 am and we made our way to Angkor Wat for sunrise, a must-do / must-see if you come here. We walked through the gateway in the dark so we weren't able to see too much of the gate, just shadowy outlines of epic carvings and huge stones. We sat on a temple facing Angkor Wat and watched the sunrise. It was overcast so we weren't able to see too much of an epic sunrise, but it was nice being there doing the same thing that so many people before us have done for over 9 centuries.

Exploring Angkor Wat was incredible. The size of the stones and the whole city is breathtaking. Through Angkor there are repeating symbols at mostly every Wat. My favorite was the nagas, or 7 headed snake that showed up along the walkways, under the Buddhas and over the archways.

The mythology of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk is painted on the walls of Angkor Wat and portrays the teams of good and evil working together for a common goal. Both sides pulling on Vasuki, the king of the nagas serpents, who is tied around Mount Mandara, a cosmic mountain put into the ocean. Both sides are pulling on Vasuki to churn the ocean in order to recieve ambrosia. This is a super short version of the myth, look into it yourself, because it's an epic tale. Anyways, the nagas serpents are my favorite.

After exploring Angkor and the East Gate John and I decided to 'off road' it a bit and began hiking through the jungles of Cambodia. Now I love hiking more than most things in life, but the spiders of Cambodia are 1. Way too healthy 2. Everywhere 3. Bright colored (so def poisonous) and 4. John came across two he swear had wings. So our hike did not last long and we had to get our Tuk Tuk back to save us from imminent death.

After that whole deal we continued on to Pre Rup, which was beautiful and where I took my lion picture on facebook. we went by East Mebon, but I didn't feel very well and it looked like Pre Rup so we just more or less waved at it. Then we went to Ta Som, I was explaining to John the metaphysical history of the earth and he was extremely curious about all the truths weaved into myths and legends. He wanted to know more so we did a past life regression, which was very telling.

After Ta Som we continued our journey to Neak Pean, a temple that you have to get to via a long boardwalk through a huge moat. John felt very at home here.

After Neak Pean we were exhausted and came back to the hostel, where we got screwed over big time by our nice Tuk Tuk driver. He lied about the price for the day and the day prior and we lost some money. We were pretty upset but at the same time, it's part of the journey. If you ever land in Cambodia and a driver named Chen wants to help you, don't let him. But I'm sure most Tuk Tuk drivers are the same (dishonest).

We went to the Night Market and wandered around Pub Street. This is where all the foreigners go for gifts, trinkets, and beer.

The Night Market does have some great products, I got really amazing ninja pants and the fresh fruit smoothies are delicious. We got beer at Angkor What? A bar down Pub street. Pub Street is basically Khoa San Road (Bangkok).

the next day we opted for a more chill day, we switched hostels to save some money and landed at Cambodia Backpacking Guesthouse, down the street and over the bridge from our last hostel. We ended up stumbling upon Bambu Stage, an amazing little creative space and restaurant that was hosting Temples Decoded: Angkor Wat, showing how it was made featuring Nick, an ex-museum designer and Mala, the restaurant manager.

Nick showed us, in a multi faceted way, how the temples were built, how Cambodians honor trees they cut down and how the spirits of the forest protect them. Later that night we (re)watched Graham Hancock's Lost Civilization episode on Angkor Wat and relearned how Angkor was designed to look like Draco the constellation and built as, of course, a giant astrological calendar to honor the Golden Age, 10,500BC.

We headed back to Angkor the following day, this one on a motorbike, not trusting anyone anymore(!) and began with Prasat Kravan, a little temple dedicated to the Hindu diety, Vishnu.

We hung out at Srah Srang, a huge aqueduct and gazed over the calm waters (see John's facebook post).

We followed that up with Banteay Kdei, which I dubbed 'bantay kittehhhhh' for those not familiar with my vernacular or tendency to call things different then their namesake). Banteay kdei was really beautiful and disheveled, as most temples are here, and we read some interesting history that after the death of the Buddhist King, the next king believed in Brahmanism and had all the Buddhas destroyed, beheaded or hidden underground.

From Banteay Kdei we headed through the jungle on a motorbike ducking to miss vines and narrowly escaping being hit by trees and stones to Ta Prohm, or as everyone calls it (and by that I do mean everyone, even the tour guides) Tomb Raider!

Photo by John Perez (honestly I can't remember where this is but I'm pretty sure it was Banteay Kdei!) 🐱

I was so excited to see this one and my dad, brother and I used to play Tomb Raider on the computer many moons ago, but it was so freaking full of tourists. There is a fence around 'The Tree' and I didn't have the patience to wait in line and get a picture, so I found a different epic tree and did my best Lara Croft impression.

We were able to sneak away from the tourists and go against the grain, stealthily running back into the temple where an Exit Only sign lie. There we found some peace and quiet amongst the ruins before the legions of Chinese Tourists took over.

After Ta Prohm we headed over to Ta Keo, which is being restored, and found some stillness at the top as most people were not brace enough to climb the extremelyyyyy steep stairs to the top.

As the motorbike adventure continued we did get lost in the backcountry, did ride through a huge patch of prickers which clawed at my legs and John's hand, did stumble upon a beautiful serene patch of open farmland, did ride up to some backcountry Cambodian houses on accident and did in fact, fall off when John got over confident about a wet sandy corner, but #wedidntdie, and that's pretty much all that matters.

also our motorbike did die last night just before sunset but we were saved by a super sweet Cambodian couple who called a big Tuk Tuk so we were able to 'fit.' And by 'fit' I mean John rode on the motorbike, on the trailer, on the Tuk Tuk as we ventured back into the city of Siem Reap from deep in the jungles of Angkor.

So far it's been crazy amazing and the adventure continues!

Jessica Luibrand 12/9/16 Jessica Luibrand 12/9/16

Bangkok

Scampering off to the next adventure! Photo by John Perez

Telephone wires hang like spaghetti noodles all across Bangkok, the aromas of food range from delicious to absolutely foul and if you have your mouth open at the wrong moment you can catch all sorts of tastes from the street vendors that line the roads. Tuk tuks and taxis drive slowly by yelling and grabbing your attention, ripping you out of your daydreams to ask if you want a ride. We seldom take tuk tuks because that's the only true sketchy thing we heard about Bangkok (well besides the red light district).

We've taken the sky train all around the city to see the different architecture of the different neighborhoods. Like china, high rises exist next door to dilapidated housing in which the jungle has began to reclaim. Trees and vines sprout of the roofs and windows of houses.

Yesterday we took a longboat ride down the river and saw a number of amazing temples lining the river. We saw a Gila monster sunning himself along the cement holding wall. Cat fish came close to jumping out of the water, mouths open asking for food. People fish and gaze at the river as they do in all cultures; water holds the answers of all wandering minds.

The long boat we were on was lined with fresh flowers from the flower district we passed on the way to wat pho yesterday.

We saw quite a few temples from the river and the amazing artistic architecture they flaunt. The finest details, always being restored with much respect and much care.

We saw the Sitting Biddha, Reclining Buddha Standing Buddha, Sleepy Buddha etc. Okay, so I'm joking about the last one but there were quite a few different buddhas we got to see. All huge. All beautiful. All unique.

Reclaiming Buddha was my favorite one because of his feets. All sorts of magical symbols done in abalone!

Due to my inappropriate style of dress (it was hot?!) I got to wear an amazing lime green bathrobe when I entered The Temple of the Reclining Buddha, but I was not alone as most foreign girls also got to sport this for cool style.

My favorite temple was at Wat Pho because it had hands on the ends of the roof reaching up into the sky and also Green Man-Esque faces.

I got blessed by a Buddhist monk at WatArun which was an incredible opportunity that I am so grateful to have.

The Jess abides, and dresses appropriately. Photo by John Perez

Khoa san road is the very popular backpackers dostrict that was a little overwhelming. In china we were the only foreigners, in khoa san there are only foreigners. It's very much like Mexico or Peru in the sense that there are all these markets open and people shoving their products in your face, that coupled with the huge amount of drunk foreigners makes it a little too much, however, I did eat a bug so that was fun. (It mostly tasted like the soy sauce it was soaked in.)

At night something really magical happened. We were leaving Wat Pho trying to find a bus (the public transportation is a must!! it's so fun and scary and awesome and exciting!) ...And there were all Thai people dressed in black - and by all Thai people I mean every Thai person in Bangkok - we couldn't really figure out what was happening but about after 2 miles of walking along the road and not being able to find a bus a little Thai army dude told us to sit down at this crosswalk because the KING was being moved!!!!!!

For those who don't know, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died in October and the Thai people loved him very much. This was a really big deal because he reigned for 70 years. So last night we literally sat in the streets with all the Thai people watcheing his body being moved. After being extremely humbled that we were able to witness this incredibly unique experience we kept wandering in search for a bus, my feet were about to give up. 2 miles later, still walking, another little army dude called us over and told us the princess was coming. I asked 'should we sit?' Feeling good I knew the appropriate thing to do and he shook his head, pointed onward and said 'no, walk very quickly!' So we ran to the end of the road and sat and patiently waiting for her to pass. It was awesome.

Jess & Nate nomming on a bug. Photo by John perez

Today I got to check off a huuuuge bucket list item as I went and experienced the Unicorn Cafe in Bangkok, and it was every bit of magical you'd expect! Everything is unicorn-something. Glitter drinks, magic burgers, and delicious treats! We had some fantastical drinks and rainbow crepes that were super sugary so I might have diabetes, but it was so worth it!

Tonight is our last night in Bangkok and we board a bus tomorrow for Cambodia. Angkor Wat here we come! Thanks for listening to my rambling thoughts! 💕🦄

Jessica Luibrand 12/5/16 Jessica Luibrand 12/5/16

China adventures

Being on the other side of the world is very much like being on the other side of the world. China has been absolutely amazing and different in every way, yet is still familiar at times. I love to travel because it pulls emotions and tendencies from you that you wouldn’t normally have and highlights things about yourself that you wouldn’t have known otherwise.

We landed in china after a 14 hour flight; apparently I can't do math and was really surprised and thought we had emergency landed in Russia – I blame the lack of sleep. We meandered through the airport, through the lines at customs and began our search for the subway. It’s a very efficient method to buy subway tickets but if you don’t know Chinese it can get a little challenging. We hopped on the subway and it was very much what you would expect from a Chinese subway – just as many people as possible squeezed like tiny sardines into the subway car. It’s kind of fun to push and shove yourself in and out, nothing personal, just subway survival.

We made it to the train station and hung out there for a while waiting for our train and the last leg of our journey to take us to Liz and Lee. The only food options we had were mcdonalds and honestly we were pretty grateful for the food after the long flight and general deliriousness. The train station was my first real experience with a Chinese bathroom- which is a square hole in the ground that you just have to hover over and hope for the best. It took some getting used to but I do see the logic behind it – very much like our “squatty potty” unicorn facebook commercial. Also, I'm almost 100% sure two people on the train were eating cat food, so again, grateful for the mcdonalds. At this point my brain was trying to make sense of the Chinese language and translating the words without my approval so I heard lots of swearing and random conversations about Shamu and gingivitis.

Riding the train was the first time we were ‘outside’ and able to see the Chinese countryside which is such an amazing landscape! These mountains would just come out of nowhere and fade away just as quickly as they erupted out of the earth. It was almost as if the creator was holding a box of mountains and tripped over something and they all flew out of the box and fell randomly to the earth. The mountains also just gave away to the water, much like Big Sur, not really bothering with beaches.

From the train we could see rice patty fields next to high rises and dilapidated housing in which the Detroiter in me really wanted to explore. Staring out the window watching the world go by is one of my favorite past times, but so is sleep, and I was able to do a lot of that on our 4 our train ride to Lizzie and Lee. They picked us up at the train station and took us around the city where we got to experience the market and mall. At the mall they had all these kid rides that were so sparkly that John and I had to jump in and ride around in. they were these little Tron vehicles that rolled around and were full of shiny glowy lights. We went back to their apartment and met Zac Efron, their cat who looks like a tiny snow leopard, who gives the best hugs.

Adventuring around china with liz and lee is so much fun! Culinary adventures in the form of hot pot, feasting with Lee’s parents in a hotel room like a Chinese gangster, barbeque (Chinese version – very different then American version) and mango cake, with some weirder things sprinkled in between like pig penis and durian (a fruit that tastes good but smells like ass). Eating Chinese street food is a staple to visiting china, little street vendors line the roads and youre not quite sure if they’re selling food or stuff from their garage at times, but spicy noodles are delicious, and the spiciness totally killed any bacteria I may have eaten.

First Liz and Lee took me and John to an international friendship park where we rode a roller coaster (while Liz safely watched from below). Chinese people really like taking pictures of tall Americans and tattooed Americans so it seems me and John are floating around in a lot of random Chinese people’s pictures. Liz said that was pretty normal.

I've tried to make Liz teach me a couple Chinese swearwords, which I’ve already forgotten, and I'm also try to learn a couple words myself to help me get by, but basically the only word I know is shi shi, which is thank you.

Pooping adventures are a continuous thing as you always need to go to the bathroom (the food is pretty much all cooked in oil and fat) but you have to be very discerning on the bathroom you select. There were a few bathrooms me and Liz ventured into that I thought would be our last. But we prevailed!

Lee took John and I on an e-bike adventure through the city of Liuzhou to a park. Lee assured me he was an amazing driver, and we didn’t die, so I believe him. He dropped me and John off to a park where there was a mountain in middle.

We started wandering aimlessly towards the mountain, hoping it was climbable and then to our happy surprise we found a trail. On our way up we found a lesser travelled dirt path through the trees and followed that to the top. Once there the stairs turned into stones and we had to maneuver cleverly to avoid death. The rocks at the top were a little sketchy and mostly held in by bolts and nets that looked excessively old, but we managed to monkey up to the top overlooking the whole city with a 360 degree view. It was so cool to stand on the top just overlooking everything, as far as they eye could see and the smog would allow.

We went to the East Gate, which is the oldest wall in the province of Guangxi and then Confucius Temple, which was closed, but the architecture was beautiful and we were able to sneak around the back and climb some stairs for an epic view of the cityscape and bridges of Liuzhou. There was a cave that me and John started to sneak into but Liz and Lee assured us that’s where crackheads lived, so our cave adventure was short lived.

We took a river boat ride and got to see all of the amazing sparkly city lights of Liuzhou and the waterfalls that you could only see from the river, which were incredibly beautiful. They light up the mountains at night with green and yellow and orange lights so the whole city looks like a crazy jungle.

Basically China is fucking rad, an amazing mix of city, nightlife and epic backcountry all rolled into one. It’s fun to blog while I’m here and keeps my memory sharp by documenting and reliving all the epic things we’ve done. We’d love to stay longer and do more Chinese adventures but Thailand is calling & we’re answering the call!

Jessica Luibrand 12/1/16 Jessica Luibrand 12/1/16

begin at the beginning and go on

Planes, trains and automobiles, or rather in our case: automobiles, trains & planes. From saying farewell to our roomies, fur babies and friends, we depart from San Diego with only our packs and far flung hopes for the long journey ahead.

We bid goodnight & good luck to sleepy Southern California while preparing for the long flight ahead, Lizzie-bound, to the other side of the world to visit my friend from college who's been living in and loving China for a number of years.

The tops of palm trees hang in the cotton candy skyline of Los Angeles, we watch the sun, from a bus window stuck in LA traffic, gently set over the Pacific Ocean. We await our sun rise over foreign land; two days ahead of us separated by only 22 hours.

Airports are always high energy and exciting to me. The quote from Love, Actualy always rings in my ears as soon as I step inside: "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere." Both me & John are feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed as we wait in line. Wearing the high-collared neck pillow I feel like a rattlesnake (naturally) and begin my best interpretive dance as such.

The check-in guy at security looks excited for mine & John's trip, in fact, most people do. We are The Backpackers, people respect and fear us. He asks 'how this backpacking thing works' and we respond 'we're about to find out!'