In between my Phenom Phen meetings, I took a weekend trip to Bokor Hill Station near and stayed a couple nights in Kampot. After a grueling 4x4 up into the mountains, there are some sites to explore. First I went to a cool waterfall where one can sit behind and relax. Then I explored the ruins of Bokor Hill Station which was abandoned and destroyed (like everything else in the country) in the years leading up to the Khemer Rouge wars. A casino was built in 1922 by the French and the frame was solid enough to survive the war. Many rooms and passageways can be explored. The whole experience is made all the more creepy by the mist slowely flowing through the area. This is especially true for the nearby abandoned church.

-steve-

I have been in Phenom Phen for about 3 days now and I am here for a week in total. Things have changed quite a bit in the last few years since I have been here. The city is definitely booming. The food is great, the people are very nice and there is lots of development and optimism. I met with a potential employer today and if I am interested, there is a position available for me to help start up a company to provide renewable energy solutions to rural areas. I have lots to think about with regard to this opportunity and the thought of living life in Cambodia longer term.

-steve-

I can say I've never celebrated a birthday like this before! An energetic rendition of Happy Birthday first thing in the morning from my fellow travel mates, followed by a work distribution in a tiny village in northern Senegal. There I got to dance with African women. What an amazing experience! Pots and pans turned into drums and the women started dancing, I got to join them in the middle of the circle.

Then a sidetrip to the Mauritania border (did anyone else have no idea Mauritania even existed?) followed by a great dinner and mango cake. A great way to turn 26.

The last days in Senegal were a blurr. Highlights: Goree Island - the point of no return for close to 3 million Africans during the Atlantic slave trade. A somber experience to say the least, but remarkable to share in the suffering and grieve the horrors committed in our collective human history.

Now once again it's time for real life. Back to work on Wednesday. Back to Canada. Back to the grind.

Before I talk about my hilarious bathroom adventure, I should mention the Cambodian counterpart to Thai New Year. Apparently it is still called Songkran but it here it is of course the Khemer New Year. The most noticeable event is no doubt the flinging of water activities on the street. However, I would have to say that Khemer New Year is kind of a hic version of that in Thailand. I'll give a couple examples. Instead of packing pickup trucks full of kids and water guns, I noticed several people sitting in the open trunks of cars, squirting water at pedestrians. Also, take the simple design of a water balloon. Something as simple as this is not considered as part of the festivities. Rather, small bags closed with long rubber bands (need 10 or so wraps) are preferred. I don't get it.

This evening when I was routinely washing the day's clothes in the sink I must have been a little rough because the sink collapsed and shattered on the ground. Looking back I actually have no idea how it didn't collapse on my bare feet. The sink and attached pipes were replaced by a stream of water that shot out so powerful it knocked me off my feet. I tried my best to shove a cloth in the hole but it was just too strong. I got my finger in there but it was pretty painful because of the pressure. I forgot to mention that I was also naked because I was of course, washing the clothes I had on for the day. This made it very difficult to call to the guy I was rooming with since he was already really suspicious that something wild was going on in the bathroom. I didn't want him to take off since we were saving good money sharing a room.

It took me forever to get my board shorts on with one arm. That drawstring and velcro is cumbersome enough with two free hands. I did eventually get them on though and opened the bathroom door. My room mate definitely knew something was going on since plenty of water had already leaked under the bathroom door. Eventually the guesthouse staff got the water off and plugged the hole properly. Well, kind of properly - they just shoved in the cloth I was trying to work in before. Then came the argument of how much I had to pay for the sink. The staff said it was $30 US. But of course everything is bargainable so I drove it hard down to $10 and we were all square and smiles again.

-steve-

Senegal, or the 60 mile radius of Senegal that I have seen is one giant and continuous dust storm. Sand blows everywhere in gusts, coating arms, legs, and getting stuck in teeth. It's certainly made interviewing people a challenge! The other day I was in the middle of a great dialogue with a Senegalese guy about the work he's doing in a small village called Ngolla when two clumps of sand flew into my right eye - I could feel one grain on each side of my eyeball. Eyes draining wildly, and trying to blink out the dust particles, I tried to finish the interview. Challenging to say the least.

But in this land of dust and dryness, there are blasts of color. The women wear the most gorgeous colors. Head scarves frame the beautiful faces of men and women. Mango and other fruit trees burst green out of the dry, parched ground. What a beautiful country.

It doesn't take long to get dry in this 40 degree weather but I keep getting wet as fast as I dry off. No surprise though, Thai New Year (Songkran) involves the biggest water fight ever. The fight is happening outside as I speak but I ducked into this Internet cafe to catch my breath. For a seemingly poor country, all of a sudden hundreds of pickup trucks materialize out of nowhere packed full of kids and a barrel of water. It is them versus street mobs huddled around their own hose-filling barrel. Passer bys like me are pretty much fare game cause we're too cheap to buy water guns or water bowls. My retaliation strategy has been to dodge my way to the barrel source and grab a scoop from the barrel to fight my way from the inside. The thought that anyone would own anything valuable (like electronics) is irrelevant. I see many angry farangs who have been unwillingly soaked while taking pictures. I have everything ziplocked though so I am good to go.

I have been in Krabi area for a couple days now. I am really not supposed to be having this much fun and relaxation but the cheap flight that I got made me fly 3 days earlier than I had planned. I wasn't going to just sit in Bangkok before going to Cambodia was I? In my defense I headed to somewhere familiar. That way I wouldn't be tempted to run around sight seeing. Good thing too - I am just relaxing and walking around between fruit shakes and panang curry stops. I really should eat something different but I can't.

On my way to Krabi they wouldn't stop playing stupid movies on our foreigner bus. I tried to sleep but kept getting woken up. One time I woke up while they were playing jackass 2 which is really a waste of time movie. But there was this one part where they are boxing in convenience stores and one guy has to get stitches for a head gash because he got bonked too hard. Stupidest thing ever. I went back to sleep. Ironically, not even 2 hours after I was off the bus, I was reading a map and walking down the sidewalk when I ran right into a low hanging tree branch. I almost fell over and died from the shock! And when I came to, I had the exact same stupid jackass 2 gash in my head! But I am in no place to get stitches. I just spent all morning dabbing blood away hoping it'd heal by itself.

-steve-

So I've been in Paris for the past 10 hours on a nice, long layover enroute to Dakar, Senegal for a work trip. (That explains the random guy in the Notre Dame de Paris picture - he's my colleague, Gil from work).

Paris is definitely a city to be visited and explored with a loved one, but going solo, I've made the most of it with my other colleagues and volunteers on this trip, checking out the Eiffel Tower, Le Champs Elysees and L'Arc de Triomphe, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Gorgeous city and a beautiful day! Couldn't ask for a better way to spend a 10 hour layover.

-Amie

Part of Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok's Grand Palace

Planes and layovers for 26 hours. Arrive at 1AM. Ripped off by a taxi. Rats patrolling garbage heaps. Drunk backpackers lazing about. Puddles of puke and urine. Finally find cheap hostel. Attractive young lady stumbles sleepily to check me in. On second thought, it's definitely a man. Why did I pain myself in coming here again? The first day is always the worst. Why do I always forget the cuture shocks?

The next morning is a lot better. It always takes a good sleep before realizing that it's not unbearably foreign here. Everything from last night had changed too. Someone cleaned the streets of garbage, the rats went into hiding, and there was a real woman at reception. Also, I was reminded that I am not a wandering traveller this time. I have a mission. I am job hunting in South East Asia. And off to one of the poorest and devestating of them all: Cambodia. Not much has changed in Bangkok since I was here 6 years ago. If the same is true in Cambodia, I'll question why I was even considering working there.

But that's all for next week. I have a couple days to chill out in Thailand first. I may as well head for the southern paradise!

-steve-

Our trip to Kauai with the Koops was fantastic. We rented a little condo not too far from the ocean with good access to the island's sites.

We spent a lot of time at the beach boogy-boarding and snorkeling. Our goal with boogy-boarding was to find waves that had tremendous power to hurl you forward but not quite enough to kill you if you caught it wrong - we tried out both types. The goal for snorkeling was to see a turtle and it just so happens that the day we split up from the Koops to do separate activities was the day that Ryan was holding the back of a sea turtle. Nevertheless, we ended up having a great adventure on that day searching for lost irrigation mountain tunnels deep in the jungle.

Supposedly several years ago someone had the great idea of irrigating a drier portion of the island by using water from a wetter area. The only problem was the mountain range in the middle. No problem - just blast a mile long tunnel under the mountain to connect the two! Apparently this solution worked for some time but was eventually abandoned. The majority of this endeavor involves finding the tunnel entrance. It takes about two hours of jungle-trail hiking to find them and several other attempters have provided detours off the main hunting trail. Some brainiac even decided to leave green flagging on the correct trail as well as other branches to throw people off. Fortunately after several detours, we located the tunnel entrance and prepared to walk through. It ended up taking us the best part of an hour to walk through all the tunnels. This was partly due to the length but also due to the fact that the tunnels (being irrigation ducts) were filled with a foot of water. This was quite a lot since the tunnels were 6 feet high and wide at the best spots. A magical destination awaits at the tunnels exit - waterfalls, lush ranges and cliffs, and peaceful untouched nature.

Another of my favorite activities was swimming in waterfall pools. We weren't necessarly trying to swim in that many but there were several times where we were hiking and hot and there they were! The Hanakapiai and Wailua waterfalls were excellent (despite the frigid waters) but I think our favorite spot was Kipu falls. Picture 20ft cliffs surrounding a small waterfall and pool with no rocks at the base. This allowed for jumping off the waterfall as well as using a rope swing that the local kids hung up in a tree. We thought we were getting good at the rope swing (20 ft drop) until a local kid climbed the tree another 10ft and jumped off the tree into the water. A novice landing at that height could keep you in pain for a while. Although Ryan performed the same feat by landing on his sunburnt back after performing a beautiful 1 and 1/2 flip off the rope swing.

We also had the pleasure of attending a Hawaiian Luau (local dancing/feast) where Ryan and I stole the show with our Hawaiian dancing on stage. On second thought, we were second to a young Japanese fellow who was forced to dance (red-faced) with a Hawaiian girl. This spectacle was hilarious but it was even funnier that he recorded the rest of the show with a video camera in each hand.

We spent some time the island of Oahu before and after staying on Kauai, engaging in a range of activities which included driving around the whole island, visiting Pearl Harbour, driving into a crater, joining an anti-war march through Honolulu, and visiting the Dole plantation for fresh pineapple ice cream.

-steve-

I had wanted to cross country ski into the Egypt Lake cabin since last year and finally the weekend came to do so. I set out with Rob (my brother) and headed to the trail head. I had done some research and found that the Healy Pass trail could be followed for 12km to reach Egypt Lake shelter. Soon into the trip we noticed that the trail had a lot more elevation gain then we had anticipated. I had concluded that the trail would be possible with cross country skis. We had little difficulty with the first 8km. It was mostly uphill and difficult on cross country skis but we managed. It was at about 8km that the trail we had been following vanished. It was at this time that Rob first mentioned that his toes were getting pretty cold. Quite a bit more elevation lay ahead as Healy Pass opened before us. We contemplated turning back but we were almost over the pass and we could then go downhill towards the shelter.

It was a grueling task to make it up to the top of the pass with cross country skis. We found later that the trail was more suited to alpine touring equipment. It was dark by the time we made it to the top of the pass but the moon was full and the temperature hadn't dropped too low yet. Rob continued to complain about his toes but he eventually forgot about them. The trail was now long gone and we were following the GPS to our destination. Downhill proved to be a lot easier until we hit a forest. By this time our bodies were totally taxed and we were mentally and physically exhausted. We still had just over 1km to go and it was very difficult to navigate through the forest. We constantly tripped over branches in our skis but there was no way we could continue on foot either - the snow was 4 feet deep! Rob broke a ski pole trying to brace himself from a fall. That was an unfortunate setback. Using sheer willpower, we made it to within half a kilometer of the shelter (or at least where the GPS said it would be). By this time we were nearly in tears from physical and emotional draining. We couldn't climb the last hill to the cabin so we set off crawling through the snow. We had contemplated whether or not we were going to freeze to death on the mountain side several times until finally Rob let out a scream - he had seen the cabin!

But this was only the start of the craziness. We got into the cabin and made a fire as quickly as possible. Then a chilling event that I will not soon forget occurred. Rob took his feet out of his ski boots and they were rock hard frozen. His toes were stuck together with ice. I didn't know at the time what warming method was the best for a time like this. I ended up putting his toes against my thighs to slowly warm them up. In hindsight, the best thing to do with frozen body parts is to put them in room temperature water and warm them up as quick as possible. Within and hour Rob's feet were warm but the feeling had not returned. It was after midnight so we went to bed. I had trouble sleeping. I was constantly wondering what state Rob's feet would be in the morning - would they be black? would they have feeling? Rob didn't sleep much because agonizing pain started to come from his feet within a couple hours of warming.

The next morning Rob's toes and heels were purple. He still didn't have much feeling and one thing was for sure - we weren't going to be able to ski out. We only had 3 poles between the two of us and there was no way Rob was going to fit his bloated purple feet into ski boots. It was painful even to stand. Worse that all this, we were uncertain of the severity concerning the frostbite which was now very evident.

I noticed that there was a topographic map on the wall. Not too far from the shelter there was a Warden's cabin. I set off after making some breakfast on the wood stove. As I predicted, the cabin was boarded up and vacant. But I was desperate for help so I looked for a way to break in. I got a rock and started to bang on the front door lock which secured a bar across the door. To my surprise, the bolt that held the lock in place wasn't installed very good and I eventually loosened the bolt that held the lock mechanism in place. The bar across the door swung free and I could open the door and enter the Warden's cabin.

It was dark inside but I did notice some old radio equipment in the corner of the cabin. It wasn't functional because there was no power to the cabin. I had noticed earlier that there were solar panels outside the cabin so there had to be some battery power somewhere. I found a panel near the door and flipped a switch. Success! The radio had power! The equipment looked old and dusty though. Nevertheless, I fiddled with the knobs and tried to send distress messages over all the channels that I could. I didn't know then but they barely even use the single side band VHF equipment that I was meddling with. A lady in some far off office heard a little blurp coming from a system that she usually didn't pay much attention to. Miraculously, she turned it up and heard my cries for help. I was soon talking back and forth with some park wardens. I explained the situation to them and to my surprised, they were quick to dispatch a rescue helicopter. At first I was scared that I had gone too far. I hoped that the situation was severe enough to justify braking and entering as well as helicopter dispatch. Soon I knew the choice was right. The rescuers said Rob had second degree frostbite which meant we were flying straight to the Banff hospital.

That's pretty much the end of the story. We were swept away off the mountain. Eventually we got Rob back to Regina for one of his university final exams. But I am writing this 2 days after the rescue so only time will tell which tissue is alive and which will not recover. The doctor was positive and suggested he will recover without the loss of any toes.

-steve-