i call this "epic"

i really don't know how to explain well the adventure that we all had on our tree top trip. we hiked miles into the jungle, like strait down. my quads will never be the same. we then proceeded, for the next two days, to complete 18 life changing zip lines, 3 tite rope walks, 3 death bridges, a rock climb on the edge of a mountain cliff, and another daringly steep hike back up out of the jungle. i met my first leaches and slept in a treehouse. like geniuses, none of the 4 girls in my tree remembered flashlights or our phones, so when the lights went out at 9:30 we were in total darkness. luckily rebecca had a dinky book light on her. i took advantage of it and her grace and patience when at 11:00pm i woke up and went into a total panic attack because i could see literally nothing at all. (i was having visions of that spider in my bed and not knowing) she was kind enough to wake up at my prompting and shine her like for 10 seconds so i could calm down.

i met a group of fairies and pixies out here. i was kind of intimidated because i didn't know what to expect. they were nice, like no pixie hollow or anything, but they were friendly. we were not given any pixie dust, despite my request.

such a delicious lunch. the salsa of all things was amazing! this entire group of people that went with us was amazing. honestly some truly exceptional individuals here. love you john and shannon. i have a couple crush on you.

wiggly bridges. this one was pretty good. another one took me like 5 minutes to cross while the guide was laughing at me. 

we got super muddy every time we zip lined, and i liked it. i attempted to capture this, but some annoying person kept photo bombing us. this picture is capturing the moment before my kill shot that made him stop.

definitely zip lined across this multiple times. i couldn't take as many pictures as i would have liked because it was raining. i'm ok with it though. i was able to really just feel the moment and the beauty around me. i felt like i was in a fairy tale.

long long story. we ended up spending until 3am in the police station the night we came back to cambodia after a gang of tuk tuk drivers threatened to kill our driver. with a blessing from God we are all safe. who knows if these guys actually got in trouble, 2 of them were caught, or if they just paid off the police, but here is an image from our night. i had to report it to UNICEF the next day. we ended up in the UN security report that every employee gets. why can i not stay out of the news when i travel internationally?

all together an amazing, incredible, scary, epic, and life changing trip. i'm just so grateful for all the amazing opportunities i seem to be consistently blessed with.

the first few days in laos

laos is so beautiful. for those who don't know where it is, it is just north of cambodia. we stayed in 4 thousand islands for a few days. we took the tiniest boat out to the island. we also took another tiny boat out to see dolphins! ah, yes dolphins, these are not pacific coast dolphins, but they are still cute, even from a distance, like a far distance.

now, our last evening in our hotel rebecca, clarissa, and i were sitting in the hotel room having a bit of an inner battle. we didn't bring towels and also needed more flip flops. the hotel offered us both. we were deciding whether or not to take them with us (without asking) when all of the sudden we saw something horrible. there was a giant (like the size my hand, which belongs to someone 5'8" so you can just guess from that) SPIDER on the bed! it almost crawled on all of us! rebecca and i ran outside and clarissa was suck inside the room because the spider was between her and the door and she didn't want it to eat her if she tried to pass it. i came in-between them to take a picture of the nasty creature and she was able to run out. i didn't get the picture though because that thing was FAST! ewe so gross, I'm getting the shivers just writing about it. naturally we screamed so loud that everyone heard us. even the monkey thing in the cage across the yard heard us and started going bazzurk! the maids were cleaning next door and came in to offer us help. we were outside the room during the deed so we didn't see everything. upon reentry we saw a massive brown splosh on the sheets. we never saw the body though, just a few legs in the dirt. i did, however, notice that one of the maids mouth was very suspicious following the execution. she kept it rather tight while talking to and laughing at us. i would try to keep my mouth closed too if i had brown goo coming out of it and on my lips.... i will never know for sure what made that dark stain on the woman's mouth, but i can guess. she is brave.

naturally, we took this as a sign that we should not take the towels or shoes. i forgot that i was wearing the shoes while we were packing and they ended up on my feet after we left anyway. oops. they are too small too, but i still wear them.

one perk of traveling cheaply in southeast asia: you get to ride in a van with 16 official seats with 26 people in the van. we also had 2 guys holding on outside that van. for hours. i have tried to open the window on every single bus/van we have take here. without fail, the drivers have asked me to close them every time. like, they are obsessed with the air con. that sounds great, but not when 3 passengers are hacking up their lungs and probably a gallon of phelm and one old man keeps trying to smoke.

yes, riding my bike through this was an adventure. a beautiful, muddy adventure that almost stole one of the chocos i was wearing.

thanks laos, you're a babe.

my favorite thing in southeast asia has to be the spelling. "don't be such a memmaid". this is now my comment anytime someone is behaving in any kind of a memmaid way.

he told us the entire story of buddha

i want you to meet someone very special to me. this is cheryl. while we were wandering the streets, cheryl found us. she is the cutest and sweetest thing, plus she is really good at eating things in a way that melts your heart. she followed me around an entire evening, even into a mall. eventually, she went her own way. when we returned to the hotel a few days later, she found us again. my friends told me to come downstairs and i knew it was cheryl. i called her name and apparently she got super excited when she heard my voice. yup, a true connection. and the thing about true connections and true love is that you can't separate very easily. she found her way into the elevator and into our hotel room. i was reprimanded by rebecca, for good reason i know. after a little r'n'r, a few crackers, and fresh water, we put her in the hall for the night. well she started pawing at the door (ever so gently). my heart couldn't take this, so we had to go back downstairs. when the guy at the desk saw us he asked if this was my dog. i didn't answer. i just started talking about how cute she was. i asked if she could stay in the lobby for the night. he didn't say no, but he didn't say yes. anyway, after a heart to heart, i explained to cheryl why we had to go our separate ways. she will always be in my heart.

cool giant buddhas

this also happened. no, she didn't eat this one. clarissa did, however, eat a moth later that week for 75 cents. this woman is for real.

one word

ELEPHANTS!

ever since i knew it was a thing, i have wanted to ride elephants. even in jr. high i made this list of things i wanted to do in my life. ride an elephant was like numero uno. well world, i did it.

don't worry animal rights activists. these guys were not hurt by me riding on them. how do i know this? because we did not use a bench or anything like that. we rode bare back. no big deal, just riding an scratchy elephant with a bony spine for like 4 hours with a bruised tale bone. so, yeah, i am positive i was in far more pain than them. too much pain? heck no, this was amazing! truly such a beautiful rustic experience. apparently the tribe that took us out on these elephants used these elephants to escape during the khmer rouge. they just rode off so deep into the forest with the elephants that they couldn't be found. after what they felt was enough time, they just came back out. incredible. so elephants to our guides here are sacred. and here is mondulkiri. it is so so so very green here. just this little rural town, so just its own. these animals are so much more than i ever imagined. the only words i can think for them in majestic and regal. what a poet, i know. so eloquent.

the place we stayed was so cute. also, it had the most deliiiicouss pumpkin soup. like oh my gosh. i miss it. i dream about it.

speaking of dreams, i have been having some serious weirdo dreams lately. actually, since the first night i got here, cambodia that is, i have had more strange dreams than ever before. i don't really know why that is. i hope its not a bug. but let me tell you, every night is an adventure. i'm not alone though. last night rebecca had a dream that she ate a guy in our group. so at least i'm not eating people.

now, enough of me talking. lets get to pictures.

a view riding the elephant. what you can't see here is the guy riding behind me. there is one boy in our group. after telling me that i hate him and being corrected, i told him that if he was weird then i would kill him. he proceeded to try not to touch me, even though he was falling off. eventually he gave in. however, every time he touched me for balance he would say sorry, super awkwardly. i told him to stop saying sorry and to start saying thank you every time he got to touch me instead. eventually he warmed up when i started playing the Pure Moods album out loud on my iPhone. it works wonders. so that is what you are not seeing here. 

i just think they have the cutest booties

this man is who we followed thought the jungle. he was smoking weed the whole time. i just loved watching him.

another thing that you can't see here, the pile of fire ants next to my foot. oh how quickly i found them when i stepped on them. i finally know where that name comes from. it feels exactly like someone is poking you with hot needles. oh how i swore! sorry

i don't know about you, but the instant i get in any body of water i have to pee. these elephants felt similar as well, except a little different. within a few minutes of the washing all three elephants gave out massive poops. 13 in total. we all kept swimming though and surprisingly not one of us got sick.

the lights kept going out at the lodge of the place we stayed, so we used these candles to play cards with.

and these cuties here to welcome us home. while waiting for our car to come back we all (me) danced to britney spears. they were so stinking cute. the little girl was wearing a skirt earlier. not sure what happened to it. also not sure if this is legal to put on the internet.