2014. What a year this is going to be.
I hope all of you had pleasant Holidays and a good
start into the New Year.
I have another 5 months left in Malaysia, and after
that it seems as if I am going to go and study. What will I study some may ask.
Truth be told, I really don’t know. But I still have some time to figure things
out. I hope.
But those are by far not the only major events of
2014. My little sister will go on 8th grade Ski Trip with her class and
my older, although at least 20 centimeters smaller, sister will visit me here
in Malaysia. Besides that I am also turning 19 and this year will also be the 2
year anniversary of the end of the world in December 2012.
2 Way Center Camp Kulim
My project does not only offer private sessions for
our students, but also vacation camps. These 6 day camps aim to improve the
social- as well as the self-help skills of the individual children. For most of
the 35 children it is one of the first times staying somewhere overnight
without their parents, a bit like my year in Malaysia. The 35 kids and the 18
volunteers stayed in a small compound/resort in the middle of a plantation.
More often than not we spent our time playing badminton or went swimming in the
river. Overall the camp was a huge success and I had tons of fun, even if I was
completely exhausted afterwards.
Koh Phi Phi
Somehow I had managed to get three weeks of vacation
for Christmas and Sylvester. It was a bizarre constellation of national holidays
and school holidays which gave me the opportunity to go traveling around South-
East Asia for a bit. We started our trip by taking a bus from Penang, that’s
the place where I live, to the beautiful island of Koh Phi Phi. We spent around
4 days on this magnificent island, including Christmas. As it was my first
Christmas without my family it felt like one of the biggest challenges of this
year abroad, so far. But I overcame that obstacle as well by having a great
Skype session with my family. We unpacked presents and I even had a Christmas tree
(a little plastic tree that lights up) under which lay my presents. The obvious
highlight was my cat, Flocke, who unpacked her angry birds toy, that I had sent
her from Hong Kong. I cannot thank my family enough who managed to make it feel
like Christmas some thousand kilometers away. And they managed, even though I had
a horrible Wi-Fi connection.
this is what Christmas with the Family looks like in 2014
Day 1 approaching Koh Phi Phi by boat
Day 2 We took a Kayak to a rather remote beach
I want this Monkey!!
Day 3 we went on a Snorkeling tour
Maya Bay
The classic Maya Bay view
Our Boat
Selfie to end the trip
Bangkok
After Koh Phi Phi and a short stop in Phuket we took
a bus to Bangkok. What we didn’t realize was that it would take solid 16 hours
in the bus to get from Phuket to Bangkok. So when
we arrived at the bus terminal, at 2 in the morning, we were happy that we had,
for once, already booked a hostel. Maybe we did not get to see the correct
places, but I did not fall in love with Bangkok.
A Tuk Tuk
The old Custom House of Bangkok
Vintage Fitness Studio
Eating Coconut Ice Cream out of a Coconut
Siem Reap
From Bangkok we once again took a bus to Siem Reap
in Cambodia. Outside of Siem Reap are world famous temples such as Ankor Wat. Due to the never ending streams of tourists
from all over the world, to the temples, Siem Reap has a lot of Restaurants and
Shops. There is not much to say about Siem Reap and Ankor Wat besides that I
had the luxury of doing a Fish Spa. And let me tell you, it is one of the weirdest
feelings. What happens is that you place your feet in an aquarium and the fish
inside eat all of the dead skin which is on your feet. For some reason the Fish
seemed to enjoy my feet more than any others. After being swarmed for 20
minutes my feet shrunk from shoe size 45 to 42.
As I am not going to bore you with more text,
Driving throgh Cambodia
The famous temple: Ankor Wat
Just some old wall carvings....
The size is unbelievable
Next temple, forgot the name
I thought this looked rather cool
The tree holds the temple together.
This one is a no-brainer... the elephant temple
Killing Fields close to Phnom Phen
I was very torn about what to write about the
killing fields. But I have decided to make it short and simple.
The killing fields were the execution sites used by
the communist Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. During these 5 years of the
regime about 1.4 million Cambodians were executed by the Pol Pot regime. The
total estimates of deaths due to regimes policies are estimated from 1.7 to 2.5
million people who died of starvation, diseases or were executed at the killing
fields out of the 8 million people who lived in Cambodia in1975.
While looking at one of these fields I was rather
overwhelmed by the horrors that took place where I was standing, not even 30
years ago. I was completely unprepared for such an intense experience, partly
because before I went there I had only learned the bare minimum about Cambodia
in school.
The Memorial for the Regime Rouge Victims
On our way home our Tuk Tuk driver found a Fish on the road.... he was very happy
Kampot
Kampot is a very small village in Cambodia located
on a river. Although there is nothing to do, we had a terrific time there. We
slept in a little hut close to the river and spent our days in an hammock
reading books, listening to music and eating delicious food. It was a great way
to end our stay in Cambodia and sort of end our three weeks of well-deserved
vacation.
Working the rice fields
These two are the most adorable kids ive ever met
Bangkok Shutdown
Since we had booked our flight back to Penang before
we decided to go to Cambodia, we had to be in Bangkok by the 13th of
January since it was the day of our flight. For those who have glanced at a
newspaper in the last month might know that on the 13th of January
the Thai opposition restarted their protests: “Shutdown Bangkok”. We had left
Cambodia on the 11th and had the 12th to look at the
camps and preparations that were being made. And although everyone was
extremely peaceful and very kind to us, I have to admit that I was more than
shocked by what I saw.
making helmest
or bullet proof vests
Now I am back in Penang working and writing this
blog. Since I have returned from my vacation a lot has happened. I got to
celebrate Thaipusam and hit my roommate in the head with a coconut. You will
find the corresponding pictures and the entire story in my next blog which I will
post in two or three weeks’ time.
And as always thank you for reading my blog. I am
always more than happy to answer any questions or inquiries some of you might
have… It means that there are people who actually read what I write. :D
See you soon,
Tobi
tmvolkmer@hotmail.de
Hey Tobi - Jeremy and I just read your latest post and are amazed at the pictures and the awesome experience you are having! Alles Liebe, Tante Gecks und Jeremy
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