It's gettin' hot in here!

Since I came back from the Philippines, it's been unbearably hot and humid in my apartment, so I gave in and decided to start using my ghetto air conditioner!

Why is it "ghetto?" you ask! 

Well, for one, it doesn't kick enough cold air into my 221 sq ft apartment to cool it off, so I have to pair it with a standing fan!  Secondly, it drips water down the wall, which is making the white wallpaper turn brown...  It can ONLY be turned on by a remote control (which luckily I am good about always putting in the exact same place on my nightstand.)

... and instead of having the actual generating part of the air conditioner outside of my building, or on the rooftop, it's hanging on the wall in my sunroom... complete with a tube that carries the dripping water into this gigantic water bottle, which I then have to lift and empty out my window everyday or it will overflow!

I'd like to meet the person who thought this would be a good idea!

Aaron Update # 3

I stayed up nice and late tonight, waiting to hear from Aaron!  I'll be honest... I thought I was little Ms. Independent, and figured I'd manage just fine while he was away, but I really miss having him around!

He sent me 5 pictures to share with you guys, but they're downloading as text files... so he's gonna try re-sending them tomorrow morning.

He said the temples were amazing, and they were the first ones to enter Angkor Wat this morning to watch the sunrise!!  He said the first 1/2 hour was just the 3 of them, and they were able to walk around, explore, and take pictures without tourists ruining their views!  But then, when the crowds came, they REALLY came!  

Today, they went to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon and two other small temples. 

After the temple adventure, the 3 of them all went back to the hotel for a long afternoon nap, since none of them had had much sleep since leaving for the trip!  Aaron and Sam went over to the city center in Siem Reap for some cheap dinner at a street stall, where they ate fried noodles and veggies for $1.50 and 2 angkor beers for .50 cents each!  Great for people traveling on a budget!   

Aaron said the town of Siem Reap is pretty touristy, so they are going to catch a boat from Siem Reap to Batambang tomorrow morning at 6:00am.  The boat travels along this river, through "the floating city," and takes about 6 hours!   Hope they brought their Dramamine pills!

 More pictures to come... stay tuned!

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Aaron Update # 2

I got to talk with Aaron last night on skype, which was great!  Here's a little update for ya:

He and Sam met each other in the airport in Bangkok. I think it had been about 4 years since they saw each other last (I think).  Anyway, they took a 4 hour (air conditioned) bus ride from Bangkok to the border of Cambodia at 7:00am, and spent most of the ride catching up on life.  Then they transferred to a shuttle bus in Cambodia, which took them to a nearby town where they caught a 2 hour taxi to Siem Reap, YES, 2 HOURS in a taxi!  Luckily, they met a cool Italian guy named Marco, who shared the taxi with them, and a 1/3 of the bill!  The 3 of them are staying in a guesthouse in Siem Reap called Two Dragons (And yes Mom, they have a website, so you can read all about it!  You know you're going to!)

The 3 of them had traditional Cambodian food for dinner together in Siem Reap and got to bed nice and early, since they're planning to get over to Angkor Wat tomorrow morning to see both the sunrise (5:00am) and sunset from the temples (weather pending)!  It was stormy when we talked on skype.  So cross your fingers for good weather!

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Helmet Diving

Sorry for the nearly 4 week delay on this blog post!  I think I partially didn't want to admit that I went helmet diving (because it's so ridiculous) so I've been putting off posting the pictures!  But, I'm going to fess up and admit it.  I did it, and I eat my words about it being lame!  It was really fun!

I did this about 1/4 mile off the coast of Boracay (Philippines).  I sat on the edge of a boat, and they put this 50 lb helmet on my head and lowered me into the water, where I ultimately sank to the ocean floor!  Terrifying?  Ummm, YES!

I was handed a piece of bread, to feed the fish with, which is why they surrounded me!  Once I had been underwater for a couple minutes, my heartbeat began to slow to a normal pace and I was able to really enjoy the experience!

I was about 40 feet underwater at this point, and I stayed underwater for about 45 minutes.  I was able to touch live corals, which were surprisingly soft and slimy!

The helmet has a tube that sends air from the boat into the inner part of the helmet, but it was crazy, because I could literally stick my hand up inside the helmet to scratch my face and stuff... and when I got out of the water, my hair was dry!  It's the perfect water experience for someone with high maintenance hair!

I'd say it was a successful experience considering I didn't get bit! :)

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Aaron Update # 1

I got an e-mail from Aaron at 2:20am Korea time, which was about 13 hours and 12 minutes ago (I'm a sucker for accuracy)!  He had made it to Bangkok and was going to try to find a bench in the airport, to sleep on, while he waited for Sam's flight to arrive, which would be coming 6 hours later!