Located on the east coast of Sicily, Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanos in the world (!), and is two times the size of the infamous Mount Vesuvius (the volcano near Pompeii).
Deciding to risk it for the sake of adventure, my friends and I left the safety of our hotel room in Catania early one morning and, after a sleepy bus ride, found ourselves at the base of this iconic force-of-nature.
Read MoreBeing an English Teacher in South Korea was one of the most challenging, educational, and incredible experiences that I have ever had.
I lived and worked in the country as an English teacher for just over a year, and since I've come home, I have gotten countless questions from family, friends, and friends of friends about the experience and how they can do it too.
Read MoreThere is a white, round scar, about the size of a dime, halfway up the inside of my calf. Like the tattoo on the bottom of my foot, I forget that it's there sometimes, but as soon as I catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye, it always makes me smile.
My travel buddy Michelle and I had just spent a long night on a sleeper train (if you ever get a chance to sleep in a bed on a train do it, it's the coolest feeling) from Hanoi to what we thought was Hoi An, Vietnam.
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Destinations, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Tips
A trip to Cambodia can be pretty intense.
Monkeys run through ancient temples that seem to grow out of the jungle. There are no conventional traffic rules. In fact, sometimes it seem like there really aren't any rules at all — at least not the ones that we follow in North America.
It isn't rare for an elephant to try and steal your lunch while you dine on an outdoor patio, and there are still land mines everywhere making it unsafe to wander off beaten paths.
In order to make the most of any trip to Cambodia, you have to understand the not-so-pleasant history of the Khmer Rouge (aka why there are land mines everywhere).
The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979, and was one of the most lethal regimes of the twentieth century. Through their methods of agrarian communism, they had the entire country working on collective farms, or forced labor projects, growing food that they were not allowed to eat and watching their families die around them.
The regime killed anyone in connection with the former government, professionals, intellectuals, anyone wearing glasses, non ‘pure’ Cambodians, homosexuals and people who had come from urban communities. They even regularly purged within their own organization. No one was safe under Khmer Rouge rule.
People were divided into two categories: the Old People who had grown up on farms and never left them for the big cities, and the New People who they ruled using the motto “To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss”.
After four bloody years in power, they were removed in 1979 by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
More than 2 million people were killed. 2 million. There is no exact number yet. They are still counting the dead.
Pol Pot, Brother Number 1 (the leader of the Khmer Rouge), died on April 15, 1998 and was never put on trial.
In 1997, Cambodia appealed to the UN to set up a genocide tribunal, but it wasn’t until 9 years later, when many high ranking officials were dying of old age, that it actually came into being. In 2007, Nuon Chea, Brother Number 2, was taken into custody for “alleged crimes against humanity”.
The country is now in the midst of rebuilding itself socially, economically and most importantly, psychologically. Like many countries in South East Asia, Cambodia is turning to tourism as a financial way to rebuild their nation, and it seems to be working.
The temples at Angkor make up the largest freestanding religious complex in the world, and are visited by thousands of people every year by boat, plane, bus, car and tuk-tuk. There is nothing like walking through a ruined temple being both held together and torn apart by the jungle growing on, over and through its walls. At the end of the day monkeys run by as the air cools, and monks in saffron robes walk slowly and thoughtfully down the ancient stone corridors. It is definitely a sight to see, and one of the most incredible spots I have ever travelled to.
But, there are other things to see in Cambodia too!
The Mekong River is one of the largest in the world and is the home of some of the world’s only freshwater dolphins and floating villages that are a photographers dream.
Phnom Pen is a mecca of colorful markets selling clothing, fabric, shoes, jewellery and anything else you can imagine (and things that you can’t) for pocket change.
A trip to Cambodia could not be complete without a trip to the beach! Shianokville is the main beach town with great access and wide range of accommodation. The sand is white and the water is the perfect temperature. It shares its coast with Thailand, and the beaches are much the same, but underdeveloped.
Other (more serious, yet important) attractions draw attention to the Khmer Rouge era.
The Tuol Sleng Museum sits innocently amongst narrow side streets, apartment buildings and houses. Once a high school, it was converted into the largest centre of detention and torture in Cambodia. Named Security Prison 21 (S-21), it now houses a collection of photos of the both inmates, and floors of cells that have been left relatively untouched. Photos of Khmer Rouge leaders are also on display covered in graffiti, with cigarette burns for eyes. The space on the wall where the photo of Pol Pot should be lies empty. The photo was stolen and no one bothered to (or wanted to) replace it.
The Killing Fields, located just outside the city, are an unexpectedly small area that is covered in lush green grass. A massive glass pagoda stands at the entrance, piled high with skulls, femurs and other bones of the dead. The fields themselves are just that — fields. Crude signs mark the mass graves, listing the number of dead that have been found there. But not everyone has been removed. Bones protrude from pits and pathways, and the clothes of the dead become visible as the ground erodes away.
No matter where you go in Cambodia, one thing stays consistent, the children. They are everywhere. They surround you at the temples trying to sell you anything and everything in perfect English. They flirt like adults and they are so confident and straightforward, that sometimes it is only their size that can remind you that they really are children. They walk the streets hanging off your arms, looking up at you with big brown eyes, begging for food, money or anything. They are heartbreakingly cute.
Whatever you do though, don't give them money. It won't help.
There are few places in the world that truly surpass expectations, and Cambodia blew all of mine out of the water. I felt all my senses heightened when I was there, and found the adventure exhilarating. I hope you feel the same way — happy travels!
Our room was hot, too hot.
The ‘great deal’ we had gotten on our beach hut because it was devoid of air con, fans, or working windows didn’t seem so great anymore.
I opened my eyes to doscover that the world was spinning, my mouth was dry, and my hepatitis free store bought water was on the other side of the room. A bead of sweat ran down my back as I lifted my head and wiped, what felt like half the beach, off the side of my face. The rest of it had somehow made it onto the floor beside my bed.
As my body slowly began to wake up, I realized that the bottom of my right foot felt tight, like I had a piece of tape or something stuck to it. I slowly twisted my leg to take a look, and I found myself staring at a black lotus flower... a permanent black lotus flower.
I was suddenly VERY awake. There was a tattoo on the bottom of my foot.
How drunk was I last night?
Feeling panicked, and ignoring the growing pounding in my head, I jumped up, ran past my water to the bathroom, stripped down and took a quick survey of the rest of my body to make sure there were no other inked surprises. After a few quick spins in front of the mirror, I could confirm that, thankfully, my drunken self had kept the bamboo body art isolated to the foot area. Leaning against the sink, I couldn’t help but smile, I had a feeling that something like this would happen when I made plans to spend a month in Thailand. I knew that the tribal lure of the bamboo ink was going to be too much for me to ignore.
Bamboo tattooing is an ancient technique that is thought to have originated in South East Asia, during the Khmer period, almost 3000 years ago. In Thailand, Buddhist monks first started using these tattoos to ink religious texts on their bodies as a type of protection spell. Today, tattooing is not part of mainstream Thai culture and is still reserved primarily for monks, soldiers and criminals who believe the skin-art will protect them with strength and invisibility.
“The skin is punctured, not torn, so there is no blood that rises to the surface and no scabbing occurs.”
Because of this, and because of how much easier it is to learn to tattoo with a machine, the practice is, sadly, starting to die out. The technique, requiring excellent hand-eye coordination and a lot of patience, involves a small needle attached to the end of a stick of bamboo that is tapped into the skin. The skin is punctured, not torn, so there is no blood that rises to the surface and no scabbing occurs. The lack of blood means that the dye is not pushed out and, if you are using color, will stay vibrant and last longer than tattoos created with a gun. The healing time for these types of tattoos, depending on the size, can take a few days or, in my case, be almost instantaneous. (I am pretty sure that I was barefoot in the sand, doing shots, the minute after mine was completed). I had been warned that this technique was MUCH more painful than tattoos done with a gun, but (luckily?) I must have been way too drunk to feel anything because all I could remember was a slight tickle.
Having used all my morning energy in the panic of potentially finding a Buddha head on my shoulder or a palm tree on my butt, it was all I could do to drag myself out of the bathroom and back to my bed.
My travel buddy groaned in the bed next to me just as I collapsed onto the mattress. She lifted her head, looked at me disoriented and mid stretch asked me to see if she had something stuck to the bottom of her foot.
I turned to take a look, and there, looking back at me were three black, bamboo inked, stars. I laughed, told her that I liked her tattoo and watched as her eyes widened.
At least I wasn’t the only one who made questionable decisions while under the influence.
