Cambodia bound

Now I am in the town of Sak Lek and I have met this awesome couple that runs a coffee shop, he invited me in to have some coffee and we instantly had a connection, he is a cyclist also! His name is Preecha and his wife is Wassna. I sat and talked a while with him, I mentioned I was going to stay and sleep at a Wat in town tonight and he told me he had a room for 300 baht, I told him I would stick with the Wat in town. So time passed as we talked about cycling and he showed me good spots to stop along my travels through Thailand on the map. After a while he offered me the room for free which was awesome! I now have a place to stay for free for the night and he also hooked me up with free coffee, snacks and dinner!!! Whoa these people are so nice and generous with their stuff. I have never experienced anything like it. A complete stranger offering a free place to stay and free meals at his restaurant. I took a shower and then he was walking me around his property. His mother’s house was right next door and he has 5 small houses on his property, he built everything himself. The coffee shop has been open for 10 years and he apparently does pretty well for himself. He had a karaoke machine in one of the buildings, he said it was his cousins and that his whole family likes to sing. The sunset was absolutely beautiful tonight , it set over this big open field with palm trees and other trees hiding it. I was beginning to feel very homesick but these people have gone out of their way to make me feel like their family. Around 7pm what looked like his whole family came over and entered the karaoke room. About 10 minutes later as I was eating this huge feast of a meal made of spaghetti, shrimp and pork I heard this beautiful Thai music coming from the room across the way. He was definitely not kidding when he said that his family likes karaoke. They were rocking it out in there!

I bet some of you are wondering when I am going to start all this humanitarian work I have been promoting. I am right on schedule with everything as I had “planned”, plans changed a little in the beginning and I ended up in Chiang Mai. My first volunteer stint will be at the Kirivorn school not far from the Thai border. I have been been riding my bike towards Cambodia for a week now. Feb 7^th will mark my first mission at Kirivorn, then I will head deeper into Cambodia to meet my friend and contact Charles in Kampot and that will be my launching site. With Charles help I will figure out where I can be of most help to students while there. He has opened a technology and learning center in Kampot and I may stick around there and help him and Cambodian students for a while. I will keep everyone posted as to what exactly I will be doing. I am looking forward to hanging out with Tammy for a while and volunteering at Kirivorn. Untill then I will continue the journey towards Cambodia on my bicycle. I have been going through a lot of emotional stuff the last week on the road. Being a solo cyclist riding 6-9 hours a day really takes a toll on you physically and emotionally. I have gone through so many emotions. When I feel like quitting I just think of the good I can accomplish and all of the people back home.

Oh and I just started 2 online classes. I thought simple things like ordering food and finding a place to sleep were hard enough. Now lets see what happens when I have to find high speed internet and take 2 classes. Oh man, what I have I gotten myself into??

Only 3 weeks weeks in country and check out this SWEET tan line!!