Oh my, last Thursday was a Holiday in Cambodia (Children's Day) so Katie and I decided to go on holiday to Phuket, Thailand!! We arrived Thursday morning and had such a great time. We laid by the beach, tanned, and swam in the ocean. The next day we did an island tour of Phi Phi islands. It was overcast for most of the day but it was good since we were pretty sunburnt from the day before. We went to three different islands where we could swim, snorkel, and explore. Snorkelling was definitely a highlight from our trip. There were so many fish and the water was so clear. The next day we went ATVing! It was so cool, we drove through some of the jungle and saw some amazing views. At the end of our tour we were able to drive around for 10 minutes on our own, so I was the driver and Katie was my passenger and we decided to go down a path. There was a ditch and we didn't realize how big it was, so we decided to go through it. We ended up flipping the ATV and having to jump off lol. We were totally fine and laughing about it, the ATV on the other hand was donezo. Luckily we didn't have to pay for anything and they let us drive around on another one for a bit longer! That night we went for dinner and made our way to Patong for some drinks. It was super fun and there was music and people everywhere, for sure had a good night! The next day we went for breakfast and then made our way to Katta beach to do some shopping and go for a swim. The beach there was sadly covered in garbage and there was so much trash floating in the water. We didn't swim for long, but it was sad to see so much plastic and dead fish there was. It really makes you think about how garbage effects the ocean when you can see it first hand. Later that evening we went to a lady-boy show called Simons Cabaret! It was amazing, they were all such good performers and looked amazing! I for sure recommend this for anyone! On our last day, we signed up to go white water rafting, to see a waterfall and go zip lining! It rained all day, sadly they ended up closing the waterfall, that was a bummer. But white water rafting was quite and experience. There was 6 of us in the raft including the 2 guides. Near the end of the river our boat ended up on a rock and we tipped over, and I ended up floating down the river for quite a ways until i was able to hold onto a rock and get to the edge of the river. My legs were pretty cut up and so were the others, but even though it was scary it was still a great time! Our guide was amazing and super helpful, so I would probably still do it again haha! After we went zip-lining which was cool and then back to our hotel. Sadly we had to leave that night and catch our flight back to Phnom Penh. Overall, it was such a great weekend and I must go back and explore Thailand!!! Something I would take-away from my trip to Phuket though, as well as a concern for anyone travelling anywhere in Asia, animal tourism is a very big problem and I would strongly encourage people not to participate in elephant rides, dolphin shows, circus's or anything of the sort! There are sustainable and animal friendly options where you can visit sanctuaries and watch the animals in their natural habitat. But elephants and other animals that are used for tourism are uncared for and live their lives in pens, cages, and tied to trees until they are taken out for people to ride them. As fun as it may be to interact with some of these animals, the lack of care they are given and the harm that they experience from carrying around hundreds of tourists is visible and should be taken into consideration before signing up for any tour. Again there are very good options to be able to go and see the animals because they are beautiful and should be loved!! Just before you plan on doing anything animal related, please please do you research so you know the care the animals are given!! This week at work has been pretty nuts. Sadly the other volunteer I've been working/exploring/living with, Monishka, has ended her program and has gone back home. I definitely miss her but I know we'll keep in touch! We have a new volunteer and she's great! We're currently finishing a proposal thats due on Friday, that aims to help citizens become more involved with the communes decision making and strengthening their voice as their concerns are often neglected. We still have a lot of work to do for it but it's all starting to come together and we're very excited! More info to come, sadly I only have one week left of my placement, and then one more week left in Cambodia until I'm home!! It's been such an amazing experience I'm not ready for it to end!
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