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The boys had a week of holiday from school and we headed to Cambodia with the Clarkson family for quite an adventure. It all began with a 3 hour delay at the airport, normally that wouldn't be that big of a deal but we were planning a 350km van ride once we arrived at the Phnom Penh airport to Siem Reap. We arrived around 7 pm and it was already dark in Cambodia's capitol city. Thankfully our driver who was recommended by a friend, was patiently waiting for us. He quickly tried to persuade us not to drive to Siem Reap during the night informing us that it would take about 6 hours and that he would be unable to take us because he was too tired after driving from there earlier in the day and our flight being so delayed but he did have another driver willing to transport us if we wanted to continue during the night. Our hotel was already paid for so we felt we should go ahead and continue as planned. We enjoyed a nice Khmer dinner while waiting for our new driver to arrive. Khmer food is not as spicy as Thai food but otherwise quite similar. Another noticeable difference is that more people speak English in Cambodia and the US dollar is the preferred currency. They use a paper Riel in Cambodia, there are no coins (I did see a US quarter for sale in a local market for $1) in circulation and the current rate is 4000 Riel/ 1 US dollar.
Well more Cambodian people speak English but NOT our new driver, who had very poor English skills and appeared to never have visited Siem Reap before-let the fun begin!! We finally departed Phnom Penh at 8:30 p.m., right away we could see that it was going to be a long and arduous trip. Paved highway could be used loosely, there were parts that were relatively smooth but for the most part it had lots of potholes, bumps and at times more like a dirt road. That wasn't the worse part, the countryside of Cambodia is incredibly dark, most residents do not have electricity, so not only do you not have any street lights but there is no light permeating from people's homes. It's really, really dark! The roads have a 'cow' crossing sign about every 1/2 mile because there are A LOT of cows on the shoulders of the road. When we returned in the daylight we determined that the cows only grazing areas are the roadsides because all the countryside is being used for rice crops. The road was also quite narrow is some parts and lots of people walk along the road, you can see why 140 miles can take so long in Cambodia. I had one thought of how long it might take us to get to an adequate health-care facility if we were involved in an accident but had to totally push that from my mind trusting the Lord's watchcare. We finally arrived in Siem Reap at 2:00 am to our hotel. Most people fly directly into Siem Reap but who would want to miss out on a good story/experience and save some money too?! (Okay, Mom and Dad we are cheap!!)
Around 11 am we headed out to the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat. There are many, many ancient temples and ruins in this area dating as far back as the 6th century!! I think these are the oldest things I have ever seen. It is a Buddhist pilgrimage area so the area is inundated with many Buddhist monks and nuns. We spent the afternoon discovering and enjoying the ancient ruins. The most famous, Angkor Wat was built around 1113, it's the largest structure and is completely surrounded by a man made moat that is huge. I read the total area is 200 hectares (sorry, you have to convert it to acres yourself!! Mark's not here at the moment!) The Wat is in the midst of a jungle and there are monkeys perusing the area. As you view the walls and all the figures you wonder about the people that built these and the times they lived in. Many war scenes with elephants, spears and shields among all the thousands of idol carvings.
My favorite ruin was Ta Prohm because of the huge trees that had grown into the temple walls and now support a great deal of the structure with their massive roots. This is another famous ruin because The Tomb Raider and Two Brothers were both filmed amongst this site. Another interesting feature was an echo chamber. There is a free-standing stone structure that has an amazing echo feature, it doesn't echo with clapping or from your voice but only when you beat your chest, weird!
We finished the day with a steep climb to the top of Phnom Bakheng, the view of Angkor Wat and the sunset were obstructed by the clouds, the architecture is amazing but the steps were shockingly thin. At the base of this temple was a very disturbing site of a large stone cow surrounded with worshippers reminding us of the golden calf in the Old Testament. Seeing these old ruins with so many stone idols that had been damaged and vandalized reminded us how thankful we are to know and worship the One, true, living, God-not a god that can be created and destroyed by man's hands.
The next day we ventured out to a lake and walked around a floating village visiting with some of the local people and shopping at a local market. This is a very, very, poor area and we encountered many beggars. We are continually reminded of how blessed we are as Americans. The market had everything one would need or want! It had hairdressers, seamstresses, auto parts, meat market, vegetable stalls, jewelry, housewares....
The following morning we began our trek back to Phnom Penh, it only took 4 hours to make the return trip in the daylight. It also was nice to see the countryside this time. It is just beautiful with the green rice crops and palm trees. We passed many ox-carts and small horse-pulled, wooden, wagons, so different from the highways of the US.
Upon arrival into the city. Mark and the Clarkson's toured the school that was made a prison during the Khmer Rouge's terrible reign in the late 1970's (the boys and I had previously toured it last October when we visited Cambodia with a school event.)That evening we had dinner with our friend, Julie Broyles who teaches at an English school in Phnom Penh, they use only the Bible to teach English, interestingly they currently have a Buddhist monk as a student. We finished up our time in Cambodia with a trip out to the Killing Fields before flying out that afternoon. (See earlier entry re: The Killing Fields.) We were so happy to be back in Thailand with our driver, Songkran, he doesn't speak too much English but we have figured out ways to communicate quite well. Thailand feels like home for now, it's always good to be back home!
I apparently returned with some sort of bacterial, intestinal bug and had to go to the hospital yesterday for an IV infusion of antibiotics after 24 hours of severe diarrhea and vomiting. Rather than wait and see if it passed I went on in for blood work because Dange fever and malaria are real concerns in this part of the world, especially in the countryside of Cambodia. It worked out because I also had to have my 4th rabies shot in the series also. I had a nurse that spoke English rather well and I enjoyed visiting with her after she stuck me 3 times with a butterfly needle. (I jokingly told her that "3 times and your out!" I'm pretty sure she had no idea what I was talking about!!) She attended nursing school for 4 years and her salary is $17,000Baht/month roughly $510 US/month for 44 hours/week. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better today and no one in the household seems to have contracted this nasty bug. Mark actually was home yesterday because it was a Thai holiday celebrating a former King's reign, he was a good nurse and cook. I had planned on making sourdough biscuits for breakfast and had my starter out, he decided to go ahead and attempt to bake the biscuits himself. It wasn't the most restful answering all of his questions but I was grateful, "Where is the Baking soda? What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder? On the recipe what is T and t stand for? Is this a Tablespoon?..." It's nice to feel needed!
