Last few days in Cambodia. What better to do than go up to a province we always wanted to visit. We convinced Paul and Sotheary to go with us. Away we went to Sen Monorom in the province of Mondulkiri. An 8 hour trip.
This sign tells all you need to know about the road to Mondulkiri. Signs like this were common and always heralded much trouble ahead.
On the road up we passed many rubber plantations. Quite a sight- acre upon acre of trees planted in rows. All the collection is done by hand, attach a catch basin, cut the tree above and let the resin drain down into the basin.Talk about labor intensive.
This area is a tribal area. We drove out to see the Bunong tribe.While driving through the area we decided to stop at this house. Under the house these tribal girls were weaving, of course we had to buy some products. While there we found out that the whole village was Christian (surprise). Paul had been wondering if he would see anyone who had borrowed money from the organization he works for (AMK- a microfinancing company). Another surprise, the husband of one of the ladies had borrowed from AMK. What a small world, stop in the middle of nowhere and find a client of AMK! While these people have their own language they also speak Khmer, so Sotheary was able to communicate with them.

I loved this area, it was higher up than Phnom Penh and was therefore cooler. We went to see the highest waterfall in Cambodia. There had been a big rain the night before so the waterfall was running pretty good even though it was part way into the dry season. The picture above shows only the first part of the falls, there are several more drops. The Khmer people come here to swim and picnic. It was great fun.

We saw this old couple as we were leaving the falls. They came to pick up recycle and any other thing of value (her basket was on her back). Sotheary talked to them and gave them some of our left over food. This old couple had just climbed up from the bottom of the falls and were very tired. As we left we saw them disappearing off into the forest on a little trail. They looked 80 or 90. How old they really were????

Mondulkiri is famous for its elephants- so, we went on an elephant trek. The trek was about 2 hours into the jungle to another waterfall. The terrain was scary at times, sharp drops, steep inclines and elephants that would just decide to go into the surrounding forest for a little bite to eat. Quite thrilling really.



After swimming in the water and having a picnic the elephant men decided to give each elephant a bath in the river. I was glad they did this after we swam for more reasons than one.These elephant guys were interesting to watch. They controlled the beasts with sounds and light taps with a stick. I think elephants are more easily controlled than many humans.
On the way back to the car the guy controlling our elephant asked Sakada (Sotheary's nephew) if he wanted to ride up at the head and pretend he was the master of the elephant. "Sure" said Sakada. Here Sakada is leading the band of weary travellers home.

Here we are at the end of our stay in Sen Monorom. I was driving so I pulled up to the gas pumps at this station, got out and said " fill her up ". Do they activate the pumps and fill us up? No, they go into the building, get a container of gas and a funnel and proceed to pour gas into the tank. I knocked on the nice pumps with my foot to see if they were real. Yes, they're real. Oh well, what's new? What do you expect in this strangely lovable country. Away we went, 8 hours later we were back home. Next day we packed up and the day after that we flew home. See you in Canada.

Clarification

I'm not a blog expert. The next one is mixed up. Read it through until you get to the end of Sourn, then scroll down to the second part for the picture of Kim and then look above for the picture of Sourn. SORRY about all this. Stew

Last week we went to Kratie (Kracheh) to see the rare Irrawaddy fresh water river dolphins. There’s about 75 of them living in a small stretch of the Mekong river ( 340 km north of Phnom Penh ). We were met at Kratie by a gentleman Sotheary knew from working at “ Hagar”. Sourn is retired and was pleased to take us around. He took us out to where we got a local boat and slowly moved out into the river. Almost immediately we heard this loud “wwhhhoooosh” and in the distance were the dolphins. The noise is them clearing their breathing tubes (just like whales). We floated around for an hour seeing them on and off the whole time. Once, two of them surfaced right beside us (about 25 feet). They’re quite striking, a sort of grayish, pinkish color, a blunt nose and, of course, a dorsal fin. Unfortunately getting a picture was a challenge as you never knew when they would surface and they stayed above the surface only 5 seconds or so- just long enough to blow out their air tubes and suck more air in. Anyway, about the middle of the video you get a glance at one. I’ll tell you more about Sourn later.

This Mekong River is truly a great river. It starts in north -west China, comes down through Laos, through Cambodia and finally through southern Vietnam and out to the South China Sea. All along this route water is flowing in from both sides. From dry season to wet season the river rises 25 feet. Another huge river (Tonle Sap) coming down from the north of Cambodia joins the Mekong at Phnom Penh. When the Mekong reaches its highest level it causes the Tonle Sap to reverse its flow. The water that reverses flows up the Tonle Sap river and fills a huge lake in central Cambodia (called the Tonle Sap Lake). It’s the biggest fresh water lake in Asia. The presence of this lake in Cambodia is the reason there are many fishermen in Cambodia. There are city people in Cambodia, fishermen in Cambodia and rice farmers in Cambodia.

To finish up let’s look at some people whom we will always remember.

MUM Sotheary’s sister who works for Sotheary and who we see every day. What a wonderful lady. She and Susan brutalize the English and Khmer languages while talking to each other. Somehow they communicate—I think it’s a woman thing. Mum does all sorts of things for us, like getting us special food at the market, making “different” Khmer foods and bringing them up for us to try (she says we’re good Khmers – we’ll try anything!), asking us to her place for Chinese New Years, buying silk for us, inviting us to family gatherings. We both love her. She’s a priceless treasure.


PHANNA Activities director at a drug rehabilitation center sponsored by Ratanak. His English is excellent and when we asked where he learned, he said he had learned from reading a dictionary! This man loves the kids who come to the facility. The center is in a Muslin district and suffers persecution as a result. Nothing stops Phalla. He’s big, he’s strong, the kids love him - what a fine example for these youngsters to look up to.


CHANDA An example of the local talent just waiting to be used to move Cambodia out of the darkness. She’s a bright light, eager to help her country. Smart. Educated. Willing. She is the head physiotherapist at TLC, trained at a medical university in Phnom Penh and advanced training taken in Singapore. She directs TLC, a center for handicapped children as well as Sunrise School where those who are unable to go to a regular school take literacy classes. TLC is sponsored by Ratanak.


NY The girl we sponsor at “Place of Rescue”. Her mother died of AIDS at Rescue, and her father died prior to that. She is 16 in grade 7. She had never been to school when she came to Rescue at10 years of age. We met her then and have loved her from the first. She wants to do medical work. Chances are pretty good she’ll reach her goal.




MR. MONG Our driver each time we have been in Cambodia. He speaks excellent English, knows every nook and cranny of Phnom Penh, (there are plenty of these in Phnom Penh), is honest, has a good sense of humor. How is it that we are so blessed to have found this man?

KIM (on the left). What’s the difference between Kim and the previous 5? Can you guess? She’s Canadian. She recently graduated from nursing. She’s here in Phnom Penh living on a shoestring and doing medical work at “Daughters of Cambodia” (an organization that helps women who have voluntarily left the brothels). Daughters is also funded by Ratanak. Look Kim up on her blog kimberlyfoster.blogspot.com and once you read this blog you will not forget Kim.

SOURN- Sourn was our guide in Kratie. He’s something else. Speaks Chinese, Khmer, English, French and Vietnamese. I complained about having to take French in school. Sourn was born in Vietnam in 1937, his father died when he was 2 months old and, same old, same old, his mother was extremely poor. At the age of 9 he hopped on the roof of a bus and in 2 days arrived in Phnom Penh. No particular reason, saw the bus and decided it was time to get going somewhere. Once in Phnom Penh the R.C. fathers found him, took him in and cared for him. During this time he learned French and Khmer and took all of his schooling. Once he left the fathers, he did several things - worked in a Chinese business (learned Chinese), worked for the U.S. army, survived the Pol Pot years (he said that the Khmer Rouge starved the people so they couldn’t think politics only survival) and worked as a bicycle repair man. In about 1994 a man came into his bicycle shop way up in Stung Treng near the Laos border and began to talk to him. The man, Pierre Tami from Switzerland, asked Sourn if he could speak French. “Yes.” Pierre said, “Then you are my friend”. He had been praying for a French-speaking friend in Cambodia. Sourn fit the bill and the man hired him. Pierre started the Christian organization known as “Hagar”. The organization is now in several countries. The mandate of Hagar is to help women and children at risk. Sourn worked with Hagar for 15 years. While at Hagar Sourn learned English from Pierre’s children and translated wherever he was needed - example: interviews re Hagar on French and Singaporian TV stations. Sotheary knew Sourn because she worked at Hagar in the financial department at the same time Sourn worked at Hagar.

Sourn is now retired in Kratia where he owns 10 hectares of land and is busy preparing to go into organic farming (at 72)

Last week we went to Kratie (Kracheh) to see the rare Irrawaddy fresh water river dolphins. There’s about 75 of them living in a small stretch of the Mekong river ( 340 km north of Phnom Penh ). We were met at Kratie by a gentleman Sotheary knew from working at “ Hagar”. Sourn is retired and was pleased to take us around. He took us out to where we got a local boat and slowly moved out into the river. Almost immediately we heard this loud “wwhhhoooosh” and in the distance were the dolphins. The noise is them clearing their breathing tubes (just like whales). We floated around for an hour seeing them on and off the whole time. Once, two of them surfaced right beside us (about 25 feet). They’re quite striking, a sort of grayish, pinkish color, a blunt nose and, of course, a dorsal fin. Unfortunately getting a picture was a challenge as you never knew when they would surface and they stayed above the surface only 5 seconds or so- just long enough to blow out their air tubes and suck more air in. Anyway, about the middle of the video you get a glance at one. I’ll tell you more about Sourn later.

This Mekong River is truly a great river. It starts in north -west China, comes down through Laos, through Cambodia and finally through southern Vietnam and out to the South China Sea. All along this route water is flowing in from both sides. From dry season to wet season the river rises 25 feet. Another huge river (Tonle Sap) coming down from the north of Cambodia joins the Mekong at Phnom Penh. When the Mekong reaches its highest level it causes the Tonle Sap to reverse its flow. The water that reverses flows up the Tonle Sap river and fills a huge lake in central Cambodia (called the Tonle Sap Lake). It’s the biggest fresh water lake in Asia. The presence of this lake in Cambodia is the reason there are many fishermen in Cambodia. There are city people in Cambodia, fishermen in Cambodia and rice farmers in Cambodia.

To finish up let’s look at some people whom we will always remember.

MUM Sotheary’s sister who works for Sotheary and who we see every day. What a wonderful lady. She and Susan brutalize the English and Khmer languages while talking to each other. Somehow they communicate—I think it’s a woman thing. Mum does all sorts of things for us, like getting us special food at the market, making “different” Khmer foods and bringing them up for us to try (she says we’re good Khmers – we’ll try anything!), asking us to her place for Chinese New Years, buying silk for us, inviting us to family gatherings. We both love her. She’s a priceless treasure.

PHALLA Activities director at a drug rehabilitation center sponsored by Ratanak. His English is excellent and when we asked where he learned, he said he had learned from reading a dictionary! This man loves the kids who come to the facility. The center is in a Muslin district and suffers persecution as a result. Nothing stops Phalla. He’s big, he’s strong, the kids love him - what a fine example for these youngsters to look up to.

CHANDA An example of the local talent just waiting to be used to move Cambodia out of the darkness. She’s a bright light, eager to help her country. Smart. Educated. Willing. She is the head physiotherapist at TLC, trained at a medical university in Phnom Penh and advanced training taken in Singapore. She directs TLC, a center for handicapped children as well as Sunrise School where those who are unable to go to a regular school take literacy classes. TLC is sponsored by Ratanak.

NY The girl we sponsor at “Place of Rescue”. Her mother died of AIDS at Rescue, and her father died prior to that. She is 16 in grade 7. She had never been to school when she came to Rescue at10 years of age. We met her then and have loved her from the first. She wants to do medical work. Chances are pretty good she’ll reach her goal.


MR. MONG Our driver each time we have been in Cambodia. He speaks excellent English, knows every nook and cranny of Phnom Penh, (there are plenty of these in Phnom Penh), is honest, has a good sense of humor. How is it that we are so blessed to have found this man?


KIM (on the left). What’s the difference between Kim and the previous 5? Can you guess? She’s Canadian. She recently graduated from nursing. She’s here in Phnom Penh living on a shoestring and doing medical work at “Daughters of Cambodia” (an organization that helps women who have voluntarily left the brothels). Daughters is also funded by Ratanak. Look Kim up on her blog kimberlyfoster.blogspot.com and once you read this blog you will not forget Kim.

SOURN- Sourn was our guide in Kratie. He’s something else. Speaks Chinese, Khmer, English, French and Vietnamese. I complained about having to take French in school. Sourn was born in Vietnam in 1937, his father died when he was 2 months old and, same old, same old, his mother was extremely poor. At the age of 9 he hopped on the roof of a bus and in 2 days arrived in Phnom Penh. No particular reason, saw the bus and decided it was time to get going somewhere. Once in Phnom Penh the R.C. fathers found him, took him in and cared for him. During this time he learned French and Khmer and took all of his schooling. Once he left the fathers, he did several things - worked in a Chinese business (learned Chinese), worked for the U.S. army, survived the Pol Pot years (he said that the Khmer Rouge starved the people so they couldn’t think politics only survival) and worked as a bicycle repair man. In about 1994 a man came into his bicycle shop way up in Stung Treng near the Laos border and began to talk to him. The man, Pierre Tami from Switzerland, asked Sourn if he could speak French. “Yes.” Pierre said, “Then you are my friend”. He had been praying for a French-speaking friend in Cambodia. Sourn fit the bill and the man hired him. Pierre started the Christian organization known as “Hagar”. The organization is now in several countries. The mandate of Hagar is to help women and children at risk. Sourn worked with Hagar for 15 years. While at Hagar Sourn learned English from Pierre’s children and translated wherever he was needed - example: interviews re Hagar on French and Singaporian TV stations. Sotheary knew Sourn because she worked at Hagar in the financial department at the same time Sourn worked at Hagar.

Sourn is now retired in Kratia where he owns 10 hectares of land and is busy preparing to go into organic farming (at 72)

One Bad, Three Good

There’s this community right down in central Phnom Penh close to the river called Deh Krahom. It’s basically small shacks with tarpaulin tops. Very poor people live there. Evidently the people have ownership documentd. This type of area is highly desirable for investors. Investors ( in this case 7NG ) have bribe money. Officials love bribes. Therefore the following news release was not really a shock to most people-------- “ Dey Krahom community was forcibly evicted early this past Sat, even though community members had just met with the 7NG company to provide ownership documents and determine compensation the day before. There was to be no action until all was considered. The co. and community members were still in negotiations. Yet earlt Sat. morning, Jan 24th, the community was sealed off at 6:15 A.M., hundreds of police and hired demolition workers stormed the community with tear gas, water cannons, riot shields, bulldozers and back hoes. “
The relocation site ‘ prepared ‘ by the government and 7NG has no water, no power and inadequate shelter. It will be a barren piece of land somewhere outside the main city limits. Such is the lot of the poor in Cambodia- no righta and no consideration given to them.
Susan and I watched a video taken during the eviction. It was terrible. The backhoe came along and crushed the buildings, the bulldozers shoved everything into piles, people were screaming and trying to salvage what little they had out of the tiny shacks as the demolition people came and forced them out. No quarter was given, if you didn’t leave you were gassed and water cannoned and beaten. This is just one example of how graft and corruption hurts the vast majority of poor people in Cambodia.

Went to a track meet of Alan’s ( landlords son ). The preparation and planning for these meets is not quite the same as in North America. The first track event was junior girls 60 meter dash. The girl who came first didn’t realize where the finish line was and kept right on running full out. The coach began to chase her and call out “ whoa, whoa “. What do you think those brilliant instructions sounded like? This little girl turned on the after burners and before she ran out of gas she had covered over 200 meters.
Next--- the hurdles.
Along any line of hurdles perpendicular to the track the height differed by at least 4 inches, some hurdles were 3 or 4 inches higher on one side than the other. I’m sure that the results depended on which lane you were placed in.
One young girl collapse with heat stroke ( it was 35 ) so those in charge laid her out right there in the sun where she fell. Yikes. After a while they moved her into the shade and gave her some water. All turned out well.
All and all it was a fun morning- Alan took 3 first out of 5 events entered in.


There is this place called Rahab Center. It was a brothel right in the center of a famous Phnom Penh brothel district. A couple of people died in this building and the superstitious owners were willing to sell it. It was purchased by a Christian organization, all the small one bed rooms were demolished, it was painted and wired, made into a lovely large room where
medical clinics are held, children are taught about Christianity and church services are held—RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE BROTHEL AREA. Some of the girls who have been rescued from this area have been taken to a Ratanak rehab center called “ New Song “. At New Song the rescued girls are given literacy programs in Khmer, are taught English, are given skill training and counseled in preparation for returning to normal society. These girls range in age from 5 or so to about 18. Some of the girls are now returning to Rahab Center to help teach the children who come from the area. Rahab Center is like an oasis in the dessert.


Did you know that elephants are intelligent? Our garage mechanic we know from our last trip was telling us that a friend of his has some elephants in a large enclosure. This friend kept the key to the gate on a nail above the gate. One day the older, smarter elephant somehow got the key and unlocked the gate. This elephant the proceeded to go into a neighboring rice field and eat 200 kilograms of rice. The neighbor was not impressed.



I’ll end with a success story. Two girls rescued from the brothels and taken to New Song are now operating a small beauty parlor close to the brothel area they came from. We had a group from Chicago out to see Rahab Center and then took them to the “ beauty Parlor “. What a delight these two girls were. The ladies of the group ( Susan included ) had their nails done. I declined to have mine done even though the group leader offered to pay. These girls have their shop right beside their aunt. Their aunt sells food etc. They all live at the back of the two shops. The living quarters are quite nice. The girls ( Yea and Linna ) seem to be doing O.K. financially. They were lent the money by New Song to start the business. They must repay the loan out of the profits. A very good success story. Goodby for now.

HAPPY NEW Year!

Well here we are again, finally.  I want to tell you about Chinese New Year in Cambodia.  Sounds strange that they would celebrate this since Khmer New Year is in April, but many Khmers are intermarried with Chinese.  Many of the businesses in Cambodia are owned by Chinese.  So about 3 weeks ago, we celebrated Chinese New Year in grand style.   Stew and I were out walking the Saturday before CNY (January 26th was the actual day) when we saw many people with tied up, dead looking trees on their motos, hanging out of cars or being carried over the shoulder.  There was an air of excitement, anticipation all around us.  I suddenly noticed across the road what looked like tree lots - just like Christmas at home - with happy looking people lined up buying the trees.  The flower vendors along the road were doing a booming business with customers walking off with armloads of bouquets.  Traffic was horrendous - we could hardly walk along the road in some spots.  The next day we were invited to join Sotheary's sister, Mom, and her family to celebrate CNY and there was her tree, no longer dead looking but beautiful with twinkling lights, fresh green leaves and little yellow flowers decorated with red and gold Chinese envelopes stuffed with money for the young visitors of family and friends who stop by throughout the 'season'.  We were treated to a feast of Chinese delicacies very reminiscent of the wonderful meals we've had with our daughter-in-law, Katie's family.  It was so nice sitting on their large balcony overlooking Phnom Penh, eating, visiting, laughing at our struggle to understand what they were saying.  We all went home very full, tired and happy.

All of the markets and many businesses were closed from Sunday through to Thursday, traffic was very light, it was hard to get a moto/tuktuk.  The sound of Chinese music would come down the street and truck loads of costumed men and boys would jump down in front of house or business and dance with Chinese dragons - how fun.  Youngsters were running down the street to take it all in, giggling and hopping up and down.  What fun for everyone.

There's another side to CNY, though and it's not so much fun.  We had an e-mail from C&MA missionary friends in Poipet where Ratanak funds medical/discipleship work.  On the Sunday of CNY, their church had just finished communion when an unbelieving father came into the service yanked his believing daughter out of her place, dragged her home and began beating her with electrical wires all the time yelling at her to recant her faith in Jesus.  She refused over and over and told her father even if he killed her she would not recant.  He finally gave up and left her in her pain.  There is persecution for believers - some find their wells poisoned, others find their dog dead and others, like this girl, are beaten &/or disowned.  

Jan. 25

We went to a wedding. One of Marie Ens' team members had a daughter being married and she invited Susan and I and Cheryl ( from Airdrie, teaching English at Marie's ) to go to the reception. Not to be outdone we dressed in our best Cambodian clothes and away we went.  Got slightly lost on the way and arrived at the wrong end of a LONG tent affair on the street where the reception was being held.  SO we didn't come right to the reception line- No, we entered at the other end, plodded through all the people already eating, went through the reception line the wrong way while each one of the wedding party said,  "Au cun, au cun" (thinking we were leaving),  turned around ,re-entered,  the bride and groom and attendants were some puzzled at us white people, but as gracious hosts began to welcome us by sompeahing and saying, "Chum reap sua" the formal welcome, hello.  Once in the eating area you sit at a table for 10 people.  When the table is full you are served the 7 or 8 course meal.  When you are finished up you get and go home.  The table is then cleaned off and 10 more people sit down and the process is repeated. There were probably 60 or so tables at this reception.  Once all the guests are served the wedding party can then come in and eat.  We had a wonderful meal,  found our way home, no problem.
The other day we took a couple from Manitoba to some of the Ratanak projects. First we went to a school for handicapped children. The man in charge introduced us to " Chanda" and said she would show us around. Chanda looked about 14 years old, was a wisp of a thing at about 80 pounds. My first impression of her was that she was one of the handicapped children's little sister. Not so. She was a Khmer jewel. Her sparkling eyes, flawless English and knowledge of the children was amazing. Chanda was a trained physiotherapist and had just returned from additional special training in Singapore. She had been at this facility for several years. This country may be downtrodden and poor but it is has lots of young, smart, hard working people. Meeting and listening to her I thought " maybe there is hope for Cambodia ".

The next project was a drug rehabilitation program. We went out into a low population density area where Ratanak rents a small property. On the property was a small building which had 3 classrooms and a toilet. Out back was another shelter?? where cooking was done. The surrounding area is mainly Muslim. The people who operated the rehabilitation program went into the area and encouraged young people ( mainly boys ) to come and have some literacy training, eat a meal AND play soccer. Most Khmers are small and slightly built. Let me tell you about the Khmer man who did the phys-ed for the project ( mainly soccer ). He was about 6 feet tall, about 200 pounds and all muscle. He spoke excellent English and was SO enthusiastic about helping these boys. Most of the boys turn to drugs because they are constantly hungry and the drugs make them forget their hunger. This small project helps about 80 boys from the surrounding area. Maybe there is hope for Cambodia.

In the afternoon we went to a house operated by Prison Fellowship Cambodia (PFC ), which is funded by Ratanak. This is a house where released prisoners can come to. The staff help them prepare to reintegrate into society. Many of these released prisoners have not had contact with their families for many years. For example, the last time we were in Cambodia we went to a high security prison on the Vietnam border. While there, a prisoner was released. This means he is pushed out the gates with no money, only a krahma to cover himself and no knowledge of where he is. This man had been in prison for 18 years. For these 18 years he has been confined to a small cell except for 1 or 2 hours a week. He has had no contact with anyone he knew before entering prison.  PFC picked him up, took him to Phnom Penh,  helped him find his family, clothed him, gave him some skill training and looked after him until he could function outside of prison. Yiii, what a challenge! Again, the man who showed us around the facility was young, spoke English and was truly devoted to helping these released prisoners.

A short story to end today's posting. The other day Kate ( the lady from Manitaba ) was looking for walnuts in a grocery store. She couldn't find them and stopped one of the young men stocking Kate asked " do you have walnuts?". Well, she might just as well have asked the cow out in the back 40 if it would like to dance. However, Kate is not one to give up easily. After much discussion and much gesturing the young man scurried away and returned with a candy bar that had a picture of a --------------------- walnut!!!!. Kate did several heel clicks, clapped her hands and vigorously nodded her head up and down. The young man rushed away and returned with 1 (ONE ) walnut between his thumb and index finger. Kate was ecstatic-- YES, YES, that's it. The young man said      " no have ".  Kate, frothing at the mouth, says " where did you get that one"? He took her over to the fancy cakes. He had taken one off a cake. Only in Cambodia.  Talk to you in a week or so.  

More exciting travels with the traveling circus

Next day we went back to Phnom Penh.
From Kep we zoomed to Sihanoukville ( famous tourist beach ). On the way we passed over a new bridge. I remember one and a half years ago having to detour around the old bridge.It had fallen down when a loaded truck tried to cross it. Seems the locals had been stripping as much iron and steel from the bridge as they could ( nuts,bolts, struts, support pieces ). These article would be sold for recycle. Voila- the bridge fell down.. DUH, let me think, why would this bridge fail?

We arrived in Sihanoukville to find no reservation for " The Fords ". This is between Christmas and New Years days when all unreserved rooms are booked. Search, search, ponder, ponder, suddenly my brain experienced a great flash of insight- could the reservation be listed under " Heather "? Yes it was, all is well. We had lots of fun at the beach.

One night we decided to go to Mick and Craig's restaurant. Looking at the map I knew it was very close to our hotel, but not being sure I decided we'd best take a tt. The guy wanted $5- no, no tylie nah ( too much )- finally we agreed on $4. I knew this was too much but wanted to eat, I was hungry. Well, we did a perfect square and came right back to within 200 yards of where we started. The tt driver took my $4 and laughed and laughed. We saw him several times again and each time we both laughed. I think it is the first time I've really been gyped in Cambodia.

We were to come home on Dec. 31st but decided to see if we could stay one more night and come home on Jan. 1st. The receptionist checked her computer and said " yes, but you will have to move rooms for the extra day". Wade and Heather and family could stay in their same room. Wouldn't you know it, come the afternoon of the 31st we ask which room we are moving to- there is no room for us! I tell them that I have paid for a room and it was reserved for me. They say " we will get back to you". A couple of hours later they tell us they have one (1) big room for all of us- both families. They will put in 2 cots in addition to the 2 large beds that are already in the room. We agree. 3 trips later to the desk we finally get our 2 cots. Many phone calls to the desk to get 5 more towels results in3 small hand towels coming up. We just get settled in the room and BANG, BANG, SMOKE, the power goes off in our room.God is surely punishing us for some previous act. I begin to plan how we can get light and air into the room. I'm sure there is no way this problem will be fixed at 5 P.M. New Years Eve. Up comes a maintenance man, he opens a little container on the wall, flips a few switched and MAGIC the power goes on. I mutter to myself " Oh you of little faith ". That night we went out for New Years dinner, came home and tried to sleep as 150 decibell music pounded up from the courtyard below our window.   
What else did we eat? Think. Think. Uhhuh, your on the right track- yes, YES your right       RICE
While at Rabbit island Sotheary bought crab right out of the crab pots in the ocean. We had the crab cooked ( shrimp also ) right on the beach. A culinary delight.
Kep is an old French resort area. Rich French colonists built huge house and came the for holidays. The houses were all destroyed during Pol Pot times.The beach on the ocean is not great, but for $20 you can rent a boat and go to Rabbit island, about 25 mins. This island is a tropical paradise.
After arriving in Kep Susan, Stewart, Blair and I were dumped off in the middle of a street. I knew that our final destination was a fair distance away. O.K. what now, here we go again, what to do? 4 people, 4 large suitcases and no knowledge of the area. I don't know why but the song " you picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, 3 hungary children and a crop in the field" kept bouncing around in my brain. However, as often happens in Cambodia, no problem. Within mins. a tt came to pick up a couple from. K Switzerland who were on their way to about the same place as we were going. Six of us with all our luggage piled into the tt and away we went. Dropped the couple off and carried on to our place ( Vanna Bungalows ). When we got there, because we were so heavy, we couldn't get up the hill-komprouey ( don't worry ), out we get and haul stuff up. It was worth the trouble, Vanna is beautiful and peaceful.

On the way down Heather wrote the following:

While driving to Kep we saw this family harvesting rice so we stopped and since we had Sotheary with us ( who is Cambodian and spent her 4 years during the Khmer Rouge working in the rice fields- beginning when she was 6 years old) -she asked if we could come over and watch them cut and bundle the rice.

Kyle cut his own stalks with a sickle. They take a few stalks and wrap them around and make a special tie then put them all together in piles. A wagon picks up the piles of rice stalks, then takes it home where they bang the heads on a tilted board and the rice falls out. To separate the chaff the ladies put the rice in big shallow baskets and throw the rice into the air and catch it. The wind blows the chaff away. The rice is then spread out on bamboo mats and the sun dries it. This is all done on the farm.
During one of the boys first tuk tuk (tt) ride they all waved and yelled hello to everyone that they passed by ( and let me tell you there are a lot of people ). Almost all the Khmer's on the street, on motos, in tt's smiled and waved back. A few looked questionably at them, a few dismissed this group of white folk with no reaction at all. The Khmer people in general are very friendly.

After Christmas away we all went to the southern coast. Paul, Sotheary, Alan, Anika, Wade, Heather, Stewart, Kyle, Blair, Susan and I. Wade and Heather and Kyle travelled with P and S in their SUV. Wade, Heather and Kyle had some problems. Seeing that they might need a fast toilet stop they got the private car ride. Susan, Stewart, Blair and I went on the bus. Our destination ( Kep and Kampot ) was about 4 hours away.
Blair ( our daughter's 4 year old son ) is a hit in Cambodia. Cambodians can't keep their hands off him. they pinch him on the arm, on the cheek, rub his back, smile, stare, laugh and talk to him. Why do they think he is so special? I guess it's the same as looking at a little black haired, dark skinned, beautiful young Khmers and wanting to hug them

OOPS, SORRY!

I don't know what happened but our blog published very weirdly and lost a couple of pictures. So use your agile imaginations to 'see' what everyone was doing as described.  More later.  Susan

THREE CHRISTMASES

First, I want to introduce you to our daughter, Heather, and her family, Wade, Stewart 10, Kyle 8, Blair 4.  The best Christmas gift ever was to have them come to visit us for a month over Christmas.  The 2 girls with them are Eang 11, next to Heather and her sister Eye.  Eang is the family's sponsored child at Place of Rescue.  Eang did not leave Heather's side from the moment she discovered Heather was her "Mom".  Very precious time for Eang.

Now I want to introduce you to our landlords AKA our Cambod

ian family.  Paul is originally from Chicago, but has been in Cambodia for 13 

years; therefore, he qualifies as Khmer to us.  Sotheary is a true blue,born here Khmer.  These are their children, Alan 10 and Anika 3.  They've all taken us into their hearts and made us feel as though we belong in Cambodia.  You'll be hearing a lot about these two families in the Christmas part of our blog.

Our first Christmas was with Daughters of Cambodia.  Ruth, their Director, invited us to share in their "unpolished" (her words) celebration program.  Heather, Blair and I went and were so imp

ressed with these girls who have come so far from their tragic past.  They entertained us with singing, recitation of Scripture, breakdancing - yes! they praised God through their breakdancing!  As they sang Silent Night in Khme

r, one of the girls closed her eyes and sang with such feeling, I had tingles going through me.  It was fun to see them so excited, giggling, twittering and laughing at each other esp

ecially those made up as men for the upcoming pageant.  It was as meaningful to us as any "polished" performance one could see. 

Our second Christmas was at Place of Rescue.  Our family was very excit

ed to go out and meet their sponsored girl, Eang - you've met her at the beginning of the blog.  The 3 hour program began and again all the children, Moms, AIDS moms and staff were so excited.  There were hugs all around for all of us - there's no lack of love from those kids.   

  
First was the beautiful classical Khmer dance of blessing.  The girl in the blue dress on the left is our beautiful Ny whom

 Stew and I have sponsored for about 5 years.  She calls us Mom and Dad and considered Heather's boy's her 'brothers'.

The program ended with the Christmas story done in dance and song format.  It was so beautiful and moving to see all of the children taking part.  It was also very refreshing to see the true meaning of Christmas played out before our eyes.

This was followed by a huge Cambodian feast - soup, curry, rice (of course), bread, and platters of fruit.  To work off the delicious meal everyone started to dance - Khmer dancing is like line dancing, so it looks easy to do, but do not be deceived - it is not easy to get the rythmn, footwork and handmoves all going the correct way at the same time.  Some pretty funny sights.  Our carload was tired and we left them all happily dancing the night away!

THREE FAMILY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve began with Paul and Stew taking 

the kids door to door delivering 

cookies made by Sotheary to wish all of their neighbours a Joyeux Noel.  Our 3 boys had brought mini sticks along hoping to round up enough boys or girls to play a little street hockey so they handed them out as well.  Can you imagine the look on the faces who had NO idea what these sticks were for and 

neither side could speak the other's language.  I am sure the neighbours went inside shaking their heads, but our kids sure had fun.

Following supper, the kids were all allowed to open 1 gift which has been preordained by the parents - always a new pair of pj's!  They quickly got into them and went to bed in great anticipation as to whether Santa would know that they were in Cambodia.  They were not diappointed.  Morning dawned and there were three stockings filled to overflowing.  There were some real surprises for all the boys as is evidenced by Blair's delight at getting an Omnitrix.  Don't ask - it's something to do with Ben Ten, I think.  He loved that huge watch affair that made lots of noise and even found a little boy across the street who had one.  Sotheary let Blair out of our gate and took him over to compare their valued possessions.

After breakfast and prior to opening gifts, Paul played his guitar while we sang Christmas carols.  Each of the older boys read a portion of scripture from Luke and then we sang the carol related to it.  It was so nice.

The only down thing was that first Wade, then Heather followed by Kyle were stricken by the malicious GI problem.  Some meals were missed, but it didn't stop them from doing anything.  Actually, they gained from it.  More on that in the next blog tomorrow.

THREE CHRISTMASES

F

Three Christmases

THE FORD FAMILY ARRIVES!!

Dec. 18th.  Reaksa took us to his projects in Siem Reap which are funded by Ratanak Foundation.  The building shown above is going to be a library and multi-purpose center. In the same area there are some 6000 students in middle schools and high schools. He hopes to get a small percentage (maybe even 10% ) to come to this facility for extra help.  He plans on building a residence for about 30 children who have to travel very far distances to go to school right beside this building. We also visited another school ( it's called " Boys Brigade" ??????).  There are girls attending as well as boys.  Reaksa is doing a great work in Siem Reap.  Hopefully he will get the required funding for these projects. 
Dec. 17th. While in Siem Reap we visited a silkworm farm. Very interesting for the Fords. We were shown the complete process right from the feeding of the worms to the weaving of the beautiful silk scarves, wall hangings, clothing and bedding. Of course when grampa challenged the boys to eat a silk worm, they were not about to let an old man outdo them. They didn't want a second one.
Dec. 16th. No rest for the weary- we all hopped on a bus and drove 5 hours up to Siem Reap where the temples are.  Our friend, Reaksa Himm, a native Cambodian missionary, met us at the bus depot with his extended cab truck. Wade and I had to ride in the box - I told Wade we were just like all the rest of the Cambodians. The next day we went to the temples and saw two before noon, then Susan and I took the boys back to the hotel and left Wade and Heather to look further. The picture above is taken on the causeway to Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. It was built to honor Hindu and Bhuddist gods. The other temple we all saw was one that has huge trees growing out of the walls. It has been partially destroyed by this growth and was featured in the " Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom " movie.
Dec. 14th. Arrival of Heather, Wade, Stewart, Kyle and Blair. Two weeks before their arrival our landlord's dog ( with Christmas collar ) had 9 puppies. What a life saver! Those boys were playing with the puppies every chance they got. Oh yeah, we did clean shoes often as there was much excrement about. The Ford family adjusted quickly to all sleeping in one small bedroom- two beds and the floor.  The drive from the airport to our house was a thrill for Wade and Heather. They may have been tired but the whizzing around of motos, tuk tuks, cars and animals kept them alert. Of course the cars coming in the opposite direction in our lane was an eye opener. I don't think Wade fully adjusted to the driving during the 4 weeks he was here.