Cambodia, Week 2

Cambodia, Week 2

Monday, June 22nd: This morning we went over to Angkor Wat.  What an amazing place, right at first site.  Our tour guide Ly first took us around to see some of the bas relief on the sides.  The kids' favorite one was called, "The Churning of the Ocean of Milk".  We then went to the second level where our tour guide waited as we went up to the third level (no children allowed).  The stairs up were extremely steep, but we were reward with a great view of the whole complex. The details in all of the carvings are amazing, especially the apsara dancers  that appear all over the temple.

 

 

 

Siena drew a picture and we told her we would put it on here:

After Angkor Wat we went over to explore Ta Phrom.  Ta Phrom was left to nature for hundreds of years and now is a blend of temple and jungle.  If you've ever seen the movie "Tomb Raider", this is where they filmed part of it.  Luckily there is a lot more shade at this temple, since there are huge fig trees growing up through and on the temple's stones.

 

We then took a quick lunch break and then headed over to Bayon.  Bayon is different from Angkor Wat in that it was not as well kept and looks more like a stone mountain.  The most unique characteristic of Bayon are the large stone faces that are featured on towers around the temple.  Our tour guide first had us climb up some very, very steep steps up to one of the old libraries to have a look.

We then went and ascended up through the temple, coming face to face with the large curious faces.  The kids said they liked this one the best.  It was amazing to thing how the ancien Khmer Empire was able to build these huge stone temples with rudimentary tools.

Tuesday, June 23rd:
We left Siem Reap and drove back down to Kompong Thom.  Along the way we stopped to give away more baby blankets.  At our lunch stop Becky and Marcus decided to try some crickets for dessert.  According to Marcus, they tasted just like chicken.

After lunch we stopped back by the high school where Terry and Jennifer are overseeing a project.  This time while we were there school was in session.  Siena and Elise made a new friend.  One of the workman's daughters was there and was playing hid and go seek with the girls.  The work crew had made some progress on the latrines since we were there a week ago.

Wednesday, June 24th: 
This morning we went over and drove on a bamboo bridge than spans part of the Mekong River.  The locals build this bridge every year during the dry season.  With the wet season approaching the bridge was about to come down.  Once we got to the other side, the kids decided to take a nice relaxing dip in the Mekong River next to some small huts and all of their garbage.

 

After our trip back across the bamboo bridge, we drove up to the top of a hill where there was a pagoda.  There is a large group of monkeys that hang around the top.  The kids enjoyed feeding peanuts to the monkeys.  The monkeys enjoyed climbing on top of the car.  A couple of them were a little hungry and aggressive.  One actually bit Becky's mom Jennifer in the hand.  She hasn't started foaming at the mouth yet, so she should be okay.  We then drove back to Phnom Penh.

Thursday, June 25th:
This morning we drove out with Terry to one of their projects. Just outside of the city there are hundreds of people live next to the old city dump and basically scrounge for anything that is recycleable.  The church and other organizations are helping build small houses in a cleaned up area for several of these families.  

After this we went out to the Killing Fields.  Here is where thousands of people were sent to be executed during the Khmer Rouge.  This was truly a somber experience.  As you walked about the various burial pits, small pieces of bone and clothing are still surfacing through the dirt. Over 17,000 people were executed here.  Many still lie in unmarked pits that have not been excavated.  In the middle of the area is a large stupa that contains the skulls and bones of over 8,000 people who were brutally murdered here.  

Cambodia, Week 1

Cambodia, Week 1

Sunday, June 14-Tuesday, June 16


Matt's dad took us to over to Seattle.  We arrived at SeaTac airport around 10:30pm.  The kids were still wide awake.  We had a 3 hour wait at the gate for our plane, but surprisingly, the kids were well behaved and still wide awake.  We finally got on the plane around 1am. 

Ready to head out!

Girls with all of their goodies on the plane

 Right as our plane was being pushed out onto the tarmac, Marcus turned to me and said "I think I am going to throw up!"  I quickly got a barf bag for him, but he only got half of it in the bag, with the other half all down his shirt, shorts, and socks.  After he filled a second bag, Becky tried to take him and the filled up bags to the bathroom, but the stewardess told her that we were preparing for take off and she had to sit down.  So, the puke had to stay with us for a while until it was safe to move about the cabin.  Needless to say, Marcus smelled like vomit mixed with Maple syrup for most of the  12 1/2 hour flight to Taiwan.  Other than that incident (well, actually Marcus puked 3-4 more times on the flight), the flight went pretty smooth and the kids actually slept a bit.  We arrived in Taipei, Taiwan around 4:20am local time and had a four hour layover.  We found a Hello Kitty play area and store, which kept the kids entertained for some time. 

Hello Kitty Store, Taipei, Taiwan

Even Monks love Hello Kitty

 We then caught our flight out to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  This flight was only 3 1/2 hours long and wasn't bad at all.  Upon arriving in Phnom Penh, we got our visas and met Becky's parents outside the airport.  Even before we left the airport, people were looking at the kids, especially blond hair, blue eyed Elise.  People wanted to pinch her cheeks and say hi to her.  

We've arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 25 hours later!

We stopped and got some pizza, then we headed over to check out one of Terry and Jennifer's projects at an orphanage.  I'm glad that Terry is driving here, since the traffic is chaotic to say the least.  There really are no set rules of the road and everyone and everything goes every which direction.  Once we got to the apartment the kids stayed up until 7 or so and then crashed.  They did very well for that long of trip.

Wednesday, June 17th: 

We went over to Terry and Jennifer's office and then went over to their mission home.  We met their mission President, President Moon and then Terry ordained Matt a Hight Priest since he was called into the Bishopric in our ward right before we left.  We then took a tuk-tuk and went over to Wat Phom and looked around.  We then went to a market and bought a bunch of fruit.  We then went over and toured the Royal Palace.  There was an old bald lady there that loved Elise and kept following us around and talking to her in Khmer.  Terry was telling us that there are not a lot of old people in Cambodia.  During the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's, most educated people were killed and thousands of others died as well.  Elise seemed to be terrified.  Lots of locals kept wanting to get their picture taken with our kids.  We might start charging a dollar a picture to pay for the trip.

Thursday, June 18th: 

We took a drive up north to check on one of Terry and Jennifer's projects.  We stopped for a break in a town called Skuon, which Terry calls Spider town.  At the area where we stopped, there were lots of vendors selling all kinds of things to eat: fried tarantulas, crickets, frogs, whole quail (fried of course), water beetles, you name.  If it crawls, they had it.  We ended up just getting some fruit, cause you know, we weren't that hungry. 

 

 We then drove on to Kompong Thom, where Terry and Jennifer are supervising a project at a high school where they are rebuilding latrines (the school currently has over 2000 students with no real working bathrooms).  We then continued to drive north to a town called Sra Em and stayed the night.  

Friday, June 19th: 

We woke and had breakfast at a little road side restaurant.  One of the ladies that worked there had a four month old baby with her.  Becky got out one of the baby blankets we brought and gave it to her (we and several ladies at church made baby blankets to give away in Cambodia.  We brought 85 blankets total).

We then drove up to Prasat Preah Vihear, which is an ancient temple built on top of a mountain right along the Cambodia-Thailand border.  In fact, these two countries have been fighting over control of the area for years.  Because of this, there is a heavy military presence all around (you can even see parts of the Thai army across the hillside).  There were soldiers all around the temple.  Our guide took us down close to the border.  There they have a spot where you can get your picture taken with a machine gun and rocket launcher (the real deal).  All around the area there are lots of landmines left over from previous conflicts, but several outside groups have slowly come in and started removing them.  

 
 
 
 

We then went up and toured around the temple complex.  It was actually a bit cooler and fog kept rolling in and out of the area, creating a mystical atmosphere. As we were leaving the fog eventually lifted and we were able to have a clearer vision of the whole area.  When we were done we grabbed a few coconuts for the kids to drink and made our way down to Siem Reap.

 

 

 

Once we got into Siem Reap we looked around some of the shops and got dinner.  We had the kids get a fish foot massage where the fish eat all of the dead skin off of your feet.  Most of the locals enjoyed watching the kids squirm.

Saturday, June 20th: 
Today we drove up into the mountains to Phnom Kulen.  There we played in the several waterfalls that come down the mountain.  The kids loved it and were hard to get out of the water!  At one point while the kids were swimming with some of the locals, the locals started yelling.  Jacob thought they were saying, "snack, snack", when what they were trying to say was snake.  Everyone got out of the water until the snake swam away.  Once again, lots of people wanted to have there picture taken with our kids, especially a lot of the Japanese and Chinese tourists.  The Khmer people are very friendly and several times they were very helpful as we were swimming in the waterfalls.  Most of them love kids and are very kind.  

Sunday, June 21st: 
Today we went to church in Siem Reap.  One of the missionaries translated.  They actually have translation capabilities in the chapel, so all of us got to have headphones on during church.  The kids said it was fun in Primary, but a little chaotic.  

After church we drove out to a silk farm and took a tour there.  It was amazing to see how much work it takes to make even a small scarf by hand.

  From there we drove out to part of the Tonle Sap, which is a huge lake that runs from Phnom Penh all the way to Siem Reap.  Since the wet season is just starting, the lake was low.  We found a health clinic out there (that was built by the U.S) and dropped off some baby blankets.  There were no babies there today, but the attendant said they do have lots of babies.  Next door to the clinic was a floating school that was sitting dry dock until the wet season.