Cambodia -- The accomidations

I'm still in the processing stages of the whole trip and I haven't had much time to edit more pictures, so I'll share with you some of the pictures from our hotels. Nothing too terribly fancy, but I'll share them anyways. They are interesting!!

This was my hotel room in Bangkok. I loved the painting on the wall. It cost roughly $25 a night.

It had a little vanity area. There were a ton of snacks on the table, but they weren't free. They sure were tempting, though!!

Here is a shot of the bathroom. That spray thing by the toilet is a bidet -- what you're supposed to use instead of toilet paper. Luckily, I never had to use it . . . just didn't make sense to me. I did make good use of it washing my feet off at the end of the day!! The shower is to the left of the toilet. While you took a shower, the toilet got all wet. Weird engineering for sure.
This is how you turned the shower on. You set your hot water level and turned the knob. Again, interesting. I was just glad there was hot water at that point. . . wasn't quite ready for the cold showers.

This is our hotel room in Poipet, Cambodia. Nothing spectacular. Felt like a dorm room. It costs $15 USD/night. The beds were very firm, but at the end of the day, I don't think I cared very much. I crashed!! The room key had a little plastic thing on it that you had to put into this slot so that your electricity would work. I wish I had gotten a picture of that. Every time you left the hotel, you had to take your key to the front desk, so your electricity was off. The good news was that our room didn't take too long to cool off at the end of the day. The good news about the key thing was that there was only one key and if your roommate came back before you, they could have access to the room. That's the a/c up on the wall. The girls from the UK are living in this hotel for 6 months. They celebrated their 2 month anniversary of being there the day we left.

Here's the view from our 5th story "lobby" window. There was a little sitting area outside our doors with giant windows. I did a lot of people watching from this window. I fell in love with a little boy under that blue tarp thing of a "house" in the middle of the picture. He's actually outside in this picture, but you can't see him. He is the first character in my book.

Again, toilet & bidet or foot shower in my case.

Straight across from the toilet is the shower. No walls, just the shower head. There wasn't hot water here. We had it a few times for about 2 minutes, but it was so hot that you couldn't stand underneath it. The water wasn't extremely cold, though. The water tanks sat outside and I'm sure the heat warmed the water so that it wasn't freezing like it would be here in the US. You would think that red knob over there would mean something to do with the hot water, but it doesn't. I'm not really sure what it's purpose was.

A picture of some kids from our hotel room window. I was really zoomed in, but they have plastic sacks with plastic water bottles in them. Again, I loved watching the people from our hotel room. I was so glad that we were on the 5th floor so that I had a little secret "hideout" to people watch from!!

This is a video looking out our window. I think you can see a volleyball court in it (at about 10 seconds). There were always kid playing volleyball over there! There was even a rain storm that came in one afternoon and it was pouring down rain and it didn't seem to bother them at all. At the end, you can also see my little boy. He's outside sitting on that log thing. He's still far away, so you can't see him very good. My only regret? Not going down there and getting a picture of him.

I have pictures of the hotel in Siem Reap (the touristy parts of our trip), but they're on my phone. I'll have to e-mail them to myself and then put them on here. You really won't believe how amazing it was!! I'll try to get them up soon!

Cambodia -- The Food

I've been back a few days now, but it's taking some adjusting. Time wise, while we were there, it seemed like everyone woke up about 4 am. I thought when we got back, that would be fixed, but it hasn't. Same thing-- I've been waking up at 4 am and can't go back to sleep. Plus, I've been having a hard time staying asleep. . . oh well. I've been told that it will all work itself out over the next few days.

I absolutely loved it there. I wouldn't want to sell everything and live there, but I could see myself going back and staying for longer periods of time. What they are doing over there will blow your mind. More on that over the next few days.

I thought I would break up the trip into a few parts so that my blog isn't forever long and you don't need an hour to get through it. So, I thought I would talk about the food first. I'll put a few pictures at the end of just random things, but I'm not finished editing and turning all of my pictures, so I'll post some of what I have done so far.

In preparing for this trip, I was warned about all kinds of weird foods -- squid, fried fish eyes, etc. I actually was going to try the fried fish eyes if someone got some. I thought I should go all out on the whole experience. I wanted to experience Cambodia, so why not?

So, as we were standing in line to get on the plane in Minneapolis, Joel laughed and said, "Say goodbye to all normal foods, dear." I was a little nervous. ;)

Well, I didn't get a chance to eat any fried fish eyes, but here's a list of a few of my food experiences:
* Cashew Chicken (no surprises there, but it was good)
* The most amazing coffee shake on the planet (yes, better than Starbucks)
* Really refreshing watermelon shakes
* Really amazing coffee
* Fried eggs & toast (I think this became my favorite breakfast while we were there)
* Fried rice w/ chicken at a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. This was on our drive from Bangkok to Cambodia. It was all open, as in no walls. There were chickens walking around. I'm sure the chicken I was eating was walking around there once, too.
* Squid (yes, I ate it but I wasn't fond of the texture)
* Raw tuna (again, terrible texture, but I got it down)
* The thickest and yummiest and biggest pancakes ever
* Ate an ENTIRE meal with chopsticks (I had never used any before)
* Barbecued goat (again, texture got me on this one. . . good flavor, just a little too chewy for me)
* Fried potatoes (some kind of yellow potato, not white ones)
* Fried bananas (the girls from the UK loved these)

So, there is the beginning of my Cambodia posts. I know everyone is wanting to hear all of the other amazing things, and that will come, but I was shocked at myself for even trying some of these things and it is the easiest post to start out with.

Dr. J & Steve at the CHO restaurant where we ate almost every breakfast and lunch. This restaurant fixes 3 meals a day and delivers them to the AIDS & TB hospital for the patients there. See that watermelon shake on the bottom left? YUM!! I bet it was mine!

Trish & the UK girls (L to R: Nicole, Emily, Hannah (blue shirt), & Kathryn)
They had a train of massages going at one point. We loved hanging out with these girls. (By the way, their new year is like next week or something. That sign wasn't from January 1st)

Here's that coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. I'm not kidding. We were driving down the road and there is NOTHING. Then, all of a sudden, we pass this place. So, we turned around and went back for lunch.

These boys were at the school on the mat. They aren't in school, but they followed our van down to it. They just sat and watched what was going on in the school (outside, of course) and they watched us.

These girls were at our children's outreach. You can tell that they are probably sisters. People think that they have highlights in their hair, but it's actually a sign of malnutrition.
One afternoon, I was in my hotel room and I heard a pig squealing and squealing and squealing! At first, I didn't want to look because I thought they might be butchering it somewhere, but when I finally go the nerve to look, this is what I saw:
Yes, that's a live pig on the back of a motorcycle. Interesting, huh? Wayne said he saw a cow on the back of a moto later that afternoon.

As we were driving into Siem Reap for the touristy part of our trip, we saw this:
Another interesting thing. I think these chickens are alive. We would see them move their heads every once in a while. Funny how when you see a cattle truck going down I-20 full of cows, you don't think of it as tomorrow's lunch. But in Cambodia, that's all I could think!

And, my favorite picture of the whole trip. We were invited to a village by the assistant village leader (comparable to one step up from mayor, I think) and this baby was laying on a bed under their shelter (again, no walls). The grandma was so proud of her! Every time the camera would flash, she would laugh and smile really big. I absolutely love this picture!! Makes me feel like Angelina Jolie! ;) (Thanks, Trish!)

Heading Home . . .

Another airplane ride . . . fun, fun, fun! At least this one is only about an hour and a half. We're flying out of Cambodia and we're heading back to Bangkok. Then, tomorrow morning at 5:45 am (5:45 pm Texas time) here, we'll fly out to Tokyo. . . then, on to Detroit. . . then on to Dallas!! We land in Dallas at 9:45 pm on Wednesday.

Today we went out to a floating village. . . just plain craziness. People living on boats/houses out in the middle of the lake. They had kids, there were stores, they had tv in some. . . it's will just blow your mind. Not to mention another sun burn . . . not bad, though.Here's something else cool that happened.Trish & I went and got our toenails done and she got her fingernails done . . . all for $7!!! Complete with flowers and bows!! They are beautiful! Yes, $7 USD!! Anyway, our tuk-tuk driver took us to this place and we walked in and let the girls get started. One of the other "girls"started talking and it was no girl. . . it was a "lady boy"shop!! We laughed hysterically once we figured that out!!! But, the girls that did our hands & feet were not. It was a pretty funny moment.

While we got out of the tuk-tuk, I had my money in my pocket, but when I went to pay for my nails, it was gone. It wasn't in any of my pockets. I checked two or three times and it wasn't there. I was freaking out because I thought one of these girls had pick-pocketed me or that I dropped it getting out of the tuk-tuk. So, Trish covered me and we went to get in the tuk-tuk again (I like that word! ;) )

Anyway, my money was in a different pocket!! And not in one that I would have put it in and I checked it at least 2 times sitting in that chair!! What in the world? I'm just believing that God gave my money back to me.Then, we headed back to the market to pick up a few more gifts before heading home. That was fun!! I love the market!!

I've had a blast, but I'm ready to be back home. Well, internet time is about up. Got to run!!P.S. By the way, I've taken 495 pictures!!! Some are just of life kind of things . . . toilets, showers, bathing pots, etc. But, lots of awesome pictures!! Wishing I had my computer so I can edit them on the way home.

Cambodia

I'm sitting in the "Joel Famous" Blue Pumpkin little restuarant here in Siem Reip (sp?) Good food and time to be tourists. We are going to Angkor Wat (again sp?) this afternoon . . . it's some old Buddist temples.

Our hotel is like we're in a tropical resort. It's AMAZING! I almost don't feel like I'm on a mission trip!! ;)

We have had an absolute blast here and I definitely want to come back. What God has done here and is doing here will blow your mind away.

The other day, the guys put up a 30 foot tall water tower at the safe haven. I'll have to post the video when I get home. Cambodians and Americans working together to raise this amazing amount of metal with some electrical wire for rope and a few poles. . . other than that, it was pure man strength.

Well, I'm going to let Trish have her computer back now. I'll try to post when I can. . . if I don't, I'll be home late Wednesday!!!

Bangkok, Thailand

Greetings!!
I survived the longest plane rides EVER and I'm sitting in a hotel in Bangkok! How weird is that? I just had a great breakfast and we're about to head to the Cambodia border. From there, I'll only have internet at the safe haven, but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it and this is just amazing. I've mostly seen everything in the dark, but this morning just looking around, it's very interesting.

Right beside our table at breakfast, there was a Buddist shrine that a man was "fixing up" this morning. When people walk by it, they bow to it. You can smell the insence burning. It's interesting.

Everything on the plane was smooth and we had tremendous favor going through customs in Bangkok. When we got to Bangkok, some of our luggage wasn't there -- mine, Trish's, and one of Joel's. They told us that our luggage was on the way to Phenom Phen, which we are NOT going to! But, they were able to pull our luggage off of the plane and bring it to us. That was interesting!!

Then, going through customs, they didn't want to let us bring our medicine in. But, after Wayne & Dr. J finished, they let us go with our medicine.

So, our driver just got here and we're about to head to Cambodia. I'll e-mail when I can!!!

Off to Cambodia

In about 15 minutes, Joel & Trish will be here to pick me up so that we can go meet Wayne and head to Dallas! Our flight leaves at 10:20 from Dallas and flies to Minneapolis. From there, we fly to Toyko, Japan. We have a 1 1/2 hour layover and then it's off to Bangkok. We will stay the night in Bangkok and drive to Poipet the next morning.

I can't seem to find the papers with the info on it about our flights and hotels. I'm sure there around here somewhere and I'm sure Wayne has all that info with him.

Some ladies at church are taking care of the kids while Aaron's at work and they are also bringing dinner to the boys every night that I'm gone. How cool is that? I have the best friends in the world!

I'll try to update when I can!!