Day 9 - Sat. June 17th

My last day in Cambodia. We got up at 4:30 leave at 5am to see Angkor Wat at sunrise. It's all truly amazing. It is a place like no other I have ever seen. My favorite was The Bayon - you can't believe the elaborate carvings that they have done (circa 802 AD).

In the afternoon, relaxed by the pool at our hotel, La Noria. It is a wonderfully charming hotel - like staying in a rainforest. Our room is like a tree house. The pool is the only down time that we have really had during the whole 10 days.

We leave in the morning for the airport. I am headed home and Michele will go back to Phnom Penh and stay for 2 more weeks. We have had such fun time traveling together and have had a lot of laughs. I am so happy to have been able to come to Cambodia - to have met all of the kids and other travelers and Khmers throughout the last 10 days.

I hope to come back someday, but for now I am looking forward to getting home.

Day 8 - Fri. June 16th

Michele and I flew to the stay in the city of Siem Reap to go to Angkor Wat - the famous temples (wats). It is the largest religious monument in the world. The temples at Angkor are spread out over some 40 miles around the village of Siem Reap, about 192 miles from Phnom Penh. They were built between the eighth and 13th centuries and range from single towers made of bricks to vast stone temple complexes.

We got here and were so surprised at how beautiful Siem Reap is and how different from Phnom Penh. Like a resort town almost - slower pace, relaxing. It very lush green and floral everywhere and I love all of the colonial architecture.

We spent an hour or so at the market and then got picked up at 4pm at our hotel to go to Angkor Wat and see some of the temples it at sunset. You are supposed to see it at sunset and sunrise, so today we do sunset. We saw the sunset at Phnom Bakheng wat. We climbed the steep steps to the top and wandered around the ruins of the old wat. It was quite a climb and we did not wear the right shoes, so we decided to ride the elephant down. I actually regretted it as I think the elephant was very hot and tired. We had heard that the temples were amazing and were still completely in awe once we saw them.

That evening, we thought we would go see a Khmer concert or something cultural. Our tuk tuk driver recommended a traditional dance and dinner at a nearby hotel. In the end, it was very touristy, but oh well...

Day 7 - Thurs. June 15th

Today was my last day at the orphanage as we are going to Angkor Wat for the weekend and then I fly directly home. We taught the early morning class -- english -- and then Michele bought lockers for the kids and I went to the store and bought shampoo, lotions, nail polish, brushes etc. to do a spa day. I did manicures and pedicures while Michele washed hair over the well at the orphanage. Once again, fully bomarded -- and frankly they were a bit demanding. They did love it though. We were pretty grossed out as many have lice and also one girl has what we think is scabies on her hand. Yikes.

We went to FCC with Drew for my last night.

We have really come to love Phnom Pehn and all the kids-- I have loved everyone I have met here and every place that we have gone.

Day 6 - Wed. June 14th

Today is Wednesday and we taught the 7:30 am english class at the orphanage. Electricity is still out, so Michele paid $15 for it to be turned back on. We have never sweated so much as teaching that class :). It was a different group of kids so we did a similar lesson, but we have evolved our style. I never really thought I would like teaching, but completely enjoyed it. They are wonderful. The most adorable tiny little shy girl sat in the front row. She said everything very well, but was too shy to ever raise her hand. She sat and wrote the whole time. At the end of the day, she stayed to show me her notebook and she has written in beautiful handwring both mine and Michele's name at the top and all of the colors, words and numbers we had been writing on the white board. She's just precious.

After class, we went with the teacher, Sochia (Michele and I on his moto (scooter) to the store and bought pencils, pens, and some flash card type posters, paper for the school. We all three rode on Sochia's moto (scooter) -- very conservative considering that most motos here have 6 family members together on them :) It is really a sight to see. I'll post a picture.

Off the the national museum and palace for an hour or so...

Went back to the orphanage at 4pm and watched kick boxing and took the older kids to school and signed up 3 other kids into the school ($3 a month). They are so appreciative of everything. As we were walking through the school, the teachers would ask us to come in a speak english to their class. An adorable monk had a list of questions for us and we had a great time talking to them all. They find it strange that they have heard that some americans don't like to talk about their age. He asked us why.

Day 5 - Tues. June 13th

Tuesday we went in the am to the Russian Market. It's an open air market that has everything. We bought soccer balls for the kids and took them to the orphanage and played with them.

A side note....to all who thought we would adopt cambodian kids...it won't be happening. we learned on the first day that adoption is forbidden for americans (hmmm, can't be great that they made that rule for americans).

In the afternoon, we taught english at the orphanage. The school is hooked up to a neighbors electricity and they didn't pay their bill, so it was very dark and no fans. We had a great time though and they are so excited to learn. They all have their hands in the air all the time to be called on. Sochia is their teacher and he teaches for such a long day that he keeps losing his voice. We had made flash cards on crepe paper and went through colors, numbers, letters -- focusing on pronunciation and spelling. There is also a book that has a cirriculum that we followed. Sochia isn't able to help them with pronunciation, so he really wanted us to keep repeating and correcting them. They are just adorable. They get so excited when you tell them that they have done well. They won't leave your side after the class if you have complimented them.

After the class, we were the guests of honor for a traditional Khmer dance recital at the orphanage (see pix). The stage and costumes were recently funded by a british charity. The girls and boys did beautiful dancing and had elaborate costumes that had been donated. They were really really good. After the girls did serious dancing, they had a group of 6 or so young boys who came out in squatting position and did the "monkey dance". I laughed so hard. They come out and run around in squats with their hands under their armpits. They look just like monkeys!! Part of the dance they actually pretended to pick bugs from each other's hair, sniffing of themselves. We all died!!!

At the end of the dance they pulled me onstage. It was a dance with two long sticks held at each end. You go in between and jump over while they open and close them. They keep speeding it up and eventually, you get your ankles squeezed in them. It was very funny and everyone was laughing at the americans.

This was Drew's mom Dorice and Sandra's last night so Drew invited some friends and arranged for a boat cruise on the Mekong. We motored around for a while -- weather was beautiful and beautiful sunsets. Then we all went to dinner across the river where the local Khmers eat. We had a number of crab and shrimp dishes that were some of the best we had.

Day 4 - Mon. June 12th

Just FYI, in case it wasn't obvious... we are having an AWESOME TIME!! The city and the people have been so great to us and we have already seen a lot.

Today was great fun -- although the worst scorcher yet. We did art day at the orphanage. We brought that whole suitcase I had with crepe paper, stickers, pens, colored pencils, chalk etc. and did art with the 80+ kids who were they. They went bezerk when we started handing it out. Michele and I got bombarded and realized that we needed to plan a bit better next time. Needless to say, they were so excited and stayed and drew for over 2 hours. I had such a great time sitting with them and watching them. The vast majority are incredibly talented. We kept their drawing, really beautiful.

Also, have forgotten to mention that we have a driver that we hooked up with on our first day. His name is Sopi and he drives a tuk tuk and we have his cell so we call him when we want to go somewhere. This is particularly important because the orphanage is incredibly hard to find, so it took us (with him) a very long time to find on our first day. Eventually, they got someone to speak Khmer to him and he found it. So, we call him to and from each day. He is very sweet and totally takes care of us. It's a crack up. We will be gone for hours and we call him and he's like one block away. He will just devote his whole day to us and stay around.

So after the art class, we went to the little school to observe and start to help the teacher, Sochia. School is from 2-4 each day for those kids who have been paid for. This is part of where Drew's money that he has raised goes (about $6 a month per kid). Pretty much anyone can go, but if they miss class, he says they can't go for a while -- to prove a point. They love it so much, so they continue to try to persuade Drew to be able to go again.

They are very respectful, bow to their teacher, raise their hands when he asks questions and stand up for answers. Just truly adorable. The teacher is really cute. He is very animated, slams on their desks when they are wrong (in a nice way) and they really love him.

In the afternoon we went to a place near our hotel called the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC). It is a rooftop bar, restaurant -- totally old world colonial. We had a drink and then went to dinner at a place called Friends. It's a training ground for young people to get into businesses. Next stop, massage. We upgraded to a 2 hour massage last night. It's right by our hotel so we stagger home, exhausted. It turns out 2 hours is too long for a massage.

BTW: We were eating at a cafe on the riverfront today and a giant elephant walked by. It was like twice the height as me. Huge.

Tomorrow, we will begin teaching english during the morning and afternoon classes.

Until next time...

Day 3 - Sun. June 11th

Today we took a kid named Makara from the "center" and 2 of his friends to the countryside -- to visit his family that he hasn't seen in quite a while. We arranged for a taxi and ended up taking a 20 year old toyota. I think this was it's last trip. We barely made it back.

The trip should've taken 1-2 hours and instead took 3 1/2 because a protest had blocked the road. There are 3 very strong political parties in Cambodia anda lot of activity, so we hear. Makara's parents (farmers) had traveled 4 hours by boat to meet at his sister's house where we went. We took him to the market in advance to pick up some food to bring. He chose dried fish. We knew we've had to eat it, so we got watermelon and pineapple too. His family was so sweet to us. They said "they had eaten already"and served us scoop after scoop of stuff that was hard for us to stomach. I have attached pictures of the house. It was really neat -- on stilts, just open air with rafters etc. We ate on the floor. I guess the fish is somewhat of a delicacy because it was quite expensive ($7) and everyone devoured it. Michele and I did our best to pick and say it was delicious as they stared at us the whole time to see our reaction. I have never tasted anything so fishy as the sauce that they scooped onto my rice.

Last night, we went to dinner at quite a nice place across town (where I am told more expats live) with Drew and his mom and her friend (they are from east coast and came out of 3 weeks).

Had a good dinner, but Michele and I ended up getting on motorbikes (you ride on the back -- we had avoided them, but there was no other option last night). My guy takes off in the wrong direction into the most deserted part of town and I was telling him that it was the wrong way, turn around and he didn't speak a single word of english and obviously had heard the wrong directions. I actually started to cry. We finally turned around and thank god found Drew, his mom and Sandra walking home. Anyway, just a misunderstanding -- it was all fine. We then had our third daily (11pm) massage before bed :)

Day 2 - Sat. June 10th

We moved into our new hotel on the waterfront this morning. It is a much better area for us, more ex pats and tourists, which you actually like here (however, not a huge tourist town really). We went to the orphanage (actually called the "center") that day with Drew, met all the kids, got a tour and just kind of hung around. The center is basically a shanty town that surrounds a dirt common area. The 100 or so children ranging various ages, sleep all over the place, lined up next to each other - in tree house looking structures all around. It's really crazy to see. They are absolutely darling and everyone here are the nicest people. It's really unbelievable. They love all over us, can't wait to see us and love all over each other as well. They are incredibly happy kids -- hanging out all day long, playing with 100 others. They take great care of each other. You never see them without their arms around another kid or dragging around one of the babies. They truly just love the babies. Problem of course is that they have no future. They are actually well fed (not great quality, but not starved) and keep themselves quite clean and nice (relatively speaking). After spending the day there, you just can't wait to shower off though.

We don't have a set agenda, but are taking notes on what to do. Drew has been thinking up projects as we are here. We are going to build lockers for the kids and assign and labels them and provide locks so they can have their own stuff. I brought along a suitcase with art supplies, games, toys and things for them as well. We will have an art day. We are going to give hair cuts -- apparently they love it. We are also going to teach an english classes. We are definitely winging it, but they get so excited to speak english. It's funny because they run up to you and spead perfect english. They ask ""What is your name? My name is ...... Where are you from?". You think they speak english, but that's as far as they go. When we saw the school room, those are the only english phrases on the board -- pretty funny.

After the orphanage, we took a tuk tuk (carriage driven by a moped/small motorcycle) to the killing fields -- about an hour 1/2 away. Pretty moving place and very beautiful drive. It's amazing the genocide that has happened in our life time. Seems impossible.

It is absolutely sweltering here. The kids are always concerned because Michele and I's faces are just dripping. They pat them off and try to take care of us -- their's don't sweat -- probably because they don't drink much.

After that, we had dinner with Drew and we all went next door for the second of our daily massages. Quite an experience. You just remove your clothes, wrap a towel around you in a room with 20 or so futon types beds laid on the floor (nice place though). That night we had regular massage. The night before we had had Thai massage -- which is crazy -- they actually walk on your back and do contortions and stuff. Coincidently, the american kickboxer who fought last night was there as well, so we got to briefly meet him.

Drew is trying to find the fun projects while I am in town. He is going to put Michele to work on the nuts and bolts like de-licing once I am gone :). Tomorrow, we will take one of the boys (Makara) to visit his family in the country.

Day 1 - Fri. June 9th

Finally made it to Phnom Penh - about 21 hours after leaving San Francisco. It is nothing like I expected. It feels a lot more 3rd world than I anticipated, but there is a great vibe. I checked into my hotel and walked around toward the open air market (psar).

The market is a labyrinth of stalls with everything from jewelry, to pots and pans. It took me three times as long to walk the 20 or so blocks because I was newly navigating the streets. Between the motos (scooters), tuk tuks (scooters with carriages), cars etc. you can really get yourself run down. There are no sidewalks, so you walk in the street and cars come from all directions and any side of the street. Actually an effective system as there seems to be virtually no traffic. To cross the street, I wait for a local who is also crossing and go when they go - otherwise, I can wait forever. Today, a nice monk helped me cross. btw: the monks dress in various colors of beautiful orange robes -- based on their year of study). It's really pretty to see 100 or more of them wandering around once their studies let out. There are many pictures and paintings of that very scene here.

Quick comment on the heat.... perhaps 100+ degrees? Crazy hot.

Michele got in Friday evening and we wandered out for a drink. We ran into Drew McDowell(american who has raised money and is here volunteering for the Cambodian Light Childrens Association). You can read more about his effort and make a donation if interested, at: http://www.villageearth.org/pages/Projects/Cambodia/Index.php

Drew and a friend were headed to a kickboxing tournament which basically brought all of Phnom Pehn to a screeching halt -- as the cambodian kickboxing champion was fighting. People crowded around tvs all across the city. We sat and watched some it in a restaurant where we had to keep our feet off of the ground because we saw 2 huge rats!!

We are getting ripped off by our hotel, so went and found another. At 11pm, we had our first of what we plan to be our daily massages.

p.s. am having trouble with the blogger site, so no pix yet.