First few days in Phnom Penh

I wasn't able to blog while I was there, but I did do a lot of journaling. I will be highlighting the trip using my journal to blog. :o)

Day 1-

The flight went well. On the way from Dallas to San Fran, my MP3 player bit the dust. I was worried it would make it a long flight over the ocean but thankfully China Airlines has headphones with movies and music. From Dallas to San Fran we also flew through a storm. Seeing the lightning above the clouds was incredible.
The 12 hour flight was not fabulous, but it wasnt horrible. Thankfully I was in an aisle and was able to get up quite a bit. I dozed, but didnt get much sleep. It was a new feeling being the minority! I was no where near any of our group on the plane so I was silent for 12 hours. Hard to imagine isn't it? ha :o) It was good though. Everywhere we go we definitely stick out in the crowd! On the flight to San Fran I sat by a lady and we did chat a little. She flew out of Kansas City and was also flying to Taipei so we chatted.
China Airlines served several meals and they were all different. I tried them anyway and only one made me feel a little yucky, but it was towards the end of the trip and starting to feel the fatique so it just didnt set well. There was this mystery salad with ham and apples and some funky dressing. I tried it but didnt like it. My favorite meal was the beef and potatos with gravy. Imagine that. ha

Day 2-
We arrive in Phnom Penh and the first thing I notice is the traffic! WOW! There are few traffic laws here and they are really merely suggestions. I am overwhelmed by the sites and sounds and smells!! The main method of transportation are moto bikes and they are everywhere. PEople are driving on both sides of the road, in and out of traffic. When you want to turn you just turn and hope people stop! I am amazed by this! The motos often carry 3 or 4 people on them and loads of other stuff.

We first go to Cambodia Bible Institute. Wow, it is HOT! We walk around the campus and get familiar with it. We meet Ann Greve and other people from the school. There is another group from Evangel already there working so we meet them as well. They are doing Khmer classes this week and then joining us in Sihounakiville next week.

Our hotel is gorgeous! THe service is also amazing. We have two full size beds in our room and a nice bathroom. We have a gorgeous view of the US Embassy directly across the street. It is comforting seeing the American flag flying high in front of the Embassy every morning!

We didnt tip the bellhop because we didnt know how much. The other girls gave them $2 USD. We were told later that probably made his week b/c a good tip is $1000 Riel, which is about .25 cents in USD.

Ann takes us to dinner at a place called Java. It was so good! I had the best cheeseburger and smoothie I've ever had! I'm not quite ready for Cambodian/Khmer food just yet! Ann tells us all about Cambodia and the school and the people. I am amazed at the stories she tells of the people and what they have gone through. It seems unreal that the atrocities that happened in Cambodia happened, especially after Hitler.
She tells us a story of a girl who is about 38. In 1975 she was 5 years old when Pol Pot took over. She was separated from her family and put in a work camp for 5 years. When Pol Pot lost power, they released all the children from the work camp but they had no where to go and had lost their families. She was only 10 years old. She made her way back to the home she lived in as a child and found her two siblings there. THey had been in different work camps and didnt knwo where to go when released so they did the same thing. Eventually the three of them made it on foot to their grandmothers house in the country and their mother was there! Later, they found out their father had been killed by the Khmer Rouge at Teuol Sleng Prison. They found out when they saw his picture there years later when it opened up as a museum.

After dinner, the five of us decided to walk around the hotel. It's a nicer area with a park nearby. As we walked down the streets we had several women approach us asking for money and food for their children. THere were lots of naked and half naked children running around. The women use their children to beg. It was very hard for us to see this and keep walking.

It's been a long overwhelming past few days. I can tell already that I love this place. I am amazed what Ann and the other missionaries have done. Ann came in 1991 when Cambodia first opened up. THere were no phones, cars, or much else for that matter. She flew into an airport htat had been bombed out. There were holes in the walls. She said they unloaded her luggage with a tractor and thent he tractor drove through a hole in the wall and they got their luggage off the tractor. It cost her $50 to send a fax from the one fax machine in the entire city. To hear her tell those stories and see where Phnom Penh is today is crazy. She is an awesome woman and I can already tell I'm going to like her a lot!