I'm obviously not very good at keeping a journal. I am working on getting better at it though. Jerry has to go out of the Thailand then reenter to get a new work visa every 2 weeks. When I first got to Thailand he had just had a hernia surgery and he wasn't going into the office. Then there was Songkran holiday so he still wasn't going to the office. I had a visitor visa that works for a month. I guess what I am getting at is after being here for a month Jerry and I both had to make a trip out of Thailand then come back in so we would be here legally. We chose to go to Cambodia (it is pretty close and the tickets are not too much).
We weren't sure if we should go to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. Jerry chose Phnom Penh and we had a great trip. Here are some of the high lights. When we got there we changed some money over so we wouldn't have any trouble paying for things and that was a mistake. In Cambodia they don't care if you pay in US dollars. I think of all the places we have been all over the world this is the first time that the US dollar was used as much as the local currency.
This is how we got around Phnom Penh. It is called a tuk tuk. For $20 a day a driver will take you where ever you want to go and he will wait for you while you are there. Then set up an appointment to pick you up in the morning. I just don't know how they can afford to live on that. The Tuk Tuk is powered by a motorcycle and there were motorcycles all over the place. I would guess there was 1 car for every 4 to 6 cycles well maybe it is more like 1 to 10. The motorcycles are not big they are like the little 90 we had when we were kids. Or they are like the vespas that are becoming more popular.
Don't worry if your family doesn't have a car because a vespa can fit several people. I know! I saw whole familys riding together. No need to strap your kids in either, even if they need a nap you can find a way to sneak that in too. Just make sure they wear a hat so they can keep the sun out of their eyes.
I didn't get a good picture of how over whelming it is to have that many motorcycles on the street around you. I will try next weekend when we go to Seim Reap. Actually I think it would be a really good idea to have motorcycles for everyone but at the same time I think we would have to have a different road for the cars. By the way you never have to worry about being stuck in traffic on a motorcycle. You can drive on the sidewalk if the traffic is too bad. The other thing that is nice is.... if you are going down a one way street and you need to go the other way you just get on the side and turn around, people won't hit you. In Thailand there are a lot of large buses I don't remember seeing any buses in Cambodia but we did see several vans (mostly mini vans) on the side of the roads loading up with people. I think it was their mass transit system.
Our tuk tuk driver took us to see the killing fields and a high school that had been converted into a prison during Pol Pot's regime. It was the most sobering piece of history I have ever experienced. The regime lasted 4 years 8 months during the late 1970's. While I was in high school, I heard bits and pieces about it I am sure but I really had no idea this was taking place. In less than 5 years 3 million out of 8 million people in Cambodia were killed. We walked around an area where mass graves (the largest 450 bodies) were found and the stories we listened to on a headset were awful. I have decided I don't want to be around for the second coming. I just ache with sadness when I think about the anguish some of God's children have lived through. Somehow I feel that I will be able to deal with all that is going to happen better if I am on the other side. As we walked around the area we could see pieces of fabric, bones and teeth that had surfaced in the walkway since the last time someone had collected them. A building has been erected that holds the skulls and some of the bones.
There are a couple of things that I have realized while I have been traveling that might not be important to some people but to me they are things that really mean a lot. The first is: all my life I have been taught that I am a child of God and that he loves me. My testimony of this grows stronger every day. It is not just for me. All these people I meet and get to know just a little bit are also God's children. Each of them really have the same goals, wants and needs. They all want to be happy and they want their family to be happy. I think everyone I have ever met feels like their family is important. They all seek to have happy family things happening. There are only a few people in the world that have agenda's that don't involve their family. It is those few like Pol Pot that try to take our happiness away. People all over the world are good, friendly, and they want good things.
Another thing I really realize is how blessed I am to have grown up in America. I can say the main reason I am feeling this way today is because I can't speak 2 languages. I have been in several different countries in my lifetime and in each there have always been people that I could talk to in my native tongue. The first time I came to Thailand I thought I was seeing quite a few Americans but as I listened or tried to talk to some of them I found out that I was seeing a lot of people that look like they could be American. Most of them are Russian. As we were taking a 10 bot down the road the other day a family got on with us. They were Russian, the father was quick to show off his little boy and speak to us in English. The pride in his voice for his little boy and his knowledge of the United States was evident in his enthusiasm. Again I was reminded that: we all want the same things in our lives. And I am blessed to be an American.
Our Tuk Tuk driver also took us to a prison that was made from a high school. During his regime Pol Pot eliminated education because he felt like only the elite would need knowledge. There were thousands of pictures of prisoners displayed and some pretty awful pictures of torture. One 20' X 20' room had wall to wall people shackled at the ancles. Heads to the walls on two sides then feet to feet and head to head in the middle of the room. So there would be a row of maybe 18 people with their head to the wall, ankles shackled, the next row had their ankles shackled with the first row. Their heads were next to the heads of the 3rd row and their feet were shackled with the feet of the 4th row who's heads were against the next wall. So over 100 people in one room.
All in all we had a great visit for two days. There were 10 monkeys climbing around our hotel. The hotel had been doing some renovations to their water supply because the monkeys were getting into it and causing havoc. The monkeys came down off the roof and they were taking fruit from a little spirit house where the local people had put their fruit (part of a religious ritual). This coming weekend we will be going back to Cambodia. This time to Seim Reap where there are lots of ancient ruins.
We weren't sure if we should go to Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. Jerry chose Phnom Penh and we had a great trip. Here are some of the high lights. When we got there we changed some money over so we wouldn't have any trouble paying for things and that was a mistake. In Cambodia they don't care if you pay in US dollars. I think of all the places we have been all over the world this is the first time that the US dollar was used as much as the local currency.
This is how we got around Phnom Penh. It is called a tuk tuk. For $20 a day a driver will take you where ever you want to go and he will wait for you while you are there. Then set up an appointment to pick you up in the morning. I just don't know how they can afford to live on that. The Tuk Tuk is powered by a motorcycle and there were motorcycles all over the place. I would guess there was 1 car for every 4 to 6 cycles well maybe it is more like 1 to 10. The motorcycles are not big they are like the little 90 we had when we were kids. Or they are like the vespas that are becoming more popular.
Don't worry if your family doesn't have a car because a vespa can fit several people. I know! I saw whole familys riding together. No need to strap your kids in either, even if they need a nap you can find a way to sneak that in too. Just make sure they wear a hat so they can keep the sun out of their eyes.
 |
| Your family will never out grow your vespa. |
I didn't get a good picture of how over whelming it is to have that many motorcycles on the street around you. I will try next weekend when we go to Seim Reap. Actually I think it would be a really good idea to have motorcycles for everyone but at the same time I think we would have to have a different road for the cars. By the way you never have to worry about being stuck in traffic on a motorcycle. You can drive on the sidewalk if the traffic is too bad. The other thing that is nice is.... if you are going down a one way street and you need to go the other way you just get on the side and turn around, people won't hit you. In Thailand there are a lot of large buses I don't remember seeing any buses in Cambodia but we did see several vans (mostly mini vans) on the side of the roads loading up with people. I think it was their mass transit system.
Our tuk tuk driver took us to see the killing fields and a high school that had been converted into a prison during Pol Pot's regime. It was the most sobering piece of history I have ever experienced. The regime lasted 4 years 8 months during the late 1970's. While I was in high school, I heard bits and pieces about it I am sure but I really had no idea this was taking place. In less than 5 years 3 million out of 8 million people in Cambodia were killed. We walked around an area where mass graves (the largest 450 bodies) were found and the stories we listened to on a headset were awful. I have decided I don't want to be around for the second coming. I just ache with sadness when I think about the anguish some of God's children have lived through. Somehow I feel that I will be able to deal with all that is going to happen better if I am on the other side. As we walked around the area we could see pieces of fabric, bones and teeth that had surfaced in the walkway since the last time someone had collected them. A building has been erected that holds the skulls and some of the bones.
There are a couple of things that I have realized while I have been traveling that might not be important to some people but to me they are things that really mean a lot. The first is: all my life I have been taught that I am a child of God and that he loves me. My testimony of this grows stronger every day. It is not just for me. All these people I meet and get to know just a little bit are also God's children. Each of them really have the same goals, wants and needs. They all want to be happy and they want their family to be happy. I think everyone I have ever met feels like their family is important. They all seek to have happy family things happening. There are only a few people in the world that have agenda's that don't involve their family. It is those few like Pol Pot that try to take our happiness away. People all over the world are good, friendly, and they want good things.
Another thing I really realize is how blessed I am to have grown up in America. I can say the main reason I am feeling this way today is because I can't speak 2 languages. I have been in several different countries in my lifetime and in each there have always been people that I could talk to in my native tongue. The first time I came to Thailand I thought I was seeing quite a few Americans but as I listened or tried to talk to some of them I found out that I was seeing a lot of people that look like they could be American. Most of them are Russian. As we were taking a 10 bot down the road the other day a family got on with us. They were Russian, the father was quick to show off his little boy and speak to us in English. The pride in his voice for his little boy and his knowledge of the United States was evident in his enthusiasm. Again I was reminded that: we all want the same things in our lives. And I am blessed to be an American.
 |
| Can you read the sign?? I can and I didn't have to learn a new language in order to do it. |
 |
| These two buildings are the High School/Prison |
All in all we had a great visit for two days. There were 10 monkeys climbing around our hotel. The hotel had been doing some renovations to their water supply because the monkeys were getting into it and causing havoc. The monkeys came down off the roof and they were taking fruit from a little spirit house where the local people had put their fruit (part of a religious ritual). This coming weekend we will be going back to Cambodia. This time to Seim Reap where there are lots of ancient ruins.
Great read Cindy. Thanks.
ReplyDelete