Sandra's Adventures in Cambodia

The sleep continued, Kat went off to work and I finally got my act together by noon and packed myself. Kat got home around 3:00 after my nap:) I think 18 hours should have done it. She brought home some things from AEC that I ordered. I needed some gifts for friends that had donated kits to my trip. I couldn't find enough bracelets at the store that are were alike, or more importantly BERNINA red. I was able to place an order directly with the bracelet room and even choose the style and my own beads. BERNINA red of course. When I went in the last day I even watch them making them! I think it is so cool that the bracelets I ordered, were made just for them, designed just how I asked them and are 12 of a kind! I needed a shirt for a friend in an XS, they didn't have one in her size so the girls cut it out and made it for me! They are just so talented. Kat got home and we made one last trip to the AIM store. I picked up some of the orders my friends had ordered. I met the new st...

Time to head back to Phnom Penh. Kat has language class and I need some sleep! So this taxi (Lexus) picked us up at 7:15 for our 5-6 hour ride back to Phnom Penh. OMGOSH. What a ride. First of all I will never complain again about IDOT and road work again. So you have a two lane road, sort of. They have torn 1/2 of it torn up the entire way because they are turning it into highway Khmer style. It will eventually be 4 lanes maybe. They never really finish anything so it's hard to tell. So there is some pavement mostly dirt, tons of potholes, and water pipes everywhere. They just took over everyone's front yard to do it. There is water everywhere. Now add the traffic. Millions of motos, giant trucks hauling everything, like semi-size. Vans piled with everything including a moto hanging out the back or sometimes tied on top. Rick shaws full of things headed to market. Get the picture? People are going down the wrong side of the road as usual. Chickens and dogs are everywhere. Let...

There is not enough sleep on this workcation. We did sleep in until the last possible breakfast call. Then decided to explore the city on foot. Kat has a friend that started a cafe as an NGO to train girls in baking and food prep. It is called the Green Mango. We walked over the river and found the restaurant and had lunch. They specialized in baked goods and kombucha. Thank goodness they were out it takes two weeks to brew and I may have had to try it. It’s Kat’s favorite. She has some growing at her house. It’s a disgusting fungus that you drink. It’s suppose to heal your gut. We walked along the river and Kat got flashed, I missed it all and she says she is scarred for life. There are all types out there in every culture. We toured the local museum and saw lots and lots of Buddha’s. Every size, every age.  Some over 1000 years old. Lots of Buddha’s. We went back to the hotel and took as long as a nap as possible before our circus tickets at 7:00. This is another NGO of reti...

Battambang is a town that has a lot of French architecture in its downtown area. It’s sort of a tourist destination. We boarded a bus in Siem Reap, it was about a three hour ride. We stayed at a quaint little bnb downtown. An artist and a chef own it. Fascinating men. Morrison, the artist and Kat became instant friends as you can imagine! He is a weaver, textile artist, makes tassels, and is a painter. Kat had actually seen his work at an art show. He makes ink from lotus blossoms. The process takes two years for it to cure. Then he uses lotus stems to paint with. He showed us his studio and I noticed a diploma on the wall that was from Washington State. There are Cougs everywhere! Robert is a world class chef that was trained in Switzerland. They have the bnb with three rooms and a small gift shop filled with interesting bric-a-brac. That’s the name of the hotel if you need a place to stay in Battambang. Bric-a-Brac. They have preserved the architecture of the building and put gl...

My tuk-tuk driver arrived right on time. He took me by Starbucks for my chai and then we drove across town to the Angkor Wat visitors center to purchase a ticket. It is $37 for a ticket to visit all the temples. Kat just picked out 3 for me because let’s face it, you’ve seen one temple..... The first one was called Bayon, the second Ta Phrom, where Laura Croft tomb raider was filmed. It is under going extensive restoration work. It has trees growing throughout the ruins. The last was Angkor Wat itself. It is the largest religious structure in the world. It is also a world heritage site and 7th wonder of the world. I hired a tour guide which was well worth it. He explained the history and many of the carvings. It was interesting how it was built. It is on sand and water with a moat around it so it doesn’t sink. Then the base and inside all the walls is lava rock. Then sandstone blocks over that. The entire structure was carved after it was built. It has been back and forth Hindu and Bud...

Breakfast at the hotel was amazing! Huge Buffet in different parts of the dining room. A chef for omelets, eggs, bacon etc. A lady cutting fresh fruits and putting it on your plate. French pastries like you can't believe, a cereal bar, a salad bar, a breakfast soup bar, it was amazing. Then we walked to AEC 2 which is just a block or two down the street. This is a little different set up than Phnom Penh. The Employment center is a little ways away from where some of the girls live. Some are married and there is an on site daycare which has about 9 kids, tiny kids and so adorable. Luckily I had enough candy bags to share! Their mothers made them say please and thank you first, in the traditional Khmer method of prayer hands then a bow. (BTW pronounced Ka-my) I think we had 14 girls, a much smaller group and just taught them all at the same time. They shared machines. Their machines ran much better than the ones in Sway Pak, we need to get those girls new machines. Maybe that will be...

Last day of classes in Phnom Penh! We went across Phnom Penh in a rickshaw because we had all of our luggage for our trip to Siem Reap, plus the suitcase full of pillow case kits. The ARC is a home and a school for girls that have been rescued out of sex trafficking. The girls we taught at AEC (the employment center) have already graduated from the program and usually live in an apartment with another one of the girls or with family. They receive a paycheck. The girls at ARC are a little younger and are gong through extensive counseling, health care, and have more supervision. They all live there usually 8 to a room with a house mother. Some have been there a few months and some a few years. The youngest is 3, and let me tell you she is full of it. So cute and of course the darling of the entire school. She is sooooo smart and the cutest little thing.  She had someone's sunglasses off the desk and handed me the calculator to take pictures of her. I snapped away as she modeled like ...

Wednesday we moto-ed to Svay Pak to finish our last group of girls sewing. What I found interesting was God can change our hearts off of judgement mode. I remember the first day, terrified as I rode. The dirt, the filth, the trash, poverty all along the sides of the road. Did I mention the trash? As we rode by this morning I thought, there is that little family with the little boy getting their wares out to sell. As I looked up I thought I bet they live above their business. Their little shop is a corrugated roof with a dirt floor, maybe a tarp hanging from a tree. They sell bicycle tires. That's all they have. They are very organized by size, and color type. They are cooking their breakfast on a little bbq in the middle of their space. Why did I not see that before? Kat would always say: "I bought that on the side of the road". Now I get it. Each little family sells one thing. One place sells choke chains. Now what someone in Cambodia would need a logging choke chains f...

Tuesday, whatever day that is! One day ahead of my readers, You could actually have a birthday twice...  Off to Svay Pak for more classes today we have about 12 more girls to get through today from the bracelet room, before moving on to the restoration home in Phnom Penh. Got there set up first group of girls came in. There was a drip, drip, drip and the floor was filling up with water. soon it was spraying everywhere from the ceiling. Not sure what kind of leak there was but it was wet everywhere. Someone from maintenance came and fixed it. Our first group of girls had never sewn before. We figured this out after their first seam... So we cut some practice fabric and had them sew some straight lines. We did the sewing for a few girls. There are some extenuating circumstances why they can't be around the machines or have a chance to poke themselves. We wanted them to have bags so I sewed and they snipped threads and ironed. The AIM photographer was here today so maybe we will have ...