Third week CAMBODIA

Southeast Asia - cambodia - third week

Day 20 1.21 Sunday ANGKOR WAT TOUR/&2 more 

I had a drastic gastro-intestinal episode with great pain from 2-4 am but by 7 I felt like trying the day. By noon I was okay and was back to eating normal....rice.rice..rice. Breakfast and leave for the Wat by 8:00. Very difficult day as I forgot my  belt and am now too skinny for my jeans.They sagged all day. We were photographed for our entry ticket for all national structures so they did not worry about spelling our name. Luckily it was overcast and relatively cool. We walked in the east  entrance where the construction materials, sandstone and volcanic stone were brought in. We worked our way around to the north to the dramatic and official temple entrance, learning about the wall carvings about the Hindu religion and gods. Starting as Hindu temples/cities these same buildings became Buddhist facilities as the leaders and citizens adopted new religious orientations. Then we went thru the next up level and near the ladders to the highest towers - but the wait and effort needed exceeded our interest. We walked over 3 kilometers and up and down steep steps - I stopped often and had trouble on the long stretches. We then proceeded to lunch and rode to a temple being devoured by silk cotton (spung) trees while I stayed back and  took a nap in the van. Finally, our last location of the day - capital city of king Bayon many centuries ago. We toured up and down and around for an easy tour. The tour was great of the important structures and the massive carvings - bas-relief. I doubt we can remember all the great leaders’ names and the contributions complicated by new names after death. They must have been very forceful for monuments to  built at their suggestion. This Khmer civilization rivaled the Chinese civilization in the Middle Ages. We returned to our hotel and went swimming to get the heat out of our bodies. We walked the central town with Emilie and Sophak when it cooled off, had dinner of fried rice and soup, and shopped the nite market (bike stickers & a mystery ring). We stopped for frozen rolled lemon ice cream for dessert. The hotel was middling but had warm showers. $10 for dinner. $5 for snacks. Lunch 7.50... $10 tip...did not pay $37 to get into Angkor, as it was included in the GSC program.

Day 21 1.22 Monday back to Phnom Penh for work

Up at 6 to clouds and rain for relaxed reading and eating a good breakfast   before 9 departure from Siem Reap- a nice break from our city routine. 6 hour drive with a stop to eat where we ate and took food pictures Saturday. We tried tarantula (barbecued), palm seed hearts, and saw  any bug that walks-flys-swims, and fried rice (my staple for the whole  trip). The  driver was insistent on the horn if anyone even looked like they might get close to us; nerve racking after 300 Kms and driving as fast through the  towns as thru the countryside. Home at 4 and to Luckys grocery store and back by 5 for breakfast supplies and snacks. $37+5 for groceries. $10 tip for the van driver. $5.50 lunch. We saw a couple of Motos loaded down with woven eel traps, which look like swallow nests. Pigs are transported in a round woven cage 2x5 feet horizontally strapped to   the back of a moto. Everything, meaning everything, is transported by Motos or modified versions thereof, with TukTuk, wagon, flat bed, food delivery, and people movers. Met a tour group from Thailand on BMW bikes, mostly GSs. There  were many heavy-duty tractors for plowing, harrowing, and pulling a trailer with goods. And there were long-armed field (above) machines for plowing and haying. We saw many rice combines, tracked miniatures of our combines. Every farm yard had  rice hay staked in the front yard so that when cattle can’t graze on the newly planted and growing rice, they eat at home. Where there is sufficient  water to flood the rice field 4 inches deep in the dry season, the farmer can get 2 yearly crops of rice. Almost all houses were on stilts for living on the second floor.We stopped for a visit to a sandstone carving yard to see the religious statues of all sizes, to the tons size. The cattle were either water buffalo (infrequent) as work animals (in the paddies) or Brahma as food animals.

Day 22 1.23 Tuesday back to the grind at 7:30 

Burial and wedding arrangements require a big white tent to be installed, even if it blocks the highway or street, as in our street as of today. Off to the feeding center at 7:30 after reading and breakfast. The children got rice, soup with a 1/2 boiled egg, and chickens feet for breakfast. There we got a call cuz we reported the problem at the #3 center..don’t know what they know and what the accusations are! Teen workers explained that they get room, board and $ for their work and are off to go to school in the afternoon and evening. They prepare the meals as well and were chopping garlic and veggies  for tomorrow’s soup. We sharpened all the colored pencils with kids as 75% were not usable. Cleaned up the shavings and then  packaged over 100 bags of vegetables for the kids to take home. Kids at both places were treated with the 1st Aid supplies today-1cut and 1 ear. At noon we got to the orphanage and helped with English class..medicine for the sick teacher and she was less receptive to meds than the kids-sticking her nose up at the taste. Marnie gave the 3 youngest rowdy kids each a miniature car. Unbelievably they were calm all afternoon til we left, playing together with no fights or hyperactivity. Rested 1 hr and then 2 hour math class-I did the multiplication drills first. Treated the ear problem for a girl in between class. Home by 5 for the tangle of cars and wedding goers with many flowers and special police/military. After I blocked a honking VIP and his vehicle for honking at us while unloading the TukTuk, the police appeared concerned so I befriended them with US flags and Wis pins, which they promptly and proudly put on their highly decorated uniforms. Cooling down thereafter and showering. We have discussed the contemplation of Buddhism..I’m not sure I understand all I know and not sure it is worth even knowing. It is so complex and mystical, there does not seem to be a practical or social application. For the most part it appears to vanquish the weak by the strong and tries to find a place in life abstracted from the real world.  Clearly the monks aren’t attached to the real world or real people’s lives. They appear like homeless bums feeding off the good of the people and not contributing much back. As soon as I tried to interact with begging monks, they went elsewhere to set up.

Day 23 1.24 Wednesday  

Bad nite with little sleep - angry about being dumped on and pissy all day. Off to the feeding  center where activities and meals are engineered by 4 boys and 4 girls who get room and board and $$. Most start at 5am and have the afternoon and eve for high school and college courses - a very complicated schedule of preparing meals and packaging vegs/bread to take home. Today three barbers in training were there to cut kids’ hair and are paid .75 per head. All of these barbers are deaf. We started with coloring and then transferred to cutting and packaging vegs for 1.5 hrs. We turned in $$$ contribution for a friend for medical team visits and got a receipt for her. At 11:45 we moved on to the orphanage for lunch and multiple rounds of UNO. At 2 math class started, the small children started to wake up and Marnie took over the littlest kids. The class starts with 50 minutes of loud rote memorization of several lines of math text which the instructor cannot translate into English. I tried to write the Khmer and the kids got a kick out giving me a zero for my work- very difficult. A ten minute break ensued before doing math problems- multiplication for young and division for older kids. Marnie supported the lower functioning girl who is improving, and I worked with boys having problems. Between and after class we treated an ear infection and a sore near an eye. We loaded up at 4 and headed home after waves and goodbyes from loads of kids. Upon arrival I played soccer in the street with our security boy (orphan) until he wanted to pass the nerf football hundreds of times- he can now throw a spiral 40% of the time. Exhausted and hot (mid 90s today) so Marnie did stairclimbing and I showered and wrote. We bought 10 purse items from the sewing area in our building which we will have to carry on the trip. Traveling thru the central city is very clean and one sees cleaning people along the way, but off the beaten path can be pretty bad roads and litter/trash along with small stall shops for all kinds of products and services (groceries to heavy duty reclaimed truck parts). Late day bought more pouches (for the orphan handlers) from the sewing workshop in our building.

Day 24 1.25 Thursday 

Marnie worked out at 5am. Success. To work at 7:30 and 10:30 to  orphanage. On the way to the feeding center I saw a TukTuk driver with a worn out Khmer hat with the first letter of the Khmer alphabet... so we stopped him and gave him 5$ for the hat-my birthday present to myself. Koehn our driver OK’d the purchase. $24 for gifts. We worked at the feeding center (LRDE - Le Restaurant Des Enfants) treating my senile skin problem while the kids had organized  skate board lessons and played a flip-flop shoe version of soccer. We then moved to the orphanage early at 10:30 for more time there, as the kids have a day off from public school and we can see those who are gone when we’re usually there. After rest I was told I would teach the English lesson in 5 minutes...follow the book. The lesson vocabulary was pens, pencils and erasers, and we stretched it making definitions, vocabulary, and sentences about ✍️  🎻 writing instruments to almost an hour. Adding question marks and “please”. Lunch  of chicken legs and cabbage soup was next, before an hour of UNO with a rowdy bunch and then a math class test. Home in the heat for shower and stair climbing workout. Play football catch with our security orphan- he loves it when he makes a spiral and the exercise took til my arm was worn out and aching. We saw one more accident on the way from Siem Reap..truck and a crushed passenger van on a major 4 lane road. Noticing more that drivers disregard traffic lites regularly. The children are silently fascinated with airplanes that infrequently fly over. The boy with the head injury and the girl with skin problem next to her eye we have been treating are really getting better. We learned about foster support for orphan kids (room+board+clothing and for extra private school tuition). Fostering is $40/month for one child’s room, board & health care. School at private setting is about $350 +/-....depending on grade ... 104 for the bus. 

Buddhism contemplation..questions for the monastery English class..1. Explain Buddhism in the simplest terms..2. What are the main tenets or teachings?3. It appears monks are just orange beggars ...what else do they do? 4. What practical or religious efforts contribute to the life of ordinary people? 5. What mission or other work is done outside the monastery? 6. When they reach perfected State of nirvana or out of worldly contact, are they abstracted from the practical issues of society and people? And are numb to outside influences and to outside community-family issues. 7. Do people pray for them to intercede for them to Buddha similar the the Catholic Church and what caused the reformation by Martin Luther? 

Day 25 1.26 Friday Birthday/74

Off at 7:30 and we passed the street gym with exercise machines- there are always a few exercising on the machines. Worked and said goodbyes to the feeding center. 10:30 to the orphanage to continue discussion of foster funding and school costs for orphan kids. $40 per month for room and board, 300+ for private school for 6 months! And 104 for transportation to special school. 3 new children (siblings - 2 boys, 1 girls, all 3 and under) arrived late day yesterday and today played together while learning about the orphanage. They got showers and new clothes last night and today the haircuts began. Attended English class, which was challenging today, ate squid filled with pork, and tutored in math class. Very hot in mid 90s for heat and humidity. The VCDO finance manToward home at 4 and a quick shower and cool down before TukTuking downtown for dinner with the GSC crew. Unbeknowst to me it was a birthday get together - I received a 🎈 balloon, a TukTuk tee shirt, and fresh donuts full  of sugar and frosting, shared with the group. I had schnitzel and Marnie had macaroni (not mac!) chicken and cheese for a close-to-American meal (nice change). We got info on buses to HoChi Minh City and need to make arrangements tomorrow for 2.6. TukTuk’d home by 9 to recool and wash clothes. Do u realize we haven’t seen tv for 2 whole weeks, but we still can’t get 45* off our minds. Dinner 10, TukTuk 10, 12 presents, 

Day 26 1.27 Saturday  slept til 7..packing..ticket to Vietnam 

Actually got up and read, planned and wrote in leisure. Trying to get bus ticket to HCM CITY on line-completed for 2.6 , so we are organized to then.we come back to the Golden Gate on 2.4 and will eat western down the street. Planning for more gifts and things to go to orphanage. Like many of the street kids and orphans, they can not get enough of being close, touching and hugging. Our security guard will hug, walk arm in arm, and stroke me whenever possible - these kids miss contact comfort need for personal and emotional growth. We played pass the football til my arm hurt, shaved to prepare for the week, and finally the power came back on after 2 hrs. Off to the western style grocery store by TukTuk to stock up for the countryside time at the monastery- granola, yogurt, candy, nuts, & soda. 

To feeding $78.50+70 

To orphanage $78.50+14+$50+b

To Siem Reap. $60+10+3 sov+20 feed+

Waist packs

Tee shirts

Balls. Soccer and footballs

Games / early learning

Ed books

1st aid supplies 

Pins

Calculators

Back packs

Toys 

Chalk