1 of 3: Ah, Asia

Dear Cambodia,

The whirlwind week that we spent inside your borders is not one that I will forget.

Your history touches me. The Khmer Rogue/ Cambodian genocide from the 70s where 25% of the population died is hard for me to imagine. What crippling pain. How can a country overcome that?

It takes 4100 riel makes up $1 USD… this is equivalent to $2.70

Your transportation is a marvel. The 3 wheel motorcycle taxis called tuk-tuks running redlights, easing out into oncoming traffic, deciding who goes first by who blows the horn first. ( Kandace, our delighful host lives in a dorm and their motorcycle gang made me smile- they always pulled their motos into the living room before they locked the 14 padlocks for the night. This is the livingroom after curfew:)

Your people are wonderful. And your culture fascinating. I’ll admit- I was wide-eyed the entire week. Sorry for the times I forgot to take off my shoes at the door… Or when I wasn’t very good at sitting cross legged on the ground… Or when my “Joom riep sue” greeting was totally butchered… Thank you for being patient with all the millions of questions.

And the food… What an adventure! My favorite was the fried rice. The pork/egg/rice combo wasn’t far behind. The fish egg cake- not so much… And I didn’t get the courage up in the short amount of time we visited to try any of the snails and other little creatures your people are so fond of… I will miss the iced espresso coffee with sweetened condensed milk sold by the neighbor right outside our front door… And the fresh squeezed sugar cane was a delicious treat as well. 🙂

Oh and Em and I wandering into a little restaurant and managing to order a complete meal with basically just hand signals was classic as well..

And the beautiful precious children. These beggar children with their trick dog was about more than my heart could handle… And the children on the street that Katrina lives on- all heart eyes.

Oh Cambodia- you still have the chance to know the truth- there are so many people dedicating their lives to show you God and and His love. Please listen! (Cambodia is “95% Buddist with Islam, Christianity and tribal animism making up the bulk of the remainder.” -wikipedia)