(**WARNING: Graphic, Long**) Yesterday was an incredibly full day, with a trip to the Royal Palace, the Russian market, and a great deal of drinking in the evening. I wish to cover none of that, though the reason for drinking may become clear anyway. Yesterday, all of our emotional time was invested in two places … Continue reading Tuol Sleng & The Killing Fields – Ghosts, Graves, Genocide
It has been six months since we packed our belongings into Nikki and Brad's Chevrolet Express van and waved goodbye to Tulsa, Oklahoma.Rhys stared in absolute wonder at the awesomeness that is the Grand Canyon. Indi dangled her legs over the edge with Brad and exchanged awed curse words, since nothing else seemed to dignify … Continue reading Six Months Out
Spending time with the children here has been a favorite experience of my life. (Boy, that sentence is clunky...) They are eager to spend time with anyone and eager to share what they know and what they do. Many people here are excited to see a foreigner. For the last two days, I've ridden a … Continue reading Last Days at New Futures
The local festival was great! Centered around a Buddhist temple in a rural Cambodian field, the festival was a mixture of cultural celebration and old-fashioned carnival. On one side, you had a group of monks and praying villagers, and on the other you had a midway of darts, balloons, and busy food stalls. There were … Continue reading Further Adventures in Takeo
Saturday morning, Indi and I awoke and waited. We were both excited (I was a bit nervous, too) about heading to the orphanage to meet the kids. This was unlike anything I'd ever done before. After some uncertain waiting around, we left for the orphanage at about 1:00. It isn't a long walk, takes about … Continue reading New Futures Orphanage
5:30 – Awake 6:30 – Downstairs for a baguette breakfast 6:45 - Goodbye to the friendly staff at the Sawasdee Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap & minivan to the bus station. 7:15 – Arrival at bus station, which is a loose term. More like a line of old buses in the mud next to the … Continue reading Cambodian Bus Journey
[I had written this prior to Indi's post, and she posted before I could complete my three-part series on Angkor Wat. My OCD nature went haywire, but she had a fantastic post so I couldn't argue. Here is the conclusion of our temple viewing at Angkor.] We took Monday off and spent it as shut-ins … Continue reading Wrapping Up Angkor
Rhys has touched on this theme a little bit, but I want to expound on it a little more and use it to explain our next destination. Siem Reap is, at its heart, a tourist city. It knows the vast majority of foreigners here have travelled from far and wide to view the majesty of … Continue reading Next Steps & New Futures
Our second day of templing started at a more reasonable 8:30 AM and started with a long tuk-tuk drive out of town to the temple of Banteay Srei, a little over 30 km away. The drive was beautiful, lined with small Cambodian villages and lush rice fields. This was the first time I saw anyone … Continue reading Angkor Wat – Day Two
One of the main reasons Indi and I were excited about coming to Cambodia lies just outside of Siem Reap in a large temple complex known as Angkor Wat. Built between the 9th and 13th centuries (it's a huge complex) to honor a variety of gods, the name 'Angkor Wat' is often used to refer … Continue reading Angkor Wat – Day One
Rhys' Pieces 