Today was incredible! Savy and his family picked Eric and I up at 9 a.m. in a rented van and we took off to another province outside of Battambang. We went into the heart of rural Cambodia. We drove on road 10, which used to have an extensive amount of land mines that they just in the past year or so finally completely cleared out.
They took us to three different places, but I can’t say any of their names! Simpeou Mountain, another mountain and a lake.
The first mountain we went to had a beautiful temple that we visited. There were monks and nuns at this temple. We didn’t talk to any of them this time. There was a specific tree fenced off that the people worshipped. I asked why, and Channa said something about Buddha sitting under a tree meditating, but I didn’t know if she meant that was the tree he sat under or what made that particular tree so special and sacred.
Next we went to another mountain. This was the mountain that the Khmer Rouge used during the regime. Savy explained on the way there that he used to be a soldier and that being stationed in this province was how me met his wife! He now works for the Lord, though, he said.
We climbed probably a thousand stairs before we got to the entrance of the area. There were huge guns/cannons in this mountain. There were beautiful, intricate temples and statues every few yards it seemed!! There also were many caves that were amazing! Many of the caves were used to throw dead bodies in during the regime. One in particular had a hole in the top where the bodies were thrown through. In the bottom, where we were, there were cases holding some of the bones. There were stairs going even lower into the darkness, but Simon said that it is said that people can go down, but they will never come back up. Many people believe that there are spirits all around because of the deaths. Most believe in ghosts.
We came to an area where there was a gigantic Buddha statue, and all around it were wild monkeys! I have never seen monkeys in the wild before! That’s when I realized that we really were in the jungle. We were at a high altitude on a mountain in rural Cambodia! We threw bananas to them and it was so crazy to watch them swarm and run around!
One thing that I noticed today more than ever is that it is acceptable to litter. People just throw their garbage wherever they want. Even in very sacred areas of worship or by very sacred statues, there is trash everywhere! It is just so unusual to me.
It is cultural here for friends to hold hands. It doesn’t mean anything inappropriate if the same sex hold hands, like it does in the states sometimes. So, Channa and I held hands a lot throughout the day today, and I decided that I really like that a lot. Especially when there is a little bit of a language barrier (although she speaks great English), it is just a great way to bond and have friendship.
I really wish loading picture would work so that you all could see some of the incredible pictures of the temples in the mountains….
After an exhausting day of climbing up and down the mountain, we went to the lake. There we rented a little hut and ate a massive lunch on a mat on the floor. God has blessed me with a love for different foods. Every meal has rice and today we had a whole chicken (head, claws and all), a whole fish(head, scales and all), and beef (kind of like beef jerky) to go with it! They also ordered more food from surrounding “vendors”. I really don’t know where the food came from though. They got papaya salad (which is very spicy and hard on our stomachs, but very good!!), BBQ beef (or something), and rabbit soup, that we came to find was made with spoiled meat. Fruit is always for dessert, and is my favorite part! Today we had lychee and mangosteins!!! MMMM!!!
After exploring a little, we all got in our hammocks and took afternoon naps by the lake! It was so nice and relaxing!
We parted ways for an hour or so and then met back up, along with Kaillie and the Kanes, and had dinner at the Bungalow!! (local restaurant mentioned a few days ago…) It was a really great time full of laughter and good food! We had Savy’s family try American food for the first time! This restaurant serves both American and Khmer food, so we ordered French fries, cheeseburgers and spaghetti for them to try and they really liked it (or else were really good at lying J )!!
Tomorrow we leave Battambang, and I can’t believe it is already time for our first goodbyes… We are getting up very early to say bye to the orphans before they go to school. Yikes… Channa and I have gotten very close and it is going to be hard to part ways with her. We traded rings tonight and promised to pray for each other. We call each other sister now.
It’s going to be really hard to leave.
I put this same post up on Eric's, I cannot believe how God is working! Today I read the chapter in Kay Warren's book about the horrible deaths the children and people suffered in Cambodia. And there you are...so hard to wrap my head around the coincidences (not such thing of course) of our days and the ways God is moving in my life and those at Crossroads!
Love you SO much!