Seeing in the Mirror Dimly

I can't believe that it is August 25th. We have been home from Cambodia for over a month, and my two Cambodian babies began their senior year of high school today. Where does the time go??

A surprising number of people have asked me "When are you going to write the final entry from your trip blog?" Who knew that you cared? Actually, I'm glad that you do and I'm sorry it has taken so long.

Processing this trip through has been difficult for me this time. Last time we went in 2005, it was so clear to me why we went. I wanted Brennan and Kaley to visit their birthcountry. Brennan wanted to look for his birthfamily (even though that search was unsuccessful.) We participated in a housebuilding through the organization Tabitha and radically changed the lives of 8 families in a small village in the middle of a rice field. There was a sense of peace in my heart when we returned in 2005.

This time was different and truth be told I was unsettled. Don't get me wrong. It was a blast. It was so much fun traveling with "my girls" and Mr. Mike of course. Sharing this experience with Marcy, Deb, Julie and the beautiful Khmer princesses Hilary, Leanne, and Kaley (and Mr. Mike again of course!) was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat. But still... something was missing.

Maybe it was because the first time back was such a powerful experience, introducing Bren and Kaley to their birthcountry and building those houses.

More likely, it was because Leanne and Hilary both had such powerful experiences meeting their birthfamilies and finding out just how loved, missed, and cherished they were, while meanwhile I feel in some completely irrational way that I have failed my children because despite my diligent efforts I haven't been able to learn any more about what brought them to the orphanage and where there families might be. Lucky for me, Kaley is a bit wiser than I am and has said that in some ways she's sort of glad that she doesn't know because it would be harder to live here in the U.S. and be happy with the blessings that she has if she knew that she had family members struggling to survive back in Cambodia. I think with my heart but my daughter has been blessed with a more rational insight to life than her mama.

Still, too, I was feeing a little empty because our fundraising efforts and gifts to the Nutrition Center orphanage and other places made just a drop in the bucket in terms of the needs of the children and this country. I am so grateful to everyone who contributed so generously, but the level of need is so overwhelming. Seeing those 20 big bags of rice and knowing that as great as that was it would still only provide food for 20 days was a real eye opener. We are more committed than even before to continue to help, but the overwhelming level of need weighed against what we seem able to do to help was heavy on my heart when we came home.

And then of course there is dear Yoen and his family, and Thon and his family... whose greatest wish and desire is to live in America and have their children share just a bit of the opportunities that our children have... and knowing that our immigration policies will probably never make this possible for any of them. That, too, breaks my heart.

As icing on the cake, I looked at the credit card statements and the money that I spent on this trip and questioned all the more "why?" it seemed like this summer was the time to go back. I have two kids who will hopefully start college in a year. What was I thinking? And then of course I returned to my car with a burned out engine and in need of $$$ repairs... only to be topped by Jim totaling our truck a couple of weeks ago. Again, what was I thinking.

In case you're still reading and not totally depressed, let me summarize -- It was great, and it was fun, but I couldn't wrap my head around why I had felt compelled to go back again this summer, and what "meaning" I could assign to this trip over the long haul as I look back upon the Cambodian Journey 2008.

That was until Thursday, August 18th. Around 8 in the evening I received an urgent message from my friend Yoen back in Phnom Penh. "Please get hold of Miss Deb and Mr. Mike and Leanne Voeung and let them know that at 6 am this morning (which would have been 6 pm in the evening our time) Leanne's birthmother in Cambodia died from a brain hemmorage."

Dear God in heaven.... this woman who had less than a month ago embraced her long lost daughter with every nerve and tissue in her body shaking with the joy and wonder of this unexpected reunion. How could this be? My first words to God were something like, "What were you thinking here? Give Leanne this woman in her life who loves her and has cherished her in her heart all these years and then take her away again in a month? Why now? Couldn't they at least have had a few more visits, more time together, God? This is crap."

My phone call to Deb was brief. I caught her on her cell phone. "I have bad news from Yoen. Leanne's mother has died." And with that message the Konicek family was plunged into an unanticipated and unlikely grief. They have been in touch with Yoen and have helped to provide for the funeral for Leanne's mom. Leanne has been very sad (of course) and wrote a beautiful letter to be read at her mother's service. Deb & Mike, too, wrote a letter which I am sure will bring much comfort to Leanne's four sisters in Cambodia. My heart and prayers are with them. I hope yours will be, too.

It was probably later that evening that the veil lifted from the Cambodian Journey 2008. Why this summer? What was the purpose of this adventure? What compelled me to go back this summer instead of next summer? What compelled Marcy to pick up the phone and call Deb to ask if they'd like to join us on our adventure? Oh... now I see.

God and I have talked again. Actually, I've done the talking. I think God just smiled. Instead of being angry that Leanne only had a few hours to spend with her mom, I am so grateful that she had a few hours to spend with her mom. In the providence of God... it was this summer that we went to Cambodia and not next summer. We went in July instead of August (when the fares would have been a bit cheaper.) The Koniceks joined the journey. Leanne and her mother shared a hug 17 years in the making. As usual, God's plan was better than mine.

In I Corinthians 13 from the New Testament (the famous love passage that you hear so often at weddings) it says this:

"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."

In other words, in this life we just don't see things very clearly. It's like looking at a face in the mirror in the dark.... you just can't quite make it out. But someday we'll get it and everything will be perfectly clear. Until then, love will win. Even when we can't make sense of things, God is at work in the background and someday it will all become perfectly clear. Don't you love it? :-)

And so dear readers, Cambodian Journey 2008 ends on a bittersweet note. I know it won't be the last journey to Cambodia for pieces of all of our hearts live there.

As for me, I will continue to trust my hunches. And despite logic, when my hunch tells me "Hey, you need to......." I'm going to at least try to listen to those hunches. Because it just might be a divine hunch. Perhaps the very Spirit of God at work. Even when I am looking in a mirror dimly, it might be a part of God's plan.

Hope. Courage. Pray. Live. Serve. Go. Love.

Big Hugs -

Lisa

Photos: The only photo that I have of our whole traveling group and photos of Leanne and her birthmom

Home....

No final thoughts tonight cause I'm too tired, but I wanted to let anyone who happens to be reading know that we are home at last. We had the direct flight from Hong Kong to Newark again.... 15 miserable hours but its nice not to have a layover until you get back in the USA.
More later -
Hugs -
Lisa

Ten Miles in Hong Kong

Hey Everybody -

Wow - we have ended our trip with another FULL day. We left the hotel this morning and crossed the harbor to go to Hong Kong Island. What a different world. We came out into a beautiful huge mall full of upscale stores, restaurants, etc. It was huge in size and impressive. the girls, who didn't seem to be thrilled at a day of sightseeing, lit up like Christmas trees. We spent some time shopping in the Zara store, a European chain that only has a store in New York City in the states. They were having some good sales so the girls each got a couple of things after trying on about a billion things each. From there, we managed to find our way to an area called the mid-level esculators (after asking many people which way to go.) This series of covered walkways and escalators takes you from the water level to high on one of the hills over Hong Kong. There were lots of little shops and restaurants on the way. Much nicer than over on the Kowloon side of the harbor where we are staying we thought. When we were trying to find our way we passed a couple eating an egg tart...,. our favorite treat from our first day back in Macau - which seems eons ago to us now. They told us which escalator to get off at to buy some...., and they were terrific. We stopped in a starbucks (yeah, there's a million of them here) to have a drink and eat our egg tarts. While we were there the ladies had a special little moment for me where they presented a card signed by all of our traveling group, and a wonderful starfish necklace purchased in Phnom Penh. Those of you who have looked at the Send Rice Send Love website know the significance of that starfish. I was very touched and honored that they showed their love for me in this way. I will treasure that necklace always.

The card was a perfect Asia card. It had glitter on the front, and a verse that read "Best Wishes: I wish you step in the flower like season." Very nice sentiment, isn't it?? I love you guys!!!!

We continued out way up the escalators (and of course the series nearest the top was out of order so we had to mountain climb) and at the top set out to follow the street that should have led us to the peak incline station. As has been our experience over and over again here, the map didn't make sense and we were soon lost. After going up and down many more stairways and streets, we finally hopped in a cab and this time the guy understood and got us there quickly. We rode the tram, much like the Pittsburgh incline up a HUGE hill and beheld what must be the most beautiful cityscape anywhere in the world. It was a bit cloudy today but still a breathtaking view. We poked around in some shops that were of course at the top of the peak and then went to a Japanese restaurant so that some of us could have a drink and Leanne could have the sushi she's been hankering for.

The map that I was using of Hong Kong Island looked like the area was pretty small, so instead of taking the tram back down the mountain we hopped in a cab and asked to go to Stanley, an oceanside village on the island. This was about 4:30. At 6 pm we had dinner reservations at the Jumbo Restaurant, a floating restaurant that is world famous and sits off the coast of Aberdeen, another small village on the island. On the map these looked very close together but since time was getting short we asked the driver if we could just go to Aberdeen. He started yelling at us in Chinese and got very agitated. I had a map on my lap and was sitting in the front seat with him, and he barked at me and motioned to put the map away. Confused, I complied. Half hour and about a $15 cab fare (expensive for here) we were delivered to the Stanley market area. Talk about a weird experience. For the first time since getting to Hong Kong there were lots of people who looked like the the white Americans in our group, but they all had british accents. Seems that this little village is quite a seaside vacation place for the brits. It looked a bit like a small village on the French riviera so I can see where it would be an attraction. It was very interesting seeing this very different area of Hong Kong. Since we weren't sure how to get to Aberdeen, we decided to abandon our dinner plans and just eat in Stanley. We wandered around for a while and finally ended up in a Chinese place (unusual among the British pubs in this village.) It was our last night so we figured we should eat Chinese. Kaley and I are a bit picky about what we eat, and everything on the menu had fish or other weird ingredients in it. For example, one dish was fried noodles with seafood. I asked if she could just get plain fried noodles, without the seafood. No. OK.... why? Not on the menu. We thought about leaving and going elsewhere but since we were already drinking an expensive bottle of water we figured we'd stick it out. She managed to pick the pork our of some pork fried noodles and I had some bean curd with vegetables. Not the best food I've ever eaten, but I'm not sure anything would have tasted that good. We're ready for some good old American Chinese food, which isn't really at all like Chinese food!

After dinner it was time to try to find our way back, so we took another taxi back to the mall where we had begun our day. Marcy & Deb left us there to go look for a foot massage back by the hotel, and the girls and I did a bit more shopping. We road the MTR train to the stop near the night market where we were last night and picked up just a couple more things before coming back to the hotel. It was a long day, with lots of frustrations over not being able to communicate or read maps, but in the end it was quite an adventure (as it always seems to be.)

We're all packing up now preparing to leave the hotel at 7 am tomorrow morning. I think we're all glad to be heading home. The girls miss their friends, we all miss our families, we miss predictable foods, good toilet paper, and the English language. Once we get home, I suspect we will miss each other. Deb flies on to Korea for work, Leanne flies as far as Newark with us before returning to Chicago. We have a tight connection in Newark but if we make it we'll be home by 5. If not, well, who knows when we'll get home.

Once home, and with a few hours of sleep under my belt, I'll write some final reflections. Thanks for reading along and for the prayers that have sustained us.

Hugs -

Lisa & Crew

Midnight shopping and other crazy stuff

It was nearly midnight when we threw in the towel and made our way back to the hotel from the night market. Business there was still brisk, as it was at all of the shops and even malls that we passed on the way back. This city is crazy nuts.

Deb left early this morning to go give her presentation at a hospital here in Hong Kong. The rest of us got moving around 9:30. Leanne's tummy is feeling better, Kaley's throat is improving, and my chicken pox (as I've been referring to my bug bites) don't seem to be spreading any farther. Excellent.

After a rather strange breakfast here at the hotel which included fried fish and pork dumplings, we made our way outside. We're staying at the Salisbury YMCA which is right near the harbor in the Kowloon section of Hong Kong. It is a great and reasonbly priced facility, in comparison with the rest of Hong Kong. You have to book months in advance to get a room. It's very clean. Anyway, before we went outside I asked one of the security guys where the subway was. He seemed to understand and gave me some directions. Couldn't find it. Asked someone else. Very specific directions in pretty good English. Couldn't find it. Finally after about half an hour had past (and we were still circling our hotel) we saw a sign for "subway." Hooray! Nope. Here in Hong Kong a subway is an underground tunnel that allows you to cross the street. A lot of the streets have railings making it impossible for pedestrians to cross except at certain places, like these underground tunnels. Now that it made sense why we had been misdirected (with such perfect directions) we switched tactics and asked someone where the MTR train was. Eureka!

As the intrepid tour guide for the day, I had put together an itinerary that I thought would provide us with some fun photos stops and opportunities to see different areas of the city. Our first stop took us into one of the older sections of Hong Kong where we walked about 8 blocks to a flower market and a bird market. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous and cheap. Too bad we can't bring any home. The bird market was a trip. Mostly men, some of whom were shop keepers and others who had just brought their birds in cages to sit around in the market. Back in Pittsburgh it would be similar to a car cruise where people bring their old cars to a public place to sit around in lawn chairs and have people stop by to check out their vehicles. Here, it was birds. There were LOTS of beautiful birds in all sizes in cages and bird supplies I've never even imagined. You could also buy moving plastic bags of grass and crickets. Yummy. In Cambodia that would have been people food, but here it was bird food I guess.

Unfortunately, dragging Kaley and Leanne through these markets was not much fun. Leanne was just tired, and Kaley of course didn't like the crickets. Or the heat. Or the walking. If you will forgive an "old fart" rambling for a few moments, I have noticed that the younger generation seems to be so overstimulated by technology that just looking at beautiful things for the sake of looking at them seems to be boring. I think they're so used to walking around phones in hand, constantly supplementing what they are doing by texting their friends, that they've gone through painful withdrawl during this trip. Back home they may have better tolerated going to the bird market with mom because they could multi-task and text with friends at the same time. But without that added activity, things like the bird market are just plain boring. Oh well... I've tried.

As we walked along we all agreed that the smells in Hong Kong are to our surprise way stinkier than anything we have experienced thus far. I don't know for sure what these people are cooking in their little restaurants, but it smells really bad. In the older section of town where the bird market was, we didn't see any signs of familiar food, or any places I would have felt comfortable eating. We walked quite a ways back to an area where there was a street market and began to see McDonalds every few blocks again. What a relief. :-) Yep, we had McDonalds for lunch. The french fries tasted just like back home. Now the black sesame seed sundae, however, we didn't try. In the harbor section of the city, there is a starbucks about every 10 feet, too. Besides that, we haven't seen any western fast food. We also had one heck of a time finding any ice cream when that became the evening craving. While this is one of the more english speaking, technologically advanced cities we have visited, at least in the downtown area we haven't seen the western influence on commercializiation like we saw in Bangkok. I will say that the McDonalds and Starbucks were all packed, and not by westerners. Tonight we ate in an italian restaurant for a change of pace and it was also packed. Can't help but wonder if as our fast food and dining styles filter into places like Hong Kong if more Asian people will also wrestle with weight problems and the health issues that we face in the U.S.

After the uninteresting bird and flower markets, we hit a couple of street markets that were of interest to the girls. There were lots of baby clothes, linens (including towels that said "monogram towel" all over them), t-shirts of various makes with messed up english phrases on them, etc. The girls went in a number of shops that are "factory outlets" where clothes don't have labels but the stuff will probably end up in shops like Forever 21 where they like to shop in the U.S. They both picked up a couple of shirts or dresses for around $4 a piece.

After some down time back at the hotel and reconnecting with Deb who had a good but long day at the hospital, we ate Italian at a restaurant not far from the hotel. I had looked at the map to plot our route and led us right through a building/plaza area called the Chun King Mansions. I knew that it was home to a lot of hostels and was supposed to be a seedy area but that was an understatement. It was creepy. After leaving the restaurant we took the long way around. We walked down to the harbor front where we watched the 8 pm light show. The city is divided by a harbor. We are on the Kowloon side and HK Island is on the other side. Every night there is a music/light show that is most viewable from our side of the harbor so that was nice. It is well choreographed with about 20 large buildings on the other side using lasers and lights for the show. There was a bit of cloudy fog that made viewing a little less than perfect tonight, but still it was fun.

From here we walked up Nathan Street quite a few blocks, doing some window shopping at pretty expensive stores. Again, we're struck by the number of people seeming to be dropping huge amounts of money on high ticket fashion items. This while on the local news we've been hearing about how bad economic conditions are throughout Asia, just like back home. Hard to make sense out of the money being spent on luxury items if this is the case. We hopped a cab to the night market where the girls were successful in purchasing the quality of handbags that they had been hoping for. To our surprise, the handbag market here in Hong Kong is not nearly as big as in Bangkok, Saigon, etc. Even the fake rolex guys don't sell right on the street. They hold up pages of photos to get your attention as you walk along and then they take you to a quiet location behind the market stalls to show you their goods and make the sale. It's all a little creepy and we were glad to end the evening and take a cab back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, our last day in Asia, will be a sightseeing day. Hopefully it will be a fun day, but I suspect that the girls will find it a little dull. Since we had to fly through Hong Kong I really wanted to have an opportunity to check out this amazing city, but in hindsight maybe we should have headed on home. It's hard to re-enter a place that is a lot like NYC after spending time in a place like Cambodia. The lights, the people, the money being spent, and the whole sh-bang just seems overwelming. But then again, three years from now when we're watching a movie somewhere and there is a scene shot on the streets of Hong Kong, we will have memories and be able to think, "Hey - I've been there." And there's always something fun about that, even when while you're there you're not sure if you want to be.

Hong Kong!!

Hi everyone -
Another quick note since we're tired. It's been a long day. We fley from Siem Reap to Singapore and then had about a 4 hour layover before flying on to Hong Kong. We arrived at 7:30 pm, spent some time figuring out how to get into the city, and finally took the train into town. This city is BEAUTIFUL. Lots of lights, gorgeous harbor, and I don't think it ever sleeps. At 10:45 the stores were still open and there were lots of people out and about. We passed a swimming pool complex while on the train and there were tons of young kids there at like 9 pm. Guess since they don't go out in the sun evening is a big time for pools.

This stay in Hong Kong is a bit of re-entry for us. It's very western here and we're getting used to good air conditioning, trash cans, etc. etc. before returning home. :-)

Girls are doing OK. Kaley is a bit under the weather with a sore throat. I've started her on amoxicillen which is available over the counter here. Got to love that. Leanne is better but got carsick on the way to the hotel on the train. Poor kid.

Deb is teaching a class tomorrow at a hospital here in Hong Kong. She is a nurse working with a company that is at the forefront of medical records technology. The rest of us will probably do some shopping since many people believe that Hong Kong is the retail center of the world.

I promise that tomorrow I'll get some photos posted and start to do some wrap up reflections. We've got two days for sightseeing and then that long plane ride home. Yuck.

Hope all is well -
Hugs -
Lisa & Crew

Welcome to Disneybodia

Sorry folks - no photos tonight and boy do I have some good ones! Internet connections are slow here, so maybe tomorrow. Today was our full day spent in Siem Reap, the home of the ruins of Angkor, an ancient civilization built between about 900 and 1200 AD if I remember what our guide said. I had prebooked a day with Tek Leng via the internet and he picked us up promptly at 8 am. As with most Khmers I have met, he was a sweet young man, smart and eager to please. Everyone (including Mike and Leanne) were feeling better today and ready to go. I still have my spots, but there don't seem to be any more today. I'm thinking of taking a pen and connecting them all to see what kind of art I come up with!

We began our day with a visit to the Bayon Temple. He did a great job of providing us some historical information and insights into the peculiar mixture of Budhist and Hindu faiths that are combined in these temples. Big news.... we rode ELEPHANTS around the temple perimeter. Stepping out onto the platform on the elephant's back was a little scary, but the ride from there was pretty much fun. I'll have some great video and photos to post when I have a faster connection.

My family and I visited the ruins back in 2005. I have been hearing how much things have chnaged here since then, but I was shocked to feel like we were in Disneybodia today. Even in the midst of rainy season which is low tourism, there were THOUSANDS of tourists tramping around today. They have a new slick system of selling the day passes where you actually have your photo taken and imprinted on your pass. When we went into the differnet sections of the ruins we had to show our passes. All very different from even a few years ago. The girls got in for free because they are Khmer. Hilary had no trouble getting in because she really looks Khmer. Kaley & Leanne get more skeptical looks since Kaley has a sort of Thai look about her and Leanne looks more Vietnamese.

Despite an afternoon deluge that chased us back to the hotel for a while we had a great day, despite the crowds. I learned a lot more about the temples by having a guide like Tek along with us for the day. In addition to the crowds, there are now clean western style bathrooms on the outskirts of the ruins. We got in for free (to use the bathrooms) but the girls had to pay 500 riel which is the equivalent of half of a quarter. Funny.

As usual, these three beautiful young woman caused quite a stir. Lots of people, Cambodian and others, had questions about them. At one point there were clowning around in the midst of a hoard of Japanese tourists and the three moms got in on the fun, too, taking crazy pictures impersonating the statues that surrounded us. You might just surf the web in a few days and find us on the Japanese version of u-tube since there were lots of video cameras rolling and fingers pointing at our antics.

I can't say that I would discourage people from coming to see the temples, because they are an absolutely phenomenal site.... but I'm glad that I first got to see them in '05 when there weren't so many people here. It's hard to grasp such incredible change in just three years. We sort of expected to round a bend and here a disney tune playing. We were extremely lucky with the weather actually. The deluge dropped the temperature significantly, and it was actually rather pleasant walking around the temples in a bit of an eerie mist. It's usually HOTTT here so this was a welcome welcome anomaly.

As always in Cambodia, the day had its poignant moments. Over lunch Tek discussed politics with us. Like most young Khmer, he would like to see fairly sweeping changes in the government. Elections are coming up on July 27 and there is much hub-bub as the campaigning parties appeal to voters, but most believe that Hun Sen will be elected again. He has been in power for a long time. There were actually a couple of reporters and members of a minority party murdered a few days ago while we were in Phnom Penh. The corruption is so rampant. Every tourist from another country paid at least 20 bucks to get into the ruins today, and yet the starvation level here remains high. Before we leave Cambodia, we will each have to pay a 25 dollar exit tax. Where does this money go? At one point today the cops pulled our van over and the driver had to pay a "fine"just because. It wasn't much, but still.... where does all of this go? The Cambodian people would like to know, too.

As always, there were lots of children selling trinkets, amputees playing music and asking for money, and small pathetic looking children begging. One of the lowest moments of the day was watching a couple of tourists pose some of the beggar children (one of whom was carrying an infant) for photos in the midst of the temples. It's pretty sickening.

Tonight, for our last night in Cambodia we went to see some native dancing known as Apsara dancing. It is very beautiful but a little slow. I found myself dozing a bit but the girls liked it. We hit the night market one last time and in a moment we'll head back to the hotel. There is much packing to do. Yuck.

Tomorrw - Mike heads back to Chicago, while Julie and Hilary head back to Pittsburgh. Deb, Marcy, Kaley, Leanne and I fly from Siem Reap to Singapore and then on to Hong Kong. 'We'll have two days for fun in Hong Kong before flying home. Deb will be staying a couple more days to do some work for her company.

There is still much processing to be done as we get ready to leave Cambodia. It takes a while to fit the pieces of what you have seen here together with life as we know it. But today was a fun day with good memories made by three Khmer princesses who have had a great time together over the past two weeks. What a privelege it has been to be with them.

Hugs -
Lisa & Crew

On to Siem Reap

Just a quick note tonight because the internet at this hotel is lousy and I'm afraid that what I try to post won't work. Today we moved from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, an old city in northwest Cambodia. We said goodbye to Yoen about 10 am. It was sad to say goodbye to him again. I really wish that there is more that I could do to help his family. He was a godsend to us during this trip, making sure that we were safe, interpreting with birthfamilies. He is amazing and the hardest worker I think I have ever met. He'd be a great American, but despite his dreams that's probably never going to happen. I think we all left Phnom Penh with some sadness and some relief that the heavy emotional experiences that the girls had there over the past few days were coming to a conclusion. There will still be a lot for everyone to process as we return home.

We decided to travel by van instead of bus so that we could leave on our own time at 10 am. Good decision since by this morning Leanne and Mike were both sick in the tummy. Lower tummy that is. Deb is convinced it is food poisoning with both of them but we loaded up and were on our way. Hilary got carsick on the drive, Leanne was sick.... it was a lovely ride. We were in a decent sized van but we were a little crowded because we took on 2 extra passengers. The van driver (who spoke not a word of english) asked Yoen if his two brothers could ride along with us, both sharing the front passenger seat for the 5 hour ride. They have never been to Angkor Wat and he wanted them to see it. So we agreed to have them ride along and off we went. We passed other vans the same size as ours carrying at least 20 Khmer in the seats, on the floors, and on the roofs so I guess we can't really freel badly for ourselves.

The ride took us through lots of open fields and rice fields. Pretty, but not too exciting. We stopped for lunch at a lively restaurant. The menu was interesting.... one item was "Pork with Gas Hew Nuts." Go ahead, sound it out.... yep, pork with cashew nuts. Being the brave soul that I am I had french fries.

Siem Reap is a beautiful town, a stark contrast to Phnom Penh. The streets are relatively clean, the plethara of hotels are clean and beautiful. It's a great place to visit. Since 2005, however, the number of tourists has EXPLODED. It will be interesting to go see the temples and ruins tomorrow since I suspect it will be much more crowded than on my last visit.

This evening Deb, Marcy, Kaley, Julie, Hilary Sopheap and I went to the market for a while and then ate dinner at a place called Dead Fish Tower. It was built in layers sort of like a huge treehouse jungle gym. I had the spring rolls, which were good. I've been on the spring roll tour of Southeast Asia. I've eaten them almost every meal since they are relatively predictable and tend not to be as weird as pork with gas hew nuts. I'm going to write a book "Lisa's Guide to Spring Rolls." Look for it at a Borders near you.

Hopefully by morning everyone will be feeling better and ready for our busy day of ruins exploration. It's very very hot here. Even after sundown you sweat buckets outside. My bites have spread to my right arm now so I stopped in a pharmary to ask for a different kind of cream and fearfully asked the woman working there if she thought they were scabies. "No - not scabies. Squito bites,"she said calmly. Boy, I hope so. They'd better be gone by the time I come home or you'll all disown me.

Well, time for some sleep. Just wanted to let you know we were all OK.

Hugs -
Lisa & Crew

Photos: Last dinner in Phnom Penh, Yoen's little boys, On the road to Siem Reap (notice the brothers sharing the front seat!)