Well, it has been a very long day and my head is spinning. Besides that, I undertand that we have blog readers from literally around the world so the pressure is on for me to make this interesting. It is late at night and we have had an exhausting day so this will perhaps be short, but then again I do have a tendency to ramble. Tomorrow I hope to get each of the girls to write a note, too, but for now they are tucked into their beds and sound asleep. Julie is sleeping too, so hopefully tomorrow she will have an opportunity to do some blogging as well.
Julie & Hilary arrived safely to the hotel in Saigon at about midnight last night. We were all up early and packed ready to leave at 8:30 am. After one final traumatic experience crossing the street in Saigon, we were on our way. We traveled by van, with our faithful (and non-English speaking) driver Kiet behind the wheel. It took a while to get out of the busy city of Saigon but by about 10:45 we had arrived at the border. Those of you reading this blog who don't know me personally should know that I love to travel but I am not a rough and ready traveler. As the sort of organizer of this trip, I feel a certain need to make sure that everything goes smoothly. It didn't go so smoothly. Kiet could only drive us to the border, and then from there we were to cross on foot until we met our Cambodian driver on the other side.
We arrived at the border and were swarmed by lots of people, who we couldn't communicate with despite my best hand waving efforts. We could have flown from Saigon to Phnom Penh, but my travel research made it sound like it would be easy to go by land. It may have been if we had taken one of the organized tour busses that shuttle hundreds of tourists across the border. Before we could get in to Cambodia we had to get out of Vietnam. We entered the exit building along with LOTS of other tourists from around the world, many of whom were backpackers. It became clear that the tour guide from each bus collected all of the passports for their group and handed them to one of the uniformed guards. I did likewise, and in the great Vietnam way gathered my peeps and "maneuvered" my way to the front of a line and to one of the guard's windows. I handed over the sack of passports and we then proceeded to be completely ignored for quite a long while in very very hot humid conditions. Since we were in Vietnam, and since there were guns in the room, we chose to behave. After a while one of the tour guide people must have felt sorry for me so he came up and whispered to me, "You have to give the man a tip." Sure enough, in each of the piles of passports submitted through the window there were some bills (dong) in the midst of the piles. Technically, one can go to jail for bribing an official in Vietnam, so now I had a dilemna. Knowing that we were all about to melt and disappear anyway, I reached into my purse only to hear Deb Konicek say, "NO, NO, No. Don't you dare. You can't go to Vietnam jail." So we continued to stand until finally after he had processed about 150 backpackers on busses, the guard finally slowly processed our exit visas. It was a very stressful hour that seemed much longer than an hour, but all is well that ends well I suppose.
While we were melting my old friend and driver from my 2005 trip, Yoen Soek, stuck his head in the door. He was a sight for sore eyes! I knew that he would make sure that we would make it safely from there. In hindsight, it appeared that we were the only tourists in line today who were independtly crossing the border without the help of a tour company. A tiny band of middle aged parents and our 3 beautiful daughters.... yeah, we're tough tavelers.
(Incidentally, we also had our first experience with squat toilets this trip while crossing the border, too. Once again, Deb saved the day with her little packet of travel T.P. Don't leave home without it.)
Relieved (in more ways than one) we loaded into our new van with friend Yoen as our guide and a delightful young man named Thon as our driver. We sustained ourselves with cheese crackers carried the whole way from home, and continued into Cambodia. Going to Bangkok, Macau, Hong Kong, and now even Vietnam is exciting and exotic and a good adventure. Going to Cambodia is like going to a different planet. Within miles of crossing the border, you know you're not in Kansas anymore. The level of poverty, the rusticness of living, and the heartwrenching views multiply immediately. But then again, so do the warm smiles, happy greetings, and joyful interactions that we didn't so much experience in the other countries we have visited. Again on this return journey, I am convinced that Cambodia is a unique universe unto itself.
Some of you know that the reason we travelled by land today (in addition to saving $$) was because Hilary's birthfamily live about one hour inside Cambodia from the Vietnam border. She has known about her three sistrs and other relatives for about ten years and this was to be there first meeting. What a privelege it was to witness this reunion and to share this day with them. We drove in monsoon rains across the rice fields (and yes I was afraid we would get stuck there) to the little village where most of her family lives. One of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime is that Cambodians are very reluctant to show emotion since attachment and emotion and family bonds could get you killed. Having witnessed other reunions in Cambodia, I had warned Julie and Hilary to keep their emotions in check since that is the Khmer way. But even as we drove down the muddy rut filled road, you could see the emotion welling up on the faces of these sisters. This is Hilary's story to share so I will leave it at that, but I will say again what a privelege it was to be there with her.
For those of you who contributed to our rice project, you should know that Hilary's youngest sister lives in significant poverty and has great needs. Julie will be working with local contacts to try to find a way to make a permanent impact on the sisters' life using some of the money that has been raised.
During our visit the rains continued and so very tired and very damp we loaded back into the van for about another 2.5 hour journey towards Phnom Penh. We checked into the Pavilion Hotel which will be home for the next week. It is located in an old french colonial restored mansion and has tropical gardens and a beautiful swimming pool. It also has lots of geckos (lizards) so those of you who know my Kaley know that she is beside herself with paranoia. :-)
Yoen and Thon joined us for dinner a the Herb Restaurant just down the street. I think we were all too tired to enjoy the food too much, but Yoen and I had a chance to talk for a while. He has encouraged me to make one more trip to Mosalvy, the child welfare office here in Phnom Penh, to ask for information on the birth families of my children, Brennan and Kaley. My hope for ever getting information is almost completely gone, but after seeing Hilary meet her sisters today and believing that Leanne will also meet hers during this trip, I can't stand the thought of leaving a stone unturned if Yoen thinks I should go one more time. He thinks that some of the records have been put togther in a more organized fashion over the past couple of years. So I will go with him early in the morning while the rest of the crew sleeps in a bit. We'll see what happens. Kaley isn't a young woman who talks much about her feelings, but I wonder if it will be hard to see her two travel mates have these connecting experiences with their birth families while knowing that all she will ever know is that someone found her in a garden and someone found my son at the train station. These are not easy things to deal with, but much of life in Cambodia is pretty hard to understand.
We plan to visit the new Nutrition Center tomorrow which is the orphanage that just recently replaced the one where Kaley, Brennan, and Hilary lived. We'll visit a couple of other old friends and aid organizations, too. It will be a busy day, full of the sights and sounds and smells and emotions that seem only to be found in Cambodia.
The internet connection here is very slow, and it is late at night so I will try to post some photos tomorrow. For now, know that halfway around the world we are sleeping peacefully and the geckos aer keeping are rooms somewhat free of bugs. Hooray!
PS - I'm starting to wonder if the linke from http://www.sendricesendlove.com/ to my email is broken since everyone else is getting emails and I'm getting nothin. Poor me. So in case it isn't work, my email is lisad@pts.edu.
Hugs to all -
Lisa & Crew
Julie & Hilary arrived safely to the hotel in Saigon at about midnight last night. We were all up early and packed ready to leave at 8:30 am. After one final traumatic experience crossing the street in Saigon, we were on our way. We traveled by van, with our faithful (and non-English speaking) driver Kiet behind the wheel. It took a while to get out of the busy city of Saigon but by about 10:45 we had arrived at the border. Those of you reading this blog who don't know me personally should know that I love to travel but I am not a rough and ready traveler. As the sort of organizer of this trip, I feel a certain need to make sure that everything goes smoothly. It didn't go so smoothly. Kiet could only drive us to the border, and then from there we were to cross on foot until we met our Cambodian driver on the other side.
We arrived at the border and were swarmed by lots of people, who we couldn't communicate with despite my best hand waving efforts. We could have flown from Saigon to Phnom Penh, but my travel research made it sound like it would be easy to go by land. It may have been if we had taken one of the organized tour busses that shuttle hundreds of tourists across the border. Before we could get in to Cambodia we had to get out of Vietnam. We entered the exit building along with LOTS of other tourists from around the world, many of whom were backpackers. It became clear that the tour guide from each bus collected all of the passports for their group and handed them to one of the uniformed guards. I did likewise, and in the great Vietnam way gathered my peeps and "maneuvered" my way to the front of a line and to one of the guard's windows. I handed over the sack of passports and we then proceeded to be completely ignored for quite a long while in very very hot humid conditions. Since we were in Vietnam, and since there were guns in the room, we chose to behave. After a while one of the tour guide people must have felt sorry for me so he came up and whispered to me, "You have to give the man a tip." Sure enough, in each of the piles of passports submitted through the window there were some bills (dong) in the midst of the piles. Technically, one can go to jail for bribing an official in Vietnam, so now I had a dilemna. Knowing that we were all about to melt and disappear anyway, I reached into my purse only to hear Deb Konicek say, "NO, NO, No. Don't you dare. You can't go to Vietnam jail." So we continued to stand until finally after he had processed about 150 backpackers on busses, the guard finally slowly processed our exit visas. It was a very stressful hour that seemed much longer than an hour, but all is well that ends well I suppose.
While we were melting my old friend and driver from my 2005 trip, Yoen Soek, stuck his head in the door. He was a sight for sore eyes! I knew that he would make sure that we would make it safely from there. In hindsight, it appeared that we were the only tourists in line today who were independtly crossing the border without the help of a tour company. A tiny band of middle aged parents and our 3 beautiful daughters.... yeah, we're tough tavelers.
(Incidentally, we also had our first experience with squat toilets this trip while crossing the border, too. Once again, Deb saved the day with her little packet of travel T.P. Don't leave home without it.)
Relieved (in more ways than one) we loaded into our new van with friend Yoen as our guide and a delightful young man named Thon as our driver. We sustained ourselves with cheese crackers carried the whole way from home, and continued into Cambodia. Going to Bangkok, Macau, Hong Kong, and now even Vietnam is exciting and exotic and a good adventure. Going to Cambodia is like going to a different planet. Within miles of crossing the border, you know you're not in Kansas anymore. The level of poverty, the rusticness of living, and the heartwrenching views multiply immediately. But then again, so do the warm smiles, happy greetings, and joyful interactions that we didn't so much experience in the other countries we have visited. Again on this return journey, I am convinced that Cambodia is a unique universe unto itself.
Some of you know that the reason we travelled by land today (in addition to saving $$) was because Hilary's birthfamily live about one hour inside Cambodia from the Vietnam border. She has known about her three sistrs and other relatives for about ten years and this was to be there first meeting. What a privelege it was to witness this reunion and to share this day with them. We drove in monsoon rains across the rice fields (and yes I was afraid we would get stuck there) to the little village where most of her family lives. One of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime is that Cambodians are very reluctant to show emotion since attachment and emotion and family bonds could get you killed. Having witnessed other reunions in Cambodia, I had warned Julie and Hilary to keep their emotions in check since that is the Khmer way. But even as we drove down the muddy rut filled road, you could see the emotion welling up on the faces of these sisters. This is Hilary's story to share so I will leave it at that, but I will say again what a privelege it was to be there with her.
For those of you who contributed to our rice project, you should know that Hilary's youngest sister lives in significant poverty and has great needs. Julie will be working with local contacts to try to find a way to make a permanent impact on the sisters' life using some of the money that has been raised.
During our visit the rains continued and so very tired and very damp we loaded back into the van for about another 2.5 hour journey towards Phnom Penh. We checked into the Pavilion Hotel which will be home for the next week. It is located in an old french colonial restored mansion and has tropical gardens and a beautiful swimming pool. It also has lots of geckos (lizards) so those of you who know my Kaley know that she is beside herself with paranoia. :-)
Yoen and Thon joined us for dinner a the Herb Restaurant just down the street. I think we were all too tired to enjoy the food too much, but Yoen and I had a chance to talk for a while. He has encouraged me to make one more trip to Mosalvy, the child welfare office here in Phnom Penh, to ask for information on the birth families of my children, Brennan and Kaley. My hope for ever getting information is almost completely gone, but after seeing Hilary meet her sisters today and believing that Leanne will also meet hers during this trip, I can't stand the thought of leaving a stone unturned if Yoen thinks I should go one more time. He thinks that some of the records have been put togther in a more organized fashion over the past couple of years. So I will go with him early in the morning while the rest of the crew sleeps in a bit. We'll see what happens. Kaley isn't a young woman who talks much about her feelings, but I wonder if it will be hard to see her two travel mates have these connecting experiences with their birth families while knowing that all she will ever know is that someone found her in a garden and someone found my son at the train station. These are not easy things to deal with, but much of life in Cambodia is pretty hard to understand.
We plan to visit the new Nutrition Center tomorrow which is the orphanage that just recently replaced the one where Kaley, Brennan, and Hilary lived. We'll visit a couple of other old friends and aid organizations, too. It will be a busy day, full of the sights and sounds and smells and emotions that seem only to be found in Cambodia.
The internet connection here is very slow, and it is late at night so I will try to post some photos tomorrow. For now, know that halfway around the world we are sleeping peacefully and the geckos aer keeping are rooms somewhat free of bugs. Hooray!
PS - I'm starting to wonder if the linke from http://www.sendricesendlove.com/ to my email is broken since everyone else is getting emails and I'm getting nothin. Poor me. So in case it isn't work, my email is lisad@pts.edu.
Hugs to all -
Lisa & Crew
Photos: 1. Welcome to Cambodia. 2. Hilary with her sister, mom Julie, and translator Yoen. 3. Hilary, Kaley & Leanne in the van. 4. Thon and Yoen - our heroes.
1 comment:
You should know that you are keeping your blog very interesting! I'm hooked! I look forward to reading the updated blog every night! And the pictures are awesome!
Thinking of all of you,
Kathy
Post a Comment