Since we were in the Cambodian countryside for basically the entire month, our off days primarily consisted of driving into the nearest city to get food, run errands and find wi-fi. But luckily, we were able to book-end our month with visits to the country’s two largest cities, with a very special weekend in between. Here’s a look at what we saw and did!
ANGKOR WAT
Our team was fortunate enough to spend our first few days in Cambodia in the northwestern city of Siem Reap. The original plan was for us to travel straight to our ministry site in Kampong Chhnang, but our contact was in Siem Reap and wanted us to meet her there first. And because there was no ministry planned for us, we were able to take a day to visit the historical temples of Angkor Wat!
[Angkor Wat – Outside] The main temple in Angkor Wat is protected by a massive outer wall and surrounded by a moat. The initial view and walk-up to the temple is impressive and stunning — you can’t help but stand there, admiring the beauty. But a few of us tried to capture it anyways!
[Angkor Wat – Inside] Once you get inside, there is another long walkway to the main temple…which is also surrounded by a small moat. You can then climb up to the top of the main towers, but there was a line that literally went around the entire tower base. We didn’t have time for that, so I decided to just take a picture in front of a few steps!
[Bayon Temple] So Angkor Wat is actually a complex of many temples and is the largest religious site in the world. It’s so big that we had to hire tuk tuk’s for the entire day to drive us from one temple to another. One of our stops was at Bayon Temple, which is known for its many stone carvings — both of the columns of bas-reliefs (carvings depicting historical events and everyday life) and the many smiling stone faces carved onto the towers. Perfect spot for a selfie!
[Temple at Ta Prohm] Another popular attraction within Angkor Wat are the many large trees that have grown in, out and around its temples. So for our last stop, we visited the most popular of them all — the Temple at Ta Prohm. And why is it so popular? Because it was used in the filming of the movie Tomb Raider!
KAMPONG CHHNANG
As I mentioned earlier, our off days (Saturdays) were primarily spent driving into Kampong Chhnang city to get food, run errands and find wi-fi. But we weren’t able to do much else because our van driver always had to leave by 1pm!
Luckily for us, someone out of the goodness of their heart(s) wanted to bless our team and pay for an entire weekend stay in Kampong Chhnang! So we packed our things for a “weekend getaway” and finally had a chance to explore the city! Thank you, mystery donor(s)!
[Guest House] Our stay for the weekend was at a nice, cozy guest house in the city that our ministry hosts recommended. It had actual beds, showers, running water and wi-fi — what a change from our home in the countryside! We were so blessed to stay here!
[Exploring Kampong Chhnang] Our previous off day trips into Kampong Chhnang were localized to essentially one single block area of the city, as we had limited time to do much else. Little did we know how much more the city had to offer! During our weekend getaway, we spent much of our time just walking around and were finally able to explore Kampong Chhnang. We found that it had a nice park area and a bakery with many goodies…and let’s just say that our team gave them A LOT of business that weekend!
[Sunday Worship] The last day of our weekend getaway was a Sunday so we were able to attend a local church service in the city — and what a blessing it was! The church was much more familiar to what we were accustomed to back in the States, with a praise band and a blend of both traditional and contemporary worship elements. And what made it even more familiar to me was that there were some Koreans in attendance, the bulletin was in Korean and even the pastor spoke a bit of Korean in his sermon!
And as I sat there through service, I couldn’t help but think about all the hard work and dedication it took from fellow believers in spreading the Gospel from culture to culture to culture — from American to Korean to Cambodian. It was definitely a highlight of my Race thus far and a personal privilege to experience and enjoy the fruits of all that labor that Sunday!
PHNOM PENH
Our last off day in Cambodia was spent in the capital city of Phnom Penh, which was also from where our team was to depart to Vietnam the next day. Our team used that day to learn more about Cambodian/Khmer history and culture and to also celebrate the completion of our first full month of ministry together!
[Tuol Sleng] Our team spent most of our afternoon visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as Security Prison 21 (S-21), which chronicles the Cambodian genocide that took place under the Khmer Rouge regime in the mid-1970’s. The S-21 site was actually a high school that was converted and used as a prison and execution center during the genocide. It is the most well-known and notorious of the execution centers, as at least 20,000 prisoners were believed to have been killed there.
While we knew that the museum would be a somber and heavy experience, our team fully desired to visit it and educate ourselves on the Cambodian people’s history. To read, see and stand in the actual rooms where so many innocent people were held captive, tortured and even killed…it is something we will not forget. I just wish that our team had the opportunity to visit the museum earlier in the month, to better understand and recognize the painful wounds that the Cambodian people have and are still healing from today. For future World Race teams that come thru Cambodia, please make time to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
[The Riverfront] In the evening, our team went down to the riverfront and explored the area there. We were able to walk by the Royal Palace and along the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers. There were many Western restaurants by the river so after a month of having to cook our own meals in the Cambodian countryside, we decided to treat ourselves for our meal with some pizza, cheeseburgers and French fries, of course. Not a bad way to end the month!
