Language: Khmer (thank you-orken, hello-sues-dye, beautiful-sa-ahht)
Currency 1 USD=4,000 Riel
Time Zone: 12 hours ahead of EST
Days it rained = 13
Places we've been: Phnom Pehn, Kampon Cham, 6 villages, YDC, YWAM, Killing fields, Siem Reap, Angkor way, Prohm Rohm guest inn, Buddhist temples, Mekong River
Transportation: Bus 5
Tuk-Tuk 18
Van 2
SUV 1
Bicycle 23
Ferry/Raft across the Mekong River to an island 2
Number of times the power went off: 14
Hours on a bus/van: 23
Number of meals including rice: 47
Price of Gas $5.25 a gallon
Now for the memories:
1. Being served Trobolone chocolate on Malaysian Air on the flight to Cambodia. Best of all was watching Kaitlyn collect 8 from the flight attendant because her birthday was in two days especially since she shared with me.
2. The first thing I bought in Cambodia was 7 bottles of water for my team. I paid with $10 USD and received 31,500 Riel (Cambodian currency) as change.
3. Feeding a monkey and seeing dozens and dozens more at a temple we visited.
4. Riding a bicycle complete with a basket and a horn (reminds me of the bicycle the wicked witch rides on The Wizard of Oz) behind our contacts motorbike to go grocery shopping.
5. I feel like every house in this country has one or more small children living in it because every house we drive our bicycles by involves them running out to wave and say hello to us. They've stolen my heart!
6. Being absolutely filthy after visiting slum villages because we held, loved on and played with so many precious kids.
7. Prayer cycling (prayer walking, but on a bicycle) through numerous Buddhist and Muslim villages.
8. Riding our bicycles to a ferry that would take us across the Mekong River to an island village. This ferry would be called a 25 X 10 yd raft by Americans, but still somehow managed to fit 100ish people, 30ish motorbikes, and 25ish bicycles. God works miracles here everyday! Ha.
9. Buying sugar cane juice served in a plastic bag complete with a straw that I watched be squeezed from the stalk and a fresh loaf of bread for 37.5 cents.
10. Being reminded of India and Nepal as I washed EVERY piece of clothing I have on the race by hand in buckets.
11. Watching UKs basketball season opener vs. Maryland live online with my UK flag hanging next to the computer at 8:30am with Chip while eating banana pancakes for breakfast!
12. Worshipping with a handful of village Christians in a "tree house" (built on stilts with bamboo floors that when looking down we could see the cows that were tied up and chickens running around underneath us.) We had to watch our step because the bamboo was missing from the floor in a couple places. We sang, read scripture, and had the opportunity to share encouraging words with them. So awesome!
13. On the way home from this same village wiping the window of the pastors SUV with a napkin constantly to try to help unfog it because there was a monsoon outside and we were driving on a very rough dirt road. At one point bamboo had fallen across the road and I had to jump out in the torrents of rain to remove them.
14. Playing "Silent Football" during team time and having the punishment of saying "Arghhh, Fire in me poop deck" (I have no idea what that means) in a pirate voice every time it was my turn along with other ridiculous things throughout the game.
15. Riding to the morning market at 5:30am on my bicycle while following our contact and Amanda on the motorbike. Here we saw every fruit/vegetable/meat possible and dozens of women wearing pajamas!!
16. Having the resources to make my team banana pancakes for breakfast complete with peanut butter and honey for toppings.
17. Having the opportunity to practice guitar whenever I wanted because there were numerous guitars sitting around the house.
18. Making up motions with Alison to teach our English students new verbs.
19. Worshiping on the upstairs porch while listening/watching an absolute monsoon of a thunderstorm.
20. Being attacked by kids with hugs when we entered villages. This also including them hanging and trying to climb on our bikes as we rode in.
21.Playing with the kids in the villages/slums. This involved dancing, running, tickling, picking them up as high as I could until I couldn't anymore, and of course singing Father Abraham and the Hokey Pokey.
22. Watching Kaitlyn use the bucket used to flush the toilet to catch the rain leaking in through the ceiling.
23. Cutting my first pineapple the Asian way, which involves slicing the skin off the outside and then cutting out the spots in a diagonal pattern. I'm going to need some more practice.
24. Riding to the river at 5:20am with GaNene and Kaitlyn to watch the sunrise. On the way we would see about 12 women walking for exercise wearing their pajamas and then the dance club down by the river.
25. Playing UNO with our English students and continuing to build relationships and then getting to eventually share the gospel with them.
26. Eating new things: fried jungle tarantula (tasted like strange beef jerky), kangaroo (tested like a well peppered fried egg), and crocodile (very tough and not my favorite).
27. Meeting a Christian pastor who lives in a predominantly Muslim village and hearing his heart and vision for his neighbors.
28. Finding a 12lb turkey in a village, buying it for $25, watching them kill it with a butter knife, carrying it home in a Tuk-Tuk with the legs sticking out of a garbage bag, picking off the 5,000 feathers by hand after dumping boiling water over it, having our contact gut it and then eating one of the best looking and tasting turkeys I've ever had. It was a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
29. Introducing 4 Cambodians to the deliciousness of turkey because they had never tasted it before.
30. Hearing our contact talk about her parent's experiences during the Khmer Rogues rule in Cambodia.
31. Getting to see the horrors of the Killing Fields and S-21 prison where over 20,000 Cambodians were tortured and killed followed this. Heart wrenching.
32. Finding 75-cent banana milkshakes at Sumaki!!!33. Stepping on and smashing Amanda's big toe in the process of picking up kids.
34. Watching Kaitlyn Gangnam style on the sidewalk next to the Mekong River at 6:00am.
35. Eating crapes and Nutella for our after lunch dessert!
36. Locking myself out of my Schwab debit card for the 2nd time on this trip and having to have them call my iPod to unlock it for me. Ughhh.
37. Eating Mexican for the first time on the race where we found $1 fish tacos in Siem Reap!
38. Leaving our hotel at 4:45am to watch the sunrise over the temple at Angkor Wat. We spent the next 8 hours visiting numerous temples that words simply cannot describe. This included the "Tree Temple" that was spectacular where Tomb Raider and other movies have been filmed.
39. Splitting a liter of Passion Fruit ice cream with Chip for the same price that 3 scoops would have cost us. I'm a new fan of passion fruit!
40. Being told to get off a bus halfway to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap because it was too heavy to get over the dirt/rock mounds in the middle of the road. Then we get back on and are told to get off again because the bus got a flat tire going over the rocks. We then stoodoutside for about 30 minutes next to a herd of water buffalo while waiting for them to change the tire.
41. Finding my doppelganger on K Squad when we met with them in Phnom Penh.
