Elephants and Temples

Cambodia…originally on this race route, but a change in plans replaced it with the Philippines. Last weekend, however, my team and I got to take an overnight trip across the border.

Our day began at 5:30am with a 3 hour ride in the back of a truck to the border. At the border our contact found us some guys with a van that would take us to Siem Reap. That ride was just over 2 hours through the huts and shacks of Cambodia. We arrived just after 1pm and what a shock. For the past 5 months I haven’t been to a big tourist destination like this one. I did go through a bit of culture shock having spent the last month in a village where Coke and ice are the highlight of my day.

That evening ended with a walk up a hill to an ancient temple. The view from the top was amazing, so much green and vast open spaces. As the sun was beginning to set the ancient walls were lit up so amazingly. Some people were lighting incense and praying to Buddha and the other statues that were there. It was one of those moments that I take in everything around me then block out all the distractions to find out what the Lord wants me to see. The bright shining sun, the beautiful country as far as the eye could see, and the lost sheep without their shepherd drew me into prayer for a few minutes. How grateful it made me that I wasn’t in that place to pray to a god who can’t hear me, but because of my Jesus I was standing there drinking in His splendor as the sun poured down its final rays.

For the next 6 hours our driver took us to 3 other temples, including the tree one where scenes of Tomb Raider were filmed. Speaking of Tomb Raider, we also stayed at The Red Piano guest house and restaurant which we’ve been told is a frequented place by Angelina Jolie when she is in the country. That temple was in such disarray. A few years ago began a 10 year project to try to save the temple. There are cranes and bulldozers all around and the window and door frames had supports in them. I spoke to a man with the project that told me that much of the rubble was caused by vandalism. I’m not sure what kind but it’s sad to think of people intentionally destroying such a place. It was amazing to see the huge trees growing through the rock; the roots winding and weaving through windows and holes in the walls and ceilings.

At each temple there are many statues and places to light incense for prayer. Everywhere I turned there was a little lady offering me an already lit incense and asking, “you pray to Buddha lady? You pray? You get luck.” After the first dozen people I learned that saying, “No, I don’t pray to Buddha,” Seemed to get across and they would stop following me. I wished that worked as well for the kids outside when they asked, “you thirsty lady? You want water? 2 for 1 dollar lady.” “you wanna buy postcards/bag/bracelet?” or whatever else they had in their hands. If you told them you already bought some they had a line for that too; “you buy for friends,” or “you can have more.” It was kind of entertaining to hear how they all used the same lines that they were taught, yet sad at the same time.