Cambodia- The fun side

Whew- so it's been awhile since I've posted- the internet has been down- again. We arrived in Cambodia some time last week- I've lost track when and since then it's been one thing after another. I've decided to break up my blog posts into 2 parts rather then try and do it chronologically. So the fun side of Cambodia. First of all just about everyone speaks really good English- I was talking to one of our translators (who is also a nurse) and he shared that he first learned to speak it back in the early 90's for the first election that was held after the genocide. (that was the one and only mention I have heard of the genocide from anyone- a whole generation was killed but they don't dwell on it or feel sorry for themselves over it).

I was able to go on liberty with 3 others- Lizzy (an LDSC member and fellow peds nurse), Anderson (one of our fabulous peds coremen- she has a first name I just don't know it) and Mike (an army guy in the scullery who is LDS). We had such a great day. We found a tuk-tuk driver (motor bike with buggy style seats attached to the back) who spoke good English and we paid him to drive us around for the day. We fed monkeys (the following day someone got bitten by the monkeys and now feeding them is not allowed but we did fine), we visited a local market and found souveneirs, we visited a Buddist temple which was beautiful and also ate some really good food. Turns out that a tuk-tuk is the best way to see a country, it's open to the air, it drives slow enough that you can see things and get pictures, and is just all round good fun- like when it stops working on the way up a hill and Mike has to get out and push. We had a really good day and it was so great to be able to see some of this beautiful country- Mike has decided that someday he wants to live here.

Another amazingly fun opportunity I had was to go on a tour to Angkor Wat- one of the 7 wonders of the world. It was a tour organized by the MWR folks here on board the ship (also known as "the fun boss") and involved getting on a bus just after sunset- riding for 9 hours through the Cambodian country side (road trip anyone?!) and then touring the various temple sites for a few hours and then back to the ship by 0230. The bus ride was long but so worth while, we were also fed really well- I was expecting to have a muffin and juice box thrown at my head on the bus for breakfast but we stopped at a hotel and had a lovely buffet- so worth the money. Once we got there the temples were SO amazing- words really cannot describe- I will try to post photos when the internet is being agreeable or once I'm in Singapore. It was inspiring to see things that are so old and so well built and have so much history and meaning behind them. The people here are so proud of Angkor Wat and their history. Our tour guide was amazing- so knowledgable and well spoken about his religion and history. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and so great to be able to check #437 off of the bucket list.