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Hope Cambodia - Day 7 Tuesday, August 7, 2007		Back to Home Page
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The morning of this day we had a few free hours - our first in the week we had been there. We went to an old Wat (a Buddhist temple) and to tour an orphanage operated by Buddhists in the area. Then we had our last lunch in Kampong Cham and loaded up to head back toward Phnom Penh. On the way back to the city, we stopped at the third orphanage sponsored by Church of the Harvest. We did several hours of hard work there, then attended the dedication ceremony, then we took our exhausted selves to the hotel.

		Here we are starting the day off with our friends at breakfast.

Here we are unloading in front of the wat.		Old statues were everywhere around the area.

		Autumn took this cool picture looking up a chimney-type area.

Two shots of the amazing numbers of Dragon Flies in the sky over the wat. It was strange.

More statues		Tourists

		Huge tree and some area children playing in the area.



We thought we were being clever here, until we saw John -->


Then Sam had to top us all.		This lady could have made a great short-order cook with all those hands!


I thought this lady looked like she had a stomach ache.		Eric & the wat behind him.


He thinks the black rock is modern-day mine tailings.		Jason - always messing with the local scary critters.

	He said it tickled. I didn't try it to find out.
		A beautiful butterfly we saw there.


Here I poach a picture of Sam & Jenn.		This looks structurally sound, don't you think?


Detailed carvings high on a wall.		The roof of a nearby pagoda.


Happy Eric, in front of some brightly painted columns.		Dazed Shawnna, in a rock frame.


Lin is always smiling and happy, what a guy!		Now we are at the Buddhist orphanage where they are doing some traditional dances for us.


This is an inside joke for my Mom: It's the Pom-Pom pass all over again!		These kids were looking on from the far side of the dancers.
Movie Moment: Part of the dance by the kids above.
		Pastor David getting info about the orphanage from the head monk.

Monk laundry.		Monks on the move.


When he heard that we were here with Joyce Meyer he said, "Oh she is very good, I watch her show on TV all the time." Amazing!		We arrived on Day 1 of music lessons for these kids. I'm sure they are going to be very accomplished one day.



Here the head monk shows us how it is done.		The interesting tiles on the floor of the main building.


We liked the contrast of this building. On the outside it was old and kind of dumpy-looking....		but inside it was full of all this high-tech computer and office equipment.


A statue area in the center of the Buddhist compound.		I found it to be scary and disturbing. I don't know how those poor orphan kids sleep with these things so near!


Erin shares her sunglasses and makes a new friend.


Before taking this picture, the monk was sure to tell Malika that she was not allowed to touch him. Here she is, keeping her distance. I can almost hear it now, "I'm not touching you!"		I asked Eric to pose here, I didn't mean for him to look like he was posing for a "Most Wanted" poster!


Trying to out-smile the smiling lion.		Deep thoughts under the tree for Kelly and the interpreters.

Chom has a beautiful smile but I had a hard time catching it in a picture.
		We saw an interesting way of showering here. Ladies came out wrapped in a robe-type thing and sat on the steps. Then this man dumped a bucket of water over the top of their head and they left. Strange.


Someone told me he was catching frogs here, who knows.		Eric, pushing the tree over.


Here I am posing by more carvings.		A huge billboard advertising our now completed 3-day festival.


The heroes of the trip! Our drivers, they were very good to us.		PD collects our room keys as we prepare to move back to Phnom Pehn.

		One final time, we have our same (but tasty) meal in Kampong Cham.
I'm not sure, but I think Bobby is a bit tired.


The soundtrack to our meals was something like, "Pass that stuff with egg on it." or "Is there any more bread on your table?" or "May I have another Coca please?" (Meaning a Coke, always in demand.)		Eric, making some kind of wisecrack about the tiny bananas.

John, drinking strangely.		Me, in my continuous struggle to make sure I had enough water to drink.
		Three of our great translators. I don't know why so many Cambodians make silly hand signs when you try to take their picture, but it happens all the time!

This time, we have a meeting before we leave - to make sure we all go the right way.		It was kind of a production whenever we would arrive somewhere. We had our string of vans and were always the only white people around. We were also usually the tallest people too. It was funny.


These cute kids play on top of the mounds of rock and clay that we were there to move. There were many low-lying areas around the Hope Center that were a mosquito breeding ground. Our assignment: level 6 large mounds of dirt using only strange hoes and bamboo baskets.


Another view of a few of the dirt piles.		Jim giving us our marching orders.


It was fun early on, but I won't pretend it was not hard work.		It reminded Eric of his years of working for the forest service. They used to use hoes to make fire breaks.


Here we are, working out a system.		Break time was when you were in the assembly line. The hard work was operating the hoe or holding the basket for the person filling it.


Don't try this at home kids!		We found all kinds of critters that day - a scorpion, a tarantula, frogs, a crab, it was like a zoo out there!



		It was so hot and humid - I can't believe none of us got heat stroke.

We were filling in the marshy area where he used to live.		I got a little sweaty.


Little by little the workers started to migrate over to the party to entertain the orphans.		A good shot of the assembly line in action.

Eric, looking a little flushed.
		I took this for my Dad - he makes pipe like this, I wonder if it's his?!!
The following were taken by Gretchen of the play time before the dedication got underway.







I love the color in this shot - she did great!		This is really great too - what joy he has on his face.


John, drinking strangely.		Like a goober, while working I wore the ring the girl from Destiny had made for me. While we were hauling dirt it broke. This sweet little girl was fixing it for me.


Traditional dances during the dedication ceremony.		Bobby giving the opening prayer.

		A close-up of the plaque.

The ribbon-cutting.		Erin, looking cute inside the Hope Center.

The rain-catching system.		Giant containers of water. Each had a fish in the bottom to keep it 'clean'.

Here's a shot of one of the fish in the water cistern and a bowl you could use to scoop water out.		They also offered handy storage for your toothbrush and toothpaste.



The kitchen. I probably shouldn't tell this but Eric took one look and said, "I'm not eating anything that came out of here." His germ-o-phobia was in high gear.		Possibly, this was because it was right beside these lovely facilities. I kept telling myself, "At least you're enclosed so it's better than going behind a bush!" We were pretty wuss-ish about using squatters.




Yep, this was the bathroom. I think the plastic tube is some version of a bidet, I'm not sure. I used Handi-wipes we had with us instead of the provided soap, and used the bowl to scoop some water out of the tank and pour it into the squatter to create a flushing action. Interesting.

A strange and lethal-looking plant.		The creative electrical set-up they had for the sound system.





A fun little puppet-show they did for the kids.		I think these were some of the orphans who will live in the Hope Center.



Waterfront homes on the Mekong river.		Even the official road crew uses the same baskets that we used!


Gretchen caught the most amazing scenes out the van window.		Well, we "roughed it" in the country for a few days now we will live in luxury for the next 4 days.


We were filthy, tired, and hungry but sadly it took over an hour to get us checked into our rooms. But we're happy!		Catina being stalked by Terry.

Another shot of Terry's fancy luggage. I'm pretty sure it's a cinch-sack.		I never got a picture of the room before we messed it up, but it was very pretty. We were just thrilled to be where we could have nice hot showers again.


Speaking of showers - look at this space ship of a shower they provided. It was amazing!		You needed a specialized degree to operate it, but we eventually figured it out.

		Another view at the different dials and controls. That thing was something!
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