Wat Fundraiser

There was a fundraiser for the wat in Preah Vihear - I was shocked at how loud it was, and I was even more shocked that they started at 5am.

One last look around

Saturday I head back to Phnom Penh, so I made it back to the market one last time, I also stopped at the snack shop and I picked up some stuff for my taxi ride back to the city. I am still floored by the meat section in the market up here - my mission was to get a picture of a pig head, so I was really hoping that they had one this afternoon. You all are in luck! There was a pig head. I realized after we left the market that pork has been my favorite meat up here...after looking at these pictures I am shocked that it still is my favorite...and that I ate some for dinner tonight.





I'm not a butcher, but I believe the whole pig is represented here.


Just in case you wanted a closer view.


The muddy market.


Woman taking a nap at her shop.


Fruit stand in front of the snack shop.


The snack shop.

Water, please!

Today, we hiked a mountain...in Cambodia...it was hot! This wasn't a normal hike like we would do in America...this hike was straight up. We just kept climbing and climbing - straight up, no switchbacks...just up, up and up some more. I had to stop at one point because I was sweating profusely, and I thought that I really could not go anymore...that is when I was informed that we were only about 1/3 of the way up! Ahhh!!! I didn't know if I was going to make it. Well, eventually we did, and the view was pretty cool. I am glad that we did the hike today, but I don't think that I will ever do it again!

Here is the view from the top...yep, not a lot to look at besides fields :)


Thy, Bona and Rada singing at the top.


The guys


Thy who is supposed to be taking a picture of me...he's a little camera shy.


Me at the top - sweating!


The water in this hole is over 6 feet deep - strange.


And just a little vine swinging on the way down. I chickened out and just lowered myself down - boring.

Happy Birthday!

October 23rd was Thy's 17th birthday. We celebrated by having lunch, cake and opening presents. This was the first time that he had a birthday party - it is not customary for the Khmer to celebrate their birthday's. Apparently, most people consider themselves one year older at the Khmer New Year, and not the day they were born.

Listen to this rooster!

I woke up to this rooster crowing. I couldn't stop laughing at the sound of it's "voice." It sounds like something is caught in his throat. It's really the small things in life that make me laugh.

Gecko!

Imagine living with these in your house...apparently they eat a lot of bugs. The Gabriels' have 3 geckos that live at their house - 2 upstairs and 1 downstairs. The kids have named them Fred, Freddy and Fredster. So far I have met Fred and Freddy and their pictures are below...

This one is a little shy and just pokes his head out from behind the panel - I believe this one is Fred:


This one would be Freddy. He lives in Jim and Carolyn's room.

Sunday afternoon

Sunday is a day that the Khmer usually do a lot of visiting. Today at the Gabriels' house a bunch of kids came over to play. The Gabriels' taught them how to play Uno, then frisbee and finally all attention went to a game of volleyball - which apparently is really popular over here.

I noticed as I was taking pictures of the little kids that they will not smile when you want to take their picture. You will be laughing and having a good time, but when you whip out your camera - they put their hands down by their sides and look very serious. After you snap the picture they start laughing again. So, I had to take several pictures and try to tell them in a language that they don't understand to smile.

Busy street? What's that?

This is the main drag of our little town - yep...there probably won't be so many blog entries from up here.

Waterfall #2

Not as cool as the first one, but still refreshing.

Banana trees, banana trees everywhere!


The waterfall.


Knyay and Radi


Thy - yep that is a Back to the Future shirt...no he hasn't seen the movie.

Wood

Almost everything in this house up here in PV is wood. There are some quality pieces of furniture. Never in my life have I seen such heavy stuff. The table we eat at is solid. Each stool that sits around it is a big log that has been finished (Bob tried to count the rings to see how old the tree was, and his guess is 300 years or so) - they look really nice, but they stay put because they are so heavy.

The only problem is...you can't buy wood anywhere! It is illegal to sell it. Bob wants to build a fence, but he can't get any wood...I wonder who you have to know in order to obtain some of this precious stuff! It's still a mystery...

Until the cows...

Julie was joking the other day about wanting to do something "until the cows come home." Seriously, a couple minutes later all the cows that live across the street were coming home and she said, "hmmm, guess I can't say that anymore here because the cows really do come home!"

Spiders!

So, the other night we were running an extension cord in my room so that I could have a light, and while I was in my bed making sure my mosquito net was thoroughly tucked in I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A spider! It was one of the biggest spiders that I have seen in my life, in my bedroom. It probably appeared a little larger at first glance, since it was where I lay my head at night...but nonetheless it was still freaking me out. I yelled for Bob to come in with the bug killing spray. He comes in...I am still inside the mosquito net (the spider was on the outside) and I lift my sheet up in order to block the excess spray from the rest of my bed, but I realize that Bob did not bring the spray...he brought a Pringles can. He took one look at the spider and he said, "This is one of those really fast ones!" Fast is right. Bob tried to catch the spider but it ran away and disappeared. We looked around a little bit, but it was too dark to see where it went. So, we leave the room, and all I can think about is how that spider is going to attack me in the night. Luckily the resident 6 year old was brave enough to crawl under my bed with a flashlight and located the scary spider. This time they caught it in the Pringles can, so now we have some pictures to prove it. The rest of the night I just kept thanking the 6 year old girl that caught the spider. Eeewww!

P.S. If you don't think this is scary...hang a Pringles lid on your wall and see if a spider that size would freak you out!


Up close and personal

Study in the sticks

I had the opportunity to go to a Bible study the other night. We met at Srey Own's house. It was actually a pretty cool experience. The study is going through a book called Firm Foundations. It is basically just a chronological study of the Bible. Srey Own and her husband Loat live out in the sticks. There is no electricity there, and you can only get to their house by a moto. The road was so much fun to ride on - when we turned off the main road onto Srey Own's "road" I just couldn't stop laughing because it wasn't any wider than two feet across. When we got there we all shared a meal together, and then they went through their study. I couldn't understand it since it was all in Khmer, but I was glad that I got the chance to experience it. One of the pictures is the rechargeable lantern that we brought so we could read, since there is no electricity and the sun goes down at 6pm. The only disadvantage: all the bugs. If you look closely you can see all of them.


Yummy pork dish served in a coconut.

Swimming in Cambodia - so refreshing!

A bunch of us got together and went to a waterfall. We had to drive about 10 miles to the start of the path. Those 10 miles were on the same road that we took to come to Preah Vihear, so there were a few flashbacks to the bumpy trip up here! We hiked a short path through the forest and came to a pretty big waterfall. When we first got there a group was using the space to take baths, but by the time we walked down to the bottom they were finished. The water was really cold, but it felt great!!! I wish I could go swimming every day here - it cooled me off for the rest of the day. We all suited up in our Cambodia bathing suits...and by that I mean we just jumped in with our clothes on. Before we left Julie told me that we would just be swimming in our clothes (which is what they do here), so we wore shorts and t-shirts - I was shocked at what some people wore. As people walked up I thought that they would change something about what they were wearing before they got in, but they would just jump in...sometimes shoes and all.

Here is the path to the waterfall.




This is looking over the edge from the top. You can see the bathers down there.




A little blurry, but here I am in my bathing suit.


Just some of my new friends sliding down the rock slide.

Night out on the town

We decided to go out on the town of Tbeng Meanchey - which is the capital of the province Preah Vihear, but the locals also call this town Preah Vihear, so it can be kind of confusing. It would take a lot to get lost here because it is so small. Bob said that he has heard it estimated that between 20,000-30,000 people live here. There are 2 main roads that run parallel to each other, and that is about it.

We went to a restaurant that Bob had been to before. He said that they had really good deer meat there, so that is what we were going to have for dinner. When we got there we asked for a menu, but they don't have one. So, we just asked for a few different dishes - unfortunately they were out of deer and chicken. They did have beef and wild pig from the forest. So, we ordered two dishes - one beef and one wild pig. The wild pig dish came first, and as I was looking at it I realized that I didn't really want to eat it. There was more pig skin than meat, and along with the pig skin came...hair. It was a nice dinner of rice with some meat, but mainly rice.

I have finally identified the smell that makes me so sick at the market!

Julie, Robbie, Kaitlyn and I made our first trip to the local market. It is a lot smaller than any of the markets that I have been in here. We had our list, and we were on a mission. After getting our mosquito net, bleach, etc it was time to head to the food section to get some eggs, rice and flour. I dread going into the food section - it is by far the smelliest. We are wandering around and Julie stops to buy some eggs - as we are standing there I start to get a little queasy from the smell, and I told Julie that I had to go. I walked out to the side street so I could get some fresh air, and I saw that Julie had made her purchase so I decided to head back in...all around me are women chopping up fish...they keep waving their hands over it and tons of flies come off the fish and buzz around a bit before landing again...the women chop again...wave their hands...flies fly...chop...wave...fly...I take a deep breath in so I can hold my breath in order to make it back through the food section. Halfway to Julie I realize that she is stopping again to ask about the flour that the guy is selling - I come up to her and try to hold my breath a little longer...she keeps asking questions, and I am getting more nauseated...I look around - more fish, more flies, same smell! Julie looks at me and asks if I am okay. I told her that I had to get out of there, so we made a beeline in order to get out of that section. When we were back in the safe place of the clothing I asked her if I looked green and she said, "Yep!" We were still looking for rice and flour, so we made our way back to where the car was parked...we bought some bread and passed through another food section. This food section had lots of meat too - chicken, beef, pork - lots of pig heads for sale if anyone is interested, but not the same smell. All of that to say...I think it is the smell of the fish that makes me sick. Just another reason for me to hate fish!

The new house

Here is the new house. The top is made entirely out of wood. There are 3 bedrooms upstairs and a common area. Downstairs is the kitchen, school room and dining area.


This is my favorite part of the house - the balcony. I have sat out here pretty much every night.


This is the bathroom. Yep, that tub on the right is where we get water in order to take our dipper showers until the hot water tank is installed.


This is my bed with the mosquito net.


This is the view out my bedroom window.