Angkor What?

Since arriving in Cambodia, John and I have successfully managed not to melt...mostly successfully.

Normally, the temperature here should be in the 80s, which sounded really nice last week during the blizzard. However, the temperatures have been much higher than that for the last month. It also hasn’t rained for a really long time (months, I think), which means rivers are lower than usual. That might not be too much of a problem, except for the fact that the power is hydroelectric here. So, there are scheduled daily power outages, sometimes for a few hours in the morning, sometimes for a few hours in the afternoon. Add high temperatures, high humidity, no electricity, and no breeze, and even the locals are complaining about how hot it is!

Yesterday we were able to spend some time with the kids at Ray of Hope Cambodia - it was such a treat to meet them and see a little bit into their daily schedules. More on this to come in another post.

Today, we had planned to take a trip to see Angkor Wat and some of the surrounding temples, which were built way back in the 11th century. Remember that awful heat, though? The son of our missionary who is also acting as our guide got a stomach bug, which wasn’t helped in any way by this heat. 

In order to stay close to home base in case they needed to take him to a doctor, plans shifted a bit. No, we didn’t go see what we’d planned to see, but we saw more than we would have been able to if we’d taken the long trip to and from Angkor Wat.

First up, Phnom Sampow. This is a mountain that has several Buddhist temples built at the top. Each of us rode on the back of a moto up the steep mountain. I was pretty sure we were going to die, because it was so incredibly fast and the road was a bit gravelly. But, we all made it safely to the top and began our tour. Although the temples were beautiful, this area has a deadly history. During the time of the Khmer Rouge, part of this location was used as a killing field. We visited the cave were people would be blindfolded and led to an opening above the cave. They’d be hit with the butt of a rifle, knocked into the hole and fall 15-20 down to the rocks below, to a brutal and painful death. Some of the bones were collected, and are displayed as a reminder of the evil that transpired in this place.

Next we visited Ek Phnom, an Angkor Wat-era temple. Although the stones look like they have been quarried, they were constructed, in a process similar to cement. The temple is crumbling now, but had been standing prior to the Khmer Rouge, who destroyed a good portion of the structure. 

Last we visited a torture museum, which chronicled some of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. I won’t go into detail here, but suffice it to say that much of what they did was simply torture and evil for the sake of torture. I’m not even sure that horror films would portray what was done in real life to thousands of people.

John at the top of Phnom Sampow

The moto I almost died on

Buddhist Temple

John likes Jackfruit

How the stones were stuck together

Ek Phnom

An artist's depiction of Buddhist hell at Phnom Sampow

Big Tuna and the Doggie

Being the seasoned travelers that we are, the actual travel aspect of this mission trip hasn’t seemed that daunting. Months ago when booking the details of the trip, Doug and I decided that we would book a very early flight to LA, even though the flight John and I would take to Cambodia (by way of Beijing) wouldn’t leave until the early afternoon.

“You can check in when you get there and then walk over to In-N-Out Burger! You’ll love it” 
“This way if there’s bad weather, we could still take a later flight and get there in time for the next leg!”
“We are sooo smart!”

This morning, Doug and I awoke our three sleeping children at the ungodly hour of 3, so that John and I could get to the airport in time for our 5:45 flight. Everything went smoothly, even though there was a huge line for security.

By 7:30, John and I had arrived in LA, only to find out that no, we couldn’t check in until 10:30, and no, LAX doesn’t have luggage lockers. Looks like In-N-Out was out.

After we finally were able to check in, we started the slog through the security line. In LA, they use sniffing dogs who make sure you’re not carrying contraband as you saunter by. For most everyone, the dog sniffs you and then moves on. No big deal.

For John, the dog practically lost his mind, sniffing and circling, circling and sniffing, wiping his face on John’s pants and basically freaking out. “Uh, son, you’re going to need to go through some extra security screenings.” Thanks, Captain Obvious.

After a full-body pat-down, search through all our carry on baggage, wipe down of our hands (for hazardous materials), and two electronic screenings, we were free to go. I think the security folks actually looked a little sad that they hadn’t caught us in the act of smuggling something awful.

As we were re-packing our bags, John blurts out, “it was the tuna!”

Did I mention that we’d had a little snack of lemon-pepper tuna during our wait to check in? Oh, and that he’d spilled some on his pants and backpack?

Mystery solved. Lesson learned? Don’t wiggle while you eat your tuna if you don’t want the TSA to hate you.