Fruits

Waterfall Fall

August 23, 2009. The biggest adventure of the day yesterday was an hour and a half drive to the top of a mountain, the most jungle-like country we've seen. We climbed to the highest point; a big rock that had been carved into a Buddha Nirvana (lying on its side). Next, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall where Don took a fall, dropped Ben's camera into the water, and dove in after it. Yeehaw! He tossed the camera up to where Ben could catch it. The camera no longer works, but the memory card is still good (thankfully, since it has the 12 days of pictures from our trip thus far), and Don came out with only his knees and shins bleeding. Could have been much, much worse. So, that's the story of the waterfall fall.

Daniel and I enjoyed a one hour full body massage for only $6 each while Don and Ben went to visit a family. We then joined them and enjoyed a relaxing evening making home-squeezed orange juice (from oranges with green skins), visiting, doing some brain teasers, looking at picture. Sophany massaged my feet, Daniel got get a second massage from a friend of the family, and we were given yet more gifts. Don, Ben, and Daniel were each given more ties so that they each had all of the same designs as the other. Then, I was given a small woven box; I opened it to find a beautiful, hand-crocheted white shawl to wear when I visit the temple. Sophany had made it for me, and she crocheted three of the beautifully designed flowers each day--and there are 135 flowers in total. What a generous, beautiful gift!

On Sunday, we enjoyed church at the Siem Reap branch. There must have been 130 or so members present; Ben says attendance has doubled what it was when he attended there a year ago before leaving the area. Two ladies spoke in sacrament meeting and then both Elder Parker and Elder Baird were invited to speak. Ben used scriptures from Alma 32 about faith and knowledge and how we need to nourish the seed of faith for it to grow. His delivery included humor and good organization. . . very well received, even though we couldn't understand the Khmer. When he came to sit back down beside us after speaking, a guy in the row in front of us turned and said to Ben, "You're the man."

Chetana taught our Sunday School lesson about the Book of Mormon. Don calls her Miss Cambodia--she is beautiful--and she's so easy to talk to. Her English is probably the best of any other Cambodian we've spoken to. After Relief Society, the sister who gave the closing prayer held onto Sister Baird's left hand and my right hand and told us that even though we're different nationalities that we are still sisters and she loves us. Her sincere words and eyes and hug brought tears to our eyes.

The second lady who spoke in sacrament meeting then had me come sit beside her. She invited us to come sit beside her. She invited us to come each rice with her and her daughter, which I told her we would do on our next visit to Cambodia.

After church, we rode in Loy's van with Bunseak, Sophany, Chetana, Oliza, Inja, Somath, and Seha to the floating villages. We all rode on a boat and saw some humble homes on the water. The average income in those villages is $100 per year, the literacy rate is only 47 percent, and 50 percent of the children are malnourished. Although there are schools, it's difficult to get teachers because the salary is so low. We stopped at a floating restaurant when Ben, Daniel, and Chetana all let us take their pictures with pythons around their necks. We also saw some big catfish and even several alligators. Nice Sunday outing!

Dinner at Loy Residence, Visit to Angkor Wat, and Fish Massage

August 23, 2009. This morning we will attend church here in Siem Reap from 8 to 11. Chetana will be teaching the Sunday School lesson and then she will be translating the Relief Society lesson for Sister Baird and for me.

Chetana is from Ben's "family" in Siem Reap, she speaks excellent English, and I was impressed when I met her last night at how articulate she is. She not only teaches Sunday School, but she is the secretary for Relief Society and also the Institute teacher (although those students are on break until October). Bunseak, Chetana's father, is the branch president in Siem Reap.

Ben's Cambodian "mother" Sophany is a marvel. She gave Ben, Elder Baird, and Daniel cobalt blue ties she had sewn for them and she also gave Elder Baird's dad and Don home-made green and black checkered ties. Chetana gave Sister Baird and me some dehydrated mango she had made (not from an electric dehydrator, but dehydrated in the sun). The dinner at the Loy home was the best of our trip (special request by Ben, I later learned)--rice with a stew of beef, potatoes, and onions; beef with fresh green beans; baked fish; and a rice pudding with ice in it for dessert. We were also served fanta, sprite, and cola on ice (the good ice, David Baird pointed out to me, that is cylindrical with a hole in the center and made from purified water--the crushed ice is from a large block and is cut with a knife and not so reliable on sanitation).

The conversations of the evening were uplifting and full of laughter. Ben, Daniel, and Elder Baird sat in a circle on the floor with some of the family's children. When we stood up to take pictures and prepare to leave, Ben said, "My cheeks hurt from laughing so much." Daniel said his cheeks hurt, too, from sitting on the floor so long. :) Sophany did provide the visiting Americans with floor pillows she had sewn, which were very comfy.

Our day yesterday was spent at Angkor Wat. We visited three of a hundred wats (temples) before even getting to the largest 12th-century palatial wat. Each visit had unique features. Ben suggested we "work up a sweat" (what? we were always sweating, just being outdoors). We climbed some steep, narrow steps to the top of a wat that had no carvings on the stones. It was struck by lightening early in its construction, the stone is brittle and broke easily, pus the main architect of the project died . . . so the carving part of construction was abandoned. Still, the structure is magnificent and provided us a mountaintop-like view from the top.

All four of us rode elephants for about 30 minutes around another temple site. Don's and my "driver" entertained us with some music he made by blowing/humming through a piece of banana leaf.

The Angkor Wat temple is about a quarter mile walk just to work your way to and across the bridge that crosses and moat along the stone pathway leading to the entrance. Then, we spent about 45 minutes examining just the first wall, with intricate carvings depicting history--people, animals, Gods, wars, angels--five layers high of detailed stone storybook. Another wall depicted the creation and the struggle between good and evil, a tug-of-war of angels and demons. We could have spent several days at Angkor Wat alone; I was surprised at the magnitude of the grounds and cities in the surrounding woods, beautiful and magnificent even today. Many of the temple walls have been robbed of their diamonds that Ben explained used to catch the sunlight and reflect to light up the rooms. We also saw the location where the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie was filmed. Of great interest are the trees that grow with long, engulfing roots on the temple walls and spires. They remind me of some of the entrances I imagine from The Hobbit. Many photo op locations.

Each day we experience such wonders here that it's hard to take it all in, much less describe. After dinner last night, the Bairds and the Parkers stopped by the night market and enjoyed, giggled, and laughed over a fish massage. Seriously! You put your feet into a tank and hundreds of tiny fish (from Turkey) nip at your feet and toes. And tickle?!? Yes indeed. Check out the video (oops--too big for this post).

Silk Farm, Fresh Coconuts, and Dance (Daniel) Parker

August 22, 2009. A Don quote from two days ago after seeing ducks waddling by the side of the road near our tuk-tuk. We could have a "duck-duck tuk-tuk," he quipped.

Another Don quote that we heard frequently over the course of our trip--Don would lean back in his seat, throw his arms back (imitating Dash in "The Incredibles"), and exclaim, "I just LOVE this family!"

Breakfast yesterday morning was street-side for Ben and Don. Our tuk-tuk driver Carlos (we call him Carlos because he looks Mexican, though he's very Cambodian) was eating at a table outside our hotel room door when we came out; and he stood up and was trying to take a couple of last bites in a hurry so he could start driving for us. "Relax," we said, "Enjoy your breakfast." So, Ben and Don joined him for some fish broth and noodles. Ben's had some coagulated blood in it (looked like a bullion cube), but Don declined that protein boost. Daniel and I opted for a stop at the Blue Pumpkin bakery; a chocolate croissant and a mango-pineapple pastry sounded more delectable (and safe!) to us.

Our next order of business was to find our hotel next to the Church where the Dickerson's had made reservations for us. Sister Dickerson had said that it was new (two years old?) and similar to a Marriott. So nice! For $15 per night, we had air conditioning, refrigerator, t.v., comfortable bed, glass shower, nice closet--and we could walk to Church.

We toured the silk farm 9 kilometers outside of Siem Reap. This is the only hand-woven silk factory still remaining in the world and we saw each stage of the process, from the five varieties of mulberry trees, the silk worms eating the leaves in wooden trays, the cocoons being spun, the cocoons boiling in water and the threads being spun onto spindles (two stages one with 80 strands to make one thread and the second with 42 strands from an inner casing of the cocoon to make one thread and the more refined silk). Next, we saw the bleaching of the thread from yellow to white. Then, the dying of the thread with natural colorings from irises, cloves, bark, and leaves. The black thread is made from using bark plus a rusty nail. After dying the thread in a big pot, the thread is dried and spooled (all by hand, of course). Finally, these beautiful threads are woven into cloth, one thread at a time, on wooden looms.











We met the branch president of the Siem Reap Branch after returning to the parking lot, and he was so happy to see Ben that he grabbed him in a big bear hug. Loy Bunseak was the driver for the Baird's, who arrived at the farm shortly after we did.








Carlos drove us to his home to meet his family on our way back into Siem Reap. His home was the first brick house I had been in there, and I learned that although it looks very handsome, I prefer the openness of the other Cambodian homes we had visited as this little brick house served as an oven. It was too hot to stay indoors long. We enjoyed our time exploring the yard. Daniel was anxious to show me a plant he discovered. It looks like a small fern with many tiny leaves that fold up as you touch them; the stem even droops if you touch it.

Carlos's wife shared a photo album of some family and branch activities and served us what looked like limes but tasted like oranges. She also had her sons pick fresh coconuts; she whacked off each end with a machete-looking knife--whack, whack, whack--then pried open the top, stuck in a straw, and served us fresh coconut juice. Baird's arrived about 30 minutes later and we all enjoyed a good visit.


For lunch, we returned to tourist-ville and ate Mexican food. Daniel seemed to enjoy the break from the Khmer cuisine of rice, meat, and vegetables.


Our afternoon and evening were spent at the Cambodian Cultural Center, where we toured museums with taxidermied animals from the country and saw replicas of the Khmer people and culture throughout the centuries. The grounds were exquisite, with exotic flowers, trees, and shrubs; miniature representations of temples, palaces, and pagodas; and a 80-foot long statue of Buddha in Nirvana. The most colorful, enriching part of our tour were the live performances, with colorful costumes, music, dancing, and props. We went to four different stages and enjoyed various cultural presentations.



Daniel even volunteered to go on stage in one performance and ended up dressed in a warrior's costume. He got into the act and did a few dance moves, all with a big smile!