Chris Loehmer Kincaid's Blog, page 13

Streets of Phnom Penh - Cambodia blog entry #3

Sunday, September 15 was our first fullday in Cambodia. After a good night’s sleep (ten hours!!!), I woke up that morningfeeling pretty good. My chronic back pain wasn’t bad at all, only my rightwrist was killing me, but that’s kind of how my life has been the past eighteenmonths, so I wasn’t going to complain.

I won’t bore you with every detail of theday, except that D and I made one trip to the 7-11 on the corner for snacks andalso stopped at Dairy Queen for blizzards! Choosing to ease into the foreignfoods.

Actually nearly every meal we had waspretty good, always food we could eat and never went hungry. But I’m going tosave the food photos for the end when I have them all together.

After lunch, K took us for a ride aroundtown to show us the sites. Here are some of them.

I know that cities around the world have this kind of traffic, evern the large cities in the US. But this small town girl continued to be amazed by traffic every day.  

Indepence Monument built in 1958 to celebrate Cambodia's independence from France.
The monument in the background honors the late Buddhist scholar Samdech Chuon Nath. I couldn't figure out what the little statue in front left is of.
The front side of the staute of Samdech Choun Nath.
The riverwalk along the Tonle Sap River.
I think it's just the gate outside some random building. They had alot of ornate gates like this.
The Phnom Penh post office, where packages disappear into a black hole
The government building 
Not a government building. More like typical working class apartments
A typical street with light traffic.  A little bit more chaotic traffic. It was hard to get a picture that really captured it. 

I Know What I Believe

“If you think it is wrong to serve theLord, choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods your fathers worshipedon the other side of the river, or choose the gods of the Amorites in whoseland you are living. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”(Joshua 24:15, New Life Version) 

Buddhismis the state religion of Cambodia. According to various sources, approximately 97%of Cambodia's population follows Theravada Buddhism, with Islam, Christianity,tribal animism, and the Baha’i faith making up the small remainder. From what Iwitnessed on my trip to Cambodia, I’d change that wording to say “97% of thepopulation claim to be Buddhists”. I really didn’t get the feeling that allthose people actually followed Buddhism; I could be way wrong and I don’t wantto accuse anyone of lying about their religion so I need to leave it there.

Afterreading about Buddhism in several books and on the internet, as well as talkingto a few people in Cambodia, it seems really complicated.

Theeasiest part is the five precepts or rules that must be followed. Do not kill. Donot steal. Do not commit acts of sexual immorality. Do not speak badly ofanyone. Do not drink to the point of intoxication.

Thefirst four are in line with the Ten Commandments and no one can argue that ifeveryone kept those laws, the world would be a better place. Avoiding alcoholor other drugs is a good idea too, but just like in America, there seemed to bea definite presence of alcohol consumption, with signs advertising beer andsimilar beverages everywhere.  

Thenafter those five rules, Buddhism takes on all kinds of weirdness. Yes, peopleprobably think that parts of Christianity are weird, so, again, I shouldn’tjudge. I’m also not going to go into more detail right now.

Justone last comment. Between the 9th and 14th centuries,Hinduism was the dominant religion in Cambodia, and the vast temples built bythe country’s kings during those years were dedicated to Hindu gods. It’sthought that many people in Cambodia practice Buddhism along with Hinduism tothis day.   

Thatmakes my head spin and reinforces my faith in the triune God and in JesusChrist as my Savior.

Here I Am! - Cambodia blog entry #2

           I didn’t know where to start, so I decidedto show you pictures of the Projects Abroad volunteer house first. After you’velooked at them, if you want to read my ramblings of our arrival in Cambodia,you sure can. Didn’t want to bore you from the get go.  

My bed
The other side of our bedroom The living space / dining room downstairs
We had a very small balcony from our room and this was the view from it. 
There was a roof top deck, however, on the six story building we were in and this is the view from there. 

This will be the first trip in a long timewhere I didn’t bring my trusty laptop. I prepared a journal with typeddescriptions of all the places we would be visiting, leaving pages in betweeneach place to write facts and my thoughts at the time.

Then I decided that maybe I’d tryjournaling into my cellphone. I wasn’t sure how it would work as I hate typingon my phone, with my big clumsy right index finger. Type with both thumbs? Areyou kidding? That’s even more difficult for my arthritic hands. I gave it ashot, though, first sending myself an email via my phone, then typing a Googledocument on the Drive.  

Our flight arrived on time at 11:15.Getting thru immigration was easy, as our paper work was in order. Just handhim my passport, Visa, and e-arrival QR code. Stick my hand in the finger printreader. Or is it really a device which sucks out part of our life force for thegovernment to use to strengthen its military?

Baggage claim. Wait and wait. How do someof those bags spit right out and ours is always one of the last. When Denise'scame down the conveyor I thought, yeah, mine is next. But then it was another 20minutes. Or so it felt. Really probably two more spins of the belt.

Outside, our ride Phirum, was waiting withthe Projects Abroad sign and wearing their signature green shirt. Greeting uswith a smile and a wave. Did our American looks stand out that much.Considering there were only two other non-Asians on our flight and one of themwas a man. Yes, I guess we were easy to pick out.

Ride to house was maybe 20 minutes. The streets!So, like Nairobi. It was like being back home in Africa. The chaos. Thevehicles whipping by on all sides, many more scooters and motorbikes than inKenya though. Whole families - mom, dad, a little boy, a baby girl, all ridinglined up on one bike. Sometimes wearing helmets and eye protection, sometimesnot.

And the smells. Garbage of course, butfried food too. The occasional whiff of raw fish hanging in the hot sun. Didn'tnotice the diesel fumes which are prevalent in Kenya though.

The sounds of motors running. Somebodygrinding metal, lines and lines of auto and bike shops. Very few horns honking inthe chaos. Such patient, pleasant people.

Anxious to try the street food but willwait for one of the workers here to direct us.

We met out guide for the two weeks – KhouchKen, who we will call K. After a short rest and some unpacking, he took us outto eat supper at a place called Eleven One.

Tuk tik ride there thru the same busystreets, even more crazy in the twilight. And because we rode in a tuk tuk, as opposed to riding in the car fromthe airport, we were closer to the sights and sounds. No obstructing carwindows, closed so the air conditioning isn’t wasted.

Oh, yes, the heat and humidity. The roomsat the volunteer house were air conditioned, but as soon as you open one of thedoors, the oppressive weather takes your breath away.   

Anyway, the restaurant was very nice. Hadan open air ceiling, so no AC but not too warm with the sky above and fanschurning in all the corners.       

I had the stir fry chicken with mango and cashews.Denise had the shrimp with toasted hash brown potatoes. I don’t remember what Khad but it was adorable, a little teepee of rice next to his main dish of somemeat in some sauce. Because we just met him, we didn’t try it, but as the weekwent on, we all tried each other’s meals. Pictures of all those meals will becoming later.

          Back to the house and fell into bed ateight to sleep like the dead.

Where am I? – Cambodia blog entry #1

           I opened my eyes and looked across the dark room. A dim light was streamingoutside the open door from a source to the right. Where was the bathroom? Ithad to be out there somewhere.

         My travel partner, D, snored very close behind me. We’d been sleeping inseparate beds for the past sixteen nights; why was she in bed with me now?

         Then it dawned on me. It was my husband snoring, and I was home in my own bed.

         I rolled over and read the clock. The red number 12:15 screamed at me. Totallyexhausted, I’d crawled into this perfectly comfy bed only four hours ago. Whywas I wide awake?

         Darned jet lag.

         My left brain wondered from the beginning how I’d be affected by thisphenomenon this trip. Previously, I’d only ever flown to Kenya, eight timezones to the east, and jet lag never bothered me when I got there, but alwaysmessed me up when I got home.

This trip took me twelve time zones to thewest. So my left brain reasoned that the jet lag would be worse going toCambodia and not as bad when I got home.

Left Brain has definitely got it wrong. RightBrain believes that when I go somewhere, I am so excited about the trip that mybody and my brain adjust quickly so as not to miss out on anything. When I gethome, all the hormones let loose, and my internal clock doesn’t want to switchback to Central Standard Time; it just wants to sleep.

And Stomach Clock grumbles because itthinks it’s just past noon and we should be eating.

Then Writer’s Brain pulls me by the arm toget me out of bed to write down all these peculiar thoughts because it knowsthat, just like when we dream, if I go back to sleep, all of this will be gone.

So here I am, at 1:40 am, trying to keepmy eyes open while the rest of me feels crazy-energized. But I am going tofollow the lead of my eyes and wander back to bed. Whether I go back to sleepor not, who knows? Will my hypothalamus figure this out and allow me to driftpeacefully off, or will the rest of my brain continue bouncing around neurons?

In any case, I’ve been home from Cambodiafor just over thirteen hours. It’s been forty-eight hours since I left, Ithink, because I still can’t put any part of my brain around the whole timetravel thing about these trips.

It was a short flight from Phnom Penh toTaiwan with a brief layover at Taipei Airport. The ticket on the second flightread that we were leaving there at 8:00 pm and arriving at our destination inChicago at 8:45 pm. So, I’m supposed to convince my body that it took 45minutes to fly halfway around the world when I know it really took thirteen hours.

Oh, well, I’ll come around. I promise thaton Friday, I will start posting about my once-in-a-lifetime,fifty-years-in-the-making trip.    

Good night – or good morning. And the first and last pictures - with over 2,000 taken in between.  

Sunset over Chicago before our flight out

Sunrise over Chicago before our drive home from the hotel

Can’t put my head around it

September eleventh. 911. Twenty-threeyears ago. So long ago. So tragic. Hard to believe that there are young peopleout there today who weren’t alive on that day.

I won’t be flying today, but I will beflying on Friday the 13th. I’m not superstitious. And at least therewon’t be a full moon.

There are a lot of thoughts and imagesrunning through my mind. I watched the movie “The Killing Fields” yesterday andhave been reading all I can about that time in Cambodian history.

I just can’t put my head around it. Sure,I was only twelve years old when the Khmer Rouge overran Cambodia andinstituted its brutal form of communism. But all I remember hearing about inthe 1970s was Vietnam. Shoot, I even wrote a novel about the Vietnam War. So, Iwas aware of at least some news when I was entering my teens. But it sounds like the Cambodian genocide was swept under the rug at the time. 

Here I am, about to fly halfway around theworld to learn, firsthand, about the plight of the Cambodian people fifty yearsago. I think of meeting someone my age, who was also twelve years old at that time,and instead of worrying about what they were going to wear to school on pictureday, they were just trying to stay alive.

As I posted the end of August, there havebeen many genocides over the decades. When will the madness end?

Questions Answered

         This is going to be long, but you’ve askedme lots of questions, so hopefully this answers them all.

What am I actually going to be doing onthis trip to Cambodia? Is it another volunteer trip? Or just vacation? When am I going and when will I be back? And why Cambodia of all places?

This is a cultural immersion trip foradults over age 50. (We’ll see how it goes, and maybe the next crazy trip Itake should be for adults with bodies that feel over 70 years old.)

So, what does “cultural immersion” mean?Instead of just seeing the sites, we will learn more about them and in between,learn about the culture, history, and religion of the country. One day, we’reeven having a cooking class.

Our itinerary looks something like this:

Day1: Orientation and acclimation to our surroundings, a short tour of the capitalcity of Phnom Penh, which will be our base for the trip

Day2: More orientation, visit a local market, visit our first Buddhist temple WatPhnom, watch the movie “The Killing Fields”

Day3: Visit the Killing Fields and S-21 Prison Museum (this will be our most heart-wrenchingday, but a necessary day to understand the culture)

Day4: Visit a pepper farm, salt farm, and durian farm (yes, the world’s moststinky food), visit the beach on the Gulf of Thailand

Day5: Bokor Mountain, waterfalls, sunset cruise for dinner and to see fireflies

Day6 and 7: Travel back to Phnom Penh, rest up, then travel to Siem Reap the nextday

Day8 and 9: Explore the vast Angkor Wat temple complex (the whole reason I wantedto take this trip in the first place)

Day10: Visit floating village and the Landmine Museum, dance show during dinner

Day11: Travel to Battambang, ride the bamboo train

Day12: Visit grape farm, a couple more temples, a cave and watch bats leave thecave at sunset

Day13: Travel back to Phnom Penh, rest

Day14: Visit a silk farm, pack to leave the next day

         

Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it? But soworth it!

We fly out of Chicago this Friday morningat 12:30! And arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia at 11:15 Saturday morning (that’s11:15 Friday night for you at home, I think). We leave Phnom Penh on Sundayafternoon on September 29 and get back home to Chicago Sunday night. It’s timetravel. I can never put my brain around it.

One more question you may have – whatorganization are you going with? ProjectsAbroad is the world’s largest provider of international volunteering,internships, and meaningful travel experiences. They’ve been running for over30 years and have been trusted by over 130,000 participants who’ve joined theiraward-winning trips.

They run projects on four continents,including countries ranging from Botswana, South Africa, Mongolia, Philippines,Romania, Argentina, Galapagos Islands, and Fiji. If I were younger, I’d love totry some of their other trips, but most of them sound even more strenuous thanthis one to Cambodia. Please click this link to their website, though, to readmore.

Click this link to find out more about thespecific trip we will be taking. Oh, and when I say “we”, I mean me and mytravel partner Denise. She is a fellow retired CMA from the eastern part of ourstate and has been to Kenya with me a few times. There is another woman whowill be joining us, also, but I don’t know anything about her yet except thatshe’s from Great Britian.

How did I find out about Projects Abroad?As you may remember, I’ve wanted to go to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat since Iwas in 6th grade. Feeling that I’m getting too old for many morelong trips, back in January of 2020, I did a Google search of volunteer tripsto Cambodia and this one came up first. After doing more research, I askedDenise if she was game to join me. She said, “yes”, and we signed up. Then afew weeks later, COVID-19 bowled us all over and grounded us for the next twoyears. Last year, my back pain and immobility caused me to cancel a third trip.But here we are, finally doing it.

Hope that answers all of your questions. 😊

Me and Denise in Kenya in 2015

Less than a week to go

Oh,boy. In one week, I will be starting my lifelong dream of visiting Cambodia. Weland in Phnom Penh at 11:15 Saturday morning, which will be 11:15 Friday nightWisconsin time. It’s a fifteen-hour flight from Chicago to Taiwan and, after a three-and-a-half-hourlayover, it’s another three and a half hours fly time from Taipei to Phnom Penh.

Ican’t think about that long flight too much, though. It freaks me out. How cana plane stay airborne that long? How is that possible?

Onall the other long-haul flights I’ve been on, after six hours or so, I’m nearlyhaving a panic attack, just wanting to get off that plane. Instead of sleeping,I pace up and down the aisle, looking with jealousy at all the other sleepingpassengers.

Whyam I doing this again? Oh, yes, the temples at Angkor Wat.

Oh,but now that I’ve researched the country at length, there is so much else tosee and experience. The beach at Kampot. Bokor Mountain. The bamboo railroad.Waterfalls, caves, and a sunset river cruise!

Sorry,no pictures yet! But go ahead and Google all that I’ve talked about and thenwait patiently for me to post pictures on Facebook.

But maybe not any pictures of airplanes or airports, huh? 

A Really Quick Trip to Calumet

Last Wednesday, I shared a short two-day trip I had made witha friend in July. Today, I’ll tell you really quick about a trip Hubby and I took last month to Michigan’s UP. Our favorite place. But unfortunately, only for overnight.

 

After checking into our Airbnb in Calumet, our first stopwas the Cooper Country Firefighters Museum.

Next was the Calumet Theater right across the street.

After we hit The Hut restaurant for dinner, I took a walk aroundtown. This is the old depot. 

What a shame it has fallen into such disrepair. From whatI could see through the windows, it’s still filled with character. 

Next morning, I took an early morning walk. Hate seeing a“do not enter” sign on a church, even if it is for the adjacent one-way street.

Such beautiful old buildings in and around downtown Calumet. 

But this was what we really went up north for – the jams andcookies at The Jampot.

And also, this, my favorite park. Esrey Park. It stilltakes me back to the many trips I made to the UP as a kid.

Of course, no trip to upper Michigan would be complete without a trip to this park. The sign might say that this is Calumet Waterworks Park, but for Hubby and I, it will always be Dino’s Park. 
I'm sure he's still playing fetch and swimming in Lake Superior, without ever getting tired, living his best life in doggie heaven. 

Prayer for Peace

 Lord,make us instruments of your peace.

Wherethere is hatred, let us sow love;

wherethere is injury, pardon;

wherethere is doubt, faith;

wherethere is despair, hope;

wherethere is darkness, light;

wherethere is sadness, joy.

ODivine Master,

grantthat we may not so much seek to be consoled asto console,

tobe understood as to understand;

tobe loved as to love.

Forit is in giving that we receive,

itis in pardoning that we are pardoned

andit is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

 

There is nothing moreI can add to that. 

Death, and more Death. Sorry for the Downer

 

We'veall heard of The Holocaust - the genocide of European Jews between 1941 and1945 by Hitler's Nazis. Six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, aroundtwo-thirds of Europe's Jewish population, were systemically murdered. It isconsidered the single largest genocide in history.

Also,during those years, over another million Russians, Serbs, Romas, Muslims,Croats, Poles, and a variety of other groups were killed. The eighty yearssince then have seen a long list of other mass killings and "ethniccleansings".

Mostof us have heard of the Rwandan genocide, perhaps only from seeing the movie,"Hotel Rwanda." Over a half-million members of the Tutsi minorityethnic group were slaughtered by armed Hutu militias in only one hundred daysin 1994. That was within most of our lifetimes.

Ihad never even heard of the Darfur genocide until my daughter did a paper on itfor school. Considered the first genocide of the 21st century, this event sawaround 200,000 people killed between 2003 and 2005.

Ialso just learned about the Civil War in Myanmar, which began in 2017. Calledthe Rohingya genocide, it involves ongoing persecution and killings of theMuslim Rohingya people by the military of Myanmar.  

WhenI volunteered in Peru for a week in 2009, I was introduced to the Shining Pathterrorist group. Beginning in 1980, the Shining Path, led by founder AbimaelGuzman, inflicted havoc on the countryside, killing over 24,000 innocentpeople. Because these acts of violence weren't against any particular group,it's not considered a genocide. But I was horrified hearing first-hand storiesfrom survivors. 

Youcan look anywhere in the world and witness the senseless death of anypopulation of people. Look at the modern Middle East. Look at the Old Testamentbooks of the Bible, where God commissioned the Israelites to wipe out entirecities.

Ibring this all up now, not only because all this violence makes my heart sick,but because I am traveling once again to a country that has experienced morethan its share of death.

Between1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, carried out the systematicpersecution, torture, and killing of Cambodian citizens. As many as threemillion men, women, children, and babies died by horrific means. That wasnearly 30% of the total population at the time. You've maybe heard of the"Killing Fields" or seen the movie.

WhenI'm in Cambodia two weeks from now, besides seeing the spectacular Angkor Wattemple complex, I'll visit the real Killing Fields. Odd how I first learnedabout the country in 1974, one year before those atrocities began. And so sad.

I'llkeep you posted.  

(The first picture above was taken by one of my kid's when they were in Germany at one of the concentration camps. The other two pictures I took at the Museo de la Memoria in Ayacucho, Peru.)