What a trip!

The trip to Cambodia was life-changing, eye-opening and heart-softening.  I know that I've just overused hyphenated words, but each descriptor is true.  Here's a little summary...

With two nurses in our group, plus Molly (daughter of one of the gals in our group, missionary in Cambodia) who has training in third world medicine, we ran medical clinics in two slum areas, one outlying village and in an orphanage.  These two little guys were perfectly healthy and loved my camera!  My job at the clinics was running our makeshift "pharmacy".  Tylenol, medicine for parasites and antibiotics were the most in demand.
Cambodia today is a nation of children and young adults as a result of the Khmer Rouge's genocide in the 1970s.  Many of these children are from the orphanage where we held a clinic. Molly is front and center.  Her sister, Erin is in the pink tie-dye shirt.


Our gang enjoying some r&r in Thailand.  I learned that ordering your food "medium hot" in Thailand means something very different from the US.  YOWZA! 
To keep kids entertained while they waited their turn at the clinic, they colored pictures. This 16 year old young man's living conditions were as poor as you can imagine, yet we spotted him  hanging these pictures on the outer walls of his shack. This scene touched me at a deep level.  What struck me was our universal, personal desire for beauty and order, no matter what the circumstance.  After seeing this photo developed I noticed that the back of his shirt says "realize". 


In Thailand, we swam with elephants in the jungle at an elephant camp, then went for a long ride. This was an unbelievable experience! Did you know elephants are hairy?  Did you know, too, that they are AMAZING? 

I know this is a weird highlight but I made lists of ways we traveled to and around Cambodia/Thailand.  Planes (survived!), taxis, vans, buses, ferries, trucks, tuk-tuks, bikes (well, one of us) elephants, motos (above-yes, I'm excited!) and the back of a policeman's motorcycle (SO worth the $5.00 I gave him) There are other lists, too, but that blog will come later. : )