The Kingdom of Cambodia (Part 2)

This is the second part of our tour of Cambodia with our daughter and family friend.

After a difficult day reviewing recent tragic Cambodian history, we had a lighter day on Silk Island traveling via boat on the Mekong River over to the island.

Fisher families live on these boats and make their living on the river.

The girls loved seeing how silk thread is made and woven. These are silk worms.

Then the cocoons.

Talented weavers make beautiful fabric out of the fine silk threads collected from the cocoons.

That afternoon we were introduced to the work of the Cambodia  Children's Fund. This organization helps families with education, food, clean water, medical services and housing.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has worked with CCF on several projects.

These projects focus on communities next to trash mountain. (If you are interested we recommend you read "The Rent Collector".)

Next day we traveled to Siem Reap. On the way we stopped in Spider Town where one of us had the courage and the $1 to take a picture with a "spider" (also known as a tarantula).  Good job, Elder Spencer!

Next morning, we enjoyed the sunrise tour of Angkor Wat.  This is one of the most famous tourist spots in the world. 

We also visited two other temples.  This area is covered with many ancient structures that kings built about a thousand years ago.

 

 

Later, we enjoyed a pedicure,

an evening cultural show and dinner,

and the night market for last minute shopping.

It was hard to say good-bye to Anne and Chelsie, but in the end they were happy to get back to their families and we were happy to get back to our service in Battambang.  It was a wonderful week!

Senior Missionary Conference

We recently enjoyed a two day senior missionary conference in Phnom Penh with the 8 missionary couples in the mission and hosted by President and Sister Christenen.  Three of these couples are serving in Viet Nam so we had not met them before.  Even the couples serving in Cambodia we see only infrequently.  It was such a pleasure to spend time with these great people. We learned so much from them and were so inspired by their great service. The conference opened with at dinner at the mission home on Thursday evening followed by a full day of inspiring meetings on Friday.  On Saturday morning we went on a group excursion to Silk Island before breaking up and returning to our various assignments.

Here are some pictures from that outing to Silk Island from Phnom Penh.  We took a tuk tuk to the boat "dock" and then a small boat to the island on the Mekong River.

The tuk tuk ride.  We actually were able to get a picture of the two of us since we were with another couple. 

 On the Mekong River.

These are cruise boats (certainly not the boat we took):

And fishing boats that people work and live on:

We visited a silk factory (and bought some scarves).  Here, our hostess explains how they prepare and dye the silk.

These are amazing, intricate patterns woven from the delicate silk threads.  It is very labor intensive work.

Elder Spencer always makes friends:

We rode around the island on horse-drawn carts.

During a part of the tour, we got to visit with some local children. Someone handed Elder Spencer a bag of candy to distribute to the neighborhood children.  It got a little out of hand in a hurry.

There is always something interesting to see and do here.  Mostly we loved being with our friends.

An elaborate Khmer wedding!

We were invited to a Khmer family wedding reception by Ly, who has become a dear friend. Almost all the people we know are very poor but, as you will be able to tell, Ly's family is rather well off. We have gotten to know Ly as she is learning the Gospel from the missionaries and we have been involved in the lessons. (She is learning in English.) We also see her at the weekly English class and Sister Spencer is teaching piano lessons for her daughter. This elaborate dinner and dance took place at the end of several days of celebration. We were so glad to have had this cultural experience.

The lovely bride and groom:

The elegant Khmer dancing 

(Ly is in the long dark gown):

The delicious food:

With our lovely friend and her sisters (and son):

My Missionary Companion

Sometimes as transfer time approaches, senior missionaries joke about changing companions.  We are so happy to be together. I tell the young missionaries all the time that when they go home and get married they are choosing their senior mission companion. ' Make sure they are mission material!'

I love my companion because he is full of faith and love

And the kids love him,

And he works so hard,  (He is cleaning his shoes and my shoes from mud.)

(And planting rice.)

And serves hard,

And plays hard,

And looks good in Cambodia,

And he lost money on this negotiation,

And we are in this together.

Morning traffic in Battambang

Sister Spencer tries to take a walk between 5:30 and 6:30 every morning. It is the coolest time of day, perhaps in more ways than one.  She will always see interesting things and sometimes even gets a picture or two.

 If you look closely at this picture, you will see that passenger on the moto is holding a chicken on the left side.

Even tough it is early, there is already a lot of traffic. None of the intersections have any traffic control devices so it is a free-for-all with the larger vehicles apparently having the right of way.  Once you drive in Cambodia awhile you begin to sense the rhythm of the traffic and you begin to recognize some kind of order.  The great majority of the vehicles in Cambodia are either bicycles or small motorbikes/motorcycles called motos. 

 Here is a dad taking his son to school with a little one coming along. Children are often sitting or standing on the front of the motos just behind the handlebars.  We have seen as many as six on a moto.

This cute little boy sandwiched between the women is waving at me. Some women wear pajamas all day. (I wonder if they come with skirts so I could wear some pjs with my missionary tag.)

 The river is more serene with a single ferry.