The Royal Palace

I arranged for the same tuk tuk driver to pick me up on Sunday and take me to the Royal Palace and the National Museum.

The Royal Palace was very interesting except you didn’t actually go into the Palace. You were on the Royal grounds and you could go inside the Coronation room, the Silver Pagoda, the White Elephant stables and some other little buildings which housed some of the history and treasures of the palace, but not inside the Palace itself.



A cannon ball tree



I shared a guide with a couple from Australia and the guide told us that the King got to sit on the Royal Throne only once in his entire life and that was at his coronation. 

One of the buildings at the Royal Palace

He also only got to have the crown on his head once in his life and that was also at this coronation. I wondered if the King or any King snuck into the Coronation room at night just to sit on the throne.


The Coronation building

The Coronation room was a long rectangular room with tiles on the floor and a wool rug woven with the exact design as the tile floor. The room was probably at least 2 ½ times the length of my house. There are busts of some of the former Kings around the throne.



Getting the building ready for a coat of paint

The present King is not the oldest son. If royalty is a part of the government then they are forbidden to be King. The present King is 59 yrs old, single and was a ballet dancer in France for 18 yrs. There is very little power bestowed on the King. All the power is held by the government.


the tomb of one of the former Kings

 If the King is a popular King with the people then he will have a tomb or shrine erected for his burial place on the Palace grounds.



Some art work that was partially destroyed by the Khmer Rouge

The Silver Pagoda is a temple whose floor is covered in silver tiles. I think the guide said that there is 2 tonnes of silver that was used in the Silver Pagoda. 

the Silver Pagoda

He said that the Cambodian people call the pagoda the Emerald Pagoda as there is a Buddha that was carved out of a single emerald that looked to be about 4 feet high. 

a pink marble column from the Silver Pagoda

There were also a lot of gold buddhas and silver buddhas in the pagoda as well. These treasures where taken and buried by the then King when he fled to China during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. When he returned to Cambodia after it was safe he dug them up again and placed them back in the Royal Palace.

The Royal family used albino or white elephants as their transport. The white elephant was very rare and was a symbol of something but I can’t remember what. 

A royal chair for on the back of an elephant

All the elephants in Cambodia were killed during the time of the Khmer Rouge, even the white ones.

Silk Island

On Saturday I decided to visit the Royal Palace and the National Museum. When I arrived at the Royal Palace I was told that it was closed until 2:00pm. It was about 10:00am and because it was a Holy Day the Royal Palace closed one hour early so the Monks could have their ceremonies.

A tuk tuk driver on the street encouraged me to go to Silk Island and I agreed. We drove for about 45 minutes before we reached a ferry. The ferry had just left our side as we pulled up so we had to wait for it to come back. Since it was lunchtime the ferry crew had a bit of a break on the other side. When the ferry came back we walked on.

Silk Island is an island about 7 miles long and 2 miles wide in the middle of the Mekong River. In the rainy season when the rains are really bad the Mekong River can get so high that part of the island floods. Because the island is so flat most of the houses are built on stilts. One man said sometimes the water is chest high on the island roads and they have to use boats to get around.

I met a young man at the ferry crossing and he invited me to his home to see his family’s loom and some of their silk. The tuk tuk driver and I hopped on the young man’s moto with his wife and drove to their home. The young man got a ride from someone else on the ferry.

The man’s brother-in-law was weaving silk with the loom when we arrived and the man explained the loom and the weaving process to me. It was very interesting. I bought a couple of things from him and his family and then his wife took the tuk tuk driver and me to the beach.

The beach was interesting as well. There was a bunch of small thatched roof shelters on stilts in the water with a floor just about the water. We were able to have the use of a shelter in exchange for buying lunch. We ate lunch there in the hut, while watching the young people playing in the water.

The young Cambodian children, especially the boys, were skinny-dipping and the older Cambodian people were swimming in all their clothes: long pants and shirts. They didn’t have or they don’t use swimsuits. I didn’t bring my swimsuit with me because I had planned on going to the Royal Palace and the National Museum. The tuk tuk driver told me that I could rent clothes to swim in if I wanted to. We spent about 3 hours or so at the beach before heading for home.

We hitched a ride on a moto back to the ferry as it was about 3 kms. By the time I got home I had a headache and was starting to not feel well. I think it was because I had gotten too much sun that day. I went to bed without supper, just to be on the safe side and when I got up in the morning I was as good as new.

Sick in Cambodia.....

After Jody and I spent the day at the Killing Fields and Toul Sleng we got home about 5:00pm and I was sick. I had a sore throat and a headache. There was a new volunteers' dinner that night that we were invited to but I didn't go, since I didn't feel well.

I went to bed and basically didn't get up again except for lunch and dinner for the next 4 days. I probably took about 6 or 7 showers every day/night just trying to cool my skin down. I had a sore throat, sore teeth, sore sinuses, a plugged ear - basically a bad head cold with a fever. I finally put some regular clothes on on Sunday and went for a little walk to the local market with Jody. She had been invited to a Khmer wedding and had a traditional outfit made there. It was beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!!

When we got home I went back to bed for a while. My back and hip was getting sore from just laying around. I still had a very plugged ear and a cough on Monday, so decided not to go to work that day either.

Some of the interesting things I experienced while sick was to be so hot but not have chills or aches that are usually affiliated with a fever. Another interesting thing was that when I showered (we don't have hot water, it is tempid, a bit on the cool side) the water at my feet was quite warm. It was cool around my head and warmer than warm at my feet and this was from the heat coming from my skin. My towel was soaked for days and because I was showering so much it didn't get a chance to dry off.

I am happy to report that I am feeling quite a bit better and went to work today. I still have a bit of a plugged ear and stuffy sinuses, but am definitely almost better. The kids, especially the university kids, were so happy to see me today. Classes went really well.

Prayers:

Please pray for all the people in Japan that were and are effected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. For those that lost their family members, homes, businesses, and all their worldly possessions. That God uses His people in a mighty way to minister to this hurting country.

For those people in Japan whose families were spared that they rejoice in this and cherish their families safety.

For all of us that we take this as a bit of 'a wake up call' to love and appreciate our families for the blessings that they are.

Toul Sleng and the Killing Fields

On March 8th Jody and I didn't have to work. It was a National Women's Day and all the schools were closed. We thought we would spend the day sightseeing. We thought we would take a tour of the Royal Palace and also visit the National Museum.
When we got to the Royal Palace we were told by a tuk tuk driver that it was closed for the National holiday. He asked if we wanted to go to the Killing Fields and Toul Sleng. We were not sure that we did, but after a quick discussion decided that that is what we would do.

The tuk tuk driver gave us a price for a return trip. He said that it didn't matter how long we stayed at the Killing Fields he would wait for us and drive us back to town. The ride out took about 30 minutes as it was about 15 kms from town.


The monument built to house some remains



There was a monument that was about 3 stories tall which housed some of the remains of the people that had been executed at the Killings Fields, as well as some of their clothing and some of the weapons of destruction. The centre of the monument had shelves that were about 10' x 12' and there was 9 in total. The bottom shelf was covered in clothing that was taken from the mass graves of the people when it was exhumed in 1980. The next 4 or 5 shelves was covered in skulls which were sorted by gender and age. The next shelf had jaw bones and collar bones, etc. and I am not sure what was above that. It was very, very sad to see. So many people lost their lives here in a very cruel and brutal fashion.


One of the weapons used to kill people



The Killing Fields that had been excavated in 1980 were 6 - 7 foot deep depressions in the earth about 15 -20 feet diameter. These were the mass grave sites of thousands of people.   

Some exhumed graves

There was almost 9000 people found in these mass graves and there are still mass grave sites that have not been touched at the Killing Fields. Some of the mass grave sites were marked as they contained atrocities all their own. 

The grave of 166 headless corpses

There was the mass grave site that had been home to 166 headless corpses, or the grave site that was home to only naked women and their small children and babies. 

The women and children's mass grave

This one was right next to a tree that was marked as the tree which the babies and small children were beaten against until they were dead. 

The tree where soldiers beat children to death

It breaks my heart to think of the horrors that these people were subjected to before they died. It would have been too much to endure. How could someone do this to someone else? tonhelpless women and children? to little babies? How they must have been praying to their god or gods for help. God must have been sickened at the blackness of the torturers' souls.


Some bones and clothing sticking out of the ground at the Killing Fields

  

On this tree hung loudspeakers used to drown out the cries of the dying people

Jody and I wandered around the area questioning how this could have happened and how come we never knew about it? I was a teenager and Jody was a young mother. We wondered why the world didn't step in and help these people. How the Khmer Rouge was allowed to run rampant in a country, destroying its people among other things. Genocide has happened before in this world and it has happened a couple of times in my lifetime. Is there somewhere in the world that is experiencing it right now? Are people being prosecuted, tortured and annihilated in mass numbers somewhere where we can help put a stop to it? We need to pray for God's peace and mercy on people around the world, especially those who He has yet to reveal himself to.

There was another building on the site that house a bit of a museum. There was a room showing who some of the Khmer Rouge responsible for the atrocities, some of the weapons used like hoes, sickles, axes, picks, hammers, etc. It was thought that bullets were too expensive to waste on killing these people. Another room had a film on who the Khmer Rouge was and their rise to power and what their beliefs were and how they treated the people. It was supposed to be an equal society - no one better than another. Although, it was determined that the people from the city were corrupted by modern society and the poor peasants in the country were the model or "base people". The base people didn't have to leave their homes, villages, or farms during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. It is my understanding that they also received a better share of the food that was distributed to the peoples.

There was another room in that same building that had a brief history on the high ups of the Khmer Rouge regime. At the top was Pol Pot, of course. What struck me was that most of the leaders where well educated men. Most had won scholarships to study in France when they were younger. Some of the information eluded to the fact that this was where some of them first joined the "communist movement".

Our tour guide said that his mother and his father were killed by the Khmer Rouge and that one sister and one brother starved to death during that time. He also said that the movie "The Killing Fields" was an accurate account of what went on during that time.

I was deeply moved by what I saw and read. My heart broke for the people - All the people and I cried. Tears spring to my eyes again, easily just by the thought.

Toul Sleng was a high school that was changed into a prison of torture and interrogation for the Khmer Rouge. It was the largest prison in all of Cambodia. It was stated that 17,000 people entered and only 7 lived. All the others were taken to the above mentioned killing field and executed.

The Khmer Rouge killed every member of the former government. It questioned people under torturous conditions trying to get names of anyone who might be against them or deemed a threat to them. They didn't stop the torture until names were given and then they would hunt those people and their families down and torture them until more names were given and then they would hunt them down and .....this went on for the whole time that they were in power. If a parent was killed the Khmer Rouge thought it was better to kill the whole family so that the children could not retaliate against them when they got older.

There was 4 three story buildings at Toul Sleng. Building A was used as a holding place for high up government officials that were being interrogated. The room was quite large with a single bed in it. There was also a steel box in it which the prisoner was to use as a toilet. The last prisoners to die at Toul Sleng were killed on the beds that they were lying on. Their hands and feet were shackled and the guide said that they were killed in a hurry as the Vietnamese army was right outside the gate trying to get in. The last 14 to die were buried on the property of Toul Sleng and the photographer that accompanied the Vietnamese army took photos of all 14 as they were found. There is an enlarge photograph in each room showing how the prisoner was found. It was very gruesome! Horror movies looked tame compared to what these people experienced.

The second building had chain link fencing all down the front of it. The tour guide said that this was because one woman committed suicide by jumping off the balcony of the third floor. They put the chain link fencing up to stop suicides as the death would be too easy for a person. The people in the second building were kept all chained together their hands and their feet all in a row. They could only stand, sit or lay down in the place that they were.

The third building was divided into small 3' x 4' rooms where prisoners were kept chained up. There was various methods of torture which apparently took place on a property next door.

One of the people who lived after being in imprisoned in Toul Sleng was an artist who the Khmer Rouge let live for their own purposes. After the Vietnamese freed Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge he painted pictures of the atrocities that he had witnessed and these were displayed in there. His paintings showed people having their fingernails and toenails pulled out by pliers, people hung upsidedown being dunked in a large caldron which the tour guide said was filled with sewage. People being beaten, starved, etc. It was horrible.

The Khmer Rouge also kept records of all the people to pass through the doors of the prison. Each one had a photograph with a number and a record of who they were and other particulars. Hundreds of these photos were on display, most were the victims but some were the Khmer Rouge. The majority of the soldiers with the KR were children aged ten to twenty, both boys and girls.

Being a soldier with the KR did not mean that you were safe from being taken captive, tortured and killed. Many of the KR were thought to be against the KR and were tortured and killed just like the other people.

It was a very, very solemn day for Jody and I. We were both profoundly affected by what we saw and experienced.

Prayers:

Please pray for all Cambodian people - for the family members that they lost or never got to know. That they are able to love their families that they have even if they didn't have anyone to show them how to love.

For my family back home - that God protect them and keep them safe from all that may harm them. Thankgiving for the family that I have been given. That I don't continue to take them for granted.

For all the people who are in bondage, whether it is from human trafficking, indenture, bonded or starvation and lack of opportunities. That God hear their cries and use us - the ones to whom much is given to help be the solution to abolishing slavery around the world.

For my friend Ferne and what a blessing she is to me and how she is willing to help me in whatever way she can.

Sihanoukville with the orphanage

The trip to Sihanoukville with the kids was very good. I arrived at the ophanage at 5:30am and the kids were all ready to go. The bus arrived and got loaded up and we left at about 6:30am. We stopped a couple of hours later by a field and all got out of the bus and had a breakfast of rice and fish. There was a man who was harvesting syrup from the Sugar Palm tree. Some of the kids and I tried the syrup. It tasted warm and sweet. He must make a notch in one of the stocks of the leaves and then hangs a long, narrow plastic bucket from a rope under the cut. The tree basically bleeds its syrup into the bucket.



Stopped for breakfast



The man with the palm syrup



Tasting the palm syrup

 We arrived at our guesthouse at about 11:00am and checked into our rooms and got our swim suits. It was down to the beach from there. We played in the water for approximately 30min and then it was time to go. We went to another beach that had a covered sheltered picnic area where we could eat our lunch.



The first beach



Lunch at the second beach



After lunch we played in the water again until we were as wrinkled as raisons. We sat in the sheltered area until it was time to set up for dinner. Supper was a barbeque prepared right there. The older kids and staff barbequed fish, prawns, small river clams, squid and a little bit of pork. It was delicious and the kids kept cooking until we left at about 8:30pm. After supper, some of the kids and I danced to the music that was playing.


A barbeque feast


Back at the guesthouse I was to share my room with Mr. Sokhun's two nieces, but they ended up spending the night in another room with some of the girls from the orphanage. It was a nice room and I stayed up late watching TV in English. That was nice too!

In the morning I woke up early, but stayed in my room until about 7:00am. As I was coming out one of the guesthouse's staff was coming to my room to see if I was ready to check out. The kids were already lined up and getting ready to leave. Who knew we would be leaving so early. It really does pay to speak the language of the country you are in and then you could ask these questions.

We went and had breakfast at one of the local establishments and then headed for Mr. Robert's boat. He was taking us on a boat ride to an island where we would be able to swim and play. The boat was 3 levels and very nicely and comfortably set up for lots of people. We arrived at the island and some people had the opportunity to jump from the top of the boat into the water and swim to the island. I was going to do this, but by the time I got my swimsuit on, everyone had already left and I thought, "What if I hurt myself? There won't be anyone there to help me. Oh, forget it! I don't have to jump from the top", so I didn't.


Mr. Robert's boat



A swim to the beach


When we all got the the island, Mr. Robert took us on a bit of an adventure in the river. The riverbanks were covered in Mangroves. There was 3 different types of Mangroves that Mr. Robert pointed out to us. The water was a very dark and disgusting colour. It was between a dark brown and black colour with a tinge of red to it. Mr. Robert said that it was because of the Tea Trees that were also growing there that gave the river it's disgusting colour.


Some of the orphanage kids


We stayed and played at the island until just after 12:30 and then be headed back to the mainland. We were treated to lunch by Mr. Robert. There was crab, noodles that were like a goulash, fried rice, a lettuce wrap, amok with fish and some fruit for dessert. The trip back was a bit rough and almost as soon as the kids had finished their lunch their tummies started to turn and they were throwing up everywhere. They were not having any fun, anymore.

Back on dry land we all got on the bus and headed for home. We arrived back at the orphanage at 8:30pm. Theara, one of the staff  drove me back to my home. It was a very good weekend and the kids and I had a good time.

A visit by the Dentists...



A welcome to the Dental team





Kids arriving at the clinic


Yesterday a team of Dentists came to the orphanage and worked on over 200 kids. There are only 30 children in my orphanage, but kids from a lot of neighbouring orphanages and schools came. There was 10 dentists and 3rd year dental students who made up the team. They came from Japan, the USA, Holland and Germany, I think. There was other volunteers who came with them and basically did crowd control, comforting of the patients, post-op care (not that they operated, but they did do extractions, cleanings and fillings). The kids that had an extraction got to pick a prize from the prize table. There was hats, metal clips, pens, small whoopie cushions, etc.. that the dentists brought with them.



Some of the things donated for the kids that had extractions.




The makeshift Dental clinic


There was a shelter set up in the ophanage courtyard and under it was six desks from the school. These made up the dentists' workstations. The dentists rotated through the six stations and then got to have a break for 2 work stations. They started at 7:00am and worked through until about 3:00pm at which time they were utterly exhausted. There was still kids to see but they last 2 groups only had their teeth brushed with a flouride by the other volunteers.


One patient waiting for the dentist



The instrument sterilization table




The dentists hard at work

 There was 2 ladies (sisters) from Holland who came with the dental team to help entertain the children while they awaited their turn. I helped them with entertaining the children in the morning. One sister played the accordian and then other did most of the singing. It was very fun. We sang songs like: If your happy and you know it, twinkle twinkle little star, do you know the fisherman?, and couple of dutch songs that I did a terrible job at trying to copy, and head and shoulder knees and toes. The kids just loved it. We also did a couple of action songs that I had never heard or seen before. Unfortunately, they had to leave at lunchtime and go somewhere else to entertain some kids.

In the afternoon I had some of the kids from one of the last school/orphanage sing me some songs in Khmer and in English. Prior to this they were running a bit wild at the school and making all sorts of a mess. They are like kids everywhere. They love to sing happy songs, especially ones with actions.

I spoke to one of the dental students and he indicated that they were here in Cambodia for two weeks and that yesterday was day 3 for them. They spent the first two days with the Riverside kids and after today they would be going out into the provinces for about a week and then the last 3 days would be spent with the Garbage Dump kids.
They said the first day they saw over 230 kids. How exhausting, but rewarding would that be, and how wonderful for the children who may be suffering with their teeth but unable to go to the dentist for lack of funds.

Please pray for the Dentists - that they do as much as they possibly can to help the poor children of Cambodia. That the experiences that they have here help shape the people that they are to become as dentists. That they help take care of the poor in the world who wouldn't be able to access dental assistance without the services that they provided.

Pray for me this weekend as I am going with my orphanage on a 2 day field trip to the beach area of Cambodia. That this time be one of fun, relaxation, and a real getting to know one another. That God uses me in a mighty way in these children's lives and that I come back from the beach changed. All for His glory.

My placement here in Cambodia...

I am working in an orphanage, but not in the orphanage itself. There is a school on an adjacent property and it is there that I work. I teach 6 one hour English classes a day, monday to friday. I teach 2 classes of CCOLT kids ( CCOLT stands for Cambodian Children Ophanage Learning and Training), 2 classes of University students, 2 classes for the CCOLT staff - one regular class and one conversation class.

One of the 4 classrooms - Class A, B, C and D


I must admit I am struggling with the teaching. It has been a long time since I was last in school (almost 30 yrs) and to try to teach without any training, talk about being outside of your comfort zone. It is getting better and thank God for small mercies as some of my classes are or were very small.

I start teaching at 9:00am and then take a 2 hour break for lunch from 11:00 to 1:00. I ride a bicycle that was provided by my host family and it is only a 10 minute bike ride from home to school. I ride home for lunch, have a bit of a rest, have lunch and then ride back to school.

                                                               Outside of the classrooms at the school


The kids go to public school either in the morning or in the afternoon. For the month of February they went to public school in the morning, so I was teaching them in the I afternoon. This month they go to public school in the afternoon, so I teach them in the morning. I find this to be easier, and I am not sure if it is that I am not so tired or if I am getting more comfortable and familiar with the material that I am teaching.

I was given 4 log books to see what was last taught to which class and also 5 or 6 workbooks that I was to teach from and then told to start at the beginning of each book with each class. The kids in the class were okay with that for a day or two and then they said, "No teacher, we are on this chapter". Oh the world of "tenses, verb patterns, present perfect and past simple, time clauses, first conditional, second conditional, present perfect simple vs. continuous", I don't even recognize some of these terms from when I was in school. Talk about a really rocky boat. WOW!!

But, to be honest, I am enjoying what I am doing more and more. I find the university students to be very delightful. They are there because they truly want to learn the English language. I started with one student in my University Class A - her name is Sok Leak. Then there was two, and now there are about 10. They asked if they can sit in on my University Class B lesson as well. I said that that was okay with me. Yesterday I had 17 students in the University Class B. After the lesson the class asked if they can come from 1:00 to 3:00 and have a two hour lesson instead of  a one hour lesson. I told them that was fine with me, but that I would be teaching 2 separate lessons as they are at different levels. They were okay with that so we will see how it goes tomorrow.

                                Some of my university students in class on tuesday.

Today there are no classes at all, as a team of Dentists have come to look at the CCOLT kids' teeth and give them a cleaning. I am going to help with that, as is the other volunteer who is teaching English at CCOLT as well.

Both Stephanie (she is the other volunteer teacher) and I didn't know that there wouldn't be any classes today until after our last class left for the day. The Director of CCOLT forgot to mention it to us, so unfortunately all our University students will come for nothing. Oh well, sometimes those things happen.

The Director of the school wanted me to teach English on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30pm to 7:30pm as well. On these days I would need to walk back to school after lunch and then catch a tuk tuk or a moto home as it gets dark here about 6:00. It would be too dark and/or dangerous to ride the bike home in the dark, I am not sure which one. I told him that I thought that would be too  much as I am usually exhausted by the end of my teaching day. We are hoping that more volunteers to Cambodia wanting to teach English. Maybe next week.

Well I am off to work today and am excited about the Dentist that is coming. I will keep you posted.

Pray for the children here in Cambodia. That God protect them and keep them from harm. That He start to work in the Cambodian men that they have a desire to faithful to their wives and families. That the accepted custom of visiting brothels becomes less acceptable through education.

Pray for all the children that will be seen by the dental team on this mission trip. That their smiles be enriched and that the lives of the dentists themselves be touched by all that they see and do for the children.