Wat we've been doing

This blog entry is for Friday and Saturday, since we spent the night in Siem Riep, and the title for this entry was inspired by the team's pastime of thinking up bad puns. Many apologies.

Siem Riep is the second biggest city in Cambodia, and the nearest city to Poipet. We chose to take an over-night visit to Siem Riep as we hoped it would help us better understand Cambodian culture and CHO's work.

We started our journey immediately after devotions and breakfast. The main road through Poipet is as long and straight as a roman road, running from across the Thailand/Cambodia border, through Poipet, and another 140km to Siem Riep. As it's such an important road, it is paved in tarmac and well cared for, which cuts the journey down to a comfortable 3 hours. Only a few years ago the same road unpaved took around seven hours.

Siem Riep is not only a big city, but the most popular tourist destination in Cambodia. This is because of the temples (called 'Wats'), which date from around the 9^th - 13^th centuries (late Saxon and early medieval times in England). The Wats are an incredibly important part of Cambodia's religious, social and political history, and so we were delighted to hear that entry is free for Cambodians, because it means that everyone can benefit from seeing this cornerstone of their heritage. The most impressive Wat is Angkor Wat, which is the building you see pictured on the Cambodian flag. We visited Angkor Wat and the older Ta Porhn Wat, which were both stunning. The experience was marred somewhat though by the pushy souvenir touts outside each of them. Many of these were children and it was very challenging not to buy from them when they spoke to you in English, and seemed so small and needy. But we knew any money they made would only serve as encouragement to keep them out of school and on the streets working for whoever really got the money.

While in Siem Riep we were lucky enough to be able to watch a performance of traditional 'apsara' dancing. I was absolutely thrilled to be able to see it, as I had read about it before travelling to Cambodia, and had not expect to have the privilege of seeing it performed. The dance was almost totally lost under the Khmer Rouge, with only two or three dancers surviving through this period, including one princess of the royal family. These remaining dancers have been able to resurrect the tradition with only their own memories and the carvings of dancers at the Wats, and after only a few decades it is again a thriving and valued part of Khmer (Cambodian) culture. So much that we see here speaks of hope and new life after the immense destruction caused by the Khmer Rouge. The resurrection of the dance style, the restoration work under way at the Wats, the rapid construction of roads, and soon railways too.

Our journey was enjoyable, but more importantly educational. Reatrey, CHO's office manager, kindly travelled with us as host, guide, driver and translator, and was able to give us a great insight into everything we saw and experienced. I think we all now feel that we have a better sense of Cambodia, that will allow us to be that much more effective in the coming week.

One final thing; those of you who have been watching the news will be aware that the flooding in Bangkok is getting very serious. I hope you will join us in praying for the humanitarian situation there.Cambodia is also flooding, but to a lesser degree. Nonetheless, we saw homes and businesses with water flowing right into the buildings, and many people are going about their normal lives wading in floodwater. Some roads have become impassable, and people are using the dirty floodwater to drink, wash and cook. As we drove past rice fields, Reatrey explained to us that the water was too high swamping the rice plants so much they can't grow, meaning Cambodia faces a poor harvest this year. Please pray for all these things.    

Maria (22nd October)