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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Cambodia



Cambodia captured my heart.  Perhaps we can return someday to stay longer and make ourselves useful.  Our church has a mission there.  I hope these pictures do it justice.  If they are too poignant, I apologize.  This young Buddhist knave solicited a picture with me and then reciprocated.


I don't know if I'll ever max out on the baby pictures I've been obsessed with taking lately.  This chap was unusually fat for Cambodia and seems completely attached to that bottle cap!  His mother was so so proud to show him off.


Elephant Crossing!!



A fellow BYU China Teacher, Bev.  Note the "balloon pants".  I bought like 8 pairs of them and have basically turned them into a uniform here in China.  Mary is coming around the corner.  She and I shared an elephant ride later in the day.


A band on the side of the road hawking their cd's.  So so charming and friendly.


An international team of workers restoring the ruins of ancient Buddhist temples near Siem Reap.  This will take decades to complete at great expense funded by multiple countries.


Roots.  I have dozens of pictures of these ruins from many angles using different lighting opportunities.  Unbelievably interesting.


These little French girls were on holiday with their parents. That snazzy purse was a souvenir from a grandmother who went to Mexico.  Some fieldtrip these girls are having...




We traipsed and traipsed interspersed with fresh cut mangoes purchased from street vendors and coconut juice whenever we could find it.


There has to be some sort of root analogy I could draw here.  Perhaps I should hold a contest.





And then our bus took us here.  It was another world.


But there were plenty of smiles and warmth to block out the conditions under which these people live.




A school.  We were pre-instructed to bring toothpaste, brushes, pencils etc. to give to the children.  When we got off the bus we were overwhelmingly swarmed--to the point of not being able to walk.  I was not prepared for that emotionally.  Then someone gathered everything up to distribute more evenly.  I'm sure the arrival of the tourist buses is sort of like the Wells Fargo Wagon!







I smiled at these crocodiles in spite of having been warned never to.



River people.  They live their whole lives on these boats.  Thousands of them.



Efficient no frills living.

I need to find some literature and do some reading on this.



This young thing looks about 12.  I saw her future flash before my eyes as we passed.


Angkor Wat must be a popular backdrop for wedding pictures.  Isn't she gorgeous? (I just noticed this, but is that a man's face on a woman's body??)


Do you think she's looking wistfully back at her youth??  She ought to.





Here's where it gets poignant.  The good news is that the baby looks very robust.  Hopefully, the babysitting was brief, and he could hand the baby back soon and run on his merry way.


This baby looks none the worse for wear clad only in his birthday suit.  It was hot.  I would have liked to have scampered about in like manner.


And yet another wedding.  Go your merry way!  We'll be back, I can hope.

1 comment:

Shelly said...

Someone in our ward served there recently. And, yes, that was a man's head...

Favorite books

  • Me 'n Steve
  • Thundering Sneakers
  • James Herriott's vet books
  • The Count of Monte Cristo
  • Travels with Charley
  • A Walk in the Woods
  • Peace Like a River
  • The Egg and I
  • Mary Poppins
  • Extremly Loud Incredibly Close
  • How Green Was my Valley