hot hot hot

We thought Thailand was hot but it's even hotter in Cambodia!!! How am I going to survive the next few weeks? My skin problem has just cleared up before we left Singapore. After 2 days in Cambodia, it's itching at the same spots again. One good thing is there aren't that many mozzies in the city. There are some but not as many as in Thailand countryside.

us dollar or cambodian riel?

 

Apparently both!!! The official currency in Cambodia is the Cambodian Riel but no one uses it. All businesses, big and small, trade in US Dollars. The Cambodian Riel is only used as small change. The current exchange rate is about US$1 = 4000 Cambodian Riel. An example...I pay for an item which cost US$2.50 (yes, most prices are in US Dollars). Hand over a US$5 note and you will be given two US$1 notes and 2000 Cambodian Riels as change...As you can imagine, we were a little confused on the first day... The photo above shows a 100 Cambodian Riel note which is about US$0.025!!!

more mobile bus ticket sellers (phnom penh)

 

These mobile bus ticket sellers were very aggressive. They were pulling the woman's handbag and even dragging her child to their buses!!!

yellow pepsi?

Well, not exactly...It is petrol in these bottles. These petrol sellers are all over the place. They sell by the bottle and provide you with a funnel to fill up!!!

where we live

 

 

This is where we will live for the next 2 weeks. Quite comfortable apartment with all the essentials (including air-conditioner) and it just just opposite the church that we are working at.

where we work

New Life Fellowship (Cambodia Outreach-NLF) is located in the Phnom Penh (PP) city, near the Olympic Stadium. They have planted over 60 churches in the provinces of Cambodia and provided assistance to many poor and underprivileged children in the slums in PP and villages out in the provinces. We will also get opportunities to visit these slums and take trips out to the provinces.

bus ride from siem reap to phnom penh

 

 

 

 

Got to the "bus station" after a somewhat strange ride in an "official taxi" (proper licensed desk) from the airport. Few hundreds metres out of the airport, the driver stopped the taxi by the side of the road and started taking off all the taxi signs (including the one on the roof)!!! They were magnetic!!! I thought..."Oh-O"...We asked why did he do that and he tried explaining to us but we didn't understand. Oh well, we got to the "bus station" in one piece. Well, the bus station is really a dirt road with buses parked on one side of the road. There were numerous "mobile ticket sellers" trying to sell you tickets from different bus companies. As soon as the "official taxi" pulled into the dirt road, we had all these "mobile ticket sellers" all over the car. Finally decided on the bus to take...Waited for about 2 hours before the bus left (the mobile ticket seller told us the bus was leaving immediately)...As you can see from the pictures, the bus not only carried passengers but also transported a motorcycle!!! The bus ride was about 5 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and we had Cambodian music blaring out of the speakers all the way. Scenery is similar to Thailand...

arrived in cambodia

 

Arrived in Siem Reap International Airport!!! Now, we have to take a 6 hour bus ride to Phnom Penh...

going to cambodia and vietnam

We have had a good break in Singapore. Will be leaving for Cambodia for about 3 weeks and Vietnam for about 4 weeks. We will be working with a Christian organisation - New Life Fellowship - in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We will mainly work with their orphan/disadvantaged children program out in the provinces. This is our first trip to Cambodia - EXCITING!!! In Danang, Vietnam, we will be working with AOG World Relief. Similiar kind of work that we have been doing the past few months. We believe we will have lots to learn in these places.

still having problems with blogger

Hi all, we are still having problems with blogger!!! Frustrating!!! Please bear with us as we try to sort out the problems. We will continue to blog daily - just that they might not get posted up in real-time...Check back regularly!!!

street food - bangkok style

 

 

 

 

Some great and interesting street food in Thailand. We haven't had any problems with street food or drinks in Thailand. No we have not tried everything...

courtyard marriott bangkok

 

 

May I present the Courtyard Hotel By Marriott. If you remember, we try to make it a point of rewarding ourselves with a stay at a good hotel after we finish a "tour of duty" in each country, as in the case of Marriott Hotel in Lima. This is a really nice hotel and it is only one year old. Looks nice, doesn't it?

problems solved

All posts are now in place and in the right order. We will pen our reflections and thoughts for Thailand soon. Happy reading!!

blogging problems

We haven't got the internet access to update the blog since we left Mercy, Phetchabun. We are now back in Singapore after spending a week at Samuel's House. Trying to update our blog but experiencing some technical issues with blogger. For some reasons, it's uploading some blogs but not others so the flow of the stories may not make sense to you. We will try to correct it as soon as possible so please be patient with us.

It's good to be back in Singapore! It's definitely much cooler than Thailand. The first thing I had to do getting back here is pay a visit to the doctor. Due to the hot weather and countless mosquito bites, I have ended up with atopic dermatitis and infected insect bites all over my arms and legs. I was happy to take the injection and also diligently taking the drugs and applying the cream. Hope it clears up before we leave for Cambodia next week.

Linda

meat balls and hotdogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

All thai kids love BBQ meat balls and hotdogs so we decided to buy 10kg of meat balls and hotdogs to have a BBQ with the kids just as a treat. Yes it was too hot to have a BBQ but everyone still enjoyed it. Alvin and Koy got the charcoal going in no time, and for the next 2 hours we spent barbecuing and eating all sorts of meat balls (pork balls, beef balls, fish balls, fish cakes and some unknown ones) and hotdogs. Did we finish the 10kg of 'flour with artificial colouring/ flavouring loaded with salt/MSG'? Almost...only about 1kg left. We had a great time!

cooling off

 

 

 

It's rainy season in Thailand but still very hot on most days. The best way to cool off on a hot afternoon is go for a swim. There is a fish pond at SH and that's exactly what the kids did...they went swimming in the pond to cool off. They absolutely love swimming!