Places & Things of Interest in Phnom penh.

Hi Everyone,
Things are really going well here. God has opened some doors to minister in Chiang Rai (Thailand) for a few days and also to visit Laos, with a couple of friends from Australia (Mimi & Lisa). I leave for Thailand in about 2 hours. Part of our trip is to Destiny Rescue in Chiang Rai, and to minister in the hill top tribes. Very exciting stuff!!!!!
Also, last week, as I was sitting in the English class at New life Fellowship, I got a gentle reminder from God, of what I am really here for. The relief English teacher (at New life fellowship) was rambling on a bit and doing a lot of talking ( the aim of teaching english class is MORE student talking time (STT), and LESS teacher talking time (TTT) I was sitting privately comparing his style of teaching to our usual teacher, & criticising his over the top TTT. When all of a sudden he plunged into his full on testimony, witnessing for God. He explained to our class, of mixed religions, how he used to be a gangster, and fight and drink etc. How God had changed his life, and how his family's religion (Buddism) didn't help him at all. He gave some insight into the customs here and how young men go to be a monk at 18 years of age. Then all of a sudden their parents have to bow down and worship them.... It was great!! What a reminder hey??? It was like God giving me a gentle slap in the ears. Good stuff, I like it...!!!
Below are just some interesting things I have found in in Phnom Penh:-
I really liked they way they have done this wall at one of the posh hotels.
I was told by one of the staff that this is a statue
of the man who wrote the Khmer dictionary.
He is obviously very revered.
This man carries his shop on his bike.

I thought this lady was very brave, tackling the Phnom Penh peak hour traffic on a bicycle... She looked like she was leaving from work, and was trying to cross a busy main road.

I am not sure what this building is, but a lovely example of the Khmer architecture.

This is a game the nationals play in the park. They stand in a circle and pass this shuttle cock type of thing to each other by kicking it into the air. It's quite interesting to watch.

Some take away food on mthe side of the street, at the river front. Yum!!! Anyone for lunch???
The littler things are baby ducks, they also eat them still in the egg, just before they are about to hatch. Quite a delicacy for them apparently.

This is a part of the kings palace, but just the entry I think. You have to pay about $9 to go in and have a tour. I haven't got there yet.

This man is a regular begger at the river front. Sometimes the beggers are trafficked also, and don't get the money themselves. Sort of like having an employer? or pimp. It's a pretty sad existence all the same..

This young man and his brother wre doing their jo, collecting recycables through the streets of the tourist area of Phnom Penh.

This isa regular sight. It would most likely be this families house for the night. Many families live in the open air on the river front. Some of our girls have come from there also, and their families are still living in those conditions.

This is the Phnom Penh Post Office. I have to take a tuk tuk ride all accross town to get there.

Well that is just a short and sweet look at some photos I have been collecting. As I said earlier, I am off to Chiang Rai, Thailand, tonight. Then on to Laos. So i will keep you posted on what God did, and had us do there. Love and Blessings Lane.

Do You Make The Difference?

DO YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE?

If each grain of sand were to say:
One grain does not make a mountain,
There would be no land.

If each drop of water were to say:
One drop does not make an ocean,
There would be no sea.

If each note of music were to say:
One note does not make a symphony:
There would be no melody.

If each word were to say:
One word does not make a library,
There would be no book.

If each brick were to say:
One brick does not make a wall,
There would be no house.

If each seed were to say:
One seed does not make a field,
There would be no harvest.

If each of US were to say:
One person does not make the difference,
There would never be love and peace on earth.

Do you make the difference?
Begin today and make the difference.
*********************

To surcome to the enormity of the problem, is to fail the one......... by being obedient to God, I hope I can help the one He puts in front of me. That's all He asks. That's all I can do. Please keep me in your prayers, to be effective, show love and grace, and impact the one, for His glory. Amen.
Love and Blessings to you my friends, Lane.

The Vietnam Interjection - Day 1.

STARTING OUT....
We (Anne & I) excitedly arrived at the bus stop at 7am to catch our 7.30 bus, which finally left Phnom Penh at 8.30am. The first person we met was this lovely young Lady, Gaile. She is French, and was travelling over here for 4 weeks, by herself. She joined us for part of her trip. We had breakfast together, at a cafe nearby, while we waited for our bus to arrive. Apart from saying a few hello's, the 2 hour bus trip to our first stop was relatively uneventful.

OUR BOAT........
This is the boat we caught for the second leg of our trip. Although dodggy looking at first sight, it had a certain charm. It was pretty comfortable, open, and a lovely cruise down the river. Run by a very efficient husband and wife team. (at least that's what they looked like)
At this stage we are still all pretty reserved, and keeping to ourselves. Just the polite smile etc. That was to change as time went on. Anne is standing in the orange 'T' shirt. We started out almost strangers, and came home mates. The chairs in the boat were not bolted down, so they could be removed if need be, I suppose.
LANE & ANNE.........
You all know who I am...... (the fantastic, good looking lady in the white) ha ha!! Anne is on staff at the Citipointe Church, Brisbane. She originally came over for 4 weeks to work in the office, and put some policies and procedures in place. She is staying on now for another six weeks as Acting Project Supervisor, while Becc is back in Australia. She also had to leave Cambodia, to renew her visa.
THE SCENIC RIVER CRUISE.........
This is a typical village setting. Life revolves around the river, so typically everything is built close to it. Leaving it vulnerable to the rises and falls of the water level. It is safe to assume that, in the wet season, the water will rise right up to meet these houses.
Still in Cambodia...This is some sort of logging mill, I think. I know the men were very busy whatever they were doing. But I learned that in Vietnam timber is very expensive, because it is not a natural product of the country. It is imported from Cambodia, and has to be floated through the Mekong Delta river system to do so.
Transport.......
These boats carry everything. From people to goods and services.
A close up of the motor and rudder that does so much work, day in and day out. I think this particular boat may have seen better days though.
OUR BORDER STOP....
Of course, we had to get off our boat at the Vietnam border to do the "official thing" with passports & visa etc. From there we continued our river cruise on a different, slightly more modern, boat. I think it was owned by the Vietnamese Tourist company that was responsible for us for the rest of the trip. We continued our VERY RELAXING river cruise.
This tree, we discovered in the grounds of the border immigration office. We were all intrigued by it. It had no leaves and these great pods on it. I have since found out that the pods contain, a fibre similar to cotton. I have heard of it, but can't remember the name. When the pods break open, it even looks white and fluffy, like cotton. (Coming from Moree, have seen cotton grow and I know what cotton looks like in it's raw state.). In the dry season the leaves fall off the tree, and I suppose so the pods use all the nutrients to grow. A khmer man (sitting beside me right now in the internet cafe) told me that they also make insence out of the leaves. He can't tell me the name of it in English either. Can anyone enlighten me??Noel..? Carol..?
THE HOUSES........
Well. I think they speak for themselves, don't you?


I think it's washing day. Although, if it is anything like the house I am living in, EVERY DAY is washing day.
And...as in every household..... the dishes need washing ....in the lovely clean water of the Mekong Delta...!


And the buffalo need somewhere to cool down. It was quite a privilege to catch the sight of these buffalo having their morning dip.
Now back home for some tukker and a kip eh!!!!!
Arriving in CHAU DOC......

Our first night was sent in the town of Chau Doc. A bustleing, quite modern town. Our hotel was very basic (No - this is not it!). Anne and I teamed up with another Australian lady, who was travelling alone, to share a room for three. Her name was Simmone, and she came from Victoria. We were lucky, apparently we got a good room compared to the others. But what can we expect when we pay only $6 - $20 per night.

This was our entry point to Chau Doc. The park in the next few pictures, runs along the river bank for quite some way. It is the lovliest part of town.

This statue of three entertwined dolphins, at least they looked like dolphins to me, was really spectacular. It would be well placed in Coffs Harbour actually.

This fountain was in the middle of the park. Locals use the park for entertainment and exercise. They just walk laps. Everyone seems to go the same direction (they do it in Phnom Penh also). And if you go against the tide, so to speak, you get frowned at. I usually found myself going against the tide, but I figured I could get away with it cause I was an alien!!!! Seems to work.

this photo could be mistaken for one from a tropical paradise...

The town itself.

I roped Anne into mounting one of these cyclo's and doing a half hour tour of the city with me. It was a good way of seeing a lot more than we would have on foot. My driver spoke english, so he gave me a commentary along the way. When we finished we got a very quick (30 min) massage. One of the ones where they walk all over you, literally.

Some of our crew... This young couple were from The Netherlands (Holland). Jordie & Joanie. They were the only two from our original group to do the home stay with us, in the next leg. Which we all had a fantastic time at, but more about that in the day two blog. The guy in the front was from Belguim, I think. There were a lot different nationalities represented in our group. German, French, Dutch, Isrealie, Australian, Belguin just to name a few.
Well that's it for DAY 1. We all did our own thing in the evening discovering the city, but most of us were in bed reasonabbly early, ready for our next days travel. Keep posted for days 2 & 3 to come very soon ... it takes so long to do, I have to break it up into sections. Bye for now. Lane.

The Vietnam Interjection!-Days 2 & 3 highlights....

The Fish Farm; Living on the water, the services deliver straight to your door. How wonderful is that? The floating breakfast cafe.! Next is the fish farm's "holding pens". They are bred in holding pens inder their house/buildings etc. They are held there for 6 months. A lot of fish die because the pens are fed by the Mekong Delta water, and open to the polution, tides, disease etc.

This is where they feed the fish from. At first sight, it looks very crowded, but I realized that the fish know it's feeding time so they fight their way to the surface to get the food. Then when feeding is finished, they dispurse themselves back into the quite large pens under the buildings.

The Silk Weaving Outlet: This lady is weaving silk in a little "factory".. Her son is upset and wants her attention, but she continues to do her job. She did attempt to pacify him by sitting him beside her on the stool and let him help. It didn't work very well. He just wanted mum. But I suppose she felt she couldn't stop, considering she had an audience.

A close up of her hands at work. I got roped into buying a pretty pink scarf for $4. More to support them than need or want. You will see it in another picture further on.

This is the bridge we had to cross to get to the Chi Minority People, and their village. (the people who make the silk scarfs, sarongs etc.

The River life: These are some of the houses that the river dwellers live in, I think they are lovely. And living on the river is a very peaceful existence. Certainly travelling by boat is much less stressful that travelling on the crowed, noisy streets. They do go to the mainland for supplies, and to drop off some of their kids to school each morning. Some may work there, I'm not sure, but most make their living on, or from the river.

I love this little house. See how it is built on a boat. And the beautifying of the front veranda, by potplants. I could live here! (well I think I could..)Most of the houses have wire barriers so the little ones don't fall in the river.

The Homestay: This is me with my $4 pink silk scarf. We have just arrived at our home stay accommodation. I shared my bed with Anne. And the other young couple stayed in the other bed in the same room. This is our tour guides 'family home. We put mozzie nets up to sleep. It was like camping inside.

The Rice Fields:
Our guide is explaining how rice grows. The young rice plant has a little pod on the top, containing a flower, which opens at night to catch the evening due. Then closes before dawn. After a number of weeks the flower drops off and the pod closes permanently. Then it fills with milk. Then over the next few weeks the milk hardens into what we know as rice. This whole process takes 4 months and they get 3 harvests per annum. They store 1.5 ton in their house for the families supply for 4 months, and sell the rest. Approx 3.5 ton. They also grow watermelon, which creates a much better income for them.

This is the four of us having dinner. This young couple did the home stay also. They are from Holland. We were served rice paper wraps with a combination of fillings, When our hosts saw us eating, they realized we didn't quite know what to do with it, so the girl gave us a demo. They couldn't speak english, so it was quite hilarious trying to communicate. Our guide could speak english very well, but he had dissappeared, probably for a nap.

These are the watermellon fields. Here the women do the hard labour in a lot of cases.These ladies are cleaning the slime build up out the channels.

While these men sit under the shade of a tree!!!! What is wrong with this picture?????

The Floating Markets; This young man was helping his dad. The floating markets start around 3 am, everyday.

Boats come from lots of different towns, sometimes many miles away. They buy and sell their produce, and then take home what they have bought to on sell, at their shops or markets in their own towns and villages. As well as their own supplies.

They tie a sample their particular produce to the flag pole of their boat, to advertise what they are selling. One boat had a whole fruit and vegie section of the supermarket tied to his pole.

This fellow is selling pineapple. but is now buying his breakfast from the dooor to door, (or should I say - boat to boat) cafe. This lady could be selling rice soup, amongst other things.

Ready for our adventures the next morning. From left; Simmone (Vic Aust), Gaile (France) myself and Anne. This is the cafe of our hotel, which spills onto the street.

The trip ended in Saigon (Now Ho Chi Min City).This is just a street in Saigon. We had a quite long bus trip from our last stop to Saigon to stay the night in our own choice of accommodation. Arriving at almost 7pm, Anne and i just walked the street till we found something clean and comfortable. Our room cost $20 which we shared. Would you believe the tour, inclusive of some meals, only cost US$48.00 - (approx AU$80.00) - very reasonable. And of course our extra food, hotel in Saigon, and visa's for (Vietnam $33 and back into Cambodia $25).
Well this is just the highlights, but I hope it gives you some insight into Vietnam. I learned a lot about the Vietnamese way of life and some history, from our guide at the home stay. There is too much to put it all on this blogspot. But I hope you have enjoyed what I could manage to do. I have been back at work at the house now for over a week. I continue to teach english, supervise girls activities and outings etc. My relationship with all the girls and staff continues to grow. As does the girls self esteem, education, AND relationship with God. We all go to church every week. The girls have devotions most afternoons, and go to youth group on saturday nights. Well thats all from me till next time. Bless you heaps, love Lane.