Live with Love and Laughter: I heart Cambodia

I have three other blog posts already started, but I felt like writing something new and not working on half written posts, especially since it's been over two weeks since I've posted. So much has happened, which is why I haven't written - but more on that later.

We have spent the last three days in Siem Reap, Cambodia touring the temples of Angkor Wat and interacting with the spectacular people of Cambodia. One of the things I enjoy most about visiting all of these wonderful countries is learning more about each countries history and interacting with the people. Cambodia's past is so full of sadness and misery and yet they are some of the happiest, friendliest, accepting people we have come across on our trip. We are constantly greeted with smiles and waves from people of all ages. It's amazing.

Back in September I started a book titled, In the Shadow of the Banyan, which is a heart wrenching story about a young girl living in Cambodia during the occupation of the Khmer Rouge. The book is excellent and it really gave me a sense of the horror that the Khmer people endured during that war and following occupation. Sadly, there is still a lot of evidence of the damage the Khmer Rouge caused during that time. The worst part is the children who have been left orphaned after their parents were killed by landmines laid by the Khmer Rouge. We visited the Landmine Museum, which is also an orphanage for children, and learned more about this problem. In addition to learning from reading this book, we have learned more about the people of Cambodia through the documentaries shown nightly at our guesthouse in Siem Reap. One documentary discussed the many orphans in Cambodia, some who have lost their parents due to landmine explosions and others whose parents cannot afford to care for them, it is so sad. The thing that continues to amaze us though is that everyone here is so HAPPY!

I can't talk about our past few days in Cambodia without talking about the temples of Angkor Wat. We have visited at least 11 of them, maybe 12, we got a little templed out yesterday and might have forgotten to count one. We have enjoyed seeing the influence of Hinduism in this part of the world. We were discussing today how interesting it has been to see how the religions that we have learned about seem to seep into the neighboring countries as we have traveled Eastward. The temples of Angkor Wat are amazing not only for their intricate architectural designs, but also for the merging of Hinduism and Buddhism. One of our favorite temples was Bayon, whose towers are covered with huge faces of Buddha.

The children here are awesome. Much like the kids in Petra, many of the kids here start selling goods to tourists at a very young age - I hate it. The worst is when they come up and tell you that they need you to buy said item from them so they can go to school, which is very very unlikely, because their parents rely on them to make money every day. We have found though, that they really don't care much about selling, they are just as happy to talk and play and interact with us. We have yet to buy anything from them, but Charles had fun playing a form of hackysack with two boys, I showed a little boy wearing Angry Birds pants the game on my iPhone and he LOVED it, we answered one little girl's questions about where we were from, and we joked with two little girls today about the fact that we had no money with us at all. It breaks my heart to see them working all day peddling to tourists, but they seem so happy and they are fed and cared for and loved, which is better than many children in the world.

I was actually starting to wonder if any of the kids here went to school. Then, we ended up in a school today for both Buddhist monks and village children near the temple of LoLei. One of the young monks at the school overheard our English and came out to welcome us to come inside for a visit. The monks were having a lesson on the stories of Buddha in their native Khmer language. When they found out Charles was an art teacher they asked if he could draw a Buddha for them. So, he sat down and gave a watercolor demonstration and I visited with one of the English teachers at the school. It was so cool. We had already had some great experiences today and then we happened upon this. I just feel so incredibly lucky to be in Cambodia, to be welcomed into a school for the Buddhist Monks, to be learning about these strong and happy people, to be sharing it all with my husband - LUCKY.

And now, a few photos: