An evening out on the town

The other night a small group of us took a tuk-tuk and went to the Khmer Surin, a local restraurant for dinner. In general, Khmer food is GREAT. I lost about 7 pounds the first 5 days I was here but am quickly putting it back on. :-)

Tuk tuks are small taxi cab trailers that are pulled by motos (checkout the picture on the right). I can't explain what it feels like to be in one of these things amidst the chaotic traffic patterns. People drive all over the place, yet no one (that we've seen) gets into an accident. I included another picture from the perspective of being in the tuk-tuk. It's a little blurry but you can see the traffic of motos around the tuk-tuk. They will literally get inches from each other and no one gets upset. If this were the US, I can only imagine the lovely finger gestures that many Americans might greet each other with. :-)

After dinner, we went to Independence Monument, right in the heart of Phnom Penh. Pete (one of our teammates), brought his juggling equipment with him and set up around a street light. Within 5 minutes, we must have had over 70+ people watching his show. In the crowd were three juggling students from the university of the arts. They joined pete and all four of them juggled together. These guys were very good. They jumped right in and no one missed a beat. It was so much fun to watch them all juggle together and it was a great way to open the door to speak with some of the local Khmer people.

I was able to speak at length with a few Khmer men and really enjoyed the interaction. We were told that many of the people like to go to Independence Monument to hang out and when possible, practice their english with foreigners. I spoke with a few students and a tuk-tuk driver. Conversation ranged from what they did (e.g., work, school, etc) and included their perspectives on God as well. With close to or over 90% of the population being Buddhist, it's a great place to understand more about their beliefs.

I'm still amazed how safe I feel on the streets. A few of us have commented on this and wonder if it's reality or if we are just ignorant. It's amazing how comfortable you can feel when you have no clue about what's around you. :-) People are mostly very friendly and seem to be just about their own business.

We spent some time yesterday with the missionary families and their kids yesterday, as well as visiting Toul Sleng. Toul Sleng was a secondary school that was converted to a torture facility touring the Khmer Rouge. I'll post more about these at a later time.

This trip has been wonderful in so many ways, though I'm finding myself at a point where I really miss my wife and kids. We have two more full days and then we leave Tuesday morning. Please pray for safety and strength. There's still so much to process, most of which I will not be able to get my mind around until after I return.