Well, after 20+ hours in three different airplanes, we finally made it safe and sound to Phnom Penh. Overall, the flight was actually very smooth, just very long. We stopped off in Anchorage for about an hour just to refuel and refresh before the 9 hours to Taipei. China Airlines personnel was very professional and cordial to us. It was a really nice trip
Due to the longer days in Alaska, we were able to see the mountains off the one side of the airport. SO beautiful. On the leg to Taipei, we flew right over the mountain ranges of Japan and saw a breathtaking view of Mt. Fuji, snow covered and all. The final leg of the trip took us over the southern part of Vietnam and finally to our destination.
The culture Cambodia is VERY different. Traffic patterns are unlike anything I've seen in the U.S. Motor scooters (or Motos, as they say), are the primary form of transportation. There are cars, but they're probably outnumbered by about 40 to 1 (just a guess). There are traffic laws, but most people disregard them. To cross streets, we've been advised to slowly walk into the flow of traffic and drivers will just drive around us. The analogy was similar to throwing a rock into a ragin stream (us being the rock and the traffic being the stream). One thing that struck me about the odd traffic flow was that no one seemed angry at other drivers for their tactics. They seemed pretty relaxed and not worried about the maneuvering required at every intersection. Our missionary guides keep telling us Cambodian time is different then US time. I'm sure we'll see more of this over the next two weeks.
Two of our guides are young Cambodian men that are affiliated with the missionaries here. I talked at length with one of them tonight and inquired about his family. If things go well over the next week, I might be able to meet his family. He was very excited that I expressed interest in meeting them. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to get to know them all.
Tomorrow we will visit two Cambodian churches, walk the city some more and have our orientation class. Monday AM, we plan to travel to Angkor Wat for 2-3 days. AW is the world's largest buddist temple. I'll give an update on that in a few days.
Please pray for the team that we get acclimated quickly. Most of us are operating on 4-5 hours of sleep in the last 2 days. We need to be refreshed.
Good things are to come. thanks so much for your prayers!
Paul
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4 comments:
Sooo glad you and the team made it there safe and sound. I can't believe you get to see the buddist temple...how cool is that! We are praying for you and can't wait to read more updates.
Sounds like Massachusetts drivers. :) I'm thankful you made it safely and we got to talk to you a bit this morning. Hope you got some sleep. Love you!
Glad to hear that you are all safe and adjusting. Walk carefully on those streets - we need you back here in one piece :)
Have to say, dinner last night at your house just wasn't the same without you there, razzing me! Miss you lots, be safe.
T
Hey Paul!
So glad you are there and safe! I love reading all thats going on there! Just to let you know, we've got an Army of Faithful Prayer Warriors, at CLC, lifting you and the Team up! Enjoy this time and can't wait to hear all that God does during this trip and as a result of it!! Great things are coming!!! Let me know if you have any extra Prayer needs throughout this time! God Bless!
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