Happy Birthday!

With Al's help we are putting together this small birthday box for a few of my special friends from CCH Orphanage. Those girls are Rak Smey and Lida and they both made a mark on my heart. We got the girls each a Justin Bieber T-shirt. Rak Smey is getting the groovy girl and Lida some Uno cards. Knowing that we can not send a large box, we then put in packs of "silly bands" for them to give out to the other children. I also put in all my printed pictures that I took of them doing the crafts. I suspect that it will take 8 to 10 weeks to arrive. I do not know that dates of their actual birthdays. The gifts will either be late or early, depending on how you look at it. In the three weeks since I have been home, a day has not gone by that I do not ponder and smile and think about how wonderful and amazing all the children are.

Happy Birthday Lida and Rak Smey!

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Temples

Sorry for such a delay in my posts. When I came home life just continued with work and family, I have not made the time to gather my thoughts. I will cherish those mornings sitting in Kate's apartment in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city with only Nannie.

After a 5 and a half hour bus (van) ride through the Cambodian country side, we arrived in the the beautiful city of Siem Riep. This van drove unbelievably fast through the countryside. I captured this video with my tab. The best part was trying to communicate to our driver that Kate needed to use the rest room. He finally did stop. The other travelers in the van were not happy.

Adam our tuk tuk driver was phoned ahead from his brother in Phnom Penh and greeted us "limo" style at the bus station. Adam is a Cambodian Don Johnson. He made us laugh. He drove us to our hotel and said he would be happy to be our guide for the next day. He picked us up in the Tuk Tuk by 9 a.m. He has placed a white silk cover over the seat of the tuk tuk and filled a bucket with cold bottles of water.

We arrived first at the main gate. These statues line the rode entering into the area where the temples are located. It is like you are entering one of our state parks. There is an area where you pay to enter into the park.

View from inside the temple.



HISTORY

Angkor Wat was conceived and constructed under Suryavarman II (r. 1113—50). Angkor Wat and the complex of temples surrounding it, planned as a sepulcher and a monument to the divinity of the monarch and measuring about 1 sq mi (2.6 sq km), it is probably the largest religious structure in the world. It was built at the height of the Khmer Empire, which at the time controlled Cambodia, Laos, much of Vietnam, and a portion of Thailand.

The temple was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu (the Supreme Being, master of the past, present, and the future), and became the king’s temple and capital. In the 14^th or 15^th centuries, the temple was transformed into a Buddhist temple, the royalty and residents converted to Theravada Buddhism—but Hindu influence can still be seen throughout the temple complex. What we know of the history of Angkor Wat is derived mostly from a written account given by a Chinese ambassador to the Khmer Empire. The Khmer wrote on rendered palm leaves which do not last as does paper, so we can only examine the structure itself for the Khmer perspective.

Paraphrased from:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9793/9793.ch01.html

We spent the day driving with Adam from temple to temple. One was more beautiful than the next. The images carved into the stonework were amazing. I am so blessed to have seen such a wonder of the world.

View down one of the many "hallways".