Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Cambodia




"Welcome to the Kingdom of Cambodia" the English sign read as I crossed the border from Vietnam. Despite needing to get my visa work done on the boarder it was thankfully a rather painless experience. Even coming from Vietnam (which in itself is a poor country with many people working for about $50 a month) it is easy to tell that Cambodia is an extremely poor country even to Southeast Asia standards. On the bus ride to the capital many kids come running aggressively after the bus and knocking on the windows trying to get some food or money from the passengers. Today I hired a moto driver for half the day for $5. I have to say I almost felt bad when I was handing him the money since I knew a couple dollars of that would go to the gas then some to pay for the bike. He might have made $1 to $1.50 off the deal, which to them somehow seems to be a good days wage. Cambodia is steeped in ancient history with Angkor Wat which I am excited to be checking out over the next couple days. Unfortunately Cambodia is also known for some of their not so ancient history with the genocide that happened here less than 30 years ago. It was very sobering to visit one of the many killing fields were many innocent families were beaten then killed. Today a stuppa has been erected in the place to remind people of the past so that these atrocities may never happen again in this place.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, you got a new camera! THat is a good idea when you can get it over there. THe pictures of Cambodia are great. Kyler is a sweet little boy. We are going to enjoy looking after him and spoiling him. Love and prayers Mom and Dad

shauna marie said...

mmm... I have friends that have been to Cambodia... life changing times.

Anonymous said...

pretty sweet deal on the ride!

Anonymous said...

hey jon.

just checking up on you, making sure you're alive. i sent you some pictures of Amaris in the clothes that you and pepper got her, thanks again. i'm having a blast being a dad and a student at the same time.
hey did you get hear about that extra check from lainer? apparently his computer screwed up and took too much vacation and holiday pay off... i got a check for $1222 today in the mail, sweet!
anyways... i'm glad to see everything is peachy over in the southeast portion of the world... morgan says hi. take care

tyson

Hannah! said...

Hey Jon, my good friend Aaron Harcourt is in Cambodia right now as well. He is working with YWAM and his job is mainly to photograph the injustices in Cambodia for a prayer book to be distributed back here in North America, its pretty cool stuff. I hope you have a great time there. There have definitely been some sad thing that have happened there, and still do but God is moving in small ways, so thats awesome!

Jon Barrett said...

I look forward to seeing him when I get home. Cambodia was a great experience. Would have liked to stay longer in some ways. Lots of great deals in Cambodia. Tyson, great to hear from you. That's a good deal on the check from Marcus. Hannah, that's great to hear, Cambodia is truly a nation in need.