Kep

We headed out early the next morning after the big birthday bash, with Kit, Ream and the kids for a quick weekend at the beach.  They have several nice beaches near them on the Gulf of Thailand.  They recommended Kep (pronounced Kipe).  This is one of the things that we had talked about doing on the trip with them.  Kit and Ream don't get vacations so we wanted to treat them to a very small time away.    They were able to leave after the carnival and birthday party with us :)

We rented a van to take us and it arrived at 6:30 for our trip.  In Cambodia, nothing is like in the US.  So the van holds as many people as it possibly can squeeze in, it has no seat belts and it has lots of flies.  It took us a little over 3 hours to get to Kep but it is only about 30 miles as the crow flies from the orphanage.  The roads are terrible because of the wars and lack of maintenance and infrastructure.

The drivers also drive with their horns as much as anything else.  They honk when going past anything to let them know they are there and passing.  At first this seemed rude but now I understand the system a little better and realize that not honking is almost rude!  And the largest vehicle on the roadway has the right of way.  Alfven sat next to the driver so he got the fun of the horn the whole ride.  My favorite part was right in the beginning the driver had to open the orphanage gate.  So he got out to go do that and the van started slowly rolling backwards :)  Then he did that again in the middle of the trip.  Ream asked him to fix the back hatch door because it was rattling and bothering her ears, so again, he hopped out and walked away and we rolled back while sitting in the vehicle.  There are also no seat belts.  People just go without.  There is no vehicle insurance so if someone gets hit the driver of the striking vehicle pays a bit right on the scene and that's it.  There are also no lines painted on the roads and it's basically a one lane road with dirt shoulders.

The drive was beautiful in the country side and then when we would hit the market towns or  villages they looked pretty similar to Takeo where we are staying.  There is a lot of trash in Cambodia.  Unfortunately you see it a lot at the market places.  We saw our first ponies pulling carts and the typical rice plantings and plowings with the cows.

We are staying at the Rock Royal Hotel and it's pretty nice!  It is right across from the beach and pool so it's great for the kids.  Here's a picture of the hotel and pool.

Rabbit Island is the larger far mountain in the Gulf that you see.

As first order of business our kids emptied their candy bags in piles and started the bargaining and trading of candy flavors.  They did this for quite and while and had fun doing it!  The candy was from the birthday party at the orphanage.

After the trading of goods we headed out to some tuk tuks that Ream had ordered for us to go out to lunch.  One of the reasons Kit and Ream wanted to come to the beach is to check out different places so that they can recommend to mission teams where to go on a short getaway while they are serving here.  We tried a great little place with yummy food and excellent prices called Brise De Kep!  Joseph love it that he got a large squid lunch for only $5!  The prices of food are very low here.  And a gallon of gas cost roughly $1.25!!

The restaurant had beautiful gardens and sat right on the edge of the beach.

The kids enjoyed the dock

And hammock

We had some very long and blessed conversations with Kit and Ream.  One of the things that Ream shared was how the Lord was working at the orphanage with the produce and animals that it's able to produce.  People here see that the orphanages crops are better and bigger and the animals are healthier and the people give the credit to Jesus.  Ream said they tell her "Your God blesses you with very good crops and animals".  It's cool to know that they see this!  The orphanage uses the same lands and irrigations and systems of agriculture as the whole village but the people see a difference.  

While we were chatting and eating a local fisherman walked by in the gulf with his nets.  Everything done here is pretty much done the old way.  The tools are wood and fields are plowed and crops gathered by hand.  

We gathered up and headed into the marketplace after lunch.  There were the traditional meats on skewers and vegetables and fruits out in bags.  There was a little booth that sold some cookies.  Their cookies and sweets are not nearly as sweet as in the US but they are all very good!

Baby Ada fell asleep :)  She is such a great traveler!  It was really fun to get to know the Carson kids too!  They are Sam, Joe and Ada.

Ream told me that she and Kit had been deciding if they were going to have a third child.  They really wanted a girl so the asked the Lord for a girl.  She said she knew when she got pregnant that the Lord had answered her prayer for a girl.  Ream says that the kids at the orphanage saw this happen and gave glory to the Lord that He heard Kit and Ream's prayer and gave them the blessing of Ada :)  

This is a traditional cooking station within the marketplace.  We did try many different fruits and some grilled rice with sesame seed in husks and the cookie things but we are staying away from any meats.  Just in case :)  And thank the Lord we've been pretty healthy and feeling good!  Thank you for the prayers!  

View from the street.

Tuk tuk ride!

 View of the beach from the tuk tuk.

We went and hung out at the pool for a while and everyone had a blast playing together, throwing each other and goofing off.  When we first got there it took us a bit to get situated and collect all the goggles. So by the time I sat in a chair next to Ream I was ready to enjoy chatting.  Then there came a bit of a ruckus from two male hotel staff that were monitoring the pool.  It got louder and then there was yelling and pointing.  Someone went for a life preserver.  I followed where they were pointing and it was to Anna!  She wasn't in trouble they just assumed she couldn't swim because most kids here can't swim especially that young.  I told and motioned that she was fine and told Ream to tell them she was okay and knew how to swim.  They started laughing!  It was very funny!  And Anna, our other kids and Alfven didn't even know about it until we got out.  

We headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner and ate.  Again it was so good to hear Kit and Ream.   Ream told of one of the girls in the orphanage right now whose family was planning on selling her before she got accepted into the orphanage.  How utterly sad!  It's just a totally different way of looking at people and it's born from poverty and evil.  We had an interesting conversation on the way back to the room in the elevator about this.  I'm praying that the Lord goes before mine and Al's words to prepare the hearts of our children to hear His message, His truth and His love for people.  Let His words be heard in our children's ears as we discuss some of what they are seeing, hearing and experiencing.