2010 Mission Trip to Cambodia
form Kim Engholm
We all got up early this morning to catch the bus for a six hour bus ride to Siem Reap Province in northern Cambodia. The ride up was uneventful except for the one quick stop where Chelsea, Emily, and I tried fried crickets. We have pictures to prove it! Once we were settled in our hotel, we had a relaxing lunch at the Blue Pumpkin restaurant. After lunch we made our way to the temples to watch the sunset. We have never seen anything like these temples before. They truly are the Eighth Man Made Wonder of the world. We climbed the mountain in true Asian style– on the back of an elephant!
After the sun set we went to the Temple Club for dinner and to watch Khemi dancers. The group favorite was the coconut dance. All of the costumes were elaborate and beautiful. The dancers twisted and bent their hands and fingers in ways none of us have ever seen before. The dancing was so elegant and graceful.
The next morning was an early wake up at 4:30 so we could see in the sun rise over Angkor Wat (the main Buddhist temple). Angkor Wat is even featured on Cambodia’s flag. Seeing the sun rise in such an enchanted and sacred place gave me chills. I imagined who else in this temple’s 900 year existence has seen that exact same sun rise. Angkor Wat was full of history and stories carved in detail on the walls. The next temple was called the Temples of Bayon (Bion). This one featured smiling Buddha faces and ancient carvings of men. I believe this temple was everyone’s favorite because it just looked happy. I described it as an adults Jungle Gym complete with steep staircases and fallen rock. Ta Prohm was breathtaking with trees growing out of the temples. This was the location for Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie.

We stopped at on other temple for a quick peek because we heard it had a pool. The pool turned out to be a big lake, but it looked refreshing all the same. I for one could not get over the fact that these temples were built almost 1000 years ago by hand. I cannot even fathom how much time, labor, and skill went into making all the details of all of these temples. Each one tells a story of Cambodia’s past, and each one is unique in it’s own way.
After our temple excursion, we were all starving. We had a quick breakfast at the Red Piano restaurant and checked out of our hotel. We are about to make our way back to Phonm Penh for a quiet night at the hotel…with a possible massage 🙂 We are all very excited about to tomorrow to witness the much anticipated Cambodian wedding. It promises to be quite an event!
Much love from all of us, Kim