Cambodia..Khmer Rouge, Monkey's and Tuk Tuk's

As we flew across Vietnam into Cambodia we could actually see from the air remnants of a country that had been at war. Even though it happened over 30 years ago, you could still see fields that were scarred from mines that have gone off in the past. In fact it is still happening. Parts of Cambodia are still heavily mined from the past. They are still "live" and unfortunately they still go off and injure or kill innocent people. The Cambodian people are very poor. When farmers or children come across a mine in a field they try to disarm it because they can sell the metal. Very often they are not successful. As you walk around Cambodia you see many people with amputated legs, due to mine accidents. They tell us there is about one accident a week. It is very sad.
We took a unique ride from the airport to our hotel in a “TukTuk”. It’s a motorcycle that pulls a carriage. We fit all of our luggage and us in it and away we went. As you can imagine just by the color of our skin we were quite the site. As we went into the VERY busy streets of Phnom Penh, our Tuk Tuk driver seemed proud that he was transporting the foreigners around. We arranged for him to pick us back up after we settled in at the hotel for a tour of a few sites.
We went to the “Killing fields” . We had heard the term before but really did not know the history behind it. Anyone reading this should read a little history on it. It’s very tragic. In the late 70’s and 80’s a revolution placed a new government in control. The new government wanted an agrarian society (based on agriculture) However, the way they imposed it was by executing anyone and everyone that represented a threat to the new society they were building. Educated people, scientists, teachers, people that wore glasses, all their families and children were brutally murdered and placed in mass graves. Finally the Vietnamese came in to stop the insanity. They have built memorials with the bones and skulls of the victims to remind the people to never allow this to happen again.
We took a tour of the palace grounds. Very beautiful. This also is where Miriam discovered some monkeys walking around. She saw it as a photo op. Unfortunately she got a little close and a monkey got tired of the weird lady with the camera. The monkey lunged at Miriam, bared its teeth and took a little swing at her. She never remembers being so scared.
We went to church and attended the International LDS Branch. What a great experience. Our teacher was a Nigerian and we met missionaries and members from all over the world. We discovered that in Cambodia, many missionaries return to continue to give to a country and a people that they have come to love. The Branch President is a very young man that used to serve as a missionary. He has returned with his wife and 3 children because of his love for the people. There were also Senior Missionaries that had returned to Cambodia to live and work simply because they wanted to serve the people. Also Sister Margie King served as a Humanitarian missionary as a senior sister several years ago. She came back to live and will live here until she physically can't anymore. She does so much good here and gives so much of her own resources. We call her the "Mother' Theresa of Cambodia. What a blessing it was for Miriam to hang out with her for 3 days. We both discovered that the people are so engaging and warm. Even strangers want you to be comfortable and happy. It is easy to see why people love to live there.
Miriam's tour guide one day was a young man who has had a amazing journey with the church. He was Young Men’s President at age 14, he was Counselor in a Branch Presidency at age 18, he was blessed with the gift of tongues in the mission field, and served on the high counsel when he came home at 21 years. He ministers to the members with all of his heart. Enjoy the pics of Cambodia by going to the picture link on the right side.