Phnom Penh-The Real Reason for our Visit

The long wait for Sadie was over!

She returned home from her Church mission to Phnom Penh and outlying areas last March.

Her Dad, Rick, planned this trip with their family and Roger and I 

to return with her 

and let her be our guide in her mission field.

We went at this time because it was during the Christmas break for the kids AND in December and January,

when temperatures are slightly lower.

We landed in Phnom Penh that evening, overnighted in the lovely Palace Gate Hotel, 

then our guide picked us up next morning.

Palace Gate Hotel

First stop was The Royal Palace, which was across the street from our hotel.

The Khmer-style Throne Hall was built in 1866 to serve as the residence of the King of Cambodia and family.

The King serves as head of state, kind of a figurehead king.

Our guide, Dariem, spoke quite broken English and was difficult to understand. 

When we heard his story, we were shocked and saddened. 
When we went to the Tuoi Sleng Genocide Museum (further down in this post), 

he shared with us that when he was just a little over two years old, 
it was the time 
the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia. 

Enlisting uneducated agrarians and winning power through a guerilla war where they killed all educators 
and those who were educated and those related to them, 
the Khmer Rouge was a brutal regime that ruled Cambodia. 
It was under the leadership of Marxist dictator, Poi Pot, from 1975-79. 
Poi Pot attempted to create a "master race" through social engineering 
and it ultimately led to the deaths of more than 2 million people.

I give this background history to explain what was going on in Phnom Penh 
when our guide's life forever changed. 
He witnessed the Khmer soldiers torturing his mother to get information about her family members. 
He remembers them beating and starving her and denying her water, then they chopped off her fingers in front of him and put one in his mouth. 
He witnessed his mother dying, begging for water.
He was also beaten, his arms deeply cut, then he was thrown in a place where eventually 
someone took pity on him, took him in and raised him. 
He knew the "way out" was education and he learned English and worked his way through university 
to become a tourist guide.

As he told his story, I didn't get the feeling he was trying to get our pity. 
It was just how it was for him and so many of his people. 
We were very moved and were wiping away tears.

The Silver Pagoda

The Silver Pagoda has a floor that is inlaid with 5, 329 solid silver tiles.

Rumdul flower, National Flower of Cambodia

Statement posted at the Genocide Museum

Tapestry depicting the violence of war.

Innocent little children who have no idea about the atrocities that came before them at the Genocide Museum.

This is Sadie's first friend to meet up with us, Sister Hout, 

who is now serving a mission. 

She was so warm and tickled to see Sadie.

She rode out with us to our next stop, the Killing Fields and Memorial.

We heard so many horrific tales of torture that took place during the Khmer Rouge reign.

There has been much unrest since their overthrow.

Presently there is a Prime Minister who is the head of the Royal Government of Cambodia. 

It is still Communist in nature.

Skulls stacking up to the high ceiling of those who were tortured and died in the memorial.

Bones in chains

After a sad morning of hearing about Cambodia's history, we enjoyed a curry lunch together.

Sadie has happy memories of coconut milk refreshment.

We took a brief stop at the Russian Market.

We purchased a few elephant-related doo dads from these cute ladies . . . 

It was suffocating in there, but worth it because, you know, the thrill of the hunt!

The Emerald Buddha and the Gold Buddha are inside this pagoda.

This large Buddha was cast with 90 kg of gold and is decorated with 9,584 diamonds.

The small Emerald Buddha is made of Baccarat crustal and dates back to the 17th century.

I don't know about the reclining one.

After seeing the sights, the remainder of the time in Phnom Penh was spent meeting up 

with Sadie's converts and friends. 

We traveled through horrendous traffic to this LDS Chapel, which was behind security gates. 

It was where she met a dear friend and it was a haven of peace and rest and a sight for sore eyes! 

And it had a decent bathroom!

This was one of Sadie's converts and she had the most beautiful smile and demeanor. 

We all fell in love with her!

This is a cute little kid with a group of members out in the parking lot, 

returning from a church outing.

After visiting for awhile, we got back in our bus and traveled across town (again, horrendous traffic) 

to another LDS Chapel to attend a baptism. 

Attending the baptism was one of Sadie's previous companions, and oh, how excited they were to see each other! 

She was Bruce Hafen's granddaughter, I think.

Another friend

These four children have all been baptized and their parents are not members. 

The brother accepted the gospel first, and two of the sisters (one is Sister Hout, Sadie's friend) were  
baptized at different times later. 

That night the sister in the red shirt was baptized. What a sweet family they are!

We had dinner that night in our hotel. The food was really delicious! 

Josh ordered lamb, and this is how it was presented. Wow!

I had probably my favorite Nicoise salad ever!

Luckily, next day was a Sunday. 

That allowed Sadie to see many of her friends at church.

 Look how beautiful the Khmer, or Cambodian language looks! 

I can't hardly believe Sadie learned, not only to speak, but to write this language!

interpretation

This announcement of President Nelson's visit was still up on the bulletin board. 

Several of the members we met had attended it.

We met up with this sweet friend and missionary at 9 AM.

Cute Abby bought her skirt in the Russian Market the day before. She looked so cute in it!

Sadie had brought Christmas presents for friends which included pajamas, Christmas socks and other clothing.

A couple of them presented all eight of us with these traditional Khmer Krama cotton scarves, 

which date back to the Angkor period. 

We saw many Cambodians wearing these.

We went next to another Chapel, where Sadie was able to greet several friends.

Watching her greet this dear sister was one of the best moments of the trip!

The girls went crazy over the cute little kids!

Next we traveled to an area close to where we would attend church at 2 pm. 

Some of Sadie's favorite people lived next to the dump.

(Have you read The Rent Collector?)

Our trek to their homes was so hot and so stinky!

After climbing up some steep stairs, then a steep ladder, we found the first family to visit.

This dear lady is one of Sadie's converts.

Her husband is an alcoholic and she has six children.

We trekked back up the road to this neighborhood, where Sadie knew several people. 

We handed out candy canes to the kids and they were so delighted to get the treat. 

They immediately tore off the wrappers and wolfed them down!

They are drying the rice grains in the sun. Cambodia is known to have very fine rice.

Sadie greeting a friend

Here is, perhaps, Sadie's favorite person in Cambodia. 

She calls her Grandma. Sadie has called her a few times since she has returned from her mission. 

Grandma doesn't have a phone, but Sadie got a neighbor's cell number. 

In spite of the extreme poverty, many of the young people have cell phones!

When she calls, Grandma holds the phone under her chin to talk to her to sniff Sadie. 

Instead of kissing each other while greeting them, they sniff each other!

Oh, how delighted these two were to see each other!

On the left is Grandma's sick husband. He got in debt hundreds of dollars. 

Grandma sells pencils and trinkets to try to get out from under the debt.

Sadie's family figured out a way to help them, as well as some of the other friends.

We were invited inside one of Grandma's friend's home.

Rick's family is posing with this sweet woman and her friend.

Jodie said, "I have to get a picture with this kind woman whom my daughter loves so much."

Two of Sadie's Grandmas.

As you can see in this pic, my little fan is saving me!

Roger couldn't believe the maze of wiring in the city.

We drove to a shopping mall for a quick lunch before church.

We didn't get pics, but the bishop had Sadie come up in Sacrament meeting and speak. 

We couldn't believe how fluent she spoke. 

We next attended Sunday school, a fifth Sunday meeting which was taught by their young bishop. 

A darling sister missionary sat between Roger and I and translated for us throughout the meeting. 

We couldn't believe how well that good man understood the "Come Follow Me" program, 

explaining its layout for the upcoming year to study the Book of Mormon.

After church, all of these members piled on to this scooter/trailer for a ride home, 

back to the junkyard neighborhood. Such an endearing sight!

Two of Sadie's friends insisted on fixing us a dessert in their home/beauty shop after church.

They brought us these unchilled fruity yogurt drinks to have while we were waiting for them to cook the dessert.

After about 25 minutes, they brought out a banana tapioca pudding and dished it up. 

Right before they brought it out, they brought out the little bowls stacked up, 

and as we were passing them to each other, a little cockroach scurried out of Josh's. 

Sadie said it was impossible to get rid of them in the places she had lived. 

Yikes! We called Sadie, and she subtly got Josh another bowl. 

The pudding was runny and gray, but it actually tasted better than it looked.

They were so tickled to make it for us and have us in their home. 

It was a memorable experience!

We finally loaded into our bus to return to our hotel.

On the way home, Sadie directed the bus driver to her favorite mango smoothie place 

for us all to have a treat.

We all agreed that it was the best mango smoothie we had ever had! And probably ever will have! 

As we sucked, little bits of fresh delicious mango came up through the thick straws - genius!

We ordered room service back at our hotel. As you can see, most everyone had some American food. 

Roger and I shared the best spaghetti carbonara (under the dome) ever!

Monday morning, our guide picked us up in our bus and we headed to the airport 

to fly up to northern Cambodia to Siem Reap.

 Sadie's darling friend with the beautiful smile, whom I mentioned earlier, 

met us there with her husband, sister and mother in tow.

Sadie chats with our guide in the Khmer language.

Our guide took a pic of all of us before we said goodbye to Sadie's friends and boarded our plane.

Now on to Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat ruins . . .