La Vida Eterna: From Siam to Siem

I confess, I cannot take credit for the title of this blog. I stole it from the shirt that a bike rider was wearing at Angkor Wat, a biker who had just cycled from Siam (Bangkok) to Siem (Siem Reap Cambodia). At first I 'bout fell over when I saw it, since it had taken us about 8 hours to get there. But then I remembered: This is Thailand; This is Cambodia. An 8 hour drive here is only slightly longer than the drive to Toronto or Cincinnati, and thus only slightly longer than the rides I did in HS. Granted, we weren't biking in the tropics, but anyway.

I love having a fall break, and not just for the obvious reason of a week off school. It's awesome when international schools have week long breaks because it's not long enough to make the journey home (and thus return exhausted and out of cash) but it is long enough to travel regionally. Our time in Siem Reap was awesome, even with the last minute changes in schedule. One of the girls I was traveling with has friends there and we were able to stay with them and really enjoyed spending time with them. We also did our fair share of tourism, including the required trip to Angkor Wat. We rented bikes ($1 a day :) so we cycled out to and around the temples. We started out at 5am to hit the sunrise and miss the heat, and it was worth the early morning.

We also had a chance to meet up with the church plant team in Siem Reap and one of my favorite parts of the trip was meeting them and having the opportunity to share with them and encourage them, as well as be encouraged by how God is working in their lives.

After a few days in Cambodia, we headed back to Thailand for a few days at the beach. It's not far between the two places, but it took us nearly 24 hours. We boarded a bus in Siem Reap at 8:30am (it was supposed to leave at 8) for a 2 hour drive to the border. A mile or so before the border we stopped and pulled over and waited. For half an hour. A guy came, gave us all red stickers, and we got back on and went to the border. The border is a walking border, meaning we all unload, take our stuff, and literally walk across a bridge and go to immigration. We arrived at 11:30am and the line for immigration was long. The back half of the line was in the sun. It was the middle of the day. And we waited. It took nearly two hours to get to the shaded part of the line. Then another 90 minutes or so to get to the front of that line where we could go in the Air Con building to get in the actual lines. We finished immigration about 3:30pm. 4 hours total.

From there we got in a van that was supposed to take us right on the ferry to the island. Except it's a 3 1/2 hour drive. And it was 4pm when we were leaving. And the last ferry leaves for the island at 7pm. So we made it to the town on the mainland, where we had to get a cheap room (with our lovely one waiting for us!!). Needless to say, we woke up early to catch the first (6am) ferry over and at least got to have our yummy breakfast we had paid for.

Our days on the beach were a lovely blur of reading and napping by the water, swimming, eating delicious food, and even learning how to ride a motor scooter. I also learned about jellyfish. Every time we tried to go in the water there were lots of jellyfish. I've never been stung, and I'd like to keep it that way, so I mostly stayed out. Funny thing was, no one else on the beach seemed the least bit bothered by them. So the second day we all ventured out and gingerly got past the jellyfish to an area where we felt safe. But when we tried to go back in, there were swarms of them. Everywhere. My friend and I tried to swim in but ended up surrounded and shrieking. I eventually made it past them, but not without a lot of encouragement and some definite prayers- I recited Psalm 23 aloud the whole time I walked through :) After that I didn't go in past my ankles. Apparently, the jellyfish are only an issue in rainy season.

We arrived home Sunday night, after a thankfully uneventful van ride home. Can't wait to go back!