i arrived in bangkok this afternoon...yes, i'm switching cities pretty much every other day. i think i was too ambitious, but i wanted to hit everything 'cuz i dunno when i'll be back. so i went to ha long bay yesterday on a tour...the tour itself was very unorganized and the tour agency promised me certain things that they definitely did not deliver (ie, a smaller group, longer boat tour of the bay, etc.). but, what little i did see of the bay was really beautiful...woulda be incredible to spend more time exploring the bay, but that woulda required a few days...them's the breaks. ;p

before we left for the tour, i heard that there was a storm expected to hit the area...made the trip a little gray, but the blessing is that it didn't start raining hard until we got back to the port after the tour (it was pouring so hard that you couldn't see very far)...that was actually fun, making a run for the bus from the dock...having to jump over a rat that was also fleeing the rain, and getting soaking wet in the process. (i like rain)

so i ended up commiserating with other people on the tour that felt gypped by the tour agency...a couple from sweden and two med students from the uk. we met up after the tour for dinner and ended up hanging out at the restaurant until it closed...really cool bunch. the only problem is that you meet people traveling in every direction, so you spend a day hanging out, then you may never see them again. i do, however, now have three more e-mail addresses to add to my collection. hehe.

so i'm in bangkok, and it's really huge and modern. whereas all the other cities i've been to have felt cozy and navigate-able, this one is gonna be a challenge. i met an australian girl on the plane who helped me get to the backpacker district (she's been living here for the past 6 months), and she told me that there have been threats on the railroad by muslim extremists down near the malaysian border...the route i was planning on taking to get to kuala lumpur...hmm....may need to rethink my plans...

i arrived in hanoi this morning at around 10:30 (had to get up at stinkin 4:30 in the morning to catch my 6:50 flight), and have spent the day waling my feet off...first just exploring and getting a little lost (the best way to see things, i think), and catching some sights throughout. to keep this semi-short, i'll just let the pics do the talking.

the mekong delta trip was actually a bit of a disappointment...wasn't really what i was expecting, but there were some nice moments, and i ended up meeting some great people - martin, a german swiss (and really tall), and karla and margareth, brazilian, all here for business. after the trip, we met up for dinner (the girls wanted italian really bad, so...i had italian food in saigon my last night...hehe). we went to an interesting hotel bar afterwards...interesting because of the live band. picture three little vietnamese girls and 2 guys (only a little bit bigger) belting out tunes like "killing me softly" (fugees style - rapping with a vietnamese accent - i couldn't keep a straight face) and "where is the love" (once again, the rapping). all in all, a fun night with good company.

so now, it is my goal to collect as many e-mail addresses as i can during my trip. so far, i have 6 (not including the ones i collected in cambodia), i think - 2 from my bus ride to saigon, 3 from the mekong delta trip, and 1 today (sat next to a japanese tourist during the water puppet show and had dinner afterwards).

tomorrow, ha long bay in one day, and then on tuesday, it's off to bangkok!

so right now i'm in ho chi minh city (also known as saigon), vietnam. started on a bus at 6:45 a.m., had lunch, crossed the border, and got into hcmc at around 3:30 p.m. checked into a guesthouse, then went out to explore a bit by moto-taxi. hit some of the sights the guidebook recommended, but those were actually a bit disappointing. what i actually really liked was just driving around the city...hcmc has these beautiful tree-lined streets, manicured parks scattered around the city, and some beautiful french architecture mixed in with some modern buildings. the city is, for the most part, developed and urban - some parts of the city actually remind me of nyc...which is kinda nice after cambodia.

i wish that i had more time to explore the city, but since i'm leaving early sunday morning for hanoi (northern vietnam), my time here is limited. tomorrow i'll be joining a tour to the mekong delta, where they have the floating markets...whenever i saw this in movies, i always wanted to see it for myself...

well, i just wanted to check in...it's kinda weird traveling alone. one good thing about it is that you end up meeting more people...just striking up random conversations, usually starting with where you're from, etc. on my bus ride here, i met a cambodian student, a french tourist, and a korean businessman. it's pretty cool...but today i was thinking to myself, what the heck am i doing? i think it' s also because the people i met today were surprised that i was traveling alone. i'm totally not the intrepid explorer, but i really enjoy traveling and exploring new places, and i just find myself doing it alone a lot. well, it's only the first day, so who knows what i'll be saying after the next two weeks, but right now, all i can say is...you guys are totally missing out! :)

so i just got back from an amazing trip to koh kong (pronounced kah kohng) province with a survey team (not with chantha this time) interviewing key populations for sexual behavior indicators ...some highlights from the trip:

- the province is probably the same distance from phnom penh as sra reing province, but it took us 6 hours because of road conditions and having to cross four rivers by "ferry." the first 1.5 hours, we used a two-lane highway that was nicely paved. however, add trucks, taxis, moto-drivers, moto-carts (carts attached to motos), and the occasional cow cart, and what do you get? playing chicken with opposing traffic at 90 km/hr. hehe.

- the next 4.5 hours were spent on mountain roads...note: it's rainy season over here. fortunately, we were using a car and driver from nchads, so we had a ford ranger. it was actually really fun...i've gotten over my dislike of bumpy roads. this also brings me one of the top five things that i've come to appreciate more in coming to cambodia...toyota camrys. yeah, i know, i own one...but i never knew!! almost all the taxis we encountered between koh kong and phnom penh are camrys, old ones, too...and they can totally off-road with the best of 'em!! those taxis actually passed our ford ranger on the way there, and i took one of them on the way back (left earlier than the rest of the team)...no problems whatsoever and we got back in good time. i am proud to be a camry owner!

- we passed through some really beautiful country...as beautiful if not more than what i saw on the way to battambang. we went through a few mountains, relatively uninhabited, lush forest covering the mountains, tops shrouded with misty clouds, little streams trickling by the roadside...almost inspired me to write poetry, but i'm not a poet...this brings me to the second thing i appreciate more...the color green. how many shades of green can you see in one view? it's totally amazing to see God's creation here...and to know that each leaf was fashioned by Him.

- the survey was conducted among moto-drivers, police, military, casino workers, fishermen, sex workers, and indirect sex workers (mainly beer girls and karaoke girls). i was there while they were interviewing the moto-drivers, police, and sex workers. since i couldn't really participate, most of the time i kinda stood around, watching and waiting. so i got to see a good snapshot of what their daily lives are like, and, of course, visiting the brothels near the city was really, really eye-opening. there's this one area about 10 mins from the center of the city with 15 brothels next door to each other. i was there during the day, so it was pretty slow, but i did see clients come and go (including a number of foreigners - ended up talking striking up a conversation with one of them, but that's another story), and toward the end of the day, i saw the girls getting ready for the night (putting on make-up, etc.) when i first met some of them, i was surprised by how old they looked...they said they were 20-25, but they looked 15. later i found out that many of them lie about their age - if they're too young, the brothels would get shut down. but what surprised me the most was that it was like a regular community there...the brothels are family-owned, so there were kids running around and playing in the dirt, teen-agers hanging out and helping out with chores around the house, the girls taking naps or playing card games...it was all so normal. and i looked at these girls and just thought, what's the difference between them and me? why did God choose for me to grow up in middle class america, and them to be economically forced to lead such lives? it totally put the parable of the talents into another perspective...i take so much for granted, and don't realize that those seemingly mundane things are gifts and blessings themselves, and must be used for His Kingdom.

well, i've blogged a long one again, so i'll just leave you with the last three things on my list of the top things i appreciate more since coming here:

- fans...it's gotten to the point where i don't think i can fall asleep unless there's a fan on. air conditioning can get too cold...but it's so warm during the night that if there's no fan, i wake up pretty much drenched in sweat...lovely, eh?

- pigs...one of the brothels also raises pigs, and they're really cute! i see why george clooney has one as a pet - they're affectionate and always look like they're smiling...though they take a lot of care and food!

- raid...some powerful stuff. one time chantha sprayed the living room a bit, and there this one mosquito that must've gotten a whiff of raid, 'cuz it started going crazy...try to picture a mosquito break-dancing on the floor at 5+ rotations/second...seriously.

- motorcycles...okay, that's six, and i know, i know, i've already talked about this, but i wanted to share a story to remind myself. there this one time when chantha and i were going home after dark, and it started to rain a lot. at one point, chantha asked me if i could see because she couldn't see very well through her helmet. my glasses were all splotchy, so i couldn't see a thing, which made me totally crack up for some reason...and i couldn't stop. since i was laughing, chantha started laughing, which made it worse 'cuz she started fogging up her helmet...which made me laugh even more. i was dying. at this point, we got onto her street, which, with the mud and holes (it's dirt), takes us a good 5-10 minutes to navigate the half-mile to her house. i think that night, it must've taken us at least 15 'cuz we were laughing so much. at one point, chantha kinda ran into the grass on the side of the road...i was seriously crying 'cuz i was laughing so hard. good times, good times...

so i went on another survey trip to sva reing province, which is about 2 hours east of phnom penh, right next to vietnam. it's one of the poorest provinces in the country...the city seemed sleepier and emptier, and the surrounding farmland was drier (not good for rice). apparently, they get too little rain, and then too much, so it's difficult to develop the area agriculturally. since the border's so close many people travel to vietnam to work as laborers ("slaves," as chantha called it) , which would account for the empty feeling of the city.

this trip was a bit more difficult for me...i dunno if it's hormones or lack of sleep or what. what made it worse is that i didn't have to go on this trip, but i felt a bit pressured to go...it's complicated. anyways, i'm gonna vent, so just bear with me... the first night, we went to this restaurant that had an outdoor terrace built over a pond. sounds really nice, right? it was, until it got dark, they turned on the fluorescents, and we were bombarded with insects. after fishing the eighth bug out of my rice bowl, i looked down, and realized that the bugs really like my clothes, too...that's when i gave up. when we got back to the guesthouse, the water wasn't running, so we had to take our showers using water that's usually used to "flush" the toilet (a squatter, and you flush by pouring water into it from a not-so-clean tub)...nothing i haven't done before, but that just set the tone of the trip...the next day was spent crammed in the passenger seat with chantha, on a very hot day in a car with no ac, driving hours of dusty and bumpy roads...i'm talking bumpy. it was worse 'cuz i hadn't gotten good sleep the night before, and i usually like sleeping in cars, but there was no way i could sleep with the condition of the roads we were travelling. (heat+lack of sleep=cranky evil-lyn. other combinations that lead to cranky evil-lyn: lack of sleep+hunger; the aforementioned hormones + any of the previous variables, or just alone...you are warned) anyways, i think i'm getting tired of bumpy road trips, especially when the drive lasts longer than an hour, but i do have a greater appreciation for four-wheel drive.

okay, i feel better. sorry, the trip wasn't really all that bad, but there were moments where i was having a hard time...for some reason, things that don't usually bother me, bothered me. every so often, i had to do an attitude check...thankfully, the trip wasn't long, and it was so nice to get back to chantha's.

other than that, i have about a week left in phnom penh (actually, i'll be going to another province for a different survey, so i only have about 5 fully days left in the city...yikes!!) then, next friday or saturday, i'll be leaving for ho chi minh city by bus (there's a bus that goes direct, and it's cheap!), spending a few days in the area, flying up to hanoi for a few days, then to bangkok, and then to kuala lumpur, malaysia to see the newly married song e!! from kuala lumpur, i'm gonna make my way back to phnom penh for one night, then back to la september 10th. unfortunately, haven't found any travel buddies, so i think i'll be doing vietnam and thailand alone. got a travel book that helped me figure out a good number of details, so it seems pretty do-able...yaaay!!

sorry guys...three posts within the hour...i've been storing up all these things i wanted to share with y'all in for the past two weeks.

i've been living with chantha now, and it's been really good. it's been a bit difficult, though, trying to be a servant rather than being served. they still treat me like a guest, and chantha will not let me do certain things (i'm definitely clumsier and less efficient). so i've been trying to do little things, but i still feel like i'm so spoiled.

one thing, though, that she let me do was my own laundry. when we got back from battambang and siem reap, 'cuz of the dust and mud, i had a huge load to do...took me about an hour and a half, and i can't say that my clothes ended up much cleaner.

anyways, i just wanted to post some more random observations:

- oranges here are green

- i've noticed a lot of kids playing on the street with their flip-flops. they have this game of kicking their flip-flops across the sidewalk, basically playing with them as if they were soccer balls or something. there's not much by way of toys here...

- driving around the city, you see these street sweepers...usually women in green uniforms wielding long straw brooms. because of the dirt roads, paved streets get really dusty, so everyday, they stand in the street next to the curb, braving traffic, and sweeping the streets...

- in battambang and siem reap, we went to a few restaurants with beer promotion girls. basically, when you're first seated at some restaurants, 5-10 girls in uniforms (heineken girls wear green, tiger beer girls wear blue) or traditional dress converge on your table trying to get you to order their beer. they're usually young and pretty...the study that i'm working on actually surveys beer promotion girls as indirect sex workers...

- everyday on our way to work, chantha and i pass a long block fruit stands...there's this fruit called durian that's kinda spiky and greenish, the size of a football, and has a very distinct smell that pervades the area. i noticed that some durians have a red stripe, while others are just green, and i just thought that they were different types or something. then, a few mornings ago, i saw a vendor painting the red stripes on the fruit...must ask chantha about that...

- i've been watching some tv with chantha. cambodian tv is kinda limited...the most popular shows are drama/action programs imported china (and poorly dubbed in khmer...hehe), and music programs. every sunday, two channels show these live "concerts" all day, and some other channels just show karaoke music videos 24-7, which are also popular. haven't figured it out, yet...

God gave me an opportunity to share the gospel with phan bun two days ago. i haven't seen him in a while and i may not be able to see him again before i leave. we talked about buddhism and christianity, and in the course of the conversation, i was able to share with him. it was a bit difficult to communicate it in a way that he could understand, but i think in the end, he understood the bulk of what i was saying. he's been a monk for the past 8 years, so i'm sure his ties to buddhism are strong. yet, in cambodia, many men become monks not necessarily only because of strong religious feelings, but also because of economic reasons. monks are given a place to live in the complex of their pagoda, and food is provided for them by members of that pagoda. (i've seen monks walk door-to-door to speak to people in the community and collect food from them.) phan bun comes from a family of ten siblings, and he admitted that it was easier on his family that he became a monk. at any rate, please pray for him – that seeds were planted through our conversation, and that God would make his heart fertile ground.

i have about two weeks left to be in cambodia…time has flown by so quickly!! i've been thinking a lot about this trip and its significance for me and for the people that i've met here…a lot of questions and challenges…i'll definitely be ready to share more when i get back, but for now, please pray that these last two weeks would be productive…for wisdom and sensitivity to fulfill God's purpose in my relationships with chantha and her family, phan bun, and julia.

gosh, where to begin? i gotta warn ya...this is gonna be a looong one since it's been a while and a lot's been going on in the past week. i recommend taking this one in segments...

last sunday, i went with chantha and four other doctors to battambang province. two of the three days, i went along with the team to various clinics and hospitals to conduct their adb (asian development bank) surveys. since i couldn't help out much, i basically observed and took pictures. it was really interesting to see how these rural clinics were run...i'm not sure about the actual examinations and procedures, but the facilities themselves were not in the best (cleanest) condition. an interesting thing one doctor told me was that, at many sites, a majority of patients went to clinics not necessarily because there was something physically wrong with them, but for depression.
we went to a district hospital that had been built with the help of some ngos - much larger, and some relatively new buildings, but not many people. i think i mentioned before that in hospitals here, there's really no nursing care, so family members have to take care of patients. so the costs of staying in the hospital, coupled with the loss of income for the patients and their family members, aren't really worth it...patients have to buy their own medicine, anyways, so why not just buy their medicine and stay at home where it's more convenient for their family to take care of them? also, medical personnel are underpaid (doctors get $40/month), so there's not a lot of incentive to work in the field, and those that do usually have to moonlight to make ends meet...so hospitals are understaffed.

sorry to go off on this...i am a public health student, after all, so i thought it was interesting...

so after tagging along with the team for two days (and seeing some of the most beautiful countryside i've ever seen – and driving along some of the bumpiest and muddiest roads i've ever been on – reminded me of my new mexico missions trip where we absolutely trashed the kcpc van), i took a day off to explore the area. through the guesthouse we were staying at ($5/night for a double), i was able to hire a motodriver/tour guide (his name was lee-dah - i dunno how to spell it, but that's what it sounded like) to take me to 3 key sites ($7 for the whole day) – all mountains, and all about an hour's drive from each other. the first stop was banan mountain, where you climb up a huge flight of stairs to get to the ruins of a pagoda at the top of the mountain. i'm not sure if the flight of stairs was actually that huge, but i was totally winded...i'm ashamed to admit that i had to stop to rest a few times. (i'm so out of shape!) but it was a beautiful day, and the view from the top was amazing - green as far as my eyes could see. from there, we hiked down the other side of the mountain to a cave, then went back to the bottom.

when the lee-dah and i first got to the stairs, three kids started climbing them with us (and did a much better job of getting up them than i did), and they stayed with us basically throughout our tour. when we were climbing down to the cave, they in their flip-flops, me in my sneakers, they were kinda watching out for me...at first, i wasn't sure if they just had time on their hands or what, but at the end, i realized that they were mini-tour guides – we tipped them at the bottom of the mountain.

from there, it was a dusty, bumpy ride (this is where i told lee dah that i didn't mind going fast) to sampeou mountain. this mountain was a bit bigger and broader, and there were more stairs, more caves, and a lot of buddhist statues and shrines. at the top was the main pagoda...all i remember was that the area around the pagoda was floored with these really shiny ceramic tiles that were absolutely blinding in the sunlight. other than that, it was another spectacular view...and it was fun exploring all the little caves. two of the caves i saw also had these cages filled with the bones of khmer rouge victims – many people hid in the caves to try to escape from the khmer rouge. in another cave, there was a fortune teller that offered to tell me my fortune for free...i declined, but lee dah went for it and came away with a good fortune.

we stopped for lunch and to clean up a bit, then went off to ek mountain. since we were making such good time (at the expense of my butt – it's been over a week, but my tailbone's still sore), we were able to hit two other places - one a lake where lee dah rented a canoe and we went on a little ride. it was really nice...very peaceful. then we went to "turtle" pagoda, where they had this pool...it was nice, but it's probably nicer when it has a bit more water. then it was off to ek mountain - we didn’t go the top, but we hit a pagoda and some ancient ruins somewhere near the base of the mountain...no stairs this time! another nice spot...peaceful and a good way to end the tour.

on our way back, lee dah let me try driving the motorcycle a few times. it's a bit harder to steer than i thought it would be because it's pretty heavy, but otherwise, lee dah said that i did okay for my first time. he also said that i scared him at times. hehe.

i have to say that i really enjoyed hiking up those mountains, but a good part of the fun was also driving through the countryside. though yes, there were times when i was scared for my life, i was covered in dust and sweat the whole day, and my butt is definitely still complaining, but we drove through some really beautiful areas and took these little dirt roads through rice fields and villages...i loved it!

so lee dah got me back to battambang city in one piece and in record time, and the next day, chantha and i left the team and went to siem reap, about 3 hours east of battambang. we had to go by taxi, which was definitely an experience - we got dropped off at a taxi station where we were mobbed by taxi drivers, but one driver managed to make off with our luggage, so he won the battle. after that, we sat around and waited while he tried to get other potential passengers' luggage, until he had six of us to go into his camry. eesh. chantha and i were the smallest, so we took the passenger seat, and four people squeezed into the back. it all woulda been good, had my butt not been hurting from the day before...yeah, i was hating it. but we got there, and chantha's nephew who lives in siem reap met us for lunch. in the afternoon, chantha wanted to go to the cambodian cultural village...kinda like an amusement park – they built small scale versions of different landmarks and traditional buildings, but instead of rides, they have shows. they schedule shows in different parts of the park, and everybody goes from show to show, without much time in between. the first show was a traditional Cambodian wedding ceremony, then a traditional dance performance, then another dance performance, etc., etc. it was interesting to see the traditional ceremony and dances. they also have a wax museum with figures of some famous cambodian people (like royalty, politicians, a monk, etc.), going from earliest to most recent. at the very end, they have this figure of a untac soldier walking with a prostitute. as chantha's nephew put it, "those untac soldiers like prostitutes." which, okay, right? but why put it in a wax museum that commemorates famous cambodian figures? i dunno...

the next day, chantha and i went to angkor wat, which is the thing to do in siem reap. it's this large area filled with the ruins of temples and palaces...to see everything would require about a week. we only had a day, so we hit the main, "must-see" spots. you guys are probably getting tired (i’m getting tired of typing), so i'll just write three things and work on posting the pics...first of all, siem reap kinda reminded me of las vegas in the sense that there are tons and tons of large, expensive-looking hotels, and more being built...definitely a town geared towards tourism, and for some reason, a lot of korean tourists. in the little driving around that we did, i saw at least 3 korean restaurants (what would korean tourists do without their korean food?) and a coupla korean guesthouses. when we went to angkor wat, the tour groups were definitely international (i heard french, spanish, japanese, chinese, english, korean), but the korean groups dominated...i think about 4 out of 5 tour groups i encountered over the course of the day were korean.

the second thing is that i've been trying to eat everything here, and chantha has noticed. so she's quick to tell anyone who's concerned about what i can take (for example, the survey team) that i'm able to eat anything, which has resulted in some interesting meals. of note: stir-fried frog with string beans, crispy fried pig intestine, fried whole (yes, head included – see picture) bird-whose-name-we-couldn't-find-in-the-dictionary. those are always interesting...when i ask chantha what kind of meat it is, and she doesn't know. she just says, "something inside the pig," which is, of course, reassuring. but so far, so good...i've liked everything that i've eaten, and my stomach's doing alright (thanks to your prayers, because there's no other way i could've stay healthy thus far - knock on wood). i'm determined to learn how to cook a few cambodian dishes, so i've been watching chantha cook (she's a great cook, so i'm eating like a horse) though the ingredients may be hard to find in the states. cambodian food party when i get back!!

the third thing i wanted to write is that i had an amazing time. everything we saw was extraordinary (i'm running out of synonyms for amazing)...'nuf said, for now.

ok, grabbed a coupla minutes to update, so this is gonna be another short one. argh, but so much has happened that i want to share with you guys! i'm just gonna hafta update y'all on the details when i get back to phnom penh.

so today, i took the day off from following the survey team and went sight-seeing. through the guesthouse that we're staying at, they offer "english-speaking" tour guides to take you to sights around battambang. all i can say right now is that i'm black and blue and i'm definitely gonna be hating it tomorrow. i made the mistake of telling my tour guide/motodriver that i like it when he drives fast. um, yeah, when the roads are smooth, no problem. but i can't tell you how long (the sights were dang far apart) we drove on crazy, dusty, bumpy little dirt roads where i was hanging on for totally-afraid-i-was-going-to-fall-off-the-bike-got-the-blisters-to-prove-it-and-probably-multiple-bruises-on-my-butt dear life. but he more than made up for it by being a great guide and teaching me how to drive a motorcyle! before the crazy dusty roads, i was totally enjoying the drive, thinking that i wouldn't mind having a motorcycle in the states (can you imagine driving up the 1 on a motorcycle?).

okay, that's all the time i have, so i'll write about the sights later. all you need to know for now is that we visited three mountains...and climbed up 2 of the 3. if i never see a flight of rocky stairs cut into a mountain again, it'll be too soon...okay, that's not really true, but that's kinda how i was feeling at mountain #2.

gotta keep this one short (okay, guys, i can hear the sighs of relief from here...)

but the reason i haven't been posting is 'cuz last week i moved to chantha's, and now i'm in battambang province. the government is conducting a survey (one of m,any) of reproductice health facilities across the country, so i tagged along with chantha to this province, which is a four hour drive north from phnom penh. can i just say...the countryside is a-mazing. there's no way to properly describe the lush greenness that is the cambodian countryside, so i'll try to post some pics when i get back to the phnom penh (tho even the pics don't really do it justice).

each day, chantha and a team of other interviewers drive out to a clinic or hospital, and i just can't get enough of what i see...i just kinda stare out of the windows, at a loss for words. it's been awesome, though one time, and it took us an hour and a half to drive 25 km 'cuz the road conditions were so bad. also, i've had some interesting bathroom experiences ('nuf said).

there's a lot more i need to write, but i'll save that for later...just one thing. the drivers we've had have been pretty crazy. our taxi driver who brought us to battambang was an incessant honker, who, possibly because of all his honking, was able to avoid the occasional cow, dog, or pig that would wander onto the road...however, there were two poor chickens that were so absorbed with something on the road that must've been yummy, 'cuz they never knew what hit them...