Days 1 and 2, Phnom Penh and Banteay Meanchey

I know what you're thinking.  Sure you're in Cambodia, Jess.  Righttttttt...

No, look, I really am:


So where to I even begin?

I’ll start out by giving you the speedy version of days one and two and then I will feel more caught up. I wasn’t exaggerating by saying that every minute of our days here are filled to the max. I haven’t had time to get all artsy with my photography or sit down and make my pics all pretty and vibrant in Photoshop. I was hoping that I could blog at the end of each day.  That is, after all, why I bought this laptop…so I am hoping I can bring y’all up to speed.



My fight over was great. It was my first trip on a 747 and -get this- I had 3 seats to myself. It was like first class without shelling out all the dough.  I flew out with our team leader, Dr. Franklin Young, and two other teammates, Darold Slack and Jim Stephens.  The other half of our team was already in Cambodia, two days ahead of us.

That's Darold on the left and Franklin on the right. We were in Taiwan.


On the left is Jim



Arrived in Phnom Penh. Got my work Visa, customs, etc. We got picked up by Jork. Jork is the Cambodian coordinator between the Foursquare Church of Promise (which runs several of the orphanages here in the country) and the medical teams.


Checked into hotel. There was a sign on the inside of my door that listed the hotel rules, then at the bottom it said Hopefully your collaberation with would be appreciated and happily stay with full of enjoyment. Asian-English always makes me giggle.

Then to the genocide museum and then out for a late dinner at restaurant called Steve’s Steakhouse where our team got to know each other. We also got to meet the couple that started the foursquare Church of promise, which runs several of the orphanages for which we are serving.

Went to bed exhausted.
Next day, had breakfast (fish soup with these doughnut stick things)



Then our team piled into our rented minivan (complete with driver) …We fit 12 adults and 24 pc of luggage into that thing and I still don’t knowhow we did it. We hit left Phnom Penh and headed for a 5 hour cross country trip to Banteay Meanchey where we are now. Whenever I travel someplace, I don't have much of a desire to see the touristy stuff.  I always want to see the neighborhoods and the way of life for the locals.  So a road trip across Cambodia was right up my alley.

We arrived in Banteay Meanchey and went right to the Ou Ambel orphanage where we set up clinic. Checked into our hotel which would be my home for the next two weeks. The very first thing I did after setting down my bag was to see if I could get online. Not a chance. My heart sank. What could I do? Nothing. Sad, I got dressed for dinner and made my way down to the lobby. Then I saw the most glorious sight ever. Jork, our Cambodian teammate, was sitting there on his laptop. "Jork!" I practically yelled. "Are you online?!" He was like..Um, yeah, internet available here in lobby, didn't I know?