"Wat's" Up?!

To start off our post for today, I'd like to introduce you to some friends of our that we've been spending a lot of time with over the past 3 days. They have visited the temples with us, they've carried us when our feet were tired. They even stuck with us through the sun, the heat and the mud. "Unitrak"and "The Winner" as they are affectionately named by the stickers on their sides have been our trusty, old bicycles for the past few days.

In an effort to stay in shape and have the freedom to explore the temples at our own leisure we opted to rent bicycles to see the temples. We've put in a lot of kilometers in the past 3 days cycling through the countryside and stopping to explore the ruins.

The ruins have been incredible. We've been blown away by how big they are, and how many there are. We are by no means experts on how or why they were built, but they sure are impressive. I'll give you a little summary, but leave the real research for you history buffs who want to know more.

The temples were built between the 9th and 13th centuries. These temples are the only structures that have survived, as houses and other public buildings were made of wood, and haven't survived the many years that have passed. Stone was used for the temples as only gods were allowed to live in structures made of stone.

We've seen so much that it's hard to even explain it all. Some of the temples we've seen have been taken over by the forest around them. It's incredible to see huge trees and their roots tearing these old stone buildings apart. One of the temples we visited was even featured in a couple of the Indiana Jones movies.

Another one of the popular temples has 216 faces built into the stone. They are said to be more than a passing resemblance to the king who was responsible for having the temple built. There are over 1100 carvings all depicting vivid scenes of 12th century life in Cambodia, including kick boxing and cock fighting. The detail in the temples is incredible! This temple belongs to a group of buildings within a fortified city. The cities walls stretch more than 12 km and are 6 m high and 8 m. wide, every step of the way.

The greatest of all temples is Angkor Wat, which we left for our last day, today. Soaring skyward and surrounded by a moat that would shame European castles, Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world. It was built from 1112-52 to honour Vishnu, a Buddhist god. It was supposed to be his funeral temple. The building and the courtyard themselves are massive and the whole structure is surrounded by a huge stone wall. The detail on every stone causes one to wonder how many people would have been involved and blows your mind as to how they did it. Surrounding the central temple complex is an 800 metre long series of carved scenes depicting things from battles in Asia to battles between gods and demons.

We have more pictures of these buildings than we know what to do with. If you're interested in seeing more when we come home, we'll be glad to show you. As for us, we're pretty watted out so we're heading on to another town tomorrow. More posts will come from Battambang!

The Scavenger Hunt

We've decided to post on a bit of a lighter note today.....Before we left for our trip, some of our wonderful friends sent a package of letters along with us. These letters included a "photo scavenger hunt" which we were expected to complete by December 13th. Well, we were keeners and we've finished early! (and we even had to get some pictures twice since we lost our camera and our earlier pictures).

So, here it is!

1. Ask a local, speak in Thai, "Where is the toilet".

This is what happens when you ask!


2. Eat part of an animal that you have never eaten before.

Although we're not even exactly sure what Brian ate, it seemed to be the inside of a large aquatic animal, similar to a crab. As good as it sounds, Brian hasn't volunteered to try it again.

3. Give these stickers to children.

These are a couple of the really cute kids we've seen in Cambodia. We met these two when we ate at a local foodstall. The little boy was really excited about his stickers and ran around showing them to everyone. We also gave some stickers to a couple of other little girls...none of the kids even knew what they were.

4. Take photos of something that says "Rachel" and something that says "Mark".


I think this speaks for itself.


This was our second choice for something that reminds us of Rach. On our other camera, we had pictures of a girl who looked identical to Rachel. I actually thought for a second Rachel had come to Thailand....we're really disappointed we lost those pictures. So, second option.....this reminds us of "Please mind the Gap", a saying that is said on the London Subway. Rachel told us about the saying before we left (and she spent a year in England teaching).

5. Take a photo of Brian traveling backwards on public transportation.

Backwards in a tuk-tuk!

6. Climb a tree (both of you).
This was a lot harder than it looks! There wasn't an easy way to get into the tree, and there was no one around to take our picture. Brian propped the camera on a rock and ran 30m across the road, jumped the ditch, and climbed the tree, all before the self-timer took the picture.

7. Go on a date.
As Brian has reminded me, this whole trip is a date. We have had some "special" times together though. We had a break from rice one night in Chaing Mai and splurged on some great red wine and pizza at an Italian restaurant. It was a real treat!

8. Eat dinner with a local family.

Who's more local than Ronald McDonald? We actually had great opportunities to eat with Preecha and Nit and their daughter while we were in Thailand. As we've already mentioned they treated us to many feasts. Unfortunately all our pictures of that time were lost on our other camera....so Ronchy Ronny it is!

9. Write us a message in the sand.

You'll have to give us some big points for this one. Where do you find sand when you're not at a beach.....the temples of Angkor I guess. Perhaps it's not as picturesque as sand on a beach, but it did the trick!

10. Give someone in need something from your belongings.

This one we had some difficulty with. As we tried hard to pack smartly, we don't have a lot of disposable items in our packs. As such, we didn't actually give away any "belongings". We have had the opportunity to share some food and some money with some of the less fortunate people we've met.


We hope you enjoy our little report. We had fun completing it!


Tomorrow we'll give you the low-down on Angkor!

Reflecting from the Red Piano

Do you ever get those times when you're just really hit hard with questions you can't answer? The past few days have been one of those times for B&E.

Since coming to Cambodia, our minds have once again been blown wide open to the world in which we live. As mentioned, it feels a little bit like being in Africa, for us anyways; and it's brought all the emotions, thoughts, and longings that go with that.

Last night after dinner in town, we decided to grab a pint of the local brand in a popular spot in town called the Red Piano. It's a neat 100 yr old french colonial building that overlooks one of the busiest corners in town. I guess it's a bit of a swanky place. We got to talkin', and we both just sort of looked at each other as if to say, "what are we doing here?" From where we were, we were looking out on so many things that really hit us. We could hear two or three different groups of mine victims making music as they sat on the street. We could see young girls that had turned to prostitution. We could see several little family run restaurants with no patrons in them. There were many kids trying to sell books to tourists, and some simply just begging. And there we sat with the other white people, looking out on the scene. Did we care? Did anyone care?

So as we sat there drinking our $1 beer that we could easily afford, we couldn't help but start by saying "life isn't fair, it just isn't fair." Why is it that we aren't forced to try and sell cd's with music that we made with our stubs, just so we can feed our families? Or why is it that life has not been so hard to us, and people so cruel to us, that we're so broken think selling our bodies is a normal way to make a living? Or why do some restaurants, owned by foriegners, get to set up in prime locations, have the right decor, spill out onto the street with customers, when the family run Khmer business 100m down the road serves the same food at better prices, but it's tables remain empty?

You can't go far here without seeing suffering and desperation. Today as we cycled around to see some of the ruins we saw so much of this. You can't even put it all into words. Telling you about the kids on the street, or the cripples that drag themselves through the dust with no one to help them, or the mentally handicapped that beg or wander around, or the many other scenes that break our hearts, wouldn't give you the full picture.

Am I not supposed to be different? Do I not call myself one who follows Christ? Am I not called to reach out to these people? What were the acts that Jesus said were pure and faultless?...I see people that need that love every step on the street here.

I know I can't help them all. I can't buy a cd from all the amputess, or give money to all the beggers, or buy things from the kids that have been sent to work on the street. I can't. But I know that were called to do something, And I certainly don't think it's to sit in some ritzy joint with the other tourists eating till were full.

It's not to simple to put into words all the things that Erin and I talked about. It's not simple to explain the hurt that we feel for people. We really want to know how WE can live in such a way that we makes a difference, and truley become Jesus Christ to the people that need him most in this world, whether were in Cambodia, or in Niagara on the Lake. Can it be simple?

We'll, thanks for listening to my attempt at showing you a bit of our heart. Here's a few picks of some things we saw today. Writen details to follow...

An Educational Day

It is said that Cambodians will eat almost anything! Here is a boy selling snails. It's only 25 cents for a small bag of these delectable treats. We've also seen people catching frogs for food as well, and seen crocodile burgers and steaks advertised at a local restaurant. We've not been brave enough to try any of this yet, but maybe we'll surprise ourselves yet.


We had a great day today, probably one of my favourite from this trip! I'm in love with Cambodia already!

Siem Reap is a cool little town. In many ways it's a big tourist town with many modern conveniences, western food, and local handicrafts to buy. However, if you travel to the outskirts of town you are immediately into the country side and the way most Cambodians live.

I thought this was great! We aren't exactly sure what this jug on the motor bike was for (Brian thinks it's to allow water to drip on the engine to cool it, or to put gas into the carborator to help start the bike)....but the best part was that he used IV tubing to transfer the liquid. He was adjusting the roller clamp to allow more or less fluid to pass onto the motor.

After a great breakfast of croissants and fresh bread at a local bakery, we haggled a ride with one of the local tuk-tuk drivers in the town, to take us out of the city to the Landmine Museum. The ride there was great. We went past many local houses, rice fields with grazing waterbuffalo, and even caught glimpses of some of the ruins along the way.

A glimpse into the rural community.

The landmine museum proved to be a very informative and saddening destination. We were surprised and pleased to find out that Canada had a part in helping form this organization. The museum was built as a way of educating foreigners and "the new generation of Cambodians", as well as providing a way of funding the relief projects they run for those who have been injured by the mines. The money raised through the museum, as well as other donations received are used to educate children who have been victims of the mines, as well as to provide them with prosthesis and artificial limbs, as many of them are missing arms, legs or hands as a result of being injured by a mine.

Pictures of the landmines were hard to get as they were all behind glass and there was a bad glare, but these mines were filled with ballbearings. When they are detonated they can harm or kill up to 20 people. The guy who runs the museum has dedicated his life to removing mines from the jungle and has cleared over 50 000 mines. Sometimes he can do over 300 in a day. He doesn't use any safety equipment and usually only uses his hands to disarm them.

Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. The country has gone through many difficult time periods (we'll try to give you a little bit of background at some point, although we're still learning of this ourselves). The country has been plunged into civil war many times, and most often it's been the innocent citizens of Cambodia that have suffered the most. During these conflict filled times, much of the countryside in Cambodia was filled with landmines. Clearing efforts have been initiated to help rid the land of all these mines, however, progress is slow. It takes only $1-3 US to make a mine, but can take up to $1000 US to get rid of one mine, and it is dangerous business! Many of the mines in the country-side are linked to trip wires. Many of them cause serious injury while others result in death. Some can even completely destroy vehicles. They are almost impossible to see even when you know where they are.

A ban on landmines was signed at "The Ottawa Convention" in 1998. About 155 countries signed the treaty to abolish the use of antipersonal landmines. Here is a list of countries that didn't sign the treaty and continue to produce landmines.

A picture at the museum showing the horror and brutality of the mines.

Between 15 000-20 000 people are injured or killed every year in Cambodia, and that averages out to a little over 40 people per day. In the city here there are many children and adults that are missing limbs. Many of them are trying to sell books or handicrafts in order to make a living. Life is hard for people here! An example of what a mine might look like in the jungle.

My heart is moved for the people of Cambodia. They are sincerely friendly and many of them have very hard lives. Although some of the children can get quite annoying while trying to sell you their books, you realize that it is out of necessity that they are so persistant. We are doing our best to support local people with our purchases here by buying our food from different vendors, although I wish we could do more.

Tomorrow we plan to start the Angkor Exploration. We're really looking forward to it! We hope to get into the country a bit more and hopefully we'll be able to take some more pictures so you can have a better idea of what life here looks like.

In Khmer Land

us and our friend Jason Dyck

We were scheduled to leave Chiang Mai on a night bus on thursday. The day waiting for the bus turned out to be great.

We'd heard that a friend of ours from Virgil was going to be coming through Thailand on his way to Bangladesh on a missions trip. Jason was supposed to fly into Bangkok, but due to all the problems there, they flew into Chiang Mai, and were going to wait out the trouble at the airport until things cleared up. Well, this worked out great since we were there anyways. Erin, and I didn't think it was going to work out to meet up though since Jason had very limited internet access, and the YWAM (ngo that Jason is with) office in Bangkok couldn't give me any information as to where they would be. Luckily Jason was able to email us 5 minutes before we were going to check our email the last time before heading out, and he told us where he was. To make a long story short, we made our way to him, and enjoyed a great afternoon catching up with an old friend. Jason has lots of exciting stuff going on in his life and it was great to have him share it all with us. Blessings on you Jason! Have a great time!

Thurday night we took the Bus to Bangkok, which was uneventful. We arrived around 5:30am, had a little breakfast and were on another bus to the border by 9:30. That bus was not so good. It was packed in the way they'd pack one in Africa, and the entire bus smelled like a mix of vomit and urine. It took about 5hrs. We enjoyed a lunch right at the border crossing. It was interesting to see all the goods moved between the two countries. Many things are still moved by a rickshaw or a donkey. We made our way across the border, which was little more than a creek, and we immediately realized that Cambodia is a very different country than Thailand.

Things are not clean. The roads are terrible. There isn't much pavement or concrete, or tile. The sides of the road are covered with garbage. We noticed very quickly that this country is much poorer. The homes are little more than shacks, the vehicles are much older, and people are riding bicycles. In Thailand the scooter has replaced the bike. But saying all that, we like it more already! It reminds us of being in Africa. The earth is red, like in East Africa, and everything just seems to be simple, but in a chaotic sort of way.



We travelled about 175kms from the border to Siem Reap. The drive was rough, but the views were great! As far as you can see in every direction is farm land, and it's all for rice. I'm not sure on the rice growing cycle, but they're obviously doing some harvesting now. The sides of the road are full of sacks waiting to be loaded onto trucks or donkey carts. The farm land is very different then anything we've seen before but it's really neat. There's water everywhere. It takes a lot of water to grow rice, and they've got lots of it. In just about every ditch and pond, boys and men are fishing with nets or wading in in their underwear. It was good to be away from Thailands cities.

Siem Reap, is the base for exploring the ruins of Angkor. It definately has a tourism buzz, but not the same as Thailands. The side walks are unswept, if they're there at all, and the traffic is very light. We'll spend a few days here, and keep you posted on our events! Go Harper!

A Relaxing Day

We had another good day today. After our busy day yesterday, and our sore muscles, we decided to take it easy today. This morning we slept in (which we're finally able to do again) and then spent some time arranging our transport to take us back into Bangkok tomorrow so we can head on to Cambodia from there. We were hoping to take the train, but everything was booked, so we're stuck on another tourist bus. We're hoping it won't be as bad as the trip here.

This afternoon we decided to try a Thai massage for the first time! What an experience it was. For only $5 each we had an hour of supreme relaxation! Most of you have probably never had a Thai massage before and it's quite different than massages back at home. The masseuses are more like gymnasts than your typical massage therapists at home. They started with our feet and legs...there was a lot of slapping, kneading and pressure involved. Being the first time we've had a massage, we weren't really sure what to expect and coupled with the language barrier there were a few surprises. My favourite was when the girl giving me my massage sat behind me with her knees in the small of my back. She then proceeded to flip me on top of her so that her knees really dug into my back. I had no idea what was happening. Brian and I did a bit of laughing. Anyway, the experience was amazing. We're sorry we waited this long to try it, but we know we'll definitely be treating ourselves again.

The rest of the afternoon we spent reading our books at Wawee Cafe, running to burn off all the food we've been eating and then eating at the night market.

Thanks again for reading!

To the top of Thailand

Today started out with a delicious breakfast at Be Bee cafe. We figured the name suited us, and the sign said "If you never try, then you don't know"; how could we resist?! We both got "the tiny breakfast", and then we hit the road with our Honda Dream.

If flying down the road getting bugs in your eyes and breathing exhaust and dust is a dream, then this bike had the right name. The trip started out with a few wrong turns. We couldn't find a map that was even close to scale and road signs here are placed at very random locations...I suggest next time they try intersections. We knew we had to head south so that's what we did. We soon realized we were on the wrong road and heading SE and stead of S. So I picked the first right hand turn I saw, and started heading towards the road we wanted. By this time we were far into the country side so the drive was beautiful. As we rode past the villagers growing their rice and tending the sows, I soon realized that I couldn't pinpoint our exact location on the map. However, having been blessed with an uncanny sense of direction, I, unlike my wife, had not given up hope, thus I continued to pilot of Dream towards the west. Just when I thought things were going so well, we hit what is comanly called a "fork in the road". I brought the steed to a halt, and turned to ask Erin what she thought, but quickly realized that was not the best idea, since that had the "I'm about ready to smash my bright orange helmet into the base of your skull if you don't get us back on track now" look in her eyes that she sometimes gets.

Just then the Lord provided a woman at the side of the road selling some goods. Her sign had no roman script and we were along way from where you'd expect tourists, but I figured she just had to speak English. It turns out she didn't know a lick, but I'm an excellent pointer and pronouncer of 7 syllables Thai town names. So, we followed her pointing and carried on. Withing a few kms I could feel the hot breath of my most lovely wife on my neck again, so I chose not to ask Erin what she thought of our current route. Another couple of clicks went by and I could sense that this was not the "dream" Erin had counted on having this day, when suddenly we came to an intersection, with a main rd. heading to the south. I steered left and saw a sign marked with a 108...our intended route. I exclaimed, "the beeman did it!" Erin rolled her eyes and we road south towards the great peak!

some of the waterfalls that we hike to on the road up

Erin and I with "the dream"


there's a monastery at the top...these shots are of that


After a quick stop for some Kao Soi, ( this dish of choice in the north) and a pinneaple shake, we were climbing steadily through the national park to the top. Before embarking on this "climbing" trip we hadn't realized that our Honda would be able to take us to the summit. But the King built a road all the way to the top, so drive we did. Along the way we passed some very nice waterfalls, and really enjoyed all the vistas that we saw. It was quite cold and the road quite steep, but we had a fantastic trip.

By the time we got back we had put nearly 200km on the bike, and we we're pretty stiff and sore...but we had an adventure!


the top of Thailand

Booya!