Exodus

As we drove into town on Saturday afternoon, we were amazed at the number of motors, tuktuks, cars, trucks, vans and buses loaded down with people, bags, bread and more people. We felt the exodus of Phnom Penh as all patriotic Cambodians took advantage of the four day weekend to return to their village to vote on Sunday. Then on Sunday we felt we had entered a quarantined zone when we went in for lunch. The normally congested streets were empty, many of the roads blocked off and most of the businesses (including our first two restaurant choices) were closed!

Today we once again found ourselves swimming upstream on a long two-lane highway leaving the city to travel almost 400 kilometers to Siem Reap. Travel was made even slower with the massive road construction along the way. Just when you think you have seen the countryside and experienced the culture, God allows more surprises and pleasures to cross your path. I am always amazed at the way everything seems to be so departmentalized here. In the city you will drive down a street and pass store after store of the exact same items. The next street is just as specialized. It is almost as if the city is zoned. The countryside seems to be the same. We drove through a village where every house, every yard and every vacant space was covered with large woven bamboo trays of tiny red peppers drying in the sun. It was a most beautiful sight! Another village was decorated with high piles of rice husks in every yard. We stopped to sample one of the pyramid piled lotus fruits we had seen in every market. And found huge grapefruit-like fruits at one of our pit stops along the way. The vendor peeled through the thick rind for us and we enjoyed its sweet sections for quite a distance down the road. We did not stop for the freshly plucked ducks hanging on a pole on the back of bicycles parked along a three-mile stretch nor for the ten-inch sections of bamboo steamed with fresh sticky rice and black beans that lined another two-mile stretch. There was a brief pull over to snap a shot of the granite carving near the mountain where it is mined, but we missed the photo op of the water buffaloes!**** Possibly as entertaining as the ever changing landscapes of rice paddies, fruit trees, bamboo, rolling hills and flat plains were the vehicles we passed. Busses loaded to overflowing with twenty to thirty perched on top reminded me of the highways of India. I caught the motor loaded with a shipment of ducklings, but missed the one the first week here carrying four live pigs to market upside down. The motorbikes continue to astound me as families pile high their belongings and perch confidently behind or in front of dad as he weaves in and out of the traffic...often avoiding the bottlenecks along they way. But today I noticed for the first time several pickups with both cab and bed loaded with passengers and a shelf welded on above the bed with another eighteen perched above the interwoven exhaust fumes of the traffic...a total of 35 or 40 in a two passenger pickup truck. The gas station was not busy as we passed, so I was able to share that with you as well.**** Early this morning the sounds of children once again echoed through the halls of the school. Four little boys had come back to tell me goodbye! The four CBS students and Chanthy's sweet family all joined them out front to bid us farewell as we climbed into a very packed car and headed to Siem Reap. Chanthy and SreyNang both wrote sweet notes to send us on our way. **** This evening we explored the market here so SreyNang could pick up some dried fish and then enjoyed a buffet dinner before retiring to our rooms. Tomorrow is an early morning of touring for us before Sokhom and SreyNang start the long journey back home midday. Our flight leaves late tomorrow night, so we will explore a little on our own before heading to the airport via tuktuk.