Turkey Day in Cambodia

Well, we've made it through a few more days. It's hard to believe we've spent five days so far in Cambodia. The weather has continued to be humid and hot, but we seem to be getting more and more used to it.

Wednesday was a relaxing day here for EWO. We took our time getting up and then spent the morning in town, having lunch and shopping. Our driver, Soum, took us to Center Market, he has a friend with a booth there. That market is a little smaller than Old Market, but it has better bargains, so we got some great deals! We had a very American lunch at Cafe Indochine, and it was very refreshing!

We spent the afternoon relaxing and working on photos and such, of course spent time in the pool, and then went back into town for dinner and an evening out. Dinner was at Molly Malone's Irish Pub, which was a good place, although we sat a little too close to the street. That's not the best idea here, and now we know better. But it was a fun place, and they play traditional Irish music, so it's a big tourist attraction and a very popular spot. We walked around downtown for a little while before hitting our second home, LK Internet, and then heading home.

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful, and we headed out for our first visit to the temples. It's absolutely amazing: our driver, and it seems most Cambodians, know so much about their history, which is thousands and thousands of years old. The first temple at Angkor was built in 802 AD--in 802 exactly--and all the history surrounding the first temple is still known. The Cambodians are proud of their country and history, and we're learning much from everyone we speak to.

The temples are, well, simply breathtaking. Of course, there are many tourists, but we found a few out of the way places. That was all thanks to our first "Temple Kid", Mao, who is 15. She agreed to walk with us and take pictures on the digital camera we loaned her. She knew quite a bit of English, and she was able to answer our questions, and was eager to ask us questions, too. Mao typically sells bracelets at the temples, as does most of her family. She is one of five children, and she is in the middle. Most of her family were at the temples, along with many, many friends. She was a friendly girl with a big smile, and she was proud to tell her friends what she was doing!

We got some amazing pictures, of course. We started the day at the gate to Angkor Thom, a walled city. There are several temples within the walls, and we hit all of them. Some were more popular than others, but all were very beautiful. Bayon is a temple known for the four-headed towers, where each side faces north, south east or west. These temples are all in various stages of repair and restoration. Some of them have "Caution, climbing at own risk" signs, and the steps are quite steep on many of them. Each temple has it's own history and story, and all are very interesting.

After spending several hours at the temples and with Mao, we headed back to the hotel for a much-needed refreshing swim in the pool. We relaxed for a few hours and then headed back out for our big night--Thanksgiving dinner and our first exhibition in a professional gallery! Dinner was at Viroth's, a gorgeous restaurant with platform wood floors, waterways, concrete tiles, and amazing food! Our Thanksgiving meal was Chicken Lemongrass and Roasted Chicken Khmer Style. Both are Khmer (Cambodian) specialties.

Then we headed over to the new John McDermott gallery for the opening reception. We walked in to the entryway, and as we looked into the back room, we could see one of the EWO canvas pieces on an easel. The back room was filled with John's personal work, which is amazing, and with the two EWO pieces on easel, separated by a table covered with a black cloth, that contained three stacks of information sheets on John, and the EWO book and information brochures. We can now say that we have been professionally exhibited.

We checked out John's work, then went upstairs to see the other two photographers, one exhibiting pictures from Burma and the other from Vietman. Then of course we went back down to check out the EWO exhibit again! There were many people there that evening--John said it was more than he expected--and many of them grabbed an info card, checked out the pieces, and took a look at the book. We can't wait for our presentation!

Tomorrow we'll hit the temples again--we got a one-week pass, of course--and find our next "Temple Kid." We're also working on a way to repair, or preferably rebuild the bridge for Ly and her family. More updates to come, so keep stopping by! Thanks for all the kind words, notes, thoughts and prayers. It's great to know so many people are interested in what we're doing and are cheering us on.

Happy Thanksgiving to All!!! We love and miss you, but we're not ready to come home just yet...