Saturday - tourists at Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is the ancient temple complex that stands at the heart of Cambodian history, culture and religion. It lived up to - and exceeded - our expectations.

The temples are spectacular; they take your breath away when you walk across the causeway into the main complex. It's hard to imagine that they were built in the 12th century when none of our technology existed. The carved panels tell the story of Cambodia's history. The steps are so steep that you take your life in your hands when you climb them; even the oldies managed though some did come down backwards! The palm trees are symbolic of the country as well and themselves are quite outstanding.

Angkor Wat exists to tell the people of Cambodia about Buddhism, so there are statues of the Buddha all over the site, with offerings of food and incense in front of them. The monks in their saffron robes are extremely colourful, though we did hear one speaking London English - a tourist monk! Not to be confused, we also saw some monkeys at the side of the road.

We visited Ta Prohm, the temple which the jungle has reclaimed. The roots of the spong trees have grown through the temples and brought them down so that they are now heaps of rubble. The government is beginning to repair some of them with German and Indian money. The women all posed on the appropriate place, pretending to be Lara Croft (see Tomb Raider!)

Lunch on a mat - we ate lunch at the Red Restaurant, sitting on a mat on the floor. We shared chicken soup which tasted of aniseed and coriander, lok lak with beef, chicken with vegetables, chips and a fried egg! Some of us even learned to use chopsticks and swing in a hammock. There were 2 plates of lychees and Rotana nearly ate half of them on his own.

Reatray and Rotana, two of the leaders of CHO, gave up their time to come with us and they are good fun. Reatray drove the van for us and did very well, considering that we came back through a rainstorm and couldn't see much of the road in front of him. Overtaking a lorry in a tropical rainstorm is hairy! 11 of us squeezed into the van - Yvonne nearly landed on the floor, but there was no room to fall into! The road is long and straight, the countryside is flat and very green with rice fields as far as the eye can see.

Other experiences on the road:

• a lorryload of monks stopped by the police for overcrowding




• the cows that just wander onto the road without looking




• the fact that people just keep driving regardless of what's coming towards them




• the lorry overtaking the other two as we are driving towards them with a small space on the road and a ditch at the side!

Friday - the trip to Siem Reap

We're being tourists for the next two days; sorry there will be no photos as the laptop is in Poipet and we're sitting in the hotel lobby in Siem Reap. We've just finished our day.

We went shopping in the Siem Reap market, and parted with a few dollars, though not as many as the market stall holders might have wanted. Geckos, t-shirts, elephants, place-mats, chopsticks, scarves, glove puppets - a lot of fun and some of you now know what you're getting for Christmas! Jim got some better bargains because Rotana was with him and having a Khmer friend helped!

Had a cup of coffee and a relaxing walk in the park, collecting images of the local culture and flowers that don't have an English name. Karen suggested that money grows on trees - we saw giant bats in the trees, bahts being the Thai currency we've been using in Poipet. Get it? (Karen was also the one who gave us all the 'm' words for the vegetables last night!)

This came at the end of the day which began in Poipet with breakfast and devotions led by the 3 young men who are the Transform team leaving tomorrow at the end of their 6-month work with CHO. They are impressive young men who have learned a lot and for whom this might well be a key moment in their spiritual journey.

Reatray piled us all into the CHO van and drove us the 150km to Siem Reap on the smoothest, straightest road you have ever seen. For anyone who had travelled this road before (as Jim did in 2005 when it took 5 hours to do the same journey on a road full of potholes) it took us 2 hours today. The only problem was squeezing 9 people into the back of this van. Rotana came with us - the management is having 2 days out! They are good fun to be with.

It's raining again, as it has done at about this time (5.45pm) most days. Still warm, but actually cooler than this morning.

Looking ahead, please pray for next week. We have a better impression of the pastors' conference 70 people are coming, some of whom are barely literate; it might be more basic and slower than we had originally imagined. The CHO staff are working on our schedule, although to say that "there is a plan'' is to be far too organised! The plan seems to change as the day goes on, never mind the week!

That's all for Friday; tomorrow we'll tell you about our trip to Angkor Wat.

Thursday - the CHO Tour continued!

First of all, the news about the luggage is entirely good; it all arrived last night with "rush" labels attached to it. We can now wear different things and all the gifts we brought are here too!

The motorbike maintenance training workshop was our first stop today; Eric was re-living his youth as he watched the boys strip and rebuild motorbike engines over and over again. They could do it in their sleep! Another boy was working on a more complicated engine while yet another was rebuilding a wheel.

The roads are something to experience; there were several points today when we thought we were going to have to get out and push, but Tia is a master driver! There are potholes and there is mud and sometimes both together!

We also taught the children of Kilo 4 village School on the Mat how to play duck, duck, goose (or a version of it!) and so we have images of Karen, Yvonne and Martin being chased round the circle of 50 children in a forest clearing - and losing! We must practice more - the children caught on quickly and caught us easily.

Today was also an agricultural day. We met three children who look after their father's land, growing marrows (they call it cucumber), morning glory, mushrooms, many aubergines, monstrous green beans, mighty pumpkins and a mystery green stuff that we can't identify. There were also some pigs, being smoked - well the smoke to keep the mosquitoes away, not to kill the pigs.

Again we have been well-looked after and well-fed; a tour of Poipet showed us the casinos and the local market. It has been very hot and there has been no rain.

Wednesday - the CHO tour!

First of all, good news - the luggage has arrived! Perhaps we will all be a bit (and smell a bit) fresher tomorrow!

The day started with breakfast and devotions with the CHO team; Trevor from New Zealand led us in a Bible study. So many highlights of the day, too many to narrow it down easily. We saw School on the Mat in such a remote rural area, a forest clearing, with 18 children, a teacher and a helper. They sang to us - "If you're happy and you know it" - and we sang back to them with "Jesus love is very wonderful" and the children joined in the actions.

Then we visited the health centre, a heart-rending and humbling place, where people suffering with HIV/Aids are treated; there is a new TB centre as well. An amazing place, paid for by Tearfund and CHO.

2 sewing centres: one training young girls in the skills and the other with an older group, making 15 pairs of shorts a day for 7 bahts a pair. We did these visits in the pouring tropical rain that was a downpour; the roads turned to mud very quickly.

Safe Haven - a refuge behind locked gates for the victims of abuse and trafficking. Children from the age of 6 upwards are cared for, going to school, being cared for by house mothers, the older boys learning welding skills and carving. 2 years ago this place didn't exist, but now more than 30 children are being cared for. It is lots of little projects within a big one. The children were acting out the bringing down of the walls of Jericho - plenty of enthusiasm and noise.

we're off to make sure that the luggage really is here and that it is ALL here!

Tuesday: we've arrived - shame our luggage hasn't

It's Tuesday! We arrived in Poipet in the early afternoon after a 4-hour minibus run from Bangkok, along very good roads. It was a bit scary; there's a space on the road so the driver just goes into it. The trip from Edinburgh was ... eventful: a plane that was delayed by 90 minutes; a half-hour connection from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3; the result: we made the flight, but 7 pieces of luggage didn't! we're told it will arrive from Siem Reap tomorrow!

Tonight we've eaten sticky rice with bananas; had a coffee ice cream smoothie; been given a trip round Chomno's new vision, the Hope Transformation Centre and met lots of other volunteers who are here.

IT IS VERY HOT! By 4pm this afternoon, it was raining, with thunder and lightening and the streets turned to mud and the group of boys playing volleyball gave up as their court turned to a giant puddle.

Despite the problems, we're all excited to be here and are looking forward to seeing CHO's work tomorrow.

meet the team

The team is, from left to right: Karen Berry, Fiona Dewar, Jeanette Campbell, Jim Dewar. Rosanne Christy, Eric Paulin, Sandra Paulin, Yvonne Hunter, and Martin Elliot.