Cambodia, Days One and Two

Saturday Ken Rudy came over in a Tuk-tuk (took-took?) which is a kind of cart with seats facing both forward and backward and an awning overhead, pulled by a motorbike. It looks like it ought to be on a boardwalk somewhere but the streets here have a fair share of them. There are more cars here than I'd thought, but most of the traffic is motor bikes and there don't seem to be any traffic rules. If you are going to turn left, for instance, and there's oncoming traffic you just pull over to the left side of the street and stay there until you make your turn. Somehow all the various vehicles seem to avoid one another like a big game of chicken or something.

Anyway, we did some errands, and he took me to an incredibly elegant supermarket called "Lucky"" that looks like an upscale European place, where you can get products from all over the world, including a whole deli counter of French cheeses. I was thrilled that they had brown rice and fresh fruits in a refrigerated case and good looking veggies. They also have bottled water from all over, including Evian, which is a bit pricey. The local waters seem to be processed by reverse osmosis, but they seem to be quite sanitary and dont taste bad and I''m not willing to pay the price of Evian, so I'm drinking local products.

Then we had lunch at a place called Jars of Clay, a coffee shop founded by an English woman named Barbara, as a business for some of the women at risk that they've rescued from brothels and off the streets, in order to give them an alternative way to earn a living. The young women I met have become Christians and are just radiant in their faith. These women are really lovely and gracious and they do a wonderful job. The decor is charming, too. Besides, the food is clean and good and they have things that even I can eat.

I also went to the "Russian Market" which is a big, enclosed market (with no air conditioning) where we could buy some dry goods--I hadn't brought any towels, for instance"--and a number of the merchants recognized Ken, so going through the market was a bit like "Hello, Dolly! They have everthing you could imagine--much of the stuff you buy in stores in the US is made here--including many of the latest movies on DVD. Ken explained that here "copyright"seems to mean "the right to copy".

We went to two church services yesterday: one in Cambodian at 8:00 am and one in English in the afternoon at the International Christian Fellowship that really was incredibly international. In the congregation there was a pair of newlyweds from Nigeria, many Cambodians, a group from Calvin College in Michigan travelling with a group from a Christian University in Korea on a study tour of Cambodia, a large group of anglophones from all over, including the Austrailian pastor. It was another "Hello Ken!" experience. One person came over and said "I thought that was you but that's not your wife with you!"