A Different Cambodia Experience

In case you have wondered why my daily blogging suddenly dropped off the face of the Earth, I have just returned from 4 days in Sihanoukville, which is in the Khaet province about 185 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh. I went there with Jenny and Emma; and Jenny convinced me not to check email, Facebook, or blog the entire time I was on the trip. Being at least mildly competitive and open to this challenge I consented and left my computer at the Guesthouse in Phnom Penh. It was not until the last day of the trip that I found out that Emma had been checking Facebook (and presumably email as well) the entire weekend on her smartphone. Jenny also challenged me to write down my thoughts using pen and paper; so, now I have the tedious task of trying to transcribe those notes/thoughts into this blog.

Day 1 - If one’s only context of Cambodia is Phnom Penh then that person would think that Sihanoukville is in a country other than Cambodia. Sihanoukville is a major Cambodian port city along the Gulf of Thailand. There are beautiful beaches all throughout Sihanoukville. We spent our time at two of those beaches: Otres Beach and the private Sokha Beach, which is part of the resort where we stayed our last two nights. The weekend started off with some hitches. Because of the 4 day memorial weekend many streets were closed in Phnom Penh. The driver we had scheduled decided to not show up and not call. Several calls to him resulted in him just hanging up the phone mid-conversation. We began calling other companies and finally found a great driver, but we would be leaving about 3 hours after we had originally planned. On the drive down, I noticed immediately a significant difference in landscape from what I had experienced the prior weekend driving north to Siem Reap. Rather than seeing dry, brown, unproductive fields and stagnant polluted rivers and ponds, on the drive south I saw crystal clear water running through the river, green, thickly forested mountainsides, and lush fields and valleys. (Seeing the tall palm trees and lush valleys I thought how much this place reminded me of Hawaii – specifically places on Kauai.) There were still signs of poverty, but it was a different kind of poverty than what I saw going north.

Since we were running late, before leaving Phnom Penh Emma called the staff at bungalow we had booked for the weekend and confirmed that they would hold our rooms. The staff confirmed that the rooms were available and were being held for us, but when we pulled in at 5:00 we were told that another guest had decided to stay an extra night and so our rooms were not available. Despite Emma’s and Jenny’s best efforts at protesting we were without a place to stay and the sun was about to set. (I decided not to join in on the argument for three reasons: 1) I do not speak Khmer as well as they do – and just repeating “hello” and “thank you very much” in poorly spoken Khmer would not have helped, 2) I was enjoying looking at the beach across the street, and 3) There was a pool table in the “lobby” and I decided I would rather play pool than argue. Basically, I was of no help whatsoever to our group in this effort.) Emma went up and down the beach checking into other places to stay. Everywhere was booked solid. So, we ended up calling a friend from Daughters, Breanne, who was also in Sihanoukville with her husband, Jesse. It turned out that there were two rooms available for that night where they were staying. So, with the sun now setting we jumped into a Tuk Tuk and headed to the Don Bosco Hotel School. This school is a really cool model of teaching students how to run a hotel, while also giving them direct experience in running the school’s hotel. The students learn everything from hotel administration, to cooking, maintenance, and grounds-keeping. Despite how cool this model is and how grateful we were to have a place to stay and to be safely in Sihanoukville it was now evening and so any plans for getting to the beach on day one seemed far-fetched, but we decided to make a go for it and so in the dark we piled into a Tuk Tuk: the three of us and Breanne and Jesse; and we headed down to Otres Beach in the dark. If you think about a movie you have seen featuring a white sand beach spotted by grass roofed bungalows with beach chairs and hammocks gently swaying between trees that could very well be Otres Beach. We took off our shoes and walked in the soft white sand – the water dotted with beads of light from the stars overhead. The waves gently and rhythmically lapped up onto the shore and ran warm ocean water ran over our feet and then returned back to the sea. If there was stress that any of us carried from the day it was certainly washed away on this walk. We walked up to one of the restaurants on the beach and stopped for dinner. At one point the power went out for just a few seconds, but in that time we looked up at the sky and the stars were absolutely, breathtakingly magnificent. I thought that this was kind of a metaphor for life: the false light that man makes keeps us from fully seeing all the magnificent glory that God has placed all around us. When we are no longer “blinded” by man’s light we are better able to see God’s creation for what it really is.

Day 2 - We knew that Otres Beach was beautiful and so after checking out of Don Bosco we put on our bathing suits and headed back to Otres Beach. There has only been one other time (Belize) when I have had the privilege of swimming in ocean water as beautiful as what we experienced at Otres. It is clean and the perfect temperature. The beach has soft, white sand and it is a long beach. I think I was in the water at Otres from about 11:00 until 5:00 all the time except when we stopped for lunch and when we took a long walk. Tom, an Australian who works for an NGO in Phnom Penh and is engaged to Jenny’s housemate, Heather, joined us in the mid-afternoon and he brought Mark, a friend (“mate”) of his from Australia.  About mid-afternoon we decided that we should re-enter responsible living and find lodging for the evening. We knew that we were going to have dinner that night at a place called “The Deck” at the Sokha Beach Resort. Emma said that she had eaten there before and it was the best dinner she had ever had in Cambodia. So, we decided to check into room availability Sokha Beach Resort. Fortunately, they did have two rooms available for us.

I don’t know how to describe the Sokha Beach Resort except to say that it is the by far the best hotel room I have ever had in my life. Our rooms were built on stilts over a private lagoon. The rooms are terraced with three levels: 1) The top level featuring a bathroom with soft 12x36 tiles set into a bed of white stones, one traditional shower and a second “open” shower that rains from bamboo structure, a kitchen area, and a desk that runs almost the entire width of the room. 2) On both sides of the desk there are stairs leading down to the bed – a super comfortable king size bed under a 15 foot canopy. At the foot of the bed there is a large tub set sideways so that the bather can see out to the lagoon or watch a large screen flat panel television that is mounted high on the bottom tier. 3) The bottom tear has a sitting area to watch television, look out at the lagoon, or to go through the French doors to the porch that has a table, chairs, and chaise lounges. The Japanese style robe was the most comfortable robe I can remember wearing.

We had dinner at The Deck and Emma was right. This was the best meal I have ever had in Cambodia. There was not one single disappointing meal the whole weekend though!

Day 3 After breakfast we began the morning with an “informal” worship service on the porch of my hotel room. The three of us sang, prayed, shared Scripture verses that had been impacting our lives recently, and Emma played a song that had really touched her deeply. I was reminded that church is not a building or an institution; it is a body of people who love God. So, we did, in fact, have church on Sunday and I loved that worship service. Following church, we went to the Dolphin pool at Sokha. The Dolphin pool is the best pool I have ever been in and the first time I have had lunch at a swim up bar. We had so much fun there – laughing, playing, swimming all morning; and then going to the beach in the afternoon (and the Sokha Beach is probably even nicer, certainly cleaner, than Otres); and massages in the evening. Now, I neglected to mention earlier that one thing I learned on this trip is that Jenny has a huge sweet tooth (even more than I do). At The Deck she skipped ordering a main course and instead ordered two desserts. She discovered a love for one of those desserts called Chocolate Tart (one of her new nicknames – her other one is “Little Mojito”).  This dessert sits in a crunchy cookie crust, is filled with rich dark chocolate, a molten chocolate and honeycomb center, and it comes with a side of white mocha ice cream. After dinner and into the next day Jenny made it repeatedly clear that no matter what else we did on Day 4 we had to return to The Deck for another Chocolate Tart. After almost every meal we had Jenny would leave the restaurant jumping high into the air, dancing, or skipping. In watching Jenny and Emma this weekend I thought of the beautiful symmetry they both have of being at once mature, wise, deeply thoughtful people and in an instant being so full of joy that they burst into spontaneous dancing and/or laughter. I think of the passage when Jesus says that we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven like a little child. Both Emma (aka Emma with the legs, and Sauvignon Blanc) and Little Mojito live life with the kind of energy, passion, full-on commitment, and unfettered joy that I believe Jesus was referring to.  

So, as you can see, this was a different kind of Cambodia experience than what I have been having the first three weeks. It was rich with laughter, love, rest, deepening friendships, bathing in God's creation. I don't feel like I did much this past weekend to serve others (perhaps this occurred in ways unknown to me), but I certainly grew and felt God's love deeply.  

Jenny and Emma at Otres Beach

Two Desserts = One Entree

The Hotel suites at Sokha

Church at Sokha

Swim up to lunch at Dolphin Pool

Joyful hearts

All this sun made me grow

Sunset at Sokha Beach

One of Jenny's Happy Dances following breakfast