Meeting a monkey for the first time was not a peaceful encounter. He was on his own turf; I was many latitude and longitude away from home, in a place called Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is an ancient temple complex located in the northern half of Cambodia. It was built nearly nine hundred years ago and is the kingdom's shining star and biggest tourist attraction. (Officially, Cambodia is a kingdom.) After my friend Ada and I had been in Phnom Penh with our friend Emily for four days, we purchased … [Read more...] about Angkor Wat: Cambodia Part II
Asia
A December Visit to the Far East: Cambodia Part I
Cambodia wasn't a place I expected to go to, certainly not before Christmas. But in October, my friend Ada messaged me. Would I be interested in visiting our friend Emily, who has been living in Cambodia since fall 2021? On December 2, my cousin Lorelle (who loves all things Japanese) sent me a message about a podcast, not knowing where I was. I replied to Lorelle as our airplane taxied to the runaway in Taipei, Taiwan. "By the way, I thought of you today. I'm on my way to Cambodia and … [Read more...] about A December Visit to the Far East: Cambodia Part I
Eleven Time Zones and Eleven Years Later
"I went to Bangladesh once," I told my nephew recently after Cordell told me about hearing a man in church speaking about the south Asian country. "You were? I didn't know that." I told Cordell that his uncle Ken and I had gone in 2008 with a rebuilding team to a cyclone-damaged village in southern Bangladesh. Looking back eleven years later, I realized that the most interesting part of the trip was the actual traveling to Mirzganj, Bangladesh and back. During the two weeks at the … [Read more...] about Eleven Time Zones and Eleven Years Later