Bike Tour in the Mekong Delta - Day 1

[Real time update: We been "resting" in Koh Samui, Thailand for last ten days and fell behind - more posts will be coming.]

T-shirt we liked

Our second day in Vietnam, we were picked up by our tour guide, Ha, who spoke wonderful English and was very likable.  He shared about himself, Vietnamese life, and the area we would be in and how were were to spend the next couple of days.  The Mekong Delta is known as the "rice bowl" of Vietnam and rice fields are everywhere.  In total, the delta contains over 3,000 KM of waterways stretching out like a spiderweb.

Workers in a rice field

Last year Vietnam exported 7 million tons of rice at less than $500/ton and the rice farmers get less than that, so it is hard to make a living as a rice farmer, and yet that is what many in this region do. Tiger prawn farming is more lucrative, but the initial investment is so high that many can't afford it. As we were exposed to many different jobs throughout our tour, it seemed to be that no matter how hard one worked or what they did, they ultimately made $4-5/day, and while that is significantly less than the minimum wage per hour in the US, few seemed to be in want.  Everyone we saw had shoes on and it was relatively rare to see anyone begging.

We learned about unique ways some make money, for example, building a house with special windows that swallows fly through to build nests inside. Music is played at certain times to attract the swallows.  Apparently swallows do not build their nests with twigs, but with their saliva, which takes roughly 10 days.  The swallows then lay their eggs and wait for their babies to hatch. When the nests are done being used, they are sold and considered a delicacy that is used in soup.  A nest sells for up to $2000!  Meanwhile others make coffee from weasel poo and sell it for large sums of money.

Our first stop was the Can Douk Market where we were exposed to roosters in cages that would be used for cock fighting, as well as a dry and wet market. Chicks were sold 10 for $4, there was an array of freshly caught seafood, and even the nasal system of a pig - from the ears to the snout (Vietnamese chop this up and add it to salads)!  Primarily women work at the market and they arrive around 4am and work until 3pm every day.

Being sold for cock-fighting

Tempting pig snouts...  Anyone want some in their salad?

G was given a baby chick!

Walkway in the live market section

Meanwhile, the men occasionally gather to build something, but can typically be found sitting at coffee shops.  Dad had his first Vietnamese coffee and thankfully our guide was able to show him the proper way to drink it.  The coffee here is slow drip so you let it sit several minutes after they bring it to you, then you add a small amount of sweetened condensed milk to the espresso-like beverage, and after one has finished the coffee (about the size and strength of an espresso), it is customary to drink tea to cleanse your palette.

Guys at the coffee shop!

Dad with his first Vietnamese coffee!

Vietnamese coffee setup. The grounds go in the small top container

Mom asked our guide if she could buy flowers to bring to the host family we were staying with that evening, but she was told they would not be appreciated as the family didn't worship their ancestors. A bit confused with what this meant, we learned that flowers are sold primarily as offerings to people's ancestors as "ancestral worship" is the prominent religion here.

Ancestral worship is the worship of three to four previous generations.  Pictures of these relatives are placed at a shrine in the home and there are four sanctuaries located around the home where the family gathers to pray once a day.  The kitchen sanctuary has a messenger or 'god' and on December 23rd a fish takes him to spend a week reporting to an 'ultimate god' about all of the families doings for that year.  This messenger is believed to return a week later, so the family gathers for 3 days with much feasting to celebrate his return and blessing for a new year.  Meanwhile, in ancestral worship, the ancestors are prayed to for protection and blessing from the deceased, yet reincarnation is also believed in.  So they are aware that the ancestors they are praying to might have already been reincarnated in a different form, but Ha explained that their minds still pray to them.

When someone dies they are carried in a funeral vehicle and buried underground with a cement box on top.  A fortune teller is brought in to read about the deceased person - the year he was born (tiger, etc...), month he died, year he died, and so on.  All of these details will determine the best hour and direction to bury the dead.  That is why coffins, which are buried in people's yards, are facing all different directions.  Ha explained that in reincarnations, most strive to be reincarnated as a human, and that there are actually charts that can help you work towards what one aims to be reincarnated as. For Ha, he would like to be reincarnated as a dog and live in the US because it's a good life, he can be lazy and lay around at parks.  He wants to live in the US and mentions that if he were to live in Vietnam as a dog, he would be eaten, but he's not sure how he will get to the US as he does not have a passport...

Note: Flowers are not for decoration or given
as a kind gesture, but use for sacrifices!

Ancestral Shrine in a home

After the market we visited Tan Hoa, a small village, where the local kids were just finishing the morning school session.  School is either from 7:00-10:30 OR 1:00-4:30 and four subjects are covered.  There are not enough schools so students are only able to attend a half day in order for all of the children to have the opportunity for education.  Primary school costs $50/year, secondary $150/year, university $600/year, and private universities roughly $1000/year.  Our guide attended a private university and was telling us about ways they keep the costs down, such as sleeping 3 people to a bed in a dorm room!  Most older kids work after or during secondary to pay for the education of their younger siblings. Therefore, the youngest child often has the greatest opportunity to attend university.

G rocked at this pool game where there are no holes on the table & the object is
to use the 1st ball to ricochet & hit the 3rd ball - the local school kids were impressed!

We headed out on bikes to explore the rice fields and learn about life for the people in the small village of Tan Hoa.  Everything was so green and beautiful!

Family photo in a rice field!

SJ got to ride on the scooter with Ha!

After biking, we drove for about an hour to have lunch at a beachfront restaurant where we had amazing giant prawns, spring rolls, rice, fish, pork, and for dessert we enjoyed custard apples, star apples (tasted like banana bread batter), and mangoes.  Out in the water were huts on stilts that are used for clam farming.  The tide here changes drastically, and low tide recedes over a mile from the restaurant on the water because the delta is so flat!

Huts for farming clams

We then drove to My Tho pier where the girls picked up some rice hats and we learned that during the rainy season, when the waterways are flooded, children carry their school supplies in these hats turned upside down as they swim their way to school!  We took a small boat cruise on the Upper Mekong and watched fishermen catching red snapper, were entertained by G on a microphone, and wound our way through coconut groves, stopping to hold a python and see a large jar of rice wine being infused by cobra (hmmm.. don't get any ideas for future limoncello flavors)!

G providing some cruising entertainment!

Canals off the Mekong in coconut groves

Enjoying the sampan boat ride through Tan Thach creek

We arrived at our homestay and were intrigued that not only was there a room with enough beds for our family, but there was an open Bible in front of a cross and several Bible verse posters around the building. Part of our tour is designed to experience Vietnamese home life. After resting and playing their version of hacky sack (several plastic chips attached to some feathers) we were taught how to cook a Vietnamese pancake served as a dinner appetizer.  Each of us got a turn and thoroughly enjoyed our friendly hosts even though we couldn't communicate too much. We were then served a huge meal that probably had twice as much food as we could eat.  It included soup, rice, pork, spring rolls, and our shrimp pancakes.  Everything was quite delicious and we were stuffed.

Scooter run to the market

What girl doesn't LOVE tea time?  Double fisting!

Dad & our oldest trying their first coconut!

G carrying pomelos the way the Vietnamese do it!  (MUCH heavier than it looks!)

Learning to make Vietnamese 'pancakes'

Mom & our host Tui

Following dinner we got the kids settled and were about to crash ourselves when we struck up a conversation with the owner, Mui, about his Bible and Christian pictures hanging around the house. This took a life of its own and with Ha translating we had a very engaging chat learning about him, his family, faith, and history.  He felt truly blessed to have other Christians to converse with and stated he wished his English was better and that we had more time, and that our conversation encouraged him to read his Bible more - humbling for us to say the least.

In 1962, when Mui was only one month old, his father was shot and killed, believing to be with the Viet Cong.  Mui means "ten" and he was his parents tenth child.  (However we later learned that he was most likely the ninth child as the first-born child is called second born.  The reason for this is confusing and we've heard everything from it is to keep the gods from knowing who/where the first-born is, to only one of the previous princes or kings is allowed the title of "first" anything.)  We learned that the area on his property where a small pond existed with a beautiful eating area set above it, was actually created by a bomb during the war.  After his father was killed, his mother remained on their property raising the children.  In 1968, as a small boy, he was sleeping in a hammock in one of the rooms we were staying in that evening, when a bomb came through and blew him off unconscious.  As his family ran to their bunker, they checked on him and thought he was dead.  After this event, his mom moved the children to a nearby city for the remainder of the war.

Man made pond filled in the crater left by a bomb during the Vietnam War

Mui was a 3rd generation Christian and his small village, made up of about 140 families, was actually about 1/3 Christian and there were 8 churches!  This was interesting to us as in Vietnam it is estimated that between 5-10% of the population are Christian, and Vietnam is listed as  #20 on the World Watch List 2016 for countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian.  (We were surprised to learn that Vietname is the country experiencing the most persecution for being a Christian out of all the places we will visit in our travels this year!)  We asked a lot of questions and learned and that he doesn't experience any persecution for his beliefs and believes that God has truly blessed him and his family.  As a business owner and hospitality manager he told us how days can be long and stressful but his faith helps him to remain calm and not "sweat the small stuff" so to speak. It was fun for us to just sit and have an adult conversation (albeit with a translator) with no kids around.  It might honestly be one of less than a handful such experiences total in our trip so far, and it was encouraging that Jesus was our topic and that Ha, our translator, had many questions about Jesus for both us and our host.

First Impressions of Vietnam

We walked out to board our plane from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, and were surprised to find it had propellers!  Thankfully it was a quick flight and all went well.

Approaching our prop plane to Vietnam

We made it through customs and caught a cab to our accommodations, where we met Liem, our host. We rented his entire place for just our family and it's set up with 4 individual rooms that share 2 bathrooms laid out on 4 floors.  The bathrooms each have a 'bum gun' as well as a hand held shower head, but there is nothing to separate a shower area from the toilet or sink - so when someone showers, the entire bathroom gets drenched, and the bath towels are not large enough to wrap around a leg!  Each bed is a foot off of the floor and is a thin HARD mattress on several wooden crates. The kitchen is sparse and doesn't have 6 plates or utensils, and the table and 2 chairs are for real use, but identical to the kids set you can buy at Ikea!  The idea of a living room is a set of wooden pallets set on the floor with no cushions.  This is considered a very nice accommodation and we are grateful to have the place to ourselves and it should work great for us, aside from lacking a few comforts we are used to, it's probably not a place we are going to be spending a lot of down time at...

We got situated and headed out to get some cash, SIM cards, and lunch.  However, after having failed to get cash at the airport and not finding another machine that worked, we started to wonder what was going on.  As we were leaving Siem Reap, the person before us had his card eaten by the ATM and was freaking out, so this possibility was fresh in our minds...  Without cash, we couldn't get a SIM card or find food (as most lower-end food options don't take credit cards here). This was the first time we've faced such an issue. We found a French bakery and Dad was able to log into their WIFI and Skype the 1800 number for our bank to figure out what was going on (clever huh?).  It turns out that we had withdrawn our limit in a 24 hour period (the previous night we got cash because Cambodian ATMs spit out US Dollars and again that morning at the airport) - so while the day had changed on our watch, in the US it was almost midnight and considered the same day.  Interesting to learn this for the future!  We were able to have an exception made and had a successful visit to the ATM to get some Dong (exchange rate is 22,351 dong: $1 US dollar).

During all of this, we were astounded by the absolute chaos of the traffic.  Just crossing the street was taking our lives into our own hands!  There are no traffic lights and seemingly no traffic rules - we figured out that the scooters will avoid people cross the street, but vehicles will not, and that the scooters drive on the sidewalk as well as the street.  We've since learned that some tourists recommend you just close your eyes, step out, and go. Saigon had 10 million people and 8 million scooters we have learned.

We also were followed and touched by children trying to practice the few English phrases they knew. There is far less english here than in Cambodia and many just shout "HELLO" with big smiles as we walk by. All in all, we got the feeling that we were definitely entering a place that was more the "Asia" that we had expected but not come in contact with to this point in our travels.  It was a bit overwhelming and a few of us might have been glad that there is a flight out of Vietnam in 10 days for our family. But figuring out how to operate in a completely new and strange environment is exhilarating.

Kids on the street chasing after us.

After obtaining the "necessities" we went for a traditional 'hot pot'.  We had no idea what we'd ordered or how to eat it when it arrived but it was delicious.  The servers at the restaurant demonstrated that we were to squeeze lime juice into the broth that was in a small fondue pot, then we were to add the raw beaf and vegetables.  We were to scoop noodles into our bowls and then spoon the hot broth and meat over the noodles and season with vegetables and condiments as we desired.  It was delicious!  Then we headed back to our place and packed up for our 3 day/2 night adventure that we would be picked up for early the next morning.

Beef hot pot & noodles

Beef and veggies added. Can see flame underneath

Last week in Siem Reap

The plan of Christ isn't dependent on having the right programs or on hiring the right professionals, but on building and being the right people - a community of people, who realize we are all enabled and equipped to carry out the purpose of God for our lives."                                                                                     David Platt, Radical

While there were moments in Cambodia where we weren't sure what our purpose was, we knew that God was clear this was the place and time that we were supposed to be in Siem Reap.  Sometimes it seems bizarre to think that we've been called to show up and serve, we can wonder what we have to offer as our skill set is such a hodge-podge of passions and abilities, and our family dynamics can make it a challenge.  But time and time again, we were pleasantly surprised at how God uses obedience to open doors and allows us to see Him working through us, even when we don't seemingly have our act together or a plan, but are simply willing to be present and let Him use us.  We've been humbled and in awe at how our time in Siem Reap has played out and the connections we made and things we have learned.

On New Years eve Dad & boys headed out to teach Bible school at the floating village. SJ was the latest to cave to the stomach bug that had been ravaging our family as she started throwing up in the middle of the night, so the girls stayed home. This would mark 4 nights in a row where we (primarily mom) was up in the middle in the night. She would battle the yuck for a few days but ultimately be the last of us to deal with it, thus confirming that our middle son officially has the strongest stomach!

At the floating school the boys told the story of Joseph and his brothers with a translator who had graduated through the program and now feverishly works to help the next generation of kids. It was his first time playing the role of translator and he was quite nervous but did a great job being stretched in this role. After the story, we then had two teams who "mummy wrapped" a student in toilet paper - such joy was infectious to see and yet humbling as afterwards the kids excitedly collected the toilet paper so they could bring it all home as that is not something their families have. Not a scrap was left.

Students watching the "mummy race"

"Mummy wrapping" after teaching story of Joseph

Finished "mummy"

"School bus" at floating village

Lunch break at floating school

Monks along the river on way to floating school

After this we just laid low on New Years Day hanging around the hotel until dinner where we surprised the kids with a Swiss restaurant that had fondue - a family holiday tradition which we were thrilled to keep alive as so many were difficult to accomplish this year. Traffic and people were everywhere during New Years Eve as Siem Reap is a hot spot for other Asians (especially the Chinese) to come and party. A ten minute drive took an hour but it was fun to see the city lit up and busy. If we had had more energy we would have ventured to the busy area of town, but having all been sick and on limited sleep we headed back to the hotel where we struggled, but managed, to stay awake until midnight. Mom and dad were asleep at about 12:05.

"Lip gloss" girls! with a photo bomber in Motor-taxi

The next morning we were able to Facetime with Grandma & Grandpa and also chime into our community group's annual New Year's party which we have traditionally hosted. This was fun to see some of the crew and chat a little bit even if Facetime isn't ideal for catching up. We certainly miss so many things around the holidays and are sort of relieved to see them pass by as it was just hard to be away during that time, missing out on so many of our family traditions.

On New Years Day the boys attended a Bokatar class that we signed up for as a Christmas gift. Bokatar is an ancient art that the Khmer Empire used to dominate its neighbors a thousand years ago. It is not as much of a competition style of fighting (though they do have them), as much as it is a "crush thy enemy" sort of thing, which we didn't fully realize until prior to class.  Whose idea was it to have three energetic boys learn these skills and then keep them cooped up in a hotel room?  They guys enjoyed this experience and trying something unique.  Of course after this brilliant idea, they all came back to hotel pounding on one another and eager to try their new moves, so we headed to the pool to practice safely.

Bokator class

Flying knee meant to crush the skull move

Practice makes perfect

New Year's evening we met all the missionaries and their families at a traditional dance place for dinner as everyone was back in town from their travels. It was fun to sample many Cambodian foods at the buffet and see some of the traditional dance that Cambodia is known for, but we spent more time chatting than watching.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we had a picnic with the missionaries and enjoyed getting to know them and learn more about their lives and work here. We played some American football, went for a walk, and tried sugar cane for the first time. Later we came back to the pool for a bit and then ran some errands to gather supplies for our week ahead at the Dream Center.  That evening we headed down to "Pub Street" where we were able to eat at a Mexican restaurant that was delicious.

Our Cambodian crew strolling around a temple ruins

Sugar cane

Dareth showing us how to eat sugar cane

Eating raw sugar cane - a treat for our sugar-freak son

Pub Street is popular evening place to eat and hang out in Siem Reap

On Sunday we were able to attend worship again at the Dream Center with Dareth giving the message. The service was in Khmer so we didn't understand much but were able to do communion during the service which was a treat. They sang a beautiful worship song with the lyrics translated to English on an overhead Power Point, "the God on who I am waiting is the Lord of the Universe.  The God on who I am waiting is the King of Glory," it was SO good!

After the service we decided to hang around a while and teach the kids the basketball game "lightning."  It was quite comical to watch the boys try to do this with with the language barrier. The kids never fully understood it, but we had fun watching them all try to figure it out. Also after church Dareth gave our oldest a Praying Mantis, which he became a bit obsessed with and even took it back to our hotel for the remainder of our stay in Cambodia!

Introducing Lightning to kids

A buddy of our oldest

A Praying Mantis became a pet for a while

On the 3rd, we attended the Phare Circus performance, which teaches local kids circus and musical arts. It was a one hour show and the acrobatics were exciting to watch. The tricks were set in a play format where a story was being told as they performed. Unfortunately the play itself was a lot about deception and how to use it to get ahead in life. This was unfortunate in our eyes as there could have been so many better stories which promote higher moral qualities.

Circus theatrics

SJ and the circus girls

Our last two days were jammed packed with many art classes taught by mom and expertly assisted by the rest of the crew. The first day was working on drawing the human body with proper perspective and foreshadowing while tying in the story of the Prodigal Son.  Our oldest son used his skills to teach one-point perspective and the students really enjoyed learning from him.  He and Mom woke up early and taught the 7am classes, and the first day they stayed after a bit to play volleyball with some of the kids.  They also had the privilege of taking a handful of the guys to get a special treat nearby.  However there were a few snafus and they ended up needing one of the helpers at the Dream Center to meet up with them.  It just so happened that she drives a scooter and let our oldest drive it back to the Dream Center!

G posing for art class

Mom and son posing for Prodigal Son reenactment

Our oldest son taught 1 point perspective to the students

G and Samuel really enjoyed each other - from drawing to battling!

SJ teaching Pauline how to draw

Group of guys having a special treat

Watch out - look who's driving!

The second day was Van Gogh's Starry Starry Night, working with oil pastels. The whole family marveled at just how good mom is at teaching, and the students loved these classes while really having a fun time. Not only is access to unique art supplies exciting but mom's breakdown of these concepts into simple tasks built their confidence a great deal -and these kids love to draw and are quite skilled.  We imagine art is therapeutic for them. Our friend Pam furiously took notes with hopes to expand the school's art program in the future.

Mom & the class of oldest students

Whenever we hung out at the Dream Center, SJ was able to have a blast playing with the son and daughter of So-pi and she enjoyed their toys and riding bikes. For the most part she was able to just roam and it was a pleasure to watch her interact and even play with toys (which she doesn't have on our travels). When it was finally time to go she cried and cried about saying goodbye and her friend, Pauline, really didn't understand it.

SJ & Pauline

Hard to say goodbye - check out look from Pauline

Sweet magnet given to one of our sons :)

Playing at the Dream Center

Hard to say good bye

One of our goals while here was to visit the Landmine Museum which is supposed to be quite fascinating. Realizing that we were running out of days, we opted to try this in between art classes on our last day. Little did we know that the museum had moved and was about 45 minutes out of town and would require an hour and half ride back to the school (we didn't know this until we got there). By the time this was discovered, we had only about 20 minutes to view the displays before we had to hop back in our motor taxi to start the journey back to the school for the afternoon session. It was a fascinating museum of mines that a former child soldier has collected over the years, as he's dedicated his life to helping victim's of landmine explosions, as there are still many undetonated after the war - without any rhyme or reason as to where they were placed and no maps to keep track.

On our long ride back to the school we joked about this being our "3 hour tour" in a motor taxi and how it was longer than the flight we would take to Vietnam the next day.  We tried our best to enjoy the countryside and everything about Cambodia as we processed all that our time here has included.  Meanwhile we were covered in a film of dirt and getting bumped around and settling arguments among children in a tight space. Oh well....

All in all, we loved Cambodia. We had 17 nights in the country with all but two (when we went to Phom Phen) being spent in Siem Reap. The country is truly beautiful as rice fields make everything green like one might imagine Ireland, which is vibrant against the red soil. The people are warm and friendly and most have some knowledge of English, making getting things done fairly simple. The dollar is the main currency with Cambodian Riel only being used for change less than $1, although its actually paper as there are no coins. Most meals cost about $5 and ALL our laundry can be done for about $6-7.

We were very blessed to be able to assist two sets of missionaries as meeting Dareth and Thida Ly (website link) and John and Pam was a real treat. What these guys do day in and day out is truly inspiring and our kids felt they could move to Cambodia (which is saying a lot). God's use of the Lys in this area is nothing short of astounding and yet they remain humble beyond reproach. In their line of work, they are sort of legends-or so we have been told.

Our oldest wants to return on his own in a few years during his summer break and also plans on using his own money to sponsor a buddy at the Dream Center. Everyone could have stayed longer and was a little sad to leave - maybe that is the best way to exit? But we are off to Vietnam for ten days with our first 3 being a bit of a rural adventure for which we are excited.

Myon, our main server at hotel was always waiting with a smile & hug for SJ

Celebrating 4 Years!

Four yrs ago today God expanded our family with the addition of this beautiful baby from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Her name means "protected by God" and we've been amazed at how this has proven true so many times already in her young life.

We sometimes wonder if she has any idea what kind of a crazy family she's come into!  She is such a trooper, being 4 years old and sleeping in different beds every week & not having a consistent "home," but she knows her family is constant & unquestioned.  People point & here in Vietnam they laugh (it's their way of communicating they think she's cute, but it comes across as making fun of), understandably she doesn't like this attention & knows it's because of her skin and hair, but she's learning to accept it more each day & recognize the different ways God's made people.  We pray this ultimately expands her vision of people & beauty & that she recognizes 'different' can be stunningly beautiful.  She still naps as able (and will sometimes just rest her head on our lap & nap on command- SOMETIMES!).  We know traveling takes its toll on her but over and over we marvel at what a perfect place in life she's at to get to travel w/ her big brothers as she's learning to dish back the hard times they give her, she doesn't require a stroller & keeps up amazingly well w/ us, she's also not old enough for her own bike & would struggle to keep up yet still fits in a seat on the back of a bike so we can explore together.  She started off all dad but has become more and more preferring mom as this time away has been a gift to her and mom's relationship (this was one of our top 3 goals for this trip).  When people ask her where she's from she fluctuates between responding "the United States" and "Africa," but is learning to say "I was born in Africa but live in the United States."  

  She loves finding ice cream places & eating spaghetti everywhere we go, she also seems to need to visit every bathroom we come across (much to her parents dismay) & she brings smiles to all who come in contact w/ her.  She is always bouncing and has a continual spring in her step that is made even more jubilant if she has painted nails or lip gloss on.  She loves My Little Pony, Anna & Elsa and Strawberry Shortcake -she has many conversations with these 'friends' that are sadly one-sided!  Her sweet heart is showing as she can sense sadness, hurt & distress and will rub a back or ask if you are ok.  She loves to sing and can keep a tune although often creates her own jibberish words to go along with it.  

     We can't begin to process how her mind sees the world & these experiences, but we do know she trusts her family & knows we love her.  It's not the conventional way of building attachment but it's one of the answered prayers of this year away together that's definitely visible.  We are blessed to explore & learn about the world together as a family, it has continued healing our hearts and is creating memories as a family of 6.  So today we celebrate her 'family day' and her arrival to the US 4 years ago and our family being complete and together on US soil.