After spending the weekend in the capital (Phnom Penh) we drove to the coast in Sihanouk Ville and from there we took a boat to a lonely island out in the ocean.
Usually the tourists stay just during the day and go back with the boat in the afternoon. but we stayed there 2 nights and 3 days. there are about 30 cambodians living on that island. mostly fishermen i think. 2 guys were running the one and only restaurant on the island and also took care of the bungalows.
this was our lillte bungalow. there was room for 4 people to sleep in and we even had our own bathroom. that was very special because all the other houses didn`t have a bathroom. there were 2 toilets in a seperate house. if you wanted to take a shower you just grabed something like a big cup, filled it with water from a barrel and poured it over you. it was fun, believe me!!
there really was nothing to to there besides reading your book in the hamock, swimming in the warm blueish green water or take walkes on the beach. on the other side of the island there was a big nice beack with no houses or people. awesome!as you might guess we totally had a good time there, enjoyed every minute of doing nothing and tried to burn the great views into our mind so we could remember when we`re back home in cold switzerland.
after another weekend in town we could join tabea and the 2 cambodians she`s training on a trip to 6 orphan homes in the province to bring the glasses. of course the roads there are sometimes not what we think roads should look like. so the trip took a while even though it was not that far of a distance.
one of the orphan homes is built on the water. actually the whole village there is built on floats on a lake. during raining season a big part of cambodia is covered with water. so building your home on a float is not a bad idea.
the kids from the orphan homes were very trusting and came to us, sitting on our laps, holding our hands, jumping on us, playing around. it was so much fun. they seemed really happy in their homes!it was very fascinating to see the look on people`s faces when they first looked through their new glasses. one lady was blind on one eye and couldn`t see very well on the other one. so they made glasses for her to see in the distance but also to read. my sister gave her a book - the bible- to see if the glasses do their job. she started reading out loud and her voice became all shaky because she was so touched! if you want to see some pics from the people we gave the glasses to, visit my sisters blog on www.tabeas.blogspot.com
i`m very thankful that i was able to go visit my sister in her environment there in cambodia. it was awesome and just a very refreshing trip!
