Our Time in Cambodia

We were in Cambodia for five days. It took about seven hours to drive there from Bangkok so we didn’t get to do much on the first day. 

On the second day, we drove up a mountain to see a big golden Buddha. Our friend Neri showed us how to give respect to the monks. You bend down three times, one for the Buddha, one for the monk and one for something else. Then you offer money or gifts, and he throws holy water on you.



We also went to a bat cave. There were millions of bats flying out over the course of about two hours, starting at sunset. While they were flying over you, you could make a “shhhh” sound and because they have really good hearing, they would spread out. Normally they would be in a line but they would disperse a bit when they heard the sound and then go back into the line.



After that, because it was night time, we went to dinner at a Baha’i home. It was really nice. We said some prayers and then they brought out the food. They prepared fish, lemon chicken soup, duck, and rice paper rolls. 



After dinner when the grownups were talking, mom started talking to a lady who was doing her year of service from the Philippines. She was working at a Baha’i school and she had the idea that we could come visit and sing some songs and interact the kids so that’s what we did on the fourth day.



When we went to the school, we first introduced ourselves and we played charades by acting out an animal. I acted out a crocodile. After that, we sang “In the circle of love” and “We are drops.”



On the third day, we went to the Baha’i House of Worship. All the other houses of worship that we’ve seen have been white but this one had orange, brown and a little bit of green.



It was also different to other houses of worship because you had to take off your shoes and there were pillows to sit on inside. It also didn’t have aircon but there were fans and windows open for air to come in.



The next day we did some service at the house of worship by moving branches into a big pile so that they could burn it. It was hard because it was very hot. Now that I’ve done work there, I feel bad for the gardeners because they have to do that every day and more.



On the night before we left to come back to Bangkok, we had a massage done by blind people. It was a place where blind people could work because they don’t have to see when they are massaging people, they can just feel. It was my first professional massage and I found out that on my back, I have two little spots that really tickle when they are pressed.



Thanks Uncle Vaughan for organising most of the trip and booking all the hotels and driving us so many hours!