So I hope you will travel along and see where things went right or wrong. Grab your back-pack and come along we are going to cross the border from Thailand to Cambodia. 

I had been traveling in Thailand for over two months. I had started in Bangkok ,of course and traveled down the coast to Puket, back and forth through the islands, back to Bangkok, down the other coast and I needed a place to just hang out for awhile. I got lucky and discovered Ko Chang, it was just what I was hoping to find. It had great beaches,super food, first-run movies at night, not that many tourists, and best of all cheap, clean rooms. I loved Ko Chang, and I just stayed and stayed. One fine day I happened to look at my visa and to my great disappointment I only had ten days before I either had to go back to Bangkok or cross the border and go into Cambodia. Crossing the border and going in Cambodia certainly sounded more interesting than returning to Bangkok, as I was getting pretty  sick of bus travel.  I was lucky as there was a lady from Korea staying at the same hotel as I was, and she also needed to renew her visa, so we made plans to go together  the following week. We planned to take the ferry to Trat then just catch a bus to the border at Had Lek. We both wanted to spend a week or two in Cambodia  and then we would return to Ko Chang.

The next day the big news on the island was that in Phnom Penh the Cambodians had burned the Thai embassy and all the borderswere closed and the hai army was being called out to protect the borders. This was the talk of the day and continued for several days. I still had a few days left on my visa, but I´d have to lave for Bangkok if this situation didn´t change soon.

We had good T.V. coverage but of course it was in Thai so we needed it interputed, but everyone agreed the border was open. The lady from Korea and I made plans to rent a jeep with a driver, because the buses weren´t going to the border until next week. No one was sure why the buses weren´t running but everyone thought that it was just that not many people wanted to go to Cambodia right now as the country was still a little mad at the Cambodians for burning their embassy. Well want to or not ,we had to go and we only had two days left . We had some great help finding a good safe driver and super jeep and everything was in order for us to go tomorrow.

The next day our driver, Phan, arrived on time, and we caught the ferry to the mainland. Phan, said “ it would only take about three hours to drive there, but that this was such a busy border we may have to stand in line for a hour or more”. It seems that this is where all the Thai people cross into Cambodia to do their gambling. He told us “ that he loved to go to the casinos in Cambodia as he was always lucky with the cards and the women”.

There were no lines of people. There were only hundreds of empty little stands usually full of vendors selling their fruit, vegetables, or crafts. All of the main stores were also closed...

As Phan pulled up to Immigrations he said “Oh, my God I don´t think this is good, it is just too strange I think we need to go home, now”.The lady from Korea asked “if I wanted to go back or just keep going”. My thought was hey, neither side was angry at either of us or our countries, lets just keep going and see how it goes. I was a little nervous because Phan was white nuckled and didn´t think it was a good idea..The Thai border guards knew why we were there, as many foreigners do this visa run, the guards were used to this routine. They quickly stamped our passports, opened the make-shift barbed-wire gate and told us we had to walk across the bridge then we would see the Cambodian border. Normally there was a shuttle bus, but not today because no one was crossing the border, no-one but the two of us.We started our walk and I looked back at the barbed-wire blockade. Then I got really scared. There were at least twenty or twenty-five Thai military men with machine-guns raised, and it sure looked like they were aimed right at us. I walked as fast as I could, thinking Cambodia had to be better, if we didn´t get shot first. As we crossed this very, very long bridge I could see the same thing at the Cambodian border. More machine-guns pointed at us. We kept going because we had to go somewhere. As we approached their barbed-wire blockade, the Cambodian soldiers were all smiling and nudging each other. I´m not sure but I think this was a lot of fun for a usually boring job.They quickly stamped our passports, opened the horrid looking gate and now the hardest part for me was, we had to walk the long, long, bridge back to Thailand with guns from both borders pointed at us, again. These boys from both countries looked maybe sixteen-eighteen years old. As I walked across the bridge I hoped that one of them wouldn´t think it might be fun to shoot us and just throw us in the river, because who would ever know if a woman from Korea and a woman from the US just disappeared.

The only person that knew where we were was Phan, and I thought maybe he was so scared that he might have just left and quietly gone home. Well, obviously it didn´t happen, we walked back to Thailand with guns from both countries pointed at us, our passports once again stamped. Then we both ran for the bath-room before we wet our pants. I then found a store that was open and bought a bottle of Thai whiskey and coke and we had a much needed celebration. Phan told us" he thought we were either very brave or very stupid and that he was really scared for us". He saw all the guns raised and asked the guards "what was going on¨? They told him “they were protecting us from the terrible men in Cambodia”. I guess the Cambodians were protecting us from the terrible men in Thailand. Oh, please, please, never protect me again..

Welcome to the tour, enjoy.

"Cocoa Island, in the Maldives, is home to a 23-room hotel owned and designed by Christina Ong, with architecture by Cheong Yew Kuan. The suites, which resemble local dhoni fishing boats, rest on pine poles set into the ocean floor. Steps lead from each suite right into the water." This location is perfectly private for recent honeymooners.

Udaivilas

Located along Lake Pichole in Udaipur, India, Udaivilas occupies 30 acres and offers 90 rooms, including some very luxurious guest suites. The pool, featured in this picture, borders the guest's rooms and measures more than 800 feet in length.

"It's a juxtaposition of old and new," Peter Silling says of Schloss Velden, the historic castle on Lake Wörth in Velden, Austria, and its new addition, whose interiors he designed. The modern, U-shaped wing, by the Viennese architectural firm Jabornegg & Pálffy, wraps around the rear of the castle, which was originally built by Bartholomäus Khevenhüller. Above: Black marble, custom-ordered for the suite, adds a mirrorlike reflection to the bath.

St. Regis Resort

St. Regis Resort Bora Bora, set on a motu, or islet, on island's coral reef, was created as "a kind of village," says the architect, Pierre Lacombe. Villas, secluded by palm groves, wind along the beaches. On its own island in the lagoon is the Royal Estate, a 13,000-square-foot villa. (April 2008)

Otahuna Lodge

A Queen Anne style house designed by architect Frederick Strouts in 1895, near Christchurch, New Zealand, is now an exclusive seven-suite hotel. Otahuna Lodge's owners, Hall Cannon and Miles Refo, recently renovated the property. They worked with a team of gardeners and consultants to revive the grounds.

Hôtel de la Paix

"I wanted to build on the history of the place," designer Bill Bensley says of the Hôtel de la Paix, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which was reconstructed in the Art Déco style on the site of the 1950s original. A porte cochere frames the entrance. The hotels amenities trump its competitors by providing guests with a once in a lifetime spiritual visit. I don't know what that means but, it sounds amazing.

Gran Hotel Son Julia

Located in Mallorca Spain this beautifully constructed countryside hotel has 25 lovely
guest rooms and suites , 2 Turkish baths, 3 pools, a gym, 2 restaurants, 2 tennis courts, and an 18 hole golf course just minutes away.

Peninsula Palace Beijing

Modern architecture meets luxury at this 5-star hotel providing every amenity your heart desires. "The hotel also features the most prestigious shopping arcade in Beijing; the Peninsula Arcade includes 50 exclusive designer boutiques." The hotel was designed by Chhada, Siembieda & Associates

Ice Hotel

The Ice Hotel is located in Quebec Canada. This featured theme suite called "Quebec
400"features animal skins for blankets. The ice hotel is built differently every year but, something does remain the same. Each year, the hotel is built with "5oo tons of ice and 15,000 tons of snow" carved into one of the most fascinating hotels on earth. They keep it pretty cozy at 23° to 28° Fahrenheit. However, when you're not freezing your behind off, you can enjoy the many amenities featuring a chapel, a movie theater, an outdoor hot tub, and a bar. You're going to need a bunch of hot chocolate to get through this, I assure you.

Blue Palace

Blue Palace is situated just 3 km away from the village of Elounda and within a few hundred meters of the fishing village of Plaka. The hotel is surrounded by the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea and sits opposite the isle of Spinalonga.

"Spinalonga's story dates back to the Venetians and Turks, conquerors of Crete, and is nowadays a unique historical attraction protected by the Greek Society of Byzantine Antiquities."

If you loved these travel destinations, check out some more locations for some fun and exciting ideas for travel:

• 10 More Travel Destinations around the Globe
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Ministry work in Cambodia faces some unique challenges, due to the cultural decimation by the Khmer Rouge during the Vietnam war. Not only were most religious institutions wiped out (Operation World says, “90% of monks and most Christians perished” in the killing fields of the 70s and 80s), but also education and business establishments.

Getting there

Monday, February 21

For the past several weeks, telling people I'm going to Cambodia has evoked the same response from nearly everyone: “Cambodia? Why?” I myself know very little about the country, and I was surprised at the consistently negative reaction to the idea of going there. My father asked, “It's not really safe there, is it?” A co-worker half-jokingly labeled this “The Trip Nobody Else Wanted.” And a lady at my church hugged me goodbye, wished me a good trip, and cheerfully advised, “Don't step on any land mines!”

I am traveling with two co-workers. On the bus to O'Hare Airport this morning I asked one of them what he hoped to get out of this trip. “My Number One goal,” he replied, “is to survive.” I seem to be alone in my enthusiasm for this adventure.

The things I've learned about Cambodia in preparing for this trip have incited more of a curious sadness than nervousness or fear. Three weeks ago I watched “The Killing Fields,” the movie about the Khmer Rouge coming into power, beginning in Phnom Penh. The protagonist of the movie survived starvation, random killings, exposure, indoctrination, and disease before finally escaping to a Thailand refugee camp and then to the States.

I also read a book called “Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields,” a compilation of the stories of Cambodian children who endured slave labor, family separation, hunger, and beatings, and in many cases watched the systematic execution of their parents and siblings.

I still don't understand all the politics behind the war that spilled over into Cambodia, but I understand the effects: under the Khmer Rouge the wealthier, educated professionals and businessmen of society were killed or banished; the remaining population were reduced to brutal slavery; cities were bombed; and a lush countryside was littered with the bodies of millions of victims.

The Khmer Rouge's reign of terror lasted from 1975 to 1985, and Cambodia has not yet recovered.

I'm intrigued by all that history, and I'm looking forward to learning more while I'm there.

Tuesday, February 22

Oddly enough, though the flight from Chicago to Tokyo was less than half full, our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok was packed! Once I wedged into my seat, I didn't move for the whole seven hours. (It would have taken a shoe horn to get me out, and it just didn't seem worth it.)

We arrived in Bangkok around 11:00pm and took taxis to our hotel, where our other Southeast Asian staff had already checked in.

The night market near our hotel does not close until 1:00am, so a few of us strolled through and looked at the merchandise before turning in. Interestingly enough, the merchandise on display included a number of topless dancers, since this market area is also known for its brothels. As far as I know, no purchases were made by our group.

Touring Bangkok

Wednesday, February 23

I got up at 7:00am and made it down to the breakfast buffet at 8:00, where I enjoyed fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, French toast, and juice. My two co-workers came in about 8:30 and announced that they had made arrangements with a taxi driver to take us to some of the local highlights and then directly to the airport. So I checked out of my room by 9:00am and joined the boys on a sightseeing adventure.

The thing that made our adventure adventurous was that our taxi driver spoke exactly as much English as we spoke Thai: zero. Plus, he didn't really seem to know exactly where these sites were we wanted to visit. We had a list that had been written out in Thai by the hotel staff, and we had a tourist map with all the sites plainly marked, but “Frank” (as we came to call him) seemed to drive around in circles a lot, stopping to ask people for directions more than once. It was really pretty amusing.

We didn't get to see everything on our list, but we did stop outside the king's palace, which was impressive. And we did visit a collection of famous Buddha statues, which was interesting. And, most important, we did get back to the airport in time. (This had become a major concern of ours while we were wandering aimlessly up and down the streets of Bangkok.)

The one-hour flight to Phnom Penh was uneventful, and by 6:00pm most of the conference attendees were checked into the Goldiana Hotel.

At 8:00pm we met in the hotel conference room for introductions and devotions. Tomorrow the conference begins in earnest.

The conference begins

Thursday, February 24

This morning at 8:45, we got the conference off to a good start with singing, prayer, and devotions. Our devotional was based on Psalm 29:11- “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” There is always so much work to be done, our leader told us, and we are always very busy doing the Lord's work. But we need to remember, if we are not doing it in His strength, we will not feel His peace.

We spent the morning listening to reports from our co-workers in Cambodia and Vietnam, after which it was time for a break. We snacked on exotic fruits (jack fruit and tiny green bananas), cookies, coffee, tea, and bottled water. We resumed our meeting at 11:15am with a ministry training presentation, and at 1:00pm we broke for lunch.

This afternoon was spent on a field trip. First stop-our office in Phnom Penh. We moved into this office building about two years ago and have been very happy with it. It is large enough to provide storage for materials, a reception area where customers can purchase Scriptures, a conference room for training, two rooms where staff members can board, and a guest room for visiting speakers and others.

We learned that it takes a long time to develop ministry materials for Cambodia because so few people are educated enough to do translation. English is not widely spoken or read here. In fact, many Cambodians cannot read their own language.

Eager to make us feel welcome, the staff set out a buffet of fruit and drinks to socialize over. We sampled a grape-like fruit called dragon's eyes, and I cracked open a can of Winter Melon Tea. Very tasty.

We boarded the bus again then and drove around the city while our hosts told us about the history and politics. I was impressed by how similar everything looked to the way it was pictured in “The Killing Fields.” There has been very little development in the past 20 years. Streets are unpaved and rutted, buildings are worn, and the people seem worn as well.

We stopped at an open-air market (which is, in fact, the downtown business center of Phnom Penh) for an hour of shopping and observing. As soon as we stepped off the bus, a number of beggars approached us, most of them disfigured in some way, many with missing limbs. One out of every 200 Cambodians has been injured in an explosion: while the cities are pretty safe, the countryside is still littered with undetected mines.

Our last stop of the day was at a local restaurant, where we all crowded into a reserved room for supper. We ordered a variety of dishes that we all shared: frog legs, vegetables, fried shrimp, a spicy soup, and a large fish. Everything was delicious, and the fellowship was hearty and warm.

Friday, February 25

We began our devotional time this morning by singing “This is the Day” in five different languages: English, Tagalog, Khmer, Indonesian, and Thai. It was certainly a joyful noise. (Someone made the comment that the language of heaven will have to be English because Americans can't learn any other languages!)

Our director in Myanmar (Burma) had been scheduled to lead us in devotions this morning, but due to passport difficulties he had not arrived yet. Someone else filled in with Jeremiah 24:7- “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”

We spent the morning hearing reports on Myanmar and Indonesia, and then took a break for lunch. We had ordered lunch in advance because we learned yesterday that service in the hotel restaurant is very slow. Today's lunch was ready on time, but not everyone got exactly what they had ordered! I had fried rice with vegetables (which is, in fact, what I had ordered), and a Cambodian “fruit shake,” recommended by one of our staff here. Everything was delicious. And filling.

The afternoon was filled with a discussion on publishing Scripture materials, keeping them up-to-date, making sure they are written and designed well, etc. He seemed to get the group thinking about some details they hadn't considered. The afternoon session ended at 4:40pm.

Over a supper of fried noodles and vegetables, I had an interesting conversation with our new director in Laos. This man's parents were among the first Christians in Laos, converted through some translating work they did for missionaries. Today all eight of their children are Christians active in ministry. Only the one son, however, remained in Laos. He feels a strong calling to be there, in spite of the persecution he and his family suffer. (For example, his children will be denied entrance into a university just because they are known Christians.)

He also explained that there is much Buddhism in Laos, but most of it is combined with animism. “There is no power in Buddhism,” he explained. “There are no miracles, nothing supernatural. So people follow the teachings of Buddha, but they add the animism because there is much of the supernatural in animism. Even the Buddhist monks practice animism.” I asked him if there was any conflict between Buddhism and Laos' communist government. He said no, mostly because the government sees Buddhism as harmless. At one time Buddhists were persecuted just as Christians are. But more recently that has changed. In fact, the government now works with the Buddhist monasteries, using monks to promote political messages in their sermons and teachings.

After supper we reconvened for a couple of hours to continue an earlier discussion. By 9:00pm we were finished with meetings and ready for bed.

Saturday, February 26

This morning's devotions were based on 2 Timothy 4:1-5- “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

We then heard a report on the ministry in Laos, including the following facts: In 1990 there were an estimated 13,000 Christians in Laos. Today, after a decade of missions work by Laotian Christians, there are 70,000. “We praise God for that,” says our staff, “but along with that blessing come suffering. Every year, without exception, we have many people in jail, many pastors.”

Rather than defy the government or go completely “underground,” our staff have chosen to work hard to develop relationships with government officials, so that they will not see him as an enemy. This is a difficult path to walk, and it takes great patience and discernment.

One staff member related the story of a conversation he had with a government official: “He was accusing me of practicing foreign religion-because I am Christian. He said Buddhism is religion of Laos, and he is suspicious of Christians and their foreign teaching. I said, 'If Buddhism is Lao, why not translate the Buddhist Scriptures into Lao?' (They are in Pali, a language taught only in Buddhist seminaries.) I said, 'My Scripture is in Lao, so I am more Lao than the Buddhists!' But he was blinded to the truth of that.”

The next sessions were all budgeting meetings that I didn't need to be a part of, so I and three others went to Watt Phnom to take in the one tourist attraction we had seen there: an elephant ride. “Phnom” means “hill” or “mound” in Khmer, and “Watt” is the temple on top of the hill that Phnom Penh is named after. There is a temple or something built on the top, and the elephant ride follows a route around the temple. For $3.00 a person, we each got a 10-minute elephant ride. I think the local people in the park there were as entertained by us as we were by the elephant!

After two trips around the park, we fed our friend an entire bunch of green bananas and two small melons, which he popped into his mouth like grapes.

We arrived back at the hotel in time for supper, but none of us was too hungry, so we walked down to the Lucky Market for ice cream bars instead of a full meal.

Sunday in Phnom Penh

Sunday, February 27

Wow! What a day.

It started when we left for church at 7:30am. We divided into two groups; the larger group visited a more established church. I was in the smaller group, and we visited a new church established by a church planter just six months ago.

I counted 43 in attendance this morning. We arrived at the church just before 8:00am, and about 20 people were already gathered for a service that would begin at 8:30.

The church building is a “storefront” type structure on a busy street; the entire back wall is open, and the traffic and street noise was constant. We visitors had places of honor in the front, though, so the distractions were minimal.

By 8:15 the size of the group had doubled. The pastor began the service at 8:20 by introducing us visitors, giving us an opportunity to stand, smile, and wave.

The power had gone out shortly after 8:00am, so the Pastor and the praise team debated about how to proceed-they normally accompany the singing with a synthesizer and use microphones to lead the praise. But in the absence of electricity, they simply began singing a cappella. At about 8:30 the power came back on, so they fired up the synthesizer and microphones at that point.

All of the songs throughout the service were in Khmer of course, but quite a few of them were familiar tunes, so we visitors could sing along in English. “Hosanna in the Highest,” “No Not One,” and “They'll Know We are Christians” were a few of the numbers.

The service was punctuated by prayers at various points, led by members of the praise team, the pastor, and one or two women from the congregation. For at least one of these prayers people kneeled on the floor and bowed their heads. During the offertory prayer, the deacon held the offering over his head while he prayed, demonstrating that this was in fact an offering to God.

Before the sermon, someone from the congregation came up and led a responsive reading of Psalm 67, an appropriate Psalm that says more than once, “May all the peoples praise you.” It was exciting to hear that in Khmer, English, and Tagalog.

The pastor prayed again before beginning his sermon. He read a text from 1 Corinthians 13 and preached for a while. But every few minutes he had us turn to another text, and then he would preach for a while on that. I think all his texts had something to do with love-God's love and Christian love and maybe even love in the face of persecution. At the end of his 40-minute sermon, the congregation applauded, and the praise team returned to the front for two more songs.

The singing was followed by testimony time, during which the pastor invited us foreigners to address the congregation. We said a few words of encouragement, and then another woman from the congregation came up to pray.

Our doxology was “Shalom, Good Friend,” which they sang about four times in Khmer and then once in English. Very nice. The entire service was finished before 10:00am.

After rejoining the rest of our group, we all traveled to Tuol Sleng, the Cambodian Genocide Museum. This was an incredibly powerful experience that is difficult to put into words.

The museum is a compound of three buildings that had been an elementary school before the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. Comrade Dutch, a Khmer Rouge commander, turned the school into a prison where people were brutally tortured and killed. Each of the classrooms was turned into a cell. Some housed individual prisoners; others held large groups at a time.

I think this museum is so powerful because it is so simple. Most things have been left exactly as they were found in 1979 when the Vietnamese forced the Khmer Rouge out of the city. A few photos and signs have been added to explain what happened, but nothing is roped off or under glass. You can walk into each room and see the shackles that held each prisoner; you can even still see the blood on the floor. It's eerie.

The first building we entered was made up of rooms where individual prisoners had been celled. In fact, when the Vietnamese arrived, they found in each room a body chained to an iron bed, left there to rot when the persecutors fled. The Vietnamese took a photo of each body before burying it in a plot next to the building. Those photos now hang on the walls of the rooms. The beds are still in the rooms. And the shackles still lie on the beds. So each room is sort of a shrine to the victim who died there. It's haunting.

In a separate building are displayed some of the torture devices the Khmer Rouge used. It is almost incomprehensible, the perverted creativity that these people used to kill their victims. Seeing the different tools and machines they invented, you sense that these killings were sport to them.

I kept trying to understand this place, kept trying to wrap my mind around the reasons people would do this to other people. And I couldn't. Whatever political or ideological motivations Pol Pot had, they are simply inadequate to explain why. As I looked at the photos, read the history, smelled the fear and death in the air, I kept coming back to the question, How could this happen? No answer seemed satisfactory.

Tuol Sleng was a place where many of the city people- educated business or government people-were killed. After lunch we drove out to one of the killing fields where thousands of peasants had been slaughtered. Again, the site is haunting in its simplicity. Looking across the field, you see only grass and trees and paths around a number of large pits. It doesn't look like much, and there are few signs or explanations. But slowly the realization dawns that each of these large pits was a mass grave for hundreds of victims. When you look closely, you find fragments of clothing, bones, and teeth.

The bus ride back to town was very quiet.

That night after supper we gathered for one more session. Before our report from the Philippines, we sang a song together: “Because He Lives.” Watching our Cambodian bookkeeper sing that song brought tears to my eyes, having learned what I did that day, and knowing that she had lost her whole family to Pol Pot's horror. How beautiful to know that for her all fear is gone, and she can face tomorrow because He lives.

Final thoughts

Monday, February 28

We began our final day together with Philippians 4:1-7, which we read in unison before hearing the report on our ministry in Thailand. The rest of the morning was spent on ministry discussions, and then we all had lunch together before checking out of the hotel.

As our plane took off from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, I found myself praying almost desperately for our ministry in Cambodia. The problems throughout the country are so deep and so many that it seems almost foolish to think that we can make a difference! And of course such thinking is foolish. Only God can make a difference here. We can make a difference only in God's power. In fact, God does not even call us to make a difference; He calls us only to be faithful, for “the one who calls [us] is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, NIV). Amen.