Mahalo for your generous donations!!!!

Dear Friends,

Some of you very thoughtfully sent funds my way in order to take a few FLO kids out to dinner in Phnom Penh.

Why did I want to treat them to a dinner out on the town?

First of all, I wanted to acknowledge the two student teachers for their hard work; they're volunteer teaching the younger Ss at FLO, and I don't know that many 17 and 20 year olds would would willingly add more work to their already full schedules.

Also, there were a few other Ss who continued to pour themselves completely into their school work; I wanted to let them know that I'd noticed their efforts and positive attitudes.

When I invited them to join me for dinner on Sunday, September 11th, I could tell that they were containing their excitement in order to give a thoughtful, quiet and, dignified, "Yes." It was obvious that they were jumping up and down on the inside. : )

You all also gave so very generously that I was able to treat ALL the FLO students to apples twice! (using YOUR donations, of course)  They'll be receiving the second apple in the coming week.

And lastly, the young boy who was one of the winners during the talent show in August (and who gave me his drawing) received some drawing supplies (paper, colored pencils, pencil holder, etc.) thanks to YOU!

All of this may seem small compared to others who have funded new buildings, scholarships, etc., but to these students, the gifts you gave them were HUGE!!!!

On behalf of them, I would like to thank you so very much for reaching into your pocketbook, sharing your hard earned dollars, and making their day a little brighter.

The following are some shots I took during our outing.

Enjoy and thanks again,

-sj

The gang! (LOVE the mural Dani!!!)

This was his first time in Phnom Penh; he was so excited. AND he devoured and LOVED his meal! : )

She got a hamburger with french fries!!! LOL And she ate it all! It was a gourmet one. Nice!

The two student teachers got the same thing . . . and the van driver whose hand you see; they all had clean plates at the end.

It just so happened that there was an art exhibition next door; we went and the kids couldn't believe that they had pupus anyone could eat--for free! They ate more! This woman is displaying a special sweater she knitted before the Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge era; she kept it safe and had it on display to represent a time gone by.

A short video of riding on an Asian elephant outside Luang Prabang, Laos

Listen to what the *Mahout says . . . ears flapping are apparently a sign of that.

So glad that I had a happy elephant!!!

He (he? I don't know, maybe it was a she) sure made me happy!

ciao,

-sj

* elephant trainer

4 p.m. in Luang Prabang, Laos

I'd read about this somewhere, that at 4 p.m. monks in Luang Prabang gather at the many wat and drum. A few days ago, while chillin' in my room, I heard some drumming. In less time than it takes to put on shoes in other parts of the world, I'd left my room, walked around the corner, and was watching them drum (albeit behind the vines that you see are hanging down from the little gazebo).

Enjoy!

More random tuk tuk shots from around Phnom Penh, Cambodia . . .

Let's see how fast the internet connection is in Sapa, Vietnam . . . it's freakin' fast!

Enjoy!

Random tuk tuk shots from my time at FLO outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Aloha Everyone,

I literally just shot these "off my hip."

They're for those of you who haven't visited SE Asia yet. And for those of you who have, well, it'll surely bring back some memories.

And, just imagine lots of noise of all kinds: tuk tuk honks, moto honks, car honks, truck honks, loud speakers broadcasting this and that (music, talking, chanting, who knows what-ing) . . . and oh, turn the fan on and let some dust and exhaust fly in your face. Ahhh . . . do you feel it yet? Are you there with me?

Love to my many friends around the world,

-sj
p.s. more to come . . . this is all the time I have for uploading . . . off to Hanoi and then Sapa.

In Memory of Julie Anne Mercer Lee

My dear friend, Julie Anne Mercer Lee, left her physical body on September 27th after a courageous 10-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Her husband and two sons miss her dearly; they are ALL LOVED by many.

Here are some photos of Julie aboard the SS Norway where we were both working as Fit with Fun instructors; we're the two babes lying on the floor in the group shot.

Godspeed Julie on your journey!

with warm aloha,

-sj

p.s. there's also a shot of Julie with her parents, second from the last.

A visit to Cambodia unfortunately isn’t complete without a trip to one the many “Killing Fields,” “Killing Caves,” or “Genocide Museums.”

I say unfortunately because obviously these are not happy places to visit. But similar to the reason that I went to the former concentration camp in Dachau not far from Munich, Germany years ago, I felt it was my duty (as a fellow human) to show respect to the millions who died during the era of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

What follows are photographs I took while at the Genocide Museum Tuol Sleng, the Former Office S.21 in “Kampuchea Democratic” 1975-1979. (It’s located in Phnom Penh in what used to be a high school complex.) This facility (and many others) were used for lodging the people while they were being tortured. Though people did die here; that was not its intended purpose.

This device was used for taking their photographs.

The man on the left is one of the few survivors of S.21 left.

The following pictures I took while visiting the killing field closest to FLO. There were many, many similar places in Cambodia during this time. This one was located on what used to be a Chinese cemetery (where there was an orchard of  *longan trees).

The “typical” procedure was to blindfold the people, tell them that they were being relocated, take them to a field (or cave as a nice Canadian couple I met while in Siem Reap explained to me; they visited one in northern Cambodia), force them to kneel (adjacent to a previously dug hole), kill them (in many different ways), put their body in the hole, and . . . go get more people to kill. It was so incredibly horrible what they did.

This is very close to the killing field.

See the skull? That's where this killing field is located.

This memorial houses many of the bones found in the numerous mass graves.

***

*From my Apple dictionary:

longan |ˈlô ng gən; ˈlä ng-|  noun

an edible juicy fruit from a plant related to the litchi, cultivated in Southeast Asia. • The plant is Dimocarpus longan, family Sapindaceae.

ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Chinese lóngyǎn, literally ‘dragon's eye.’