Rabbits and Elephants

Hello my lovely friends and family!

I had the most lovely weekend so I have to tell you all about it! OBVIOUSLY!! Or should I say Obv!?

Okay, so we have a friend working in Kampot town named Jennie (she's from England). Kampot is a province southwest of Phnom Penh. E. and I travelled via Taxi to Kampot town on Friday after E. got off work (approximately 2.5-3 hours). When you think of Taxi you may think 'posh' or 'roomy' or maybe even 'relaxing'. I need you all to STOP picturing this when I say; "We went in a taxi"! The Cambodian people here like to PACK their taxi's full to make the most of the situation...your view of the taxi ride should be shifting a bit now! We rented 4 seats...meaning we got 3 seats by Cambodian measure. There were 4 poor souls in the front! There sat a grown young man by the window of the driver seat, then the driver, then another grown man and then an old woman!! Half way to Kampot the man beside the old lady vomited!!! Very bad. Very bad.

We enjoyed the ride though...thinking none of them spoke english we chatted about their face masks and their funny sounding language...then we got to Kampot and the man who puked turned around and asked in perfect English, "Where are you going?" Eek!

We spent the night at Jennie's house and then woke early to watch a dress rehearsal of the Epic Art's dance performance. Jennie works with an organization called Epic Arts. They teach dance to physically disabled children/young people. The dancers are all deaf except for a couple of them. There are also some people in wheel chairs. They danced beautifully! They used the chairs and flipped each other around and ... I was in heaven watching them! Very moving. I wanted to dance right along with them! LJ; we are definitely taking a dance class when i get back! Get ready Leisure Guide!

Then we got into a tuk tuk after our large breakfast to make our way to Kep, a small fishing town. On the way me and the ladies were laughing about things, and i was trying to take in the green of the rice fields and the lovely faces of the Khmer children waving frantically while yelling "Hello!"....I was so busy being swept up in my imagination and my daydreaming of me living as a child not on a farm in Manitoba but on a farm in Cambodia...that I did not realize that the LARGE and TALL and DARK figure on the side of the road was indeed an ELEPHANT!! It took me about 3 seconds to shout: "What the heck? It's an elephant girls!" Our tuk tuk stopped and we took some pics! Amazing. Except I was a bit scared. It was moving a lot!!!!

Then we continued on our way. We rented a little fishing boat to take us across the ocean water to Rabbit Island! It's a small island mainly used as a little retreat destination. They have small and simple bamboo huts with only a foamy on the ground with a small pillow each and a mosquito net to protect you. And the women make you rice or noodles fried with fresh shrimp/crab/chicken/pork. It was very relaxing. I lied in a hammock most of the time and stared out across the water to the mountains of Vietnam! I felt amazingly lucky and blessed to lie on a beach, to each shrimp and swim in the sunset lit waters! My life has brought me to such amazing places...and I am cherishing every minute of every opportunity. I wish you all could've been there!

It was also a bit funny! Of Course! While lying in a hammock I heard the cows moo behind me, chickens peck beside me, and goats get into trouble with the laundry lines!!! Such strange sounds and sights and SMELLS to have on a tropical island! But I felt very thankful that there were cows amongst us! I love cows. I love them very much.

We woke up at 6 am with the rooster crows and got a boat back to the mainland. Our taxi ride back to P.P. wasn't nearly as packed. Three in the front, three in the back!

I hope that paints a picture for you all! Oh, and I got a bit sun burnt, of course.

Please pray for my lower back. It is very painful. I think my foamy is a bit of a problem maker;)