Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels...

Today I did a little tourist adventure. It was quite a lengthy ride, but after a couple of hours I got to the Cao Dai (I say it cow die) temple. Cao Dai is a religion that is a combo pack of religions. It takes teachings from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Catholicism. It believes that all religions are the same in principle and Cao Dai means "High Tower", which represents God.

It was interesting to watch though I felt a bit like I was intruding but they didn't seem to mind.











The Cu Chi Tunnels are an underground system of tunnels in which the Cu Chi people took refuge as well as used to fight. This tour was difficult to stomach... they kept talking about how they would hide from American soldiers. They showed the torture traps they used on the American soldiers. It was really strange on this tour hearing that the Americans were the "bad guys".
A lot of the housing and facilities were underground- some completely underground. There were three levels to the tunnels: 1st- housing and basic tunnels about 3 meters under ground, 2nd- tunnels about 6 meters underground- some were so narrow that a Viet soldier would have to belly crawl to get through and it was a struggle for them, 3rd- tunnels about 9 meters deep. At this level there were more traps in case U.S. soldiers somehow got in. Some tunnels were even connected to the Saigon river so they could access by swimming down underneath the water and up into a tunnel.
The tunnel entrances were very difficult to spot. They were incredibly little. Many people in our group couldn't fit in them.

These were horrific to see. The second trap used to be used to catch tigers... here it was used to catch and kill American soldiers. They showed us crude device after device. The jungle was so thick there. I can't even to begin to imagine what hell all of the people- Viet and American- suffered while being there. This visit was quite haunting.

Back to Kenya...Opening Ceremonies

Opening ceremonies in Africa is one of those indescribable experiences that you can only truly comprehend by being there. It is completely vivid and it awakens all of your senses. The sounds and the rhythms are raw… the voices are brown sugar and butter... the sacred earth under your feet takes life. It’s nothing short of a spiritual moment.

Just imagine being rushed by hundreds of excited children. They are all grabbing your hands and have the biggest grins in the world, like they’ve just won the grandest prize. They swarm you with intense love. They are strangers… and then, just like that, they are family. I’ve posted some pics and I have some great video to post but I can’t get enough bandwidth here… so when I do, I’ll post that!





Because I was the team leader I got dragged up to dance- I'm pretty much the least coordinated dancer EVER!

A Cambodian Drive...

Here are some pretty pics from the drive we took from Siem Reap to a floating village... I don't think they do the beauty justice!

Somaly Mam House

Justin read a book called "The Road Of Lost Innocence". Ever since then he's been talking about the horrors that go on in human trafficking and trying to get me to read the book. I started the book a while back but ended up getting side tracked. As we were riding for hours and hours via bus to Cambodia I decided to give it a woo.

I'll say this, it is disturbing... but written in a readable way that is quite matter of fact. It is powerful. It is so incredibly sad but leaves you with some hope that just maybe, things could change. It changed how I looked at Cambodia as we rolled in. It changed how I saw the houses, the shops, the men, the women and the girls. And it made me really want to do something. Justin had been wanting to do something for the foundation for months. So he came up with the idea of collecting school supplies for them as well as for some of the poorest schools in Vietnam. Many, many people were quite generous.

You know, people ask all the time how we can do the projects that we do... how we can travel the way we can. It is very simple... we love to go places and meet people, and we live in an incredibly generous country. We simply could not do what we do without the incredible kindnesses of friends, family, ward members, neighbors and even a few strangers. So, we may be the deliverers, but in the U.S., we are surrounded by great movers of the world. The words are simple, but so deeply felt- thank you.

We really wanted to be able to deliver the supplies to one of the refuges for the victims. We tried many times going through the website and sending emails before we ever left for the trip. Finally we just packed up our bags, overflowing with as many school supplies as they could possibly hold and showed up in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Once in country, there were many hoops, websites, phone numbers and meetings to get the clearance to visit their place (as there should be!).

This center is a place for rescued sex slave victims to come and be safe. They are educated, taught skills so that they can earn money, given health care, psychological care and are given a real chance to live.

It was a peaceful and beautiful place. We were greeted with warm smiles. There was so much love there. It ripped at me, knowing why these girls were here... and some were so young- not more than seven. But they all seemed like they were working on being okay. I took some pics, but in order to preserve the safety of the girls, none of the residents could be in the pics. They were oh so happy for the great school supplies and said they would get put to really good use.

Tour of Ho Chi Minh

A really cute elderly man came up to us and wanted to take us on a tour of the city. We climbed onto a couple of sit lows and were off! My guide was really endearing and talked the entire time. He was very animated and passionate. Our first stop was to a museum about the Vietnam War. It was horrifying to see. It was interesting to see the war from their point of view.

This is a guillotine given to them by the French.

These are cages that prisoners were kept in. Not just one- many were crammed in. They are made of barbed wire. One of them, you could only really lay in to be remotely comfortable. I can't imagine being in one, especially with other people.

This is a 300 year old bonsai tree! We went to a beautiful bonsai garden right on the riverside. It was interesting to hear about how the trees are created, what they represent and that lucky numbers play a big role in their creation.

This tree is planted in a pot created entirely from broken tea pots. It is quite intricate and beautiful.

My guide started to blush when talking about this tree. He kind of moved the leaves of the tree out of the way and was a bit giggly while saying that this tree represented something "dirty". So, I suppose I looked at a pornographic tree... I'll repent for that one later.

My guide gave some interesting perspective and point of view. He was incredibly outspoken against the communist government. He talked about "Big officer, big corruption... small officer, small corruption". He pointed out different buildings that are now housing, but were once barracks for soldiers. He talked a lot about the plight of the people... how not too long ago, people there couldn't even afford to feed themselves- they are top exporters in rice, yet their people were starving. He said something about how now he has food for his mouth, but his mouth has no voice. Because we were American, he could tell us what he really thought about Vietnam, but to anyone else he needs to stay silent.

Getting there was half the battle...

In Kenya we stayed at a Catholic hospital in a quaint section with delightful nuns. We didn't have electricity all of the time, but they did have a good enough rainy season that we were able to have running water while we were there. We clearly did not have internet access, thus I will be bouncing back and forth between Kenya adventures of the past few weeks and current adventures I am having in Vietnam.

Getting to Kenya is quite the journey. Of all the places I’ve been, Kenya seems the most taxing… also the most worthwhile. From Salt Lake City we flew to Denver, from Denver to DC, from DC to Ethiopia (16 hours on the plane). We had an overnight in Ethiopia where I had to argue with the front desk over water for my team for about an hour. Then we flew from Ethiopia to Kenya the next morning. Not including the overnight we spend about 24 hours in the air, plus layovers so it takes close to two days to get to the capital of Kenya. From there we drive… and drive. In Kenyan standard time it takes about 3 ½ hours to get to a place to overnight at. In U.S. time that means a little over 7 hours. Most of the drive is on roads that people would be leery 4 wheeling on. We had a bit of car trouble along the way.

We were taking two buses, one car and one van to accommodate the entire team and the luggage. It was dark by the time we got to a small town to overnight in. Our bus made a wrong turn and was backing up, the suddenly WHAM! The entire bus tilted sideways. We didn’t turn over but I did have to have everyone on the bus hop out the driver’s door. The bus was completely stuck and at a vary precarious angle. Finally, using the other bus and about 20 Kenyan men, they managed to get the bus out of the ditch it had fallen into. However, when they pulled it out, it came out a bit harder than anticipated and smacked into the other bus. I asked where the other two vehicles were (people needed their bags) and the driver told me that they had both been in accidents as well but no one was hurt. It was definitely a crazy beginning to the adventure.

The traveling adventure was far from over. Ever heard of Kenya Nascar? Me either! But somehow, my vehicle got stuck in the middle of one. I had sent the two buses and car ahead of the van. I took the van with several students to go and pick up necessary items. We all had another 2 hour ride to the village. After our quick shopping trip the van was exploding with people, groceries, and various whatevers and we started heading down a road. We’re driving along and all of a sudden our driver, Peter, roars the van into a ditch and up a little hill. It took a minute for us to realize what had happened… We were driving down a race track- no lie- still a broken, crazy road, that was now a make shift race track and the cars that were cruising down were FLYING!! The race cars only came one at a time and were released every couple of minutes. Our driver started easing his way onto the road, back the way we had come so we could get out of there. He would then suddenly pull off, into a ditch and a speeding race car would leave us in a cloud of dust. Finally the driver and I decided it would be best if another mentor and I hopped out, ran ahead, checked for the all clear and waved him to safety. So two of us did and the second we were out of the car onto the road we could hear another car coming. So we dove into the nearest ditch. Then we began our jog up the road, being cheered on by a bunch of Nascar Kenyans… it was quite hilarious if I hadn’t been so freaked. This plan worked for a while until we looked at Peter and he was sweating bullets. He finally decided we’d have to pull off and wait for the race to be over. Then we got a call from a local who said there was exactly two minutes between racecars and we were so close that if we left after the next car, we could easily make the turnoff. So Peter thought about it (for about 1 ½ minutes of our 2 minutes!!!!) then something clicked and he decided to give it a woo. We made it. It was crazy. And at this moment in time, I was thankful none of the students had access to internet- I could just imagine the parent response from participating in Kenya car races!!!
At last, we are safe and sound at our destination and new moments await.