Service Trip to Cambodia

Tour to the 12th Century

krock970 — Thu, 4 Jan 2018 04:23:00 GMT

After a dinner (where anything went – meat, gluten, alcohol, etc.) back in Siem Reap at Spoons which is a restaurant near and dear to my heart as it supports kids in Siem Reap and teaches them Hospitality skills. http://egbokmission.org/spoons-cafe/ . Some scary stats out there in Cambodia: Only 4% finish high school, $1.25 is the average DAILY wage for 18% of Cambodians, and almost 2 million perished during the Khmer Rouge genocide most of which were the higher educated population. Due to the deaths of so many in the 1970’s, 52% of Cambodians are 25 or younger. In order to help to break the cycle of poverty, restaurants like Spoons and Haven (dinner second night) http://www.havencambodia.com/en/about-haven/ kids are given the chance to learn life skills and help themselves as well as their families. Definitely take the time to read some of the information on the sites above as the work they are doing is inspiring and potentially something else that is an option for my future giving mindset.

We set our alarms for an early 420am in order to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. We got the tuk tuks out of the hotel and stopped in to get tickets and the singular ticket location. Each person has to get there picture taken for the most formal single day ticket I have ever seen. I think at this point the Cambodian government has more pictures of me than the US government.

One of the amazing things we learned from our guide Kaheng was that a private Vietnam company actually owns all of the Angkor temples. Apparently the Prime Ministers main goal is to get himself rich so he sold off some of the land and historical markers in Cambodia. How you could sell off your land, especially when it’s a for profit company where the money does NOT go back to the Cambodian citizens. $37 ticket and $4 goes to the guides….as our guide explained $1 for breakfast, $1 for lunch, $1 for dinner, $.50 for a draft beer and you have $.50 left for profit in a day (yeah those are prices you truly can pay in Siem Reap which is unbelievable). And if you have an injury you could be looking at $100 in out of pocket expense (yep no insurance) which isn’t possible unless you have solely saved for that for months. Needless to say, there are a lot of broken pieces in the Cambodian government AND the people are still the nicest most supportive people around.

Speaking of our guide, we had the best one as he took us all around the parks and was able to find us locations with some space to enjoy away from the crazy crowds. As we got to Angkor Wat, entering through a back entrance with a lot less people. It was a stunning sight as we waited for sunrise to occur. Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century and is one of the man made wonders of the world, especially considering it was built from 1102 to 1142 from sandstone that was miles away from where the temple was built. Elephants were used to get the stone and there must have been an inordinate amount of people using hammer and chisel to detail the entire place, some of which you can see below.

After spending time watching the sunrise come up and then seeing the amazing views by heading up the stairs to the third level of the temple, we went to the main entrance of the park to meet up with our tuk tuks (you get the same ones all day!). On the way to the entrance we got to see some monkeys! As I am not much of a banana fan, I still had my three from the breakfast we got at the hotel and threw them to a mom and baby monkey. They were super agile and were able to get to them quickly and go to town on the bananas. As we started walking again we realized what we had started as monkey’s started coming from all over towards us. Luckily I had asked the guide before feeding them and he said it was ok and that they would back off when they realized we didn’t have any more. This was completely true and we kept on with our walk.

We headed next to Angkor Thom which is where our guide used to play as a child before it became a tourist area. He was could give us great little stories of spending time with his grandmother who lived through the Khmer Rouge and survived it to live to her 80’s. This temple consisted of over 50 faces throughout the pillars and our guide told us that most people can relate especially to one version as they all have different eyes, noses, mouths, etc. It was a bit of an over-packed mad house but our guide found us a spot to sit and take it all in before we left to grab some lunch. It was a beauty of a temple and we even got to see a couple of elephants which are beautiful creatures but I hated to see them carrying people around on a structure just doing loops around the park.

We stopped at a street side restaurant and had some delicious fried rice and topped up our waters as it was quite the hot day and due to old school traditions, women still have to cover their shoulders and knees so we all had more clothes on than we would have liked. No one in Cambodia drinks the water from the tap, everyone drinks bottled water and when I asked about if that was ever going to change, our guide just said no. Clear and succinct right there.

Our last temple was Ta Prohm which is the temple with the crazy trees whose recent claim to fame was when they filmed Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie which also started her love for Cambodia, her first adoption and her second film First They Killed My Father based on a book about the Khmer Rouge that she filmed near the Hidden Temple we visited on the Yoga Pilgrimmage. Considering she not only gave a bunch of locals consistent work, she also built some homes after the filming. I read the book about the Khmer Rouge and while it was a hard read, I would recommend it.

Ta Prohm quickly became my favorite of the temples as it was so connected to nature considering the trees literally grow out and around the temple. They are some massive trees and not sure the pictures do it justice.

Final Service Day, Learnings, and Thanks

krock970 — Wed, 3 Jan 2018 12:45:00 GMT

Morning practice was done along with breakfast and after that was finished, we had our group picture taken and the rest of the guests left and Lauren’s team stayed behind. The final service day was for the entire staff and their families of Hariharalya.

We set up the tables in the Yoga Hall and started getting the staff through the process.

As most spoke some English, we didn’t need any translators so some of the non-chiropractors took the bikes down to the local Temple that is on the Angkor Temple map which meant there were some markets. We biked down which always makes me think of Eat Pray Love when Julia Roberts is biking around various countries.

The three of us purchased some souvenirs and headed back to check in on the team. My Chiropractic learning for today was about Yoga instructors and how it was adjusting them. Lauren described adjusting the super flexible as similar to adjusting babies. They are super fluid and it can be a struggle to get them in the right position since they can easily get into any position.

As the staff and teachers finished, Lauren asked use me for science so she could run through some real time lessons with the other Chiropractors. I happily jumped on the table and let my neck be used for some clavicle analysis. I had some more learnings during this session and it’s just super interesting to hear the justification for each move or for each touch and what its purpose is.

Before the entire group left earlier in the day, we had morning circle which gave each person time to share one thing they learned from the week. People had to chance to share learnings, future goals due to the learnings and / or what changed for them over the week. My share was about my desire to make giving a bigger priority in my life, I didn’t have an immediate plan on how but I knew that I have the skill sets to provide more assistance to doctors like the team I was with or use different skill sets in some other format.

After chatting with Lauren, we realized that we have very different skill sets that while contrastsing, are actually quite complimentary to putting together more of these types of service trips. I can use my budgeting, travel knowledge, competitive shopping, and logistical mindset (all of which I enjoy doing) to create the base for a trip where Lauren and her colleagues will do the physical work at the chosen sites. The more we talked the more excited we got about the possibilities we could create together and know that there is much more to come. Seeing the reaction from the patients and realizing how much could be done with a little bit of time and desire, makes the extra time commitment a no brainer. There will definitely be more to come as we start to work out the details and learn how to work out this idea together.

Shameless plug for Lauren and her practice: http://www.nikauchiropractic.com/ If you want an all encompassing experience with a chiropractor that will work with you on more than just your bones, she is the best representative I have found. If you want to really talk with someone about issues that are affecting your health, she is the person. I am ever grateful for this experience and will spend time trying to imagine how to pay her back for this experience to a country I never had on that bucket list!

It's all in the wrists

krock970 — Tue, 2 Jan 2018 18:36:00 GMT

On our final night at the retreat center, the Cambodian staff and their families came to the property to play music for us and show us dances performed at a traditional wedding ceremony. A ceremony which lasts all day and by all day, I mean it. The week prior there was a local wedding and it went from 3am to 3am and one thing that Cambodians love are speakers, lots of speakers and a whole lot of karaoke. Think tons of color and a party where all are invited.

Jasmine, Joel’s daughter was in attendance in order to show us some traditional dances while the locals played some music on instruments I have never seen before – roneat, a bamboo flute, a bowed which looks like a single string violin, a whistle and lots of drums.

Most of the dances we did were either walking in a circle or going from the outside of the circle into the middle and “it’s all in the wrist”. Their wrists are always moving no matter what else is happening and in consistent and beautiful patterns.

The wedding dances were followed by the games previously discussed which led to preparing for our last morning on property.

Yoga Pilgrimmage

krock970 — Tue, 2 Jan 2018 09:23:00 GMT

After our second service day, the group decided to go on one of the Retreat events which was a Yoga Pilgrimmage to a Hidden Hindu Temple. It is Hidden because it is not on the Ankgor Temple map so it is not known to tourists. We took out yoga mats and some food and yet again headed out on some Tuk Tuks to the temple. We started with a water blessing from some Monks which was an experience to remember. We had an assigned seating position with one leg bent in and one out which was a relief to me as I was certainly tired of meditation seating so was happy I could bend my bad knee backwards for once! The monks then started chanting harmoniously, wishing us good luck, safe travel and a long life. The middle monk had a branch that he dipped in a bowl of water and would flick it at us during the chanting. We gave an offering to the monks in exchange for the blessing of which the content almost made me laugh during the moment. Luckily I held it in though I mean a bottle of water, $20,000 riel which amounts to $5 USD , and an energy drink. The energy drink I what got me as I would have thought they had meditated enough to have endless energy.

After the blessing, one monk kept chatting while the other two packed up and looked very ready to go. Through a translator and our yoga leader, we found out that the monks said they aren’t as young as us so they need the energy and the two were impatient to leave because lunch was coming up soon. Apparently they eat in the morning and then again at 11am and then not again for the rest of the day. The chatty one always makes the others wait to talk more and they always just want to eat before fasting.

Token Google monk shot since I have no pics

The hidden temple was a very old Hindu Temple, older than Angkor Wat and definitely in shambles. Some of the etchings could still be seen and considering the age of it (think 11^th century), that was impressive.

We did a short yoga class out in the woods and then did a meditation laying down (woohoo – this kind I can totally get into!). The trees were unbelievable, just crazy tall trees with so much green throughout. We were supposed to have our eyes closed during the meditation but I couldn’t do it. The wind was blowing lightly and it was just so beautiful lying underneath them to not be watching.

Another piece of the day was an eye gazing exercise which I didn’t understand what that meant at first. Needless to say it was another one of my nightmare experiences. Essentially we spent 20 min and you would find a partner and stare at them until you “feel that the moment is complete” (total yogi speak there). I am not sure when it started but I have never been comfortable with direct eye contact for long periods of time so enter a fear I didn’t know I had. Ironically I have almost 0 physical fears but give me a group of people where I have to stare at them and I want to run barefoot back to the retreat center. I guess I feel like if I look at someone too long, they will figure out the real me and not like what they see. Overall this was a great exercise for me to do and something I can continue to work on throughout my life both work and personal. Thanks to Topi, Dan, Cara, Catherine, Jen, Jill, Saye, Molka and anyone else I looked at during this super awkward time for me and holding me to task.

After these moments were over and we had lunch along with the first dessert of the week (gluten free and vegan donuts which were SURPRISINGLY delicious) we had some time to take pictures and wander the temple before heading back to the center for the afternoon.

Part of the afternoon for me was spent doing Yoga Nidra or Restorative Yoga which was another piece I could totally get behind. Wikipedia describes it as "a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping, like the "going-to-sleep" stage. It is a state in which the body is completely relaxed. This state of consciousness (yoga nidra) is different from meditation in which concentration on a single focus is required. In yoga nidra the practitioner remains in a state of light pratyahara with four of her senses internalised, that is, withdrawn, and only the hearing still connects to the instructions. The yogic goal of both paths, deep relaxation (yoga nidra) and meditation are the same, a state called samadhi." I called it sleeping yoga or teaching us how to nap which was again, something I could totally get behind.

Find the Yes

krock970 — Mon, 1 Jan 2018 13:25:00 GMT

After lunch on New Year’s Day we loaded up the Tuk Tuk’s and headed off to our next village. We got to another beautiful structure in another village and got to work. This venue didn’t look to have been used recently so we got to sweeping both the leaves and the red dirt out of the main work space. Sweeping in Cambodia was a bit nostalgic as I thought of the red mud back in good ole Georgia and tubing down the Chattahoochee. As harvest is not during rainy season, the dust gets heavy so we had a lot to sweep. This was about the time we found out that we weren’t going to get our translators. Luckily we already had one day under our belts so we had some tools on how to communicate different positions and some basic words in order to get the locals comfortable. Our Tuk Tuk driver was the same one we had on Day 1 so he was a huge help to start.

As on the first day, we got some patients right away and started working through the locals. There were a couple of differences in day 1 and day 2 as we got a lot more children on this day and the waiting area became very segregated between men on one side of the stairs and women on the other. It was hilarious to watch people get up from both sides when a table would open up and then start conversing back and forth on who was really next. Most of the time they were very gracious and I only made one change to the order as one man had been there a while and kept getting passed over.

Another change was the dramatic injuries we saw on day 2. It seemed like there were more major issue like the man who fell 4 years ago and most of his entire right side went numb. Steph was nervous about working on it if he had something major broken that hadn’t healed but she went through an analysis and did what she could. Lauren mentioned that it might have been a stroke that caused the paralysis and not just a fall. The Chiropractic lessons I had this day were Find the Yes…just keep looking for any issues and find the right place to adjust and don’t question yourself. Once you find the yes, you have your answer. The other piece I asked about was how long it would take to see the effects of the adjustments and Lauren said within the day for most of them. The alignment work would relieve 70% of their pain and be something they would see immediately.

The adjustment of a baby as she lay on her mother was something I never knew happened and would have been scared to death to do. Evelyn and Lauren were rock stars and it drove Evelyn to tears as the first time adjusting a little baby. He (ignore the pink skirt) was a trouper and being laid on his mother kept him super calm for the adjustment.

We did get one translator after a bit which was helpful for some of the people who would keep talking even when we couldn’t understand. Apparently he had taken some clients out the night before for NYE and was quite tired. He was the one that told us Cambodia has definitely changed in this regard as Pub St in downtown Siem Reap was blocked off for walking only and was a crazy party zone for the night.

My day overall was made so bright due to the children and my time with them. My friends jokingly/seriously call me the baby whisperer which has continued even as my family and friends’ kids have gotten older. Apparently this translates to Cambodia as well since as we got through the bulk of the initial rush, I started spending more time with the village kids.

We hadn’t been able to convince all of them to get on the table and Lauren holds firm that the earlier you can work on kids, the better for them. She even explained that she can help to adjust wandering eyes if you can get to the brain stem early enough. So I spent some time, getting to know them through some English they learned in school and some Khmer words I had picked up (they were much better at English than I was at Khmer). We eventually got all of the kids on the tables, which was a huge win for them.

This Grandma was so happy after her treatment and she had the cutest little one that wanted to wave at everyone constantly. And while it was hot, I am not quite sure why my face was glaringly red in this pic!

Some of the kids were having so much fun they decided to start pretending to be Chiropractors (or masseuses depending on how you looked at their technique!)

The last half hour was spent with the kids going around the village and grabbing items and bringing them back to me to either learn the word in English or I would read the English words on the wrappers they brought. They were having so much fun running around and we connected so well. My heart about broke when we headed to the Tuk Tuks and the girl in the shirt with DREAM came up to me and put her arms out for a hug. I pretty much melted and then ended up giving the rest of the kids big hugs as well.

Along with all of the patient excitment, we also got to see our first water buffaloes. They are predominantly used for work in the fields and were constantly being walked down the village streets during out time here.

We never successfully got a team shot during the service hours though this one was close (minus Steph)!

Our drivers were very clever as they always took us a different way to the villages than they took us home to show us more of the countryside. Here is the final shot of the second service day.

Games and New Year's Eve

krock970 — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 20:10:00 GMT

Let’s chat on the games that were played while on property. Some came from the staff and others from Dan (Aussie) who used to be a youth group leader. In his words, you get super creative when working with children and have no money for a budget.

First we played Bibbity Bibbity Bop hosted by Sim. At first you were confused and a little bored with the game and then it kept changing, adding more and more rules. With a lot of people willing to play and put themselves out there, came a hilarious hour of laughter, action and strategy. This game is impossible to describe so if you have played it you know, if you haven’t then let’s get a group together and play soon.

Another game that we played was Ninja. A group of people starting with all hands touching in the middle and then as you count down from 3 to 1 everyone jumps backwards and gets into a Ninja pose. Someone starts and the goal is in one move to hit another competitors hand. The people on either side of the starter get to make one move to avoid the hit. It’s a game of quick reaction, paying attention and again on the strategy as you can make a move to hit another hand or you make a defensive move and back up. Fantastic game that we played both on property and in the line to head to the top of Angkor Wat. Unfortunately for both ourselves and the other people around us inline, the guard came to us and asked us what we were doing. Apparently she did not appreciate our ninja skills and made us stop playing. We got a lot of laughs and smiles around us which was a win in itself and we never did really find out why the guard was upset since we were out of the way from the thoroughfare.

Some of our best/random Ninja poses outside the main building

Next game was Sheep Baa and probably caused the most laughing of the six of us that played than any other time during the week. Sheep Baa is a game where you can’t show your teeth and then you are doing ridiculous things to try and make other people laugh by just saying Sheep or Sheep Baa so they show their teeth which puts them out of the game. Fantastic all around and as the others, will be used in my group again.

Lastly, during the example of a traditional Cambodian wedding ceremony, we played a game of which I never learned its name. Joel’s daughter set up the game and showed us the rules. Imagine an invisible square box that is marked just by 4 markers for each corner in the middle of the room and a lead person next to the box. You have 2 teams on each side of a large space and the lead person has a branch in their hand. 1 person from each team goes against each other. As the lead counts down from 3 to 1, they drop the branch in the box. The competitors race for the branch and the way to win is to get the branch out of the box without getting tagged by the other person. There are different strategies to getting the branch – grab quickly and get out quickly or be the tagger or both get in the box and see who grabs for it. Definitely a great one for a camping trip in a clearing, well they are all actually a great opportunity for a camping trip!

We had the distinct pleasure of being at Hariharalaya over New Years which was an interesting way to clear out all that happened over 2017 and start fresh in 2018. Taking time to think of the positive moments of your year was very beneficial to help reset and focus on what is done and what we can look at for next year.

I cheated a bit and took a picture of the final sunset of 2017 from outside our Hut looking over the rice fields outside of the center.

The night activity on NYE was Estatic Dance. If you have done it, you know, if you haven't you don't. That is about all I can say about that.

After the dance experience, we knew that we were going to have a silent day on the 1^st. Hariharalaya likes to take Day 4 as a silent morning and voluntarily longer as desired. This gives you time with yourself as they believe that you need to be able to be happy with yourself in order to be happy in life. It is an interesting experience to be around 30+ other people and not talking. I spent the morning writing in order to create this journal as well as a visit with a visiting Acupuncturist. Apparently I need to work on my right kidney as it is weak while my left kidney is doing just fine and the recommendation to how to adjust it is to eat ginger between 5 and 7pm as that is when the chi is in the kidneys. As I am not the biggest fan of just eating ginger, I wonder if ginger beer counts? Before lunch I went to arts and creativity and spent time adult coloring which is suprisingly calming and yet still stressful as you know how to keep inside the lines because you are an adult but there is a level of perfection you want starting out that quickly goes away to hit the calming mode again.

Not too shabby if I do say so myself

After lunch and the silence was lifted, some people decided to keep the silence going while Lauren’s crew headed out for Day 2 of service to another local village.

Fearlessness

krock970 — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 14:25:00 GMT

After writing the name of this entry, I have to pause as I have a hard time verbalizing the experience I had with the villagers. While meditation hasn’t allowed me the chance to step back and take look at my life from a place of calm, the hours spent with the Chiropractors and the villagers sure accomplished that mission.

We headed out in some Tuk Tuks loaded with the portable chiropractic tables and made our way over to a village were we met up with some translators in a beautiful structure consisting of 3 walls and some beautiful art work, a Buddha and some much needed fans. The roof provided shade and the fans some air movement as we set up the space. The translators had already shared that there would be volunteers in the area for the day though it sounded like they shared more of a massage therapy experience than bone movement. Chairs were brought from a local home and lined up for patients to use as a makeshift waiting queue. Right on time people started lining up for care as 3 elderly women were the first to appear.

My job was to use the translators to find out what the issues were on the patients and bring them over to the Chiropractors as space was available. As it is currently rice harvest and vegetable harvest, the most common complaint was easily lower back pain and we just dug a little more to see if there was anything else causing issues. Second set of issues were traditionally from falls and could be upwards of 5 years prior. It was amazing to hear stories from the villagers of a fall and just dealing with it for the past 4 years. The opportunity of visiting a doctor or being able to afford it was little to none.

As the first patients arrived, we saw a women who we later found out was 81 walking completely at a 90 degree angle hinged at the hip. I wish I could have taken a picture of her when she got there and when she left. To see such an extreme issue blew me away and yet Lauren just said “OK, let’s do this.” Not only did the villagers get up on the table with fearlessness but they also brought their children to visit as well. It was amazing to see the younger people in the village doing shuttles on the motorcycle for the older generations and how the ones who had been adjusted stayed behind to help translate what was up next.

The expressions on their faces the first time they had their back or neck cracked was always one of shock and fear and then relief. Then they were happy to stay around and laugh with their friends and relatives as it happened to them.

Some of my favorite moments from Day 1 were seeing the 81 year old walk out of the structure completely upright and come back with her husband who said that he had ringing in his ears since a fall 5 and a half years prior and now it was gone; the lady who danced off the property because she hadn’t felt that good in years; the first kid whose fearlessness led to his friends also getting adjusted; the sweet smiles on their faces of just pure thankfulness that someone came to help; selfishly learning more about chiropractic work and why it is important at any stage in your life and especially as a young person.

As we headed back to Hariharalaya, I was filled with a new sense of purpose. I had some darker moments during the day as I felt as though I didn’thave enough to give to help these people. Spreadsheet work and pricing out hotels is not exactly on top of the needs list for third world countries and I was going a bit internal. As the day went as I was able to help with interviewing patients before and after their adjustments, keeping the kids entertained, making sure the Chiros had water and bananas to keep up with the patient load and then cleaning up the space. It was then that I realized that while I don’t have the chiropractic skill set, I definitely have others that can be used to do good and I couldn’t look any more forward to Day 2. I felt I was in a much better place watching the sunset on our day.

Side Note: the structure was next to some rice fields and we got to see how the rice was dried after harvest. To self and anyone who reads this – WASH YOUR RICE! Seriously, it is just put on the side of the road and left to dry out until it is packaged and shipped to you so wash it before cooking. There are cows, water buffalo and dogs as well as their relative feces, people, motorcycles, everything else going along while the rice dries. While beautiful in pictures, it shows that a little washing is needed :)

Vegan / Gluten Free Life

krock970 — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 09:00:00 GMT

Now onto the food before getting to the good stuff. Breakfast, lunch and dinner of Vegan food only was an intimidating mindset to get into as I have never done either aside from a cleanse here or there. I was excited to try Cambodian food and flavors especially after the food tour I did in Hong Kong on my quick stayover on the way to Cambodia. I was just hoping that the vegan aspect wouldn’t take away from the Cambodian experience. The center has mango, lemon, apple and other local trees and also a garden so all food is either on property or from the local markets. Getting to a place of local fresh daily food was really nice, I mean really nice.

In talking with the foodie guide in Hong Kong and the guests from Japan, it seems like small kitchens and little food storage means that most people in Southeast Asia buy food daily vs in bulk like we do in America, especially when they don’t have cars and are walking to and from public transport. The markets opened at 5am and things really came alive in the villages as people did their daily shopping.

So far I haven’t had much of an issue with the vegan side b/c the vegetables are fantastic and the fruit to die for and of course, an abundance of rice. I have little issue with only drinking water and juice as I have never been a coffee drinker. Plus we were going to be getting on average 8 hours of sleep as it was quiet time between 10pm and 9am as silence wasn’t lifted til breakfast.

Before each meal we gather and hear any news/ announcements from the team as well as a poem from one of the leaders and dig in.

One of my favorite poems:

Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

Hafiz

Lots of soup based items and as stated before tons of veggies. I was happy to pass on the beans and double up on the peanuts for most meals. Daily pressed juices were a highlight and I have determined I need more passion and dragon fruit in my life. My favorite drink from the juice bar (open throughout the day with juices, raw cakes and ice cream for purchase) was a Roger Rabbit. Carrot, lemon, ginger, and some other goodness – it made me so happy each day.

Meditation Sucks

krock970 — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 18:00:00 GMT

Morning and Evening practice consist of yoga, meditation and as we went through the week, added in chanting and breathing exercises. As I have not spent much time at all at yoga and essentially none at meditation (visualizing was something we did in swimming but meditation is completely different), to say I had trepidations was an understatement.

The first evening practice had all 30 people doing yoga, then chanting, working on breathing, chanting, sitting still in a seated position that is literally my nightmare due to knees being in a bent position without moving, oh and more chanting. This was a lot more than I expected and was trying hard not to imagine the Kool-Aid drink to come at the end of the week.

Considering that I had come all this way and had the opportunity to learn from the center and the very experienced yoga teachers, I decided to give it a try and see what it was all about. Yoga practice was better than I had expected and as a new practioner, they didn’t make anything too complicated or too advanced that newbies couldn’t follow along. And considering it is also a workout, I was happy to fully participate.

Meditation on the other hand….I am not sure if I will become a novice let alone a practitioner. Trying to get over the pain of the seated position is still not a place I have found in order to get into that “no mind” state. Since it is still early (aka Day 1) I will see if I feel the same in 5 days.

Update: No I don’t. I was truly not able to ever get over the pain though I was able to make it up to around 12 min or so still before feeling like my legs weren’t ever going to recover and through the extensive use of doing math in my head to not move. Establishing a daily routine might still occur in terms of the breathing exercises and getting to a still zone but I will need to find a position that works for me that has nothing to do with sitting cross legged for 30 min at a time.

Gong Time

krock970 — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 08:50:00 GMT

After a delicious buffet breakfast aka the “last meal” with any meat, dairy, eggs etc aka non Vegan, we took off in some Tuk Tuks to meet up with the Hariharalaya group. I also got the chance to meet the rest of the group that came with Lauren – Steph, Evelyn, Jen, Alyssa, and Jill. We had another but she never got out of the states as she didn’t have a passport that was still valid in 6 months and then after getting a temporary one, she came down with food poisoning. The group’s connection was Lauren either from patient relationships or chiropractic colleagues.

As we got to the meeting point, we got the first feel of who we are going to be living with for the next week. 30 people plus the employees of the center encompassed 20 different countries from New Zealand, Estonia, Finland, USA, England, Scotland, Israel, Australia, Ireland, Slovakia, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Japan, China, Thailand and some others I can’t remember J. It was exciting to know that I would get a chance to get to know all of these others and learn about their cultures throughout the week.

Another Tuk Tuk ride took us through the heart of Siem Reap and morning traffic which is always an interesting experience no matter the country. With no traffic lights and little direction on what are lanes, the flow was quite consistent. As I learned over time, you have to dedicate yourself to a path and the rest of the people work around you. Quite effective and surprising and not sure this would work in most countries. As we left the hustle and bustle, you started to see more of the land and small villages that we were planning to visit and give the service too.

The one light we did see was in my mind useless as when it did turn green - there was a green arrow for all directions. A little hard to see in the pic but definitely not the most effective for traffic.

30 min outside the city in Rolous, we arrived at Hariharalya Retreat Center and pulling up was about as I had imagined after reading as much as I could on our location before we arrived. Set in the middle of a bunch of large trees there is one main building that houses the kitchen, dining area, office and rooms upstairs. Throughout the rest of the 2 acre spot were little huts that contained more housing, bathrooms, arts and creativity room, bouldering gym, juice bar and an open air theatre.

Everyone got checked in and we met the founder of the center, Joel, who moved there 7 and a ½ years ago and just celebrated the 7^th anniversary of Hariharalaya. http://www.hariharalaya.com. We took a tour of the property and learned the rules of the center – no shoes, no phones, no kindles or anything with a screen, no cameras, no watches, vegan food only and no full walls on any building! I knew most of this going in except about the walls and shoes so it wasn’t a surprise for me.

You are probably wondering why we were staying here and this is again due to Lauren. Lauren lived at the center for about 4 months, 5 years ago and had always wanted to come back and visit. This led to her choosing it for a service trip as it was a bit of a coming home for her. Now that she has been practicing chiropractic for over 7 years, she knew that she could come back in a new position and really help the people in the surrounding villages.

Since no watches were a strong suggestion and there were lots of activities, gong time would drive the next week. The first gong was at 630am with 7 hits as a wake-up call. 3 gong hits marked the 10 min warning til something was occurring from the schedule and 1 hit mean something is starting.

Giving up the control of time is a very interesting concept for me considering the amazing dependency on our Outlook calendar at Vail Resorts, Inc. 10 min til a meeting, finding out where it is, what floor that meeting room is on, do I have time to go to the bathroom first, should I finish what I am currently doing, should I bring my computer, will I focus if I do bring my computer, do I want to attend, what can I work on if the answer the question previously was no? All of that goes away with gong time as you are reliant on others to keep time and aside from two mandatory schedule items a day, we were free to do everything or nothing and gong time was just an alert.

Since Lauren’s crew is here for a dual purpose, we had less time on the schedule for workshops and classes. This wasn’t a problem, just something we worked around to combine time for ourselves and for helping others. The two mandatory requirements were morning practice from 7-9am and evening practice from 6-7pm. Meals were always immediately following those.

Hariharalaya’s program is focused on “learning, creativity, community, self love, conscious living, healthy vegan food, a deep connection with nature, one another and the present moment. We focus on sharing the tools and experience in order to set up a personal practice of yoga postures, breathing and meditation. Our course program includes daily classes, health & wellness, Dharma talks, community activities, free time and much more. You will learn and be inspired by our experienced team of 5 international yoga and meditation instructors.” This was the basis for all of the attendees and wasn’t anything like I expected it to be. More to come on that later.

Knowing that we would be in the surrounding villages for most of the free time was the exciting part for me as it was the purpose for coming to Cambodia. Hariharalaya allowed us this amazing access to the villages inside the Temple Zone. The retreat has to go through a lot of documentation to show the government who is staying on property and this is due to being the only place allowing lodging for Westerners inside a national park. This allowance is through everything needing to be in a Cambodians name and as the founder Joel has a Cambodian wife and 2 kids, she essentially has an empire! Joel is a definite Yogi and impressively speaks 12 languages.

Lauren and I got settled into our hut and took the time to get moved in. I thought that I had brought too much stuff which always drives me crazy when I travel but turns out in the end, it was just enough aside from one extra pair of shoes I didn’t need and a dress I choose not to wear the last night. The hut was perfect with its two beds, 1 cabinet, 2 fans and 2 beautiful big mosquito nets you tuck into the bed. As I have an allergy to said mosquitos and so much of the diseases in SouthEast Asia are transferred through mosquitos, I was so happy to see this. I had also taken a lot of precautions to spray all my clothes prior with some stuff purchased at Passport Health (highly recommended).

Tuk Tuks

krock970 — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 22:00:00 GMT

Arriving in Siem Reap was as if a mix of cultures or generations came together and met at the airport. First, the customs and baggage area was super modern, surprisingly to me as I was thinking more along the lines of expecting a Caribbean arrival experience. Thanks to said modern age, I was able to get an eVisa (definitely recommended) which allowed me to skip one whole section of the arrival process and go straight to immigration.

After getting my bags, I met up with my Tuk Tuk driver sent from the hotel, Sumbat. He was ever so gracious and gave me the slowest drive from the airport to town. Literally the slowest as we were passed by everyone (cars, other tuk tuks, motorcycles) except one guy who was on a bicycle and it was a close race. A tuk tuk is a motorcycle with a cart attached to the back. Some people have sponsors on the back, others have them tricked out with lights underneath, and most have a hammock to hang when they don’t have any riders. A tuk tuk can easily sit 4 and had no problem with me and my backpack bag.

As we made our way through the outskirts of town, I found the other half of the culture that I was expecting. Lots of establishments right off the road with plastic chairs and tables serving up food and drinks (some in plastic bags with a rubber band and straw plopped in) and I thought back to the drive to Balcones in the Dominican Republic or Lilliput in Jamaica. As we made our way into city center (slowly, which actually turned out to be a blessing as you got to experience more of the town) we started passing more people and amazingly nice hotels. Due to the holidays, the lights were out and very Christmas focused with some New Year’s in there. Cambodian New Year’s is April 13^th so any New Year’s was catering towards Westerners. We then hit the main markets and the Night Markets were lit up and quite amazing as they weaved in and around the river. Even at 10pm in was bustling with people everywhere.

After a quick catch up with Lauren (my roommate for the time in Cambodia), we went to bed to get ready for the week ahead.

Don't open the door

krock970 — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 18:43:00 GMT

Travel has always given me little moments /stories as well as amazingly big moments that I will never forget. Seeing new places, experiencing different cultures, trying new foods, finding new friends, etc. Some might say that I am not satisfied with my current life and keep searching for something, but I say that I will never be satisfied with the status quo and there is always more to learn from the world.

While Cambodia had not been on the radar for a trip, I love it when things fall in to place as if they were meant to be. Meeting Lauren and having Mt Maunganui in common (her being from around there and me just a visitor years ago), to her becoming my chiropractor when I hadn’t even really thought it was needed on a regular basis, to ending up in Cambodia on this trip as an Epic Volunteer.

On to the here and now....my first little story occurred in Hong Kong at the airport after getting to my seat on CAMBODIA ANGKOR AIR (why all caps?, I honestly don’t know but everywhere in the airport it was in all caps when no other airline was). To my epic gratitude, I was put in an exit row seat with some space to stretch my legs. The flight attendant came down the aisle, where I was prepared for the normal speech about the responsibilities of the exit row and what to do with the door. Instead I got my first moment when she very sweetly got everyone’s attention and said “Don’t open the door, please just don’t open it” and walked away. My seat mate and I looked at each other and just started laughing as it seemed like it happened so often the warning was needed.

2 hours later, I got my first taste of Cambodia.

Photos: Hariharalaya

krock970 — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT

At Retreat Center

Photos: Day 1

krock970 — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 14:49:00 GMT

Photos: Day 2

krock970 — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 13:41:00 GMT

Service Days in Siem Reap

Photos: Yoga Pilgrimmage

krock970 — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 14:25:00 GMT

Photos: Angkor Temple Day

krock970 — Mon, 25 Dec 2017 16:38:00 GMT