Living in Korea has opened the door to experiences and opportunities to travel that our family could never have imagined. We feel so blessed. During our time here we wanted to make the best of this opportunity. We've been able to explore Korea over the past 5 months and, starting Friday, we will extend the exploration to Southeast Asia (also called Indochina.) Handong International Law School (HILS) where I am a visiting professor, has a conference they help to sponsor every year in Cambodia called "Law and Development". The idea is to meet with Cambodian law students and professors to hear presentations on the subject of the conference and develop good relations between the students and the professors along the way. I'm hoping this project will be a good one for Trinity Law School (where I normally teach) A side benefit to the trip will be our escape from the frigid Korean winter into the warm tropics, shorts, suntan lotion and mosquito repellant!
Cambodia, for those who did not follow the news events of the late 70s, was taken over by the Khmer Rouge following a civil war. Pot Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge. He was a despot on the scale of Adolph Hitler. Nearly 1/4 of the population of eight million Cambodians was murdered during his reign of terror. I won't try and detail the horrors of his regime which has been extensively documented by historians. It is enough to say that Cambodia still bears the scars of this tragedy where today there is likely not a family that was did not lose loved ones just 30-35 years ago.
Our whole family is going with me to this conference where Susan and the kids will explore Phnom Pehn and its immediate surroundings while I am busy being a professor. Before and after the conference we will have opportunities to visit some fascinating sights with the other professors and students from Handong. Before the conference we will visit a village where we learn about village life and see a working farm where many modern development projects are at work. We'll sleep on mats on a large concrete slab covered by mosquito netting (we started taking malaria pills last Friday.) Assuming Dad survives his night on the concrete slab, we'll also visit a school run by a Christian NGO (non government organization) where our kids will be able to see and understand the life of a child in rural areas. I'm especially looking forward to the kids jumping into a rural pond and learning first hand what leaches are and how they attach to your body. We'll warn them, but I've yet to see the boys pass up an opportunity to cool off with a dip in anything that looks like a pool.
During the trip we will travel to Angkor Wat which is one of the wonders of ancient civilization. It is a city of temples and ruins that displays beautiful architecture unlike anything that developed in Western civilization. Daniel has taken on the task of studying this civilization in preparation for the trip. After this visit, the Chinn family will go its own way. We've found a place called Lazy Beach off the coast of Cambodia where we can rent a wooden bungalow on stilts at the edge of the beach and jungle. It sounds like a perfect place to swim, snorkel, relax, swat mosquitoes and enjoy the warmth for several days.
From Lazy Beach we will travel through Thailand to catch an overnight train to Laos where we will be able to spend some time with some good friends who are in Laos to assist in a Laotian government related program. They will help us explore the wonders of Laos with some highlights including a visit to an elephant sanctuary (Mary is researching elephants and Robert is researching monkeys) and a visit to a rural Laotian Village school where we hope to help deliver a library of children's books as part of a literary project.
Susan has been busy preparing for the trip by picking up gifts and school supplies for some of the places we will visit. The kids have decided to contribute a big part of their Christmas money to help the children at a village school in Cambodia. They clearly get that trait from their mom.
We will probably not have the ability to make any blog entries while we are away, but I imaging we'll have some stories to tell after we return on February 5th. Mary is planning to keep a journal on the trip so she can write a blog entry. As we come to mind over the next month, we'd appreciate prayer for our safety as we travel. And may God Bless you all in this new year.
Ken Chinn
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