so i just got back from an amazing trip to koh kong (pronounced kah kohng) province with a survey team (not with chantha this time) interviewing key populations for sexual behavior indicators ...some highlights from the trip:

- the province is probably the same distance from phnom penh as sra reing province, but it took us 6 hours because of road conditions and having to cross four rivers by "ferry." the first 1.5 hours, we used a two-lane highway that was nicely paved. however, add trucks, taxis, moto-drivers, moto-carts (carts attached to motos), and the occasional cow cart, and what do you get? playing chicken with opposing traffic at 90 km/hr. hehe.

- the next 4.5 hours were spent on mountain roads...note: it's rainy season over here. fortunately, we were using a car and driver from nchads, so we had a ford ranger. it was actually really fun...i've gotten over my dislike of bumpy roads. this also brings me one of the top five things that i've come to appreciate more in coming to cambodia...toyota camrys. yeah, i know, i own one...but i never knew!! almost all the taxis we encountered between koh kong and phnom penh are camrys, old ones, too...and they can totally off-road with the best of 'em!! those taxis actually passed our ford ranger on the way there, and i took one of them on the way back (left earlier than the rest of the team)...no problems whatsoever and we got back in good time. i am proud to be a camry owner!

- we passed through some really beautiful country...as beautiful if not more than what i saw on the way to battambang. we went through a few mountains, relatively uninhabited, lush forest covering the mountains, tops shrouded with misty clouds, little streams trickling by the roadside...almost inspired me to write poetry, but i'm not a poet...this brings me to the second thing i appreciate more...the color green. how many shades of green can you see in one view? it's totally amazing to see God's creation here...and to know that each leaf was fashioned by Him.

- the survey was conducted among moto-drivers, police, military, casino workers, fishermen, sex workers, and indirect sex workers (mainly beer girls and karaoke girls). i was there while they were interviewing the moto-drivers, police, and sex workers. since i couldn't really participate, most of the time i kinda stood around, watching and waiting. so i got to see a good snapshot of what their daily lives are like, and, of course, visiting the brothels near the city was really, really eye-opening. there's this one area about 10 mins from the center of the city with 15 brothels next door to each other. i was there during the day, so it was pretty slow, but i did see clients come and go (including a number of foreigners - ended up talking striking up a conversation with one of them, but that's another story), and toward the end of the day, i saw the girls getting ready for the night (putting on make-up, etc.) when i first met some of them, i was surprised by how old they looked...they said they were 20-25, but they looked 15. later i found out that many of them lie about their age - if they're too young, the brothels would get shut down. but what surprised me the most was that it was like a regular community there...the brothels are family-owned, so there were kids running around and playing in the dirt, teen-agers hanging out and helping out with chores around the house, the girls taking naps or playing card games...it was all so normal. and i looked at these girls and just thought, what's the difference between them and me? why did God choose for me to grow up in middle class america, and them to be economically forced to lead such lives? it totally put the parable of the talents into another perspective...i take so much for granted, and don't realize that those seemingly mundane things are gifts and blessings themselves, and must be used for His Kingdom.

well, i've blogged a long one again, so i'll just leave you with the last three things on my list of the top things i appreciate more since coming here:

- fans...it's gotten to the point where i don't think i can fall asleep unless there's a fan on. air conditioning can get too cold...but it's so warm during the night that if there's no fan, i wake up pretty much drenched in sweat...lovely, eh?

- pigs...one of the brothels also raises pigs, and they're really cute! i see why george clooney has one as a pet - they're affectionate and always look like they're smiling...though they take a lot of care and food!

- raid...some powerful stuff. one time chantha sprayed the living room a bit, and there this one mosquito that must've gotten a whiff of raid, 'cuz it started going crazy...try to picture a mosquito break-dancing on the floor at 5+ rotations/second...seriously.

- motorcycles...okay, that's six, and i know, i know, i've already talked about this, but i wanted to share a story to remind myself. there this one time when chantha and i were going home after dark, and it started to rain a lot. at one point, chantha asked me if i could see because she couldn't see very well through her helmet. my glasses were all splotchy, so i couldn't see a thing, which made me totally crack up for some reason...and i couldn't stop. since i was laughing, chantha started laughing, which made it worse 'cuz she started fogging up her helmet...which made me laugh even more. i was dying. at this point, we got onto her street, which, with the mud and holes (it's dirt), takes us a good 5-10 minutes to navigate the half-mile to her house. i think that night, it must've taken us at least 15 'cuz we were laughing so much. at one point, chantha kinda ran into the grass on the side of the road...i was seriously crying 'cuz i was laughing so hard. good times, good times...