Rich and Ronda Dolan

OK. Now remember while you look at these that we live in the capital city of this country!!! I love the ox carts. They go up and down the main road near our house; we see them several times a month. The moto with the chickens is also something we see quite often. Usually the chickens are on a 'u' shaped rack on the back of the moto and there are probably 20-30 chickens attached to it. But I never have my camera ready then. So this is a few chickens. Something to note, they are live. Sometimes you see them straining so that their beak or head doesn't hit the back tire. The last picture is of a lovely pig family that lives under a wooden house 2 blocks from our house. It was really funny as the piglets got older, they would lay out in the street by the gutter, in the sun. You just don't get good stuff like this in the US. Much love, Ronda

This first picture is when they were getting ready for the party. What I am trying to show you is the guy on the ladder. Instead of the bar between the 2 sides of the ladder, they have ropes. Then, when they want to move, they just 'walk' the ladder sideways so they don't have to come down and move it. I thought it was great! The 2nd pictures is just another loaded truck with the workers riding on top. Really, I would probably take 20 of these at least each day. We walk past several shops of metal workers each day. They all wear the cloths covering their face with sunglasses when they weld. And they sit in that squat all day!!! I would never be able to get up! If you notice, the one in the middle is about 12 year old (I have seen him without his face covered). And the last picture is just a man and his pony trotting down one of the main roads. It is just great here...great things to see all over everywhere! Ronda

March 8th is International Women's Day. So, Partners InProgress organized a Ladies Day. I spoke on Be Strong and Courageous for the Lord is with You. There were about 250 ladies there. The first picture is of one of the trucks unloading. There were 6 villages represented and they just load up in trucks, stand the entire way packed in. There were at least 40 people in the back of these trucks. The other 2 pictures, I am talking and Bora is translating for me. Thankfully I taught in the morning as the afternoon got hot and long. But all in all, it was a good day and the khmers seemed to enjoy it. As many of you know, March 11th was our 25th wedding anniversary. We did our normal thing (to the market for fruit and vegetables, chapel with student, and language school). Dad, Mom, Rebekah, Rich and I did go out to dinner; that was nice. It was wonderful to hear from so many of you!!! It was really special. Thanks for making our day special by showing your love for us. Rond

This is the last of the temple tour from Siem Reap. In the afternoon, Rebekah and I went to this temple, Phnom Bakheng. We had to walk up the hill to this temple that sits at the top of the hill. It is a great place as sunset, so we are told, but it was overcast, so we didn't stay. The stairs up to the temple are STEEP! I tried to give you a side view of the stairs so you can see. It is a little unnerving to be going down and realize that if you fall, you will hurt all the people that you knock off below you!!! In the first picture, I am standing at the top. As you can see the stairs are so steep that you can't even see them. The guarding lions are at each landing between sets of stairs. The last picture is of Angkor Wat from the top of this temple. Really a beautiful view of the area. So, I hope you have enjoyed the short little tour. We'll get back to our normal daily life on the next blog. Much love to all of you. Ronda

I love this temple. Actually, it was a city in it's day. Built in the 12th and 13th century, and the outside wall being 1000 yds x 711 yds, it was home to 12,640 people. The reason that this temple is so cool is that they opted, when these temples were found in the 19th century, not to restore this temple, but leave it as it was found. So most of the temple looked like this in the 19th century. As you can see, the trees are enormous! I went around the building in the last 3 pictures expecting to see huge roots there as well, but there were none on the other side. Basically, these trees just grow out of the top of the temples. The last 2 pictures are of the same place; I just wanted you to see it all as well as in comparison to Rebekah. Much of this temple area you can't walk through due to the ruins, but it had such a neat atmosphere! On another note, you know I tell you that they carry everything on motos here. Today we saw 2 men on a moto, the back man carrying a fu

This first picture is looking from the temple back toward one of the gates. This temple was built about 1060. It was huge, but now there are lots of ruins. Honestly, we went through this pretty fast so didn't get a good look. Outside of this temple is a long causeway and then the Elephant Terrace. The next pictures are of the Elephant Terrace. Unfortunately, you really can't see the carvings very well, even in the closer pictures, so you'll just have to come see yourself! But in front of the Elephant Terrace is a large grassy area. This is where the kings would have elephant fights. The Elephant Terrace wall was built in the late 12th century. In the last picture is part of the wall that is all carved with different elephant fights. On the next blog, I will show you a really cool temple! My dad's favorite. Much love, Ronda