All Roads Lead to Siem Reap

Less than 24 hours here and already two fun meetings. My friend, Yolanda, who led my very first trip to Cambodia which got me started on all this (it’s all her fault), happened to be here leading another house building trip for the NGO Tabitha, and so we arranged to meet for dinner. Although we feel up to date on each other’s lives (thank you Facebook), it’s been eight years since we’ve actually seen each other. And that means eight years that I’ve been involved with this wonderfully crazy, sad and joyous country.
Dinner was great. The first papaya salad and fish amok of the trip. But then, who should literally walk by our table at the restaurant but very close friends of mine who used to be our neighbours in London. I knew they were going to be here for a quick spin around the temples on their way home from a holiday in Vietnam, but I didn’t think we would overlap. We had been trying to get together in London for over 6 months and our schedules have never allowed it. But here we all were, in Siem Reap, at the same restaurant at the same time. Amazing!
But amazing things happen to me here all the time. Why should I be surprised?
And now, I am off to teach the first day of my Writing Through Cambodia workshop for 2 schools run by Caring for Cambodia (as pictured above). The first meeting with the kids is always a bit nerve-wracking. I just need to remember that they will probably be more nervous about what’s in store for them than I could ever be.