In Search Of Wild Elephants

"Hey! It's been a while... What's new?" / "Hola! Los tiempos... Que hay de nuevo?"

"Oh, not much." She replied  "...today I started a new bible study at a fish pond." / "No mucho" Ella respondío "...hoy empecé un nuevo estudio biblico en una picina."

"...Today I finally remembered how to say "undeserved kindness" in Cambodian." "...Today I discovered that random screw holes in my motorbike can also double as flower vases." / "...Hoy, por fin me acordé como decir  "bondad inmerecida" en Cambiyano.  "...hoy descubrí que unos huequitos en la moto me sirven de floreros tambien."

"...Today I stood on the sidewalk and watched a guy twirl  fresh noodles... and then we ate the most fabulous dumpling ever made." / "...hoy me paré en la calle y vi a un chicho hacer fidoes a mano como... y despues nos comimos los mejores empanaditas chinas que han existido jamas!"

I guess that's what's new here.  Just the little brush strokes of life.  Collectively they define us; but individually, don't seem like much to write home about. / Esto es lo que hay de nuevo.  Las brochadas pequeñas de la vida.   Juntos, ellos nos definen.  Pero, individualmente, no se parece gran cosa.


I decided to take my first road trip last month.  Just  over to the next province to go in service with some friends.  Barely a 2 hour trip by bike.  But not many people here travel  like that- especially not alone- so it sorta felt like a big deal to hop on my bike with a backpack and thermos of coffee at 5am.  What made it interesting was that some kids had given me a pair of skinny little stray kittens a few days before... since I didn't want them alone in my apartment while I was gone... I decided to bring them along for the ride.  They didn't seem to mind it very much and all the gas station attendants were most amused. / Me decidí tomar mi primer viaje por la calle.  Bueno, solo fue a la otra provincia.  Es como ir de Puerto Lopez a Manta en la moto.  Pero, aqui, no muchas personas saben viajar tan lejos, especialmente solos.  Entonces, casi parecía algo especial cuando me subí la moto a las 5am con mi mochilla y un termo de café.  Pero lo que hicía el viaje más interesante fue que unos días antes, unos niños me habian regalado dos gatitos flacos... y como no queria dejarlos en mi departamento mientras no estaba... los llevé.  A ellos no se les molestaba mucho, y los trabajadoes de los gasolineras de divertian bastante.

When I eventually did get there, there wasn't enough bikes for everyone at the group to go in service, so I picked up a few more passengers and we kept on driving. This is how we stay dry when it rains.   As usual it was a very enjoyable morning, with plenty of  interested people for us to chat with. / Cuando por fin llegué, no habian suficientes motos para todos en el grupo ir al territorio.  Entonces, consiguí unos pasajeros más y seguí manejando.  Esto es como nos vistimos cuando se llueve. Como siempre, fue una buena mañana, y muchas personas con quienes conversar. 

At this little restaurant, you drive your moror bike right in the front door!  Half the building is a restaurant, and the other half, a parking lot. / En un restaurante en el campo puedes conducir la moto por la puerta principal.  La mitad del lugar es un restaurante y la otra mitad, y parqueo. 

For lunch: Snakehead fish with a view of the river.  / Para almuerzar, pescado cabezaculebra con una vista del rio.

Our District Convention was Dec. 23-25.  It was announced that now Cambodia has 9 official congregations and 3 isolated groups.  In October of 2011, there was a peak of 507 publishers and 1,376 bible studies being conducted.  That's a 16% increase over 2010!   Also, the last service year there were 38 new brothers and sisters baptized.  The most ever for this country.   /  Tuvimos la asamblea de distrito Dic 23-25.  Fue anunciado que ahora Camboya tiene 9 congregaciones y 3 grupos aislados.  En Oct 2011, tuvimos un nuevo maximo de 507 publicadoes y 1,376 estudios biblicos.  Eso es un aumento de 16% de 2010! Tambien, el año de servico pasado habian 38 hermanos y hermanas nuevos bautisados.  

At the convention,  our peak attendance on Sunday morning was 936.  The Vietnamese language had their assembly the week before with 88 attending, and 1 baptized.   So, the grand total for the country was 1,024 and 22 baptized.  There were also, 25 deaf person who attended, and the first deaf Cambodian brother was baptized. (he's the 2nd from the left in the picture below)  /  El día Domingo la asistencia fue 936.  El grupo Vietnam tuvieron su asamblea la semana antes con una atendencia de 88 y 1 bautisado.  Entonces, en total, fueron 1,024 y 22 bautisados este año en Camboya.  Y fueron 25 personas sordos y el primer hermano sordo fue bautisado.  (El es el segundo de la izquierda en la foto abajo)

For those unfamiliar with using a toilet, the brothers made a copy of this sign to hang in each bathroom stall.  /  Para quienes no saben ultilizar un baño, los hermanos pusieron  una copia de este letrero en todos los servicios.

When the convention was done... the end of the month... the end of the year... it felt like a good time to take a little vacation and go see some other parts of the country.  Some friends organized a trip to Koh Kong province, where there are supposed to be protected forests.   To get there we rented a taxi and drove for a few hours out of Phnom Pehn.  Then a two-hour boat up the Preak Piphot river...  / Cuando la asamblea terminó... el fin del mes... el fin del año... nos parecía un buen tiempo para tomar unas vacaciones y ver otras partes del pais.  Unos amigos organizaron un viaje a Koh Kong, donde supuestamente tiene unos bosques protejidos.  Viajamos unas horas en taxi y 2 más en el rio Preak Piphot...

The first days travels ended in a tiny little village called Chi Phat.   The place isn't much to look at really, although you can tell that recently they've been making some improvements to encourage tourism.   From here, you can start trekking into the Cardamon Mountains.  /  El primer día termino en el pueblito de Chi Phat.  El lugar no tiene nada especial, aunque es evidente que ultimamente han intentado hacer unos mejores para aumentar el turismo.  Desde aqui, puedes empezar a caminar en las montañas Cardimon.

So, the next morning the 5 of us set off... 

 La mañana siguiente 5 de nosotros nos fuimos a caminar...

in search of giant leaches and wild elephants.

En busqueda de elefantes salvajes.

We all carried backpacks, but Lynda was in charge of the most important things... the coffee making supplies! :)  /  Todos llevaron sus mochillas, pero Lynda fue  encargada de las cosas más importantes... el equipo de hacer café!

I'd read that the Cardamon Mountain Conservation Corridor is the 2nd largest virgin rain forest left in Southeast Asia, and home to at least 59 globally endangered species.   So, it was quite heartbreaking  when the first several hours of our hike we saw mostly scenes like this:  /  Yo había leido que las montañas Cardamon es el lugar segundo más grande de bosque virgin que queda en asia, y hogar de por lo menos 59 tipos de animales en peligro de extincion.  Entonces me quebré el corazon cuando las primeras horas de caminar, solo vimos escenas como estas.

But eventually the charred fields and paper mill plantations did give way to some actual forest.  Pero, eventualmente dejamos los campos quemados atras y llegamos al bosque

The scenery was constantly changing....  We walked past huge trees, and then into thickets of bamboo...  /  Las escenas cambiaron cada kilometro o dos.  Pasamos areas de arboles gigantes y manchas de bamboo...

Yellow prairies growing atop sandy white soil and black lava rocks
Campos amarillos en cima de arena blanca y piedras negras

And weird plants that reminded me of
Y plantas extrañas y me hiciero acuerdo de

 Dr. Seuss' drawings come to life. 

Debujos animados hecho vivos.

We passed streams and steamy marshes...
Pasamos rios y lugares inundadas....

Full of strange little things. 

Llenos de bichos curiosos

It was the first time I'd ever seen colorful tropical fish- You know, like the kind you buy in a pet store- swimming around wild. Every now and then we'd spot a huge Hornbill or hawk flying low overhead. / Fue la primera vez que ví a peces tropicales, como los que compres un una tienda, nadando en rios.  De vez en cuando vimos a un Hornbill gigante o un gavilán.

And an endless rainbow of butterflies everywhere
Y un arcoiris de mariposas sin fin

It was nice there- and fun to be with friends- but after a day of walking it became pretty clear that the trail we were on, was not actually going to take us into the heart of the jungle, as we had been led to believe. / Estuvo bonito, y divertido estar con amigos, pero despues de un día de caminar fue claro que este camino no conducia al corazon del bosque como nos habian dicho.

We were on their highway.  Every so often we'd meet local people on motorbikes, transporting mysterious lumpy sacks of something-or-other they'd been collecting in the trees.   There were scattered little country homes here and there; the trees cut down around them to make room for banana fields and pasture. / Estabamos en su autopista.  De vez en cuando, nos pasaron en motos, llevando sacos misteriosos de algo que habian recojido de los arboles.  Por aqui y allá habian casitas, los arboles cercanos tallados para sembrar guineos y pasto.

I thought it was kinda funny to see this scarecrow, standing in someone's front yard, was complete with wooden rifle. / Pensé que era un poco comico que este espantapajero, frente de una casa, incluía  una arma de madera.

It was sad to find that the local people didn't seem to know much about the plants and animals around them, and even less about the concept of "conservation".  When we strayed a little bit off the main paths, we saw animal traps everywhere.   At one house we passed, I found a bag full of trapped animals hung from a tree in their yard; all piled on top of each other, and left there to die slowly.  (It was the home of a prominent member of the community, who was supposedly working with the conservationist agencies too)  I paid him $1 to let me take the 2 least injured animals with me: a small Owl and a Flying Fox.  They hate these animals because they think they are bad omens, and wicked spirits who kill their chickens.   Don't tell, but later that night I released them both back into the woods nearby.   Later, back in town, when we showed some of the local people this picture, and tried to explain that a Flying Fox is a type of bat that's harmless and eats mostly fruit, they claimed that such an animal does not really exist. *sigh*

After walking about 24km that day, we found a quiet spot by the river and hung our army surplus hammocks from branches.  / Despues de caminar como 24 km este día, encontramos un lugar tranquillo cerca del rio, y colgamos nuestras hamacas.

From here we had a nice view of the sunset...  and later the stars.

Desde aqui, tuvimos una vista bonita del puesto del sol... y luego, las estrellas. 

At night we tried fishing for freshwater prawns, but didn't really find anything big enough to be worth catching. / En la noche intentamos ir a pescar camarones, pero no incontramos nada suficiente grande para comer.

So for breakfast we feasted on eggs and instant coffee at the top of the waterfall.
Entonces nos desayunamos con huevos y cafe instantaño en cima de la cascada

We spent another 2 days out there, walking around, chatting with the locals, and...
Pasamos 2 dás más por aqui, caminando y conversando con las personas, y...

Swinging from vines.  

 Guindando de los vejucos.

 From the stories we heard it seems that they do have a rather large population of wild elephants around here.  And it's probably just a well we didn't stumble into some of them, as they can be quite mean if they feel threatened.   Since they're known to come snack on people's banana trees,  in most of the homes we saw the people kept special flare guns meant to scare elephants away in the event of an attack.  / Nos contaron historias que indicaban si hay muchos elefantes salvajes en este area. Pero, tal vez es major que no los topamos, porque pueden ser agresivos si se sientan provocados.  De repente vienen a comer las matas de guineo, entonces en todas las casas tiene pistolas especiales, hechas para espantar los elefantes si vienen. 

Jungle fashion, asia style.

La moda de la jungla, tipo asiatico.

 We found quite a few pretty spots to visit, like this horseshoe shaped cliff that- in total- had about 7 different waterfalls spilling over it's edge. / Encontramos un numero de lugares bonitos, como este pecipé media luna que en total tenia 7 diferentes cascadas callendo por sus filas.

Up above, shallow water meanders gracefully over wide, black rocks, and has plenty of time to be heated by the asian sun.   Standing under the cascade feels like being in a steamy shower. / Arriba, el agua anda despacito sobre rocas negras, anchas y tiene bastante tiempo para que el sol asiatico la calienta.  Parandose debajo de la cascada parece estar en una ducha caliente.

The last night there, we decided we'd had enough of the hammocks, and decided to splurge a little bit for a night at the Eco Lodge.  It's on a small island in the river, where they have some pretty landscaping a built a few quaint bamboo cabins in the forest.  There's a small restaurant there built over the water, and you have to use this raft to get out there. / La ultima noche, nos cansamos de las hamacas, y decidoms pagar una noche en el Eco Lodge.  Esta en una isla pequeña, donde tiene unos jarines bonitos y cabinas de caña en el bosque. Tiene un restaurante chiquito sobre el agua y tiene que usar este balsita para llegar.

This was our view of the water from the porch of our little cabin we rented. 

Eso fue la vista  del agua desde la cabina que nos aquillamos.

It was nice there... But as usual, when "people" find something beautiful, they immediately start to ruin it.  It was December 31st and some local NGOs had rented most of the place to hold their raucous New Year's Eve party.  Our Cabin was the most far removed, so the noise didn't bother us too much, but in the morning we woke to find crowds of people in designer sneakers trampling the plants and, as a souvenir of their visit, garbage EVERYWHERE! / Pudo haber sido bonito... pero como siempre... cuando la gente encuentran algo bonito, de inmediato ellos empiezan a dañarla. Fue el 31 de Diciembre y una organizacion local habia aquillado todo el lugar para su fiesta de Año Nuevo.  Nuestra cabina estaba un poco lejos entonces la bulla  no nos molestó mucho.  El la mañana nos despertamos encontrar personas en zapatos de marca pateando las plantas, y como un recuerdo de su visita, basura por todos lados.

To see first hand how astonishingly fast and efficiently people are obliterating natural life on this planet is horrible!   At times like these, faith that soon Jehovah will put everything back the way it's supposed to be, is the only comfort. / Ver personalmente que tan rapido y completamente los seres humanos estan dañando la naturaleza de nuestra planeta es espantoso. En momentos como estos, es solo la fe que pronto el reino de Jehová arreglará todo nuevamente es mi unico consuelo.

Still,  it was a good trip!  We ate amazing food, relaxed with freinds, slept under the stars, and did see some of the natural beauty that still remains.  All too soon it was time to get back on our boat, and back to the traffic, smog and noise of daily life in Phnom Pehn. / Pero, con todo, fue un buen viaje.  Comimos buena comida, relajó con amigos, dormí debajo de las estrellas y pudimos ver algo de la naturaleza bella que todavia queda.

We all talked about coming back here again... Taking some different trails and once again searching for the elephants.  Some of the locals had told us the places where we could probably find them if we come again.  Maybe next year... / Todos hablamos de regresar aqui algun día... tomar otros caminos y buscar los elefantes salvajes de nuevo.  Algunas personas nos contaron de un lugar donde los podemos encontrar si regresamos algun día. Tal vez el proximo año...

"The whole earth has come to rest, has become free of disturbance.  People have become cheerful with joyful cries"  
  -Isa. 14:7-  
 "Toda la tierra ha entrado en descanso, ha quedado libre de disturbio. La gente se han puesto alegre con clamores gozosos "