ghost town

i am back to full strength and also back to eating gut rippingly hot chili crisps. as i write my mouth is on fire, maybe that wasnt a wise purchase...

well i have 9 full weeks in cambodia. so much has happened and i have so many memories when i think about it all it seems like a few years worth of life has happened in the last seven months yet when i think right back it seems like yesterday i was saying goodbye at heathrow in september. i hate to say it but the countdown has begun for me, ive been looking at my diary for a while, but i think because khmer new year was a non event for me i was forced to spend a bit of time thinking and that usually ends up me thinking about home. i must savour every portion of fried noodles and every grain of rice. lord no more rice...please.

i realise announcing on the blog that i might be going down under was probably not the wisest thing, it may ot happen and all depends on sorting out the dates. but i really would like to go so i will put in extra effort. in the meantime chris has promised to take me to see the temples sometime in may for a few days, it would seem pretty stupid spending all this time in cambodia and not going to angkor wat, having said that steve has been here four years and hasnt been yet. mental. it is after all one of the wonders of the ancient world. speaking of anciet world has anyone seen apocalypto? man thats a bloddy film! i stacked up on dvds to see me through the new year.

things with the church here are going well, we didnt meet last weekend because of the new year, everyone goes off to their hometowns so the city was empty. it felt like a bit of a ghost town at three o'clock in the afternoon driving around. it was a strange feeling. phnom penh is really quite a small city but the roads are crammed with people because no one walks anywhere. so with few cars and a slow trickle of motos the dust laid a thick layer of muck on the road which make driving more unpleasant, my visor is so scratched i cant use it and i managed to break my sunglasses aswell, so i just have to squint a bit and rely on my god given eye lashes to event almost certain death. im joking, its a bit safer than i make out.

i havent heard from anyone for a while. give me an email with all your news if your reading. its good to feel part of things in this odd situation i seem to have found myself in. life goes on, if barely.

uncle john if your reading this i am glad your out of hospital and feeling a bit better. email me if you are feeling up to it, it would be good to hear from you again and hear some more war stories. we all prayed for you and continue to do so.

much love hommies,
King Ben.