Bicycle rides and butterflies

Well I am having trouble here in Battambang getting stuff posted I just spent half an hour writing a blog only to lose it when I treid to publish it. Feeling slightly frustrated but all I can do is start again. So I arrived in Cambodia via Bangkok a week ago and it would seem my arrival coincided with the onset of the hot season. I know that many of you reading this may well have had snow in this last week and believe me I have more than once thought longingly of cooler climes as I wilt in temperatures climbing up into the mid 30's and higher. However a week in and I guess I must be aclimatising. The main reason for me coming to Cambodia was to visit my good friends Tim and Catherine Lawrence and their two boys Forrest(3) and Eden (1). It is great being here with them and being part of family life for a bit. The first thing we did when I arrived was hire a bicycle as this is their main form of transport. They have bike seats and a trailer for the boys so are ready to go, on or off road! They live in a wooden house in Wat Kor village on the outskirts of Battambang. Out along the slow brown river and over the railway line then off on a dirt track through the banana and coconut palms. In the Garden there are mango, papaya and other friut trees and they are growing aubergines in the vegetable patch. They don't have running water inside the house, just large ceramic pots of water that are fed off stand pipes in the garden, this means that washing of any description happens outside along with a lot of other liveing, eating and playing. It's fair to say that this first year of living over here has held many challenges for them, culturally, emotionally, relationally and with many of the simple day to day basics we take for granted like the much maligned NHS. It has certainly been very difficult at times but they have learnt alot and I guess become stronger together through it. They are both chatting away in Khmer, not fluently but nearing comprehensively from where I'm looking! It has been great playing with Forrest and getting to know Eden who is a climbing adventuring explorer if ever there was one. We have been out into the dusty ochre brown rice paddies, for cycle rides beneath the palms and in the sun, speant a day at the towns new outdoor pool, and met a selection of kittens, puppies, and baby chicks. Today it seems a load of butterflies crawled out into the sunshine, and as we ran around the grounds of the local buddist temple with the boys, blue, yellow and black butterflies fluttered past. I am enjoying joining in the slow pace and rhthym of Cambodian life with the Lawrences. They have always been an inspiration and encouragement to me and when the boys are in bed we pick up where we left off in sharing ideas, exploring our faith and just being together. I have missed them in Brighton so it is very good to be with them here. Check out the link to their blog to get more of a feel of life out here.