It's been a while so this will be a long one. Pictures to come later. 

Upon arrival at the airport with time to spare and then some, we discovered that you can't check into your flight until 2 hours before boarding so we ended up just sitting in the ticket area for about 2 hours in Phenom Phen, other than the DQ, there really is not much to do on that side of the security.

Flight went well, flying Air Asia is interesting as I have never been on a flight before that charged for in flight non-alcoholic drinks but as we are about to learn, In Kuala Lumpur nickle and diming is not just practiced but is perfected.

Upon landing in Kuala Lumpur (KL from here on out) the first thing we saw was a Starbucks followed quickly by a Micky D's. My first thought upon this "Hello first world! How I have missed you" I have since learned that KL is actually still considered 3rd world (But Greece is first world???). Anyway, this place is a development central, construction projects are everywhere and the center of KL is a huge shopping district that rivals the best you can find in LA or NY.

Alright so after we got settled into our rented house/hotel thing, we went out and explored some of the city which is actually quite nice. We called it early as most of us were pretty exhausted from traveling.

The next day we met with the staff of HOPE that is stationed in KL and they are FABULOUS. Super nice people who are organized and have a plan. We had schedules in hand that day and were ready to rock and roll. First day however was our "learn about KL day" so we had the day to walk around and see all the things the city has to offer. We saw The KLCC, which are the two huge towers with the bridge in the middle, for the 1 of you reading this who has seen the movie Entrapment with Sean Connery, the buildings they are trying to escape from are the towers of the KLCC.

We have been eating all kinds of different food since we arrived as will be pictured below by our wonderful food picture taker. We have been able to eat traditional KL food but due to the trifecta of Chinese, Indian, and native Malay, depending on who you talk to the traditional meal changes. We were able to eat twice in the Chinese open air market for breakfast which was amazing. The hope staff would go and order dishes and we just passed everything around so we were able to eat many different dishes.

On Tuesday, bad luck reared its ugly head and caused problems with our first big clinic day. We were going to be working with a doctor in the local HOPE clinic however the first doctor came down with a chest infection and was unable to make it. The backup doctor was then called, They, however, were out with a bad fever, The third doctor called at the last minute the night before called and had something come up and was thus unable to make it. We were still able to work for a half day doing blood pressure and blood sugar checks on regular patients and also learning how they do drug distribution in Malaysia. It was a good experience and it was great to meet the staff of the clinic who were all great people.

The next day we met up and went to see the UNHCR refugee program which is set up in Malaysia, it is not affiliated with HOPE but rather is part of the United Nations. It was still very interesting to see how people are processed and what is done for them before they are relocated to other countries. The majority of refugees are from Burma however there are other refugees from the middle east and other war torn countries. The UNHCR has its own free clinic only for refugees  and we were able to visit that but due to many different restrictions from the UN, students are not allowed to work there. That night was filled with more eating and the HOPE staff once again took us out to some of their favorite locations which were delicious.

Thursday was our next clinic day and it was great. We got to see patients from 10-5 and we were able to get some good hands on experience with how basic health care is given in free clinics in the third world. The doctor working with us that day was Russian trained and was very knowledgeable about the patient population. While many patients had the usual symptoms of Hypertension and Asthma, we were able to see a pretty serious oral allergic reaction, we were able to give 2 IM injections of pain medicine and for the Lolz we were able to do an ECG on our good friend Jared. That night at 11:30, we worked with a Scotsman who runs a charity/NGO based on getting people who are living on the streets, off the streets and into a functional job. He was a fascinating person and had a great pulse of the plight of the homeless in Malaysia. he had been working with them for 5 years and has an interesting way of working with them. While the base of his program is providing food, after he is able to build trust, he learns about each individual and what they used to do. He then uses his contacts in the city to try and get the individual employed in their old profession rather than in some job that has no relation to their skill sets. While we were out working with him we ran across an individual who was clearly in great pain. Upon further examination it became pretty obvious that his shoulder was dislocated and had been that way for 2 days when he fell on it. The program that the scottsman had set up also helps pay for medical bills of individuals if they are unable to pay and so this individual was taken to the hospital immediately.

The next day we were tired, We started the day at 6:00AM and headed down to Panang which is both the name of a state in Malaysia and the island it is located on. Here we were able to go to the local pediatrics charity clinic run by HOPE. They were not super busy that evening, only two patients came in, but we were able to talk with the doctor who was from Malaysia. He trained in the Czech Republic and came to Malaysia to do his Residency.

The next day we went to go work with some of the indigenous people of Malaysia, the kind of indigenous where you have to take an hour long boat ride on a boat that is probably older than I am and has been patched, badly. The path to get their is known only by the boat drivers as the water is the result of the building of a dam  and thus is just covering a forest that will shred the hull of our boat with one bad turn. We got out to the villages, there were two that we visited, and brought food as well as medical supplies and three doctors. We set up to see the kids first with the common problem of malnourishment, however some had scabies which was diagnosed and treated but will likely return and reinfect individuals. One of the women was very pale in her hands and feet, upon examination of her conjunctiva she was anemic. Her heart revealed a systolic murmur and she was informed to seek hospital assistance because she is either pregnant with her sixth child at 23, or there is a serious underlying disease and either way she should get checked out.

We spent a day exploring Penang, some went to a temple, I just wandered around, some just rested in the hotel to get over whatever illness was ailing them. We headed back to KL the next day and that is where our tale leaves us, as we prepare to hop over to Indonesia.

Photos from Cambodia!

Enjoying Angkor!

Just right.

Love the Cambodian food!

Cambodian home

Look at those intent faces

Just gorgeous

They are beautiful

Tiny stash of medical supplies

Local health clinic where we ran a health camp

Beach time!

Kampot, Cambodia

Sorry for the delay, the internet has been a little shaky since we have reached Kampot, a former rural outpost of the French during the colonial days. We arrived from Phnom Penh on Monday afternoon, where we were able to meet Dr. Steve, one of the founders of Solaid.

Solaid is a non-profit organization that is centered around improving local education and providing microgrants in rural areas around Kampot. These microgrants may appear minor in nature, but can be life-saving since they provide a way to earn money in a sustainable, community friendly manner. Such projects include providing families with plants to harvest, chickens, teaching them to basket weave, and even rebuilding homes. What fascinated us (Sonali and Justine) the most was that the Solaid organization is very well integrated into the community. Microgrant provisions, for example, are determined by a community panel.

Immediately after arriving in Kampot, they eight of us cycled to a school nearby to teach an English class. We were able to not only sit in on the class but also play educational games. Unfortunately, if you lose the game at the end of the class, you have to sing. Lucky for me (Sonali) and a couple of others, they were blessed to hear my wonderful singing voice........I think everybody in the class wanted to stop. Nevertheless it was a bonding experience for all involved O_o

After that day, we split into groups of four for the rest of the week's activities. My group consisted of Justine, Matt, and Jake. The other group was Nathan, Dayna, Itsumi, and Jared. The most common means of travel around Kampot is by bike. Bike riding was eye-opening because we got to experience the culture through their eyes and even feel a bit integrated within it.  We biked to an area where we met up with a group of kids that we called scouts. I don't think they were actually scouts, but they were wearing boy scout uniforms and were honestly great kids! They were around varying from age 14-20 years, and were practicing their English with us. They had a ton of questions for us from how many brothers and sisters, to what medical school was like. They were always so sweet and answered our questions honestly.

Many of the activities we did involved working with kids on their English, but more importantly, the Solaid group wanted Cambodian students to have a positive experience with foreign travelers like us. Although the kids were sweet and constantly smiling, it was astonishing to see their school environment and its condition. Often times there are 3 students per desk, and instead of paper many used slate boards and chalk. Solaid is often providing school supplies like books and games for students. They also built a library we were able to see. We visited many schools worked with kids and even got to visit the Epic Arts center, which is a nonprofit organization that promotes the integration of the deaf, blind, and other disabilities in the arts within the community of Kampot.

Many of our most poignant experiences were centered around community health activities. During two different days, we went out to rural parts of Kampot with a scale, stethoscopes, and blood pressure cuffs to give basic health assessments. It was great to practice blood pressure readings, since most of the time we do blood pressure in very quiet settings. This time, there were people lining up to not only get blood pressures readings, but also to see what it was all about. Even adults and kids were curious to see how tall they were and how much they weighed. It was fascinating to see how simple measurements like weight, height, and BP was discussion around the community. Even some of the adults were coming to get their weight, which was only done on kids to check their growth. Unfortunately, we noticed many kids with scabies and also blonde streaks, which is indicative of protein deficiency.

Most people think of Project Cura as a program promoting clinical experience abroad for medical students. However, it is hard to provide clinical care without understanding the culture, traditions, and daily lives of the patients we see. For example, many Cambodians participate in coining, which is a belief that by heating a coin and placing a cup over it to cleanse bad spirits from your body. Leaving Cambodia tomorrow, we both feel like we have a deeper understanding of not only the medical needs of the community, but also the daily lifestyles, struggles, and necessities essential for healthy living.

Day 2

I would like to preface this by saying that I am by no means as good a
writer as Sonali, so please excuse that.
With that out of the way here we go.

Day 2 in Cambodia.

Waking up at 6:00am is much easier when your internal clock is still
adjusting its time zone. We decided that elephant rides were something
that needed to get done while we were here so we talked to our tour
guide, who has been amazing, and he set us up.
The elephants went around Bayon, one of the temples we saw yesterday.

After the elephants, we climbed one of the hills of Cambodia called
Kulen Hill. It was 1500m vertically to the location of the holy waters
there known as Kbal Spean . It was a great hike and a lot of the
natural rock formations were perfect for climbing. Many of the views
were spectacular and we were able to get some great photos which will
be uploaded soon, but due to über slow internet, we can only upload 3.
The top of the hill is called the valley of 1000 Lingas. The majority
of the carvings related to the Hindu god Shiva and despite having
water run over them for hundreds of years, were in surprisingly good
condition. We also found a waterfall.

After the climb down, we went to lunch at one of the near by
restaurants and someone took pictures of all of our food. Lunch was
great and after we saw our last temple, Bantarey Sri.

Bantarey Sri was by far the smallest of the temples that we saw but it
was nice because it seemed more practical than the rest. You can tell
this temple is not as well known as the rest due to its lack of a wiki
page but to give you the gist of what the pictures will eventually
show you, the temple was built to honor Shiva and was built before
Ankor Wat so it’s pretty impressive that it is still around, let alone
in the condition that it is in. Fun fact, you can tell it was built
before Ankor Wat by the number of pillars in the windows, 5 for
Bantarey Sri and 7 for Ankor Wat.

Tonight we are off to the night market and then the real part of our
trip begins, 6 hour bus ride down to Phenom Phen then 6 hour bus ride
to Campot.

Temples of Angkor

 It has been a long couple of days. We met up as a group in LA, and together flew to Hong Kong. That in of itself was 14 hours. After Hong Kong, we flew to Phnom Penh and then took a 6 hour bus ride to Siem Reap. It was a lot of traveling! That doesn't even take into account how much we are feeling the jet lag! After all of that traveling, we literally reached the hotel and fell asleep immediately. We were so exhausted!

Angkor Wat. Source: Wikipedia

 The next day, we headed out to Angkor Wat. I would upload photos, but the computer is giving me a hard time. Hopefully tomorrow it will be easier!

The major temples we visited were Ta Prohm, Angkor Wat, and Bayon temple.  I never realized how old the temples were. Nearly 900 years old, and they were still amazingly beautiful.  Everything represented a greater meaning; worthy of carving it into stone. Each of the temples were built by a king, and the faith and carvings of each temple were determined by his own beliefs.. Angkor Wat, for example, is a Hindu temple (Wikipedia Angkor Wat) while Ta Prohm is Buddhist (Wikipedia Ta Prohm.)

We learned a lot about not only the history of the temples and who made them and when, but also how modern history has taken a toll on these temples as well. The community regime, the Khmer Rouge, for example, destroyed many statues of deities and Buddhas as well as the Siamese in the 14th century (The Khmer Rouge perpetrated one of the largest genocides in history reducing the Cambodia population by 25% in the 1970's. Wikipedia.)

However, it is truly amazing to see that throughout the war-torn years, Angkor Wat has been preserved. Many times, soldiers and governments would specifically preserve this area as a no-fight zone to prevent the temples from being destroyed.


Anyway, we also had super good lunch. I think Justine wins the meal of the day with her lunch pick Khmer Amok. It was a coconut based soup, and even came inside a coconut! It was amazing! 


Photos coming soon! Here are some photos from Wikipedia and my family to tide you over!

 

The Bayon Temple. Source: Wikipedia.

Ta Prohm. Source Wikipedia

Young monks at Angkor Wat. Source: Gandhi Family

Angkor Wat has ONE MILE of carvings around the perimeter! Source: Gandhi Family

Snowflakes of Hope in Cambodia

Article published in Creighton University Magazine, Spring 2012, written by James Haug.

Event: Savor the Flavor

Savor the flavor is the primary fundraiser for the Project CURA trips. This year will mark our 10th anniversary of the program and there will be a silent auction accompanying the dinner. Both of these events will be taking place in the Harper Center Ballroom at Creighton University on February the 24th. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m and tickets will cost $30 for adults and $10 for students. It is open to anyone. The event will also feature previous participants, who will be talking about their unforgettable travels and irreplaceable experiences!

Come join us! Contact curaasia2012@gmail.com for questions or tickets!

Who: Project Cura Asia
When: February 24, 2012 at 6:00 PM
Where: Harper Center Ballroom
Why: Support an organization that provides heath care abroad to people in need! Also you get food, wine, and wonderful conversation!