Day 1 PM: Hanging Out with Andy

In the afternoon, I got to meet my friend Andy for lunch. This turned out to be more challenging than it sounded. I caught at tuk tuk (a moped with a trailer). However, in a reprise of an experience I had in Bangkok, the driver only pretended to understand me, drove in the general direction I pointed to, and dropped me off about 20 blocks from where I wanted to go. There were no street labels so it took a while to realize just how lost I was, but a second tuk tuk and a dozen texts with Andy eventually got me there.

Andy was part of the campus ministry we are involved in and graduated a couple years ago. He is the finest young film maker I know.[1] We went to a film festival a couple years ago that included his stuff, and he walked away with around 50% of the distinctions awarded.

He is in Cambodia working with an organization that helps exploited children (using his film and photography skills but also just doing whatever needs to be done). We had noodles and spent a couple hours catching up, and then he took me to see the center he works at. It is a courageous ministry of practical love and seems to be growing and thriving.

One of the unexpected advantages to hanging out with Andy was getting to tool around with him on his moped. The moped-to-car ratio here is much higher than Bangkok (and likely responsible for much more manageable traffic). I had never gotten to experience an Asian city in this way and it was a blast…even when the monsoon rains started.
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[1] I guess this doesn’t say much, because I don’t know a lot of them. But I think he is really good.