Senior Couple Excurson -- Odong

Today was our final activity of our Senior Couple Conference, which was more like a missionary field trip. Sister Christensen, our mission president's wife, has spent a lot of time planning and scheduling this three-day conference and the excursions and cultural activities for memorable bonding experiences for all of us.

The group was asked what time we should start, and since it was split with some saying 8:00 and others 9:00, President Christensen made the decision to start at 8:30. That gave time for morning exercise of our choice. We, of course, choose our walk, but Elder Thurston was able to go on a 30 mile bike ride.

Of course other factors made it so we didn't get started until about 9:30, then with traffic and road construction it took us until about 11:30 to get to our destination.

We learned that Odong was the royal residence and Cambodia's capital or more than 250 years. The remaining structures are impressive, set on top of a Phnom (hill) overlooking beautiful green countryside. It was extensively damaged during the Khmer Rouge.

As we arrived at the base of the Phnom, we had a lot of stairs to climb to reach the stupa. Just below the last set of stairs we were required to remove our shoes and hats. The sun was hot but the view was magnificent. Access to the stupa is not allowed, but there are beautiful gold doors on all four sides.  As with everywhere else in Cambodia, we were followed by children who were eager to sell flowers or services of fanning guests during their climb. Some of those children are included in our group photo  which was taken as we completed our descent.

One final stop on our return to Phnom Penh was at the Blue Pumpkin restaurant for lunch. We finished our day exhausted and having thoroughly enjoyed our time spent with so many amazing senior missionaries. We can hardly wait for the next senior conference in about six months.