I am a Consultant to the tribe and for the past one year I have been working closely with them. On my regular visits to the tribe, I regale them with stories of my visits to various countries. A couple of months ago I was telling ABB about Cuba and Mexico, and the health care system, and suggested that she and her husband think of coming with me on one of my visits in the future. Where would you like to go? I asked, hoping fully that she would reply Mexico, but to my surprise she answered, My husband would really like to go to Cambodia! You mean, that Cambodia, which is 12 000 miles and 12 time zones away? Yes!
OK, I agreed, I will make all the arrangements, as it would be a good way to show my gratitude to the tribe for their infinite caring for me. The couple raised the money for the airfare and the expenses (I gave them a rough idea of how much it would cost them) by having bake sales and get togethers and they handed me the money for the airfare.
This would be their first international trip and I did not want to plunge them into a cultural shock by taking them directly to Cambodia but via detour to Malaysia, which would buffer their cultural shock of arriving in Cambodia.
