Cambodia Evaluation 223.123

Cambodia

Likes: Siem Reap, Dr Fish fish spa, roof top pools, Tx visiting, Bayon Temple, $1 yellow noodles in the market, my students, ever-so friendly yet not intruding locals, having a table full of poor children join us for dinner around one table in the market and seeing their many tricks and jokes, night buses with bunk beds aboard.

Dislikes: Powercuts which stop the fans and a/c, having such a mixed ability in my teaching class, seeing so many landmine victims, seeing naked crying babies begging with their siblings, the killing fields,

Sunrises missed: 34

Places visited: Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville

Number of times i wanted to come home: 1. It would be fun to see the royal wedding and have a tea and scones celebration wouldn't it?

Favourite hotel: Golden Sands, Sihanokville- nice big pool and sunbeds in the shade.
Favourite memory: Cycling to school along muddy back roads in the shade with babies and adults alike shouting hello at us.
Worst day: One evening when we were in the market eating dinner (every dish costs $1-1.25) and some western boys spent a while haggling with the owner to discount their cans of beer. She could not give it to them for 50cents so they left and she felt bad. So obviously so, that we appologised and told her that we understood and that her prices were good prices. She was deflated though and continued to express dismay and appologise that she could not discount the beer that much as it costs more. Where do these boys think think this little market stall in the street with rickety cracked plastic chairs spend all their money? Do they not realise it is almost hand to mouth at this stall? 10meters away is a whole street of resturants that do draft beer for 50cents, go there! However, they continued down the line of similar stalls to ours, haggling away trying to get 50cent beer, but never being offered it whilst the stall holders get sadder and more frustrated.

Favourite new food or drink: Lemon Juice with sugar and Beef Loklak (with plenty of whole green pepper corns).

Best/worst smell: Fish sauce. Why.....?

Best/worst noise: Wonderful and horrible all in one- each wedding would play VERY loud music from morning til night, initially kind of fun to hear as you walk along, less so when you are still trying to sleep at 5am.

Pictures taken before Tx arrived: 17

Pictures taken by Tx: 223
Number of times we said 'Wow' as we walked around Angkor Wat and similar temples: 4,million.

Number of times Xss got a massive bump on his head and a cut from hitting the bottom of the pool whilst trying to do 'no limbs swimming': 1 very funny time. He's fine now.

Best Norwich City Victory: 5:1 against Ipswich. yippee.
Weirdest country fact: Cambodia's 24 hour clock starts at midday and ends at midnigt. A little disorientating when displayed on a night bus.
New thing learnt: When you are away from home there is much less to worry and stress about. Nowdays it is stressful if we have to fit in more than two activities in one day! Oh, its going to be tough going home and managing work. I think i will boycott less things when i am home also. I will pick a few key ones, and leave the rest. Life is too short to be over analysing all these minor decisions when there are so many major ones around.
Country Score: 223.123

The 5 and a half slightly odd things i have noticed about the smiley Khmur folk

1. They like their motorbikes. They like their motorbikes so much that they take them on public transport with them. I have seen bikes tied to vans, we had several come on the coach to the beach with us, and worst of all i have seen one on the front of a bicycle thingy with the poor cycling driver pushing with all his might to propel the motorbike and motorbike lover along the streets on Phenom Pehn.

2. The 24 hour clock is different here. 00:00 is midday. It took me a while to work out that it was not just the odd wrong clock, but all clocks are 'wrong'. 12:00AM and PM have also been reversed, which makes for some interesting conversations around bus timetables.

3. If you step out of a tuk-tuk, a shop, off a bike, or are entering a temple you must need a tuk-tuk. It gets hard to politely decline such offers when it is blatantly obvious that you have just arrived somewhere. Its hard to learn the word for Hello in Khmer as you are so often greeted with the word, 'tuk-tuk'.

4. Khmer people are typically very quiet and respectful of others, you rarely hear shouting. However, when someone gets married, music is blared out of numerous speakers, so loud that it sounds like it originates in Vietnam. This begins at 6am and ends around midnight, for a few days at a time. If you are the neighbours, you just have to learn to love these songs or practice your dancing in your house with the free tunes.

5. Khmer's like to wear a lot of clothes. Although it is their summer and faintworthily hot, they are wandering around in their long sleeves and fingerless gloves. This is the lengths they will go to to avoid a suntanned skin. How mad they must think i am to be loving the darkening of my skin!

5.5 There are no roads wider than two cars. Even the main highway to Vietnam has a patch of non-tarmaced texture, and its a snug fit for the two cars to pass by each other. Quick travel is not an option here.

Light White

Too much time to think:

If white mixed with black is grey,

and white mixed with red is pink,

why is there no official name for white mixed with other colours?

Why not call pink light red?

or white and green grenk?

or white and blue bley?

Sunshine Ponderings

Is it ever possible to tan one's armpit? I have been trying out all sorts of uncomfortable and unconventional sunbathing poses and whilst it is possible to tan the skin around your armpit (really your arm), i am begining to think it is impossible to actually tan the area that hair grows out of. Has anyone ever achieved this feat or am i striving for the impossible?

Should i try to tan in between my fingers next?

Teul Slong

Tx has arrived, so the tourism has begun. Its been a good time and really helped me to understand the 'background (but really very prevalent today) attitudes of the Khmer (Cambodian) people. Having finally made it to the temples of Angkor Wat (see previous entry) we then moved on to Phenom Pheng. There is not much to do in the capital but see the torture prison and the killing fields left over from the Khmer Rouge days (1975-79).

This has been completely different to everything else we have seen on our travels. Firstly S21 or Tuol Sleng was a high school until the 17th April 1975. The following day the Khmer Rouge took it over and turned each classroom into a torture chamber or holding cell. The people were all meticulously evacuated from the city under the false claims that the Americans were going to bomb the place and within three days the whole city was empty with everyone being escorted by soldier's to the countryside to become farmers. It was perfectly executed and organised. Our guide was a young girl at the time and had walked 3 months to Battamburg (in the North West) with her family. They then worked as farmers until the Khmer Rouge was over thrown and she then walked back. She found her mother but her brother and father had been shot dead and her grandfather died of starvation.

The Khmer Rouge remained in power until the Vietnamese arrived in 1979, by which stage they had tortured and killed all the academics, teachers, lawyers etc in S21 and thus the country needed the Vietnamese to fill all these jobs for them. (it was suspected that all these professions worked for the CIA and Pol Pot wanted to start a new country from scratch, even declaring the year Year 0) The Khmer seem very patient and almost too laid back. During their times working in the fields with limited food supplies they continued to hope that someone might realise what was going on and help them. You never hear any stories of radicals, and still many Khmer are hungry today.

In s21 over 19,000 people were tortured for between 3-6 months each and then taken to the killing fields to be killed. This lead to mass graves. The crimes of the Khmer Rouge were massive and it was most shocking to learn that 1) most of the tortures at S21 were 13-19 years old and 2) very little in the way of legal justice has been served.

After the overthrowing, the Khmer Rouge leaders 'hid' in towns on the boarder with Thailand. Most of them remaining loyal to the Khmer Rouge and living normal lives for about 20 years. So far 4 people are awaiting trial (awaiting what?) for these crimes, and one leader has been given a 35 year sentence.

The mass graves have not been exhumed and every rain more clothes and bones appear at the surface. Its like the dead refuse to remain in the ground but insist on making themselves known.

On a brighter note, through our travels Xss and i are trying to be nicer to beggars and poor people, as giving someone $1 here seems much more effective than giving $1 to charity at home and it passing through all that bureaucracy. Although some people might misuse our dollar here, maybe it is the giving that counts. Anyway, one lunchtime a particularly dirty young man, without shoes (surely an international sign of poverty) approached us for money, we said no as we don't encourage kids to beg. But them he asked for food. Yep. This is fine with us, what do you want? and he turns and points to K-BURGER, the newest, shiniest and glass boxiest place on the street. Fine. So i brought him a k-burger meal, and he trotted off the proudest K-burger owner ever.

Now, it might not be true, but i like to think that he had been staring into that shop for a long time, dreaming of a k-burger, with a tear in the corner of his eye, thinking he'd never have one. We can make that dream come true, just because we were born in a different country.

Beware of the bugs

Best misquote of the travels:

Aspara Golden Hotel*: Wat Bo Road. Restaurant, Roof top Swimming pool, Laundry service, A/C, worm hostility guaranteed. $10-25.

In other news Tx has arrived and shaken things up bit. She has become self appointed official photographer, silly poses important. And she has already broken the travellers code by merrily waving at other white people in tuk-tuks! We clearly stated when we picked her up at the airport that it was compulsory to wave and say Hello to all the little children who constantly look delighted when they see us and shout 'Hello' merrily- but not other tourists!! Its great she is here and sooo happy. Today we went to the temples, which was brilliant.

The missing statues wore on trend maxi dresses like this.

It's useless fighting a stone statue, even if you are dressed like a thug.

Trying to picture what the gargoyles would have looked like.

*Names have been changed to protect identifies and to prevent the worms being exploited and put in some sort of circus.

Dear Geek......

LE,

I cant wait to see you next week when i come to Cambodia, however i am not sure what the weather will be like and what clothes i should bring. Any tips from the locals? Tx

Dear Tx,

The weather here is hot, hot hot. Bring plenty of light clothing, and something to cover your shoulders (the parts that face the sun) as it is rude to show that skin here. Also something to come down to your knee's else you will be advertising yourself as a hussy. Tips from the locals- wear old fashioned PJ's all the time, everywhere. No joke, long bottoms and full shirted tops, the more teddy bear characters on them the better. It takes a while to get used to seeing the grown women cycling along in them, but i guess they are cool.

Cant wait to see you!

Geek

Another week in Siem Reap

Kids discovering that if you pretend to clean your teeth you can create more spit, and legitimately spit in public.

I didn't think i was getting along that well with my 'creche' class (aged 3-9) but on Friday someone was sick so i had to cover the preschool class instead. As i went to creche to let the Khumer teachers know, the kids all looked very excited and waved and said hello to me. The younger ones now all grab my trousers and try to climb up me as well. I really do like them and was sad to spend the day apart from them.

Taking pre-school was fun as well. As you enter the classroom all the kids shout, 'GOOD MORNING TEACHER' to which i replied 'I am LE and I've come today as Lyn is sick', they all look at me silently.......... and then i remember myself, 'Good morning class, how are you today?' 'I'M FINE THANK YOU AND YOU?' to which you can say anything you want and they will all say, 'THANK YOU TEACHER. They dont really say the above but shout it as loud as they can, while smiling immensely, and stopping abruptly at the end of each word like a drill sergeant.

Even though the preschool are young (4-7) (note that for some bizarre reason they are younger than some of the creche!) they know lots of English and enjoyed naming all the animals they could think of, including some odd ones like Kangaroo and Buffalo (they have volunteers here from USA and Oz) and some alphabet ones like Yak. It made me smile and they were very enthusiastic. I then took them outside to play a game where groups of 3 kids were an animal and when i shouted out their animal and a number they had to race to the other end of the football pitch and collect that many ping pong balls and race each other back. Unfortunately by the time we got to the football pitch and i checked their animals we had 12 Gorillas and only 1 Cat amongst others. So i redistributed names and checked again, this time 11 Cats and 2 Gorillas. I settled for this and they ran up and down a lot and didn't seem to care who won which was great.

Children pretending to be asleep so they don't have to play the animal game again.

Xss started teaching classes by himself on Friday as the other English volunteer in his class has now left. He seemed to enjoy this. He is a giant here so its always funny to see him with these little kids. Several have made themselves his friends, and I'm keeping an eye on all the girls as they keep passing him pretty pictures on which they have written their names and 'I love you'. There is one major culprit and i know she doesn't support Norwich City, so i doubt she'll get very far.

Xss and one of said girls pretending to pick up litter, however she doesn't have any free hands.

Not Teaching English

Today was the first time i was asked to help with an after school class of teenagers who have English lessons at the project we work at. As i uncomfortably sat on a chair at the front of the class having declared i was LE from England, the teacher explained the first exercise. He then called me up to the board and asked me to explain the difference between 'Love' and 'Like' to the students. haha. Since i failed to do this well he wrote on the bored 'Like 50-70%' and 'Love 100%'. Not bad. Later on in the class i had to explain what a Video recorder was (kids!) a cheesecake, and the hardest of all egg mayonnaise! how can you explain mayonnaise to someone who already knows the word egg? Fun, fun fun. Time is flying and we will be back so soon.

A day in the life of a Khumer School Teacher.....

In the musical Avenue Q, they have a song titled, 'Everyone's a little bit racist', which i believe is true. I know this is true of myself as i am loving Cambodia but have been very surprised by how different it is to Thailand- why did i think it would be the same? Luckily it has been raining a bit and so brought the temperatures down to a pleasant level in which we can enjoy experiencing this laid back place with people who seem to know more about England than ourselves (one boy can name prime ministers going back 60 years) and almost love shouting 'Hello' to us more than they enjoy hearing us shout hello back (all accompanied by perfuse waving on both sides). We are enjoying being in one place, and getting into a routine. And here is that routine:

7.30am Alarm goes off and we lay awake but refusing to start the day until we know we are definitely going to be late.

08.00am Arriving downstairs in our share house (ex-hotel) we eat cold croissants we bought the previous night at half price from the bakery in town.

08.10am leave for school by bike. we cycle next to a calm river on mud roads waving to as many as possible.

Xss on his way to teach. Note that he has carefully put his cycle helmet in the front basket to keep it safe.

09.00am - Xss teaches the Lions class with a Khumer teacher for translation and Alison another volunteer (although she is leaving soon and he will have to do it alone later this week). He can choose the material but the subject must be around, 'Me and my body'.

This class was all about keeping healthy by moving around the classroom and not doing the work.

Some of my Creche class still thinking about whether they like me or not yet.

11.00am - Lunch break. We eat the meal cooked for us (it costs $2 a day) which is very tasty. Then we go to the local 'cafe' (shack) for an iced coffee or two.

Volunteers eating their lunches, whilst wearing a uniform suggesting where people should put their hands.

01.00pm - Classes again for Xss whilst I help interview some of the kids about their home backgrounds and try to find ways to support their families.

03.00pm- Schools out and we race home on our bikes to shower and eat fresh fruit (pineapple, melon, mango or papaya) bought on the way home.

04.00pm -SHOWERING! book reading and snoozing. Its hot.

06.00pm - Head out to town for a meal, there are lots of restaurants in town to choose from. Ecstatic Pizza last night ($5). Probably a drink or two in town.

The 'Dr. Fish' experince. I really enjoy these little friends of mine biting my feet, any of my friends wants to learn how to do this in Britain for when i get home?


08.30pm - Home to relax, read our books, try to glimpse a TV (me) or use the Internet before we fall asleep and start the cycle again. Rewarding and relaxing, what more could you want.