think this may have worked... see below for explanation

Ancient temples....





Kompong Thom Town, Kompong Thom Province, Cambodge






Cocktails with Marky boy in Singapore

photos... grrr

ok this photo uploading m'larky isnt working
ill try later from another computer see if that works

Kompong Thom

Well I’m back from the countryside… back to Phnom Penh… nice it seems like home, even this sticky keyboard which doesn’t type all the letters properly!
I ended up staying the week in Kompong Thom, it was fairly productive as things go… and I managed to escape into a project and see some very old temples… in fact I actually took some photos and will attach them below if the connection is up to it.

Quick explanation… the temple type photos are Sambor Prei Kuk and are pre-ankgorian, that is 7th centaury which I think means over 1400 years old which all in all is pretty impressive, especially as no cement was used… I have decided temples are ok, but I think I actually preferred the forest they were in, some beautiful old trees, a lovely hot smell of wood and flowers, and all was so quiet apart from the beating of cricket wings. The other photos are of Kompong Thom… going there made me realise how flat Cambodia is… it is sooooo flat (well the middle bit I went to anyway)… you can see that the place is pretty green but also dry, the trees are all lush, but the rice fields are stubly empty dry waiting for the rains so that planting can commence. I really like the 'man sawing ice' photo... here in Cambodge the ice comes in large slabs and then people (or often small children scarily weilding axes) chop it up for your drinks... sometimes you see the ice slabs being transported on the back of a motorbike, half covered with cloth as if that would stop the sun melting the thing...
Oh yes and the final photo is marky boy drinking a cocktail… just to prove I did meet him in Singapore!

What else did I want to say… hmmm… oh yes I wanted to write some random thoughts on yesterday. Got up at 6.30 (grrr) to the sound of twinkle twinkle little star… tr la la it was coming from outside and kept going on and on and on… in the end I decided to throw some clothes on and go to the balcony to investigate… it was a funeral procession, a long line of children in white and blue school uniforms, followed by some men wearing white headbands with red (I think) squares painted on them… these men were dropping white material or paper on the street… then came the cortège, which appeared to be a sort of carnival float with dragons on the side… at this point wafts of incense came up to the balcony, and the twinkle twinkle hoot continued… then there were more people following the float carrying incense and flowers… that was about it really.
I worked in the morning, then went to the temples (photos above) for lunch. Here we met this random (quite sweet) old American man who was visiting his sponsored child. He spent a considerable amount of the lunch telling us how his favorite food was hot-dogs, and he bought them in bulk from cost-co. wicked.
At some point in the day I was given an orange scarf, woven by some women in an income generating project (obviously not generating too much income if they’re giving them away)… anyways for those who understand the orange significance it is very orange (in all senses of the word Hils) and I am most excited that it matched my orange flip flops… I have decided that the only way to be truly cooperate is to become a Buddhist monk as then I can wear an orange robe all day…
I got back to PP in the evening and went on a spending spree to buy fruit for my lovely blender (it is still most lovely) this morning I enjoyed the best mango smoothie ever… I also bought some brown bread but it tasted oddly sweet… wont be buying that again…
Last night was also quite bizarre… I still don’t really know that many people my age, but have met some older ex-pats through my friend at work… anyways we went to several bars (one on a boat with really chilled music… and another with a random live band which played ‘Roxanne’) anyway it was all quite enlightening… I discovered vodka ginger beer and lime is a very nice combination, and probably less evil than coke (a cola)… and I spent much time watching the cliché ‘older white picks up young Cambodian hottie… and then had to eat my thoughts (sort of) when I found out they were all married… it was good to be out, especially riding on the back of a moto with a warm breeze running past me… I got back home and managed to lock myself in my bedroom (ooops)… this morning getting out involved some cunning burglary techniques involving eyebrow tweezers and a comb… then I came downstairs to email and found out that 2 of my lovely lovely friends are getting married and I’m muchly muchly excited… now I’m going to eat some rice then go for a swim…
Oh yes one last thing… I was thinking something else… I remembered a quote or something… perhaps its just a phrase ‘thoughts come unbidden’ I think I noticed this in Mongolia… its quite nice, when you have more space and time to think, stuff you think you have forgotten pops into your head ‘unbidden’ … green rural England and the smell of ferns (random I know) … great big piles of snowy mountains and blasts of cold air… the autumn bonfire smell you get when crunching through piles of fallen leaves… yellow daffodils everywhere

Not much to report

Well not too many excitements to report… life continues to be warm and full of nice food… and busy at work… and after the nasty insects gave me a weeks grace on the biting front they’re back with a vengeance and I’m proper itchy…I am also meeting some different people… potentially this weekend could involve a trip to a nail shop for manicures (hmmm I am not going alone you understand) and a trip to the market to buy a bike to replace the one I am borrowing… a swim and perhaps some tourist type activities… but I seem to be holding off on visiting temples and museums… next week I am going to Kompong Thom (I doubt that’s the correct spelling), it’s a province reasonably close to PP, we will be working on re-designs of projects… I keep saying I’m going to take some photos and post them, but still haven’t taken any, perhaps this visit I will do so!

A short comparison between a magnum icecream and a Khmer ice cream

A magnum comes out of the freezer in the supermarket
A Khmer ice cream (KIC) comes out of a make shift freezer sat on a wooden cart

A magnum comes in a shiny wrapper
A KIC comes in a plastic bag

A magnum is ice cream on a stick
A KIC is icecream in a bread role… an "icedog" perhaps…

A magnum is of varying flavours, but fairly plain
A KIC is also of varying flavours, but seemingly more exotic ones

A magnum is covered in chocolate
A KIC is covered in condensed milk (moloko)

A magnum costs $1
A KIC costs 1000r (25cents)

A magnum is imported
A KIC is made down the road

A magnum is eaten by either licking or biting (depending how sensitive your teeth are)
A KIC is eaten with a plastic spoon

A magnum is nice
A KIC is just weird… bread and icecream???? hmmm

A swimming pool, wedding party and a traffic jam

Well the subject of this entry sort of sums up the long weekend I just had (long in the sense we had Monday off work for a public holiday… not in the long and tedious sense…)

I spent a lot of Saturday lazing by a very nice pool, overlooking the river (lovely apart from a mild fishy smell) and doing some swimming, resting in the Jacuzzi, and reading… then home to play with my new blender… ooooh the blending possibilities are endless… so many fruity combinations… it even crushes ice…

Then Sunday was the day of the wedding… actually I didn’t go to the wedding, just the wedding party. It was very bizarre… for starters most of the wedding parties in PP (well those of people with money) are apparently held at this great big wedding center… imagine the scene, a humongous carpark filled with more cars than I thought existed in PP, next to the carpark was what at first looked like a shopping mall/center (depending on if you’re American or English). There were several entrances to the building and each was clearly labeled with a illuminated letter (ie A, B, C) this was handy as we didn’t want to end up in the wrong wedding party… no fear we were greeted at entrance ‘D’ by the bride and groom… think princess… there were tiaras and glamorous is an understatement…. After being given what will in future be used as a silk star shaped Christmas decoration, we proceeded upstairs to eat.

There must have been about 500 people in the room all eating… to me it seemed more like a restaurant, you sit down, wait for your table to fill up and then you’re served a huge diner (cold meats, rice, noodles, chicken soup, prawns etc etc) food is yum but the singing blaring out of the PA system makes it too hard to hear what anyone is saying…and then after eating most of the guests leave… very odd if you ask me… I mean no speeches, no toasts or anything… but I suppose the ceremonies had been going since 4am…however we stuck around and the dancing started… Khmer dancing at a wedding entails shuffling round a table with an ever diminishing pile of fruit on it, waving your hands in a sort of graceful manner… not too tricky for me the dyspraxic one… alas after that sort of dancing comes weird line dancing… eeek… this helpful (?) khmer man tried to show me the moves, but I couldn’t get it… oh well… it was fun… oh yes another random thing all the women look like they’re at a ball or high class evening function.. the dresses are amazing, and most people I spoke to had been to a hairdresser to get their hair and make up done… however the men on the other hand… well some were sort of smart (they wore a shirt) but in comparison to the women they looked trampish (not that I can talk)..

So that was Sunday… then today I went to the central market. A huge art deco/nouvoux (never sure which is which) domed building which stocks everything… I bought a little radio… at last I no longer have to endure CNN news and can listen to the BBC.. horay and god save the queen.After that some friends (yes I seem to have acquired a couple) and I went off to the countryside (sort of)… we went to a cool pond complex where there are lots of ponds and nice gardens with pretty flowers, and little huts suspended over the water where you can lie and relax and eat yummy food and drink and talk. It was great… then we drove home and got stuck in the nastiest traffic queue ever… either related to

a) Chinese new year

b) an accident

c) stupid Cambodians driving all over the bally road (ie trying to fit 5 lanes of traffic into a 2 lane road) or

d) all of the above…

needless to say it was very very slooooow, however for me the novelty of people sitting on the roofs of busses or 5 people riding on a motor bike or wooden houses sitting on stilts or just the dusty concoction commotion of people has not worn off so I was happy just watching.

Recycling

Anyone who knows me vaguely well, especially Clari as she lived with me last 9 months, will know I have a thing about recycling… everything possible must be recycled or composted and packaging is evil.

So what happens when I come to Cambodge and I can’t recycle, I have to drink bottled water (litres of the stuff) and the place where I’ve been getting fruit and veg wraps everything up in cellophane and polystyrene big time?

Well… obviously I could buy water in huge containers and get someone to bring it into my room, but the rooms are serviced and free bottled water seems part of the service, and its not in big bottles… and I can get unpackaged fruit from other places… but still I cant recycle anything like paper etc.

I suppose I could just ignore my niggling conscience… but unfortunately last week we were running an assessment workshop… working with programme managers to put together assessment reports for new projects starting up… a couple of the projects are based in PP, working with communities and children who live and work on rubbish dumps… oh dear conscience can not be ignored… I am sure most people can get the picture, and I can’t claim to have seen these rubbish dumps myself, but anyway… poverty means that children are out of school working on rubbish dumps collecting cans, plastic bottles and plastic bags (they are also evil). They get paid by the kg, and collect about 50kg per day, along with crappy skin diseases, respiratory infections, diarrhea, etc etc. There isn’t a NHS in Cambodia, that’s for sure… I suppose I could look at it like putting out the rubbish gives the children something to collect and so gives them an income… but I’m not convinced… what makes this story even better is that many of these people live on raised houses above canals which carry run off polluted waste water from the garment factories… but that’s another rant…

On the more cheery side the sun is shining, the weather is gorgeous… the food is better than amazing, Monday is a public holiday, I’m going swimming in a bit and then I’m going to buy a blender and make myself some fresh fruit smoothies mmmmmmmm

Has anyone seen the Ethan Hawk movie ‘Before Sunset’? I think I watched it on a plane ages ago, but I saw it again last week and I really like it… it’s just a long conversation really…

Snow

Snow

The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was
Spawning snow and pink roses against it
Soundlessly collateral and incompatible:
World is suddener than we fancy it.

World is crazier and more of it than we think,
Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion
A tangerine and spit the pips and feel
The drunkenness of things being various.

And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world
Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes–
On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one's hands–
There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.


Louis Macneice - January 1935

Avoidance

Aside from the nasty ‘live sex’ icon on this computer the Cambodia I have seen this last week is lovely, warm and friendly, full of gorgeous food and flowers, relaxed and very nice all round really…

I realized today however that I am avoiding something important to understanding this place… Cambodia’s recent, and from my vague* knowledge, dark dark dark history. Those pages in Lonely Planet detailing period 1970 onwards are unread, the books I've been given about the Pol Pot era also lie untouched… the thought of going to the museums and seeing piles of skulls is not something that I want to do… although I will do it I don’t want to… I’m pondering over why not? I don’t like horror movies and this seems worse than a horror movie, and it is real and it happened relatively recently… I guess also it will change my current perceptions of the country and people… and perhaps I just don’t want nasty images going round my head?

I think I would describe myself as optimistic, particularly regarding human nature… but how can there be anything optimistic about an auto-genocide that kills one-quarter to one-third of a country’s population? How can people butcher each other like that? How? How? How? It happens all over the world, I know, but in the UK we don’t have to stare it in the nose… so we (me in particular) can live in some sort of self-acknowledged oblivion, aware… but not too close… now I guess I have to read, visit and understand… and hopefully not get too depressed???

Jack be warned I will be on a serious anti ‘army’ mission when I come visit.

*Vague is an understatement knowledge is almost entirely based on the movie ‘The Killing Fields.

end of weekend uno

It’s the end of my first weekend in Cambodia, and I thought I would write another blog entry… so far I seem to be keeping this blogging thing up ok… but then again I have not got the worlds most exciting social life right now, so I guess that could explain things.

I went across the road for diner just now and whilst I was waiting started to jot some things down that I might want to write… this preparation may be why I fear this blog entry could be quite long… but then that’s the good thing about blogs they don’t clog up inboxes with unread emails and if you don’t want to read you don’t even have to look, so mr/mrs reader you can’t really complain.

Yesterday I walked down to the river, I initially thought I was looking at the mighty Mekong river, however consulting the wise Lonely Planet I see it is the place where the river flowing from the Tonle Sap meets the Mekong and becomes something else… it is a beautiful spot. In the river are many long wooden boats, I guess people use these for fishing and transportation, and probably some people live on them… then coming ashore are lots of small market stands, selling everything and anything… my favourites are the ones under wooden shades which have lots of hammocks slung from the rafters - they’re little cafes where you can stop to eat rice whilst sitting in a hammock.

After ambling along the river I decided to see if I could get a swim in at one of the hotels. This was a bizarre experience, outside the hotel its all hot, bustling, noisy and smelly but once through the clear glass doors you’re in air-conditioned ex-pat land… the pool was lovely and quiet surrounded by sun loungers, I did some lengths then lay out on the side, sipping freshly squeezed orange juice that cost the same price as 3 meals in a yummy Khmer restaurant near work… hmmm. Then I did some more swimming as the whole thing was quickly becoming my most expensive swimming experience ever. For $72 per month you can join the hotel and use the pool and gym and sauna (quick question: why do you need a sauna when you only need stand outside for a free one?).. I was toying with this idea but fortunately I have now been shown a pool at an international school that you can join for $18 per month and is much nearer where I live, so I reckon I might try and do that… in the heat swimming is soooo nice!

I keep meaning to take some photos to put on here, but I haven’t got around to taking any yet… I will do that at some point tho… excitingly I have found a shop which prints digi photos at the cheapest price ever… Ed you would more than love this place for the bargains :o)

Some of my colleagues took me to the ‘Russian Market’ - a great place to shop methinks. It wasn’t as busy as I expected but it was the sort of place you can imagine a fire sweeping through in seconds… there is a huge ‘food’ area with lots of coal burning stoves churning out delicious food, very close to a low ceilinged area with many many stalls crammed together selling everything from the most beautiful selections of silk fabrics to cheap cheap DVDs to Chinese plastic crap (Mongol people think black market in UB) to clothes that have apparently ‘fallen’ off the production line in the GAP, Columbia, H&M, American Eagle factories that are about the place… I can see myself spending a lot of money on fabrics, but I managed to restrain myself to a couple of t-shirts.

You will also be excited to know that biker telf has come into existence, I have now braved the motos and been zooming around on the back of them (wearing my helmet of course…) however my next mission is to buy a peddle bike… I am missing Kert (my lovely English bike) and so I think a Cambodge Kert is needed… indeed it already has a name CK… excellent… alas I didn’t manage to fit my bike helmet into my rucksack and there is no way I am going to wear my motorbike helmet on a bally bike, so I will have to find a helmet too… otherwise Marionanon and Sue you know what you’re bringing in March ;o) I live close enough to work to cycle and I think it will mean I can explore places a bit faster than on foot… although negotiating the traffic might be interesting… however despite the traffic being totally nonsensical and all over the place it is very laid back… on the whole there aren’t too many people charging around at super speeds…

What else… exploring my little street has turned up a shop which puts MP3s straight onto your MP3 player: $1.50 for 5 albums… wicked. Also found a gorgeous Vietnamese restaurant which is beautifully lit and decorated and the food and beer are yum.

Mostly I am pretty happy. I think it will be good to acquire some more friendly friends at some point… but otherwise the sunshine and rice seem to be doing me fine. I remembered Holly in Darfur last night and that made me realize exactly how lucky I am to be in this lovely place, surrounded by so many (cheap) amenities.
Life in ex-pat land is great, but I am looking forward to getting out of PP and seeing some proper Cambodia.

Over and out

well

Well…
have you noticed I start most of these blogs with ‘well’… I wonder why?
What is there to write? Possibly lots, new places tend to be a sensory overload and this one is no exception… I’m loving it…

• Cambodia is hot, air-conditioning can be cold…
• Motorbikes criss-cross roads as if they’re in an uncoordinated motorbike display
• Pedestrians don’t cross major roads unless they’re a telf with a death wish
• Food is yummy and gingery and cheap and dominated by rice
• I found a shop which sells venison, kettle chips and champagne… amongst other things…
• Monks wear orange and are often bald
• The ‘Star’ movie channel is entertaining when you don’t know anyone
• At work there is a room full of cushions for sleeping on… random
• Mosquitoes like me very much. grrrrrrrrrrrr
• There are so many things to be bought… beautiful beautiful silks and woven mats…
• Purple flowers and lush palms are everywhere
• The US embassy is a fort, but whoever lives opposite it makes it look like a slum…
• I spent $25 on imported fruit and juice and cheese and oats and batteries and milk and other junk… that’s nearly 50% of the annual income of a farmer in rural Cambodge… hmm something to think about really…

Arrived

Well here I am in the Cambodge… a seemingly hot, sunny, motorbike filled place. Today I have mostly slept and unpacked and been to a shop that sells hagan das ice cream, alpen musli, mozzarella cheese, red label whiskey and US grown grapes… excellent. I resisted all of these things and instead bought a lollypop maker for 50cents, this is very exciting. A long power cut stalled the lollypop making somewhat but I reckon they will be freezing nicely in my freezer now.

I am seemingly living in some rooms in a hotel/guesthouse, in a quietish street in the middle of town… there are many different restaurants, temples and shops near by anyways. I’ve got a kitchen, lounge, bathroom and bedroom with aircon which is nice as the weather is warm… just like English summer except hotter… for now the novelty of the heat hasn’t worn off.

Tomorrow I go to work… kindly they are letting me sleep in. I start at 8am… however I understand that people tend to get up at 5am here so I have a feeling I may be woken earlier…

Btw there are lots of lovely orange robed monks… including one on the cmputer next to me.