Anzac Day in Cambodia

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was invited to a BBQ to commemorate Anzac Day here in Cambodia by Martel and David, friends of a friend (thank you Mal) in Sydney!  We had exchanged a few emails but this was the first time I actually met them.  It was lovely to finally catch up with David & Martel and swap stories from both Cambodia and Australia!

The event was a gathering of Australian expats in Cambodia and it was fun to be there and witness games such as 2-up (?), a typically rambunctious gambling game I had never come across in my 12 years of living there! 

The event also raised funds for an organisation called DEVI promoting social and economic justice for women.  Imagine my surprise to find them making these “wafers” that my mum used to make me for tea!  We called them “Isa Kokis” back in Sri Lanka.  They call them Kompat Wafers in Cambodia!!  

I was introduced to the Australian Ambassador and shared a few laughs  with her as well.   An interesting day spent with a very different community to the one I ‘belong’ to here in Cambodia!   Most of the people I have met so far are travellers volunteering here for short periods of time.  Here was a community that was resident in Cambodia and spend their lives ‘on the road’, in postings very far away from home. 

Ravi & Ravuth

We have met and made friends with many Cambodians from all walks of life during our short stay here. They have made our life here a little easier and a lot more interesting and enabled us to get an insight into a culture through the eyes of locals!

Let me introduce you to Ravi, our tuk tuk driver.  He splits his time between driving the tuk tuk and working at the guest house.  He might brings us breakfast in the morning & then be driving us to dinner in the evening! 

 

 

 

 

Having a local to you the ropes can be incredibly helpful as I found out when I tried unsuccessfully to buy a sim card.  The shop assistants demanded to see a passport and were not prepared to part with a prepaid card till they had documented my details.  This seemed a little bizarre to me, so I enlisted the help of Ravi.  He sorted through the maze of various available networks and purchased the card for me on his ID. 

It is great to be able to go out for dinner or meet a friend for drinks, knowing that Ravi is only a phone call away.  No matter where I am, I just give him a buzz and he shows up within 10 minutes.   If I need to rendezvous with a bus he makes sure I have made my connection before driving away.  I will always be grateful for this attention to detail, given to me by a perfect stranger!  Similar to many big cities, it is not easy to find a tuk tuk driver that knows the city inside out.  In Sydney, we count it lucky if our cabbie speaks English and knows where he’s going!  In Ravi we have found a “cabbie” that not only speaks our lingo but appears to know this city inside out, and has so far not been stumped by any of our request!      

Then there’s Ravuth, our receptionist.  Brought up by his grandparents as his parents were killed during the Khmer Rouge, he has obviously not had an easy life.  And yet, he always greets me with a smile in the morning and is ever willing to lock up my stuff up in the safe, arrange to have my laundry taken care of order my dinner. 

Both Ravi and Ravuth have made my stay here extremely pleasant and we have shared a few laughs over the last few weeks of our stay!  I will miss them as I say goodbye next week to the Guest House that has truly been my home in Cambodia.

I raise my glass in a toast to the wonderful customer service of Ravi and Ravuth! 

Ravi & Ravuth!

The Killing Fields & Genocide Museum

“Failure, loss, illness, pain can be our greatest teacher”.

Liz and I were joined by Sophie ( a fellow volunteer) and our friend Christie (from Mondulkiri) in a visit the Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields so we could learn a little more about the atrocities committed by Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot during the seventies.  The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum  is located in a former prison (Security Prison 21) once used to detain and torture anyone thought to be an enemy of the Khmer Rouge.  My guidebook reports (Moon Handbooks) this place has been dubbed, “Auschwitz on the Mekong”.

When the Khmer Rouge rolled in to Phnom Penh, in April 1975, days before the fall of Saigon, residents were mislead into believing they had to evacuate because the Americans were planning on bombing the city.  The city was evacuated in a few days and more than 2 million people were suddenly on the move to the countryside.  They were to be engaged in converting Cambodia to a sort of Agrarian Utopia!  The Cambodians were forced to work in the rice fields for about 16 hours a day in the treacherous heat, on empty stomach replenished daily by just a bowl of rice.  This was torture of a different kind and many of those who worked the rice fields eventually died of exhaustion.   Anyone thought to be educated, had soft hands, wore glasses, had fair skin or spoke a foreign language was transported to prisons such as S-21 or the Killing Fields for interrogation and later execution.  Entire families including children were killed to ensure no kid would grow up and take revenge for the deaths of his family.

It is a chilling place with stark reminders of the atrocities that were once committed there. 

 

Photographs of the people who passed through and paintings that documented the torture inflicted is what’s left to piece the tale of the horrors that perhaps only the walls of this place can now fully bear witness to. 

We watched a movie which brought to life the terrors of the time and shared the pain of families torn apart by the barbaric actions of one man and his followers.

Then it was time to visit the Killings Fields.  Mass graves, spread out over what now appears to be an open field show few signs of these horrific times until you look a little closer.  As we walk through the area we see the rains have eroded the earth to reveal bone fragments and bits of clothing. Signage on trees document the barbaric ways in which men, women and children lost their lives here. Many were buried alive.

The government has now built a stupa on the site to house the skulls, clothing and bone fragments that have been dug up.  A stark reminder of man’s inhumanity to man.

 

About 4 people involved in the Khmer Rouge are now on trial but Pol Pot died of a heart attack in a shack near the Thai Cambodian border and never answered for his crimes.  Neither will the many Western Governments that supported the Khmer Rouge for a long time or the hundreds more who were part of their cadres.  More than 2 million Cambodians died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.  Today it has left a community that carries on with life despite tragic reminders of that terrible time.  Most people bury their pain and never really talk about.  Our guide at the Killing Fields explained his uncle had been killed here and he often wonders where his remains lie, as he takes visitors through the Killing Fields.  Most people in Cambodia have lost family members due to this conflict. After all, more than a quarter of the population was destroyed during the period 1975-1979.  Today, more than half the population here are under 15, a harsh legacy of this conflict.

We came away more than a little shaken that humans could behave this way to each other, to ensure their own survival.  How would our own communities react, faced with the same decisions?  Would you sacrifice your own life and the lives of your family or justify taking the lives of your fellow men, women and children so your own can survive?

 “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”.  Voltaire

The Week in Review

It has been another interesting week at the farm.  The kids took a little while to settle back into the routine of lessons so we started the week with a great project initiated by Sophie, one of my fellow volunteers who is an Arts and Crafts teacher back in Holland.  Her idea was that we paint a mural on one of the rather plain walls at the farm.  The project went down really well with the kids..and was completed this Friday!

It has also enabled all of us to leave our little mark in Cambodia!

The other highlight of the week was a visit from a group of student dentists.  They gave all of the kids a good check up and finished off with giving each of them a good coating of Flouride! 

We said good bye to Sophie and Dan today (Friday).  They are almost at the end of a 7 month journey and will finish off with a week in Africa.  They have made a great contribution at the farm and will be missed, both by us and the kids with whom they were a great hit.  We said goodbye to them with a farewell dinner at a restaurant called Romdeng.  The restaurant is part of chain of that provides training for street kids to work in the restaurant business.  It is situated is what appeared to me to be a renovated Colonial house, complete with a swimming pool and beautiful outdoor seating. 

 

I loved the decor.  The house is decorated by some of the great art work done by the kids and the food is fabulous and inexpensive.  It is great to have a wonderful dining experience and also know you are contributing to a worthwhile cause!

The other highlight this week was attending a presentation by a number of journalist who covered the conflict both here and Vietnam during the 1970’s.  The event was a special tribute to fallen photographers.  During the entire Indo China war, in the period 1945 to 1975, 135 photographers from many nations including Vietnam and Cambodia were either killed or simply disappeared.  It was very inspiring to sit and listen to these very special journalists who had risked their lives for their life’s work.  The journalists included Sylvana Foa, the only female and a two time Pullitzer Prize nominee.  She must certainly have been a pioneer of her time and described how she just landed in the country with a one-way ticket because of her determination to be a journalist and cover the conflict in this region.    They were were the first and last group of photo journalists to cover a war without censorship!

 

Adventure is a path.
Real adventure- self-determined, self-motivated, often risky-
forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world.
The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it.
Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness.
In this way you will be compelled to grapple
with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind-
and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both.
This will change you.
Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.
-Mark Jenkins 

An Engineer Without A Border

“Thousands have lived without love, but none without water.”  W.H. Auden

As some of you already know I am passionate about water.  Even as a kid I think I had a spiritual connection with water.  I find the sound of crashing waves mesmerising and have always preferred to follow a creek when engaged in my favourite pastime of bush walking.  Perhaps then, it was part of my destiny to end up working in the field of water management. 

I had made contact with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) even before coming here.  I recently joined this group and had hoped to volunteer in the water field while in Cambodia. 

http://www.ewb.org.au/

While this intention did not work out, my contacts with the field officer Michael at EWB enabled me to spend the day with Rob, an EWB volunteer here in Cambodia. 

He works at Resource Development International (RDI), an organisation engaged in an integrated, and wholistic approach to providing clean water to Cambodians.   Check out their website.  They have become global leaders in the business of providing clean water through a simple technology.

http://www.rdic.org/home.htm

Experts say the lack of water will be the most important political and environmental issue of this century and predict it will be to the 21^st century what oil was to the 20^th.

Despite our own experience with water restrictions in cities such as Sydney, most of us take access to clean water for granted. However, of the 6 billion people on earth, more than a billion are denied this basic human right. About 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.  Thousands of Cambodians die each year due to easily preventable water-born illnesses.  Hence the work of organisations such as RDI are invaluable in this part of the world. 

They have developed a simple method of constructing a water filter using the principles of pottery already entrenched in the culture here. The raw materials of clay bricks are crushed and mixed with rice husks and water to provide a clay mixture that filters the contaminants and enables the water to flow through at a suitable flow rate through the filter.

The clay pots are then painted with a mix of silver nitrate (which helps with water purification) and fired in a very hot oven.  

Once the filters are ready, they are soaked in a water bath to ensure the pots are first saturated before being tested for their performance.  The idea is to obtain a flowrate of about 1.5-3 ltr/hr which then provides a suitable volume of water for the drinking needs of a family of about 6 people.  There is also a quality control check done on the filters to determine how the water quality performs over time as for example the levels of silver nitrate decrease.  The average life span of a filter is about 2 years.

The filters cost about $10 each.  The filters are sold to the locals to create a sense of ownership as well as to ensure they are actually used by the family. A filter such as this will provide sufficient water for a family of six.

The filters are distributed in conjunction with programs that promote community development and public health.  The message of clean water is spread through many innovative and creative education projects including puppets and animated TV programs, all developed at RDI.

 

RDI are involved in many other projects that compliment the business of making water filters.  Most of the water used in the business is harvested when possible.  During the wet season, a considerable amount of water is obtained this way.  Every where I looked there seemed to be many forms of water tanks.  From the interesting ball tanks to the more familiar large concrete tanks, they came in all shapes and sizes. 

In addition, other water sources such as ground water is also tapped by the centre.  Much of the deeper ground water in Cambodia is contaminated by arsenic, hence the wells here tap into shallower aquifers, less than 20m deep.  As you can see the well is capped to ensure the water is not contaminated by surface water. 

There are many other on-going projects here.  From mapping the quality of groundwater across Cambodia to enabling students to complete their research projects.  This is Hannah’s project ,where she is studying how wastewater may be treated by a series of constructed wetlands.

I found the work of RDI truly inspirational.  It is work that is directly impacting the lives of many communities here in Cambodia.  RDI, a recognised leader in this field is also providing support across the world to other organisations emulating this simple technology. 

I came away from this experience convinced that providing clean water to communities is one way where your life's work will usually make an amazing difference to the lives of many.

And so, I leave you with this thought from Margaret Mead, a US Anthropologist…

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”. 

Overland Flooding in Cambodia!

Finally it rained in Phnom Penh!  It was great to see a real storm after weeks of hot, humid weather.  The rainy season is not far away now..and this storm was only just a precursor to what will surely follow!

The din from the storm was so loud that we had to cancel classes in the afternoon…we couldn’t hear ourselves speak. 

Later, on our way home,we found ourselves driving through flood waters that were so high we were worried out tuk tuk wouldn’t make it.  Ours did..others were not so lucky!

I shot these pictures on my way home through the swirling waters, thinking about everything you are not supposed to do in a flood….such as drive though deep water!  Apparently, this is what it’s like in Cambodia for much of the rainy season.  In fact in many villages the only way to get around is by boat!  Perhaps I may have to come back to experience that.   I read in the local paper that  they have just spent over 20 million dollars upgrading the drainage system (aid from the Japanese).  I couldn’t see any drainage…just standing water in the streets.  It appears this problem may have been caused by blockages due to uncollected garbage.  It was the New Year last week..and the country just shuts down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps someone needs to create a trouble spots data base here ? :)

I think my colleagues were quite amused at my excitement about this event, because one of them leaned across in the tuk tuk and said, Nil, it’s just rainwater..why the excitement ?

So…I told her about my day job in Sydney!

The Temples of Angkor

The journey to Siem Riep has been quite eventful as already implied in my post about bus journeys!  But we did eventually arrive there after travelling on various buses for the better part of Thursday! 

The guest house we had booked at turned out to be rather nice despite our rather inauspicious beginning when Liz saw a rat tail poking out of the ceiling in the first room we were ushered to!  We felt better when we were given an alternate choice..although there were a few holes in this ceiling too!  Now if the silly cats in the place had been doing their job…I would definitely say this is a great place to stay!

We had pre-arranged with a tuk tuk driver to pick us up at 4.30 in the morning..so we could make it to Angkor for sunrise.  Yes, we are hard core travellers!

We spent most of the day on a temple tour and we did feel a little templed out by the end of the day. However, I must say the temples here are absolutely amazing and Angkor is truly one of the world’s most fascinating places to experience.  A few pics for your enjoyment..

Angkor Wat are the largest monuments of the temples at Angkor!  An amazing combination of spirituality and symmetry!

  

 

This also a great opportunities for shooting pics of interesting people.  A few of my favourites.

The temples of Bayon at Angkor Thom present a collection of 54 gothic towers with 216 enigmatic faces that some say resemble Cambodia’s legendary King, Jayavarman VII.

And my favourite, Ta Prohm, the temple that is being swallowed up by the surrounding jungle!

Modern day artwork is for sale in little markets that dot this town.  They don’t even come close to emulating the intricacy of the ancient artwork on display at the temples…

I’ve been having a bit of fun exercising the right side of my brain for a change.  It’s been dormant for too long…..

 

We must go beyond textbooks,
go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness
and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.
-John Hope Franklin

---

Hill Tribes, Jungle Treks & Hammocks in Remote Mondulkiri

Our next stop was in the remote province of Mondulkiri in the village of Sen Monorom. 

 

It’s New Year, so everyone has a little offering in the front of their houses, and lots of rice wine will be consumed! 

We got off the mini bus in town and decided to walk to the Nature Lodge, an eco lodge based on the principles of fair trade where we had pre-booked.  We thought it was a lot closer than the 2km it turned out to be.  In the heat of the mid day sun with a 100% humidity and our baggage on our backs it felt even longer. 

This stop turned out to be absolutely wonderful.  The eco lodge is out of this world.  If you are visiting Cambodia…check this place out. http://www.naturelodgecambodia.com/

It is quite a journey getting here, but once you are here, it is absolutely worth it.  It is one of those places where could spend entire days just lying around in hammocks, catching up with your reading & writing, making new friends in between trying all the Asian and Mediterranean food on the menu and making sure you haven’t missed any of the cocktails and fruit shakes from the bar!  I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and would definitely recommend this book – a wonderful read (thank you Sush!)

Coming up here I had a feeling I would meet friends from home and I did.  Steph and Kim are two girls from Byron, a coastal town I am quite familiar with in NSW!  What is amazing is that Steph went to high school at the top of my street in Sydney.  Truly a small world. 

They are two amazing girls and we spent many evenings in deep conversation over cocktails and banana cake!  Steph lives and works in Phonm Penh in a program called Daughters providing an alternative life for victims of trafficking.  They belong to a community that advocates getting back to the basic principles of Christianity…and live lives that are truly inspiring and an example to many!  If you wish to check out her work, click on this link.  http://www.daughterscambodia.org/

Liz and I had a little cabin to ourselves and shared the outdoor toilet set in a beautiful garden with all of the other guest.  All of this cost us $2.5 a night, except for when we camped in the tree house…that was free!

While it was tempting to do nothing at this amazing eco lodge,we signed up for a jungle trek with the local hill tribe people to visit the waterfalls and get a taste of the Cambodian Jungle!

 

It was hard trekking in the heat of the Cambodian sun but we were rewarded by our lunch time swim at the waterfall and an opportunity to meet the hill tribe people.  They were involved in a ceremony to bless a new house and greeted us with dancing and an invitation to try their very potent rice wine!  Ok…I wimped out here.

We made another great friend here in Christie, a traveller from Canada who has also taken almost a year off to explore 3 very different places.  She has just finished a stay at an Ashram in Canada and is now teaching here in Phnom Penh for 3 months before spending the next 3 months in Paris!  We are planning on catching up for drinks this week as she is also back in town now!

Christie and I also shared some interesting conversations as she works at an Arts and Cultural centre in Banff, Canada that amongst other things provides programs for creative writers!  I’ve got some great ideas for combining a visit to the Rockies with my love for writing!  Check out their website if you are interested in being creative or environmental leadership!  http://www.banffcentre.ca/

I think I might be visiting Christie in Canada one day!  And so, after 3 days of absolute bliss, we spent the dawn of the New Year with our new friends, drank a toast to the New Year (Coffee and Baileys..mm) and said good bye to Mondulkiri! 

Communing with Dolphins

I am thankful that Liz woke up in time for us to get off the bus in Kratie.  Never doze off in Cambodian busses, because you will definitely miss your stop!  I suppose that goes for busses in general but I am still getting used to not having my own transport!

One of my less favourite things about Asia is the music played on these long bus journeys!  I drown out the din, by turning up my IPOD, closing my eyes and letting the music of Bryan Adams..or Bernard Fanning..(thank you Leonie and Nona) or whoever takes my fancy at the time to croon me to sleep.  When your destination is not the last stop, this can be a dangerous pastime!

We had reservations at the You Hong Guest House but imagine our surprise to find out there was a You Hong 1 and a You Hong 2!  Of course we ended up at the wrong Guest House, but they seemed to know we were coming anyway..and we were safely escorted to our quarters!

Once there, it was a bit of negotiation to get the right room.  Every addition to the room costs a few dollars, so we had to answer a few questions on arrival.  “Do you want TV”, No.  “Do you want air-conditioning?”, No.  He looks a bit exasperated and then asks, “Do you want two beds”?  We both burst out laughing before I responded, “Yes, that would be handy!”

After a quick wash, we hired a tuk tuk to get down to the water.  We spent a lazy evening on a fishing boat on

the Mekong River in search of Irawaddy Dolphins.  They are similar to bottle nosed dolphins and come up for air often enough, snorting loudly enabling us to get a pretty good view. 

It was sunset and we watched the sun go down on the Mekong River before heading back for dinner.

A few of my favourite pics of a Mekong Sunset..

 

 

In the words of the guy at the internet cafe,

“I will see you when you see me!”

Cambodian Bus Journeys

We have the week  off due to the Khmer New Year and it is time to hit the road in search of a bit of adventure.  Travelling by bus in Asia is not everybody’s cup of tea but there is no better way to get a real insight into the culture and the heartbeat of a country…

We had a tentative itinerary.  Journey east to Kratie (on the Mekong River) so we could commune with the endangered freshwater dolphins, go further east to the remote province of Mondilkiri and a place called Sen Monorom for a bit of R&R,  trekking and a visit to the hill tribes before making our way across the country to Siem Riep to celebrate the New Year in the temples of Angkor.  

Parts of this journey was done in fairly comfortable buses (it’s all relative) and other parts in small minibuses squashed up 5 in a row!  The minibuses take about 20 people, a few kids and about half a dozen chooks.  Fortunately for us but not for them, the chooks get to ride outside with the baggage!!

 

 

 

 

 

This is still a more comfortable option than travelling on the back of a pickup! (the real local option).

The monotony of the journey is broken up by people selling various local delicacies which we were brave enough to try! 

We even tried the local soup at the lunch stop but drew the line at the last stop when we saw what was on offer!  (Top Right – Guess what that is)

 

The journey allowed us a glimpse into rural life.  Most people live in raised houses due to issues with flooding and harvest their roof water for drinking and washing as there is no running water around!

 

Simple sustainable solutions such as these are seen right across the countryside.  In Australia, we spend thousands of dollars to complete detailed flood studies before a house is raised to a specific floor level issued by a government officer!  Here in the Cambodian countryside, these solutions are implemented as a matter of course, simply based on anecdotal evidence and common sense.  Something for us to consider!

While the Cambodians are also smart enough to understand they must not enclose the underside of their houses, this space is put to good use by the family.  Hammocks are often strung across the bottom and people can be seen cooking, sleeping and socialising in this space!

The various stops gives us a chance to stretch our legs and an opportunity to chat with the locals and for them to practice their English!  I find the Cambodian people to be incredibly friendly and easy going and many of them approach us to ask where we are from..and have a bit of a chin wag! 

The journey was mostly uneventful except for when we had to change buses for Siem Riep!  Somehow we thought that Snoul, the change station would be a little more significant than the sleepy stop we somehow missed!  Most bus drivers and conductors have no understanding of English and expect that you know where you are going.  Most Cambodians usually do….Foreign travellers on the other hand don’t always pay attention :)

Fortunately, we found ourselves in a rest stop down the track where we could actually catch a  bus to Siem Riep!  It took all my negotiation skills…or was that pleading skills…to be allowed on the right bus and reach our destination!