A lazy weekend in Kep

Kep, if you havent heard of it it is the former seaside resort of the rich and the barang that was very efficently wiped out by the Khmer Rouge leaving only burnt out and shot up buildings dotted all along the coastline.

It was featured in the movie City of Ghosts (you can guess why the movie is named that)

I made a call fri avo and booked us a room at the Beach house, a rather fancy looking place on the coast in Kep. Picked up May after work and we went hunting for bus tickets to get there!

Finally found a bus company that was going in the morning and we packed (im not sure how but May packs for any trip the same way, grab all your favourite clothes, plonk them in the pack, whatever space is left Matt can fill that up)

The Sorya bus company isnt the sharpest so we made sure we found our bus amongst the many and clambered on early. (if the driver is there, the air con is on!) the bus filled up, then overflowed and the last barang got the short straw of having to sit on the floor.

Having travelled in Laos like that i wouldnt recommend it, it is like having your bum and kidneys given a firm massage and heat treatment at the same time (sounds good in theory but...)

The countryside near Kep was a mix of Limestone outcrops (think Haolong Bay) and beautiful greem rice paddies.

The province is one of the wealthiest in Cambodia, and the lush vegetation told a story of very good rainfall and sunshine.

We got both on our stay!

We arrived in Kep in the afternoon, dropped off almost in front of our hotel, in for a wash then straight to the pool. It was a small but deep plunge pool and waterfall jacuzzi. The family groups there made way for May and I as we splashed our way around.

Dinner was of course SEAFOOD! we made our way along the coastline (think the coastline by Masseys memorial with monkeys!) and kept walking, walking and walking the clouds started to come in and we knew it would rain sooner rather than later. The top of Bokor mountain was permanently capped in mist while we were in Kep.

Finally May flagged down an old lady on a moto and she took us around the corner into the crab market. (how were we to know it was 100 metres further on!?)

May haggled a while and we soon left with a jar of red peppercorns, a bottle of homemade Kep sauce (a fiery mix of chillis, lime, fish sauce and some secret herb and spices) 4 small squid on a spit and two fish.

The owner of the hotel didnt look to pleased when we rolled in , ordered some rice and beers and unpacked our feast.

I was aware that in the west bringing a dinner to a restaurant is how shall i say it ... frowned upon but hey we are in Cambodia and it is something that happens in all the places we go to eat (maybe that says something about our "fine dining"but who cares)

The sauce was amazing, the bbq squid peeled apart easily and you had to pull out the ink sack carefully or else the rice took on a rather blue tinge.

We munched away happily and a cold Anchor washed the seafood down nicely.

The sunset was great, sitting on our balcony watching it was a very peaceful moment, in fact that word sums up modern Kep well, it is a sleepy and beautiful area that we will be going to visit again soon.

The nightlife in Kep is mostly animal based, the inhabitants disappear back home and so we crashed out and slept at some very silly hour.

As a result we awoke at 5am, fresh and keen to look around we wandered along the streets, taking photos of the ruins and imagining what could be. Forget over priced Phnom, thsi is the place to buy a slice of beach front property!!

We were wandering along being watched by the few Khmer workers who were putting up deck chairs and tarps near the beach when we spotted a couple of guys running at full pace towards us, they wernt chasing just jogging really fast, nothing strange i guess until i recognised one of them as the PE teacher at NISC out for a quick jog before brekkie (it is a small world)

May and i finally found a moto dup driver who could show us the temple complex outside of town and could take us to one of the pepper farms. (Kampot and Kep pepper is world renowned for its kick and taste)

Our moto driver had a beard, and in Cambodia that is a rarity, his declining the offfers of fruit during the day confirmied that he was part of the Cham minority who are observing ramadan at the moment. He seemed quite chuffed when i asked him if this was the case (im guessing in a country of 94% Bhuddists you can get ignored or overlooked at times)

The clouds burnt off as we raced through tiny hamlets and past fields that were achingly green, im still not used to the beauty of rice paddies, i keep taking pictures and May looks at me like im silly.

This will be a two part blog, i have meetings this avo and im trying to finish lunch over the computer so our forays into the surrounding landscape will be done tomorrow.

Always leave them wanting less i say

Posting videos

The Countryside

This is the update to our Sunday in the country.

The reason it is a couple of days later is that the connection here is slower than me on a sudoku puzzle (dont know why i hate them so much?!)

We were visiting friends of Savreys and got a chance to wander down some paddy fields and see just how oppresively hot it can be away from fans or air con.

(yes i know how very un-traveller of me but we were dressed in sunday best)

We had a look around the garden and found some beautiful plants, some of them herbs which we "borrowed"for our meal that night and others flowers.

It was crazy as we wandered through the undergrowth to see the insect life and small animals that thrive in such humid conditions.

Army ants (big enough that their warning bite makes you jump!) swarmed across pathways, dragon flys massed across the rice paddies and the

ubiquitous lizards lay on any warm surface trying to catch unwary insects as they flew by.

Below is a cross section of a palm, the amazing patterns made by the stem structure were made more interesting as the plant started to decay in the heat. Nothing stays around for long in this climate.

The weekend that was

Pçhum Ben

We spent this last weekend doing two things. Sitting in the Tuktuk waiting and sitting in the tuktuk waiting, hmmm maybe thats overstating things a tad!

Saturday was spent wandering around Phnom taking pics for a birthday slideshow for Nate (it is being done in between classes today, hopefully to be completed this afternoon!) we encountered amourous Maquaque, a stroppy elephant and deep fried tarantula whilst doing that which was kind of exciting (think Amazing Race Asia but without the amped asian couples, just a procha barang and his khmer girlfriend)

Sunday was spent mainly in a tuktuk as we made our way slowly out along the highway south (think NZ highway through Otaki, rather than US highway) amidst the heaviest traffic i have seen since being here.

It was wall to wall moto/tuktuk and 4x4, with the old monster truck to make everyone feel small.

Everyone was dressed to the Sunday best which meant white lace tops for the ladies with khmer silk skirts and buisness shirts for the boys. (I was wearing my Hoi An best, which made me want to sweat buckets in the windless and sweltering Cambodian morning)

We stopped at Savrey's place to pick up Grandma Savrey and Tep Savrey (the lady who looked after May when she was younger).

We had a curry to start the morning, it had coconut pulp sliced into it which was amazing, almost like a firm taro.

With offerings in place we started off, joining the throng of vehicles all heading to one of the temples that surround Phnom Penh.

Then we stopped, i dont mean slowed to a crawl, i mean stopped, our driver got off and went to have a smoke and a chat with some guys along the road! thankfully there are drink shops everywhere (well a person with a block of ice, a large "esky" and some straws)

It took 2.5 hours to make our way along the roads, watching the traffic nudge and weave its way along was insightful into how Cambodians approach such things. there was no honking, even when people got REALLY close or bumped each other, there was a general feeling that we would get there eventually even though everyone knew that at 12 the monks would stop accepting food and begin to feed the people (themselves incl) that assemble at the temple (thus answering my question about where does all this food end up!)

We finally made it to the temple, it was about 20 mins past the Choeung Ek Genocide Memorial (the Killing Fields site as it is called here)

The temple was filled by a throng of people, all aware of what they were doing and i felt very "odd one out" (its ok, i get that alot)

We carried our foods inside one hall, taking off our shoes and giving them to one of the local kids who guard them for a small price. making our way past wooden ships and large piles of rice we approached a serving area.

The piles of food were immense, people have these metal food carriers (they are actually great for keeping and moving warm food, no tupperware here!) and they were decanting the contents into the plates that the nuns were passing forward.

We placed our food, and then took the rice to the next hall where a group of very old nuns were sitting near a large statue.

Knealling we passed over an offering (we had exchanged $10 for 100 riel notes earlier, lol it was the first time i have had a wad of cash in my pocket here, 100 riel is worth how much you ask? well a 1000 riel is 25c so 2.5c for those amongst you who find decimal place a difficult concept)

We then took our rice and scooped a small mound into a series of bowls that were on a long table. It looked very similar to the money bowls at a wat in Thailand that we went to earlier this year.

We then walked over to an outdoor area that had five large earten piles that were studded with incense, people were waliking amoungst them placing incense sticks in them and sprinkling earth from a small plate on the piles as they went.

We followed and as we went i asked May what this was for, it represents the lost souls who have no place to go, giving them i guess a place that they can claim as their own (dont quote me but i like the idea of it)

I was the only barang there, i guess the rest go closer to town?! a couple of people asked May why i was there, the answer they got was "Good luck for him" it got a nod and a smile so May must know what she is doing.

We then stopped to give alms to some of the old people who were at the gates and then we drove further out into the countryside.

The landscape is this amazing mix of utterly flat rice paddies and construction sites (the pace of development is crazy, there are large industrial sites being put up everywhere, next to small shanties without power or running water.

We were going to visit some friends of the Savreys, none of whom spoke English so i smiled, said the few Khmer terms i knew for polite society and let them laugh at the many things that Barang do that makes Khmer people smile.

We went for a walk along the paddy walls to see the mango trees and fields that are owned by Tep Savrey. Hopefully the pictures convey some of the colour if not the oppressive heat that was lifted every so often by a beautiful light breeze.

This visit completed we made our way quite quickly back into the city, The state of our clothes and hair when we got back made us wonder what our lungs must be like (the dust is everpresent and something that can never be forgotten, it tends to accumulate in the strangest places)

The unpleasent side of street life in PP, or anywhere i guess

Last night May had her first encounter with a particular species of Khmer boy, namely the two guys on the moto who tend to prey on Khmer females or tourists.
Their modus operandi is to just cruise the streets looking for a female using a cellphone while riding on a moto, or the unsuspecting tourist with a handbag not held securely (yes i know "that isn't very sensible, or legal?!"but we are in Cambodia, it seems police will not stop you even for driving drunk, with 5 passengers, without a helmet)
We had borrowed Bom's nice new moto (older sister of May) and had just had it detailed and cleaned when i left to go get out some cash from an ATM. May got bored of waiting for me and drove the 100 metres down to the shops, she had her ph in her left hand, as the right operates the gas on a moto. In that time two young guys drove past her, one grabbed at the cellphone, unfortuanately May is made of sterner stuff and the grip on the phone didnt give, the bikes bumped and May ended up flipped off her bike and landed on the street, hitting her head and side and seeing stars.
As May told me later she lay there, blinking, seeing starts then looked at her hand to see the phone still gripped tightly. She got up, dusted herself off and drove back to pick me up.
The guys managed to drive away which is a shame as mob justice for this kind of crime can be quite quick and brutal!
So instead of going to eat frog and chicken with the yummy peppery lime dipping sauce, we went home and i put some ice on the back of her head.
I lit more incense than usual and said thanks for what could have been really nasty, wasn't.
May seemed ok, later on that evening I went to our local Bangladeshi restaurant (have to love somewhere that has beautiful green tomato chutney with the $1 samosas!) and got a selection of curries to take out.
May sat up in bed and took nourishment, but was certainly feeling the aches this morning (no bike ride before brekkie today!)
Mum is coming to see her today, and if she has any dizzy spells or headaches we will take her down for a checkup, but hopefully she has got away from this without a scratch...... yes we are getting the scratches on the moto taken out.
Dont want an angry older sister on our case!

Getting into the PYP thing.

Yep, it took me a month to move from being happy as Joe Teacher to getting into the slow crawl up the ladder of advancement.

I swear it is not some in built desire for a name plate on a door and the expectation to wear a tie with short sleeves (shudder)

We are looking to becomae an IB school (its got some good points, very similar to the way Karyn and I were teaching our Year 7/8s in Hataitai, that should have me worried time wise already!)

Im on the group getting the Application A off and will be helping get teachers to see the possibilities in moving away from "projects"towards more transdisciplinary inquiries. (Teaching needs to lose the jargon!) lol

So it is quite exciting here at school and means any spare time in the lab is taken up with PYP reading and researching.

The TA issue is ongoing, the workload for one teacher in a room with 25 computers can be heavy as hell. at times i finish a session and sit down feeling like ive spoken to 24 kids 7 times each in a 45 min session i cant even do the math on that!

Will look at talking seriously with the boss in a week to see how the classes are going.

The pic is me on our new flash as wheels, the moto dop guys across the street seem to find it a hell of a funny when im blatting around on it.....cant think why.....?

The last few days have been the start of P'chum Ben (the Khmer festival of the Dead)

Here is a brief run down on what is happening.

The fifteenth day, of the tenth month, of the Khmer calendar marks the Pchum Ben festival. This is a time when the spirits of the dead ancestors walk the Earth. And the living can ease their suffering by offering them food to eat.
At four in the morning, nearly all of the residents of Phnom Penh gather at the temple with offerings of rice, which they toss on the ground, feeding the dead ancestors.
"Some of the ghosts have small mouths," one man explains. "So we have to use special rice."
Many of the people throw sticky rice, which, apparently is easier for the spirits to consume.
According to Buddhist beliefs, the lives that we live, after death, are predicated by the actions that we took when we were living. Minor infractions would be punished with small punishments, such as being an unattractive ghost or having a small mouth. With a small mouth, it is hard to eat. Other, more severe, punishments could include being crippled or having no mouth at all.
At 8:00 AM, people return to the temple, with offerings for the monks. "They don't just give food," explains Mey Sameth, who was a monk for seven years. "They bring money and other things as well. As a monk we looked forward to this period all year long, because we could get new clothing and good food."
At 10:00 the people return with more food, which will be shared between monks and poor people. Os many of the Buddhist traditions seem to relate to feeding the poor. Disabled people also crowd around the temple tat is hour, begging alms. To give help to the less-fortunate, particularly during Pchum Ben, is to acquire merit. Many people explained that the offerings they made during the festival were to cancel out past sins.

In the early morning of the last day of the Pchum Ben Festival, visitors can join the throngs at the pagodas and take photos of local people of all ages in traditional costume. Women especially, don their best traditional dress, and come wearing their silk, embroidered blouses and scarves, bearing offerings, candles and incense.
Num Onsam and sweet Num Korm (steamed cakes wrapped in banana leaves) are taken to pagodas during the festival to share among participants. Num Onsam is a kind of cylindrical cake of glutinous rice wrapped around a mixture of pork, salt and other ingredients. Num Korm is shaped like a pyramid and made of rice-flour and filled with a coconut and palm sugar mixture.
Money offered to monks goes towards the construction or renovation of temples and community development such as the construction of bridges and schools, tree planting, or as donations to needy families.
Khmers believe that fraternal feelings are fostered with the exchange of food and Num Onsam and Num Korm cakes. This ensures that visitors to any pagoda during the Pchum Ben festival will be warmly welcomed and invited to taste these cakes and enjoy the festivities.

This final passage is revealing in how strong the beliefs are in Cambodia

The last four days of the festival were public holidays in Cambodia. Most Khmers visited the province where they were born, where they had family reunions.
In observing friends and colleagues, it was amazing to see that even people who considered themselves only marginally religious still took the Pchum Ben festival seriously. They felt a real obligation to feed their ancestors, lest their suffering should continue. Even friends who claimed to have converted to Christianity, and who attended church regularly, took time out of their schedule to make the early morning pilgrimage to the temple, and feed the ancestors.
It was as if they were saying that their choice to convert was a personal decision, but one that shouldn't be imposed on the souls who died before. Historic records show that even under the Khmer Rouge, and later under the communists, prohibitions against religious worship were unenforceable during Pchum Ben. In fact, the prohibitions were eventually lifted, with the result that high ranking Party members felt obligated to attend temple with their superiors.
The Buddhist religion is such an integral part of the Khmer culture that neither political upheaval, economic crisis, the spread of foreign religions, or the intervention of modern society will shake the fundamentals of Khmer beliefs. It is refreshing to see that, although many aspects of the Khmer culture were lost during the Regime, the Khmers have managed to maintain their religious devotion and their family-centered way of life.

May and I will be accompanying Ms Savrey and Grandma Savrey to one of the Pagodas further out from town on Sunday. (the temples/wats in the city are fairly well off, the thinking is that giving at a temple that is more isolated helps both materially and spiritually, cant argue that!)

As it is important that families go as a group to the temple, it is nice to be included in May's extended family for this festival.

Photos will follow

http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/pchum.htm

The photo links from this site are great, from 1991 through to today

This is how we roll in PP

We now have wheels!
They are quite small, and require human locomotion but we are no longer just pedestrians in the city.

May went off and found a black Bridgestone "Fighter" on bike street (yes its not really called bike street but with the habit of placing most like stores all together in the same street lends itself to names like this. Teddy bear street is cool as is fake Peavey Amp street)

So we went for our first ride last night, it wasn’t a grand ride just a wander down to the local market at Psas Chas (this is the old market and it is an assault on the sense if you aren't used to it).
May stood on the carrier at the back and we wove our way through cars, bikes, cyclos, motos and dogs down to the fruit and vege area.
Its monsoon time at the mo so it was spitting and dark and every so often a great big 4x4 drove past with the disdain that only a cpl of tonnes of steel can do to a drivers psyche.

I parked up, next to all the other Khmer guys on motos and waited for May to finish shopping, it really was a surreal scene as i played with the new bell, tested the brakes and generally did the guy thing of "kicking the tyres" while being watched by slightly incredulous Khmer guys.
We filled the basket at the front (YES it has a black basket at the front thank you very much) and May hopped on and to much cat calls and hoots we proceeded to wind our way through the potholes back home.

Well we couldn’t go straight home, it was our first drive so we went along the riverside for a bit which was interesting for about a min then home, inside the entrance we parked the bike, locked it with two locks and that was that.

The landlady was making Lok Lak and that inspired May to do the same.

A yummy meal of beef sliced thinly cooked in a very peppery gravy which is then spooned onto a layered mix of lettuce leaves, thin sliced tomato/cucumber and onion.
You lift out a leaf from the bottom, place a mix of rice, meat and veges on it, drop a small amount of the chilli/pepper sauce on it then fold and eat....... so delicious.
I forgot my camera so the pics were from my cell phone, i apologize for the quality.

OK! Now here is something to ponder

I was reading up on another blog from Cambodia and found this piece of news.

The headline 'Lightning kills more Cambodians than Landmines' seems perverse in itself, but it's true. Known as one of the most heavily-mined countries on the planet, demining operations and landmine safety education have led to a sharp decrease in landmine deaths in recent years. To-date in 2008, landmines have killed nine people, but for the same period, 77 Cambodians have died due to lightning strikes. This doesn't take into account the number of injuries sustained as a result of landmines (Cambodia has over 40,000 amputees) and lightning bolts but in itself, the relatively low number of landmine deaths is positive news, if you can call any death a positive. Last year, landmines killed 26 people, with lightning killing another 45, so the sharp increase in lightning deaths is becoming a major concern.

The lightening here is at time scary, you see a mix of fork and sheet and at time you see strikes hitting land.
A month ago i was sitting watching the free light/sound show on our balcony (its covered so you feel apart from it all) on the street next to ours a young man was hit and killed as he lent on a steel fence.
Looking forward to the end of Monsoon!

I have added Andy Brouwer onto my blog, who knows if it will work (Im a damn newbie) but his blog makes interesting reading
http://www.andybrouwer.co.uk/blog/

A Sunny Sunday in Oudong

Saturday afternoon was spent at school (that sentence is often accompanied by a shudder) but it was actually quite nice.

The grounds at NISC are tree filled and the families were all out in force for the school BBQ.

I went with May (which was an interesting item in itself!) met many of the staff and families.

I entered the Watermelon eating contest (dont ask why, it seemed less painful than the corn or banana ones) Came a creditable 2nd but wont be entering the Nathan's Hotdog eating champs anytime soon.

So Sunday saw us up early and getting our local TukTuk driver to drive out to Oudong.

Now I haver to own up here, i was a trifle peeved when May decided we "ARE GOING TO OUDONG TOMORROW" I was looking forward to a relaxing day spent moping about the house (actually more likely spent watching telly in bed, followed by a nice pho soup)

But yet again i was pleasently surprised, the ride out was that strangely Cambodian mix of flat landscapes punctuated by surreal overloaded busses/cars/mopeds rattling past.

With us went Mom , Mays younger sister, who spent much of the time on her cellphones (one for each bf im thinking!) lol it is very innocent but takes you back to when sitting listening to utter drivel from that special someone seemed like the ONLY important thing to do with your time (Damn 17yr olds)

So we saw the stupas rising out of the flatlands well before we got near the temples. The flatness of cambodia makes even a small hill seem majestic.

As we arrived a series of young boys chased our tuktuk with the intent of being the "guides"for the day (it is a way to make some cash and use their English which is always cool) so with our entourage in tow we set off up the steps .

All 400, they were actually quite nice, mostly shaded and leading up to the first Stupa, we kept passing people begging or offering good luck tokens and our small notes quickly got eaten up.

When we got to the first level we posed for some quick pics, admired the view and then went inside to the 2000 Buddhas or 3000 depending on who you listen to! lol

We got some incense and some beautiful lotus flowers (folded a special way) then made our way to the candles to light our incense and make an offering.

I have to admit it makes you feel quite at peace sitting there having a chat to Buddha as a throng mill about you doing the same.

Outside we continued on our trek, going past more stupa and eventually we went down a shortcut to the eating area below the temples.

Here it was as if half of PP had come for the day, there were food stalls, 12 yr oldgirls cutting palm nuts (with sharp cleavers, it was scary to watch them chatter and cut in a series of quick motions!) and lots of thatched roofed eating platforms.

May soon zipped off and bought some river fish and fresh chicken and gave that to the owner of the eating area we had chosen (it is a mix of byo and catered which allows you to buy whatever you want, whereever you want it and then pay for them to prep and serve with rice/condiments etc.

As we sat the local kids came by, some selling trinkets others just looking at us and smiling. when the meal came (in true khmer fashion it came out over about a 45 min period) it was great, three lovely fish, roasted with a bamboo skewer holding it together. It was served with the ubiquitous but much loved fish sauce/garlic/shallot/mango condiment which is so beautifully refreshing.

Then came the Kaffirlime and chicken soup, a clear stock and pieces of whole chhicken (you get used to eating and pulling chicken apart for real in Asia, no chicken breast only meals here!)

We lay there groaning full when May looked over and said there is one more dish coming. This was chicken with fried holy basil, a very tasty and piquant dish.

We had a couple of khmer kids sitting with us as we ate, a brother and sister who looked very knocked about and hungry and their friend another little girl.

May ordered more rice and we gave the kids some moist handtowels to wash their hands and they tucked in.

The food they didnt finish was poured into plastic bags that they all carried under their tops, we talked with them about who they were collecting food for and they all had a couple of people in their family who needed feeding, either old or very young.

Its things like this that makes me so angry listening to expats going on about how its a system to fleece tourists and that not giving is the only way.... hunger is real, sores and skin diseases are real.

Kids shouldnt be hungry.