Matt J in Asia

Animoto

2010-07-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

There you go.

:)

And then there was three!

2010-07-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, talk about lots having happened!
The last video was May giggling (very pregnant!) as rufa fish ate her toes.
Since then we have become a family, Sopheap Isabella Johnston Born 12 Sept 2009
is the little monster who makes our days exciting.
We went back to NZ to meet the family and get married Palangi style

I'm not sure how i ended back up at this blog?!
A trip down amnesia lane certainly.

But i will upload the animoto from the last cpl of years so at least there is an online log of the very cool things that have filled my life since leaving NZ.

Peas

i really should preview things!

2009-06-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

Ahhh i think this is the clip

Long time between drinks!

2009-06-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, my last post was a jpg not a movie file.....so liz!
but here is the video.

It is of May and I in Siem Reap having our feet tended to by Rufa fish.

The little devils nibble at anyhting they can find and generally make you feel very strange.
$3 for 20 mins, money well spent

And our feet felt smooth and tingly for a day afterwards.

Now i wonder what a bath of them would be like?

Rufa fish in Siem Reap

2009-06-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

Why do i sound like Homer Simpson here?

End of year

2009-06-03T17:52:00.001-07:00

A collection of images from the last year

Love you cuz

2009-02-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

Missing home is something that creeps up on you in the quiet moments.
To be honest when you're busy with the everyday actions and thoughts of the here and now you dont think about the place and more importantly the people who you surrounded yourself with for such a huge part of your life.

So often here i sit amidst a swirl of language that i can only comprehend a tiny part of, an observer of the everyday rather than a full participant. And yet i'm happy, i'm where i'm meant to be, with the person i want to be with.

But at odd times i find myself enveloped by the face/places/times of Welli.
The good, the bad, the immortal.

I think about my mate

Much love to all of you celebrating this weekend for Jase.

We are mobile!

2009-02-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well, we are finally able to choose when we go places!
Went shopping for a moto in the weekend with May's dad and his mate (It is amazing how helpful it is to have a Khmer speaker when shopping)
Found a Honda Click which had only 7000Kms on the clock and had a clean engine and sound frame (yes i had a look under and inside the bike but my knowledge is laughable !)
Next was a stop down Helmet selling street to have a look at some of the many helmets that are available in Phnom Penh (the build quality of some are questionable in the extreme... think Ware Whare Bob the builder plastic but with "cool"stickers to make them look tougher)
We settled on a couple that felt heavy enough to be useful but not full face as in summer that will be sweltering.
Then came the difficulty, who was to drive our new bike?!
lol
Up till now i have been a passenger most often as May has borrowed her sister's bike (crashing that is not something i wanted on my head!!)
So May felt that the status quo should continue........... I on the other hand was keen to get riding again, to get more confident in the sometimes chaotic conditions on the road.

It is turn taking time.

Although i think May was a bit cunning by suggesting we go for a "sedate Sunday drive"along the riverside last night!!
It seems every family, teenager, tuk tuk, moto driven food seller, 4x4, truck decides to drive up and down the riverside and around the roundabouts near Independence Monument.
with May sitting side-saddle i wound my way without any skill or daring through the jam. (i will be honest, our conversation was terse lol, as a first nite time ride it left a lot to be desired)

Rode this morning to work, and then May took the moto to her mothers, a much nicer run along Russia Boulevard which is paved well and wide!
I will catch the bus home each nite but ride to school as it will allow me to get up later than 5.30! and spend some time with May each morning before i go to school.
Will post a vid showing our route to school soon.

Looking over Phnom Penh towards the slowly filled lake

2009-01-29T21:39:00.000-08:00

The lakeside area of PP, where I and many first time travelers stay is being filled in to make new land for real estate developers.
The people who lived on the lake and beside it are being squeezed out as they are anywhere in Cambodia where their property is worth more to someone more connected than they.

Im sitting in my class, getting my breathing under control

2009-01-29T20:19:00.000-08:00

Damn, i take my hat off to every guy I know who has ever had a child.
The ability to go from regular day to a ALL STATIONS panic is an eye blink now.
May has been ok up to now and apart from the many little changes for her, from some sort of Steve Austin like olfactory powers (not the best super power in Phnom Penh!) to the need to not try and do the things that she could do so easily only a month ago, she has coped really well.
Each day i go to work i hope all goes well, i understand the dates and chances that problems will occur or at least I did in a textbook way.
Getting a call minutes before my grade 3 kids came in for class, from Bom (May's older Sister) on May's phone telling me she has a lot of pain in her pompoy/stomach (my spelling) and should they go to the local Khmer doctor or across town to our Doc at Rattanak made everything come into perspective.
May and the baby are ok, the ultrasound showed no problems with either of them thank what ever deity is looking down on us. (credit has to be given to Buddha as i had several long chats during the quiet moments as i waited for the phone to ring)

I understand that having the baby come to term safe and well is still very much a case for statisticians to debate but if emotional force could influence it we would be having our baby safe and sound in Sept!

I will be making an offering tonight to say thank you for letting us get another day down the road.

If you want to do something similar, I'd appreciate it.

First Ultrasound

2009-01-20T21:52:00.001-08:00

Friday afternoon, a day that saw us go from a couple to something more.

A very good day in Phnom Penh

Matt and May in Laos Dec 08

2009-01-14T18:34:00.001-08:00

Merry Xmas

2008-12-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

Woke up xmas morning in Laos, Vientiene at a hotel way out of our budget. Gave May some pressies to bring her over to the Barang dark side. LOL go Santa!

We are off in an hour to Vang Vieng to climb into inner tubes and get drunk while floating down the mekong.... very much the Xmas message .....distilled through rice whiskey.

Keep safe y'all

MattnMay

mattj in asia

2008-12-14T18:44:00.001-08:00

Bueller, Bueller? Fry, Fry? Thank you Simone....

2008-12-09T00:42:00.000-08:00

Well, that series of soundbites dates me.....as if my photo doesn't! lol
The music for the last animoto was of course from Ferris Buellers Day off, and yes the Cure did a remake of it but i still think it is a very melancholic and beautiful track.

We are coming up to the end of the school year (well we would be if i wasback in NZ but its just a short mid year break here)
Another Xmas in Cambodia which makes for some curious juxtaposition of images ala Snow and Santa images while outside its hot sun and wind.
The wind has been quite strong recently, a warm wind that makes you think about Chch and its Nor'wester.
Where will we spend Xmas this year?
Well, it would be great to go home and show May NZ in the summer, let her meet the fandambly and such but between Visa troubles and cash it looks like we may be in Cambodia for the break.
May hasn't been to Laos so we may go to Luang Prabang then work our way down to Don det for 10 days as Cambodian nationals don't need a visa.
Who knows.
Happy Holidays all

Merry Xmas from Cambodia

2008-12-07T20:30:00.001-08:00

Just some images from the last year

May

2008-11-20T21:02:00.001-08:00

Blogger is not a happy chappy

2008-11-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Im sitting at the computer, the lab is filled with Grade 6 pupils playing Chicken Invaders (think Galaga ....but with Chickens) Yes i know the lab should be "game free...but really, thats like telling the iphone interface that it cant be sexy'.
hmmm perhaps i need to get out of the lab for a while?
I have been trying to upload some video i shot of the Water Festival but for reasons too mundane to state the blogger page wont show the link toolbar.
So i have been forced to play with Animoto and Moblyng (two cute little online photo manipulation and presentation software that i came across in Classroom 2.0)
Hopefully i can upload some to the blog without having to go through blogger, but it is still a pain not having the post page as it should be.
I apologise if you read this, it has nothing of merit for others other than an opportuinity to do some distance Sigmunding on my state of mind.
Whatever makes you smile.
I will return when i have more to say.

UN Day at NISC

2008-11-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

We had our recent UN day which proved to be both a success and interetsing to see how the dominant cultural groups presented their own culture to the school.

Some very cute kids in national dress, the Korean Hanbok has to be a winner with the Pre K Korean kids almost unable to move in it.

There was a parade behind each of the countries flags and it ended with a cpl of representitives from each nation going onto the stage and saying hello in their countries language.

Damn Kiwis, left me in the lurch to say Kia ora and so forth....apparently the sound system was iffy and the kids at the back couldnt understand me.'

"What do you mean we kiwisslurandrunallourwordstogether" hmmm

Whats in the newspaper today then?

2008-10-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

The Kep seafood shacks are being moved.

For 15 years the area along the waterfront has had a collection of shacks that serves a collection of the yummiest seafood i've eaten, all washed down with the typical Kep chilli sauce that makes your tongue pucker even as your tastebuds smile.

Now they are being offered $2000 to move somewhere else..... The land is supposedly being turned into a park but most people believe that a property developer has plans on a beachfront hotel.

Hmmmm sound like Boeung Kak Lake to anyone?

A regretable but seemingly daily reminder that the rich are finding ways to get richer while the country and the population is left to count the cost.

The grade 3-6 students are studying an inquiry under the banner of "sharing the planet".

They are looking at Cambodia as a focal point and there is so much they could be doing, the examples of people working to help the environment are so clear as are the effects of placing too much emphasis on quick profit and unsustainable practice.

It is interesting having to walk a fairly thin line between discussing the negative influences having a govt with to ready links to development for profit and the realisation that quite a few students have parents in that same area......

It is fun being back involved in inquiry based learning, the old teacher inside of me misses the development process that happens as kids start seeing the connections and realising the opportuniities that learning can give them. phew thats enough passionate teacherness for the day! lol

Have been playing with Jing, which lets me capture anything on my screen as a video or image file. For me it means i can capture short animations about the inquiry topics and use them at a later date with students without worrying about internet connectivity or download speed. Getting back into using tech as a tool for learning has been a rude shock for me, i have a computer on my wishlist as i still need to sit and learn how to use the adobe suite of software(Robin figures in my plans here!!)

Have a few days in Bangkok coming up, I am going to the ISTEC conference which is for the IT teachers in the region, i bet it is a good place to meet greet and listen to some experts in the tech field and see how they are applying the tools to learning.

Broke the news to May that i was off for a weekend in thailand and for many reasons that initially went down like a lead balloon, luckily i have to go there to process our application for a visa for May to allow her to travel with me to NZ either this Xmas or more likely next June (we will have nearly 3 months off work then)

The number of hoops you have to jump through to get a visa makes you realise how easy it is for Barang to travel thoroughout Asia and the world for that matter.

A quote from a Cambodian soldier on the Thai/Cambodian border at Preah Vihear to finish

"We didn't touch anything, we left it here for them"said Mom Kiri referring to the weapons , personal effects and bedding that the Thai troops dropped as they escaped the fighting that erupted on Wed.

He was pictured with one of the Thai soldiers coming to collect his rifle.... there is a joke in there somewhere but as the photo below confimrs the situation is too tense to be funny.

Here is hoping sense prevails

Background Reading

2008-10-15T21:14:00.001-07:00

I have said it before but it is worth repeating...
http://www.andybrouwer.co.uk/blog/ is worth looking at if you are interested in Cambodia
The following article is longbut gives some perspective on the current crisis.

Preah Vihear: the Thai-Cambodia temple disputeThe diplomatic and near-military crisis of 2008 between Thailand and Cambodia reflects both deep historical tensions and contemporary domestic politics, says Milton Osborne. The sudden re-emergence of contested Cambodian and Thai claims to sovereignty over about 4 square kilometres of territory close the Angkorian-period (9th-15th centuries) temple of Preah Vihear brought the two southeast Asian countries close to armed confrontation in July-August 2008.
The dispute bring into focus the difficult relations that have existed between the two neighbouring countries ever since Cambodia attained independence in 1953, as well reflecting much older historical problems between the two countries. At one level the Preah Vihear crisis - supplemented by another dispute over a much less prominent temple-site at Ta Moan Thom, well to the west of Preah Vihear - may be viewed as a classic example of contested boundaries arising from decisions taken during the colonial era, when France was able to impose its will over the then weaker state of Siam (Thailand).

This interpretation - which Cambodia rejects - is worth examining. But it is at least as important to consider contemporary developments in the context of earlier historical and geopolitical factors that lie behind Cambodia's existence as a state and the views held of it by its immediate and more powerful neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam. For while the governments of both Thailand and Vietnam may be hesitant to express the views held by some of their citizens, there is no doubt that in both these countries there are those who privately question Cambodia's right to exist as a truly independent state. In the case of Vietnam, a strong case may be made to argue that when Vietnam invaded Cambodia to defeat the Pol Pot regime in December 1978, it initially hoped that it would be possible to incorporate Cambodia into some form of "Indochinese Federation"; this would have included Laos, which would have been dominated by Vietnam. Such a view was a continuation of the explicit thinking of the Vietnamese Communist Party in the 1930s and into the 1960s, when the party held the view that neither Cambodia nor Laos had a right to run their own revolution.

The uncertain stateThe distinguished historian David Chandler noted (in A history of Cambodia) that until the 17th century Cambodia was a "reasonably independent" state. By the 19th century it had lost this status and its internal politics were dominated by its powerful neighbours, Siam and Vietnam. Perhaps the most useful, if shorthanded, way to describe Cambodia's situation in the mid-19th century was that it was a vassal state in a tributary relationship to two suzerains, Siam and Vietnam. But of those two powerful and expanding states Siam had by the 1840s assumed the more important position. Moreover, and despite some Cambodian rulers having sought assistance from Vietnam, Siam's greater dominance also reflected the fact that the two countries shared a similar culture. It was one deeply affected by adherence to Theravada Buddhism and by surviving shared beliefs and court rituals that harked back to Hindu concepts of the state developed during the Angkorian period.In the decades immediately before the French asserted their colonial control over Cambodia in 1863, Cambodian rulers looked to the Siamese court in Bangkok to guarantee both their position and their legitimacy. This situation is exemplified in the fact that members of the Cambodian royal family often spent long periods as hostages in the Siamese court in Bangkok. This was true of the last king to rule Cambodia before the arrival of the French and of King Norodom I before he came to the throne in 1860. At the same time Siamese officials occupied senior positions within the Cambodian rulers' courts, determining which foreign representatives they were permitted to meet. In these circumstances, and from the Siamese point of view, Cambodia's king was a person who held power at their behest. Again using European terminology, the Cambodian king was for the Siamese court the holder of a vice-regal position. This complex relationship differed sharply from the way in which Vietnamese rulers viewed Cambodia. Both in theory and in practice the Vietnamese rulers in the first half of the 19th century were ready to pursue policies which, had they succeeded, would have transformed Cambodia's status into being an integral part of the Vietnamese state governed in accordance with Vietnam's Chinese-influenced administrative practices.The border lineThe French gained control of Cambodia in 1863 and established their "protectorate" over the country - though in every way that mattered the term "protectorate" was merely a legal figleaf to hide the fact that was a French colony. At the time, Cambodia's territory did not include what are now the provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap. These two important areas had fallen under Siamese control in 1794, the outcome indeed of what had been a long reduction of Cambodian control over former Angkorian territories.

A contemporary reflection of this process is the fact that a substantial number of Khmer (Cambodian) speaking Thai citizens continue to live in northeastern Thailand, an area in which there are many Angkorian-period temples.In the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, Anglo-French rivalry in mainland southeast Asia led to the adjustment and implantation of borders that remain essentially unchanged to the present day. It was in this period, for example, that the northern states of modern peninsular Malaysia were removed from Siamese to British control. In Cambodia's case, and reflecting France's greater coercive power, this mixture of mapping and absorption led to the return to Cambodian sovereignty of the provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap.

This process was consolidated in 1907-08 with the establishment of a Cambodian northern boundary that took in the temple of Preah Vihear, located on an escarpment 525 metres above the northern Cambodian plain. But the precise coordinates of the boundary at this point were apparently in contradiction to the principle that had been laid down when the boundary between Cambodia and Siam was being delineated: namely, that the boundary should be drawn in terms of the existing watershed.This created a potential problem from an international legal point of view, and led to an appeal by Thailand to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague to rule on the question of which country had sovereignty over Preah Vihear. In June 1962, the court ruled that indeed Cambodia held sovereignty. But the factors which led to this decision were not based on a judgment as to whether the boundary established in 1907-08 was "fair" or that it had been drawn in relation to the location of the watershed. Rather (and to summarise very briefly), the ICJ's decision rested on the fact that over many decades the Bangkok government had not disputed the validity of the map drawn up by the French, and agreed to at the time by the Siamese authorities, that incorporated Preah Vihear into Cambodian territory. The court also accepted that Siam had recognised Cambodian sovereignty in various other ways, including through visits to the temple by senior Siamese officials who were received by members of the French administration then governing Cambodia.Thai ambition, Cambodian fearHowever, it is fair to say that legal considerations are not always at the heart of Thai thinking on relations with Cambodia. From the time of Cambodia's gaining independence in 1953 until the onset of the Cambodian civil war in 1970, relations between Thailand and Cambodia were marked by almost continuous difficulty. While there were brief periods when relations were "correct", in others diplomatic relations were suspended. Throughout these years Thai security services worked to undermine the government in Phnom Penh. This was a fact explicitly stated to me by a senior Thai official with security responsibilities, during an extended discussion of Thai-Cambodian relations in 1980. General Channa Samudvanija observed that in essence, Thai policy towards Cambodia was to support those forces within the country that opposed the existing government. The rationale behind such a policy was the Realpolitik view of seeking to weaken a neighbour with which Thailand had substantial policy differences: Thailand supported United States policies in southeast Asia and Cambodia did not. Without placing excessive weight on the continuity of Thai policy at this stage with previous historical relations with Cambodia, there is no doubt that the views Channa advanced were also in part a reflection of those relations.In similar fashion, it would be incorrect to regard the conflict that erupted in July 2008 as a direct manifestation of the view expressed in 1980 by General Channa.

For it is clear that the crisis arose in part out of domestic Thai politics - and the positions being taken both by the government led by prime minister Samak and his political opponents. The Thai opposition had sought to undermine the Samak government by criticising its readiness to support Cambodia's wish to see Preah Vihear inscribed on Unesco's world heritage list.Nevertheless, discussion of the issue of Preah Vihear within Thailand does represent yet another instance of a readiness of some Thais, whether politicians or ordinary citizens, to adopt and advance positions that seek to undermine what they see as irrelevant and irksome Cambodian interests. The readiness of some observers to resort to describing the situation as an expression of big brother-little brother rivalry is too simple, but it would be equally wrong to dismiss this aspect of Thai and Cambodian thinking about the relationship between the two countries.At the same time, there is no doubting that the ingrained sensitivity felt by many Cambodians in relation to their relations with both Thailand and Vietnam on occasion borders on paranoia.

This was demonstrated in the events of 2003, when a Thai TV actress with a popular following in both Thailand and Cambodia was supposed to have stated that she would not perform in Cambodia until that country restored Thailand's sovereignty over the great Angkorian temple of Angkor Wat. Whether the actress, Suwanan Kongying, made such a statement or not, the publicity that surrounded her alleged remark led to serious ant-Thai rioting in Phnom Penh; the damage included the destruction of the Thai embassy and many Thai businesses (there was also a barely averted attack on the Thai ambassador). Here, again, a deeper analysis of the 2003 riots suggests that domestic Cambodian issues were involved.

This intimate yet conflictual history means that even the settlement of the latest dispute is no guarantee that the situation has been settled once and for all. For the wider issues associated with Preah Vihear are no nearer to being resolved. The mutual military withdrawals from the temple area have brought respite; but the memory of the febrile stand-off between Thai and Cambodian armed forces, amid ultra-nationalist rhetoric from politicians on both sides, remains fresh. The ever-present readiness of politicians in both countries to stoke the flames of nationalist animosity is reflected in the suggestion by a Cambodian official that the Phnom Penh government might build a wall that would exclude access to the temple from Thai territory - as is possible at present.Indeed, at least for the moment diplomacy has won out over war, as two sessions of talks between the Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers have helped create a marginally improved atmosphere. The fact that the new and highly regarded Thai foreign minister, Tej Bunnag, had been appointed at the direct wish of the king is also of importance. Now, however, Tej Bunnag's decision to leave his post - though unlikely to have any immediate effect on the Preah Vihear issue at a time when Bangkok is preoccupied with domestic political turmoil - may be regretted over the longer term since he was undoubtedly a calming influence in relation to Thai policies. In any event, a lengthy and continuing period of political turmoil in Thailand creates the possibility that the question of Preah Vihear may yet return to haunt Thai-Cambodian relations.

Reproduced courtesy of openDemocracy.net under a Creative Commons licence.

What a murky background

2008-10-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a brief summary of the last 400 years and puts the temple conflict into some context.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7672506.stm

nothing easy in sorting this issue out.

New arrivals in PP

2008-10-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was stirred from my afternoon relaxation on Tuesday by an attempted phone call, you know when there are 3-5 digits shown on your ph so it must be an incoming call from overseas.

Calls like that always make your heart skip a beat as you hope that they are not the harbinger of bad news.

It wasn't it was Kane calling from thailand to tell me he and robin would be arriving the next day at 4pm.

Ahhhhhh i remember the days when your next destination was a guide book guess away.... Damn pre-grey nomads.

Went out after school to pick up the kids, they look in fine form and a life less traveled is certainly treating them well.

Walked out from the airport to get a tuktuk and found the driver telling us that the Thais had killed two khmer soldiers "I am army now" he kept saying and it was with a sinking feeling in my stomach that we drove into PP.

Home to May and a yummy Khmer meal of ribs with pepper sauce, sour soup with lemon grass and stir fried veges.

As if to welcome the pair the Phnom Penh sky opened up and gave them both a show, Lightening and thunder followed by torrential rain. As suddenly as it had started it was gone, taking with it the dusty streets and leaving that nice recent rain smell (im never sure if the lightening has something to do with it but just after a storm is the best)

We went for a wander along the "golden mile"past the touts and tuktuk boys, the expensive restaurants serving barang food and down towards the royal palace.

The area was in darkness for some reason (pick your best) so we went back along the side streets, stopping for a few quiet beers in a noisy bar, or was it the other way round?

Then home to sit on the balcony, watch the world and the river roll by and wonder if the war of words on the border would really turn into something else.

Woke this morning to more news about the temples, im not sure how "real news" is getting out as the Thais are keeping reports back 5kms and the Cambodian press is probably in the same boat.

Here is hoping that the call for Thai and Cambodian nationals to return home is premeture and doesnt indicate a rising level of antipathy between the two countries.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gaB-g6ehvjR8iKR_ynzRnHll-gUg

Another Hot n Humid monday in PP

2008-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, the first pic needs some explaining i know!

That was the last of my Pineapple Lumps (straight from the freezer!) I do not know why, but they are the only sweet from NZ i miss?!

The artificial pineapple flavour was given a big thumbs down by May (to which i secretly cheered!!) but they are now all gone.

The milk bottle like sweets i had ought from the local market have been dumped as i was sitting watching the news and saw shop keepers in Hong Kong dumping packs of the "Lucky rabbit" brand off their shelves...ahh melamine what can"t you poison with it?

Well, i wondered how long it would be before the constant humidity, insects and boredom would lead to an exchange of gunfire at Preah Vihear.

The story seems to be that an exchange of words/shots and a grenade left two Thais injured and one Khmer. The news story is as follows,

Two Thai soldiers and one Cambodian soldier were injured in what was the first clash in the disputed territory since the two countries agreed to pull back troops in August after a tense month-long stand-off.
Each country has accused the other of encroaching on its territory.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4940CF20081005

Hopefully everyone will take a step back and we wont see this blow out of all proportion (unfortunately for both countries it is way too personal to be ignored)

The picture below is of a very relieved couple at the top of the limestone outcrop (the climb up was tricky but the view was incredible, the thought of heavy fighting in this area during the 79 invasion of the area is almost beyond belief

The pepper plantation was typical of any you might see, tall bushes covered in the bright green pepper seeds all clustered together.

Cooking with them this week has been great, they burst in your mouth as you chew them. The pepper we got has a real kick to it and makes the lime/chilli dip a real tongue biter. hmmmmm

A lazy weekend in Kep

2008-09-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Countryside

2008-09-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Feeling stoopid and learning nu stuf

2008-08-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

lol, got to school still yawning. Not a good sign when today is teach yourself Adobe CS3 day.
living in NZ and not affording adobe at Hataitai meant we learnt how to edit images using a rock and some spit (no really!) well maybe it wasnt that bad but it wasnt layers, filters, masking and rastarizing (hmmm does that mean Pete Tosh et al?)
So im sitting at my computer, the video file playing and some techie yank enthusing wildly about his vivid vortex of color (his spelling , not mine!) and im wondering how this is going to stick into my less than sharp medulla oblongata (and yes i know thats the bit which deals with basic functions smartie blog reader but still) you get the idea.
I will post my first childish photoshop attempts onto this page for your perusal.
Now im just going back to the tutorial.......i may be some time!

Something to make you think

2008-08-27T03:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6f2c2eba77f39993d118

Hope this works as it has some very cool animation supporting a strong set of ideas.

ahh tech teacher

Ahhhhh Teet the Meacher evening, what i wouldn't give to miss one of these!

2008-08-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Not complaining but when you get to school on the 6.10 bus, and you are looking at a 9pm bus home your enthusiasim for the corporate life of the school does flag a bit. lol, its actually not that bad, i quite like chatting to the parents about what we are doing in class and hopefully they are into IT enough to see the possibilities of what im trying to do.

The classes i teach are a real mix of cultures (we have been doing mind maps about ourselves, its certainly a different world when we need to write up Maid and Nanny and Driver on the board so the kids can add who is in the household!)

The problematic area of "what to do with the 2-3year olds in Nursery!!!!"has been semi-solved, we now have 3 10 min sections of viewing/participating as a group and independent, it is a lot of work but they are crying less now (which is every teachers aim!) lol

As im doing this im trying to make some posters for my room (really missing the laser colour printer from my old class!!)

well its off to another meeting then get ready for .....another meeting!!!!!

What is it about meetings?! id feel like dilbert but i dont wear a tie

My class in Cambodia

2008-08-19T18:30:00.001-07:00

Some pics from my classes today.

Some Cyber Haiku, something to read and reflect when everything crashes around you.

WOW!

2008-08-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

On the 8/08/08 Mahi and Gil got married in Bali, Mahi i met somewhere shady many years ago and Gil i met in London last year. They have a very cute son Tetahi.

I was in my first week in my new job so i missed going to the wedding and looking at the pics now i realise there are some damn beautiful settings in this world.

Good luck Mahi/Gil/Tetahi hope to get to Bali in the near future.

Chur

Now how is that for a reason to get up at 5.30?

2008-08-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

View from our balcony a few days ago......... just wish i could sit and watch it for longer instead of running out the door carrying brekkie.

Jeff, Nick and Claudia come to PP

2008-08-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

It was like Welli had dropped into Cambodia for the weekend, I know we pop up to AK like that but it was all a bit surreal.

Happily surreal i must say, there is nothing like sitting having a yarn with mates in a very different setting. (Picture Welli, but with outdoor dining/drinking, warm breeze and relaxed atmosphere)

Hopefully i fullfilled my role (self-appointed) as Cambodia's roving Ambassador to Welli!

Ably assisted by May and her sister Mom the guys were shown around the sights of Phnom Penh and assisted in making purchases, interacting with the locals and generally enjoying themselves.

Highlights were Jeff laden with purchases moving off to haggle without May's assistence (the lady looked over at May and smiled that "gotcha" smile)

Our after dinner walk along the lovely river boulevard that saw a cpl of Khmer boys larking on a moto crash into a food vender (what happened next we didnt stay to see!) and the remains of a rock throwing battle between a group of Khmer lads. All very unusual and as it is said here very Lop lop possibly even Scoot scoot (yes it has been spelt phonetically)

All in all a great cpl of days, the house is quiet now they've all gone. Hope to see more of them soon

Slideshow hints

2008-08-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

if you click on the slides, it should open up my public photo album in Picasa (you might want to download Picasa, its free and is a good way of keeping all of your photos online in order)
I am currently captioning them all so hopefully this will be done today.
Monday i will upload the new photos from this weekend with jeff and May/Me exploring Phnom Penh
Enjoy
Matt

Doh! I forgot about my trip home!

2008-08-13T23:26:00.001-07:00

Ok, going home.............

It was kinda strange, i was really amped to be seeing my family again but the country felt less like home than i thought it would.

I saw some good mates which is always fun, but to be honest i was just as happy hanging out at their places and chatting as i was going öut.

It was being home and talking with my family and sister and her boys that made the trip so special.

It was a short trip and i should have stayed for longer but i was wanting to get back to Cambodia and see May (yes, i am much happier when im with someone who cares about me, go figure!)

Highlights?

Seeing the faces of people close to me, when they realised it was me walking through the airport door.

Eating home cooked food from NZild

Seeing my Nephews, and realising they are growing up well fast, and into pretty cool kids.

Knowing that i can come back to NZ and many of the things i love about it will still be here, even if the people might move on

Cheese, yes thats right eating good cheese is a god given kiwi right (i miss it over here, its here but i cant afford it, oh and its French)

Takeaways for a day (yes im guilty)

TV channels all in the language i speak, i miss the history channel (and yes im a geek)

Things that came to me while i was back;

NZ is often a dark and drab place (come on people stop wearing BLUE/BLACK/GREY) and for the cynical amongst you yes i do realise im wearing all of those colours in the pic above!

Despite the cost of living going up and up NZ is still a pretty good place to live

Public health is a good thing, it has huge shortcomings but as a safety net it is vital

I love watching the AB's play (being overseas makes singing the anthem a bit more important!

I want to come and tour NZ, ive never seen Queenstown! or the West Coast and yet ive been to Sapa, seen Haolong Bay, gone snorkelling in the gulf of Thailand and swum in the Mekong.

I want to find a way to do all the things i perhaps should have done in my late 20's early 30's ( a dollar short and an hour late as a moto to live by aint so good)

I owned more shoes and Tshirts than any human being ever needed, and yet it was the samples of Hilltribe cloth that i bought in Laos that mean more to me now

So that is my recollections on NZ, not much really. It was lovely being back and i intend to go back and visit my homeland properly.

Kia ora katoa

Got to get a J.O.B.......you know the rest

2008-08-12T22:40:00.000-07:00

Fulltime work you say?

It had to happen, so im now the IT teacher in an International school in Cambodia.

Nisc is a school of about 320 kids ranging from 3 to 18 years. It serves the expat and rich khmer communities.

My room has 25 computers running Windows Vista, a data projector and two functioning UPS supplies...... what that means is that when the garment factories down the road from us come back online after lunch there are rolling power outages, and without a UPS for each computer the kids lose all their work!

Wicked.

The politics about replacing these vital pieces of equipment and the ongoing battle to upgrade our power/internet supply is part and parcel of working and living in Cambodia.

So Im teaching IT to kids..... no problems there you would think?!

Well, its not that simple, my classes can be 24 - 11 year olds or 15- 3 year olds.

15 - 3 year olds is like herding cats, between the cacophinic calls of TEACHERTEACHERTEACHERTEACHERTEACHER to the crying children who have got scared by either A) windows crashing, B) the chair moving C) Their picture looking strange and are now crying inconsolably its one exciting teaching block!

Payday is a forthnight away so im living on scraps and looking at advancing some pay to see the week out (ahhh, its a cushy life as an expat! unlike the new teachers who get 500$ a month towards their living costs i as a "local hire"get nada) picture me darkly muttering that last line and you have the scene.

If i sound like im whining, im not just venting.

I will try out the slidesow gadget on the side of my blog to add more pics to explain why i choose to live and work in Cambodia.

The 3P's
The people
The place
The partner

I hope the sms sender works and if you like my blog you txt me any ideas.

Final thought for the blog

(Ahh the interweb, what doesnt it know? it certainly answered all of my questions about wang enhancement) courtesy of Homer ( no not the Iliad guy, the other one!) lol

Dont call it a comeback!

2008-06-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry to quote LL Cool J but i realised that i havent been on my blog for wayyyyyy too long!

So whats been happening since Vietnam? hmmm well the short answer is: Went to cambodia again, left to go to the UK to watch NZ win the world cup (news flash, we got done by the French in Wales , with me watching from the halfway line!)disgruntled by the loss and the general malaise of London i cashed in my ticket home and came back to Cambodia.

Arriving back i spent some time sorting out what i was actually going to do here and started applying for jobs. Leon my mate from NZ via Dubai came for Xmas.....lol very funny time

NEWS FLASH: Teaching "English" to a class of 35 kids using an American style system is soul destroying.
I began to work part time at ISPP and Northbridge, two schools that have a more Kiwi approach to learning.

I moved into one apartment which was cheap $230 a mth (US) but we lost power twice a day for about 6-7 hours, in super hot Cambodia that became a drag.
Moved again to a really nice 3rd floor apartment near the riverside (with real river views too!) its $400 a month but worth it as the power is 24/7.
I got a full time job as an IT teacher teaching Elementary students (basically trying to get teachers here to see IT as being useful to integrate learning....blah blah blah you know how i feel about IT!! :-)

Went to Bangkok to get my Visa renewed, had fun, see pics

So now im employed, have a very nice partner and am looking forward to going home for a few weeks to see my family in June!

OK, your now up to speed with my life, i will try and upload some pics to make this rather boring list of stuff more exciting.
Thanks for looking in and hopefully the next few months will be interesting as the rainy season hits full bore and i report on my trip to NZ.

another short vid

2007-10-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

video from "the game"

2007-10-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

More vids from the day

2007-10-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

more vids from the day

2007-10-07T16:54:00.000-07:00

video from before and durinfg the

2007-10-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

Quarter finals

2007-10-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

The big part of coming to London in Oct was to see the All Blacks hopefully bring home the World Cup.
Not since 1987 had we managed to do it, and this year looked like the time.
I went to Cardiff and met up with Zane, we had a great beginning to the day as we watched the brits defeat the Aussies (working on the assumption that playing Aussie in the Semi was harder than the Brits, you know what they say about making assumptions...... you make an ass out of u and mption)

The city was incredibly filled with thousands of French and Kiwi supporters all making noise and chanting, the streets closed to traffic as the punters all made there way towards the Millenium Stadium.
I had always thought the Caketin was well placed for the Wellington public to access, but the stadium in Cardiff is superb, it is an easy walk from almost any part of the city and is amazing to sit in.
The atmosphere and noise inside the stadium was incredible. `the roof fully closes and the sound reverberates back and forth.

I was sitting almost at the halfway, about two metres from the all black subs! Surrounded by crazy French chanting "Alle le Bleu"
The game is a blur, you watched the action almost like it was on super slo motion, the unravelling of the plan, the missed tackles, the mistakes. It was as if it didnt matter what the AB's tried nothing could deny the French today.
In the end a very sad end to the World Cup for our team, a sad evening in Wales on what should have been a step towards something greater.

Now to support anyone against England!!!!!

How many days has it been?

2007-10-02T01:39:00.000-07:00

I can only say sorry if you have been to this site over the last month hoping to hear/see where ive been next.
Im not going to bore you with the reasons why i havent updated it but i will give a precis of what has gone on.
Phew
Since Sept 9th
I stayed in PP until the 14th Sept (leaving was much harder than i had thought it would be and Cambodia is very present inmy thinking each day)
I arrived in Bangkok on the 15thg after a crazy 13hr ride on a clapped out bus! (you would have assumed after travelling all over SE Asia for nearly six months i would have understood the difficulties in bussing from PP to Bangkok, but no!)
The flight which was available $100 compared to the bus$15 seemed any easy choice at the end of travelling, but..... the flight took 40 minutes! something i didnt think to hard over! Doh!
With no small bills (in the provinces $20 US is a note that causes problems when you try to but water and food!)
So i was on a bus for too many hours, tired and sore as we rolled into Bangkok in the middle of a tropical monsoon.
Spent 4 days in Bangkok
Have to say i enjoyed the city more this time (culture shock seems to have wiped me out when i arrived here at the start of my trip!)
Bartered for clothes, got staunch with a tuktuk as he tried to rip me off,it ws all fun as i approached the next part of my trip....So on the 18th i left and caught a longhaul flight to `london........and the World Cup

Its a photo of me!

2007-09-07T03:03:00.001-07:00

Meeting the real Cambodia

2007-09-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

Went with my friend to visit her family, her mother lives in Phnom Penh with the extended family, her father stays in the family village in Kompong Khan Province working on their fields.

The difference between the rich and the poor in Cambodia is at times really hard to deal with, to visit the family we took a Tuktuk (motorbike taxi that has a covered trailer on the back) down one of the main roads in Phnom Penh, we drove down a dirt rode for a cpl of minutes then turned down an old railroad line, the rail isnt used anymore so families have built shanty towns along the tracks. (the buildings are really basic, but because they are on public land the families can live there. These families couldnt afford to live in a city apartment.)

I was welcomed in and met both her son and his cousins, the kids were really excited to have a visitor with a camera and had fun posing for pics all around the house.

The hospitality was lovely but couldnt hide the fact that poverty was pretty close to the surface. The water to drink has to be boiled (there isnt running water) and the ice slabs used to cool it is sold by a guy who delivers them on the back of a cart. We shared the glasses that they had as we ate a meal of beef soup, cockles (collected from the local river which is incredibly polluted), frogs deep fried and rice.

The reason we had come to visit was to give David, Amum's son a present. He had been asking for a Kong (bike) for a long time and so we bought one at the local store. The look on his face as he saw it was fantastic. He rode around the inside of the main room with his cousin jumping on and off the back (the area out the front of the house is too bumpy to ride on)

We took the camera down to the local photoshop and blew up 10 of the pics into A4 colour images for $15 (believe me, there is a crazy difference in price between NZ and here!)

We then went to the local Khmer market and got some wooden frames which we took back to the house and sat with the family as they all put the pictures into frames. Each kid had at least one photo of themselves.

I know how much the kids at school used to love seeing themselves in video or photo and they were from a culture rich in media, the look on the Khmer kids faces as they carried a big portrait of themselves around was very very rewarding.

So Cambodia again!

2007-08-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

Got into Phnom Penh a very tired boy (picked up the nastiest snot virus in Saigon, tmi but hey)
Met a Cambodian friend who i first saw last time I was here in Cambodia and after talking for a while i found out she had not seen the temples at Angkor, so I've now been twice to Angkor Wat and to tell the truth i could go again, they are so amazing.
I have another few days left in Cambodia before heading off to Nthn Thailand for a week or two and the this part of my trip is over!? eek
Off to the UK for a cpl of games in the world cup and then head down and saving /working like crazy.
I will do another update in a few hours but its time to go have brekkie and hope the rain finally stops (im not sure why but really rainy weather at the beach just seems so pointless)
Great.... the pics i wanted to upload arnt. well that seals it.
See you all later

Well, i was having a look on YouTube and ...

2007-08-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

the ride across

2007-08-09T03:27:00.000-07:00

This is what im talking about!

2007-08-09T03:23:00.000-07:00

Funny, funny things were happening at the Theme Park, from the Mickey Mouse like greeter to the rocks playing music, to the empty ammusement arcade. I did feel a bit like i was the odd one out for most of the day.

The ride to the ride!

2007-08-09T03:22:00.001-07:00

Getting to the fair

2007-08-09T03:18:00.000-07:00

The computer im using has crashed 4 times as i have tried uploading images and video, so im getting a bit twitchy! lol
Im now doing only one thing at a time on it (so it doesnt have anymore tantys)
The next video is of the cable car ride to the island of Vin peal (advertising name only) it is the worlds longest cable car at over 4 kms and about 80 metres high.
It was quite a ride out and one i wouldnt be keen on in a storm!

Fun Fair in Vin Pearl Land

2007-08-09T02:45:00.001-07:00

Hmm, out of order Hoi An, Nha Trang and Dalat

2007-08-09T02:33:00.000-07:00

The following few posts will be out of order for the simple reason that im uploading images and video out of sequence!( Im bidding online in the final minutes of an auction for two tickets to the 1/4 finals in the world cup so im not totally focussed.
lol

Have been travelling down the coast of Vietnam from Hue to Hoi An to Nha Trand then inland to Dalat (where it is chilly as hell and rainy)

First stop was Hoi An (you here this town talked about all over Asia as the place to get clothes made for you.
So..... Matt went to town, i tried to be sensible but the costs were just crazy and the people are very cool to deal with, the city is tiny with little cobbled streets and yummy seafood restaurants all over the place YUMM
so what did i get?

A Navy Blue suit (Italian cashmere wool)
A charcoal gray pinstriped suit
A casual jacket
5 business shirts
1 military shirt
1 pair brown suede shoes
1 pair black leather chelsea boots
1 pair black leather business shoes

It seems a lot when you add it up like that!

lol

No pics sorry, i packed up and shipped it all to the UK.

another video? or same same.

2007-07-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

Another video you say?

2007-07-30T06:14:00.001-07:00

this could be a repeat, im multi tasking doh!

2007-07-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

DMZ

2007-07-30T05:48:00.001-07:00

Im not posting all my pics tonite as im hungry and want to go find a dinner!

LOL just being truthful.

You could see over the whole district from here

I went to Dong Ha this morning which is the last town in the south before the DMZ,from there i went to visit some of the old fire bases that the Americans used and also visited one of the many sad cemeteries that dot the countryside here from the war.

I also went over to the North to go into the tunnels that were constructed from 1967-1972 to keep the town of Vinh Moc safe during the constant bombing that occured as the US tried to keep the DMZ clear of Viet Cong.

The tunnels were amazing, deep (up to 4 stories underground!) all made by hand and they stayed completely hidden from the US for the entire war!

They were next to the ocean and i can only imagine what it must have been like to be stuck in them for days on end as the surf pounded gently against the sandy beach only metres from your place of hiding.

lol, ive forgotten what this is!

2007-07-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

Pagodas in Hue

2007-07-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Went for a motor tour of Hue, visited several temples and watched the novice monks learning to do calligraphy.

It was surreal to see them practicing while a million tourists (mostly asian) watched, took photos and generally made the peace and quiet of the temple fade into the background.

The haircuts were interesting, the atmosphere at some of the more distant temples was just beautiful.

Nothing beats the tranquility of the trees, ponds and sound of chanting that you find in some of the temples, hopefully the video i took conveys some of it.

Im getting better at being able to do "all the right things' when in a temple, youi watch and follow most of the time, although the folding your feet under you is still quite hard (old bones i think)

Some of the pagodas are amazing, untouched from any of the wars that Vietnam suffered, others were flattened.

Last of the Rowing!

2007-07-29T03:15:00.000-07:00

Ninh Binh part 2

2007-07-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Rowing for Gold

2007-07-29T03:06:00.001-07:00

Ninh Binh

2007-07-29T02:43:00.000-07:00

Stayed in Ninh Binh for a couple of days, went to the Halong Bay of the Central plains,.
Was shown around an amazing landscape of likestone/Karst cliffs and rivers by a lady rowing with her feet!

It was a surreal thing to watch, as she did and eggbeater kind of motion and propelled us through the water.

I will upload some video of it soon!

The river goes through 3 or 4 limestone caves that have been cut out of the rock by the water!

There are always the ladies in sampans selling you a coke or fruit or anything you can think of (imagine your local dairy/supermarket on a small boat) very useful at times

Most of the people on the river were Vietnamese as it is the summer holiday season, so i stood out like a sore thumb

Along the shore there were rice paddies and farmers working hard to make a very poor living. I think many people in Vietnam are at this level (just getting by and no more, there are certainly a wealthy middle class but the poor are a majority.

As we came around a corner i saw two young boys neck deep in the muddy water, with a floating basket attached to their hats, they were hunting for the tini snails that are all over the paddies and rivers and are roasted with spices and sold on the street, alot of hard work for a very little $, but i think this is how it is.

hmmm, will this work?

2007-07-22T04:08:00.001-07:00

After the final penalty

2007-07-22T04:06:00.001-07:00

Aussies before the game part 2

2007-07-22T04:05:00.001-07:00

Aussies in full cry ......before the game

2007-07-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

A good day at the Office

2007-07-22T03:36:00.000-07:00

Back in Hanoi

Arrived in time to get a place to stay, get some lunch and watch the Kiwis beat the Ausies in an Irish bar packed with Socceroo supporters!

A very sweet experience.

Give them their due, they were a very humourous group and their massed drunken singing would have made any "true Blue ocker" proud

I then followed them on a hair raising moto drive thru the streets of Hanoi to the Olympic stadium to

watch the Japn vs Aussie quarter final. A strange feeling knowing that most of the crowd assumed you were an Ocker (kind of felt like i should be wearing the silver fern somewhere)

The game was so-so, but the penalty shoot out was a thing of beauty, seeing the aussie boys bottle it was enough to make the brits an i sing out loud.

The police seemed more into the game than into policing but hey, who cared.

Today, went for a wander through the city and saw that the last Harry Potter book had just been released.... so forked out an immense ammount of cash and have just started it (yes i know, i should be still reading it but the free internet here made me put it down and come downstairs..all 6 floors of them)

Gulity admission no 1:

Walked past my first fast food outlet today and crumbled like an Italian backline, the photo is of my KFC lunch (i cant lie, it was same same but same) left me feeling greasy and blah but was YUMMY at the time. Doh

Not so gulilty admission no 1:

Walked past a 100% Kiwi ice cream shop and felt all warm and funny (ive so gotta get some pineapple lumps!) lol

in case it didnmt load b4

2007-07-20T04:58:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/v/ss95I7h7-7E"> http://www.youtube.com/v/ss95I7h7-7E" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350">

Halong Bay Pics

2007-07-20T04:51:00.000-07:00

The following pics are from the trip into Halong Bay
The Boat was chartered for $60 between 4 of us (im not sure how they make money on that!!)
We had a lovely seafood lunch and swam, kayaked and generally had a blast on the water from 9am till 5.30.
A very tiring day but rewarding.
Im off to have some fresh king Prawns and go to bed in a very comfy (but expensive bed for the night)
:)

it seems the gods have decided not to let me upload pics (so i will do it in Hanoi)
Sorry

Thats gotta smart! Part 2

2007-07-20T04:50:00.003-07:00

Thats gotta smart! Part 2

2007-07-20T04:50:00.001-07:00

Thats gotta smart!

2007-07-20T04:49:00.001-07:00

Some more video from Hanoi Street Party

2007-07-20T04:47:00.001-07:00

Halong Bay Video 2

2007-07-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC9r7J1AxVM

Halong Bay

2007-07-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

Some Video from todays trip into Halong Bay.
Im burnt, tired from swimming but enjoyed every last second!
For once the hype was all true, what a fantastic place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ls1jKKo__A

Thats gotta smart part 2 (watch part 1 first)

2007-07-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

The joys of IT

2007-07-17T06:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, if i had a rage meter it would have blown in the last hour and a half!
Sitting in an internet cafe in Cat ba witha selection of computers that all have different illnesses, some wont see a memory card but will open blogger, others open blogger but not you tube, others just take a day and a half to then tell you they cant do anything, its a million degrees and becaiuse its Vietnam holidays im surrounded by kids playing Counter strike, which for some odd reason goes perfectly!?
I may join them and shoot things for an hour (i'd get more done!)

Here is a moment of pain but also humour from last nights celebration in the inner city of Hanoi.
Watch for the guy standing on his mates motorbike playing the trumpet for charge!

Thats gotta smart

2007-07-17T06:28:00.001-07:00

Vietnam wins even when they lose!

2007-07-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Market colours

2007-07-16T04:45:00.000-07:00

Just incase you thought i'd let mself go completely.....

Here is my new haircut (done under sign language in a back street in Hanoi)

And yes those are "real" Ray Bans. lol

The rest of the pics are from the local food market.

The amount of dried goods on sale is just huge ( i wonder what a supermarket would be like to see now)

From huge pieces of Cinnamon, to dried seafood (shudder)

To a multitude of rice, all in huge whicker baskets.

Buying Pressies in Hanoi

2007-07-16T04:29:00.000-07:00

Found a street full of Stamp makers (in the old quarter the streets traditionally had one occupation or craft in them, and this continues today)

Made a deal with the guy (read i got stung when i thought i was showing my stunning bargaining skills-not)

The speed with which he made the stamps was amazing (his knuckles showed the signs that he wasnt always as fast or as skilled!)

Joe and Nate have a stamp each on the way, as does Yvonne (got to the international post office today to send 3 parcels across the world)

His work area was a doorway, his desk one of the many multi use plastic seats that make you bend like a contortionist each time you sit at one!

Hanoi Images

2007-07-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

I thought it looked too ordered to be graffitti, Its the names and numbers of plasterers on some of the cities plastered walls.

One of the many Cyclos that play their way around the Old Quarter, i havent been on one yet (not sure if its a "you look like the Sahib being taken on a ride to see the natives" sort of thing or i just dont dig slow moving transport)

A giant fruit at the temple, like a massive bright green orange!?

hehe, i got to watch the All Blacks on the tele in my room! (not the best game but.... it lines up next week for a cracker!)

Fruit Boy

2007-07-15T20:10:00.002-07:00

More Hanoi vids

2007-07-15T20:10:00.001-07:00

Hanoi Pagoda visit

2007-07-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Bumping into the French guy and his Vietnamese partner in Sa Pa was one thing, bumping into them, in Hanoi quite another!

They took me to see her village and the beautiful Pagoda there

The place was very peaceful and yet different to the temples i have visited in Laos and Cambodia (a case of Same same but different!)

We gave offerings in the temple and i followed his lead as best i could, it seemed to make sense and no-one gave us a second look which was a relief.

After the visit i caught a cpl of buses back into the city (feeling very clever and "like a local" i didnt think anything of the crush around me as rush hour caught me. Unfortuantely i must have seemed like any easy target because the cellphone in my front pocket got taken without me feeling a thing :(

I have emailed Vodaphone but strangely they havent rushed back a reply!? lol

Electric storm Hanoi

2007-07-15T19:48:00.001-07:00

Hanoi

2007-07-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Some of the posters from the Propoganda Store

My last day in Hanoi

Im going to be making my own way to Halong Bay (No tours for me, im not sure why the "road less travelled" seems better than the "road led by tour guides")

I will upload some video taken in Hanoi

So where to begin?!

2007-07-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time!

My scars are healing (cut the stitches out myself in Dien Bien Phu), not as rugged as it sounds.

Crossed over the border from Laos which was slightly surreal (misty mountains, erie quiet, friendly Lao, Super Tense Vietnamese border guards

The visit to DBP was awesome, a very quiet town with a fairly interesting history. Met lots of locals, bought the T-shirt, etc etc

One of the knocked out tanks from the battle at Dien Bien phu

So after a few days there i travelled down to Sapa

Sapa is a hill town that looks like something out out of the Alps

It is populated by a heap of hill tribes who come to the town to sell their cloting, jewellery, and meet the tourists.

The first you usually meet are the Hmong, the Black Hmong are the most forward, the kids (usually girls in their early teens come up and give you grief unless you buy one of their trinkets)

It is a very funny experience watching new tourists blown away by these kids but not so funny if they set their sights on you!

The most ornate are the Red Dao (pronounced Zao), the headresses are amazing and the whole town square is filled with up to 6 tribes all dressed traditionally (the funny thing is t see the younger kids at the end of the day, they are often changed into modern clothes)

Ok, you might be asking why these images look kinda like i went to Google and typed in Sapa, well my clever viewers it is because i did!

Having no camera other than my phone meant my photo memories of the last month hhavent been great, but wait it gets worse!

All te images, videos etc that i did have on my phone are now the property of the person who pick pocketed me in Hanoi today! Oh yeah!!

It was on a crowded bus, blah blah blah, never felt a thing.

Im gutted cos of the pics ive lost but....... and now having to email Vodaphone to see just how they might "help" a loyal customer in these circumstances.

You can just see it now, i have to go to the local police, get a form they cant read to then be scanned or mailed! to NZ, damn thieves.

So, to sum up.

Back streets Hanoi- The Old Quarter

Im happy in Hanoi, i have got a new camera! (evidence to follow) my visa is being sorted and i will soon be off to Halong Bay, oh and i met a French man who has marred a Vietnamese girl who i saw in Sapa in the street today and i went to visit his new home village, very cool.

So now here are the pics i took today, it feels weird having a camera again but it is great to be collecting images.

Images from the Military Museum

If it feels weird seeing a huey in Hanoi, try seeing it with a class of Vietnamese kids (yep it was field trip day today!)

I had a giggle watching the kids do what kids do, play tag on the machines, chat to each other during the video sessions etc etc (same same but same)

The long arm of the law doesnt allow Dad and Junior to climb the trees for a photo op in Hanoi!

I will post more pics tomorrow, im off to email Voadfone now :(

Plain of Jars

2007-06-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

The landscape of Laos constantly takes your breath away. From hillside villages shrouded in mist to lowlands pounded into submission by thousands of high explosives (at one time there was a US airstrike in Laos every 8 mins, this went on for close to 9 years!)

The Plain of Jars certainly showed the evidence of 30 years of fighting, the remains of trenches and bomb craters was still fresh, as were the warning signs

The role of NZaid was good to see, the warning signs more effective than any "Keep of the grass"' signs!

Once through the entrance you come across this lovely area of rolling hills, very little tree life is there (a big difference from much of Laos) and studded all over the landscape are theses large stone Urns.

They were carved from solid stone and the size of some beggers belief (the reason for them is shrouded in folklore and beliefs range from Funeral functionaries to "godlike" creations

The lids on some suggest that storage of something precious may have been part of their function.

The surreal mixing of ancient art and mans detritus of war constantly clashed, many of the jars had been used as part of fighting trenches that could still be seen, along with huge craters from the many American B52 Arclight strikes that obliterated so much of the province.

The amount of UXO in the area is astounding, every house seems to have airplane drop tanks or defused shells as gate posts, while rusty AK47 parts and 'bomblets" part of the US cluster bombs are still found/killing people today.

I will miss this area, it has a battered feel to it, but people are just getting on with their lives. I may have a souvenir of my stay here to show when i get back.

;-)

Why did the Lao chicken cross the road?

2007-06-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

To turn our motorbike journey to the historic plain of jars into something else entirely. Animals and stray objects are a fairly frequent obstacle on any asian road but today they got me.
As im writing this im not too badly bashed up, i was driving and Rosie was on the back taking pics, we braked and had to swerve to miss a chicken and bang we were on the ground sliding. i tried to stay on top of the bike but the combined weight of rosie and me meant we went over the handlebars.
My beautiful and hiterto untouched face now has a series of scars in new places, the first being my right eyebrow and the second being my right lip, my elbows and knees are scrapped up pretty good but in reality we were lucky, Rosie thank god has only a broken camera and a knuckle scrape.
We got the bike going and bleeding drove back to a Lao military hospital that we had seen earlier, much excitement from the staff and they patched me up pretty well.
I made sure i was staunch so the Lao couldnt tell stories about the wimpy falang!
I have a host of drugs to take to stop infection and i will take it easy over the next week (i know i will feel a whole lot worse tomorrow! the aching rib is sure to make sleep interesting)
We are still planning to leave to go Nth towards the border with Vietnam im going to visit Dien Bien Phu (what a history geek!)
I will send in a claim form for the damages and medical costs (kinda ate a chunk of the Kip i had for this part of the trip but cant be helped)
Not a great end to what had been a very cool time here in Phonsavan (last nite we met a group of guitar playing Lao guys who showed us how Lao party, then we gatecrashed a party in a restaurant and had fun dancing with an assortment of Lao (many ages and genders) to the stirring vocals and keyboard of the Lao "wedding singer". Very cultural indeed.
I will post some pics and stuff on the blog soon (im starting to ache all over now, so its off to bed and rest for the night, off to the early morning bus tomorrow!)

More pics from tubing

2007-06-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

Not having your own camera is a pain but....