Email Chris - she would
like to know what you think of her notes and photos
siem reap - November 26, 2006
Dear All
The trip to Battambang was followed by 2 days in Siem Reap. I'm still
not tired of those temples it seems. This time I cycled around the main
temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, starting out very early in the morning
to avoid the heat.
The early morning was just beautiful and the long avenues
of trees leading to the temples have a very special atmosphere. I mainly
visited smaller temples that I'd not been to before, but just couldn't
resist going into Angkor Wat again - it is just so wonderful. The second
day was a long motorbike trip to some of the more outlying sites. The highlight
was a place where there are carvings in and alongside a riverbed. To get
there it's a 40 minute walk through the jungle - just a track with markers
on the trees, like a bush track in NZ. Very few people and really lovely.
Getting to the start of the track, the last half hour or so on the bike
was on a red dirt "dancing road" ( i.e. lots of ups and downs and potholes)
I returned to Phnom Penh in time for the annual water festival. Three
days of serious dragon boat races on the river and at night fireworks and
lighted barges on the river.
Around 2 million people (!!) visit Phnom Penh
for this festival, so roads near the river are closed to traffice and there
are extra police and army everywhere.
Even my part of town, which is fairly
quiet, was really busy over these few days. Amanda hosted a great afternoon
and evening at her flat with its view of the river, so we were able to
sit in comfort and watch the action.
As if 3 nights of fireworks were not enough, 3 days later was Independence
Day (from the French) and 2 more nights of fireworks. The last night was
last Saturday and a group of us (again organised by Amanda) were on a boat
on the river and managed to moor just below the launch site for the fireworks.
We had a spectacular view of everything and were so close that fireworks
debris was falling on the boat.
Since then I have been back at work - taking a cataloguing class with
20 librarians from different libraries in the mornings, and at the National
Library in the afternoons. The teaching has been really satisfying - a very
relaxed group who are good at asking questions and seem to work together
very well. I'm fortunate to have a former National Librarian as a translator
and co-teacher. I have 1 more week of teaching and then will be back at the
Library full-time.
Another major treat came last night. A benefit event that started with
a recital by a young Australian pianist, Simon Tedeschi. He played mainly
solos, but also accompanied a very good local tenor, an older musician palying
a traditional stringed instrument and played a piano duet with a very nervous
young music student. The music was a delight - mainly classical, but also
some classic jazz, Fats Waller, Dave Brubeck. The venue was the Raffles Le
Royal hotel and the recital was followed by drinks and a superb dinner -
by far the best European food I've had here. I shared a table with Belinda
and some of her colleagues and had a really lovely evening. Putting some
of last year's tax return to good use! All in the cause of two organisations
that work with street kids here.
It's now Sunday morning and I'm just back from my yoga class and feeling
very relaxed.
Love to you all
Chris
Battambang trip - Monday, November 13, 2006
Dear All
The Battambang trip was a real highlight. Relaxing bus trip with
time to stroll around the town checking out old French buildings and
one lovely pagoda before repairing to a bar by the river (there's
always one if you look hard enough!) for our evening drinks. As we'd
travelled on different days our first group get-together was dinner in
a French restaurant in a beautifully restored colonial villa. I can
recommend the chocolate mousse.
The next day was simply wonderful. The 6 of us with drivers and
motorbikes set out on an expedition in the countryside. We travelled on
small roads through vivid green rice fields and small villages to our
first 'sight' a hill with a number of temples at the top. We spent a
lot of time here. ONe of the drivers was our guide and we walked up a
nice easy pathto the top and looked at temples, the view across the
plains and some rather chilling caves that were used by the Khmer Rouge
as 'Killing Caves' The whole area was very busy as it was a special day
for making donations to the main temple. Down from there it was time
for lunch - accompanied by a great selection of classic elephant jokes
from one of the drivers. These guys were just so nice. A number spoke
good English, they were all really friendly and a lot of fun & took
turns being guides at the various stops along the way. They were the
ones to make the day so special. Second stop was another temple - also
on top of a hill and much older than our first stop - around 12th
century. a much quieter place and very beautiful. After a brief stop to
see some fruit bats, we fetched up at Cambodia's only grape winery. The
tropics are not exactly kind to grapes, but these people are really
making a serious go of winemaking. We tasted a rose and a blended
red, and bought bottles of the rose to take back.
The final treat for the day was the bamboo train - or rather
trains as with 12 people and 6 motorbikes we needed 2 trains. They are
low bamboo platforms on wheels powered by what looks like a motormower
engine and they run on the normal railway line. There are only about 3
trains a week and the bamboo trains can be disassembled in a few
minutes so there's only a remote possibility of encountering the real
thing. Travelling back to Battambang on these weird 'trains', bumping
alng the rails with a brilliant red sunset over the rice fields was
truly memorable.
There were only 3 of us the next day and we did another motorbike
tour looking at noodle-making, spring roll wrapper making, fishpaste
(very smelly) and another couple of temples. It was particularly
sobering going to the first temple as the father of one of the drivers
had been killed there by the Khmer Rouge. Sapon was a yer old when his
father died and his mother still lives in the nearby village.It was
strange looking at ponds near rice fields and being told that these
were burial pits for the bodies and the bones were in a building
nearby. While of course you can never forget what has happened here,
this kind of experience still serves as a reminder.
The next day we rather reluctantly left Battambang for the boat
trip to Siem Reap. The boat was old and slow and I did most of the trip
on the roof - used my umbrella when it got a bit hot. A
3-stage trip. First the river and the boat travelling really slowly to
avoid boats and fishing nets on a very busy stretch of
water. After 2 hours or so we were into a general wetland/flooded
area - hard to tell where the channel was, water and the tops of
trees for miles. The occasional floating village, quite few water
birds, a group of monkeys at one stage. That was most of the
trip and only for the final hour did we cross the Great lake
itself - open water and very calm. The arrival at the port was
mayhem. The boat was mobbed by tuktuk drivers. Fortunately one of
our drivers in Battambang had phoned ahead so there was a guy with a
sign with my name on it to meet us and take us into Siem
Reap.
More on the rest of the trip and the Water Festival next time.
Love to you all
Chris
elephant bar & more on food, holidays as usual
Dear All
Saturday morning and shortly I'm heading out for minor shopping
and other errands. I've been pretty busy in the last week or so and it
feels as if the "season" has started again in Phnom Penh. Last weekend
the Phnom Penh Players put on Dario Fo's The Virtuous Burglar - a very
funny play that was really well done. The Dutch guy playing an Italian
smoothie was hilarious - all gold chains, chest and swagger. There was
also a VSA rugby gathering to watch the Wellington-Waikato game - a bit
sad for Wellington. Saturday night I went to see The Battery Dance
Company (from New York). They performed in a small-ish riverside
theatre - the king was in the centre front special seat and I was up
the back (still not at all far from the stage - in my US50 cent seat.
It was marvellous.
Sunday I went out for breakfast with an Australian librarian, then
bumped into Chris and Gerald of VSA and shortly after that Amanda
dropped by so breakfast stretched through most of the morning.
Monday Belinda returned from Australi and the welcome drink of
choice was a pineapple daiquiri (or 2) at Khmer Surin - a restaurant
near my house. Tuesday another VSA dinner - this time with 2 members of
the VSA Council in town. A very pleasant evening at a restaurant owned
by a returned NZ Cambodian. Thursday I tried a new yoga class which was
just great - so one of today's errands is to buy a yoga mat.Last
night went out with Belinda and a friend of hers for gin fizzes at the
Elephant Bar, followed by dinner at Romdeng - another great Khmer
restaurant.
Still on food - I visited my "other library" last Wednesday and
Yim Mory cooked lunch for us. Bitter melon stuffed with minced pork and
a second dish - beef cooked in caramelized palm sugar - yum - I have a
recipe and will try to make it soon.
Tomorrow I head off on yet another holiday. This time there are 6
of us going to Battambang for 3 days. All Anzacs and 4 of us linked to
VSA. Then Sue and I will go on to Siem Reap for 3 days before returning
to Phnom Penh for the Water Festival. Major dragon boat races - more on
that next time.
Enjoy your week
Love
Chris
daaleng - 15 october 2006
Dear All
At my favourite iced coffee shop in the Russian Market. One of the booksellers
has just come up to say hello. I have yet to buy anything from him, but he
is always friendly, cheerful and hopeful, and today we had coffee together.
A few months ago the thought of eating here would have appalled me, but today
I was peckish and had no problem ordering a plate of rice, pork, pickled vegetables
and a chili sauce on the side.
I know it seems that all I do is "daaleng" - the Cambodian word for wandering
around having a good time, but yes, I do actually have a job.
The library is kind of quirky, but a great, and very satisfying place to
work. I enjoy the cataloguers - they're a great mix. Sophy is my main colleague
- she's bright and keen to learn and is my main link with the others in the
team. Sokhar is the head cataloguer - she's very clever and one of the few
Cambodians with a library qualification - hers is from Kiev. She has a great,
cynical sense of humour and fills me in on a lot of gossip!
Chanthy is the
systems librarian. He has been really important in my database work here
and has the best English of the cataloguing team and has been very cheerful
and hugely helpful. Nippona does data entry and speaks only a little English.
Sophy helps translate when we need to talk and we have these hilarious 3-way
conversations in a mixture of khmer and English about the finer details of
catalogue records.
Mr Choeun, a dignified older man with a charming smile,
is the French language cataloguer. I have less to do with him than the others
and again Sophy is the intermediary. Kessera does subject cataloguing and
classification, but is a little shy and understands more English than he
speaks.He is beginning to use online resource more to my great delight. Youn
does book labelling and her little son, about 4, usually comes to work with
her. He can be found curled up asleep on one of the bottom bookshelves or
on her desk, when he's not playing outside. This is a very "family friendly" workplace
and another 4-yr old - Vesna is here everyday. His "job" is to turn off the
aircon at the end of the day.
My work was initially to do with workflows. This means lots of asking people
about their work processes and trying to understand how things worked, then
seeing if there were ways to make things easier and more efficient. Lots of
meetings later, there are some changes that are now part of standard work routines
and working really well, so that's been very satisfying for me. It was also
a great way of getting to know people.
Now I am more concerned with catalogue record content; working with the
cataloguers to give training in the standards they are already using and editing
older records for a French-funded project to produce a printed catalogue of
Cambodian publications.
I'm constantly impressed at how well the cataloguers
do when working with publications in 3 languages and 2 scripts and applying
English subject headings and classification systems that are complex for
native speakers. My struggles with learning khmer script have certainly added
to my respect for my colleagues in their multilingual work environment.
Next week I will be teaching cataloguing to 4 people who aren't cataloguers,
one of them the library director. Vibolla, the director, is very impressive.
She has a great grasp of systems and processes and learns very quickly. She's
also very good at looking ahead in terms of the library's development and
is a great person to work with.
I am lucky in the practical nature of my job here and the willingness of
the people I work with to try new ways of doing things and to be very
clear about what they think will and won't work. There is already quite
a bit that I've done that is simply part of business as usual now and that
is just so satisfying.
Hope you all have a great week
Love
Chris
boats and work (more on food of course) - Monday, October 2, 2006
Dear All
A verandha near the Mekong this time - early-ish and we've just ordered breakfast. "Rush
hour"here seems to consist of 2 cyclists, 3 motorbikes and 10 ducks. I
feel so laid back I may never move again.
It's misty and cool - the last 2 days we've had drizzly rain and the temperature
has really dropped - no need for fans and I''ve even used a shawl on some of
the buses. This whole trip has been sleepy and relaxing - we left the Mekong
and travelled across the Lao coffee growing plateau to the Sekong River, not
far from Vietnam.
Stayed in 2 small towns there where we were the only tourists in town - it
is the low season. In one of these, Attapeu, our dawn chorus was roosters,
ducks, geese and pigs. The travelling was mainly by local buses which are frequent,
cheap and not too crowded. Basically we would go to the main road and wait
for something to drive by and generally they were heading where we wanted to
go.
On the way back from Attapeu to Pakse our bus became a truck and the back
3 or 4 rows of seats were stacked floor to ceiling with sacks of cabbages.
Then a motorcycle and tv set were loaded into the aisle and off we went!
We did some great cycle rides in the countryside - the nicest being a trip
around part of Don Khong Island in the Mekong. Flat, quiet and lots of lovely
paddy fields with low hills (which we didn't have to cycle over) in between.
Stopped to catch some dragon boat practice for the Laos November boat racing.
From Don Khong we also did a boat trip to 2 other islands- one known for its
waterfall and old French railway - the other a backpacker hangout with a shore
lined with restaurants and guesthouses - the latter the most unappealing sight
of the whole trip. The trip back to Phnom Penh was a 12 hour marathon involving
a minivan, ferry, Lao border crossing, another minivan (after a 2 hour wait),
Cambodian border crossing, another ferry, a small & very nice bus and finally
a decrepit minivan.
I'm now back in Phnom Penh and basically housecleaning and organising before
my return to work tomorrow. Friday night I went to a benefit dinner at an Italian
restaurant with Liz and Brian (VSA). There is a restaurant here called Friends
that trains street kids and they are trying to buy their building to avoid
eviction. About 10 restaurants took part in the benefit evening and our choice
of restaurant was great.
Hope you are all thriving in the spring.
Love
Chris
still on the beer - tuesday, september 19, 2006
Dear All
I'm in a hammock on the banks of the Mekong with a bottle of beer
Lao at my elbow. There's been low cloud and rain on and off most of the day
and the river is a muddy reddish brown. There are a few small canoes out on
the water and it's very quiet and pleasantly cool.
We got here at about 1pm after
an interesting trip from Phnom Penh. Started out yesterday at 7.00am with a
9 hour bus trip to Stung Treng, a small town on the Sekong River not far from
the Lao Border. Sounds horrendous but we had front row seats, so heaps of
leg room, the air con was fine and the music not too loud.
I'm beginning to recognise some
of the songs and performers so spent part of the trip helping a10yr old boy
with the English bits of lyrics to some of Cambodia's current popular songs.
The rest stops came at the right time and the food was okay. Most of the way
the landscape was flat, green and wet,but as we got closer to Stung Treng the
road was through recently felled forest so there was a felled strip, still
with plenty of trees,along the road, and denser forest in the background. It
was very beautiful. Stayed the night in a basic but clean hotel in Stung Treng.
It's a tiny town and we figured there were about 4 foreign tourists that night.
This morning we got a boat across the Sekong and then a car and driver to take
us to the Lao border. That took about 1 1/2 hours on a mix of very muddy red
roads with pot holes like swimming pools, and new road with proper seal and
in great condition.
There's a project to improve the road right through and a bridge
across the Sekong and we were coming across bits of it on our trip. The border
posts were in the middle of scrub - very low key and quite relaxing. Our next
stage was to get a bus ticket to a turnoff to Champasak however after waiting
nearly 2 hours everyone (including our ticket seller) realised that the bus
wasn't going to come,so they flagged down a passing car and paid the very nice
driver to take a couple of passengers. Our bags went into the boot alongside
the bag of live frogs and off we went at great speed. It was an excellent road,
a good new car and it took us no time to get to our turnoff.
Then a short tuktuk
ride to the river(Mekong this time) and a tiny boat across and a walk of about
2 km to our gorgeous hotel. Champasak is tiny sleepy and very pretty and on
the banks of the Mekong.The attraction is a temple out of town.It's now Tuesday
and I'm just back from a cycle ride to the temple. We were the first there
this morning and it was just beautiful. It's kind of Angkorean (without going
into too much detail) and on a wonderful site on a hillside and not very restored
so tremendous atmosphere.
Cycled back through the little villages and stopped
for lunch at a place where the phrases at the back of the Lonely Planet were
our sole means of communicating (apart from mime!) Wonderful soup and then
back along the paddy fields to our hotel. Amanda is now resting and I figure
it's time for another stint in the hammock.
Love to you all.
Chris
