Last day in Cambodia

I was very sad yesterday to leave my children, who were very sweet and gave me drawings and notes and little presents like a very flat dried banana. I was sick with a cold on Wednesday so wasn't up to singing and being teacher so had a day off, then the Director called a day's holiday on Thursday for Independence Day, which fell at the weekend of 9/10 Nov, so I was worried that I wouldn't complete all the phonics sounds but managed to do so on Friday. I handed out pens, pencils, erasers, sweets and balloons which seemed to go down well. There is another volunteer due on 4th December so I've left everything ready in case she wants to continue, however, it is not yet decided to which project she will go. Why not, you ask? Well, this is Cambodia.

Maggie from NZ and I decided to go to the free concert at the local Kantha Botha hospital this week. It is part of their ongoing fundraising by Dr Beat Ritchner, a Swiss Pediatrician who has been such a positive force for the health of children here since the 1970s. Have a look at Beatocello.com for an overview of this amazing man's achievements. We got to the concert hall within the hospital which was donated by "a Swiss family" and where I had seen the crowds of parents and children on my way to the orphanage at the start of my stay. (You can see them on the video on the website).

There was a chair on a rug on the stage and, gradually the hall filled up. Then a pleasant young man got up and said that Dr Richner was in Switzerland "but we did not tell you because we wanted to show you our work". How Cambodian, and how could we resist? We both were blown away by how Dr Richner had set it all up - the doctors and staff are all well paid so there is no corruption and all patients are treated for free including free medication and transport if they have to go back for a repeat appointment. This has improved the health of the children here out of all recognition and provides such a great facility both here and in Phnom Penh.

Anyway, today I went for a walk near the Royal Residence where painting and decorating is in progress. When I said to Pisey yesterday "it looks as if the King is due", she said "he's already here - that was the traffic hold up this morning". That will also account for all the trees next to the Residence being trimmed as well, so today, he has the bonfire next to his windows!

Near to the Residence is the big Temple where there were no less than four weddings in progress today. I asked this young couple if I could take their picture as they were being arranged by their photographer into the correct pose, this they were happy with ....

 

Aren't they glorious?

These are some of the 'bridesmaids' from the second wedding in their Sampots. I think it is the type called Lberk which seems to be used for weddings. The one on the left is holding the bride's flowers.

And here are the bride and groom being posed on a lucky white elephant in the temple grounds:

 

 

Sorry it's a bit dark - I need to run it through Photoshop. It is a very bright clear day today with a nice, cooler breeze after some very hot muggy days, cleared by two terrific thunderstorms this week. I then went to the Foreign Correspondents' Club for a coffee as I walked along the river. It's in an old colonial residence and, as you can see, has a lovely (evening) seating area overlooking the river. It has also has foreign correspondents' prices, so is best for an occasional treat.

 

 

As I walked on I saw my favourite bicycle salesman with his awesome stock. I have seen him here before, under the trees at lunchtime.

 

It is so sad that I couldn't take any wicker or straw items into Australia, they are so well made and beautiful.

I was making for the bookshops (second hand) as I realised as I was checking in online for my flight tomorrow, that I had a good nine hour stop over in Kuala Lumpur and wanted something to read. Yes, I've got my Kindle but really prefer to hold a book. Mission accomplished with the Once and Future King that I thought the children might also enjoy when I get to Oz, and essays from the laconic American humorist David Sedaris that their parents might too.

My journey took me down a very sleepy Pub Street which has developed from one small road to a whole district full of bars, restaurants, shops and markets which are hopping most of the night. At the start of the dry season umbrellas were strung along the main streets of this area. They are very pretty but have been getting filled with water during the thunderstorms. This, they cascade on unsuspecting people walking underneath.

 

 

Tonight I've booked to go to dinner at a hotel called the Angkor Victoris which is supposed to have a dancing show in its lovely grounds. However, when I went to book they said "no dancing" but as I went to go the other night when they said there was, and there wasn't, I am keeping my fingers xxxed.

Finally, the humour of tuk tuk drivers:

"Madame, free ride to Old Market. Tip is $1,000".

"Madame, let me take you round the world"

And from to whom I had said "no thank you" "but, Madame, I did not call you"

I've had great fun here. What a complex place.

 

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The school grounds

As the school is adjacent to the Wat where services are held and where the monks live, there is always something going on ... some activity is generated by the school, of course. There has been a big movement to clean up with the children weeding, picking rubbish and cutting down small bushes and shrubs. These have been piled under the trees where there has been at least three aborted attempts set fire to it. The first time, as the children had left all the plastic within the pile, filled the classroom with dense acrid smoke. Eventually one of the teachers sent some boys to put it out by pouring water on it. The second time it puffed away a bit as you can see and then went out. The bigger boys were sent out to reorganise the pile. This morning's attempt sent clouds of white smoke, not quite as acrid but equally nasty, into the classroom so I shut all the windows again and we carried on again in the murk. But when we went out for break, it had gone out again, so I will hold my breath (literally) for tomorrow's effort.

 

These are some of the afternoon children. They have been to school in the morning from 7 am until 11 am when they have their lunch. School is then finished for them for the day unless they decide (themselves) to return at 2 pm in their own clothes for my lesson. You can see why I've a much smaller group in the afternoon of about five advanced and ten starters. This does mean we can do things like True or False where one of the readers will hold up a flash card and say the word. The children will jump to the True or False side of a chalk line on the floor according to what they think to great laughter from all.

Some of the children wear their normal clothes under their school ones, just taking them off when their school session is finished and, like most kids, screwing them up and stuffing them into their backpacks.

Behind the golden stupa is the open area for cremations which happen now and again. I think I'm the only one who notices them.

There have been a number of different celebrations while I have been here - the funerals, Ancestors' remembrances which are obviously very important, New Moon And Water Festival. This is one of the lovely banners which hung for a few days at the edge of the school grounds.

 

 

 

People use the school grounds as a short cut so you get them strolling past or standing at the open door for a while watching what you are doing. They are joined there by a gathering of small children, some of whom end up leaning against the nearest bench and participating so the population of the class fluctuates during the lesson.

And, of course there is the custom that the fruits of the jungle belong to all. So, today I looked up into one of the palm trees next to the school to see a man collecting palm sap. This is boiled down to make palm sugar which is rather nice in very small amounts. I was watching him with Pisey discussing what he was doing when she asked if there would be "safety for this in your country"? I explained our expression Health and Safety gone Mad, while the man shinned down the very tall palm in his T Shirt and shorts with his full bucket of sap tied to his waist. No shoes, no safety equipment, no cherry picker, no one standing by just in case. There must be a middle way for our countries! I didn't have my camera today but here's another example of the free food gathering.

 

This man and his son were harvesting some of the edible water plants at Angkor Thom when I was there last week. I suppose an equivalent for us would be people going into the Serpentine and cutting the water weed to sell on the side of the road for people to feed to their cows.

Back to school. We also had a very tiny kitten with us for the afternoon class - it had got in the way of the football that I hand out at each break time. One of the girls picked it up quite roughly (not a surprise really they aren't at all sentimental about animals), checked it swiftly for injuries and plonked it back amongst the game. I protested and the children took absolutely no notice so Pisey carried it to safety under a tree some way away. It made its way back across the playground, up our steps, past me at the front and under the desks to Pisey to sit on her foot (in safety) before falling asleep. Certainly is the survival of the fittest round here.

 

 

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Cooking and culture

This weekend was my final one in Cambodia so I decided that I would have a good sort out of my room, throwing out toilet rolls that I was collecting for some reason but for which I'd not found a suitable activity; all the bits of drawings the children have given me (I still ended up with some very nice ones) and getting my onward clothes sorted. I did bring a reasonable amount with me as I remember getting so fed up with my only sweatshirt in North Africa and I was only there for three weeks! Not a problem here I've had plenty to choose from.

After this clear up which took ages, on Sat pm I went to do the second part of the cookery course. This was most enjoyable - I made fresh spring rolls, Cambodian curry (not very hot) and Nom Tong Noun, a crispy pancake. The others in my group were from the UK, Canada and USA. As you get to eat what you make in a 'floating' restaurant in the middle of a pond with huge catfish, it made a most enjoyable afternoon with some good company. The group had been travelling through Indochina for five weeks and had had some adventures with flooding in Vietnam including having to be taken from their hotel by boat.

On Sunday Mr J had suggested that I go to the Cambodia Cultural Village which is one of the places that has reopened since the start of November for the main tourist season. The number of visitors around has really hotted up since I arrived which is very good for the local people. I had had conflicting tales about the CCV so I went, not expecting too much.

Well, we got there at about 2pm and went first to the waxworks of Cambodian life which were pretty good - nicely done and presented. There was also a small museum with some stuffed and surprised looking animals. I've been concerned about giving the children the word squirrel as I didn't think they had them here, but here on display was ... the variable squirrel! Just what he was a variation of, I do not know.

We then we walked into an enormous theme park but without the rides. Everything was beautifully laid out round a big lake representing the Tonle Sap - life size representations of ethnic villages; miniature Cambodian cultural landmarks (the Royal Palace, National Museum etc); a replica of a reclining Buddha from the landmark local mountain. Mountains are revered places as it is so flat here.

What there wasn't was people. We walked around this huge area on our own with the occasional distinctive sound of local music to prove that we hadn't walked into some strange sci fi movie. We went to see some gibbons, a couple of deer and a lone wolf in some cages near to some random concrete statues - Tom and Gerry, a superman with no head and some large brightly coloured blobby heads in a play area. I was beginning to wonder why I'd come when Mr J (who had been allowed to come in for free as I'd paid the foreigner price of $15) who had been looking at the schedule said it was time to go to the Cambodian Wedding Ceremony in the Millionaire's house.

And there were the people!

And it was great. The performers, because that's what it's all about, were very good and got the audience involved by picking one or two to participate in each 'play'. We were a mix of Cambodians (that Mr J said were visiting from out of area) plus mainly Asian tourists with very few Europeans, but they managed to find one young Dutchman man to 'marry' the Cambodian girl in the first play. This was thought to be hilarious by the Cambodians. The bridegroom's parents were Chinese tourists much to the amusement of their tour group. As we went through the plays and dances, the audience got the idea more and the participants were hamming it up it to everyone's huge entertainment. Of course, the more they did that ... the more fun we all had.

 

After the wedding, we moved to another arena where Chinese culture was celebrated with some good acrobatics and tumbling - and Chinese dragons that focused on the front bench full of young children, much to their delight.

 

Then we moved to another area to a play that culminated in the Kula people's peacock dance - the Robam Kngaok Pailin - about the courtship of two peafowl. It is measured and stately given the complicated costumes but very humorous. I was really pleased to see it as, when I was at Angkor Wat, I had seen some people dressed to perform but AFTER they had done so. The Kula people come from the Cardamon Mountains in the West near the Thailand border.

 

 

This is the 'clown' getting in on the act in a costume of old fishing net pretending to 'court' the beautiful peahen.

 

 

She thinks she has lost her mate, but the sun rises in the hills ... and there he is!

 

 

The performers were putting a lot of effort into what they were showing us, and taking much pleasure in their dances and acrobatics.

 

 

I can't work out which legs and arms belong to which girl in this snake routine.

There were two other performances as it got darker.

 

This one was about three men trying to woo the pretty young girl in the red costume. The audience had, by this time, got mixed in with the performers as you can see from the mum and her baby. The three suitors were clowns so there was lots of slapstick - it really amazed me to see the old music hall joke where the fall guy is given a sword in a scabbard to fight with ... of course, when he pulls out the sword it is a very short one compared with the man he is going to fight.

The final show featured a water buffalo which did what comes naturally to animals when they are under stress completing the performance with a plop!

 

 

 

It was practically dark by this time, and there was going to be a break for dinner before the last two spectacular events (one in front of the large replica Buddha) finishing the evening at 9pm, so Mr J and I went back to his home where his wife had prepared dinner for us.

They rent a room with a bathroom within a compound which has two other rental properties in the grounds of the landlord's home. It is on the edge of town, down dirt roads which were flooded in the rainy season so he had to leave his tuk tuk on the paved road and wade about a mile to his home. The rental is $50 a month including water (which even the Cambodians don't drink) and electricity. It is smaller than my hotel room, made even smaller by the five huge speakers in the corner. They don't work and he has though about selling them but he said "if I do I have $15 and no speakers. If I don't sell them, I have no money but I have the speakers".

His wife had prepared rice, a lovely fried fresh fish, vegetables and sauce with chilli on a small portable stove on the floor. We then had mango for dessert. We sat on a mat on the floor, laid down specially for the meal. The family's dog tried to join us but was firmly pushed outside. It is unusual for young married couples to live on their own but both their parents are too far away in opposite directions for them to do this while Mr J rise running his tuk tuk in Siem Reap. It must be lonely for his wife who doesn't work and is newly pregnant but living nearer town isn't an option because it is so expensive. Before he married, Mr J shared a room with his unmarried brother within his uncle's house near the Old Market but again although the uncle has room, it isn't their custom to live there as a married couple.

 

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Butterflies and flowers

There are some really lovely flowers in Cambodia.

 

This lily was in an attractive social enterprise cafe in Siem Reap that is also a butterfly breeding farm. I was sitting here yesterday after morning class having a second breakfast of mixed fruit (papaya, banana, pineapple, mango and dragon fruit) with yogurt and honey, surrounded by butterflies which are kept in the area by a covering of netting over the flowers and plants. It was magic especially with the sound of monks chanting in the background. The local butterflies are glorious ... but very difficult to photograph in the wild. In this cafe they obligingly settled on nearby flowers:

 

 

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Bikes

I realise that I've been a bit remiss not mentioning bikes in my enthusiasm for the Honda Dream 125cc motorbike but of course bikes are everywhere.

 

 

This chap is the Cambodian equivalent of an ice cream seller as he has a very loud radio on the back of his bike. Someone stopped him and he opened the flap of his carrier and took out two of what looked like sticks of rock - palm sugar sticks wrapped in palm leaves. The father who brought them gave one to his 2 year old and ate the other himself.

 

 

A lady in pjs and one of the beautifully made local baskets on her bike in the countryside.

 

You don't see these bicycle taxis (rickshaws?) in Siem Reap - this one was in Phnom Penh where they all seem to be operated by old men.

 

 

Of course, it is very flat here. All the children ride or give lifts to each other, sometimes on bikes that are so big that it makes you wince. It is quite worrying that, although the main stream of traffic is quite slow with even the tour buses keeping with the general speed, there are a lot of quite large land cruiser type vehicles, the owners of which want to travel as quickly as possible without regard for the general speed.

There is a general disregard for normal road rules. If you want to go in a direction, you go even if it is a one way street. To cross the road you sort of aim a route winding in between the bikes, buses, lorries, tuk tuks and cars. No one stops for pedestrians at the very faded zebra crossings - the traffic barely stops at red lights - going if there's a gap or ... maybe a gap ... or there was a gap here last week!

You can hire a bike for $1 a day and cycle around but I've not been tempted as it is too hot and humid. About 30 degrees today and 65%.

 

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Children 2

The children have been teaching me some of their games - there is a simple skipping rope competition where boys but mainly girls take it in turns to skip as many times as they can - they draw a grid on the blackboard to record their scores. They are hugely competitive.

The girls also play a game with elastic bands which are joined together into long ropes. These are then threaded around two other girls and the one who's 'it' will jump in inventive ways as the rope goes higher and higher. It's a sort of obstacle high jump.

 

The girl who looks as if she is in pyjamas ... IS in pjs. They are normal everyday wear for children of all ages, and women. They are practical, colourful, easy to wash and cover up everything that you want to cover. I was doing some colours with one group and, not having something blue, pointed to one girl's bright blue patterned pjs hoping for a response and asked "what is this?" I'd obviously pointed to the cartoon character and not the colour because the reply was "Angry Birds". Which of course it was ... Silly me. I have to say, though, that is quite disconcerting to see a woman of my age in Hello Kitty pink pjs.

Back to the children's games.

The boys have a game with small gum cards which are avidly collected. Firstly a group decides who goes first by doing stone-paper-scissors, then the person who has won spreads out the cards on the ground with a sweeping motion.

They then bang on the ground behind the cards in a movement designed to create a wind wave - if they have done it correctly then the cards flip over with the winner collecting them (until the end of the round, that is, when they revert to the owner). I obviously did not have the right technique at all but they persevered because my feeble efforts provided much amusement.

 

When I go into the class, they all stand with their hands in the prayer position and chant "good morning, teacher how are you today?" I respond and then we can start the day by writing the date on the board - this is usually done by a child. I've given up doing the weather as the sun is either shining or not, so it's a bit pointless. The date is a bit of a red herring too, as when you ask the children to copy something in their books so you can go off and see the other group expecting completion on return, you find out they are still (as complete beginners) laboriously scribing "November". I should have come in May!

Today when I went in the children had written "I love you teacher Leseley" complete with hearts and stars on the board for me to see when I arrived.

I have one delightful boy called Cha Non who insists on tearing out the pages of his book each night to leave a brand new start to each day. I have explained to him I want him to keep his work - I have had Pisey and Mr J ask him in Khmer not to rip out his pages - I've tried giving him gold stars etc - I've got him (and the rest of the children) to stick work in their books but, nothing. It's like Groundhog Day - he starts from scratch every time.

When I call for break the children again stand and chant - when break is over they do it again. At the end of the day, after our final song they say "thank you teacher - see you tomorrow" as loudly as they can then they all rush forward and give me a hug, high fives/low fives/whizz bang fists or leave and then comeback for a extra cuddle. It really is very sweet. Then some of them walk me to the tuk tuk - today one girl asked if I could bring my grandchildren with me next time I come as they want to meet them.

I have probably only two of the children I started with remaining in my class - Pisey says this is the Cambodian way. One nice boy came to say today he wasn't coming again as he was going to computer class and handed me a picture he had drawn for me, but they mainly just drift away with new ones taking their places. Even with only one week to go I've got new starters who I suddenly notice sitting amongst the old hands. They will also mix themselves up because they think what we are doing in one group is too hard ... Then come back when they find the lower group is too easy. They are very independent minded.

One of my long term boys is called Reach and is very responsible, making sure the shutters are properly closed at the end of the session, he locks the door and takes the key back to the office. He is quiet but very good and attentive. Today I had him and two other children who have a comparative high level of language playing Junior Scrabble which I got a few weeks ago in one of the Siem Reap bookshops. They enjoyed Level One and mastered it very quickly so Kimlay (gir) has said they will play Level Two tomorrow.

She is one of the children who is having private English lessons and has access to a Khmer-English dictionary so, when we were doing Phoetic V this morning, came up with Violent which, as she has no idea what it means, was quite difficult to get over to the whole group. Another one was oo sounds when her examples were typhoon and tycoon. I can do words like chicken by squawking and flapping my arms about but those two - a bit hard!

The danger of not being able to explain what words mean to non-native speakers was demonstrated when the children were doing a crossword later and the whole row (as they all copy from each other) mixed up balloon and buffalo despite there being a picture to look at too!

 

 

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Kbal Spean

Today was the last day of my extra holiday so we headed north for 34 km on mainly paved road to Kbal Spean which is described by my guidebook as Sahasralinga in Sanskrit or the "River of a Thousand Lingas" which is the male symbol of Shiva in Hindu religion. In traditional Indian society it is seen as the symbol of the energy and potentiality of the God.

There were Indians in sari on the very steep rocky path up to the waterfall - they had just arrived from Mumbai and were a bit shellshocked so were to be found sitting resting here and there as we walked up. One lady came up with us so was helped by Mr J over the worst bits until we arrived at the waterfall.

 

 

As you climbed from this waterfall which was still running because of all the water we have had this season, you come across the carvings in the river - some are on the rocks submerged in the water and others are on the sides.

I was really pleased that we had come up, it was a lovely drive through the countryside too. On the way back we stopped at Banteay Srei for lunch - the tuk tuk drivers usually have some food by themselves and then have a sleep in the hammocks provided for them.

These were water buffalo grazing next to the restaurant. While Mr J had a nap I into the temple for my second visit there - it is quite small but has some beautiful carvings which are easy to get close up to ...

 

 

 

 

So back to school tomorrow - I did my lesson plan and packed my bag on Friday so am ready to go at 7.45 am in the morning.

 

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The Rolous Group of temples

About 13km South East of Siem Reap are three early temples - the Rolous group where I headed off yesterday. The first was Lolei which was more or less ruined and surrounded by a modern temple complex where celebrations for the full moon and Water Festival had taken place the night before. People were clearing up in a haphazard way aware that it is a tourist attraction but not working too hard in the sunshine.

It has some of its original inscriptions in situ, which is unusual as most are in museums. These are in learned Sanscrit and give dates of consecration etc.

After this we headed to Preah Ko dedicated on 25 January 888 and most attractive in the sunshine.

When we got to our final temple, we were very close to Mr J's parents' house so he left me and went to visit them collecting me a hour or so later.

This was Bakong the first Khmer temple mountain and the State Temple of the capital Hariharalaya. It is set within the second of its two original moats on a site that is now a modern monastery.

There is, as usual, plenty to see and explore when you get to the temple itself.

It is quite unusual in that the statues on the corners are rather fetching elephants who have unfortunately lost their trunks and tails but are compelling nonetheless. I love his wrinkly legs and the fine detail of his strappings. I was sitting in the shade at the top of the tower when a bus load of Japanese arrived. Now they take pictures constantly (I don't of course!) usually of each other showing the V sign. I was too tempting for them to ignore so I was in demand to grin with various party members whilst they were having a photo taken with a strange Brit up a temple.

 

One local thing of visiting the temples is the opportunity to be in the beautiful countryside, listen to the sounds of the jungle and the birds. You can usually find a quiet spot under the trees to perch on a bit of sacred rock and enjoy being here at this moment.

When Mr J returned his mother had sent some special Water Festival food for us to share. She look unhusked rice and beat it flat and then cooked it and removed the husks. This was then mashed up with bananas and sugar to make a crunchy treat.

Just another great day.

 

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