Sunday 4 Dec 2011 6:48
Our Golden Gate Hotel is clean and comfortable, if not stylish. The usual developing world spaghetti mess of wires hanging off the pole in front suggests the use of power and communications facilities is growing faster than its infrastructure. Met the rest of our group of 11 over dinner last night. Cambodian food very similar to Thai/Viet, very tasty and cheap and the local Khmer beer goes well.
Sunday 4 Dec 2011 17:52
We had a full day in Phnom Penh today and finished with a sunset cruise on the Mekong. The city is full of many contrasts. We saw conspicuous wealth and in-your-face excesses by a small minority. We also saw families living on drab slum fishing boats along the other side of the Mekong and children begging in tourist cafes.
But the people are very friendly and the children are very cute; the kids seem to get taught to say hello before walking. Catching a tuktuk back to the hotel tonight it is clear the Khmer people have a real love of life with many enjoying Sunday night entertainment along the riverfront.
Monday 5 Dec 2011 9:37
Tuol Sleng Museum, formerly S-21 Khmer Rouge interrogation prison. Only 7 of the 20,000+ held here escaped execution. One of 300 similar places across Cambodia from 1975-78. A very sad place.
Monday 5 Dec 2011 15:04
After morning visits to Tuol Sleng and the equally horrific Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, it was really inspiring to spend the rest of the day and evening with the students and staff at Banteay Prieb, about 20km west of Phnom Penh. Banteay Prieb is a training centre and home for young people disabled by landmines, war, accidents and polio. An amazing happy and positive place. Welcome to any friends of my fellow travelers who may be following our journey.
Tuesday 6 Dec 2011 12:27
Mural painting at Tmoh Kao primary school with assistance from dozens of enthusiastic little hands. The 3 room school is a lone building about 60km west of Phnom Penh in a rural area. The level of poverty in this area is palpable; subsistence living in basic open sided timber houses often with palm frond roofing; transport is either bicycle or agricultural cart pulled by oxen. But the children are happy, very polite and enjoy going to school. They loved the mural we painted. Without these schools set up by NGOs and their many helpers and supporters the children in these areas would not receive any education.
Tuesday 6 Dec 2011 16:04
Still at Tmoh Kao primary, Denise, with assistance from the rest of the group gave the kids in one class an art lesson with some pastels and paints. Ed has a swag of pictures to bring back to Aus. The younger members of our group taught another class some ball games to lots of giggling kids. An exhausting but rewarding day.
Tuesday 6 Dec 2011 20:57
Dinner of many traditional Khmer dishes served Tapas style at Friends Cafe followed by a beer at the Foreign Correspondents Club.
Wednesday 7 Dec 2011 22:55
A bit of a mixed content posting today. The picture by request from Jo at SBB in Sydney is yesterday’s finished mural. This morning Ed arranged for us to spend time with students at the university helping them practice their English. They were very excited as it was the first opportunity for many of them to chat with a native English speaker.
After lunch it took us nearly 6 hours to travel 250km to Battambang by public bus. Along the way we saw Cambodian Kareoke, many potholes and modes of transport, all sorts of agricultural activity and the usual daily activities needed to survive in a developing country. The locals on the bus must have thought we were bonkers; Nicola convinced us to have a sing along while she played the ukulele.
Thursday 8 Dec 2011 11:17
Today we visited 2 villages NW OF Battambang within 40km of the Thai border. We split into 2 teams of 6 to work on a project in each village. My group spent the day fixing steel reinforcing for a community pagoda in village of Kho Ponlay (my phonetic spelling) partly funded by SeeBeyondBorders.
The community is very poor, had never seen foreigners before but made us very welcome and fed us traditional dishes for lunch. The village chief, a well-organized guy with a good sense of humour told us that during the Khmer Rouge years 75-78 the whole village was forced to move and work elsewhere. This tactic was used by Pol Pot to destabilize the people. The pic shows the kids taking a great interest in my work.
Thursday 8 Dec 2011 13:18
Ed laying down on the job today.
Friday 9 Dec 2011 9:55
Today’s posting is from Kate Murphy, one of 3 high school students in our group.
Another early morning meant another busy and fun-filled day. The activities for the day began with a very bumpy bus ride to Prek Chdor primary school affected by the recent floods and with the help of many scouts we quickly began to clean-up the school. Our group was divided into half, with some people helping to sand and paint the immense water tank and others helping to dust and clean the shutters and classrooms. While we worked, many of the children and scouts talked to us as they were interested in where we came from and what we were doing. They continuously quizzed us about our names, ages, jobs, and family.
After about an hour and a half of work, we began to clean-up the rubbish that heavily covered the grounds. Everyone chipped in and very quickly the school began to look clean and tidy. Around lunch time, it was time to go and after a small period of being bogged we were onto our next school. Ek Phnom primary school was completely submerged in water during the floods. When the water had receded, the school had been severely damaged. We set to work, filling in pot holes, painting flag pole and painting trees, while listening to some exceptionally loud, chanting Khmer music. Once again the children were all willing to talk to us and pitch in to help mend the damage. Our day ended with dinner, a Tuk Tuk ride and bed.
Saturday 10 Dec 2011 18:23
Thanks again to Kate for providing todays blog. We all awoke a little earlier than usual this morning. At 4am, the sound of Khmer music blaring over a mega phone entered our hotel windows, which made it impossible to get back to sleep. Unfortunately this morning, we had a few victims to food poisoning. Mary-Anne and John E spending the day in bed nursed by Denise meant that the team was reduced to nine. We spent the morning in a very clean school built by See Beyond Borders, teaching art classes and sport lessons to some very enthusiastic and polite children. Following our morning at the school, we had a gorgeous lunch next to the river, followed by a relaxing siesta. This afternoon we climbed a mountain, observing many statues, and Budda’s along the way. Once we reached the top, we had the most amazing view of the land of Cambodia. It was a great day filled with laughs, smiles, and lots of gorgeous sites.
Happy to report that John & Mary-Anne have recovered.
Sunday 11 Dec 2011 19:24
A more relaxed day today but still plenty to keep us occupied. Great breakfast at Cafe Eden then most of the group did a cooking class at the Smoking Pot starting with a visit to the markets to buy all the fresh produce. Denise and I were still feeling a bit queasy to face the cooking so we walked around the town. But the cooking was a big hit and smelled delicious.
This afternoon we rode the bamboo train (pic). Worksafe Australia would love it. Check it out on YouTube. A unique and bone jarring experience which is soon likely to be replaced by progress.
Cafe Eden was such a success we are going back for dinner.
Denise and Julia still a bit queasy tonight.
Monday 12 Dec 2011 10:22
Denise was sick during the night and was not well enough to join us today. But she seems to be better as I write this before going out for dinner.
We visited two more primary schools today about 10km north of Battambang in fishing villages either side of the Stung Sangke River.
When we arrived at the first school the parents had setup a temporary kitchen to prepare lunch for us and all the students. A massive operation involving 3 huge woks and lots of fresh produce. The spice pastes prepared at the start smelled wonderful. Unfortunately my tummy couldn’t handle more than a bowl of rice and spicy sauce at lunch. The cooks were very tolerant of me wandering around taking photos (pic).
Highlight of the day was watching Nicola, Julia and Kate interact with the kids playing clapping, dancing and ball games.
Tuesday 13 Dec 2011 14:31
Another amazing day working at a school which looks straight out of the Australian bush. It is in a very poor fishing community a little further along the river from yesterday’s schools. Their world was completely inundated by the recent floods and the school was left quite damaged. Although the community is clearly the poorest we have visited and their meagre facilities have been dealt too many setbacks the spirit in the village and their commitment to the education of their children is inspiring. There seems to have been one or two women associated with each of the schools we have visited who is a positive driving force and today it was the young head teacher who lives in a tiny (4m x 3m) single room house on stilts next to the school with her two small kids. The village has added an extra 3 classrooms to the original 3 by building a lean-to arrangement you can see in the picture. Unfortunately, without some changes and assistance, none of the 180 students are likely to go on to secondary school.
A very different work arrangement today with the emphasis in health and hygiene. Over the morning we recorded the height and weight of each child and taught them to wash their hands (with soap) and clean their teeth. With many funny incidents the visitors learned as much about teaching as the kids learned about cleaning.
As on previous days we lunched on traditional food provided by the locals in the village chiefs home. The spicy pickled vegetables was delicious.
Returning to Battambang we farewelled Boeb at the SBB office. Boeb is SeeBeyondBorders local staff and has been our gentle organiser, translator and invaluable community go between.
For dinner tonight we returned to Cafe Gecko which has a mix of good quality local and western dishes and great desserts.
I’m a little disappointed there will be no more schools to visit, but we’re off to Siem Reap tomorrow.
Wednesday 14 Dec 2011 13:16
Not a lot to report today. We started with breakfast yet again at Cafe Eden (it’s very good) and were free to roam until we left for Siem Reap after lunch. Most of us visited the market at some time in the morning. The top floor is full of stalls either selling fabrics or making women’s clothing. Sewing machines everywhere and many of them making Cambodian wedding attire. That’s Steph, Nicola and Julia in the pic.
The drive to Siem Reap took about 3 hours, staying at the Encore Angkor Guesthouse. Siem Reap is very different with many foreign visitors, huge variety of restaurants and nightlife.
Thursday 15 Dec 2011 11:12
Today was our last visit to a community where SeeBeyondBorders is helping to improve the lives of very poor people and in particular the education opportunities for their children. The very poorest of the other communities we have visited have displayed a real community spirit and hope for the future leaving me with a positive feeling. I can’t put my finger on why but I did not get that same feeling today. They seem to be waiting for someone to kick start things. They could do with one of those really energetic women we met in the last two weeks. Our group and some Singapore students helped feed a nutritious meal to about 200 children; this is a weekly happening in this community. Then our girls organized some relay games which have been a hit with kids in the other schools.
With an early return mid afternoon we had time to relax and do a little shopping in the craft & clothing markets before dinner.
I am looking forward to an early start tomorrow for the day at Angkor Wat.
Friday 16 Dec 2011 8:54
Me and a mate or two catching the first morning rays over Angkor Wat. Reading about the Angkor Wat (temple) and Angkor Thom (city) complexes doesn’t really prepare you for their size, scale and grandeur.
We were up and in our TukTuks by 5:15am to catch the classic sunrise vista. Ed then managed to find a guide who gave us a very knowledgable and interesting tour of the main temple area. The detail in the relief carving would be impressive in one room but to see it on such a massive scale is amazing. After breakfast in one of the many cafes just out of most camera shots we visited the much larger (3km sq) Angkor Thom and got lost (some of us) in the very impressive Bayan Temple with its massive carved faces. We finished the day at Ta Prom where the roots of ancient Fig trees flow over the temple structures like giant claws. Angkor Wat’s status as one of the wonders of the ancient world is very much deserved.
Saturday 17 Dec 2011
A very relaxed day around Siem Reap with most of us doing a little shopping. The market vendors are no match for Nicola’s bargaining. Worth a mention is Artisans d’Angkor where poor youths are taught silk production, painting, carving and lacquering skills and then employed as artists to produce fine arts and crafts.
Our first farewells today with Frances, Julia and Jamie leaving for Singapore after lunch.
By far the highlight of the day was attending the concert and info session by “Beatocello”. Since 1991 Swiss Dr Beat Richner has developed childrens hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap which provide world class medical care to Cambodian children and nursing mothers free of charge. The hospitals get 3% government funding and the rest from donations and his concerts.
As this is the last entry I will put in an unsolicited plug for SeeBeyondBorders and its small band helping to improve education opportunities for the very poorest of Cambodia’s Children. Give them a hand, or even better, join them on a very different but rewarding tour. www.seebeyondborders.org
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