Why don’t they like me any more?

Yesterday I went on a bike ride through nearby rural villages, and was surprised to find that I wasn’t greeted with the usual joyful calls of “Hallo Barang” (French person) from every direction. In fact, people seemed actively hostile towards me. I soon realised that their attitude may have had something to do with the Vietnamese flag that I was sporting on my new hat. I turned the hat inside out and - hey presto – people were friendly again. Although the Vietnamese brought about the downfall of Pol Pot in 1979, they did so for their own ends, and there is still a lot of mistrust and dislike between the two countries. In fact, my Khmer friends could not understand why on earth I wanted to spend a week visiting South Vietnam last month! I have now sewn a Union Jack over the offending flag; hope the locals appreciate my attempt to be politically correct!

Shiny new office

CODEC has just converted its ground floor motorbike park into a new office - see before and after photos. It’s so posh; tiled floor and walls, glass windows and even curtains. As soon as the Director had made the decision and found the funds for the building work, he made a phone call to a builder and work started the next day. It was all finished within three weeks, without any need for planning permission, health and safety inspections, project management or qualified trades-people – very refreshing! And very cheap by our standards – the workmen earned around $2 per day. Lots of plastic chairs were bought, which means less sitting on the floor for me – hoorah! A couple of desks have been installed, one of which is nominally for me, although I am sure it will become a hot desk for all staff over time. Upstairs is now supposed to be a space for workshops and meetings but all the recent meetings have been held downstairs to show off our lovely new room!

McVities Digestives arrive in Kampong Thom

Two weeks ago, the TELA petrol service station opened a shop selling all kinds of western food “luxuries’. Previously, I would buy things like tuna, pasta, mayonnaise and orange juice in Phnom Penh and then carry them all the way home on the bus, but now I don’t need to. I can even buy ice-cream locally now. Life changing!

Kathen festivities

Last week Cambodians celebrated Kathen, a Buddhist festival. The Codec Director, Mr Kim Choeun, organised a big celebration in his village. About 300 people were invited to his home for a garden party. His home is a typical wooden house on stilts, with no electricity or bathroom. In the garden is a well, cows, pigs and chickens. We all gave gifts for the pagoda and ate rice porridge which was prepared in massive vats. I wore my best white blouse and sompot (skirt) and received even more admiring comments than usual. The day after the party, three open trucks crammed full of people travelled from the village to a pagoda 90 minutes away, where the gifts were given to the monks and a day long service was held. I didn’t make it to the pagoda which was a shame, but the journey would have been very hot, dusty and uncomfortable for me.
Pictured with some of the gifts in his home are Mr KimChoeun and Kaknika’s grandmother. I gave Kaknika’s grandmother a lift home on my moto, and felt I’d truly integrated into Khmer society by having a woman with shaved head and no teeth ride side-saddle while I was wearing traditional dress!

Uncle Ho

I’ve just been on a week’s holiday to Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City is only 6 hours by bus from Phnom Penh, but the two places are completely different. Ho Chi Minh is noisy, modern and industrial and the people aren’t so smiley. It’s difficult to believe that South Vietnam is part of a communist country. It is really geared up to tourism, and I felt rather “packaged” on the tours that I took. However, I enjoyed my trip very much. I visited the famous CuChi tunnels where the Vietcong guerillas lived during the American/Vietnam war and also the fascinating spiritual Mecca of CaoDai. I had a couple of days at the lovely beach resort of Mui Ne and took three days to travel back to Cambodia by boat and bus through the Mekong Delta. I arrived back on Saturday on the Mekong river to a wonderful view of the golden spires of Phnom Penh - it felt like I was coming home!

The Tonle Sap – one of the wonders of the world!

For 6 months of the year, the Tonle Sap river – the lifeblood of Cambodia – runs backwards, causing massive flooding in the middle of the country. The Tonle Sap lake swells to 10 times its dry season size, becoming the size of Wales and hosting a unique eco-system, with a huge variety of fish species and vast areas of flooded forest. Lots of people live in floating villages on the lake, as pictured here. The reason the river runs backwards is that it can’t drain into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh during the rainy season, because the Mekong itself is so full. Now, however, the rainy season has just finished, so the rivers are not so full and the Tonle Sap can start draining back into the Mekong and running the right way. The Cambodians celebrate this amazing phenomenon every year by holding a Water Festival. Each village mans a dragon boat and competes in heats all around the country with the finals being held for three days in Phnom Penh. It’s a very colourful affair and Phnom Penh will be rocking this weekend, with 3 million people travelling to watch the races. Unfortunately I will miss the Festival, because I am taking advantage of the national holiday and heading off to explore Vietnam, but I have managed to view some boats practising - spectacular.