Day 57 and 58 - 5th weekend in Cambodia

Day 57 - Sat: I walked along Russian Boulevard (George Dimitriov Street) today to the Bayon Supermarket. Bought some coffee as I've been missing it so much. I should have taken my camera though as there were some shots of the Frangipane trees (chom pai) lining the boulevard that I would have taken, also the frieze of bas-reliefs on the front of the Royal HQ of armed forces building (DN - Defence Ministry). All baking in the sun. The sidewalk is good here as hardly anyone uses it (for walking or driving over!).

Only three of us for lunch today and I took some photos - me, Sophie from Denmark and Edwige from northern France (who is only 17 but very nice).  

We volunteered (!) to go out for lunch tomorrow as Rath (our cook) wants to vote, so we are doing our bit! As I was walking back from the supermarket I found a political flyer for CNRP ( getting hold of their stuff is difficult as there is not enough) so I picked it up to bring home. 

On the way some guys who know us (neighbours) saw me and started shouting, "no. 7", so I replied appropriately "go, go go!" ( which is their chant). Big hit! Must be careful though as this is a bit of a CPP area (as they are rich and therefore corrupt)!

Not my photo, but CPP supporters.

Update: Russian Boulevard from the "Greeting Cafe". Frangipane trees.

PS. Finally watched Tomb Raider - it is the first one that feature Angkor Wat!

PPS. I gave some of my clothes away to Rath, our cook. She was wearing one of my tops this evening. Who'd have thought a t shirt I took round Canada would end up on a Cambodian cook? Very cool! I'm very pleased.

Day 58 - Election Day : everything is shut! Even the supermarket. I don't know why I'm surprised (and its certainly gratifying that the Cambodians take their voting seriously in such numbers) however the city is practically deserted. Orussey Market was closed and the Russian Market too. Central Market was open on about 50% of stalls though. We saw some guys unloading ice.

I went with Laure, one of the newbies who I will be going to the coast with tomorrow. We wandered about and then headed to Riverside to see if anything was open there. 

Saw a few polling booths. Everyone with their right index fingers black with ink. It was now the afternoon and on Riverside The Blue Pumpkin was open so for my final day on Phnom Penh I felt it my duty to introduce Laure to the ice cream wonders. Chocolate.  Then I booked my flight to Sydney! 

A good day.

Day 52 - Monday - Puppetry, Khmer and Apsara

On Monday morning it was back to the Sovannaphum Arts Association to progress our puppets. 

After lunch we went to the office for more Khmer and then on to the Apsara dance class where we watched for a bit with other tourists and then tried some ourselves. They are in motion constantly and very hard to photograph. It really is a very hard to do and we were being taught by five year olds! 

Day 54 - Wed 24th - End of the Khmer Project

I finished my shadow puppet, "Nieng Walking", today. Learnt to play drums too.

My rest of my last day was a true Asian day in that it was a bit of a fizzle out: Khmer lesson, interesting but a few misunderstandings by some people. Then the Apsara dance school, only Elsa and I went, the others went to the market again. The Apsara dance is very painful to those of us without yoga bodies, I did my bit but then sat the rest out. There were also builders in to deal with the woodworm in the building so it was a bit chaotic. I ended up saying goodbye to Sython on the kerbside outside. I sent him a text too though (and have just received a reply).  Out with a whimper! 

This is the monkey dance boy.

Treated myself to dinner at the Blue Pumpkin later however; finally met the volunteers from Apt 5 and 6, who were really interesting, including a nice northern Irish doctor who lives in Aberdeen, working in the stae hospital (no facilities or coherent training to speak of, one doctor who qualified in France), a guy from Jordan doing dentistry who is observing Ramadan and a woman doing a human rights internship who was interesting but fairly depressing (it going to be utterly unfair) about the election prospects of the CNRP.  Nice evening. When I asked Sython what exactly he's hoping for for the CNRP it turns out they are hoping for at least 20 more seats in the National Assembly. Highly unlikely according to this lady, who is only allowed to take photos and write reports and has to keep very low profile at rallies, absolutely nothing else or it's jail!

A small boy at the crossroads wanted this cap of Sython's so badly. He tried to grab it as the tuk-tuk rolled off. Thank god I hung onto it.  The crossroads children carry feather dusters to pretend to clean the dust off tuk-tuks while waiting at the lights. 

Projects Abroad has been pushing me a bit as regards my dates re Koh Rong Samleon Island - Chammy phoned me this afternoon and announced there was no bed for me on the Island as the bungalows were full up! What, because they keep shunting people to make way for those who 'only want to visit for a few days' ? I had to insist and magically it was sorted. Not a terribly auspicious start and I'm starting to imagine the island is a bit 'train station' with all the people supposedly dropping in to 'visit'! I also don't like everyone talking about MY Desert Island. :) Is this what I came so far for? I guess we'll see...

Day - 53 counting down - Puppetry, Khmer and a shopping mall

My penultimate day on The Khmer Project and I'm really going to miss it! It had not dawned on me until this evening, tomorrow is my last day on the project, then the others depart for their homestay. In total cliche, it is of course just as I start to feel comfortable in Phnom Penh and that I know the Khmer enough to at least understand their motivations, if not actually anticipate them. And I'm loving it too! It helps that it is a cool week of course but I think I may have finally acclimatised. Had several nights with the sheet on for warmth recently!

I love tuk-tuk rides through the dusty traffic, with the breeze in your face.

Btway, best wishes from the volunteers here on the birth of the Prince of Cambridge!

Went to Sorya Shopping Mall next to Central Market. This is one of only two or three shopping malls in Phnom Penh and is the biggest and most well known. When it first opened people travelled to the city specially to ride on the escalators.  We went up to the top to take photos which was worth it as the rain clouds were just coming in and turning everything silver. There is a roller skating rink, a gaming centre and a 'cafe and pub' called "apocalypse" at the top too.

Large motorcycles on Riverside tonight, lit up blue and green from underneath, looked like spaceships. Promoting a club.

Day 46 - Kompong Channg Day 2

The rain stopped and by the time we returned to the village, after noodles for breakfast and a deep fried pastry treat, it was dry and they had lit the kiln and had been doing a firing for sometime. The kiln was donated by a previous Australian volunteer and they do firing for many in the village. We saw some of the 'wastage' (tech term) including those terracotta pigs you see everywhere. I did see anothe villager making these over the road later.

I got a chance to try a prettier pot design and we decorated our pots. I included the Khmer inscription for Kampuchea. Because it is so humid here we could wait till today to do this. When I did pottery in London, the decoration, including handles etc, all had to be done immediately.

 I also had a go at the traditional method of making the traditional pot with the neighbour which I quite enjoyed. I was the only one to make a pot here. It involves making a baseless cylinder of clay and expanding it gradually by slapping the clay btween your hands, inside and out, pushing the clay outwards. Once at an appropriate size (mine never reached it) the proper shape, squatter than a cylinder (see in the background in the photos) and the base are slapped into being with a wooden paddle. I think it is then fired and the rim is added after the first firing, though this seems unusual. It is then fired again. 

My pot is on the right!

We then went for a walk through the village which was lovely. 

This lady will move round and round the pedestal continually in what is almost a dance before finishing. I got a video of the neighbour doing this. She was tiny!

The whole village is dependent or geared towards pot making, which they send to the markets in Phnom Penh and further. However, otherwise, they farm. During the Khmer Rouge they were forbidden to make pots. 

 

I saw several butterflies, plenty of vetch and we examined the bamboo cane ladders used to pick the palm fruit. We also took some classic shots of the palms and paddies.  It was a glorious day and I was reminded of Dartmoor (in a heatwave).

Local toy making. The little boy on the right made this. He must be about four years old.

We went for a tuk-tuk ride through Kompong Channg itself after lunch and saw one of the oldest pagodas in Cambodia, traditional fishing and the ex-colonial dock, which has views across to the one of the two distant 'mountains' that make this area into a valley and this port into an advantageous site for commerce and trade for centuries.