Last Days in Phnom Penh

Our last week in Phnom Penh was a whirlwind of jam-packed days and intense memory-making! I'm glad we squeezed so much out of each day -- I have no regrets and I feel like I got to see and do most of the things I wanted to do before I left the capital city! Hopefully I can go back some day and make more wonderful memories...

Here's a photographic walk through our last few days' activities!

We got caught in massive and impressive rain storms that flooded our entire neighborhood. Poncho's are a must!

We bought 1 kilo of Kampote pepper at the Upside market (and completed the transaction in Khmer!)

I got my bike tech'd and tires pumped for $1 on the side of the road

We negotiated prices for Cambodian silks at the Russian Market

 

We visited Wat Phnom as our Final Exam in Kyle's class

We found the most adorable kitten in the world

We got hassled by some monkeys...classic.

We figure out the time on a gigantic landscaped clock

We took one last ride through terrifying Phnom Penh traffic at rush hour

We had a photoshoot with the Independence Monument at nighttime!

One of the highlights of our last few days was meeting our new Cambodian friends for dinner. They took Tim and I to a pizza place and we had a feast! We talked about our cultures and our experiences and it was a great time to connect and reflect. They gave us little going-away gifts and I was very sad to leave them all!

We left for Siem Reap at 7am on Friday morning and made our way north to the town most closely associated with the massive attractions of Angkor Wat! On our way, we stopped off with a group of students (whose professor knows our director at Payap) and went to a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake. More on that in the next post!!

Last Weekend, New Friends!

Sadly, it's our last week in Phnom Penh. We leave for Siem Reap (closest city to the famous Angkor Wat) on Friday, where we will be taking different classes and exploring until we go home on December 13! I'm sort of sad to be leaving Phnom Penh because I am just starting to feel connected with the city; we're just starting to find our favorite places to eat and bars to go to and places to hang out. I'm finally starting to settle in! It's bittersweet to leave especially because we just started making Cambodian friends, and yet I am so excited to go up north and see Angkor Wat!

Last weekend, Kyle introduced Tim and I to a handful undergraduate students whom he facilitates in a sort of cultural/history class/club. Kyle calls him the "star students" of UC, and they are awesome! They wanted to take us on an outing on Sunday afternoon to Udong, a local-ish Cambodian weekend hang-out spot. It's sort of a tourist spot for Cambodians, and we saw very few barang (foreigners) there. We rented a minibus and it was a short drive outside of the city. The region is beautiful -- very flat and very green with the occasional rolling hill popping up in the landscape. The million shades of green in this part of the world never ceases to amaze me.

At the base of the mountain (atop which stands Wat Udong), there is a small market and memorial for Khmer Rouge victims. There are many covered "rest" areas that consist of raised bamboo platforms and hammocks. They sort of look like tree-house hangouts, only on the ground. You can rent a section for a period of time. Most Cambodians bring picnics or get food at the markets and take naps in the hammocks. It's a nice place to relax and chill out on a Sunday!

Shelling palm fruits at the Udong market (the Sugar Palm is Cambodia's national tree and is one of the most versatile natural materials in this part of the world)

Tim and I relaxing in our hammocks

Khmer food with our new Khmer friends!

 After lunch, we rested for a bit before we began the climb up to Udong temple. There are over 500 steps, but luckily we weren't rushed and we could take our time. It was quite a hike regardless (is anyone picking up on the "stairs" theme here? I feel like I've climbed a lot of stairs in Cambodia...)

Tim almost at the top!

A beautiful view!

Tim and I back on the bottom, hot ans sweaty from a nice hike!

 We climbed back down and I bought some fruit and a very cool wicker-like basket as a souvenir. A child beggar, who had followed me around all day fanning me (despite numerous attempts to decline his services), demanded I paid him. He told me he was hungry so I tried to give him some bananas -- he refused them. This is very typical of Cambodian children who "beg;" they often aren't orphans, they often aren't the poorest children in the community, and they are always relentless. If this boy was really that hungry, I imagine he would have gladly accepted my gift of food. Instead he gawked at me and demanded I pay him cash. Begging is a huge problem here, and often children are trained to pray on the sympathies of foreigners. No other boys begged from Cambodians, only from the three white people (Tim, Kyle, and me). It's a difficult situation because there is no way for me to know whether this kid needs the money or not -- it isn't my place to make that call, and how could I? When we got to Phnom Penh, Maryann told us that if we feel guilty about refusing begging children, we should donate to a reputable school or childrens' NGO. I've been pretty good about desensitizing myself to the kids (they are literally EVERYWHERE here), but I caved in and gave the child at Udong 2,000 riels (about $0.50 USD). He looked at me, looked at the money in my hand, and demanded more. I didn't feel too bad after that...

It was a great day, regardless, and we had a fantastic time with our new group of Cambodian friends! It's just too bad we didn't have much time left in Phnom Penh to spend with them!

Peace + Love + more posts soon

Living in Phnom Penh

Here's a quick look at my luxurious living arrangements in Phnom Penh!!

We lived in The Golden Mekong Hotel, located on St. 19 just behind the royal palace. We were in a PERFECT location; lots of shops and cheap places to eat, parks, a shopping mall, bars and our campus in close vicinity! It was great because we had our bikes and could pretty much access most of the city either by foot or by bike.

Our hotel was fantastic! The staff took good care of us, taking in our bikes every night and making sure they were locked up so they wouldn't get stolen. We gave them a gift basket of American goodies as a thank you for being so attentive!

Our great little hotel!

 Here's my room...pretty fancy considering it's only $15/day!

Sad to leave Phnom Penh, but excited to get to (be in) Siem Reap! Many more updates to come (I'm cranking them all out tonight...hopefully!)

Jum reeup lia! ('Goodbye' in Khmer)

Happy Birthday to ME!

On Monday, I turned 21! YAY! At home, this would have been a much more significant day, and would have probably included being drunk all day long. But alas, being 21 here isn't a very big deal considering the drinking age is "as soon as you can see the bar." It was a pretty normal day -- 8am class (oy vey) with Kyle and then lunch at our favorite Chinese Noodle shop for some delicious dumplings, followed by Khmer class. On the way home, I left Anna and Tim to explore a small used book store in our neighborhood. It was nice to have some good alone time and I spent about an hour looking through books before I made my final selections.

Tim, Anna and I met Maryann and Joanna at Friends, the training restaurant run by former street youth and their teachers. Friends the restaurant is just one of the organization's projects, which focus on getting kids off the street and into vocational training and education so they can have better livelihoods and return to their families with new and marketable skills. Apart from being a great cause, Friends has incredible food. I'm sure I've already drooled about it in a previous post, but seriously, this food is amazing. We got ten or so tapas dishes and drinks and Maryann even brought me a cake! This was a particularly special surprise because I wasn't expecting to blow out candles on my birthday! Thanks Maryann!

After Friends, the three of us went to a bar called Dodo, located just down the street from our hotel. It's run by a French/Khmer couple and they have a particularly adorable 5 year old daughter. Dodo is known for its homemade rum, which comes in about 20 different flavors. Our Khmer friend Wuthee met us for a drink, and we passed around three different flavors of rum (passion fruit -- my favorite! caramel, and pear). Delicious! After Dodo, Tim, Wuthee and I went to a bar on the river and played some pool. I am terrible at pool, so it was a good end to the night with lots of laughter and making a fool of myself. A perfect way to end the night!

Tuesday, the 9th, was Independence Day, so we didn't have any class! Double YAY! We slept nice and late and then Wuthee took us to the Russian Market where I bought myself a few DVD's (well, more than a few...but who's counting?) and some new materials for a friend's jewelry business. I am definitely going back to buy some gifts for y'all back home. We also ate some traditional Khmer food in a 'hang baii' at the market. It was a sort of rice pancake / crepe filled with minced meat, sprouts, mint, and other unidentifiable ingredients. It came with a whole plate of mixed green leaves; Wuthee taught us how to eat it -- take a few leaves, and break off part of the pancake. Wrap the pancake inside the leaves and dip in this chilie fish sauce. Definitely my favorite market so far :) Hopefully I'll get some pictures when I go this week!

An Australian reporter came up to us as we were wating and asked us some questions about the food. She asked us if we were concerned about the cleanliness of the leaves, as improperly washed fruits and vegetables are a huge source of food-borne illness. I told her I didn't really care because it was so damn good! Our bodies are pretty used to all the microbes at this point, and getting sick isn't a huge fear anymore. There's good medical care here! Dig in!

I wish I knew what this dish was called...

Later on Tuesday night, Kyle invited the three of us to his house for dinner. He lives a block away with his wife and daughter. His wife was out of town, so he was excited because that meant he could cook us Western food. He made us some really great bruschetta with eggplant and real mozzarella (such a luxury in this part of the world!) and spaghetti and homemade sauce. I brought a bottle of wine and we just relaxed. It was a very good second-birthday-day!

It was a little sad celebrating my birthday away from home, but exciting because I know this is one I won't forget! I have good friends here, and they helped make it a special day, despite feeling so far away from home. A good birthday, all around!

Rice Paddy Adventures with Kyle

Another early morning weekend adventure through a rice paddy!

On Saturday, Kyle took us to...well, I don't exactly know where. We hopped on a tuk-tuk around 7:30am and made our way north across and along the Mekong. Our driver decided not to take the main road, so we ambled around through river villages in the cool morning air. Beautiful. We stopped at a few temples and met some village children. Every kid we meet is so eager to practice English, so it's very exciting for us to be 'celebrities.'

Eventually we arrived at our destination, which ended up being a field in the middle of nowhere. Literally. No buildings or people or landmarks or anything. I was very curious what we were doing, but I've learned to not really ask questions with Kyle's adventures. Just go with it. Works best most of the time!

Regardless of the directionless ambling, we had a great day. We walked through lotus fields and met some local farmers who were busy plowing fields for new crops. Kyle taught us all about the site; we were walking through one of the oldest known archeological sites in all of SE Asia. It's suspected that one of the ruins could potentially be the oldest temple in this whole part of the world! I even found a human bone for my artifact collection! Kyle assured me that I won't have any ghost-followings because archeological sites have to be blessed before they can be excavated. But I always have the protection of my tattoo and my prayer flag from Chisor, just in care.

It started getting hot around 11:30am, so Tim, Anna and I decided to take the muddier routes through the paddies. It gave us an excuse to go barefoot and to cool down in the muddy water :)

Kyle brought us a picnic lunch and we laid around lazily until it was time to go. I fell asleep on the ride home because we were all so exhausted after another Kyle Excursion. Even as I am generally sarcastic about these adventures, I am so thankful for him bringing us to crazy remote and unique places. I know that I'm not getting the typical tourist experience when I'm with him!


Here are some pictures from the day:

Locals carving out a sugar palm tree to make a canoe for the rice paddies

Fields of green rice and red earth as far as you can see

Plowing the fields!

Pots, pots and more pots! Maybe some bones too...these are ancient burial sites

Rice is almost read for harvest!

peace & love

Chisor Excursion

As exhausting as it is to be around or professor Kyle for hours on end, he does take us to do some pretty amazing things! Last Saturday, he woke us up at 4:30am and we piled into a 12-passenger van in the wee hours of the morn. The city was completely deserted, except for the early-early morning food market where all the day's goods are distributed to each business owner -- right in the middle of the street. Waking up so early pays off sometimes!

We started driving south of Phnom Penh and about 10 km outside of the city the road gave out. There was a huge gap in the dirt road and a large truck was attempting to back-fill the hole with dirt and sand. Our ambitious driver attempted to get us across, but we got stuck and the big truck had to pull us out. We were trying to make it to Chisor by sunrise, but we missed it as we had to find a new and longer route. No worries though, because it was still amazing!

We arrived in the valley around 6:30am and hiked through miles of rice paddies. The air was cool and dry, and there was just a little mist floating over the fields. It was really a sight to behold. We stumbled upon a 10th century temple that is the 'gateway' to Wat Chisor on the mountain.

Along the paths, we saw thousands of pieces of ancient pottery. Soh-Cah, an archeology professor at RUFA and previous student of Kyle's, is an expert on ancient pottery and he was able to tell us all about the pieces we found. There were remnants of thousands of years of history scattered on the ground. It was amazing to pick up pieces of pottery that are so old. Some dated back to the pre-Angkor period, around the 8th-9th centuries. Amazing! I picked out a select number of pieces to bring home and share with some of you nerds :)

SohCah and Kyle's daughter, Mina, with a pre-Angkor pot base

We mosey-ed along the paths and finally reached the steps up to Chisor. Quite the hike ahead of us!

Long way up!

 It only took about 20 minutes to get up, and we were greeted by many of the villagers and Wat-keepers. The view from the top was incredible. We could see all the way to Vietnam! Kyle explained to us that the landscape is mostly man-made as a way to manage the drastic ecological differences between the wet and dry seasons. The rice paddies are irrigated naturally via the floods, and there are numerous kinds of rice crops that adapt to changing water levels in the dry season. Flooding rarely happens due to the layout of the fields. The method was developed over 2,000 years ago and is still sustained in the same way -- talk about 'going green'!

WE DID IT!

Panoramic from the top!

We spent about 2 hours up on the mountain; Tim and I wandered around the whole complex and talked to different people and prayed with incense in front of many different Buddha images. One old man gave us hand-drawn prayer flags that are supposed to protect us from harm and evil. It was so cool on top of the mountain, and it started to rain just a little bit before we left. It was actually the perfect weather for a hike because we stayed nice and cool!

Here I am at the top!

Tim making merit

Ancient Khmer tablet and script

Our old man, the protector

Lotus garden

10th century temples

We had a picnic lunch and some of the villagers gave us food; I watched them kill and de-feather our chicken (which was delicious, obviously!). After lunch, we hiked back down and took a different path into the village in the valley. We met some local villagers and stopped at a home where many women were weaving traditional fabrics. We piled back in the car and I passed out until we got to our next stop.

On the way back to Phnom Penh, we stopped at Choeung Ek, just one of the many infamous Killing Fields in and around the area. Choeung Ek was used as a dumping and torture site for thousands of people. Over 9,000 skeletons have been discovered in this one site. It was quite an emotional experience to walk around the fields and know that thousands of people were murdered under your very feet.

Choeung Ek was an emotional experience, but it was just preparation for Tuesday's visit to Tuol Sleung -- the Genocide museum in Phnom Penh and the site where 20,000 innocent people were detained, tortured, and killed.  More in the next post.


Peace and Love to all :)


p.s. Here are some photos from Choeung Ek:

The Mausoleum holding 8,000 + skulls of the victims of Choeung Ek

The Killing Fields

The officers hung a loudspeaker from this tree that played noises to drown out sounds of victims' screaming

First Week Whirlwind!

What a crazy week! I'm loving Phnom Penh, but it's definitely been weird adjusting to a whole new place again. I really like how walk-able this city is, and the program rented us some bikes so we can do our own exploring!

Our location in the city is fantastic; we live in The Golden Mekong Hotel, which is located right behind the Palace. We are two blocks away from the National Musuem and the Royal University of Fine Arts, a short bike ride from University of Cambodia campus, and we are in a great district that is the perfect blend of local food/cultural things (markets, Wats, street food shops) and ex-pat boutiques, bars and night clubs. We can walk and bike anywhere, and we've been having a good time marking out all the good places to eat, including an amazing and cheap Khmer BBQ right next door! We get the best of all worlds!

We started classes last Monday, and we take History/Culture/Everything-There-is-to-Know-About-Cambodia with Kyle and Khmer Language with a woman named Sopehap. She works for a language teaching company and she's awesome. Class with Kyle is an interesting experience; he has such a wealth of knowledge as he's lived in this part of the world for over 20 years. He's done research in Indonesia and Cambodia and Vietnam, and is trained as an archeologist but knows everything about everything else. He is so full of energy that it's sometimes hard to keep up! But I am SO excited because he really believes in experiential learning; we only have 1 or two lectures every week, and on the other days he takes us on different outings around the city. For example, last Tuesday we went to the local market Psar Kandal and he gave us a compass and a list of things to find and sent us on our way. We had to find different goods and make a map of where they were located in the market. Definitely my idea of a fun and interactive lesson! Here are some pictures from the market:

The rest of the week was spent adjusting and exploring; without a real campus and dining hall, it leaves us much more open to finding new and delicious places to eat, as well as fun places to hang out. We've already dubbed one internet café our favorite (as we don't have internet in our hotel...very regularly), and we've found some good clubs and bars in our neighborhood. Beer is SO cheap here (sometimes only $0.75 for half a pint!)

We have weekly meetings with Maryann and Joanna, our coordinators, and last week we met at a coffee shop right around the corner from the UC building. We chatted about adjusting and their work with different NGO's, and we enjoyed a delicious brownie (yay! finally good baked goods!)

Next post: recap of our amazing day trip and hike through the Cambodian wilderness!