The week in pictures...

I didn't take too many photographs on this trip but here are a few to accompany the posts below... I'm now back in England with a few Cambodian projects in the pipeline here. Just 10 days in the humidity and I had already forgotten how cold it is back here... brrrrrrrr!

• First stop, Phnom Penh - view from Blue Lime hotel over to the Royal Palace - Its still the rainy season in PP hence the threatening sky and the flooded roads....
  

Next Kep Lodge in Kep - seaside town with 4 of the CCH photo journalists

• Relaxing in the evening in the bar...I must say they were lethal darts players and even started training the owners 2 year old baby. Ahh I love Cambodian health and safety.
  
  
  
• The crab market - one of the best places to eat in Cambodia. Rick Stein(of TV chef fame) recently visited Kep. He went to try lok lak at the poshest place in town. This was a mistake this street has the best food in town. Seafood straight out of the sea and served with Kampot pepper. My favourite is Kimly which can be found at the end of the row.
  
  
  
  
  
• A walk around the town and a trip to the King's old holiday villa....The family "guarding"/squatting in the deserted and crumbling building now demand $2 per person to get a look. I've been inside before they got the idea of charging the Barangs an entrance fee. The child below demanding the charge did appear to be doing some gardening (before he decided to escort us off the premises and down the road with this 2 dogs that is)

• Contemplating the sea view from the crab market

• A long relaxing walk to the beach on the seafront rounded off with a snack of a off coconut/rice/fruit mix wrapped in leaves and then cooked [read: burnt]
  
• Monkey watching....
  

• Rain...

• Jasmine (I think)....
  
  

  

• Next stop Kampot.......
  
  
  

  
  

• A cycle ride around the countryside and cattle.... Cham boys in a village on the outskirts of Kampot...
  

• Kampot river

• Back to the city and shopping - God forbid that you ever enter O'Russei market and dare to go upstairs. Sweating, disorientated, loaded with goods...will you ever find your way out again? I always get lost here. Fantastic market though - Might be my favourite.... The fabric on the east side of the market is amazing and as for the bling Khmer dresses on the first floor....!

• The school at the children's centre has opened (the primary children used to go to public school but now the centre has opened their own). Observing a day of lessons....
  The girls - S and S - who now seem to be good friends in Second grade. On the right is the beautiful girl I sponsor who is progressing very well.
  
• Second grade classroom
  
  
• A fun afternoon for 5 of the children from the centre at the water park (OK, Ok I liked the slide too...).
  
  
  
  
• Waiting for the hot dog party to begin - the water park 5 - some modelling clothes donated by my (UK) work friends - present and past.
  
• Let the dancing at the leaving party commence..........
  
  

Daaaahling...

Its a good job that here "Daaaahling"is not a term of affection otherwise over fifty moto men could have been the subject of my attention today! Daahl-ing in khmer means walking or walking for fun/strolling. Cambodian's tend to do this in parks when they have them - (even then the "park" really resembles more of a central reservation (like you get in the middle of large roads in the UK)). The the Daahl-ing is usually done just before dawn or sunset. Today I Daahl-ing-ed from about 9 to midday and not in a park but right across Phnom Penh visiting many of my favourite shops and cafes. A few new haunts had cropped up too over the last six months. I am exhausted from the heat, dust and lack of pavements!

I also Daah-ling-ed to our old house and bumped into a couple of our old moto taxi men who were still hanging about in that area for fares. One of them speaks quite good English so I had a nice chat with him and it was good to see a few familiar faces. Apparently business is not so good because people (expats) in our old flat have their own cars and business has been tough. Quite a crowd of moto men used to gather at the front of our house probably because I took long trips out to the orphanage and paid a good price - resulting in quite a high income for a moto driver. Its a bit sad that they are not being used now but so many expats use the big 4WDs that are paid for by their charity to go from A to B in the city. I would say this is really not needed and the money could be better used a) for the charitable purposes of the organisation and b) using local means of transport provides an income for local people who might otherwise be struggling... I am a big fan of the moto taxi!

This afternoon I am going to the waterpark - I have written about this on my blog before... A health and safety risk/disaster waiting to happen on the edge of town... with 5 children from the children's centre and later a farewell visit with hot dogs at the centre itself.

The visit has gone all too quickly but we will be back soon for more...

Ahhh you got so fat!

I forgot the weariness of the old Cambodian favourite compliment "ahh you got sooo fat. Do you have baby?" - I now just admit it that yes, "I ate too much..." - It is like saying, in the western world, "daaahrrrrling you've lost so much weight". Basically, in Cambodia, if you are fat (anything over a UK size 8) , you must have money to eat so you are therefore rich. This is a good thing and therefore a compliment!! Funny it doesn't feel that way when they are poking at your beer belly...

Anyway, the last 4 days were spent at Kep seaside town with the 4 children from the children's centre and then 2 days at Kampot, a delightful colonial old town (subject to the comments below that is...)

The trip with the children was good. Mainly the visit revolved around walking around the seaside town and eating all kinds of seafood with the famous Kampot pepper. My favourite place to eat on the seafront in Kep is a restaurant called Kimly. Its right at the end of a row of shed like buildings offering various delicious seafood. Kimly is by far the best and the size of the prawns is amazing!

In Kampot, I was looking forward to staying at Rikitikitavi guesthouse as in the past it had always been fully booked....On arrival they didn't have the booking! Not ideal, but a room was at least available for one night. Cycling around Kampot is great and so with the aid of a bike that only had one gear (the one for cycling up really big hills...and Kampot is flat) a day was spent getting sun burnt and going back to a Cham (Muslim) village near to Kampot where I had been before. This time opposite the mosque in a tiny local cafe I entertained 4 amused village children had a drink of coffee for less than 5p! The teacher of the local school looked on as the English speaker of the village did some impressive translation.

Kampot is my favourite town in Cambodia - It is relaxed and charming. However, it has been somewhat ruined by the Governor of the town allowing a Russian businessman permission to turn a riverfront building into a hideous Khmer club. Imagine a peaceful town with a beautiful river front... an amazing fiery red sunset... the sound of the birds - and then the thump thump of the bad Khmer karaoke/dance track. It is completely out of character for the area. In fact it doesn't seem to be doing anything for the people of Kampot. Tourism along the riverfront is down for the guesthouses there (the noise drives the guests away) and the people who tend to go to the bar are Cambodian children of the age that really shouldn't be drinking and hanging out in bars/clubs. A bad idea in all ways - However, money talks and clearly the Russian has more money to gift to the Governor than the other bar/guesthouse owners....

A place of recommendation along the river front is Jasmine. A wonderful small restaurant run by a Khmer woman and her expat husband (but she is very much in control). Not only is the food delicious she is a wealth of information and opinions on Khmer culture and attitudes. Pop in!!

Now back in Phnom Penh...Its raining hard... I have been gifted a delightful green rain cape (thanks David!) so now I look like a "traditional" motorbike taxi man but at least I am dry. Lovely.

Return....

There is just over 2 weeks and then I am back in Cambodia for a holiday! Its a long haul flight of about 14 hours but it seems very normal these days... I am busy collecting clothes and toys for the students at the Children's Centre. Let's hope I don't go mad with loads of excess baggage again.... I am really looking forward to some HOT (humid) weather, seeing the childrenand seeing what shade of yellow they chose to paint the central market!!

Summer holidays

During August the director and 3 children from CCH (the children's centre) came to stay in England. It was a trip mainly organised by a film maker IAnna) who is sponsoring one of the children to attend ISPP one of the best international schools in Phnom Penh but as she was coming over to see her (and think about which English universities she would like to study at) with the director and his son we thought it would be nice if one of the other children came and stayed as well. Ravuth, one of the older students at CCH who works very hard and deserves a holiday, came to stay!

I think it was a bit of a culture shock (as predicted). There was a lot of super noodles being cooked during their holiday! By the end of the trip they were all pretty well travelled and had taken part in activities not usually available when you are living in Phnom Penh - like attending a music festival (WOMAD) horse riding up welsh mountains and viewing dinosaurs at the natural history museum.

My mum has cooked lok lak a few times following her trip to see me in Cambodia and as the Cambodian's were craving "real" food she bravely took it upon herself to cook lok lak for 9. She had done so much preparation - even the obligatory pepper/garlic oil sauce that appears on every Cambodian table. However, the excitement could not be contained in the kitchen as my mum arrived with her prepared marinated meat for this Cambodian curry. 4 Cambodian's then assisted in making the dish even tastier.... With the director frying up the individual portions and the others arranging the necessary lettuce and tomato (one leaf with three slices of tomatao)adding more garlic and pepper and sugar and salt and...well, luckily we had no MSG in the house as this is popular.

We then all enjoyed what turned out to be some of the best Cambodian food I have tasted. I was never a big Cambodian food fan as I found it to lack subtle flavours and thought it was quite tasteless or just loaded with MSG/pepper/salt but this was great! Well done mum and her helpers. It was agreed across the whole table (which I might add included a student from France so the standard expected was high(!)) the lok lak was great.

How many people does it take to cook a lok lak?? ...Lok lak perfection! - Well done mum and helpers!

My step dad entertains the masses

Cambodian's get travel sick just getting onto a bus so we thought a trip on the fair ground might be amusing....

Womad

A first trip on a train ever for these guys was the London Underground - probably not the best example train in the world...

Bowling - I lost shamefully to children who had never been inside a bowling place before!

Culture shock!

3 students from the CCH children's centre are coming to Bath this month. The flights are now all booked and the visas have been granted! No doubt it will be rather strange for these young people (aged between 14 and 19) to experience the UK - Probably more of a culture shock than the other way around....!

Mekong Swim

Following the Mekong Swim (see earlier post) Asia Life published an article about my schools swim team - written by the children themselves. Here it is: http://www.asialifeguide.com/Feature/iSWAM-the-Mekong.html

On Apr. 5 many of the Penh’s adult community swam the mighty Mekong River, but four eleven-year-old children from iCAN, who were raising money for the Cambodia’s Dump Children Committee caught the eye. This month we give you Jessica Rendall, ‘Rapid’ Regis Seng, Sarah Wong and Sowon Hak, who truly are the Penh’s next generation.

Jessica (lying)Swimming the Mekong River felt tiring and fun. It was also scary knowing what could possibly happen to me if I wasn’t careful. I felt really, really, really proud of myself for doing something different for a change and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. When I first saw the length I had to swim, I was pretty sure that there was no way I was going to make it across. When I got in the water to warm up, I took another look at the distance and realised that it wasn’t that far at all. During the swim, I was pretty tempted to wave my hand in the air and give up, but I looked at the other side and saw the children from Cambodia’s Dump Children Committee (CDCC) smiling and thought that if I were to give up I would feel guilty, because of all the children I had let down. That gave me an urge to give it all I had and finish what I had started. I was feeling nervous already, when on top of that, the photographer from the AsiaLIFE magazine was there to take pictures of us to feature in their magazine. It was a chance of a lifetime and I had a rainbow of feelings, but I was glad that I did it and will definitely never forget, my Mekong River swim experience. (Jessica swam the Mekong in 17.03)

Rapid (right)I did it!!! It was a massive experience for me to swim across the Mekong River! I can remember going to watch the Mekong River swim last year, when I couldn’t really swim at all, and wondered whether I’d ever be a good enough swimmer to do that. It’s amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. I thought the mighty Mekong River was going to be very deep and cold, but instead the water was warm and kind of refreshing. It didn’t smell really bad either, as I thought it might. But the scariest thing is that you can’t see what’s in the water at all – it was just dark brown! I think that the Mekong River swim is a very challenging thing for people to do because if you swim straight to where you’re heading, the current will push you far away. I was feeling a bit dizzy with my new, and fashionable, swimming cap, but it was all right because when I went into the water I felt soooo much better. When I reached half way about 400m, I felt like I had just swum two lengths of our school swimming pool. I would love to do it again because it was a very challenging experience for me and I thought that I couldn’t reach the end, but fortunately I did it. (Rapid swam the Mekong in 15.43)

Sarah (left) On Sunday, we swam the Mekong River and it was an incredible experience. I felt both excited and nervous. When I saw how long it was I felt a bit nauseous but did it anyway, because I knew it would be a fun thing to try. It was very exhausting and I don’t think I have ever swum so hard and so much in my life! While swimming the river, I wanted to give up because I was completely wiped out, but I urged myself to get to the end. No turning back now! When I finally got up to the bank I felt as if I was going to flop over. But the support of my friends and family made me walk up the muddy steep hill. I feel proud and now I can say: “I’ve swum the Mekong River!’’ C.D.C.C will also get brand new bikes and I feel great that I have helped to make that happen. I feel good about myself that I have achieved something so huge. The amazing feeling I get when someone tells me how proud they are, is when I knew it was definitely worth not giving up! (Sarah swam the Mekong in 18.30)

Sowon (middle)First when I saw how much I needed to swim I was thinking inside my head that it was far and I couldn’t do it. When the race started I was very nervous. After I had swum about half way I thought that it wasn’t too bad after all. I really enjoyed it a lot. Now CDCC are going to have bicycles and I am very proud of myself that I swam the Mekong River. (Sowon swam the Mekong in 15.11)

In total Sarah, Sowon, Jessica and Regis raised US$1,000 for CDCC, which will be matched on behalf of iCAN by its Director, Elain Younn. The grand total of US$2,000 should be enough to buy 50 bicycles and cycle helmets for the children at CDCC.