Battambang

Hi

On the occasion of His Majesty Preah Karuna Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni's 54th Birthday we had a long weekend so i decided to head up to a town near the Thai border called Battambang. I figured it was one of those places that I might never visit unless I made a concious effort so off I went.

It is a pretty average town (river, shops, the usual) but is the ricebowl of Cambodia so there are tonnes of rice paddies around, which are all green and flooded at the moment. For some reason there are tonnes and tonnes of statues everywhere!

After the 5 hour bus trip (next to who I think was a Vietnamese prostitute who was taking a 2 day bus oddesey to Malaysia) I had a bit of a looksey around town and retired early.

The next day I met a driver called Jerry and we headed off to see the sights. On the way we drove through lots of villages and stuff and I didnt have the heart to tell him I get plenty of the village perspective in my work :) It was threatening to piss down all day but we were lucky.

Phnom Sampeu means sailing boat mountain. Ok the story goes like this, a long time ago a prince jilted a woman in Battambang so she was very sad. She found a crocodile egg one day and took it to the hermit to turn into a son for her. So the egg hatched and there was a son, who could also turn into a giant crocodile incredible hulk style. So the Prince came back one day and the son confronted him why he jilted his mother. Unsatisfied the crocodile attacked the boat but another spirit, the lady with the long hair saw this and intervened (she dried the water by dipping her hair in the lake). So this battle went on forever and eventually all three turned into mountains.

Phnom Sampeu is unfortunately also famous for being a Khmer Rouge stronghold during those times. Aproximately 10,000 people were killed there by being pushed into openings at the top into the killing caves. It was really creepy being in those caves and there are memorial stupas there filled with the remains of some of the victims.

This was the small killing cave

and this the large one. There was also anti-aircraft guns at the top installed by the KR for the face off with the Vietnamese when they liberated the country, instructions written in German.

From the top there is pretty amazing views of the flooded rice paddies and ''crocodile mountain''.

Next we went to Wat Banan which was built between the 10th and 14th century. Its like a million steps up (well 300 and something) but very steep. Was pretty cool and the views were nice. It was built in a similar style to Angkor Wat.

I met up with some backpackers and we went out and hit this really awesome club that night. It was really weird cos it was playing like reggaeton, crunk, dirty south which is very unusual for a Khmer club. But there was a very disturbing side to it. In the bathrooms at the urinals, you get a neck massage from one of the attendants. I am all for massage but that, that aint cool!

Anyway this week I should be in the field for most of the week, then on Friday night an informal gathering with the other volunteers. I got a phone call from the volunteer manager last week asking where i have been for the last few months because I hadnt contacted him or turned up to any events...whoops!

The rainy season has begun a little early so i keep getting caught in it and getting soaked. i have now taken to wearing boots cos i am sick of sinking in the mud!

Back from Oz

As you probably know I was back in oz for two weeks as a surprise for my dad’s 60th and Dilan’s christening. Needless to say it went swimmingly but all too quickly.

I arrived back late Tuesday night and convinced a taxi driver to take me back to Kampong Speu. He had one of those cars with an automatic seatbelt thingy…very weird!

Last week we had a wedding outside our place…I mean literally outside our place. They blocked off the intersection and left us a small passageway to negotiate through to get out. ''Unfortunately'' it was a day wedding so we missed the karaoke.

A couple of days after getting back I decided I wanted to get out to the field so I headed off to Kampong Chnang Province with Sovanna, Bora and Sokhom. This was by far the best trip I have had. We crossed the Tonle River on this tiny little ferry then had to do some hardcore four wheel driving through flooded areas and over rice bunds. Lots of fun.
We were there to measure a dyke that had been built near a catchment. It was kinda spooky cos there was nothing around at all but rice paddies as far as the eye could see. Felt like we were in the middle of nowhere . This dyke has cut the amount of fuel the farmers need to pump water into their fields by 98%.

The return trip on the ferry we had some very reluctant cows joining us.

We had dinner that night in Kampong Chnang town (I think my favourite town in Cambodia so far) and we got to chatting over some beers. Sovannah is an older guy who is quite reserved in the office but get a few drinks into him and he has tonnes of stories. He talked about how when he was young he could hear the American B52 bombers flying overhead starting at 7pm and finishing at 4am to bomb the border area of Cambodia and Vietnam to try and get the Vietcong. We now know that the American's bombed a lot more than the border areas (including destroying the former capital of Oudong near present day Phnom Penh).

The next day we visited a Cham (Muslim) school to collect some documents. Interestingly enough the students there didn’t wear the headscarf at school even though there was no government rule stopping them.

We also dropped in on a really poor village that had been told by their commune chief that we had approved a project last year. So the villagers built 700m of the 1km road only to be told that there had been a mistake and the road wasn’t approved. We did an assessment and found that most households had ran out of rice and the rice yield from their very small plots was extremely low (about half what it should be). We all decided that we would try and help them restart the road and continue it for 2km more meaning that in the rainy season, the kids can get to the closer school rather than the one far away.

Last night I ''sponsored'' a party at the office since i missed the new year so it was an bevy of food, beer and badminton (well I still suck at badminton so i only played one game).

Anyhoo this weekend is a long weekend, i am thinking i will head to Battambang a town near the Thai border for some sightseeing.

Oh and by popular demand, my bike. Just need to pimp my ride with some ribbons and spokie dokes.