Hong Kong Phooey (and how to get rejected by Daisy Duck)

So a few months ago, Mark and Tara made me an offer I couldn't resist. Come over to Hong Kong with them and visit Disneyland. Never to pass an opportunity to sponge and see my niece and nephew (and Mark and Tara of course!), I jumped at the opportunity.

The problem was I am in serious negative leave territory, but luckily my boss, Mony, doesn't really care and told me to go. Coco, the Assistant Country Director, isn't so flexible so we both thought it a good idea to keep it under wraps (eventually she did find out but luckily Mony covered for me again :)

We arrived late Thursday night in an exhausted state.

The trip was almost called off because Dillan was sick but he appeared to get better. Unfortunately he got even sicker overnight and spent most of the time like this...

The next morning we headed of to Disneyland (we were staying at the bewilderingly un-child friendly Hollywood Hotel at Disneyland so it wasn't far). Unfortunately the weather was just appaling, it was freezing and drizzling and raining the entire day. Even worse was the Disney staff insisting no strollers were allowed almost everywhere meaning poor Dills kept getting moved around.

But it was fun I have to admit for all my scepticism of Disneyland. My favourite highlights were Space Mountain (a rollercoaster than I suspect was a little watered down for local tastes), Buzz Lightyear Space Blasters (where you get to shoot aliens) and the Safari River ride. The Dumbo ride and mad hatter's tea cups were also fun :)

Lamest ride had to go to the electric cars, I liked Pooh Bear's ride more!

The kids liked meeting the characters the best I reckon, Amali was so excited. It was really funny though it was mostly adults lining up to meet the characters. The park was also eerily empty at times (probably due to the appaling weather). Mark, Amali and I returned later in the night to see the fireworks which were quite good.

I also found time to try and kiss Daisy Duck but was shot down (no doubt footage of this will be placed on facebook some-time), as well as other tacky photos :)

The next day we were determined to finish off Disneyland and Dillan was looking a lot better so we blitzed the remaining rides and decided to head off to see some more of Hong Kong. In the wet and icy weather we caught a cable car at Ngong Ping and went over to see the world's largest Buddha.The weather kind of obscured a lot of it but it was fun. But we didn't stay very long at the top because there really wasn't much to do once you got there.

The next day Amali had become sick but we persevered to go and see 'the Peak' , the highest point in Hong Kong and from which you could catch a tram all the way down into Hong Kong town. We went into Kowloon town and caught a ferry across to Hong Kong Island.

We finally arrived at the peak and it was the blowing a mighty gale with rain everywhere. We abandoned our plan and retreated back to the Hotel. Hong Kong is famous for its shopping and we weren't really able to go into the city due to the weather and the sick kids so we had a poke around where we were. The shopping centres were truly bizarre they seemed so big but were almost empty, including this giant one shaped like a big cruise ship but had a pretty average supermarket in it and a $2 shop!

Oh well, i got a few new pairs of jeans at least (having not bought any new ones for at least 3 years or so).

Mark was staying in Hong Kong for work so Tara and I came back with the kids on the Sunday night. It was not as traumatic as I was expecting but Dillan had a hard time getting to sleep and waking Amali up when were landing wasn't pretty. But at least the plane was pretty empty so everyone could stretch out. Having arrived back at about 2am or so, I woke up at 6am to head onto my connecting flight to Cambodia.

Perhaps predictably tragedy struck, I waited patiently in line at the SilkAir counter and presented my passport, thinking about what souveneir to give my landlady since she is always cooking for me and the lady at the desk says "and who is this lady?". It turns out I had taken Tara's passport instead of mine. They suggested I head home to pick up the right one as I still had time. But I had no idea what Mark and Tara's address was which the SilkAir staff found very funny. So i got bumped onto a later flight and I headed back to the apartment once I made contact with Tara. I am glad i did miss the flight cos i spent a bit more time in Singapore, got to see their new place and had a yummy lunch with Tara as well.

Needless to say eventually i boarded the right flight and was safely delivered back to the bodge.

Country Boy

Hey!

Ok having got back from my Hong Kong trip on Monday (when I download the photos I will do a post on it) I had a day in the office and was driven completely mad so I needed to get out.

Ratha, the technical field monitor, had to head out to check some more culverts so I grabbed the opportunity to go along. So he, Vannak and I shot off into Basedth District. It is kind of funny that I have been talking about how dry things in Cambodia are becoming. Well low and behold comes unseasonable rains and we drive into a commune that had several lakes. I have been to this district a few times and never found this lake so its great to discover new areas.

Maybe because I grew up in the city I find agriculture fascinating (hence me going on about rice fields). Last year the community and WFP built two canals to connect to the lake. Because of this the people were able to grow dry season crops and diversify their income.

The main crop was peanuts and to tell you the truth I had never seen peanuts being grown. I mentioned this to Ratha and he promptly went over to one field, pulled one of the plants out of the ground and showed me the roots and sure enough dangling from the roots were little peanuts. Although I did feel a bit bad about ripping out someone’s crop, but Ratha didnt seem to think they would care.

The other main crop is watermelons. Apparently they can grow just of the dew overnight so they are a good low water crop. Being a city boy again I found it interesting seeing the different stages as we walked along the rice bunds.

From small

To bigger

To bigger

To the big one we saw and couldn’t resist so we bought it.

We then met up with the work crew making the last culvert (a mammoth one as you can see). I have run into this team a few times and its particularly memorable because one the guys there is a deaf mute who became one during the war. He’s a really nice guy and is always asking if i know any girls he can marry (deciphered through actions).

So the rest of the week I will go with Ratha on motorbikes to Kampong Chnang which should be fun. We learnt today that as of next week we lose one staff member, Touch, who will be transferred to Phnom Penh. So Mony warned me to get lots of sleep the next few nights because Friday night is a farewell party for Vannak (who has resigned), Touch (transferred) as well as our majorly delayed International New Year/Chinese New Year and early Khmer New Year party. And Kampong Speu boys know how to party.

Oh and this last photo is of the pot plant in my office. I haven’t watered it in ages because I forgot about it and when the cleaner took mercy and went over and watered it and all these suckers came out of the soil. Its a bit grainy but all the fuzzy bits are ants.

Some quick stats

Hi All

Just a quick post on some interesting statistics that were compiled by the WFP Cambodia Food Security Atlas. It helps to put into focus for me some of the work that we are doing and hopefully you will find it interesting. A common reaction of visitors to Cambodia are that things are going very well and the pace of development is fast. The report highlights the vast rural-urban gap that isn’t hard to see when you leave the big cities.

The overall Cambodian economy is going gangbusters expected to reach 10.4% this year. Cambodia has quadrupled the size of its economy since 1994. The rub is that growth in the agricultural sector was only 3.1% (less than population growth which means people in the agricultural sector are treading water or going backwards mostly).

A farmer (90% of Cambodians are dependent on agriculture) makes about US$100 to $US200 a year from a hectare of land and most families own 1.5 or less hectares (45% live of .5 Ha, although more than 60% in Kampong Speu).

The province I work in received the lowest annual rainfall in the country at 800mm (which is still more than most of Australia receive – but that said Australia has sophisticated ways of utilizing and storing rainwater as well as not relying on such thirsty crops such as rice which must be flooded to grow).

The average yield of a farmer here is approximately 2.47 tonnes of paddy rice/Ha. This is among the lowest in Asia, beaten by Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.

High costs of fertilizer have led to lack of use and depleted soil. Farmers in Laos and Thailand use 3 times as much as Cambodian farmers; in Vietnam they use 6 times as much. Only 10% of land is artificially irrigated.

Infant Mortality Rate remains high in rural areas (92 per thousand live births in rural areas compared to 65 in urban areas) as does Under 5 mortality (111 per thousand in rural areas compared to 76 in urban areas).

Oops

I Just realised I didn't share with you the whole compound so those photos might be a little meaningless. So relax and enjoy surroundings of Matt's bachelor pad part II. So Romany lives downstairs of the main house and I live in the upstairs. Along the side is some boarding rooms where some of the WFP and UNICEF people stay during the week cos their house is back in Phnom Penh.

And this is the spirit house out the front (which all houses have). As you can see the offering is normally fruit but in celebration of Chinese New Year, also a can of Fanta.

Moving here was the best thing I ever did, I am getting lots of yummy food from Romany and Rina who live downstairs so I have to think of some nice things to give them in return (maybe I should cook them pasta?). The Julien and Marie-Helene and the kids (henceforthe known as the Belgians) are just the nicest people. They always drop around for a chat or I headover to theirs. The kids are just so affectionate always coming up for hugs and stuff. Their favourite activity is running head first into the spare mattress leaned up against the wall in the spare room. Last night they came over to invite me to go to the coast with them this weekend but I have to be in Phnom Penh so I took a raincheck but it was so nice of them to invite me.

Louan the boy is such a terror, you take your eyes of him for one minute and he has found the heaviest, sharpest or most fragile object in the room. I think I see what Dilan will be like in the future J

They have become minor celebrities over here cos Julian is massively tall and the kids are massively blonde so more than once they have been stopped by complete strangers to have their photo taken with them.

Interestingly enough I think they are the only Belgians in the world who don’t drink beer (COMPLETE opposite to Thierry) which removes the whole alcohol bonding thing but hey, he is going to buy an X Box so thats that problem taken care of.

Umm a bit sick at the moment and was OIC all last week during Chinese New Year (as everyone took leave) which was very quiet. On the upside I saw this pretty cool Lion Dancing outside my hotel on Sunday.

So this week I have Thursday and Friday in meetings in Phnom Penh then I farewell Kristy back to oz, another one of my friends whose time in Cambodia is up. But I know when I return to Oz I will have a great network of new friends.

But the weekend after that I am off to…HONGKERS! Yup international baby sitting mission to Hong Kong for a few days sponsored by Mark and Tara. Can’t wait to see the kiddos J

There is a house in Kampong Speu, they call it the Rising Sun

Hey Everyone

Just a quick post to give you the pics of my new place. I have been slowly house-swapping with the Belgians because the old place was too big for me. I love the new place cos even though its smaller I feel like the whole place is mine unlike the house when it only really felt like my room was.


Moving was a hassle and still have a few things to bring across. Although its funny having all the stuff you own paraded down the street seems to remind you that you own WAY too much stuff.

It is just across the street from the old place and is the top floor of the landlady's house. It should be a little less isolating than sitting behind those big yellow gates. The downside is that I have to be careful about public nudity as the Fine Arts School and the World Vision office can see into pretty much all of my windows :)

Also I can't really use my sweet speaker system cos the whole house vibrates and there isnt much running water (only late morning and late evening) but bucket showers are a lot more satisfying than you think :)

The Balcony


Its bigger than my old one and has nice views of the palm trees. I have my trusty hammock and a few seats set up there.







Now turning around and looking at the house

You can see my shameless Australia day leftovers and my new funky couch.
And then the bedroom

(and my collage of my homies from oz)

Back to the loungeroom

Tastefully decorated wouldn't you say. I have decided to keep the kids decorations that the Belgians dont want to keep me young. Oh and I now get awesome reception on my tv because its not spliced like it was in the other house.

The spare room

I try not to go in here after dark as I think its the mouse HQ

The Kitchen/Bathroom

I say kitchen/bathroom cos there is only a little wall seperating the two which is a little weird at first, but probably not too weird until I entertain visitors. Its a manual toilet again, red bucket for the toilet, green bucket for bucket showers.