Cambodia - Part 11

Wednesday 12th of July 2007

Hallelujah for hot water!!!

It’s official – I have hot water in my house!!! It only produces a little trickle and the lights dim when you switch the system on, but it is hot and it is glorious (after over 3 months of cold splashes in the bucket). The system is this little box that sits on the wall of the ‘bontoup tuk’ (water room) and basically acts like a really quick urn. The land lord fix it after we paid another 3 months rent in advance. And just in time. It has been getting cold. In the mornings it is dropping down to about 20 and I am really feeling it. Seriously – I find that cold these days. The water must be about 15. Freezing!!!

Despite the fact the wet season has started, it still gets up to the mid 30’s most days. We just have the 3 o’clock storm to cool things down now. And the mud. Mud everywhere. The landscape has completely changed since I first arrived. Gone are the wide dust bowls with limp trees and emaciated cows; replaced with lush green trees, vast sprouting rice paddies, pools of brown muddy water and fat cows…’water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink…’

Speaking of cows I had to shoo one out the gate the other day. It came in and grazed around for a bit while I was having my lunchtime nap. I was hoping she would eat up the lawn so we wouldn’t have to mow it with a whipper snipper again (it’s my turn – Shin did it last time). But then I had to go back to work and had to get her out before I locked the gate. Thankfully she was an agreeable little heifer and followed my lead (unlike some other little heifers I know). Don’t know what I would have done if she was stubborn. But, you know, I still have that BBQ…

I am also loving my motor bike. I thought it would be boring after a while. But no, it is still fun, especially on the dirt tracks or in the mud, although my feet get wet in the puddles. I am half thinking about doing a little trek to Thailand at the end of my assignment, maybe fanging it around Angkor Watt on my way there. Could be way fun.

As for work things are coming along well. I am finding myself busy these days. There is a lot to do in the way of proposals and working out new programs. I found out the other day that my first funding application was successful, so am pretty happy at the moment. That is a 100% success rate. It won’t last, so I am lapping it up at the moment. We are currently working out the logistics of the successful application (it is to assist HIV/AIDS affected people establish micro-businesses and earn enough of an income to support themselves and their families).

At the moment I am working on a new funding proposal to secure funds for an education and awareness campaign. The campaign will improve the understanding of people’s rights in relation to local governance, domestic violence and land rights. It will hopefully compliment and build on some other projects that we have going and have proposed.

On Thursday we will be doing the food security program again. I will be lending my muscle to move the hefty bags of rice. Should be a good work out and we get the satisfaction of feeding the poor. I feel like such a sloth these days – I haven’t exercised in weeks. But hey, I have still lost weight. Thankyou dengue.

Funny thing; my boss bought a Lexus 4WD a few weeks ago. It is white has ‘Lexus’ written down the side in big grey letters. It’s a fake. I know this mostly because my boss told me (I am no car expert). But there also some other give aways – like the Toyota badges…this place is so odd sometimes…

As you probably all know last Saturday was the 7/7/07. This date has particular relevance for the Cambodians. It is the 10 year anniversary since Hun Sen and some of the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) held a coup and took government from the ruling Funcinpec Party (who they were in a coalition with at the time), effectively ending the democratic system that the UN tried to implement in 1993 and yet, ironically, bringing some stability to a politically tumultuous situation. A loss of democracy for stability – seems to happen a lot to new democracies.

On the 7/7/97 there was fighting in the streets of Phnom Penh as troops loyal to the CPP fought troops loyal to Funcinpec. Motars were fired, there were skirmishes in the streets and about 70 people were killed. Two days later it was all over - Hun Sen was in power and the leader of Funcinpec was in exile and has been pretty much ever since. In the weeks that followed the coup there were a number of extra-judicial murders and a number of other people were killed. Hun Sen claims that he was protecting Cambodia from a coup from Funcinpec who had made some agreement with the Khmer Rouge. While there is some truth in this (the agreement), one has to wonder why a ruling party would hold a coup. What is left now is pretty much a single ruling party with a leader that intends to hold onto to power as long as possible, endemic corruption and superficial democracy. It is not likely this situation will change anytime soon…

The other day a land rights activist was killed with an AK47 in the west of the country. The murderer was caught a few days later in the south of the country. The Police chief said that they were lucky because the activist yelled out the name of his murderer in his dying moments. The activists wife, who was there, said he didn’t say anything like that. Then representatives from the company who he was fighting against turned up at the autopsy out of ‘curiosity’. Hmm….

Anyhow, I have also done some more travelling. I went to Siem Reap last weekend where I met up with Lainie. We headed out of town and onto Tonle Sap Lake to visit the ‘village on stilts’ (nothing like the ‘poo on sticks’ artwork in Kings Cross) and the flooded forest. It took an hour and half to get there but it was quite cool. It hadn’t rained enough for the village on stilts to flood, so you can still walk down the muddy main road. Underfoot it was littered with little shells and the houses that lined the street, well, they are on stilts. They are mostly traditional wooden houses that sit about 5 metres off ground level and many are decorated with plants from the forest. Quite nice. But the most striking thing was the lack of vehicles. To the point they have volley ball nets pulled tight across the road and you can walk the street with no worries of being hit by a moto. We had lunch on the balcony of one of the locals houses and looked out across the village and then headed of to the forest.

The forest was also nice, but would be better in the middle of the wet season when the boats can weave between the branches of the trees. As it was, the water was fairly low and we went along the side. It was strange to see so many trees clumped so thickly together. Over the years Cambodia has lost much of its forests. Most of it went over the border to Thailand where they built those lovely wooden resorts and souvenirs…

While we were in Siem Reap, by chance, we bumped into our other friends Tim and Ags. One Saturday we caught up with them at the laundry bar in Siem Reap – a funky little bar off the main tourist strip. Because it is low season for tourists, most of the bars are empty and the tuk tuk drivers are particularly keen for business. It also means there is a lot of building happening. The place changes so quickly. But I digress. Over a few shandies, Tim and I devised a dastardly mullet growing competition. Where else are we going to get away with it than in Cambodia?? We have three months to grow a mullet that will impress our friends and families. Despite warnings from the doctor that I might loose it, I still have a full and fertile head of hair post dengue. In fact, I could use a hair cut. Game on.

Ciao.
Erin