rural to urban

My final day in Cambodia involved another trip into the countryside. This time I went with my agriculture partner, Kimsang. We took turns driving the motorbike to the village and then stood on the farmers plot wondering why his watermelons weren't growing.

 I was more intrigued by the fact that the cucumbers were growing on the same plot of rock hard dirt with no organic matter or water at all in the soil. The farmer was a friendly old man who also did some blacksmithing to make some farm tools that he presumably sold at the closest market. We asked some questions, took some pictures and gave him some seeds. Then along came his drunk wife, who fell in love with me. She cooed and pet me and then after a while she dragged me through some yards to the store, which was the village hang out and there someone produced a boom box so that she could dance with me.

 I was very embarassed, but didn't really see a way out, so I dance with her as about 20 people stood by laughing. I managed to pry myself out of that situation after Kimsang finally said we had to go, then we visited another farmer, who was too drunk to talk to. His plot of land reflected his drinking habit and there wasn't much use in analyzing the soil since he wasn't making much use of it. After that very rural experience I boarded the bus for Ho Chi Min and (after 14 hours) entered the bustle of motorbikes that everyone had warned me about. "You think this is a lot of motorbikes, wait until you get to Vietnam" is a common travelers comment. What first impressed me was the narrow buildings. Apparently at one point the government taxed businesses based on the width of the storefront, so now many of the buildings are only 4 meters wide, but very long and tall to make up for it. The war remnants museum was my first tourist destination and it was well done, making me wonder again how humans can be so inhumane. I was deeply impressed by the photography and at one point I had to step out of the exhibition on torture as it made me increasingly nauseous. I'm meeting up with Hieu, a friend of Duncan's from his time here. Tomorrow night i'm very excited to attend an icecream buffet for dinner. All the ice cream you can eat for just $5.- and as everyone knows I can eat a lot of ice cream.
Love to all.

When it rains it pours

Today was a memorable day for me. It was a day that I imagined, hoped for and feared when I thought of travelling to Asia. I was invited to join the Trailblazer well drilling team for a trip to finish work on some wells. I sat in the bed of a pickup truck for 2 hours as we drove to a small village North of Siem Reap. One perk of the butt numbing and extremely dusty ride was that we passed through the Angkor compound without paying, a rare exception for westerners (Cambodians can visit the temples of Angkor for free anytime). We were a team of five, heading out to build two cement bases for the PVC pull pumps drilled last week. The base I was helping to build was for a single mother who lived with 5 girls, some her younger sisters and some her children. She was pregnant and earned under 25 cents a day. The pump was the fanciest piece of equipment on her property, which consisted of a dirt lot with some scrawny dogs and a tiny wood house on stilts with no door and nothing inside it except for a few spare clothes hanging from a beam. She cooked outside with her 3 pots and a small wood fire. Lighting at night was provided by a tin can lantern.

The work was gratifying and physical, performed in a sticky 37 degrees C. After we finished the woman served us a simple lunch of fish soup and rice. I might well have been the first Barang (foreigner) to eat in her house. The floor boards had spacious gaps between them so I could drop my fishbones though to the dog on the ground. On the way home I was talking to Scott, the director of the Trailblazer foundation, about the work and the area. He pointed out a dozen signs that warned of landmines, saying that each sign was specific to an area where a recent accident had occurred. As we drove by,  kids biking home from school waved cheerfully, some even boasting an English “hello!”

Scott revealed to me how much money gets wasted in many aid projects. He says that big NGOs often have a poor understanding of what the local issues really are and since they are not in touch with local communities, a lot of their projects never happen in the places that really need help, basically they get stuck in bureaucracy. He pointed out several wells that were broken  and out of use, explaining that the organization who built them was charging double what Trailblazer charges and making poor quality wells. Scott and Chris live simple lives, and employ an all Cambodian staff. They have also raised several foster children. If you have any money to spare or know anyone who does I strongly believe In the Trailblazer Foundation. Not only are they helping the people who are really in the most need, but they are economically efficient about it, turning a higher percentage of donor money into direct action than the other NGOs in Cambodia.

Well, that’s why I’m glad to have found Trailblazer. Check out their website at http://www.thetrailblazerfoundation.org. I’m both inspired by the work I’m involved with and humbled by the

This evening it rained, making the day even more memorable. It is the first real rain I’ve seen since early December, and it rained hard, accompanied by some mighty lightning and thunder. I can only imagine how welcome this premature rain is for those who cannot irrigate.

Crossing the Street

How to Cross the Street,

Reporting from Siem Reap, Cambodia. After a week here I am getting used to the difference between Cambodia and Thailand. Getting here was the start. To get from Bangkok to Siem Reap I took train, taxi, bus, tuk tuk, bus, taxi, and finally another tuk tuk. I joined forces with two other Americans at the border and ended up spending several days with them. We shared a room and visited the temples of Angkor together and then they moved, while I stayed to volunteer for a bit with the Trailblazer Foundation, which I will get to shortly.

Cambodia is noticeably poorer than Thailand, with many more people desperately vying for your dollars. Offerings for tuk tuk rides, useless trinkets, books, food, tours and massages engulf you in downtown Siem Reap and at the entrance to any temple. Traffic is even a little crazier than Thailand and it is common to see bikes and scooters going on the wrong side of the road. The most effective way to make a left turn onto a busy street while riding a bicycle is to cross to the left side before you get to the main road and then sneak onto the far left side of the road, going against traffic until the oncoming traffic clears and one can cross back to the right side of the road. It seems to be the common procedure and people look at you funny if you wait for traffic to clear as one would in first world countries. Following local traffic customs, we (one of the Portland, OR guys and myself, his friend’s stomach lost that battle against the previous night’s streetfood) biked out to Angkor for a beautiful sunrise over Angkor Wat. We then walked around there a bit and then headed to a quieter temple with trees growing on the crumbling walls. The next day we were full force again, and although we didn’t rise with the sun there was still plenty of time to take in the ancient sights. Our collective favorite was Bayon, a strange temple palace with over 30 towers all carved with a face on each of 4 sides. It was a maze of passageways, stairs, small rooms and courtyards. In the afternoon we sought out the shadier site of Ta Prom, which was intentionally not restored by the original French restoration team (now there is extensive restoration and conservation work to maintain the site in its “unrestored” state. The forest has filled in, creating the famous images of tree roots strangling carved walls and framing doorways. After drinking a coconut at one of the many food stalls outside Ta Prom, we were invited to see the home of our vendor; we had been joking around with her for a while. I took her younger cousin with us on the back of my bike and we headed for her village, just behind the temple grounds. It was so sweet to bike through a village and smiling faces, no one offered to sell us anything, they were now in full hospitality mode and were very sweet. The family chatted with us and showed off their fruit trees and well. The home was modest, but appeared to be quite sufficient and I suspect that many villages are in much worse condition. The tourism is definitely huge for the local economy and I suspect many of the villages around Angkor have developed due to the draw of western money.

Speaking of western money, here is the one of the local schemes. A young boy comes up to your dinner table, tries to sell you a book you don’t want. You decline and after a while of begging he tells you that he needs the money for his baby sister who he is trying to support. His mother died and he needs to buy her formula, powdered milk he calls it. If he goes a day without food it’s okay, but his sister needs powdered milk today. So you feel sorry and you also feel better about buying him something that he really needs instead of buying his stupid book that you’re just going to throw away. So he takes you to the store and points at a jug of formula. You ask the storeowner how much it costs and he says $12.-, so you keep asking until you find the cheapest formula they have for $5.-. He takes it and thanks you kindly and then returns it to the store as soon as you leave to get the money back. This happened to someone I met and then yesterday I saw it happen again to someone else.

After visiting the Temples I turned to the volunteering opportunity that another traveler I met in Chiang Mai told me about. The Trailblazer Foundation works with rural villages improve public health and education. They install wells and supply water filters and have built a few schools, and donated many mosquito nets and flip flops. They also have an agriculture department to test seeds, EM, and mushroom growing and promote organic farming and gardening methods. I have been helping to fill plastic bags with a sawdust mixture, steaming them and then adding spores. The bags are placed in the mushroom hut and eventually start producing impressive amounts of mushrooms. I am working primarily with a Khmer woman named Voleak, but the heads of the foundation are American. I have been really enjoying It so far, just based on the relaxed yet productive approach. I hope to stay here for at least another week, we’ll see what actually happens.

So Far So Good

Reflecting on my time so far I realize that it's been very smooth sailing. I guess it depends on what you call rough waters, but really I've had a very relaxing time. I had a fever for one day and diarrhea for one day, separate events. I've never been seriously ripped off so far and haven't had any accidents so far. That probably means I have something in store heading into Cambodia and Vietnam. Or maybe the good karma that has been gracing my entire life is especially potent in these buddhist countries, where it is more of a hard currency than an abstract concept. My stay at Pun Pun had to draw to an end, even though I couldn't see the building go up all the way. I got to participate in finishing the walls to their final height as well as putting a layer of plaster on all the walls, a very satisfying step. I was shocked by the bustle upon my return to Chiang Mai, and especially shocked to see how expensive Bangkok is and how different it is from the rest of Thailand. Here are some pictures from Pun Pun:

The solar hot water showers, so simple, yet very effective. The water is heated in the two black 55 gallon barrels.

The beginning of our building. The wall shot up on our first building day. This was after only an hour of brick laying.

My facial spa treatment extended to my whole head, apparently the clay sucks out toxins and sickness. It felt great

The final height of our building. We are covering the bricks in another layer of mud to create smooth walls that can then be painted. The tree painting is done with a paint based on tapioca flour, clay and natural pigments.

My Daily Routine at Pun Pun,

I have developed a somewhat regular and yet always new routine here at Pun Pun. Breakfast is at 8 am, and is usually something I would never think to eat for breakfast, but am now used to and enjoy. Examples would be rice soup, barley and mung beans with soy milk, fried rice, last night's dinner and so on. At 9 am the community work starts. Everyone is expected to help out in some way. I have alternated between building with adobe and working in the garden planting and weeding. I have also helped prepare lunch, which is between noon and 12:30 pm. Before lunch I usually jump in the pond with all my clothes on, to wash off my muddy, sweaty stuff and self. Lunch is always delicious and the buffet table always starts with a big pot of brown rice. After lunch is siestaand then the afternoon is unstructured, so I have time to read, or help my buddy Pop with seed saving, anything that doesn't involve being in the sun too much, since the afternoons are extremely hot (between 30 and 40 celcius). 4:30 is watering time, so whoever isn't doing anything important grabs a watering can and we douse all the beds. Recently we have started installing a watering system similar to driplines, but it will take some time before everyhing is set up. I have often used that time to get some more building done instead, since the temperature is pleasant again by that time of day. Another jump in the pond is necessary after building with mud, followed by a solar hot shower before dinner. At 6:30 the bell rings for the last time of the day to announce another wonderful meal of brown rice and tasty soups and salads. In the evenings I either just read, or hang out some and then read. I dream about building an earthen house and wonder what life has in store for me. I use the internet briefly at the neighboring hippie farm run by a group of non-thai volunteers following permaculture principles.

Today was a special day. Even though yesterday was my birthday it felt like it was today. I weeded and jumped in the pond, so far on track for a normal day. Then after lunch we got into serious baking mode. I made bread dough, Justin made pizza dough and the baker, Yao, made chocolate cake, bread and pumpkin pie. I also harvested tomatoes and squeezed out the seeds to save them. I fixed the wobbly table that has been bothering me since I got here and we fired up the home made pizza oven. Glorious pizza kept sliding in and out of the ovens mouth and at the end I got to bake my bread the way bread was always meant to be baked. After dinner the lights went out and the chocolate cake made its appearance briefly before being distributed among 20 politely eager adults and a pair of surprisingly restrained kids. This was not just any chocolate cake. The cocoa mass came fom Nate, one of the community members from the states who also owns some land in bolivia where he grew, harvested and processed the cocoa. Talk about fair trade, I help him build a coffee shop, he gives me the best cocoa I have ever tasted to use in an oozing rich cake. The wonder of the moment was enhanced by it's rarity in Thailand.

Now I'm wondering how I can find a way to build a sod roof on my nonexistent earthen home built on land I can't even conceive of in a country yet to be determined with money that I don't yet have. So if you want to give me a birthday present, find me a plot of beautiful land that your buddy wouldn't mind me building on without a permit.

Love to all

P.S: I think the hot season is officially starting.