5 February, 2006 Phenom Penh, Cambodia

I have seen much of Phenom Penh and the sites that make it a place of interest. The only spot remaining will be a visit to the Royal Museum. That spot is just a few blocks away but my interest is not in museums. It must be the continued exploration that has me in a slower mood. I guess reading and sending emails is a good way to slow down. I finished and sent the E-journal today and that is good.

At the hotel this morning, I talked with Loos, a visiting accountant from Vancouver, BC. He was interested in joining me in hiring a boat for a trip out of the Tonle Sap River into the Mekong. We hopped on local motorcycles for a ride to the river. First stop is the post office where I dropped the cards into the mail box. In poor countries, the only way to insure that cards are mailed is to get them to the PO directly. Postcard stamps cost close to $.50 each so ten cards is much more than a day’s wages for most. I was told by one Cyclo driver that he made $40 a month as a waiter. Many of the very poor will feed a family on $1 a day. Not much.

Bargaining with the boat people organized a 2.5 hour trip on the river. Just the two of us in the hot Cambodian sun on a cruise on the Mekong. The boat chugged slowly along and out into the river. We passed several dozen smaller, 2 person, boats with fishing nets in the river. A large boat with pipes hanging from the sides was sucking sand laden water from the river. They would sell the sand for home building. A constant flurry of small boats crossed the water in every direction as people went about their lives.

Along the shore are small thatched huts of the transient fisherman. The beach in front of each hut is lined with boats. I assumed that people live in both areas depending on the weather and other conditions. Blue tarps mark most of the sites. Blue tarps are everywhere. Boats surround one set of rocks that one could call an island. Smaller boats move continuously with children waiving from the deck. They should be in school but are instead helping the family. Such is the story of Cambodia where the kids of the city are schooled while those of the countryside are left to chance or to nothing at all. Vietnam has schools everywhere and Cambodia is a mishmash of private, state, local and nothing.

Arrival back at the landing offers another glimpse into the problems of Cambodia. Water pollution. The boat docks on the river just below where a small stream flows into the river. You know the spot because of the smell and the color of the water. Just down stream a hundred yards, five young boys are swimming naked in the river, diving for treasures. I left the boat and headed across the street for a lunch stop at the Mekong Café. This café is owned by a Frenchman who has shot and edited a couple of documentaries on Cambodia. He shows these in a small theater on the second floor. I will come back tomorrow to view the one on Pol Pot. By this time it is close to 5:30 PM. I have wasted the afternoon talking to people at the café, an Australian couple, a German. The German wanted to walk to the Central Market for an evening meal of barbecued squid. I decided to walk with him. I had wanted to visit the market. Arrived at the market and found it to be closing. I did get a t-shirt outside but that was all. Did not try the squid. My hotel is just a short ten blocks from the market. Had dinner at the hotel.

6 February, 2006 Phenom Penh, Cambodia

Another day of slow activity. I turned on the TV and found a Japanese Station that was broadcasting the Super Bowl. Watched it all in Japanese. I did miss all the commercials. Do not know if that is good or bad. I did see Mick in the halftime show. Walked back to the Central Market and purchased a couple of short sleeved shirts. They look good here but may be in my closet like some others that I have gotten. But I will see if I have a place to wear them in the USA. Cannot buy too much as the guy at Laos Airlines said that my limit for baggage would be 20 kilograms. I will give away many of my clothes now as most of what I brought is ready for that. I planned it that way and am dropping a few things each stop and am replacing these with newly purchased souvenirs.

I stopped at the Laos Airlines and picked up tickets for the 14th to fly to Vientiane, Laos with a change of planes and a final flight to Luang Prabang in the Highlands. I drank a Lao Dark Beer with the senior clerk at the Airlines. He and his family were having dinner in the office. While he prepared the tickets, I talked with the family. I was invited for dinner but declined the offer. The table was filled with seafood – huge shrimp and piles of squid. Laotian hospitality is legend and I am sure that I was welcome. Another time. I now have all my travel arrangements made except for the short trip back from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. I will probably use a bus some time around the 20th. Nothing for sure. Will see what Luang Prabang brings. I have some contacts in Vientiane that Harry gave me and will check those out.

Arrived back at the Mekong Café on the riverfront at 2 PM for the showing on Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Interesting documentary. Only three of us watched this showing. A movie on mines followed. I skipped that one and ate dinner. Paying the bill allowed me a chance to talk to the Frenchman who had edited the film. He had married a Cambodian and together they were running the business. The Mekong has a very nice corner location across from the river front. Many tourists stop. The food is good and the chairs comfortable. Breezes from the river keep one cool even on hot days. And after a good walk in the sun, the beer is cold.

I will leave my suitcase behind in the Anchor International Hotel, so I spent the evening moving things into other bags for the bus trip in the morning. I keep looking at what I brought along on the trip and wonder what I must have been thinking. Too many things! The dropping will really begin in earnest now.

7 Feb 2006 from Phenom Penh to Sihanoukville

The bus departed from the Central Market at 8:15 AM. I took a cycle over to the market and exchanged the ticket purchased at the Hotel for a seat on the bus. Every seat is filled with tourists heading for the beach or out of Cambodia through Thailand. Bags fill the aisle as do a couple of folding and plastic chairs. $4 is the price. My seatmate is Raj from Mauritius. His sister Isa is along and a Cambodian. The bus is filled with people from all over the world. The seating is bad and made for small people. I keep my camera case on my lap and the back pack in the overhead rack. I slept for a couple of hours with my head bouncing against the window. Midway we pull into a company rest stop. Breakfast is available. I buy a bag of cookies and a bottle of green Japanese tea. Breakfast on the run. Before leaving the Hotel in Phenom Penh, I had asked about possible locations to stay on in Sihanoukville. Arriving on the main street in the city, we were, as always, surrounded by cycle drivers wanting to drive you to a hotel. Off we went to the first of the hotel choices. The Romny Bungalow Guesthouse is located a couple of blocks from the beach. Arriving, I met a trio from the USA, Massachusetts. They had been at the bungalows for almost a month and vouched for the people and the place. OK. I will take it. $13 a night with AC, frig and hot water. I had a home for five days.

I would learn that Romny was the successful owner of a great restaurant before selling it to purchase land for this motel. The cooking is still very good and I became addicted to his squid or shrimp with pepper and garlic sauce. Add a bowl of rice and one is in seafood heaven.

The day of travel and moving is always a bit hard on the system. I did walk down to the beach. Also found an internet location close. Romny’s location is on the third street back from the beach. This street contains mostly new houses and is one of the signs of success for the city. Everything is booming and the tourists are pouring in from both Phenom Penh and from Bangkok. The pressures on the city will continue as the infrastructure is not well in place. But Romny is typical of the Cambodians climbing to success. He found some land and scraped up enough money to purchase that. Then he went to his and his wife’s families and they all chipped in. Banks do not lend money here, people do. He has two boats that are used to take tourist out to the islands for snorkeling. He takes other groups in a minivan to the Ream National Park. His 12 rooms are full most nights, especially during the busy season of Nov through Mar. He serves dinners and provides the trips. He is doing well. During my stay, he brought in two truck loads of bricks, $250 a load. Workers are making outside showers and building a two meter high fence around the entire lot. A new bungalow will be constructed in a month. He and his wife are very nice. His three children actually rule the place. He has a two-year old who is quite the young lady with a very persistent nature. Cousins work in many positions. It is a family place where I much enjoyed staying. I could have stayed on the beach but would have been surrounded by tourists. Here I had to play tag with the two-year old before settling down for Squid in garlic sauce and pepper.

8 Feb 2006 in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

This day would involve a boat trip out to three islands in the Gulf of Thailand that lie just south of Sihanoukville. We will boat, swim, snorkel, hike and sunbath until just after 4 PM. The day begins with breakfast at the Romney Guesthouse. Before we finished with breakfast, some 20 of us would board two Cambodian fishing boats for the day. The Islands that we will visit or snorkel around are Koh Khteah, Koh Preus and Koh Russei. The first two islands are small and we would only snorkel near them. On Koh Russei or Bamboo Island, we would stop to swim and then land on shore. The snorkeling today would prove to be poor. The water was warm; however, the storms during the previous night along with the morning winds had stirred up the sand. The fish were there but not easily seen. The coral was abundant and seemed to be in good shape. Its shapes were unlike anything that I have seen in the Caribbean. I also could see on the murky bottom some pretty good sized barrel sponges. It was fun to puddle around in the water. I taught Raj to snorkel for the first time.

We spent almost three hours on Bamboo Island. Part of the stop was for swimming on the far side of the island after a short hike through jungle. If a person wanted, they can catch a boat out to Bamboo and spend a few days. A set of native bungalows are found along the beach on each side of the island. These bungalows offer the basic necessities of a bed along with a community shower. Each location has a bar and restaurant. Also included in the stay was lunch of barbecued Barracuda. Barracuda is a difficult fish to use in cooking. I am not sure of the reason, but the flesh deteriorates quickly and must be used the day it is caught. The fish we ate was placed in foil and cooked over charcoal. The typical meal combines it with a salad of cabbage, carrots and other vegetables. It was very good, especially, the fish. I have heard of a couple of people becoming sick from this particular meal. Not sure the cause but Mr. Romny says that the vegetables at his shop are washed very well in clean water and that the barracuda is fresh that morning. I assume that this was a swipe at his competitors. The guest house serves fresh Barracuda daily. Yum

A great day to the Islands. The beaches are beautiful. The sand is white and clean. The wind that bothered us in the morning abated and we came home on a clear almost glassy surface. Arriving back at the beach, a quick walk brought me back to the hotel. Another day in paradise.

9 Feb 2006 Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

Started the day with a cycle drive out to the Anchor Beer Brewery on the other side of Sihanoukville. After ten minutes of talking to a guard who spoke no English about getting beer labels for my collection, he finally got me a young man who spoke some English. The cycle drive helped to explain. They young man said no labels but he would look and contact me for some. I accepted that and headed back to be dropped off at Serendipity Beach.

I came to the beach to visit the director of an organization that is working with beach kids in Sihanoukville. I started looking for John by going to the phone number listed on the CambodiaKidsedu web site. (Phone not working.) So I asked around and found that John is works out of a couple of bars located on the lower edge of Ochheuteal Beach. He was just leaving as I arrived so I decided to stay at Coasters and have lunch to wait for his return. John came back at the appointed time, said hello and went up to his room. I thought that he would come back but that did not happen so I went up and we talked a bit about what he was doing. He invited me back to talk in the evening after sundown about his work with the kids. I told him that I would really like to visit the schools and maybe talk to others working with him. We parted.

So what is this interest in a group working with Cambodian Kids? It works this way! I usually do not read the throw-away paper that arrives weekly on my lawn but this week I did. In it was an article about a Glen Carbon man helping a young man from Las Vegas who had organized a group of beach kids in Sihanoukville to attend school. The Edwardsville Journal gave the web site and some phone numbers. I called John in Vegas and told him that I was coming to Cambodia and would like to see what he is doing. Hopefully, I might be able to help. He was leaving on the day that I called.

So I told him that I would visit and that is why I came down. I guess dropping in was my way of making sure that nothing was set up. That happens here.

In any case as I waited for the sun to go down to go back. The group of tourist people at the hotel began to help the Romny crowd to move brick from the street to the back yard. I spent three hours carrying and loading bricks into the trunk of a car and into two wheelbarrows. Such a hot afternoon. The payoff was a full can of beer every time I beckoned and a wonderful Cambodian evening meal. The moral of the story is that I missed the meeting at Cambodia Kids. My sore muscles were also one of the contributing factors. Was fun working along side the Cambodians to move that pile and so I persisted. Slept very well that night. Also while waiting, I received a call from a friend of Mr. Romny who works at the Brewery. He had found some labels and would have them for me at 10:00 AM. I should come by. Nice way to end the day.

10 Feb 2006 Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Had a slow breakfast this morning and headed back to the brewery on another Cycle. The Road (Highway 4) is a pretty good one but with one big hill to get over and the Brewery is located on the top. The cycle driver added up the weight of the two of us and concluded that our trip up would be slow. I arrived at the gate and checked in at ten. The guard remembered me from the previous day and called the young English speaking man who embarrassedly said that he could not find labels. In the typical way he assumed that I would not be back and did not look for labels even though he fervently said that he would. He was surprised that I was back. I said that another man had called and had said that he would help me. I foolishly had not taken his name. In any case no man came with labels. I am now boycotting Anchor Beer. It is my only recourse. Lao Beer from now on!

After stopping at the Brewery, I came down to the center of the city to the café of Don Oakes, an Australian who married a Cambodian and now calls Sihanoukville home. Don supposedly knows all about everyone in the area who is doing any kind of work with Cambodians. He gave me a list of everyone who would know about John and his work with the Beach Kids. I started down the list. Private Investigator, Bob!

Heinric came by Don’s place. Henrico owns a bar and helps kids each night with English School. Starfish was the next NGO on the list. I waited for Kathy to finish with her work and she called Erika in the field to make me a 3:00 PM appointment. I cycled up to Mlop Tpang to try to meet Maggie. She had gone to lunch and would return at 2:00 PM. I returned to Starfish for dinner. Starfish is run out of a café that is run by persons with a disability. All Vegetarian food? Ate quiche washed down with hot tea. Not bad. Then headed back to Mlop Tpang. Maggie not there and every one not sure when she would be back. At 2:30 PM she came and made herself available to talk about her project and John’s. Finally got off to meet Erika and chat with her about the same. Maggie is a Brit who says she is living in Cambodia for six years and things that it is permanently. Erika is Swedish, young and quite attractive. She will work this NGO for a while and has been here two years. Maggie is obviously the more experienced of the two and has a much bigger project with international funding and sponsorship. She and Erika work together on some projects. Maggie works with street kids and does schooling and vocational training both here and in rural areas. Erika is working more with water and health issues. Their money comes from a variety of places. I will post their Web sites when I return and can make sure they are correct.

Before leaving for the beach, I stopped to get a new coffee pot. This morning as I was heating water for tea, the pot attacked me with a fine bolt of electricity. A liter of water hit the floor, my arm took a jolt, and the base of the pot cracked. Into the garbage it went with some sweet words. It is gone from my sight but I imagine that one of the Cambodian room cleaners has it fixed and is heating water each morning. I use the pot to heat water for tooth brushing and for other drinking needs. I also make coffee and tea and an occasional bowl of instant cereal. My suggestion in travel is to purchase one locally. This one was about $3 and the plugs work without an adaptor. So, this looks like a two pot trip.

11 Feb 2006 Sihanoukville, Cambodia

I slept in a bit today and then finished up a book that I have struggled with for much of the last part of the trip. The Regulators by Bachman. Steven King like book but weirdly disjointed. I had to finish so I could trade the book. About 9:30 AM, I headed for the beach for a final talk with John about Cambodia Kids. I stopped to chat with a couple from Holland that I had met earlier. They were having coffee on the beach. John was still sleeping so I awakened him and waited down stairs until he arrived.

He spent about an hour explaining what he did and his plan. He has a guy from Sri Lanka working for him who keeps the site going when he is not around. This man was gone back to Sri Lanka. Basically, from what I was able to garner from our talks, John uses the funds he gets to pay the tuition for beach kids to learn English. He uses three schools and has hopes for more. He is quite a talker and is convinced that he can help these kids. I said that I wanted to visit a school and talk to the principal. He gave me the name of a school and told me he would call the director to let him know that I was coming. School was closed

I started walking back down the beach towards the hotel and stopped to check out the project started by Roger an Englishman who is a self taught painter. He purchases boards and paint and the kids make pictures for the tourists. Some of them are quite good. We talked about retirement and being useful. For years he lived on a small island off the coast of Spain. He said that sometimes for days he would stay in his apartment and be alone. Then he came to Cambodia and started this. He works the beach with the street kids each day and they come to paint. He makes enough to cover a Cambodian’s salary to collect from the kids and to organize the materials. Roger feels that he is serving some function and the kids are learning art and making a bit of money. Many tourists like the idea. Others do not because they say that this kind of thing just keeps the children out of real school where they should be.

I loaded on the cycle and headed over to find the school. Went to wrong one first and then decided to go to Regent 2 school because I had seen that one on the John’s Web site pictures. Regent 2 people told me that he used to send kids there but now use three other schools and gave me directions to the one. When I got there it was closed. So much for that! Erica at Starfish had given me a proposal that they were going to send out for funding the day before. I had read it and had some suggestions that I wanted to give about the proposal and the ideas. So I stopped by and drank coffee and talked to people while Erika finished up her Khmer language lessons. It took just a few minutes to go over my ideas. I was joined by a fellow American traveler, a retired engineer form the U. of Washington. He was dropping off coloring books, crayons and other school supplies. I told Erika that she could email if she needed any other help along the lines of proposal writing. Her project is to clean up a small fishing village that is located in a marshy area along the coast south of Sihanoukville. A big project it is that will require much work. She is young and full of dreams. I guess dreaming big is good; I did that too. She needs a few more sturdy old hands around to help with the dream.

I had dinner of shrimp with garlic sauce and pepper. They have been out of squid for two days. Shrimp are pretty good too. Drank a Lao beer and read a book that I had picked up early at one of the cafes. It went pretty fast but I stayed up late. Packing went easily. I left a pair of shoes behind with Mr. Romny. He tried them on but mine are 11 and his are 8. Not a good fit. I am sure that someone will use them, if not they will go on sale. I am heading away from the beach and will only fly over water from now on.

12 Feb 2006, Sihanoukville to Phenom Penh, Cambodia

The cycle driver that had taken me to the Brewery was there as requested at 7:30 AM. He had his first fare early this day. Being a cycle driver is a trough job. One has to hustle for each fare by convincing that you are the best driver and the cheapest. Gas is about $4 a liter and the cycles use little but a few dollars at a time is their only source of income. Many of the drivers are young but some are in their 40s. Many times these older drivers have wives and children working the beach selling tourist items or food. It is not much but it is a living. I am not sure how they have gotten the cycles and some may be only working for someone else. I usually add a tip to the fare. And the drivers are smart. They say $1.50 for the ride, knowing that many will just round it off to $2.00. You bargain for everything except in the café when things are fixed price.

At the bus station, I take out my ticket and hand it to agent to receive a seat and find that I have the old ticket from coming. I root a bit and give up. I purchased another ticket rather than worry. Also the bus was filling up. The bus company made an extra $3.50 on me today. I found the ticket in the hotel room when I was unpacking. No problem.

The same schedule was followed on the way back with a stop at mid point. The road #4 is a fairly good one but no one can make very good time because the traffic is so heavy, much of it slow. The express bus that we are riding in is the king of the road. It has power and speed. The two lane road is generally flat and fairly straight with a gradual rise to a pass and then down, either to Phenom Penh or Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville is at sea level but Phenom Penh cannot be too high. I sat beside a very young Cambodian lady and her very young baby boy. He slept the entire trip waking only for a bit of bottle. The trip took a bit over four hours to arrive back at the Central Market. I caught a cycle back to the hotel, found my luggage and checked into a new room on the fourth floor. Good, one less floor to climb.

Raj and Isa were having tea in the café as I came down from the room. I joined them for a bit and then found a driver to run me down to a used book store where I could exchange for new reading. I had four books that I needed to get rid of and selected only one in exchange. Now I have only a few books to carry and those will be gone before the trip is over. I have read ten books so far this trip. Life is good. In mid afternoon, I began to work on this log and would spend an hour or so before stopping to eat or read. Had a small dinner then went to the room to read and watch TV. Nice slow evening.

13 Feb 2006 Phenom Penh, Cambodia

Read and watched TV and worked on this email log most of the day. I did run down to the central market for my last shopping trip. Found some fake Rolex Watches for sale and now own a couple. They look good but I will never be sure how long they will last or if they will rust. Will see? Also bargained for some pearl necklaces. Anyone want to buy some nice pearl chokers. Make you a good price!!! I finished the book that I traded for yesterday. Not bad for resting. Two books in three days. Am going to walk down to Friends Restaurant and have dinner. I liked that place. I have worked at packing and have reduced things a couple of shirts more. Also threw away anything that I do not need and is heavy. Also placed the heavy stuff in my backpack so I can be above the limit on the plane.

14 Feb 2006 Phenom Penh,

 Cambodia to Vientiane and then Luang Prabang, Laos. The plane leaves about 3 PM but I will head out about noon. I should be in Luang Prabang about 7 PM. Will trust my luck on hotels. It has worked so far. Everyone likes this place so I thought that I would head here first. Laos is supposed to be very laid back, something that I am not. I hope that I can pick up that part of the culture. I am lucky in that I have these three very similar but very different cultures to compare. My last two weeks will allow me to hang very Laos in Laos.I am trying to think of what I would say about John and his work in Cambodia. What I ended up with is lots of questions. Is he doing good? I suspect that he is. Are his motives good? I can see no reason why not. Would I send him money? Probably not. I made a list of pro and cons about his operation and the list of cons is very long. He will probably continue his work because he is a very good talker and people listen. He is doing some good and I could not find a bad thing about him from his competitors. Most did not know a lot about him because he did not work with anyone in the community. Just did his thing. Lots of unanswered questions on my part.

What is interesting is the way an NGO can work. Using the Internet is the way. All that is needed is someone to put a few pictures on the web and then get it out to the public. Newspapers help by doing stories. I think that the Journal trusted the words of the local contact and wrote up a story using the web site. The Internet makes research easy but may not provide an avenue to check out the real story. And Cambodia is a long way from Edwardsville. Pay Pal makes it easy to contribute a few dollars to any group. A few hundred dollars goes a long way in Cambodia. So far I visited 5 NGO’s while here and half I would wonder about, maybe more. Lots of the NGO people here put down the big organizations because they deliver less directly to the people and have big bureaucracies. That is true but what about the people who use this “helping people idea” to live the happy life. I have far more questions after I came than before. ONE thing that I do know is that I never saw one church group working here in Sihanoukville. Where were they? I would trust the church group with my money and they were not on the beach working.

The NGO issue is probably going to continue to surface. White Knights will continue to surface as will the con-person that imitates them. My best choice was in helping Shittal, last year in India. I gave the money directly to the school for her tuition. Now I have an excuse to go back to Darjeeling to see her and pick up the tab for another three years.

I hope you are all doing well. I am on the way to Laos, my last country.Enjoy the snow. Is hot and humid here. Will be in the mountains tonight and cooler.