Cambodia: A Kingdom of Wonder

I had previously done research that showed that schools received 65% of what they expected and that because of ring-fencing rules, they received money for things that they didn’t need and no money for things that they did. For example, schools may receive money for electricity even if that school didn’t have electricity. I had created a budget planning and disbursement tool that would help provincial offices of education (POEs) avoid these problems.

In March and April, I travelled around 10 of Cambodia’s 25 provinces, some of which are not renowned for their beauty. Each one though provided me with moments of curiosity and awe that could justify the proclamation that this is a Kingdom of Wonder, and not just a Siem Reap of temples.

My two colleagues Vutha and Nipun sitting at the River Mekong in Kratie. Kratie may have the best sunsets I've ever seen. Either Vutha or Nipun did all of the training with me. Absolute stars

I started in Kampot, which is one of my favourite places. It’s a town on the river, has beautiful rice fields set against sharp, jutted hills, and sunsets that leave you at peace with the world. It also had two young female teacher trainees sitting all day at the entrance gate to the teacher training centre. 

People often joke that Cambodia really is the Kingdom of Wonder, because you can only wonder at some of the ridiculous things that happen here. 

Judging by their polite smiles as I entered and again when I left, they had obviously not been ejected from their class for bad behavior so I asked them what they were doing sitting outside all day. They told me that they were the guards for that day. My face must have conveyed slight astonishment as they reassured me that it was ok because they didn't do it every day; tomorrow it would be the turn of two other students.

How can you not love Banteay Meanchey, when this is the view from the Provincial Office of Education?

Cambodia has their own currency (the riel) which is used interchangeably with the US dollar. If something is 5000 riel, I can give $1 and 1000 riel to equal 5000 riel. Banteay Meanchey near the Thai border threw me a little as they began quoting prices at me in Thai Baht. It also surprised me with its love gardens. These lush manicured gardens were where people went for wedding pictures, romantic walks and just for general hanging out. Which this concrete little dwarf seemed to be doing.

More excitedly Banteay Meanchey also had a pop concert and fayre when I was there. I threw darts which bounced back off the balloon without bursting them, and was hung onto, for a full ten minutes, by a drunk woman who didn’t seem to be speaking Khmer or understanding my desire to keep my arm attached to my body. 

Battambang is famous for its cultural heritage, fertile land and beautiful women. But for those in the know (my colleague Nipun), it also has a famous place for duck noodle soup. The reason that it is only for those in the know is that it doesn’t have a name. It is simply called ‘three buildings’ because it has expanded to be housed in three consecutive buildings from its original one. Battambang also has various temples atop hills and one has a cave out of which millions of bats fly out every sunset darkening the sky immediately above you and drawing a weaving black line through the sky as they all fly in formation.

Another wonderful thing in Battambang is the bamboo train. Get two axles, put a bamboo flat bed on it attach a motor and zoom down a train track. The problem is that there is only one line, so when another person comes in the opposite direction, one train has to be dismounted from the tracks - as we did here. 

A cave at another temple is where there used to be an escape route to Thailand during the Khmer Rouge regime. There was also a drip of water being collected in a bucket in the ice cool underground cauldron. Many times in Cambodia, we have found ourselves unsure of what do when given something but aware that you are expected to do something. So, imagining that I was in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I gently put the cup to my lips before being shouted at to stop. I had not chosen wisely - it was not for drinking but washing my face with.

In Ratanakkiri, Vutha and I had a weekend to explore and had our own guide, the wonderful Kagna - a friend of Vutha's. We swam in waterfalls, picked fruit at her family's farm and even drank a little of her father's potent home brew, which did wonders for my ability to follow conversations in Khmer.

Yeak Loum - a volcanic lake for a refreshing dip

Vutha, Kagna and me

Just before we jumped in for swim

Vutha and I had a guesthouse with a bar that overlooks a lake that the sun rises onto. In the evenings, we drank cocktails and played Khmer chess, which is slightly different to the international version. My record at Khmer chess is nearly unblemished - I drew the first game I ever played and have lost every one since. The magic of Ratanakkiri is the colours though. The red dirt, mixed with a setting sun and green hills casts a haze over your senses that Mark Rothko has never done.                                                                                                      

Sunrise in Ratanakkiri, and me getting beaten chess. Again. 

I was in Stung Treng for less than 24 hours. The training with the POE went well although the Director of Finance was unable to stay for the whole time. We understood why after returning to our guest house at lunch time to find her, as the owner of it, sitting in the reception area. 

Sekong Bridge and the River Sekong, Stung Treng. Vutha will leave Cambodia the day after me to study in Japan. 

Before going to Stung Treng, the thought of being there for such a short time would not have displeased me but that was before I saw the river and sunset from the Sekong Bridge. Stung Treng, a place that was previously so bad that it was characterized by requiring you to travel 3 hours to Kratie for a good breakfast suddenly became a place that made me so happy that I became sad to realize that I may never be back.


Cambodia: a Kingdom of Wonder, and that was only half of it.
Gordon

Kayaking, Koh Trong and killing time in Kratie

Kratie has been on our list of places to visit in Cambodia for a while but towards the end of last year we realised that we'd better get our skates on as two of our friends who live there were leaving at the end of the year. Sam and Gilly have kept a blog about their two years in Kratie, which you can read here, and have also featured in our blog.

The weekend we were debating going also turned out to be the opening weekend of Sorya Kayaking Adventures, a new company established by Suzanne, who had been our neighbour here in Phnom Penh. Suzanne had popped back to Phnom Penh and when she told us that weekend was the opening, we knew we had to go.

We arrived at our guesthouse and quickly ordered some food. Gordon's "proper meal" arrived within 10 minutes but I had to wait 50 minutes for pancakes (killing time #1 - okay, so it's not really killing time but I wanted another 'k' for the title and I couldn't figure out to make dolphins or sunsets start with 'k'). We'd been warned the food could sometimes take a while but that was taking the biscuit!

we're great actors

about to start

having a break on a sandbank

It turns out we're appalling. Truly appalling. The smiles above were completely faked for the camera and hide the fact that we fought nearly the whole way. Lesson learned. Solo kayaks next time! However, it was amazing to be out on the river at that time of day, watching the sunset on one side of us, and the clouds light up in a blaze of pink on our other side from the setting sun. Beautiful.

us and the sunset on the Mekong (thanks for the pic Suzanne)

That night a group of us went out for dinner - and waited nearly two hours for food to get to all of us (killing time #2). I was enjoying Kratie, but this was getting ridiculous. When we got back to the guesthouse I learned my second lesson of the day. Don't leave a mosquito coil burning for hours in a non-ventilated room... unless you want to suffocate yourself that is.

Next day, after breakfast with Sam and Gilly's bai sach chrook lady (bai sach chrook = pork and rice - a staple Khmer breakfast and some of my favourite Khmer food), we hopped on the boat over to Koh Trong island where we hired some bikes and went to explore!

lots of houses had these at the front -
to scare away bad spirits I think

 the big jars on the right hold water

big grins at a temple

cows getting a wash with fishing/house boats behind

Later that evening we joined Sam and Gilly, and their two friends who were visiting from home, for a trip to see arguably Kratie's biggest selling point - the dolphins. Kratie is one of the few places you can see the Irrawaddy dolphins and for a time the local community made a good living from the dolphins being close by. However, now the whole thing is government run, and the community don't benefit as much from the tourist money coming in.

I still have reservations about the damage tourists might be doing to the dolphins. We went out on motorboats and, while all the drivers kept a distance, when the dolphins moved off we followed after them. It felt a little like we were harassing them, however, if tourists weren't paying money (some of which does benefit the area) the dolphins wouldn't be protected as much by the fishermen, who would use more dolphin-harmful but bigger-fish-catch fishing methods. There are only an estimated 80-90 dolphins in this part of the river (which runs up to the border with Laos). I suppose as long as safe tourism is there, the community will do what they can to make sure the dolphins will be there too.

Sadly I didn't manage to get any pictures of the dolphins although we did see them. Unlike their bottlenose cousins, they're not show offs and you don't often see more than the top of their head and a glimpse of a fin. WWF has a very short video of the dolphins - I think by the fact that they only have 16 seconds of video footage it shows you how hard they are to catch on film. Here's a picture from t'interweb so you know what I'm talking about.

They're really lovely looking animals but, bizarrely, nearly all the pictures on the internet look like they've been photoshopped. I think it's something to do with their (naturally occurring) Mona Lisa smile.

We went on our dolphin cruise late in the afternoon so we could also be on the water for sunset again. It was another stunner of a sunset.

On the way to the dolphins we'd stopped off to see Wat Sambok, a hilltop pagoda with stunning views over the countryside.

monk statues line the staircase the whole way up

Dinner that evening was something we'd heard lots about from Gilly and Sam - cow on the hill. It's like a table top BBQ. You get a plate of meat with a raw egg (to coat the meat in), a plate of veg and a lump of lard. Lard goes on top of the "hill" ( the silver burner in the photo), meat goes on top of that to be cooked, and the veg goes round the bottom edge in water/fat/oil. It was tasty but definitely a dangerous way to eat. The hot fat spitting out was a bit nippy! Didn't put Gordon off obviously though.

The next day we had a wee cycle round town and visited Wat Roka Kandal, the oldest preserved pagoda in Cambodia and then killed time (#3) waiting on our minibus, which was nearly two hours late. If I'd known it was going to be that late, I'd have ordered some food...