Off to BKK!

A morn of excitement, of looking straight forward

As onward we marched and to Bangkok we ventured
But hitch in the plans, and oh what a sham
To be but the subject of travelers' scam

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA to BANGKOK, THAILAND

August 3, 2008

A little infuriating today, and it sums up what it is that I truly hate about Asia and Asians. Both at home and abroad, the worst of us (and I do say "us," because unfortunately, like it or not, they represent me to the Western public) just take take take. Asians will do anything to make a buck: lie, cheat, steal, and there is no amount of scruples that will stop them from potentially (and knowingly) harm another human for the sake of money. Between the fake drugs that flood the Asian pharmaceutical market, to shoddy work done to increase profit margins (ref: China earthquake 2008), it doesn't leave much room for the few of us who do try to be honest and fair.

It brings to the surface, I do realize (and herein lies the major fault in my argument), the question of whether ethics are the stuff of the rich. I can afford to be ethical. Perhaps many of these people can't -- would if they could, but can't so they won't. I wouldn't fault a starving child for stealing -- but how far can we rationally extend this logic?

All this is in response to my hell-of-a-day en route to Bangkok from Siem Reap (which, by the way, means "Thailand defeated"). We purchased our tickets from our guesthouse (mistake number one), because we figured it would make the border crossing easier than doing it ourselves. Our bus was supposed to come to our guesthouse to pick us up, or so the owner said several times, only, it was a tuk tuk that picked us up and brought us. Annoyance #1.

Annoyance #2 occured when our bus finally left downtown Siem Reap and then proceeded to park at a gas station for the next 20 minutes, instead of getting a move on. No explanation was offered. Of course.

And then Annoyance #3, which bubbled through my belly when I realized there was no air con on the bus, even though I had inquired about this at the time of purchase. As a result, the window beside which I was sitting had to remain open for the entire ride, a perfect portal through which every molecule, atom, quark associated with dirt and/or grime in Cambodia gained access to me, my bag, and my white shirt. The roads were under heavy construction and so my nice white T-shirt ended up ever so brown on my window side, whereas my aisle-side remained a tad ashen.

Annoyance #4 was not Cambodia's fault, but America's, for producing a Midwest hick idiot cum way-too-much free time and cash flow, as they say in Latin (apparently he studied Latin in high school and felt the need to expound the usefulness of this dead language). He graduated from undergrad B-school in December 2007 and has been treating himself to a trip around the world ever since. I mean...he's be "making business contacts" ever since. Yeah. And then he spent the entire time making fun of my Canadian "accent" (in his hick Midwestern accent, no less), and when I tried to explain that only East Coasters had accents, he got all confused and started talking about French Canadians. There was some more talk about geography, but I'll spare the gory details. And for the record, I met two perfectly nice American in Phnom Penh...so they're not all bad; this one was just irritating.

Annoyance #5 reared its ugly head just before the border, when our bus broke down and we were forced to wait in the hot sun for a replacement.


Crossing the border was actually the easiest part of this whole ordeal. There was a long wait, and my shoulders hurt from carrying my giant backpack, and then a good 400 m walk to the border itself, and then a long wait to get through Thai customs, but it was relatively emotionally painless.

However, Annoyance #6 came to be in the form of an hour-long wait for our Thai bus. Several Cambodian buses were combined to fill a larger Thai one, so we waited, waited and waited some more, dehydrated, hungry and baking in the hot sun. Interestingly enough, we saw a bunch of Thai people stuffing bucket hats under their shirts and smuggling them across the border. Didn't quite know what that was about...or what they were smuggling, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Finally we got on our Thai bus, exhausted, dirty and eater to drive the last four hours to Bangkok. We pulled out on to the road, drove for three minutes, and then rode into a pit stop, thus engaging Annoyance #7. They wouldn't go, and as I write this, I am on the bus, 30 minutes out of Annoyance #7, hoping that seven is indeed a lucky number, and that no Annoyance #8 will appear tonight. Where is Bangkok? When will I get there?

DAYS TWO - THREE: Temples and concerts

A state in transition where temples abound

The modern and ancient collide
It's quite allegorical: charities sound
With governments on a free ride

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

August 1 - 2, 2008

Angkor Day Two was much more relaxed than Day One. Since Peon 2, Taulee and I have three-day passes to Angkor, whereas Banana and girlfriend had only one-day passes, Day One was a little crazy. We hit a tonne of temples.

We had made plans with a tuk tuk driver toe drive us around the tmples, mostly because this particular driver spoke wonderful English. However, at the last minute, he screwed us over and made us take out his younger brother. So sketchy. Turn out that the brother's English was not great and it was difficult to communicate with him all day long.

We finished off the Big Circuit tour of Angkor in the morning, vising Preah Khan first, which is now my favourite Angkor temple. It was so big, and quiet, that it was nice to just get lost wandering around the temple. Plus there were fake trees growing out of the temple like at Ta Prohm. Unfortunately, some of the trees were being cut down while we were there, in order to spare the temple, which was in quite a state of disrepair as it was here.


Speaking of which...not to get too engineer here, but part of the reason why these structures are falling over is that the Khmer didn't ever figure out how to build buttresses and proper arches. The outward thrust over the years have caused the "arches," which weren't built like Roman arches and aren't stable, to collapse in on themselves.


Note the bricks overlain to form a false arch, as compared to a fitted, true arch, so pervasive of other parts of Asia. Strange that it didn't make its way here...alright CIV102, that's enough from you.


Travelling with Peon 2 was actually surprisingly fun. He's a blast to hang around, partially because he's ridiculously naive and so is so trickable, partially because he's up for anything, and partially because he'll agree to anything, no matter how stupid, as long as it's fun. Hence...our Charlie's Angels picture, which he agreed to. Oh man...what a fun girl he is :)


Don't get me wrong, traveling with Taulee is fun too. In fact, here's a fun picture we took, a kind of Where's Waldo. Instead...where're Sarah and Taulee? This one has a much better res, because it's difficult to find us...so click on the picture to blow it up and find us. Haha, we're so sneaky...


Once we finished the Big Circuit of Angkor, we headed off to the Rouluos group of temples, which predate the Angkor temples by about 400 years, being built in the 9th century CE. We first tired to get our driver toe bring us to a market for lunch, but that proved to be a disaster because our "English-speaking" driver didn't understand a word that we were telling him. We eventually settled on eating bananas in rice and cheap fried bananas that we found near the Rouluos temples.

These were quite different and very impressive. The first temple, Bakong, was an extremely well-preserved temple, impressive because of its size (it had five tiers) and all the stone elephants that remained on each tier.


None had trunks, unfortunately, but they looked neat anyways, and from behind, you really couldn't tell the difference.


The last two temples were in a much greater state of ruin, but what was interesting about these was that they were Hindu temples, rather than Buddhist. The Khmer empire was initially Hindu and slowly transitioned to Buddhism, but Hindu influences remained (Angkor Wat, for example, is dedicated to Vishnu). I like the blending of religions, and that respect for Hinduism combined even as the new kings looked to Buddhist influences is commendable.


Anyways, these ruined temples had a lot of well-preserved Sanskrit carvings, which was really interesting. Really is testament to the power of language and the written word, I think...all post-modernist-like.



At Lolei temple, we had a bit of a treat. The temple was very small and in disrepair, but closeby was an active monastery. While we were visiting the temple, some villagers were being purified with water by a monk from the monastery.


As for day three, there were big plans on our last day at Angkor to finish off the temples, as there were still a few that we'd missed. We were going to bike out and leisurely take them in over the course of the day.

Unfortunately, it rained. We could have gone still, but it would have been insanely miserable and even more insanely dangerous to be climbing all over wet temples...not to mention entirely miserable getting all wet.

So instead, the day consisted of shopping at the market and eating a banana ginger danish at the Blue Pumpkin, and later, cinnamon ice cream...again at Blue Pumpkin. So good.


The shopping was good -- we spent so much time at this NGO buying recycled bags and wallets made of garbage: newspaper, plastic bags, rice bags, chip bags...it was awesome.


We managed to put a health spin on the day as well, and took advantage of our quiet day to tour the Angkor Hospital for Children (operated by Friends Without Borders NGO), which operates under an interesting sustainability model. They do a lot of good work, but are extremely underfunded.


In the evening we went to the Beatocello concert, by Dr. Beat Richner of Kantha Bopha (Jayavarman VII) Hospital for Children (different hospital...this one, on the other hand, is not underfunded, being supported heavily by both the Swiss government and tourists). This man has been working tirelessly to establish five hospitals for children in Cambodia, to offer services free of charge. To gain revenue for the hospitals, he puts on concerts -- as he used to be a performing cellist -- and encourages tourists to donate or buy souvenirs (I bought a CD). Admirable work from both of these hospitals, but again it brings to light the government's lack of committment to health care in Cambodia, and the question of the sustainability of an externally funded program taking the place of what should be government responsibility.

DAY ONE: Angkor What? Angkor Wat!

Taken discretely, quantized completely
Each of them separate, not much to view
In combination (what incarnation!)
There's the impression, wonders it's true

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA

July 31, 2008

Yesterday was Day 1 of Angkor. We were up very early so we could catch sunrise at Angkor Wat and we did make it there in time, but unfortunately, it was more than a little cloudy and our spectacular sunrise over Angkor Wat was more of a gradual lightening of the sky. The sun unfortunately didn't seem to make it.

Walking along the causeway and through the front gate to Angkor Wat was reminiscent of my visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing -- underwhelming -- but for different reasons. In Beijing, the palace was under construction. At Angkor, the temple, while beautiful, was just so...small. I'd seen so many pictures of it in advance, many being photos taken from an elevation and the rest artistic renditions which, I have now learned, were not so true to their subject. It's the largest religious structure in the world...but it didin't seem so big.


Exploring it was a different matter though. The bas-reliefs on the outer walls told Hindu stroies through their immaculately craved images, and though I was tired beyond belief (by 8 am I thought I'd collapse), I was thirsting to see more. The inside was huge and featured an incredible architectural style.


Unfortunately, the stairs leading up to the main central tower were closed so we couldn't climb up, so I was pretty disappointd because the stairs were ridonkulously steep and I could hear the chanting of monks up in the temple.


While Banana and gf and Peon 2 grabbed breakfast in some overpriced tourist restaurant on the temple grounds, TH and I ventured out to look for something btter. What we found were miraculously wonderful sandwiches: it was a baguette on which the seller ladled gravy, then lined with a bed of lettuce and shaved vegetables, sprinkeled with sliced pork, overlain with green onion, then drizzled with sweet pepper and chili sauce. SO GOOD. A little soggy by the end, but good...and only a dollar.

We did Angkor Thom city after breakfast, which included the famous Bayon Temple, which was super eerie. It contains something like 70 odd of these giant stone faces...a bit Mona Lisa looking. It was really neat seeing all of these plaes: amazing to know that the same things I saw, that I was running my fingers over, were trouched by a builder's hands a thousand years ago. There's a connection across time that is maintained through these structures.


The bas-reliefs on the Bayon were interesting because they told the story of the friendship between the Khmer and the Chinese people. Our tour guide pointed out how to tell if the carvings wre of Chinese people: "long beard, hat, and eyes small small -- like sleepling." They looked the same to me.


We looked at temple after temple until lunch, when our guide brought us to a tourist restaurant. (A) It was overly pricey and (B) it had a menu that looked like and contained the same items as Seaside Guesthouse so Peon 2, TH and I went in search of other food. We couldn't find anythign except for these nasty sweet pumpkin glutinous pieces of mastiness, 2 for 12.5 cents, which we ate in the tuk tuk outside the restaurant. Banana's gf thinks were crazy because we're cost conscious (well, that's how Asians are, and anyways, we're not all made of moola) and we wouldn't eat the Angkor food (YOU try spending two months in Kep).

As we ate our glut-nasty, little kids came up to harass us, as they'd been doing all day ("Lady, buy, one dolla"). We were both pretty fed up at this point (and unfed, in a manner of speaking) and we wanted to enjoy some quiet, so we tried every tactic we could think of: unfriendliness, raised voices, ignoring. Until TH pulled out the cut eye, aptly coined the "death stare" once she realized it makes the kids scatter like leaves from a leaf blower. She was so proud of herself...even as I pointed out that the kids were about 6. She just smiled. Outwardly.


The temples we visited after lunch made a greater impression on me than did the ones before. I really enjoyed a small one whose name escapes me right now, a smallish temple which was by far the quietest, and off the tourist track. There is something mystical about wandering aimlessly through these temples, something that inspires a sense of awe that these buildings, built so long ago, still remain, but remain a mystery. And in the quietest of temples, it is most easy to feel that awesomeness bubble up inside the pit of your belly as the significance of their presence reaffirms your own insignificance. Or maybe that bubbling is just the remains of a pumpkin lunch.


By far the coolest temple of the day was Ta Prohm. Remember Tomb Raider? It was shot here, because the temple is so insanely cool-looking. When Angkor was discovered, temples had been devoured by jungle, with trees growing out of rooftops and slowly reclaiming the land that humans had so toilingly stolen from nature. In most places, the trees and bramble have been removed, but at Ta Prohm and a few others, trees have been left in place to show the visitor the mighty power of the jungle. It is a war of wills and perseverance: the trees which have grown into the structures, are slowly destroying them, sending out their roots among bricks and stone, while Angkor preservationists struggle to leave as many trees in place as possible, cutting away trees hundreds of years old only when they threaten to collapse a structure.

My wish for stair climbing did come true this day. At one of the temples, we got to climb up five tiers, pretty much on hands and knees because the stairs were so steep. So danger! I remember thinking as I was climbing that this was all crazy, and never in Canada would we ever be allowed to do something like this...liability or something. I love Asia for the lack of safety, allowing me to do crazy stuff.


At this point, I was super tired (considering that it was, by now, about twelve hours since we had arisen in the morning) and ready to rest. Our guide suggested a temple for sunset, and we headed over in our tuk tuks, which stopped at the base of a hill, allowing our guide to hop out and say: "Okay, we climb." CLIMB?! And so I was tricked into climbing a mountain, exhausted, starving. And, there was no sunset. See how amused we look? No sunset. So tired.

At least there was a killer view of Angkor Wat from the mountain. Again, looking so small.


When we made it back to town, we hit up a supermarket and then grabbed dinner: I had my last amok, which came in a banana leaf bowl. I got so excited that I didn't get a picture until I was half done. So much for my foodie-ness.


A huge day. Interestingly enough, I found few of the temples spine-tingling, but I think what was most impressive was how many temples -- not each individual temple -- were contained in the area. Taken as a whole, Angkor is truly amazing. What a communist view of Angkor...

En route to Siem Reap

En route to better sights and views
In search of culture, knowledge, truths
To learn of others is a must
So why does this bus ride, me disgust?

KEP, CAMBODIA to PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

July 29 - 30, 2008

Okay, I'm writing this on a bus and I wish the shakiness of my writing would carry over as a testament to:
(1) My dedication to blogging
(2) My understanding of the importance of transcribing my thoughts as real time as possible
(3) How crappy this bus is.

Peon 2, TH and I left Kep with Peon 1, Kunthy and Doc R to head to PP. I don't know if it's because I've done the trip a few times now or what, but the drive wasn't too bad. Granted, TH and I have the berst seats on the bus, righ behind the driver, but the usual annoyances didn't seem to bother me too much. The blaringly loud karaoke VCD was one I've already seen before, complete with Cambodian rap and ridiculous dancing; the sound of the horn blasting in lieu of turn signals, driving decorum and any semblance of order on the highways; and of course, the insane bumpiness of the ride, leaving one's sciatic over-stimulated and pulsing. It's like having a funny bone in your ass. Anywho.

My afternoon in PP was ridiculous. First stop was the used bookstore where I traded in some of Dad's old books for a couple new ones, plus a Lonely Planet Vietnam. While there, it started to rain -- monsoon, actually -- so we hid out in the store for about 45 minutes.

When we left, it was still raining lightly, but bedecked in ponchos, we pressed on toward Psar Thei market. About 10 minutes into the walk, we hit a river crossing. Or, more precisely, a road. The roads had flooded in areas of the city and the only way to get through was to wade.


And wade we did. Amid free-floating chunks of refuse, dirt and unidentifiable nastiness, we stepped in knee deep with the waves created from the wake of passing cars, motos, pedicabs and bikes lapping at our thighs.

Disgusting.

We eventually made it to Psar Themi where we split up. I was handkering for fried rice flour filled with chives or some other market goodness, unfortunately, everything was closed. Boo.

WHen I headed back, some of the flooded streets had already drained though most had not. There was a point when I was walking on the flooded road on my left and a fence on my right, on what I can only guess was a patchwork sidewalk. I don't know; the water was up to mid calf. But each time a car drove by, the wake would slap my left leg, further adding to the uncleanliness of my thigh, then, since according tose damned laws of physics, would reflect off the fence and, like a malicious vigilante blitkrieg of vluid, proceed to thwack my right thigh.

Injury, meet insult.

Anyways, I eventually made it back to the Okay Gust house and proceeded to wash myself, after VOIPing TD to fix my freaking bank account. Boo, expensive call.

Dinner was a complete turnaround, however. Peon 2, TH, Kunthy, Doc $ and I went to Romdeng, an NGO which trains street kids the art of hospitality. It was quite a nice place. I've been to a lot of fancy restaurants in my consulting days, but I have never before seen a restaurant with a swimming pool in it. Full size. Serious. Cool.


The food was excellent. I had a banana flower salad with Cambodian bacon and caramelized bananas wrapped in rice flour and turmeric wraps with coconut ice cream and palm sugar syrup for dessert. Mmm...


Wednesday was a huge rush. I had visited a travel agent the previous day to check on flights from Luang Prabang to Hanoi, so we had to get up early to book tickets before getting on our bus to Siem Reap. The agent didn't tell us our tickets were paper tickets and had to be issued by the airline -- but we were 30 mins away from our guesthouse and had 45 mins until we had to get to our bus. I turned all "Queen Biatch" on him and told him to make them rush and that I wanted my tickets in my hands in 15 minutes. He got all intimidated, but it worked because he kept calling the messenger to make him hurry. I got on the bus just fine.

The bus ride was hellish though. The guy in front of us smelled really bad and because of a huge traffic jam, it took us 6 hours. The moment that made it all worth it though was when we made a pit stop at the most disgustingly ungygenic restaurants I have ever seen in my life (with 2 months in rural Cambodia under my belt). I was women selling basket full of tarantulas and grasshoppers to eat. The looked creepy and some were still moving. I don't speak for everyone, but I generally like my food good and dead when I eat it. Apparently this all stems from the Khmer Rouge days when people were starving. I'm trying to work up the courage to eat one.


We did finally get to Siem Reap, and upon arriving were accosted by a horde of ravenous tuk tuk drivers. They kept grabbing my arm and we kept yelling. It was horrible: they were opening the bus windows and wouldn't let us off the bus. Ridonk. One thing I've noticed about Cambodia is the size of the average physical space bubble is quite smal in comparison to our North American ones. And so the grabbing. After a lot of pushing and yelling, we picked a guy who was much quieter and he drove us to our guesthouse.

On a side note, our guesthouse had a crocodile farm in the back. I thought it was supposed to be kitchy, but no, it was a serious farm for raising crocodiles, and they were huge. Ridonk^2.

Dinner was a CIH reunion with Banana and we also had a chance to meet his gf. TH and I speculated on what she'd be like -- and it was pretty spot on. I like TH's assessment of her after the fact, best: "She seems like she'd fit in the with Great White on the Upper Right" referring top the band of white people who sit in a specified spot in our class and make a lot of noise all the time. Anyways.

We parted ways after dinner and Kmer Kitchen (where Mick Jagger has eaten in the past) and made plan to head out at 5 am the next morning to catch the sunrise over Angkor Wat.

Boo...internet woes

It's hard to be getting internet access
And so far there's been a lack of success
But please please stay tuned because I will return
And have pictures to post, and keyboards to burn

An update perhaps (I've been writing my journal
So I've not forgot anything in day or nocturnal):
In Bangkok right now, and leaving today
I'm headed for Thailand's north, far away

Angkor was great -- words insufficient!
From temple to temple, was like on a mission
Then a hellish bus ride to Bangkok city
And I see it's a place that's both crazy and pretty

More details to come, for that I do swear
(And congrats out to John -- for any that care,
My Dad had a birthday, while I was marooned)
So please keep on reading, and do stay tuned!

Leaving Kep behind

I'm setting off on journeys far but I would be remiss
If I said I were joyful and my thoughts so full of bliss
For though it started small and tiny it has grown, developed
The place within my heart for Kep and people there, enveloped

Thankful I'm for all I've changed and changes done on me
And feel so fortunate for opportunities to see
The countryside, the rural life, and everything between
I'll take with me for all my days the images I've seen

An on! to Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and then Korea
I hope that one day I'll be back -- so Kep, till then, I'll see ya!
And so I bid farewell to sun, and sea, and skies, and laughter
And in my travels to hope to find comparison hereafter

Challenges to democracy

A tumultuous time to be in this land
Where pride, greed and power move insatiable hands
And lust for vainglory move with painful expedience
And places on good people a mark of obedience

KEP, CAMBODIA

July 27- 28, 2008

The Cambodian national election was on Sunday. What a farce, though. The European Union was in town in Kep to observe and oversee, which I suppose is important, but when your primary tactic of gaining democratic support is fearmongering, there is nothing an outside observer can do in a crisis except turn tail and evacuate.

The CPP has been buying votes, plain and simple. They invite villagers to their rallies, and give them seasoning packets and sarongs -- and in some cases, money -- to convince the villagers to vote for the incumbent party. Nerver mind that little has been done since the previous election. And the opposing parties, who have far less money, are at an incredible disadvantage when it comes to buying votes. What injustice.

So, it begs the question: are there any good parties left in Cambodia? Does anyone care about the Cambodian people? Why are foreigners the ones picking up the pieces, when in fact, there is nothing -- NOTHING -- that would keep us here if our lives were in danger?

And then, in a display of ironic poetry, the Thais have been stirring up trouble at Preah Vihear this election time. There is a threat of war, and fearmongering is being used as a prime tactic to case conflict and division, in bullying a neighbour into giving the Thais what they want.

***

On another, less political note, we helped Doc R take inventory of all the drugs that CIH has yesterday, too. Some are to be donated to Kep Hospital and the health centres, and some to be kept. Either way, it was not a three person affair and I had to listen to Doc R yap the entire time. Plus I had the unbelievably glamourous job of counting 264 little red iron pills, followed by 240 paracetamol and then redistribute them into equal packets of 20 pills for iron, and 15 for paracetamol.

In the evening, we had our last dinner at the local place. Food has been cold the last couple of nights, so it's been a little disappointing. Ah well...on to better things and better gastronomic fare!


On our last day in Kep though, Monday, TH and I were supposed to go with Doc R to do some outreach stuff, which unfortunately fell through. We ended up just visiting the hospital to donate the drugs and Toronto Notes which we had lugged all the way to Cambodia. Here's the water tower at the hospital that I finally got a picture of. It's the same one that Peon 2 and I were slave labour forced into scraping the fungus off. Look so clean!


And then it was our last lunch at our local place, and then, even sadder still, our last grilled bananas (chek ang in Khmer). So sad...

Tying off loose ends

Wrapping it up I am toiling hard
To try and communicate that which I've found
Cambodia's dust and its sun leaves me scarred
Has stolen my will and to them I am bound

KEP, CAMBODIA

July 24 - 26, 2008

Crazy that things are finally wrapping up around here. I'm spending my days furiously trying to write my paper and finish at least the first draft before I leave, which, unfortunately, is turning into quite an exercise in futility. We just don't have enough computers around here, and with me squandering all of my desginated computer time blogging and emailing and Facebooking, it's going more slowly than I'd hoped. That all being said, I'm in okay shape: everything is outlined, so it's really just a matter of pounding it all out.

I'm getting a little sad at the thought of leaving though, because I feel like I've gotten to know Kep fairly well, and it's always sad leaving something behind. Not to mention the fact that it's great that the first thing I can hear in the morning, before I open my eyes, is one of two things: (1) the wind blowing through the palm trees, or (2) the sound of the waves as they crest and fold over themselves. Well...second thing I hear anyways, after I mentally filter out the sound of the fan spinning like crazy overhead trying to keep this place cool.


And the views are really great too. This is from a "mountain," overlooking the beach. It's a view that we get on our way to lunch every day. Not too shabby at all.


I am running out of peon stories, although I guess this counts: turns out Peon 1 has never used Excel before. Yeah. I had told her in April that she would need to use it for all of our analysis, but she apparently didn't think that a good enough reason to bother learning it. And so I was stuck running a "Fundamentals of Excel" tutorial for -- and get this -- both her and my two-finger-typing supervisor Doc R. It took us two hours to get through basic arithmetic (+, -, * and /), copying/pasting, CTRL-Z, sum(), average(), max() and min(). PAINFUL.

After that, I quit. I figured it's not my job to teach this stuff and Peon 1 needs to learn to figure things out on her own anyways ("Leave the weak behind," interpolated from Darwin).

Plus, I was pissed at Doc R who had just spent her first day doing field work and cam back all upset because she was tired. Then spent the entire lesson bitching about how tiring field work is. This after passive aggressively telling Peon 1, TH and me that our trip to Si-ville was an indication that we didn't have enough work to do. Us. Who have been in the field since June, not taking any weekends off. Riiight.

Anyways, as for the Peons, I'm fairly certain that they're royally screwed when it comes to their individual projects because I've recut the data and taken out all of my analysis in the version I've provided them. And I leave in three days and they have yet to look at the data. They're going to be so lost. Especially Peon 1, having never used Excel before. Ah well. Such is life and justice.

But Friday was great. The power went off in the morning (as it often does) and didn't come back until about 5 pm (also a common occurence; although why it always seems to come back at the same time has me more than a little puzzled). So, since the laptops ran out of batteries in the morning, the entire day was spent reading on the hammocks. Which was actually kind of a nice thing.


Plus, the banana in rice in a banana leaf lady was back...and I got to have that for dessert. (I know the picture is bad...sorry...but it was my attempt at a self-photo.)


Then, on Friday night, We finally had crab! Kep is known for crab, but I'd just never gotten around to it, and now I with I had. It was so good, fried in Kampot Pepper. Cheap too. Mmm...hopefully I'll have it once more before leaving. So good. Can you believe that this meal only cost $10?


Oh Friday...full of sloth and gluttony. What a good day.

And my parents were asking about Seaside guesthouse, my home for the last two months, so I thought I'd try and make things a little easier and so here's a visual for you all. My room is on the right, second floor: the corner room. One of the best rooms in the guesthouse. Yay for us.

Kep Hospital shadowing

Frustrating to know that they don't receive
The care or the skill or the service they need
To cure that which ails them or comfort their grief
But light in the darkness -- one does do a good deed

KEP, CAMBODIA

July 23, 2008

I like to think that I'm pretty laid back, and more of a Type B personality than a Type A. Sure, I've got my little things (as everyone does), and I think I'm quite an initiative-taker, but I'm pretty sure I'm less high strung than a true Type A. And as a result, unlike my classmates this year, I have not taken advantage of shadowing in clinics or anything like that.

That all being said, Cambodia is another story. The stuff we see here is different from what we see at home, and that's a reason to go shadowing. There. Justified. Still not a Type A.

Anyways, Wednesday TH and I went over to the Kep Referral Hospital to shadow the doctor there during his morning clinic (his name is Dr. Deena).


A bit of background for context: people don't like to use the public health system here, because they think that the quality is poor, and the facilities understaffed. They often don't have the drugs that are needed (G saw a kid who was bitten by a dog get sent home because they have no rabies vaccine), and the doctors, nurses, and midwives all prefer to open their own private clinics in their homes and charge people an arm and a leg.

(Aside: for anyone who thinks that a parallel public-private system is a good idea -- you're an idiot.)

So, health centres are understaffed, and villagers aren't supposed to come to the hospital before going to the local HC. But most of the time, there isn't anyone at the HC. So, if a poor villager spends the money to go to the HC one of two things happens: (1) He has to go back home because no one is there -- and there's no electricity or running water there either, so if it's night time, he's SOL; or (2) He just gets referred to the hospital anyways. So, now his transportation costs have doubled, and beyond that, he's a subsistence farmer, so taking even just the morning to do all this might mean that his kids don't eat for a day.

(I suppose there's the remote likelihood of (3) He is treated, but I haven't heard many good things about the HCs.)

Anyways, the public system has earned itself a bad reputation for poor quality, so villagers just go to private clinics, who are run by the same people who work in the public clinics (they just leave the public clinics at any which hour during the day), where prices are not regulated, licensure is a non-issue, meds are often fake, but...it's right next door, so no transport costs. They do this not realizing that the hospital is actually very inexpensive, and even though quite far, offers decent service.

Right. I digress. This is not an Op-Ed piece, this is a recounting of my day. My point is that people don't come to the hospital so we were only shadowing from 7:30 to about 11 am.


We saw quite a few run of the mill, sort of boring things: a cut leg from a moto accident, lots of constipation, abdominal pain. And we also saw a lot of interesting things: an ultrasound for a woman who is 7 months pregnant, pneumonia. And then, there were the really crazy things (all in-patients, whereas the others were outpatients) that were super interesting: tuberculosis (I am SO going to be testing positive for exposure when I get back...which means months of antibiotics), spinal TB, and a right-sided complete hemiplegia.

We looked at some chest x-rays of people with TB and learned how to look for cavitations (where the bacterial colonies apparently concentrate?), and learned to tell the difference between pneumonia and TB.

The spinal TB case was super interesting, but really very sad. I know nothing about spinal TB...but this poor patient had a vertebral fracture at L4-L5 in addition to whatever else spinal TB does, and was paralyzed from the legs down. The patient's legs were severely atrophic and the patient was incontinent as well. Really sad case, but Dr. Deena was doing everything that he could for her.

The hemiplegic was a bit of a medical mystery. This patient had gone to a traditional healer for something, and then started having problems on his right side. Not sure if it was caused by the traditional healer, or if there were problems before visiting the healer, or if that visit was unrelated. Anyways, the patient had no motor control of his entire right side, but sensory pathways were intact. (We got to see a Babinski test done on this guy too. But Dr. Deena uses a pen to ellicit a response, so the poor patient had pen marks all over the sole of his foot.) Dr. Deena doesn't know what the cause of the deficits is, and he has tried to get the family to send him to Calmette hospital in Phnom Penh, since they have imaging there, but they won't go. And so he has lain in the Kep hospital for the last 15 days, neither improving nor deteriorating. Where is the lesion, what is the lesion, huh? So much for all that.


Frustration again, because it's the same problems over and over and over again.

But that's where Dr. Deena comes in. We sat and chatted with him for about half an hour as we were waiting for some lab results on a patient. It was about 10 am, and we were done with all the patients, so we spoke about the Cambodian health system, about the Kep health system, about the public-private debate, and healthcare in Cambodia in general. This guy is one of the last few good ones. He earns $50 per month for working in the hospital, and works around the clock -- he actually lives at the hospital. Unlike his counterparts (there are four other doctors at Kep Hospital), he does not have a private clinic at home. Private clinic doctors earn upwards of $500 - 600 per month, but Dr. Deena prefers to work in the public system.

He talked to us about how he just wants to be a doctor, to practice medicine, and how in order for him to work at a big hospital in a big city, or move up in the Ministry of Health, he would have to get involved in politics, and that's something he is not interested in. He just does his job because he wants to.


In my med school interview over a year ago now, they asked me who my medical heroes were. I hadn't prepped for my interview, so this questions really took me off-guard. I answered (maybe a little stupidly, or cliche-like) that Dr. Henry Norman Bethune was my hero, partially because I didn't know anyone else famous, and partly because I had read about him in my Children's Canadian Encyclopedia probably about 18 years ago (thanks for those, Mommy) and thought he was a pretty cool guy. He still is, for me, a pretty cool guy. But...I've been impressed by Dr. Deena, and, well, I think Dr. Bethune has, for me, been replaced.

Political rally trickery

The singers were nasal, the voices high-pitched
Like nails on a chalkboard, they scratched and they itched
But worse was the dancing - the worst that I've seen
Ridiculous moves, like from a bad dream

KEP, CAMBODIA

July 16 - 21, 2008

So not much to say about the days following the Sihanoukville side trip (except that I'm completely wishing that I was still back there and not in boring old Kep).

There's been a lot a lot a lot of eating at the local place, so much so that we're now true regulars, and we've even started eating there for dinner as well, regularly. We see the same people every day for lunch now, and apparently they talk about us (so says Kunthy, who eats with us too), and it's kind of really nice knowing the ins and outs of this place. It's cool feeling like a local because it's almost like I've made this place a sort of home for me, and I've never felt that way before about a place I've traveled to (and rightly so, considering I've never been in a place this long before).


And there have been a few new discoveries too: the bananas wrapped sticky rice mixed with sugar and coconut milk, all wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled over a fire; and coconuts for $0.50. I'll have to get a picture of the bananas...so gooey and wonderful and yum...and I've been drinking way too many coconuts, and since I've discovered that I can ask people at the guesthouse to chop them open for me, I've also been eating way too much coconut meat too. It's wonderful.


So, there's been quite a lot of talk lately about conflict between Thailand and Cambodia over an ancient temple called Preah Vihear, on the Thai-Cambodian border. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site (as of July 2008), and it's located within Cambodian territory. Unfortunately, since there was a lot of fighting between the two countries over the last millennium, there's still a lot of dispute as to who the site belongs to, now made even worse by its UNESCO status.

As of last week, the Thai troops have been camped out at the border, and Cambodians followed suit. There's been a lot of talk around here about possible war, especially since Cambodia is particularly vulnerable right now given that the national elections are to take place this Sunday, July 27. Troops from Kep are even being deployed to Preah Vihear, which is on the northern border of Cambodia (we're at the southern coast).

I think it might be actually somewhat serious, but it's hard to tell. Our supervisor at CIH, Doc R, has been hankering to get a Vietnamese visa in case we need to make a run out of the country (TH and I have visas already, but they're not valid until August 12), since the Viet border is only 45 minutes from Kep. We were supposed to visit Angkor this week, but called our trip off just in case something happened.

Hard to say, but hopefully, there will not be any conflict. The two countries met earlier this week, but talks unfortunately broke down. Not sure what's really going on.

On an ironic note, while it's a good thing that TH and I will be leaving the country in about a week, we are planning to cross the border from Cambodia into Thailand. So...really, hopefully there won't be any problems.

Funny enough, after I'd first heard of this Preah Vihear kafuffle, I was told that all of Kep was being invited to a party last Saturday at city hall. I was really excited about going, especially since just about everyone in this part of Kep would be there. So we went.

(On a side note, I had not expected to go straight after dinner and hadn't peed before we set off for dinner. I had to go really badly and ended up having to pee by a tree on the side of the road. At least there are no street lights, but still.)

The party was hilarious. Turns out it was actually a political rally being put on by our favourite party CPP, and even the Prime Minister was in attendance. But what really took the cake was the show that went on while we were there. There was singing and dancing, and well...it wasn't so spectacular. The singing was super Cambodian style, which might be pretty to dogs and other species that can hear above the 20 000 Hz range, but to me, not so good. Then there were two girls who sang pop songs and had backup dancers who were the laziest dancers I've ever seen. I can't wait till I can upload a video of this dancing -- it was ridiculous. They would kind of wave their arms in the air a little, and then maybe take a step forward, all will the most bland facial expressions ever. Classic. Then there was the comedian who insisted on screaming into the microphone, rupturing both of my tympanic membranes and rendering me deaf. All the while I couldn't understand what was going on. At that point we left.


But...it was still fun, and the whole city turned out. There were even amusement games for prizes, like at Wonderland.


And lots of food. Of course there were vendors and street food.


But back to food, because that's what I like blogging about most. There's been a bit of an explosion of new food things to eat in Kep, which is awesome, but I'm a little sad that they didn't show up sooner. There's a deep fried fish place now, which I had two nights in a row (with a coconut of course).



It's a pretty funny place because there's this kid who belongs to someone at the stand who kept stealing the jar full of dried shrimp and eating handfuls of them. Hilarious.