May 23, 2009

Dirty Does Cambodia

After nine months, I finally had my first visitor from the States! My brother and I had been planning this trip since I found out I was coming to Cambodia, so you can imagine how excited I was to finally put it into action. Steve (and one of his fratty friends who served about 6 years ago) was a big part of the reason I decided to apply for the Peace Corps in the first place, so it’s fitting that he be the first to experience the ‘Bode. … and did he ever.

Since Steve was only going to be in-country for about a week, we didn’t waste any time. I was at the airport to welcome him at 9:00AM sharp with an embarrassingly large sign à la Jim and Jan Kimmel. Once we said our hellos, we headed straight to the hotel, got settled, and then hit a few of the main tourist attractions in Phnom Penh. Truth be told, they were pretty weak as far as tourist traps go – but we made up for it later. As per the usual Phnom Penh routine, all the volunteers in town got together for a night on the town later that evening. On Tara and Tiffany’s recommendation, we decided to check out Nagaworld Casino. Nagaworld is probably one of the swankiest places in Phnom Penh: you can’t get in unless you roll up in a Lexus (or are a local celebrity, like we are … riiight). The casino itself is the same as what you’d find in Vegas or Atlantic City, except that AC and free drinks are actually a rare perk here in Cambodia. Once we all lost our week’s worth of salaries, we headed to dinner at a great little Italian café along the riverfront, followed by a guitar jam session at the hookah bar next door and, of course, dancing at Pontoon. I’m still surprised that Steve powered through those 24 hours without the slightest sign of jet lag … maybe the girls and I should induct him as an honorary champ after all.

The next morning, we took the bus to my site so Stephen could get a feel for my daily life. After meeting my host family, he took the grand tour of the school and NGO I volunteer at before we continued up to Battambang for the evening. It was really surreal having someone from home finally see my life here. For almost a year, I’ve created a “new” life – new routine, new place, new job, new friends – that are pretty much separate from who I am in the States. That’s not to say I’m somehow different here than I am at home (except perhaps, being better dressed in the States) … but it was still strange to watch someone experiencing what I’ve been describing from halfway across the globe in person. It was like my two lives were finally meeting and shaking hands. Yeah, corny metaphor, but I think you see my point.

Now, the reason we needed to head to Battambang that evening was so we could catch the “fast ferry” up the Tonle Sap River to Siem Reap early the next morning. In theory this seemed like a great cultural experience. We were told that the fast ferry would leave around 7:00AM and take roughly four hours. Perfect: not only would Steve get to see traditional life on the river, but we’d actually be making better time on the boat than if we took a bus. The first hour of the trip was fantastic. Sure it was a little cramped (I mean, how can you fit 40 Westerners on a tiny Khami junk and not be cramped?), sure the seats were uncomfortable, and sure the few Cambodian passengers were cranky because we were taking up too much space … but who doesn’t love being out on (semi) open water at 7:00AM? Around 10:30AM, we stopped at a floating rest-stop. And by rest-stop, I mean a tiny raft with a snack vendor and gasoline for sale in old Johnny Walker bottles. At this point, I figured we could only have another hour left at most, so I was a little surprised that we were stopping at all. Steve suggested that I ask our driver when we’d be arriving just in case. After assuring him that we'd definitely be there in an hour, I decided to ask anyway. The conversation went something like this:

Me: So, when do you think we’ll get to Siem Reap?
Driver: Maybe around two.
Random bystander: No, probably more like three.
Driver: Ok, between two and three.
Me: You mean in two hours, right?? ... not at two o'clock?
Driver: No, I mean two or three o’clock.
Me: ……… oh …. oh, I see.

… so much for the four hour water taxi. Eight hours later, we finally arrived in Siem Reap. Needless to say, I was never happier to get off a boat in my life.

Once we regained feeling in our legs, we hailed a took-took to take us to our guesthouse. We didn’t have any specific plans for the afternoon other than meeting up with some other volunteers for a late dinner. That gave us just enough time to nap (incredible how sitting and doing nothing on a boat all day can take it out of you), shower, and pull ourselves together before we headed out. Good food with good friends was the perfect end to our day. After we hit the Blue Pumpkin for some of the best ice cream in the Bode, we called it an early night so we’d be ready to conquer the temples the next day.

As some of you may know, Steve’s birthday is in April. For something a little different than the usual gift ideas, I splurged on a helicopter ride over the temple complex. At 10:00AM we lifted off! I’ve never been in a helicopter, so I was like a wide-eyed little girl the whole time. Steve loved it too, and I don’t think we could have started our day any better. Our pilot gave us a little overview of the temples and some history of the area and then we headed off to see everything in person. There are tons of temples in the Angkor complex, but we only chose three: we started out with Bayon (famous for its giant stone faces), then visited the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed – also famous for the ancient fichus trees literally crawling all over the temple structure, and finished with the iconic Angkor Wat. The temples were massive and we could actually crawl through the stones in many of them, making me feel like maybe we really were tomb raiders. Standing inside these incredible structures is, for lack of a less cliché term, awe-inspiring to say the least. Even so, by the end of the afternoon, we were officially templed-out. We headed back to the hotel, cleaned up and hit the new Mexican restaurant in town. You all know how I feel about Mexican, so I’ll spare you the details – but it definitely gives Viva! a run for its money!

The next day we met our took-took driver from the day before, who had developed a serious man-crush on Stephen (think thigh-grabbing and heavy petting), to take us to the Kulen mountain ranges where there are several 45ft waterfalls. And, yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can swim right in the spray at the base of the falls. On top of that, we were the only people swimming at the base, so it felt like we owned the place. Getting there was a little bit of a trek, but the experience was so worth it. I’m not sure who loved it more – us, or our driver – but the whole day was by far one of the coolest things I’ve done in Cambodia to date. When we finally got back to civilization, we enjoyed our last night on the town (complete with Apsara dancing and a city-wide power outage – see, I told you he got the full experience).

The trip went by way too fast, but it was one for the records. As always, he came. He saw. He conquered.


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May 7, 2009

Making Headlines

Check out this article on the Habitat for Humanity website for more info about our build. You can also read about the Jimmy Carter blitz build taking place in November that I hope to be a part of. Keep your fingers crossed that Water Festival falls on those dates!
p.s. pics from Malaysia and Habitat are up on facebook and under my "Six Months Plus" photos. Enjoy!

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May 4, 2009

Habitat for Humanity Build

Picture me in a hard hat. Ok – good. Now picture me laying bricks. Still with me? How about me climbing on scaffolding? Yeah, I know – I probably lost you all the way back at the hard hat. But I swear it’s all true! Fifteen volunteers and I joined up with Habitat for Humanity for a week to build a community center for homeless Cambodians in Oudong province. This project was actually a test run to generate excitement for a huge blitz-build that will take place in November. The next goal: 21 houses in one week! Depending on my school schedule, I hope to participate in the second build because this past week was so incredibly rewarding.

We all piled into a guest house on Sunday night – not really sure what to expect for Monday morning. We knew we’d be working alongside the local community, for the community, but none of us had any construction experience and many of the volunteers actually thought I was serious when I jokingly asked if you could plug in a hammer. Oh boy.


Orientation on our first day consisted of a brief “how-to” on laying bricks before we were thrown into the action. My three-person team was in charge of laying the bricks on the Western wall of the center. Despite the scorching heat and long hours, the day passed super fast. I felt like I had learned a real skill and was using it to do something meaningful and lasting.

Day two we continued to work on our wall … this time on scaffolding. I dropped a re-bar on Tara’s head, but luckily she had a hard hat on and that was my only really spaztastic moment. Of course, the real secret to our dream team was Rebecca. That girl can BUILD. She was one of the few people who had a working knowledge of this sort of thing (grace à her father) and it showed.

We continued on to help install the doors and windows, which resulted in a minor catastrophe because the window and door fixtures were the wrong size so we had to do some improvising to get everything to fit. Aside from that, things were really shaping up and we were all having a blast doing it. Nothing like working under a blue sky and big sun to make you feel alive.


By day four I’d had my fill of brick laying and crack filling, so I switched over to the “management crew” while a few other volunteers raised the roof and plastered it into place. We weren’t allowed to help with the roof itself due to liability, so we cleared out all the renegade bricks from the site and organized the remaining materials. This was more interesting than it sounds – if for no other reason than there is tons of wild life that likes to hide in the brick piles. Hopping mice, frogs, snakes eating the frogs, scorpions … you name it.


On our last day, we finished the community center, cleaned it up, and prepped for the dedication ceremony in the morning. The families arrived after lunch all smiles. After a few speeches, we turned them loose to enjoy the building. Seeing the gratitude on the families’ faces, letting their children crawl all over me in excitement, and participating in an impromptu dance party right there at site (that’s how excited everyone was) was beyond touching.
These families live on a garbage dump site that is closing down, so they will be loosing the meager homes that they have. To them, this isn’t just a simple building, but a new life. And being part of that is something I will carry with me forever.


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Gettin Out of Dodge!

After literally counting down the days until April 10th for more than a month, Dan, Deidre, Tara and I finally boarded our plane for Malaysia. This was, of course, after my traditional stop at the DQ inside the terminal. Before going, I didn’t know much about Malaysia other than the fact that it wasn’t Cambodia. And that was enough for me. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur late that evening; leaving us just enough time to shuttle into the city, find the seediest hostel around, and grab our first of many Indian meals to kick off one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. Our plan was to head up to the Cameron Highlands the next day to visit some tea plantations and do a little jungle trekking. After that, we hit KL for a few more days before flying into Singapore to get our fill of the cities. We visited Kota Kinabalu for some sun and scuba on the surrounding islands. We planned to head to Mount Kinabalu to do some hiking but somewhere along the way, Tara and I decided to return to Singapore while Dan and Deidre conquered the mountain. For those of you who know me well, it should come as no surprise that I opted for a few more days of shopping and city hopping over hiking. Some things will never change I guess … even after nine months in the sticks!

Malaysia and Singapore are about as different from Cambodia as you get. Aside from the fact that they’re all in South-East Asia, I’d say they don’t share much in common. Malaysia has a stronger Indian and Muslim influence that gives it a lot of its character. Singapore is a utopia of high gloss shine, culture, and order. Both places have embraced Western culture in a way that made me feel right at home, without loosing their own uniqueness. Ok, on to my trip …

The Cameron Highlands are a five hour bus ride from Kaula Lumpur, up a winding mountain road that rivals the insanity of the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in a sleepy little village where we could o.d. on E! TV at our hostel, catch a cheap massage at the local spa, and continue or tour de force of Indian food. Actually, we spent most of our time in the Highlands hopping from one delicious meal to the next. Aside from the Indian food, we were surrounded by three tea plantations (each with their own assortment of homemade scones and pastries to accompany their tea), several strawberry farms where you could pick your own berries or any strawberry confection you could dream of, and an apiary – because tea and scones clearly wouldn’t be complete without a little honey. When we weren’t feeding our inner-epicureans (literally), we explored the surrounding rain forest and waterfalls. The tea plantations were by far my favorite part though. The Boh plantation is made up of 1,200 hectors of terraced and manicured tea plants, all of which are harvested every 15 days. The work that goes into making tea is astonishing, but to work at a place with that kind of view is probably worth its weight in tea leaves.

Coming from Cambodia to the Highlands wasn’t too much of a shock. Sure the Highlands were cleaner, people were driving on the proper side of the road, and no one was yelling or staring at us … but the town that we stayed in had a lot of the same rustic charm as the Bode. Kuala Lumpur blew it all out of the water. One of the first things on our agenda was to catch a movie (at a REAL theater) and do a little shopping for new ‘going-out’ outfits so we could hit the town without looking like a bunch of dirty Peace Corps Volunteers. Walking into the Pavilion shopping center was like releasing three caged animals back into the wild. I say three because while Tara, Deidre and I stalked the shelves for heels, bags, and dresses, Dan dutifully endured our shopping extravaganza in a way I didn’t know grown men were capable of…he even let us drag him along to see “He’s Just Not That Into You.” We did all the requisite sight seeing of the KL needle and Petronas Towers on our second day (although we never made it to the observation deck because we got distracted by the shopping center on the ground floor). That evening we were all in our best form. We went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then to a fabulous club where we made friends with half the bar staff and partied until the sun came up. Now, I know what you’re thinking: why would you go all the way to Malaysia to eat at Outback. But let me tell you what, after nine months of white rice and paddy fish, that steak never tasted so good. Trust me on this one.

We spent our first full day in Singapore at the Disneyland of beaches. It’s an entirely man-made beach island right off the city’s coast, complete with theme attractions and plenty of places to spend your money. In fairness, Sentosa Island is absolutely beautiful and would actually be a lot of fun if you went knowing what it was, but we were looking for a more laid-back vibe. Sentosa Island was recommended to us by one of the staff members at our hostel, who, interestingly, also recommended Attica – the Disneyland of clubs – to us for our first night out. After strike two we decided we should find a new resource.

Always the classy bunch, the four of us decided to head to the famous Raffles Hotel for Singapore Slings and peanuts (the rest of the menu was a little out of our budget) and Tara and I eventually found our club of choice. We claimed the Butter Factory as our late-night headquarters and embarked on another night of adventures … this time involving some slap-happy Cubans and an editor of Playboy magazine to name a few of the cast of characters. On our way out we snagged two of the bouncers who promised to show us the “real Singapore.” A bowl of noodles later and a few hours of chatting, the sun was coming up, but we weren’t ready to call it a day yet – so we headed to the East Coast beach where we all went swimming and watched the sun rise. We spent the next day hanging out with them and enjoying a totally relaxing day in Singapore. Perfect. I should also mention that we met up with two other volunteers who were also traveling through Malaysia and we all agreed we should move our office to Singapore and call it a day.

Needless to say, when it was time to head to our next destination, I was a little reluctant to leave. Kota Kinabalu was worth it though. Every day was a perfect day at the beach --all teal water and white sand. One of the days, Tara and I also went scuba diving. Our salty scuba instructor insisted we hold hands the whole time and regaled us with the story of how he woke one day and decided to flush his IT job down the drain for a life on the high seas. We have aptly startled referring to him as Captain Jack Sparrow. Although we didn’t dive too deep, we saw some great stuff: brilliant coral, a baby sea turtle, and a giant school of mirror-like fish that surrounded us and nibbled on our fingers and swam through our hair. We had dinner on the water and shot the breeze while listening to the waves break on the jetty that night … the perfect end to the perfect day. That was before Dan decided to take us on a - how should we say - "detour" on our way back to the hostel because he didn’t want to ask for directions. See, I knew it was only a matter of time after that shopping trip before he showed his true colors as a member of the male species!

Now, Kota Kinabalu was great, buuut Tara and I really wanted a few more days in Singapore and I was secretly (ok, maybe not so secretly) beginning to remember that in my heart of hearts, as much as I wish I could say I love hiking, I just don’t … and the next part of our journey had us heading straight to Mount Kinabalu for just that. By a stroke of luck, Tara and I found a flight back to Singapore for under $30 – at the point, we figured it was meant to be. So off we went for Singapore: Round 2. We spent our remaining days with the guys – even though they did throw off our one and only plan to get to the zoo!

By the time we said goodbye for the second time, I was fairly certain I’d hit a depression the minute we got back to the Bode. Our “home coming” to Phnom Pehn was less than ideal … but a good Indian meal and a major reminiscing session kept us sane!

…. So, when do I get to go back?


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