Cambodia: Rice and Salt

Tuesday Dec 4th thru Sat Dec 8 2007

In my mind now the 5 days spent in Cambodia are compressed into picture bites: the first glimpse of Siam Reap airport ( What’s that beautiful building doing here?) to the last as we pull up and over the short airstrip to go back to Bangkok…

We came to do good stuff, and we did. We came to see the famous temples of Angkor Wat, and indeed we did.

Built in the 9th century the temple complex at Angkor is made of scores of sites---filled at this time for year with tourists from the entire world, they chatter and shuffle along pathways walked by kings ---there are few actual Buddhas left in any of the temples. They have been looted by countries too many to count, including their own

The devastation wrought by the Khmer Rouge is apparent everywhere you look. 65% of the population is under 15 years old, 80% under 25. There is a great irony in the juxtaposition of the age of the population and that of the great temples.

Outside of the Angkor complex, there are hundreds of other sites, some of which have been cleared by CMAC and some not…some like Bang Malea have been cleared but not ‘tricked out” for tourists. Here, we feel like Indiana Jones climbing over stones and through collapse portals. Few foreigners and few Cambodians come here.

I would be lying if I said I could remember them all---I cannot. But I remember the feeling that I got when walking thru them. Majestic—the scale is on par with the Coliseum in Rome…and soft: that’s weird because they are made of stone—and volcanic rock. But carved, intensely and richly carved, and that softens them. And green…the color of the stone ranges form black to mottled greens and white…some rich reds—not form paining I am told, although some temples were painted. The colors are from aging and weather….

I take pictures of doors and windows—there are thousands and like Kristina they intrigue me: where are they going? Who walked thru them?

Ponhery points out the bullet divots from the war at Angkor Tom. And she isn’t referring to WW2…her war: the one that began with the Khmer Rouge and has not ended yet. Land mines still dot the country side and you dare not walk anywhere that has not been cleared. As we climb over the stones of Bang Malea someone points out the groups of people walking by all dressed in powder blue: these are the new troops of Cambodia—CMAC workers whose job it is to clear the thousands of land minds that still pockmark the countryside. Put there by there own people solely to further kill and maim.

Our second, or maybe our first reason for coming is to bring money for the Ponhery Ly Foundation. (I won’t go into it here, but see Kristina’s site http://www.wired2theworld.com/Cam2007schoolvisits.html for why).

We have brought a significant amount with us and it is to be directed a one school: Kol Keh. Built in the middle of a cleared area, it is so far off the beaten track that there is no track. There is no road, there is an ox cart track. We have discussed with Lori Carlson at length what this money can do, and I am fully convinced that she will use it to it’s best advantage and squeeze every possible penny out of it.

Lori’s story is the stuff of romance novels and adventure tales---a successful business woman in Austin, Lori recently made the decision to come to Cambodia and devote herself to the foundation. She is driven and incredibly focused on this and I have no doubt that she will be as successful in this as she was in her past life.

No one can describe the poverty in Cambodia. It is devastating, but if possible, what I see in Kol Keh leaves me without words: these children eat “rice and salt”. There is some canned fish, but a can is supposed to feed 8 and they have to make it stretch to feed 25…

They are listless--malaise. They are hungry. Food, and then education, basic skills, respect and hope. It’s hard to learn when you need to eat. We bring soymilk, lychee drinks, and ramen noodles. Five packages each and they fold their hand and bow their thanks. Some open the packs and eat the noodles dry.

Their eyes make me numb.

Ponhery hands out uniforms and flip flops for each child. The uniform is a badge of honor and success. They have made it this far. For some it will be their best moment, but for others, it will be the beginning of many best moments… and that’s a very good thing.

For better pictures (and more of them) see http://www.wired2theworld.com/, and click on Thailand and Cambodia. Krsitina has several more pages up by today ...

To learn more about the Ponhery Ly Foundation go to http://www.theplf.org/. Should you choose to donate, please mention Kristina Johnson or Sharon Miro.

Early to Market, Early to Rise, makes you….

Er, not on vacation but up we go to the early morning local market of the type that we like to visit.

DO not imagine your Friday evening Farmers market in Encino or Beverly Hills. Local wet markets have not only produce but meat and fish and whatever else is being eaten for the people that live here.

Local markets are not for the weak of stomach. But they are interesting. This one seems to be for wholesalers and perhaps restaurant owners.

But I digress: we are always these first few days, in search of the perfect noodle soup.I four last trip was the Strudel tour, then this is the Noodle tour.
Or it can be the cat and dog tour--not sure yet. At any rate the perfect noodle soup, well, it’s not here, so we push on to another very small market near the Oriental Hotel. There we find a man and woman cooking in the middle of the fish market: Noodle soup that looks good…we make the appropriate signs and they ‘seat us “ 20 seconds later YUM YUM…noodle soup, fresh &`fragrant and I don’t even ask what kind of “pork” it is…after a few minutes the elderly woman brings us a taste of something else---duck we agree, and smack our collective lips…hard to relate to this kind of eating unless you have done it…yes, a risk but why not? For less than 60 cents our tummies are full ( for now) and we have made a new friends from the smiles of the two cooks.

The rest of this day goes by in a blur ( more to come of that!) We see an exhibit, eat lunch and shop for scarves…Hmmm, is this really the scarf tour? Tomorrow Cambodia.

For better pictures (and more of them) see http://www.wired2theworld.com/, and click on Thailand and Cambodia.

Day 2 Tong & The Tiger Temple

Yes, it cudda been a movie.

Tong is a force of nature—she picks us up at 6:30 to “make merit” before we leave for the floating market. Thai monks must eat only what they are given. They cannot cook for themselves or own anything except their bowl.

Most Thai make merit every day. There is a precise ritual to follow-precise but simple. You must put the food you buy into the bowl in a proscribed manner. The monk blesses you. Done. Start you day with a blessing instead of a traffic jam.

We go to an area where there are many disabled or elderly monks. Some come with caretakers and people who hold their “bag’. There is a cottage industry that has built up around this custom—vendors that come with your “merit” pre packaged: rice, vegetable, something unidentifiable, water and a flower with incense. 75 cents. A pretty economical way to get on the good side.

Later they will return to their temple, share all that has been gathered, and if they have too much, they will feed the poor.

For an American, we who buy something new everyday, or clog landfills with our Starbucks cups, this is sometimes a difficult lifestyle to grasp.

Do not touch the monk. You will want to because they have an allure not often experienced here. Don’t.

We move on to the Floating market. Not normally into heavy tourist items, I really wanted to do this for some reason…now I know why: Chicken skewers and noodle soup, fried bananas at 8:30am YUMMY!!! Don’t go without Tong or someone from her team. They know the right places and do not allow you to shop in the relentlessly touristy places. And everyone knows them. Including the animals. As we floated along, we noticed that Tong was buying LOTS of food…I mean way way too much for me and the last French tour bus we passed to eat. We asked why and she said for the animals …but “what I bought for you was better quality.” Good to know.

We veered away from the “beaten” canal and as we did Tong and the boatman started to sing out…and the dogs started to appear. It seems that Tong feeds the strays. For most she doesn’t take the skewers out—in fact we saw several that had learned to hold them down with their paws and remove the meat…but still there is more than just for the dog, but we will find out about that later.

After the market we head for the Tiger Temple. You can read about the controversy about this on Fodors---or other places. Yes, I was skeptical too, but now I understand that at least they are doing something. And something is better than nothing. None of the animals that we saw seemed to be worse fro wear at all—in fact they seemed to be well taken care of. Yes, there is an air of commercialism that didn’t set well, but, hey, we have Disneyland.

Kristina REALLY wants to take this one home to Nem.

And by the way, all the animals here know Tong’s voice as well…as we entered she would call out and goats and dear and dogs would come running.

And really, the trip out there and back was made all the more worth for BamBam…Tong seems to have adopted a bear…found on the Thai-Myanmar border as a baby this bear was brought to temple, and is quite taken with Tong ….she used to run free but there is construction going on for new habitats and she has to be caged for now…

This was a long day, and I look forward to some rest tomorrow before we go to Cambodia.

For better pictures (and more of them) see http://www.wired2theworld.com/, and click on Thailand and Cambodia.

Bangkok

Day 1: Da Plane, Da plane

It’s late, and I am tired and cranky—both K and I suffer from pre trip anxiety—and both of us worked a full day. We have to consciously remember that is a vacation, not a death march. There were several “are you panicking” calls today.

When we check in (me in business and K in Premium Economy) they are nice enough to give her a pass to go with me to the Lounge—in the end we could have used my Red Carpet pass, but still a nice gesture and a for-shadowing of the treatment on board.

The Thai Airways (Star Alliance Lounge) at LAX is quite nice---all over a domestic lounge: for one thing the liquor is free, and the food is plentiful. From some sort of Thai noodle dish to tiny sandwiches—yummy.

Boarding is relatively painless and quick, and still we leave an 30 minutes late---Kristina is about 10 feet behind me and I can see her if I turn around. Kind of weird, as we are both used to hanging on as we take off, and sharing in flight conversation.

I am seated next to a lovely main-Reiner, who is a scientist physician on his way to Bangkok for a conference---his specialty field is cancer and he works with stem cells.

Right behind us are two families with 3 children, hmmm. How is this gonna work? Well 20 minutes up and we know: one of the kids is coughing a deep wet cough and we decide to take advantage of several empty seat and we move…better. I warn that I sometimes take pictures of food.

Meal one comes shortly after we level off—great appetizers pretty good lemon tart. A very nice Tokay Pinot Grig, Michel Nartz 2003 and I am ready for sleep.

The flat beds are great but not all they are cracked up to be—slanted and a wee bit hard, I am awake at 2:30 am and my achy left hip area tells me that the rest of the flight will be piriformis hell. My fears bear out, and I spend the next few hours tossing …at 7:30 I am on the floor trying to remember stretches that will relieve the endless cramping.

The next meal arrives—many people are still sleeping, and my watch says 8:15---I am wide awake but no amount of caffeine is gonna make my stomach say yes to the garlic pork they bring (what was I thinking last night???)

We are over Korea and a glance out the window shows lights far below where there once was the relentless back of the Bering Sea. Not much longer. In fact, flight data says 5:40 more to Bangkok. We will be arriving early.

Day 1, or 2 or maybe 3? Bangkok

There is truth in all the sleep deprivation theories. We land early 6:10 and immigration is a breeze---the new Bangkok airport is HUGE and looks eerily like Denver. Lots of lying buttresses and while sheeting…we look, but our brains are not quite catching up to our eyes.

A cab takes us to the hotel which sits right on the Chao Praya river---it’s early and they are not quite ready to let us check in, so we walk thru motorcycle taxis and food vendors to try and reach some caffeine that we can recognize. We find a bakery that makes incredible croissant, lousy coffee and a great view of the people getting off the river boat to go to work. It’s 8am Saturday .


When we get to the room, it gives us an impressive view of the northern curve—we take pictures before we decimate it, but really what’s for lunch?


Both K and I need to get out—get to the streets and smell…and taste. We have an errand to run, and then hit the road…


The Wat Po Buddha is still huge, the streets still crowded with sites and sounds and smells and no matter what happens, the Thai people sooooo friendly… we put on 5.5 miles today—before we have a massage. Bed comes early because tomorrow is Tong Day.

You can see Kristina’s take and lots of better pictures at http://www.wired2theworld.com/ click on Thailand/Cambodia 2007.

Oil, Basil and Bandaids

I am in fever to make the pesto, but I do want to use my basil oil that I "put down" a few months ago. MMMM...The rosemary oil is crystal clear and very fragrant. The basil oil is cloudy and fragrant. What to do?

When in doubt: apply heat. So I start to heat both batches of oil to be sure that is is good and safe. Of course that will mean that I need containers to hold the clean and pasteurized oil. And that means that they will need to be sterilized. And that means I have to empty the dishwasher.

All I really want to do is make pesto.

I empty, I wash, I sterilize and I heat. I triple filter and gently pour the heated oil into clean 1/2 gallon glass bottles. But I am in a hurry and that heavy duty plastic jug looks just fine.

Lesson Remembered: DO NOT POUR HOT OIL IN PLASTIC USING AN UNSTABLE FUNNEL.

Ouch. Ice. Cursing. Embarrassment in front of self.

I'll make the pesto tomorrow.

Pesto Redoux

Several weeks ago my dd claimed my gorgeous looking basil to make pesto. I was gone for two weeks and , well "I was gonna give some to you too, Mom." Hooray, pesto I don't have to make myself!

LSS: she forgets and the basil turns to black mush in the fridge.

This morning ( up early like millions of others who just don't see the need to change time ) I was wandering in my garden viewing and mentally inventorying ( as gardeners' are want to do) when I came across a bed that my gardener had cut back for the Fall.

HUZZZA!! WHAT ARE THOSE??? Pesto is the raw: 5 lovely full grown large leaf basil plants that had been growing below and behind Cosmo Gigantus.

Late May I had a bald patch in the meridian near where I park my car. Last years seeds on sale at Big Lots. Seemed like a match made in heaven to me. Closed my eyes and mixed together 5 packets and voila. Some Unidentifiable annuals, freeway daisies and the biggest weirdest Cosmos I have ever seen. The trucks on the plant are like small trees. And now Basil...yum. And the oil will be the Basil oil I have been "brewing" for 3 months.

It's not that I cannot learn things, or that I am opposed to new things, it's that I am impatient with my curve...it looks simple, should be simple, right? NOT.I am impressed by my daughter's ability to absorb and do. And jealous. And in awe. Awe as in: where did she get this talent?I am impatient. I expect that a Vulcan mind meld will happen with all the things I want to know. And pissed when it doesn't.I have decided that I am going to learn to post to this blog, even if no one ever reads it. I want to do this. And I want to learn all the little things that will make it nifty for people to read ...That being said, I just finished looking at the new look for K's web site: http://www.wired2theworld.comIf you read the sections about Bangkok, London, Sicily, Spain and the latest about Central Europe you can see the trips she and I have made together--she does some very cool stuff and the pictures are great. For a good laugh do read the Trip Questions for the upcoming Rome Trip. I would like to figure out how to post a screen shot of her site here..but I am opposed to asking.
Next: A bit about our next trip.