Phnom Penh royal treatments

After my month of teaching two full courses at Chea Sim University in Prey Veng, the last day of which I was finishing grading from 9am - 5pm, plus hanging out with the girls at FDCC (Foundation for Development of Cambodian Communities) till 7:30, I got to Phnom Penh ready for some RnRnRT - rest 'n relaxation and retail therapy. I got in early yesterday morning and went straight to bed at my cute little guest house, Alibi, which I highly recommend. It's very central and tucked away from the main street, a block away from where all the other noisier guest houses are. After strolling around the Royal Palace in the afternoon, I browsed shops on Street 178 (the Artsy street) and had a light dinner before my 2hr spa session. Today, it was just all retail therapy. I headed to the Russian Market in the morning and was quite disappointed with the quality of goods there. Though, I did get a suit for all of US$28. But Psar Thmey more than made up for it. I had a way too good lunch at Romdeng, a restaurant that's much like Delancey Street in San Francisco, where the workers are brought in from the streets, though the ones at Romdeng are mostly homeless youth with no incarceration history as far as I'm aware. It's a project started by Friends International, a very admirable NGO (non-governmental organization, or non-profit business.)

Having had a lunch for two by myself, I later walked an hour to the expat area of town in hopes of losing some of it...only to find this one particular TripAdvisor highly rated restaurant already closed, at 9pm. So I hop on someone's scooter to get back to Alibi and had a salad for dinner at the Lazy Gecko, finishing off with some banoffee pie. :) Getting around Phnom Penh is quite interesting. Of course, there are tons of tuk-tuks here hustling for business, charging around US$1-2 per trip. The scooter pickups cost a bit less, but more harrowing as one often finds oneself sitting in the middle of traffic while the scooter inches its way across the madness. No helmet of course. There are the cyclos too, but one tried to charge $5 for a short trip.

I found this website especially helpful for tourist info on Cambodia: http://www.canbypublications.com/ -- though the prices listed are a year or two behind times. The cost of Phnom Penh is highly targeted at westerners, both tourists and expats. But thankfully, lodging is still very affordable, where basic accommodations run from around $25/night, many owned/run by Frenchies. Food adds up to about $8/meal sans alcohol, with healthy portions at chic, modern restaurants. If you're gastronomically adventurous, the local fare runs only about $2-4.

I've hurriedly wrote this blog entry so I can return to it when I come back to Cambodia in the future. It's a wonderful country to be in, not quite yet over run by tourists and the locals are so humble, friendly and always sok sabbai.

first week of classes

It's Sunday night, and I'm happy to have survived my first full week of teaching at Chea Sim University of Kamchaymear in Prey Veng. I had a full weekend of 8 hour day long classes, and morning sessions Mondays - Fridays. Thankfully, Prey Veng keeps to an agriculture schedule of long lunch breaks (2-3 hours) to stay out of the mid day scorching sun.

I am teaching Consumer Behavior and International Marketing, probably two of my favorite business classes. It's like studying psychology and cultures, from a modern practical perspective. Yes, yes, then there's GDPs, Lorenz curves and such. It's been tremendously intriguing reading these textbooks I've not looked at since college. The more I do, the more I realize how they tie in to the everyday workings of the world today, and mine as well.

In response to a question in my weekend class about what or who their managers are like, one guy said in Khmer, "my wife is my boss." These students continue to surprise me with such responses! When I spoke about India's lack of population control, another guy says, "ah, they're not using uh...those things...um, condoms" -- well, thankfully, I'm not here to teach them about that! In my lectures, I try to keep a yogic mind in tact...talking a lot about ethics, sustainable economies, environmental practices and stressing the importance of keeping true to their values and traditions. Each day though, I have to think hard and fast, how any of this textbook stuff or my jabbering will help these youngsters (18-25 year olds) build a more promising future for themselves, their communities and Prey Veng. In 3 weeks.

There is not a single traffic light or signal in this village. This is a town where the streets really have no names. Everyone goes around at a leisurely pace on their bicycles and even motorcycles. I've been catching sunsets by the lake any day I'm not volunteering at a home for girls, founded by my friend, Diane, who kick started this trip for me. The most "modern" store is the convenience shop attached to the brand new gas station around the corner from my hotel. There are quite a number of tour buses that go through town a couple times a week, stopping by the hotel restaurant. They are tourists from around Cambodia and Vietnam. I've seen less than a dozen foreigners/westerners in my ten days here. And there's a slew of international non-profits here, from Red Cross to Unicef.

A favorite spot is the lake front stretch where I continuously witness breath-taking sunsets. My usual ride is to head out of the hotel after my 3rd shower of the day around 5:30 and just chase after the sunset. Sometimes, I stop by the street vendors on my way home, getting some corn or local delicacies for dinner. A few days ago, I rode around these intriguing circular rings of streets that I saw appear on my ipad map. They turned out to be dirt roads that ended with a big Buddhist temple right in the center. Buddhist chanting was being piped out through loud speakers, much like Muslim prayers back in Malaysia. I got many stares, but even more smiles.

I am here for just another two weeks. They're gonna be the quickest days, I can tell. I'm not sure how much I'm doing for these folks, maybe they more for me. My student translator said as we parted from our weekend class this afternoon, "the students say they like it so much, learning from you. You're not like the other teachers here...they don't keep us back for so long" -- I'm not quite sure if that was meant as a compliment as he was laughing. So I laugh too.

Prey Veng, Cambodia

I'm in a little village called Prey Veng in Cambodia, about 55km
between Kampong Cham and Phnom Penh, not too far from Vietnam. I got
here just 4 days ago and have settled into my little hotel room
nicely. It's to be my home for this whole month. At 3 storeys high,
it is one of the tallest buildings in town. The point at which I got
"comfortable" was when I was able to buy some toilet paper and instant
coffee packs. It's funny how these items are really all I need to
make me feel OK wherever I've been around the world. Ah, clean,
drinkable water is essential too and I've been supplied with plentiful
bottles of them here. Yes, clean underwear is great too, so I should
add detergent to that list of "basic comfort necessities." Granted, I
did pack my handy dandy single cup water heater, and metal mug in my
carry-on sized luggage (expandable of course!) Having lived out of
suitcases now for over 8 months, I'm keenly aware of items that are
unnecessary or certainly too heavy for me to lug around. And sure,
living at home with my parents in Penang doesn't actually count as
"living out of a suitcase" but I sure wish it has something to do with
dumping some emotional baggage!

Why Prey Veng? Why Cambodia.

I first visited Cambodia in 2009, doing the somewhat touristy thing in
Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, having dragged my sister along. But I had
come here with a mission to learn more about the Khmer Rouge regime.
My "photo blog" can be seen at: khmerrougecambodia.shutterfly.com

Cambodia is one of the poorest nation in the world, largely due to
that time period which ended not too long ago. I was deeply intrigued
with the genocide in this country as it occurred at a social class
level and not so much about religious, ethnic or political strife as
does many other mass killings in history or those of today. It's the
poor, albeit mad, killing the smart. Khmer Rouge wanted to wipe out
the middle class, anyone who was educated and "level" out society.
I'm not sure if it's all just communism gone awry, but I had vowed
back then to return to this country to do something more positive.

When Diane, a friend of a good friend from grad school proposed the
idea of volunteer teaching at a village university several months ago,
I jumped at the opportunity. I met Di the day before I left for
India. So I've been anticipating this project since and am quite
delighted to be here. The idea behind setting up a university in this
small village sits on the concept of bringing education to the rural
instead of taking kids out of their homes into cities. Chea Sim
University of Kamchaymear is located in several villages and has an
average of 1,000 students each.

I must say my biggest delight so far has been this loaner blue
bicycle. I captured these images riding around town yesterday. Ah,
except for the one picture with me in it of course. That was taken at
a wedding Mr. Rady, the University director took me to. As with the
few weddings I've been to, there's lots of drinking to be had. But
here, Cambodian style karaoke with dancing is the in-thing. I'm not
convinced it's only "in" at weddings, as Rady had a video music CD
playing repeatedly on the 1hr journey to the wedding spot and back.
It is also televised widely here, with people sitting around watching
it endlessly. Never mind Matt Damon's on screen or some international
news channel, as is available on my little TV in the hotel room. It's
all about the singing and dancing, Cambodian style! Classes start in
two days!