I'm going to have to sum up quite a profound second day in criminally few words because I'm out of time at the net cafe.
This morning woke up early and went to visit S-21, which was a high-school turned torture and detainment facility during the rule of the Khmer Rouge in the late 70s. It was a thoroughly disturbing yet very moving experience that shook me to my core. Afterwards, though I didn't feel like it much, I felt I should go to see the Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh where 200,000 innocent Cambodians lost their lives in the mass execution. Not exactly a light fun morning but I am glad to have seen the two and I would highly recommend them to anyone visiting Phnom Penh.
So much more has happened today but I just don't have the time to talk about it. Tomorrow I head down to the beach hopefully, to meet Janeen a friend in the same university program as I am who's travelling here at the end of her placement as well.
Cheerio!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
CAM...wait for it...BODIA
Lets jump right in, no introduction needed because this internet cafe is as hot as...the inside of an internet cafe in cambodia at noon in the hot season. It's also packed with kids who I assume are on their lunch break.
Bussed to Bangkok overnight, where I ended up chatting for hours with this really sweet older woman who said I reminded her of her son. When we got off the bus, she told me not to take the skytrain, but that I could save money by taking the public bus into the city. She then took me around the bus station until we found the right bus number and told the driver where I needed to go and to let me know when we got there. Needless to say I was touched. After bussing into the city and walking to the VSO/CUSO office in Bangkok, I met with Thomas my CUSO country supervisor for a debrief session and then took the public bus to the airport. He asked me if I would be willing to come back. I said yes. We'll see where that goes. He also seemed very interested in my research and wants a copy when I finish writing up my findings. Great guy, couldn't have asked for a better country supervisor.
Anyway, from the office, I bussed to the Airport (I'm leaving out a lot here, just assume it was hot and uncomfortable the whole way on account of my carrying all my bags while it's 39 degrees in the shade).
Plane trip only took about an hour and a half, I got stopped at the carry-on baggage check because they FOUND A KNIFE IN MY BAG.
The check lady put the bag through, and then called me over to some side table and asked if there anything in my bag that I wanted to tell her about. I said no. She said "pocket nai?" I had no idea what she was saying, because I couldn't tell if she was speaking english, or Thai ('nai' means 'where' in thai) so i said I didn't understand, and she repeated it 3 or 4 times. FInally she reached into my bag and pulled out my swiss army knife. Being the genius I am, I was packing right at the last minute (an hour before i had to leave for the bus station) and so I completely forgot that my swiss army knife ended up in my bag. I had intended to switch it from my carry on to my checked luggage but that never happened.
Okay, I've got about 1o more minutes on my hour of time at this cafe so lets speed through the rest:
Got to Phnom Penh at about 4:30, it was raining, ignored the taxi drivers at the airport and walked out to the street to save 5 dollars on the trip into town. Ended up agreeing on 2, and hopped on the back of a motorbike. I spent a good deal of the next 2 weaving in and out of traffic going the wrong way up one way streets, driving over grassy medians, weaving around padestrians and other vehicles, running red lights and generally watching my driver prove that he either had no concept of "the rules of the road" or that he felt he was above having to follow them. I remember having this conversation with myself in my head:
"Wow, this guy is driving like a MANIAC...and having lived in thailand the last 11 months that's saying something. Oh...this is a one way street...we seem to be traveling against the flow of traffic. Isn't that something. Uh oh..traffic jam. The street's packed. Wait, did he just eye the sidewalk? He better not be thinking about doing what I...WE'RE ON THE SIDEWALK! WATCH OUT! PADESTRIANS! WHAT'S GOING ON?"
I won't bore you with the details but it continues along the same lines for quite some time. The 30 minute trip into town took 2 hours because the street was PACKED with cars. there'd been a major rain storm just before our plane touched down and many of the streets were flooded. I had to lift up my legs many a time so as not to soak my feet in the raw sewage which was overflowing from the open gutters. Everyone else seemed to be in a great mood though.
Spent the night in a cramped roach-y guesthouse (good thing i brought my roach spray) and am planning to switch to a new one today. Right now I'm in the middle of a walking tour of the city thanks to my handy-dandy Lonely Planet which I picked up for a few dollars from a kid outside the guesthouse last night. My hour here is up so I should probably pay my 37 cents and be on my way.
oh, before i go, Cambodia used to be a french colony so there's french architecture and french pastries everywhere. i paid 25 cents for a HUGE baguette for breakfast. it's great. Time to hit the streets for some more exploring.
Bussed to Bangkok overnight, where I ended up chatting for hours with this really sweet older woman who said I reminded her of her son. When we got off the bus, she told me not to take the skytrain, but that I could save money by taking the public bus into the city. She then took me around the bus station until we found the right bus number and told the driver where I needed to go and to let me know when we got there. Needless to say I was touched. After bussing into the city and walking to the VSO/CUSO office in Bangkok, I met with Thomas my CUSO country supervisor for a debrief session and then took the public bus to the airport. He asked me if I would be willing to come back. I said yes. We'll see where that goes. He also seemed very interested in my research and wants a copy when I finish writing up my findings. Great guy, couldn't have asked for a better country supervisor.
Anyway, from the office, I bussed to the Airport (I'm leaving out a lot here, just assume it was hot and uncomfortable the whole way on account of my carrying all my bags while it's 39 degrees in the shade).
Plane trip only took about an hour and a half, I got stopped at the carry-on baggage check because they FOUND A KNIFE IN MY BAG.
The check lady put the bag through, and then called me over to some side table and asked if there anything in my bag that I wanted to tell her about. I said no. She said "pocket nai?" I had no idea what she was saying, because I couldn't tell if she was speaking english, or Thai ('nai' means 'where' in thai) so i said I didn't understand, and she repeated it 3 or 4 times. FInally she reached into my bag and pulled out my swiss army knife. Being the genius I am, I was packing right at the last minute (an hour before i had to leave for the bus station) and so I completely forgot that my swiss army knife ended up in my bag. I had intended to switch it from my carry on to my checked luggage but that never happened.
Okay, I've got about 1o more minutes on my hour of time at this cafe so lets speed through the rest:
Got to Phnom Penh at about 4:30, it was raining, ignored the taxi drivers at the airport and walked out to the street to save 5 dollars on the trip into town. Ended up agreeing on 2, and hopped on the back of a motorbike. I spent a good deal of the next 2 weaving in and out of traffic going the wrong way up one way streets, driving over grassy medians, weaving around padestrians and other vehicles, running red lights and generally watching my driver prove that he either had no concept of "the rules of the road" or that he felt he was above having to follow them. I remember having this conversation with myself in my head:
"Wow, this guy is driving like a MANIAC...and having lived in thailand the last 11 months that's saying something. Oh...this is a one way street...we seem to be traveling against the flow of traffic. Isn't that something. Uh oh..traffic jam. The street's packed. Wait, did he just eye the sidewalk? He better not be thinking about doing what I...WE'RE ON THE SIDEWALK! WATCH OUT! PADESTRIANS! WHAT'S GOING ON?"
I won't bore you with the details but it continues along the same lines for quite some time. The 30 minute trip into town took 2 hours because the street was PACKED with cars. there'd been a major rain storm just before our plane touched down and many of the streets were flooded. I had to lift up my legs many a time so as not to soak my feet in the raw sewage which was overflowing from the open gutters. Everyone else seemed to be in a great mood though.
Spent the night in a cramped roach-y guesthouse (good thing i brought my roach spray) and am planning to switch to a new one today. Right now I'm in the middle of a walking tour of the city thanks to my handy-dandy Lonely Planet which I picked up for a few dollars from a kid outside the guesthouse last night. My hour here is up so I should probably pay my 37 cents and be on my way.
oh, before i go, Cambodia used to be a french colony so there's french architecture and french pastries everywhere. i paid 25 cents for a HUGE baguette for breakfast. it's great. Time to hit the streets for some more exploring.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Cambodia Ho!
I leave tonight!
The itinerary has been on my mind all week, but it only really came together yesterday afternoon. I've been interviewing like a crazy person running around Chiang Mai all week but I'm proud of the amount I've been able to get accomplished in...wait for it...1 week of research. I'm also really surprised how much I LIKE it. I love the feeling of sitting down with someone who's in many cases founded an amazing organization and finding out first hand what they do, and why they do it. I've never really done anything like it and it's fantastic.
I have two more interviews to get through today before I leave this evening (the first of which I need to leave for in 5 minutes and I haven't had breakfast yet). Here is prospective itinerary:
April 24 - Arrive by air in Phnom Penh at 4PM and get a guesthouse in the city
April 28 - Head to the beach! ->3 nights in Sihanoukville on the southern coast of the country
May 1 - Leave the coast and head up through Phnom Penh to the rarely visited Kampong Chnang, smack in the middle of the country and right on the shores of the Mekon River for 2 nights
May 3 - Head to Siem Riep for 2 nights before laving for Bangkok on May 5th by bus
May 5 - Arrive in Chiang Mai that morning after a ridiculously long series of bus rides
When I get back I'm hoping to get through some more interviews before I go. I've got at least one scheduled for sure.
And no, haven't bought a Lonely Planet guide to Cambodia. This is going to be exciting.
I am going to be SO late for this interview.
The itinerary has been on my mind all week, but it only really came together yesterday afternoon. I've been interviewing like a crazy person running around Chiang Mai all week but I'm proud of the amount I've been able to get accomplished in...wait for it...1 week of research. I'm also really surprised how much I LIKE it. I love the feeling of sitting down with someone who's in many cases founded an amazing organization and finding out first hand what they do, and why they do it. I've never really done anything like it and it's fantastic.
I have two more interviews to get through today before I leave this evening (the first of which I need to leave for in 5 minutes and I haven't had breakfast yet). Here is prospective itinerary:
April 24 - Arrive by air in Phnom Penh at 4PM and get a guesthouse in the city
April 28 - Head to the beach! ->3 nights in Sihanoukville on the southern coast of the country
May 1 - Leave the coast and head up through Phnom Penh to the rarely visited Kampong Chnang, smack in the middle of the country and right on the shores of the Mekon River for 2 nights
May 3 - Head to Siem Riep for 2 nights before laving for Bangkok on May 5th by bus
May 5 - Arrive in Chiang Mai that morning after a ridiculously long series of bus rides
When I get back I'm hoping to get through some more interviews before I go. I've got at least one scheduled for sure.
And no, haven't bought a Lonely Planet guide to Cambodia. This is going to be exciting.
I am going to be SO late for this interview.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
9 Days and counting down. It's begun. My time left in Chiang Mai has reached hitherto unheard of lows and it worries me.
I've been researching as hard as I can for my thesis, but none of it first hand as I've been sitting on my hands waiting for ethics review board approval. It came yesterday, but they only approved half the research I wanted to do. How can I compare two sets of data if they'll only let me collect one? I feel like that would make it kind of hard to assemble any sort of sound argument. I'm a little bit bitter.
In other research related developments I've managed to track down a potential research supervisor. I'm planning on talking with him tomorrow to try and figure out what I should do because I'm kind of at a loss at the moment.
I'm not actually coming HOME in 9 days by the way, I'm just going backpacking. Where you might ask? Cambodia. I'm flying into Phnom Penh on the 24th, and am returning to Thailand at some point before the 10th of May to pick up my stuff and actually hop on a plane back to Toronto, but between the 24th and the 10th, I haven't done much planning. I want to keep my schedule open so as to give me the flexibility to really do what I want, when I want. Isn't that what vacations are supposed to be all about? I may end up at a hill station in the mountains, or in a lounge chair on the beach (yes, Cambodia has beaches too!) I'd love to hit up Saigon as well because It's so close, but I don't know if I'll have the time (or the money for a visa).
In other news, I've finished work (tearfull goodbyes were enjoyed by all...I miss the students already), drove to Laos and back in a day (6.5 hours one way...that was a LONG day) and visited Kampang Phet, a province between Chiang Mai and Bangkok for a rip roaring good time of a weekend where I ate THESE THINGS
Need a closer look?
That's right, ant larvae.
This week was also Songkran, which is the Thai Buddhist New Year celebration. It's celebrated in a few ways: visiting family, visiting the temple and making offerings to monks to name a few. Oh, and also by GOING BUCK WILD IN THE STREETS WITH BUCKETS OF WATER ND SUPER SOAKERS FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT. The city grinds to a halt, literally. Most businesses close for the holiday, and it's a good thing too because it's difficult to get to work when the streets are jammed with people. One of the days my friend Ekk volunteered his pick up truck for the festivities and we took to the streets. I honestly don't think I can describe what it was like, but you can check here and here for pictures (there was no WAY I was taking my camera out during Songkran. Pure and utter mayhem. I had purchased a super soaker water gun for the occasion and put it to good use. People walk up and down the street with massive blocks of ice (maybe 15 kilos each) meant to be placed in garbage cans filled with water so you could not only soak people, but shock them half to death in the process.. It took us 5 hours to travel 2 kilometres and we were all exhausted and SOAKING wet by the time we got home.
I've been purging like mad but I've still got a disturbing amount of stuff to get rid of before leaving. I don't know how I've amassed this number of books (althogh I'll hopefully be able to get some cash for them at used book stores by selling them).
Bleh...home. I'm not ready. Not even almost. I think it's going to be a messy landing. I'm planning to keep updating the blog after I return home both to document all the miserable details and as a way of dealing with the reverse culture shock situation. We'll see how it goes.
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