Blogs from North, Cambodia, Asia - page 7

Another delivery day. It amazes me how during the week, I thought we had done a good job filling up the holding containers with clean sand, pebbles and gravel only to have them emptied between us and the drill team. It was a comparable feeling to how I feel about laundry, dishes and showering...they always need to be done again even immediately after you finished them. The deliveries themselves were pretty straight forward, I did get a promotion to being allowed to help lower the filters out of the truck. As Shelby's dad would say..."we're so fit!" I also came more prepared with a neck gator to pull up over my face while we are in the truck to block out the passing car fumes and the dust from the dirt roads. The highlight of today ... read more

Starting week two at Trailblazers Foundation. Here are some cool things about this foundation: They are one of the few NGOs invited to a government meeting each year to determine who will be responsible for helping meet the request needs of each village in the country. Individuals sit in the room and each village lists of requests are put on the wall and each group signs up to fulfill these needs. The organization was started by two Americans, but now is run by 12 Khmer natives. The founders and board are in charge of raising funds while the 12 employees are in charge of being the boots on the ground. Trailblazers builds and installs water filters, digs wells (most are 25 to 40 meters deep), funds the construction of school (including toilets, classrooms, fences), and developing ... read more

This week I had the privilege of seeing the Phare show. They call it a circus (which I could not attend due to animal love and standards), but what it is is the most incredible acrobatically, musically entertaining displays EVER! The show they did was called Same Same But Differentwhich "explores the different habits and ways of living between Cambodians and foreign visitors." I laughed so hard and had my jaw drop at the strength, athleticism and poise of these individuals. This company is actually pretty amazing outside of their stunts and music compositions. They tell Cambodian stories and all artists (musicians, circus artists, and dancers) all graduated from Phare Ponleu Selpak which is an NGO school and professional arts training center located in Cambodia. The school was founded in 1994 by nine Cambodian men returning ... read more

The best analogy I have is Siem Reap is like Disneyland. Millions flock into Disneyland every year and leave California without seeing much beyond their hotel, the streets to the park and Disneyland. If they said, "I know California because I went to Disneyland," I would laugh. Siem Reap is a tourist bubble within Cambodia. Every year about 2 million people visit Siem Reap because it is the closest city to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the world's largest religious monument and since it was built over 800 years ago, it is kind of a big deal. The large flux of people, has resulted in the creation of hundreds of resorts, hotels and guesthouses which are largely owned by foreign investors. There is also not a lot to do in the surrounding area outside of the ... read more

Despite my earplugs our room last night was rather noisy with the terrible karaoke from next door. Hearing the same songs for the 3rd night in a row is driving me slightly crazy and I struggled to sleep. This was a particular problem as our alarm went off around 5am and we were at Angkor Wat, in position for the sunrise by 550am. In order to get a prime spot to get good photos (by the pond on the left) you need to be there as the gates open at 5am. Since neither of us have particularly good cameras or photographic ability we decided we only needed to be able to see it. We expected it to be busy. What I had forgotten was that if you’re not on the front row your beautiful, romantic view, ... read more