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Published: March 3rd 2013
Electrical Worker
This is the man I photographed from the window of The Blue Pumpkin, playing with the wiring.On Monday morning I woke with a 'funny tummy' and the realisation that I won't be going far from my room today. I'm blaming the fish I ate at The Old House Restaurant yesterday. Very enjoyable at the time, but the side effects aren't so good. I should have known better, everyone seems to get a tummy upset from the fish here, but I couldn't resist the crumbed fish and chips on the menu. A little taste of home.... Not!
So, I had a slow day and Ginny passed a few hours in the markets. I ventured out on my bike after lunch, into Pub Street to sort a couple of things, but was home again in under an hour.
Tuesday was another routine day at school. The mural is all but finished and there are murmurings of us doing the other side of the building as well. We'll have to have a talk with Tammy about that when she returns from her 'Chicken Run' ride, which will be Thursday. We walked around the corner to the Golden Village Guesthouse for dinner tonight, then home for another early one.
On the way to school this morning (Wednesday) we
Road Works
Life goes on regardless of the road being ripped up in front of their businesses. find heavy machinery hard at work, tearing up Thea Chamrat Road, the road to Globalteer House. At last something is going to be done about it's dreadful condition! But why aren't I surprised that residents had no prior warning, that no detour signs have appeared, and that there are no safety precautions in place? The road is still being used as per usual, by everyone, including school kids on bikes. They just wait for the machinery to move on and they drive/ride past, down the road which was just been ripped up and over the gravel which has just been laid. With absolutely no regard for their own safety and within metres of working machinery. A roadside stand is open for business, selling food from pots set out on tables, within metres from where new gravel is being laid. Just think of the extra dust settling on everything.... I noticed the workman in the grader is wearing thongs. So much for the 'Safety First' signs we see around town. We need some here, on Thea Chamrat Road.
It's not often I'm gobsmacked at what I see over here these days, but I had a reason to be last week.
Road Works
Cyclists riding through the roadworks. I just stopped my bike and said 'Oh My God!' as I watched two men play with their lives. It was on Thea Chamrat Road, just down from Globalteer House. A big truck, loaded to the hilt, was crawling along the road. It was too high to pass under the electrical wiring stretched overhead, so two men were sitting on the top of the metal cabin, with rubber thongs on their hands, pushing up the wiring to allow the truck to pass underneath. I couldn't believe my eyes! Don't they realise the risk they're taking?
Then the very next day, I'm sitting upstairs in The Blue Pumpkin, enjoying a fruit smoothie, when I saw a man in the street with a very long bamboo ladder. I was curious as to what he was doing, so I watched him. He was an electrical worker and the ladder was used to reach the top of the electrical poles. He was installing a new wire and was pulling it through each pole as he progressed down the street with his ladder. I was able to get a photo of this man, unlike the men on top of the truck.
I have
The Mural
The 'good as done' mural. a very sobering update on the girl who was responsible for the money theft at ABCs. She has been absent from school a lot since this incident, along with her younger brother, so Monica and Tom decided it was time to pay the family a visit, which they did yesterday afternoon.
It was a surprise visit, an unpleasant one, as they found the girl tied to a chair and being whipped by her mother, who had threatening to sell her to an orphanage or cut off her fingers for her thievery. Not to say she is a woman of high morals, these people are the poorest of the poor, and merely exist in their misery. Who knows what horrors she herself would have seen, as she is old enough to have lived under the Khmer Rouge. There was another small child in the room at the time of Monica and Tom's visit, and the whip wasn't spared on him either when he annoyed his mother.
There is no father in this household, he passed away a few years back. The man of the house is now the girl's 21 year old brother, who, from what Monica says, is
ABC's Guitarists
Could be a few budding recording artists here.... not someone you'd like to meet in a dark alley at night. He was angry at the girl for being caught, and for all we know, has taken the money from her for himself.
Apparently, this girl is sent out late at night, to scavenge around Pub St, looking for cans and other recyclable stuff her family can sell. Tom says he has seen her with an old bicycle, rice bags tied on either side, picking through rubbish in the street. Tammy has also found her in her yard at night, sleeping rough outside her house, obviously she feels safer there than at home. This kid is eleven years old, and already her instincts are in survival mode. It's easy to see why she would have been tempted to steal, what has she got to lose? We westerners feel indignation, anger and resentment at being the victim of theft, without thinking about how life may be for the young perpetrator, particularly in a developing country like Cambodia.
Unfortunately there is nothing Monica, Tom or Tammy can do for this girl, as far as improving her living conditions goes. She has been given the chance to attend ABC's and
The Cyclist's Return
Monica is giving the kids a pep talk just before Tammy, Charlie and Long's return. to have a breakfast club meal at school, five days a week. Tammy pays for her, and many others, to attend a state school. She supplies uniforms, books and probably the daily bribes the students have to pay the teachers. The truck from ABC's get them to and from school every day. There is nothing more Tammy can do.
School is not compulsory in Cambodia. Most families can't afford to send all their children, which is why Tammy supplies rice to the families who have children attending ABC's. The rice is payment, and represents the wage the child would otherwise have earned, if he or she wasn't attending school.
To be able to attend secondary school here, students must have a particular paper which proves they have attended lower school. This paper is earned, not with academic achievement, but bribes. Every day the children give their teacher money, about 200 Riels or five cents. Not a lot, but it would add up over a week with sixty students a day, six days a week. That equals about $3 a day or $18 a week. Not a bad bonus for a teacher who earns $80-100 per month, it doubles
Great Artwork
Some of the posters the kids made. their wage.
Needless to say, the teachers at ABC's don't get bribes and have to manage on their basic wage. Ginny was talking with one if the teachers yesterday, asking him about his standard of living etc. He gets $100 a month pay, $60 goes toward rent for a single room, which leaves him $10 a week to survive on. Life is a struggle for him, he says he can barely exist on this, and is considering approaching Tammy for an increase in pay. They aren't underpaid, but don't have the opportunity to accept bribes, which seems to be the accepted method of increasing your income in this country.
Wednesday was another routine day at school. I didn't go back for the afternoon lessons, preferring to stay home in the air conditioning and nap. We didn't go out for dinner either, so it was a very quiet day.
Thursday morning, and the power goes out at Globalteer House around 6.00am. Thankfully I was up and had already had a cuppa before then. Apparently the whole of Siem Reap was without power. It has been resumed in some areas, including Pub Street, as we went to The Blue
They're Back!
Monica hugs Charlie as Tammy starts the kids chanting - 'I know I can be what I want to be'. The same phrase is on the mural wall. It's a moral booster for the kids.. Pumpkin for a fruit salad and ice cream lunch on the way home from school. But, still no power at Globalteer House at midday. So, this means no air conditioning in our rooms, limited water for showers and buckets of water to flush the loo, as the water pump is electric, no internet and more spoilt food to give the hungry dog next door. Great!
Later in the day we discovered what caused the power outage. There had been an accident between a car and a truck somewhere between here and the Thai border. The truck driver had managed to run down eleven power poles! His load of dried fish is now scattered across the roadside, much to the joy of locals, who helped themselves. No one was injured, and both drivers did a runner! Scared for their skins, no doubt! As Cambodia buys power from Thailand, this will take a while to fix.
Tammy, Charlie and Long were due back from their 'Chicken Run' ride this afternoon and Monica wanted all the kids to be primed and ready to give them a big welcome. So, no English class. Instead the kids were given craft items and had
Three Lovely People
Tammy, Long and Charlie. an hour to create small banners to wave as the cyclists come down the road. What a great welcome Tammy, Charlie and Long got! Fifty kids all cheering and waving their bits of paper. Tammy does this ride every year to raise funds for ABC's, almost 400 klm. Most of their hours on the road are very early morning hours, as it's far too hot to ride long distance during the day.
After school, we went to the Frangipani Hotel to cool down with a swim and have dinner. There was a quiz night on at The Warehouse but neither of us was really interested in going, so we returned to Globalteer House and had a very hot, uncomfortable night. We actually slept under wet towels to try and keep cool. We woke on Friday morning to the news that it will probably be at least a week to ten days before power is fully restored.
What to do? We got up and cycled into town early on Friday morning as we needed to have breakfast before heading to school, and our cold food was spoilt. We went to The Blue Pumpkin again, so we could check emails
Ginny and Tammy
Ginny is pointing out to Tammy changes to the mural since she's been away. whilst we ate. We decided we really have no option but to find other accomodation, so left school early to begin the hunt. Believe it or not, we have ended up at The Golden Village Guesthouse which backs onto Globalteer House. They have their own generator so we now have wifi, air conditioning and fridges in our rooms which are on the ground floor, so no steps. All this for $15 per night. Deduct the $4 we were paying for air conditioning each night at Globalteer House, and it's costing us an extra $11 per night. An unexpected expense but certainly affordable. We are happy little campers again! We will return to Globalteer House as soon as the power is back on.
We've had a very lazy Saturday and didn't leave the guesthouse until almost lunchtime. When we left our keys at reception we were told the room rate would be increasing $7 per day as it was costing them more than anticipated to run the generator. We're not happy about that, but we either pay it or find somewhere else to stay. I know, $22 a night accomodation is ridiculously cheap by Aussie standards, but I can't help
The Golden Village Guesthouse
Our new abode for the time being. feeling that they're taking advantage of us, knowing that we won't move out so soon after moving in. It's all too much effort in this heat...
We tuk tukked into Pub Street for errands and ended up at The Blue Pumpkin again, having ice cream and banana smoothies for lunch. We spent a few hours in our rooms during the afternoon, when we headed out on foot to a new Made In Cambodia Market being held by the Shinta Mani Hotel between 3-9pm. Tonight was the very first market to be held, they had a good vibe with good music, food and drinks, and we enjoyed a couple of hours there. We ran into three people we knew, which was great, as it makes Siem Reap feel like home.
We had the chance to taste a Khmer dish called 'Pot Ling' tonight, cooked while we waited, at the The Green Star Restaurant stand. It simply means 'corn fried' and was absolutely delicious. The fresh corn was quickly deep fried and then transferred to a pan and stirred with a sauce, tipped into small foil pie dishes, sprinkled with shallots and put into our waiting hands complete with a
plastic spoon. A freshly cooked, hot meal for $1, and worth every cent. It was so good, Ginny went back for seconds.
Sunday sees another very slow start, and we got excited when it started to rain! A good steady downpour is just what we need to lay the dust and clean things up a bit, and this is the first rain we've seen in two months.
We decided to check out Psar Leu Market, a market very similar to The Old Market near Pub Street but geared for the locals and not tourists. We rode our trusty bicycles down Wat Bo Road and turned right onto National Road 6.Thankfully we only had a couple of kilometres to ride on Road 6. This is the main highway between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh and is very busy. We find this road a fascinating place to 'traffic watch' as everything and anything will pass by eventually. Trucks piled high with produce and people, pigs tied on the back of motor bikes, families on scooters, families moving house with everything they own and every family member stowed in the vehicle somewhere. An endless parade of humanity going about their business...
Street Scene
Certainly one we see way too often. I thought the cane baskets added a certain 'style' to this heap of garbage. Equally as fascinating are the markets where the locals shop and most of the people can't speak English. So, we wander around unhindered, take photos, and occasionally buy something. The price is shown to us on a calculator and we rarely barter, as it's always cheap. This morning I bought two metres of pre-cut and packaged batik fabric for $3.00, and Ginny bought cute red, fish shaped plastic sandals for Thomas for $2. We were the only westerners there, and enjoyed an hour wandering between the stands.
We rode back into town, stopping off at a couple of very expensive touristy shops, where I spent $20 on a skull bangle for myself. An impulse buy which I have to make sure I don't do too often as it's not budget friendly! We headed to Pub Street and to The Blue Pumpkin for lunch. Later we cycled back to Globalteer House to return our cycles, to have the security man tell us the power was back on. Sorry, but we're a little sceptical and will remain at The Golden Village until tomorrow morning. If all's okay, we will move back in before school in the morning. We're happy to
Big Night..
We passed this canopy this morning just after it had been erected. The thing is, due to lack of space, it has been put up on the road! A two lane street is now definitely one way. Don't try this at home! spend the afternoon on our beds, napping and reading, and probably won't go any further for the rest of the day.
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Linese
non-member comment
Great blog....
As usual!