August 31, Monday The 54 Faces of Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom City

Monday, August 31 we got in three temples and a flight to the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville. Max wanted to take pictures of what some people think are dinosaur carvings in a temple. I wanted to see the famous Bayon temple in Angkor Thom city.

For Max we went to Ta Prohm temple via the closely located Banta Rei temple. We had seen Ta Prohm temple on Saturday, but getting a good photo was Max's mission. We arrived at Ta Prohm, to find that Max had not downloaded the pictures from the web and the cell link was too slow to download them at the temple. So the search was on based on memory.

Well Max found the carving, persistent as he is for a good shot. I think it looks like a bad carving of a hippopotamus -even though not native to the area-. Max considers it evidence that aliens helped make the temples. You decide: Web Picture of the Dinosaur Carving

The boys then requested to be brought back. I decided to see Bayon temple. The city of Angkor Thom and the temple within it were built by one of the most powerful Khmer kings. The city around Angkor Wat had been sacked during his reign due to a surprise attack over the water. That city had no walls. 

To prevent such a defeat, the king moved his capital North by a couple kilometres. He built a wall that contained most of the city and a moat surrounded the walls. 

In the middle is a temple, Bayon, which has 54 faces of a Hindu god that also look like the king. One face for each province to emphasize the king's watchfulness over his kingdom. It is these faces that give the temple a unique character. As I walked through they were visible everywhere. See the pictures. 

Once back at the hotel we crammed into a Tuk Tuk with our luggage to go to the airport. People did think we're could do it, but we did. The flight was uneventful. Mist prevented pictures. Our ride awaited us in Sihanoukville. It was to badly located hotel. I was too tired to notice when I booked.  So we found a new place and went out for dinner. 

Joris's Photos of the Day

Sphere Photo of First Level of Bayon Temple

Sphere Photo at Top Level

All Joris's Sphere Photos

August 30, Visit to the Famous Angkor Wat Temple at Dawn

Sunday, August 30 we rose at 4:30AM to watch the possible legendary sunrise over the Angkor Wat temple, the most famous temple in Cambodia and the largest in the world -so they claim-. A long convoy of Tuk Tuks rode around the moat of the temple in the dark: quite the sight. We walked through the outer wall of the complex to watch the sunrise directly over the main temple complex with its five towers. The temple complex is unusual, because it faces west, making sunrise better than sunset, which is better for the other, all east-facing- temples in the area. The sunrise was a disappointment as it was cloudy, so I did not see the sun until it was well above the clouds. Thereafter I was surrounded by vendors hawking their wares and I ended up buying a couple shawls and a table cloth...

The boys and I went in for a couple of hours. The bas-reliefs, stories carved in the stone that go all around the first level of the temple, are the most interesting to the archaeologists, but not the public. I followed some around but the kids went in. They show lots of soldiers and elephants. The king is recognizable by fifteen parasols on his elephant. No one else is allowed to have that many. Hindu gods like Siva and Visnu are present of course. Inside the temple there are Buddhist symbols, which were added after the complex was built.

The complex consists of concentric squares like most of temples. An inner square is a level higher than its next outer square. I was able to go to the top square and get a view to the west from where I had tried to watch the sunrise earlier. The steps to the top level, four stories (11m) higher than the third level were so steep that a wooden staircase was provided to get people up, the number of people was limited and there were strict rules on people's physical condition and dress. The temple is in pretty good shape. The steps are all there, there is no rubble and the carvings are decent. A few carvings were even polished, giving an idea of what the temple was like in its glory.

At the top, the five pointy towers surrounded me.  Those are not climbable of course. There is a square hallway with windows and pillars on each side that goes all around. The middle has a tower. I wonder how/if the space was used for religious ceremonies. Both Saitha and I made some photosphere shots, which will give an idea of what it is like to be in there. Both our sphere photo are on Google+, so you can actually run them.

We got back just in time for breakfast and then went to sleep and hung out. We went to a Khmer/Indian restaurant for dinner. It had been sold and merged with another restaurant, unbeknown to us. The most recent TripAdvisor review was in August, so I did not think to call to check if the restaurant was still open, We sent the Tuk Tuk driver all over to find its new location, after making some calls. I wanted to check out the night market, right there, but it was pouring.

Joris's Photos of the Day

Photo Sphere of second level of Angkor Wat

				Cambodia Sphere Photos Angkor Wat third level.
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Photo Sphere of top level of Angkor Wat

Saitha's Photos of the Day: #20 - 1

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August 29, Saturday: Temple Town Siem Reap

Saturday, August 29 was our first temple day in the town of Siem Reap. Siem Reap is the gateway to the Angkor Archaeological Park that contains dozens of huge temples. There are at least a dozen large temples nearby of which Angkor Wat is the most famous. We elected to go to Ta Prohm temple, because it has been left in its overgrown state. To our delight, Saitha and Max were given free entry to the park, due to their Cambodian birth.

Ta Prohm temple has huge trees sticking out and over its ruins. These trees grow from the top down. A bird drops a seed, which then seeks the ground by sending its roots through the fissures in the stone. Eventually the roots become part of the structure of the building. But when the tree dies or falls the building crumbles.

The kids enjoyed seeing the trees and looking for small animals among them. They caught lizards, spiders and a praying mantis on camera. I caught them on camera. They also took note of the many features of the temple on camera.

A vendor sold me a picture guide book, but I found it hard to follow. Even when the kids weren't rushing me along I still often could not match reality to book. So I usually did not know what I was looking at. Nevertheless, the major impression I have is that I am walking through hallowed space, where once people were quiet and reverent.

As an extra, I booked a knife making class for the boys and I with the Back Street Academy. The academy is a Singapore based operation that sets up low overhead tours using local expertise and sites. We went to a local knife making shop. An academy staff member met us there to act as translator.

It was fascinating to watch how they transformed a piece of a steel rod into a large sharp knife. It involved a lot of pounding by two people alternating on the blade each time it came out of the fire. We did a small amount of coarse pounding and coarse power sanding. The fine pounding requires too much skill for beginners. We ended up with three beautiful steel -not stainless- knives. I was disappointed because I had come for  a class, not a demonstration. But I think the challenge for the course is the host's -the smith- professional desire to deliver a quality product. The boys were delighted with the knives and are working on making handles for them.

I spent some time talking to our facilitator, a college student. He told me that he was from a farm in the South and the only one in his family to be in college. Tuition was $700 and instruction is in English. Without English no job, he said. He worked to support himself and was not sure if he could continue to go as his father was running out of money. He went to school in Siem Reap, because he felt safer there. Phnom Penh has dozens of universities, but as I have described it is not an easy city to get around on foot nor would I consider it safe. Siem Reap is clean and roomy. 

By the end of the afternoon we were back at the hotel. The best time to see the temples is late afternoon in the angled less hot light, but that is also the typical time of heavy rain, so we did not go out at that time. Instead the kids went to the pool.

I felt kind of lost that evening. I was getting sick of eating out all the time. My appetite was low due to a minor cold. So I tried buying food at a supermarket, but there was nothing to be had other than bread and snack food. Fruit from vendors is great of course, but I did not want to go searching for one in the rain. Also much of the fruit here comes from Thailand, where they spray heavily. I ended up eating a small bag of cashews from the room. Martha and the kids ate at the hotel restaurant.

The room and hotel were great: nice pool, staff and rooms.

Max's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos 99 - 21

Joris's Photos of the Day

August 28, Friday: Boat Trip to see Life on the River

On Friday, August 28 I decided to see Cambodian river life first hand. I took a boat from Battambang to the temple town of Siem Reap. Most of the trip is down a river along which many people live. A small part of the trip is on the country's great lake: the Tonle Sap. Historically, the country's wealth has come from the fish from the Tonle Sap and its annual flooding.  Martha and the kids took the bus. There were no toilet facilities on board and the trip was projected to be at least 7 hours long assuming the boat does not get stuck as it often does with low water. That stopped Martha from going and the kids felt they had seen enough of Cambodian subsistence life.

On my trip the fiberglass boat was underloaded, so seating was comfortable, which is not the norm. The water was high due to recent rain so we made the trip in six hours: unusually quick. On the way I got quite the sights. Passengers are allowed to sit on the roof -not that there are seats there- so good vantage for pictures. 

My engineering mind took note of the motorboats. The motor was mounted high on the boat. The propeller hit the water about a boat length behind the boat and was only just submerged. Thus the propeller stuck no deeper than the boat itself. The boats themselves are long, thin and wooden. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of one, so grabbed one from the web. The common name is long tail boat.

The poverty was the most extreme on the river far from the lake. I would see the typical house on wooden stilts along the bank. Note that wooden stilts in a damp area are a major liability. There were many ramshackle covered boats on which people could find shelter from rain, sleep -I guess- or prevent their boats from flooding. The houses were isolated or sometimes grouped in hamlets of a few houses.

As we got closer to the lake, hamlets grew to long thin floating villages. That is one long row of house boats of river built houses. The rows were usually not more than one house deep. Travel between houses was done by boat. Our boat, a once daily scheduled service, would drop people off at multiple points in a village. Other times a wooden boat would come to meet us to pick up or drop off locals.

I have no idea how those people get drinking water. Notably, sanitation was into the river. People and livestock have been pooping in it for millenia, so why stop? At our one stop, a floating restaurant, the toilet was simply a stand toilet with a hole that drained into the river.

I lived on fruit for the trip. I offered a dragon fruit to an elderly couple. Dragon fruits are plentiful all over. They are juicy and have a mild taste. The couple took it, but they did not eat it to my surprise. Instead they stuffed into a bag of bread. I saw later why. They were dropped off at a small lonely house with a family. I assume they intended to share the fruit with the entire family.

The lake is big and we stayed on its edge and sailed through narrow channels in the marshes at its edge. I think the skipper choose to take those channels, many almost as narrow as the boat, due to the high water. There was not much to see there.

Once landed, Tuk Tuk drivers streamed onto the boat offering rides. The one I had ordered from the hotel was not there. He had not called me and did not know that the boat arrived early. At the hotel, our group was passed out in the rooms of our very nice hotel.  Their bus ride had been comfortable and uneventful. The kids took a few plunges in the pool, I think, but that was about it. We ate at the hotel.

Joris's Photos of the Day

August 27, Thursday: Battambang the typical Cambodian City

Thursday, August 27, we did the remaining Battambang sights: bamboo train, alligator farm and circus performance, We took the bamboo train for a 40 minute round trip ride. The bamboo train consists of a bamboo platforn that rests on two rail axles with wheels. One can easily take the platform off to disassemble the train on the spot. It's a goofy trip. Of course, at the far end we were sold all kinds of stuff by a woman and her clever young daughters. Among others they sold us crickets folded from blades of grass.

Thereafter, we went to an alligator farm. It's a farm and thus not the most pleasant place. There is a market for baby alligators, alligator skin and alligator meat. It takes 30 years to raise and alligator. Even after that it only fetches USD 600.  We enjoyed walking around looking at them from above. The lady that worked there was an orphan with two young daughters and a dream to become the first female Tuk Tuk driver in town. At $20 per month while fighting alcoholism and loneliness she faces a tough challenge to save money to buy one. She worked at the farm to practice English. She like many people here were delighted to hear that the boys were Cambodian born.

At night, there was a circus performed by students of Pharos, a twenty year old charity that uses art to inspire and train disadvantaged kids. They do visual arts, music and circus. I took pictures of the circus, it was too dark to take pictures of the paintings and sculptures. But great show by young kids. The adult show tours the world.

Max's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos 120 - 101

Joris's Photos of the Day

August 26, Wednesday: Battambang: the typical Cambodian City

On Wednesday, August 26 we took a minivan ride from Phnom Penh to the country's second city Battambang. Battambang was to be our experience of a real Cambodian town. Not crazy busy like Phnom Penh or Touristy like Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. Half way the van stopped for snacks and bathroom stop. The town did not disappoint. 

Again the night before I had to Tuk Tuk around Phnom Penh to buy cash tickets for the rear four person seat of a minivan for five hours. The trip was uneventful, except for the morning, when we had to pack up, which was a rushed affair. And the seats were a tad crowded even though the minivan was nice. I elected for the minivan, because the big buses make more stops.

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We got into the city by about 2 in the rain. A Tuk Tuk from the hotel, the biggest the hotel guy knew due to our luggage, picked us up. We took a liking to the driver immediately and hired him to take us to the Bat Cave, the killing cave and the pagoda view all at the same place. The boys and I went.

The bat cave is at the base of a small steep hill. Ten million bats stream out each day at dusk and stream in each day at about four. It takes an hour for the stream to pass. The bats go out in a stream and eventually disperse.  The steam had not started yet, so we headed up to the pagoda and killing cave at the top.

On the way up a steep road the driver told us his story. He had a three and six year old daughter, but could not afford to send his daughter to school now, because business was slow. Good education requires paying the teacher each day. He walked up on his flip flops and was wearing a flimsy emergency raincoat that he had bought as we headed out. He admired Saitha's $5 poncho: simple but of sturdy plastic.

At the top he told us the story of the killing caves. People would be imprisoned in the pagoda and then murdered at the top of the cave. The bodies were thrown in, separated into men, women and children. After the KR were defeated most of the bones were removed. A few were placed in a shrine that was built in the cave.

We stayed up there for a bit and were mostly amused by the macaque monkeys that climbed all over the pagoda. The way down was by a steep staircase, which was a challenge for our driver on his flip flops as it was still raining. The bats had started streaming, which was fun. The kids really liked the driver and asked me to give him a big tip. Tipping is not common there. I gave him $20 instead of $12 and told him of the boys' request.

Dinner was on the roof of the hotel. Many buildings have a covered rooftop terrace that the hotel had turned into restaurant including cooking space. It was a chaotic affair with young waiters. The food was moderate, but the prices were the lowest we have seen in Cambodia: about $2  - 3 per dish. The hotel was run by Chinese investors I assume. All in all a good day.

Max's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos 131 - 121

Joris's Photos of the Day

August 25, Tuesday: Saitha Birth Village Visit and Sibling Quest

On Tuesday, August 25 was our big trip to visit Saitha's extended family and to attempt to find one or two of his sisters. Elephant, the orphanage director and Martha's taxi driver 15 years ago, picked us up early and took us on bumpy Highway 6 towards Baray District of Kampong Thom province.

Highway 6 leads to Siem Reap, the temples, and was mostly paved. Even though it was only about 30 miles it took an hour. Saitha's village was just off the highway. 15 years ago it took almost 4 hours to get there. We took some pictures of the school: now stone, then wood.

Once in the village we went to the piece of land that Elephant had bought for Saitha's siblings. One half was sold off, the lay bracken as his sister considered to be Saitha's. The villagers recognized Saitha immediately and all of them came out. Two aunts hugged him and pinched his cheeks. His mother's brother put his hand on Saitha's shoulder and asked to share a beer with Saitha. The uncle was lean and wiry, probably in his 70s. Other villagers came out and crowded around the car. "You are quite the celebrity in town, Saitha", said Elephant. The financial support had been taken note. Max took some great pictures that Saitha posted on facebook that I hope to share.

We learned what had happened to Saitha's parents. His mother had died at child birth of another sibling. His father had died of illness in the fields, probably malaria. His elder sisters, almost adults at the time agreed to have Saitha be put up for adoption, because he had an eye problem, ptosis, and was sick with pneumonia. They did not agree to his one or two year older brother, because he was healthy.

All the siblings had left though, so the job now was to find them. We got an address of one elder sister, Youen. We drove for another hour through rubber plantations to find it. Towards the end, often asking the way and we found the house on stilts. But she had moved to the remote province of Ratanakiri that borders Vietnam in the north. In Ratanikiri, jungle is being cut down for rubber plantations. Natives are being displaced and Khmers hired to work in the plantations. A neighbor gave us a number. 

The number rang, but no answer for quite some time. Then an answer, but cut off quick before we could make out if the number was still good. Tried again, not connection at all, we hoped the phone battery had died.

I asked how people charge their batteries in villages with no power. Elephant said that people run a service with car batteries. They drive around picking up people's batteries in the morning and return them charged at night. And indeed, at night I asked a hotel desk staff to call and he got through. It was his sister Youen and she wanted to see Saitha! She also gave the number of another sister SaiMom. I informed Elephant and he recommended a meeting in Phnom Penh. He wanted to keep it controlled to avoid people claiming a false adoption and asking for money: "People are poor" he said. So we agreed on September 4 at 3:00 PM. I have not gotten confirmation from Elephant yet, so we are on pins and needles.

It was goofy riding with Elephant. So often we would see cars, motorcycles and Tuk Tuks driving the wrong way on a lane and he would grouse about it. People do that here as a shortcuts like we do on a bicycle sometimes.

Dinner was at the eclectic restaurant Remdang with the boys. That is where we ate the tarantulas. They were kind of squishy and interesting. The restaurant is associated with Friends, where I had eaten with Saitha on Thursday. There are Teachers and Students. Students are street kids that get to work there for a couple of weeks. They get fed, housed, medical checks and trained in the hope that they can find a more permanent job later.

Max's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos 154 - 131

Joris's Photos of the Day

Village School Sphere Photo

August 24, Monday Saitha works at Restaurant and Phnom Penh Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda

On Monday, August 24 we had a fairly quiet day that consisted of Saitha working at a restaurant, buying plane tickets and visiting Phnom Penh's highlight, the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace.

On Friday right after Max and Martha arrived we got to chatting with the South African cook/owner of a nearby restaurant called the Common Tiger. He was enthused by the boys' Cambodian heritage, Saitha's work as a cook and my Dutch heritage. He encourage Saitha to keep developing his cooking skills and to enjoy his passport: "no one wants South Africans". I hope Saitha listened as he is eyeing work as a Papa Gino's manager.

We agreed that Saitha cook there one day as the owner had already hired untrained Cambodians off the street and the day was Monday from 11 - 2. Saitha peeled onions, shelled prawns and chopped stuff and chatted with everyone.

A dilemma of the trip is Phnom Penh's central location that I solved with a plane trip. North of it were the interesting towns of Battambang and Siem Reap and south of it the coast. Land travel between north and south would be at least ten hours and go through Phnom Penh. To resolve and to give us flexibility I decided to buy plane tickets to fly us from the north to the south. I checked online and found them for about $110 a piece, a little steep but I decided to go with it. I ran into some snags with the online payment, notably this VerifiedByVisa extra password thing, and called the airline directly. They said that I could get the tickets for $75 provided I come to the office, which I did in the pouring rain. 

That provided an experience in Cambodian financial life. The total bill came to $302, which was $150 less than the online price. I gave $310, not wanting to give up my small bills. In this economy many people operate in single dollars and cannot make change from $10. Bank withdrawals have to be large, because the surcharges are $5 or so. And the machines happily give me $100 bills. To my surprise and embarrassment the lady had to ask her colleague to break the $10 from her own private funds.

The Pagoda and Palace were nice. We took some panorama pictures. It consists of some palace like buildings that we could not go into and the Silver Pagoda that contains a standing Buddha that has thousands of diamonds including a very large one. At the exit I was met by some beggars, of which I do not see many on Cambodia. I don't give the children money as those are controlled by pimps. I have found that giving fruit works, as one pointed at some once in my bag. They eat the fruit of course. 

Dinner was obviously at the Common Tiger. Saitha had enjoyed himself and the meal was delicious. The restaurant has a sparse ten item menu that changes every week. I choose a bean paste dish with prawns as there was no 100% vegan dish available. My only photo of that day is of my plate.

The adventure of the day was Martha's ride home from the restaurant by Tuk Tuk. The boys and I elected to walk home as it was only three blocks and blocks are at most 100m in Phnom Penh. She offered a driver $1 and he said yes: more than enough for the short trip. He pointed the wrong way and I corrected him. Nevertheless, she did not arrive at the hotel until a half hour later. He had taken her for a ride all over town and even demanded she get out at some point. She refused and eventually demanded to talk to a policeman after which he took her to the right place. Two days earlier, a Tuk Tuk driver had taken her all over for a ride that was only one block from the hotel. He initially asked for $8 and they settled on $3. $0.50 would have been the correct price. Lesson: beware of Tuk Tuks and know your way around town. Also cultivate a few that want your continued business.

Here is a link to my pictures of that day:

Max's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos of the Day: 185 - 155 

Joris's Photos of the Day

Photo Sphere in front of Palace

Photo Sphere outside Silver Pagoda

Photo Sphere at Silver Pagoda Entrance

August 23, Sunday, Countryside Bike Trip

Sunday, August 23, the boys and I were picked up at 7:00 AM by our half day bicycle tour guide for a ride through the countryside across the river from Phnom Penh. We started early to beat the rain, which typically occurs mid to late afternoon. He took us by Tuk Tuk to the Mekong River, where we got the bikes and boarded the ferry. The ride was great, but perhaps the story of his life and business was greater.

The point of the trip was to reach the rural areas just across the river from the busy and smelly city. And that was indeed the case. We crossed the Mekong River, one of the two rivers on the edge of Phnom Penh and started riding over the country side, mostly dirt paths and dirt roads. We passed a banana plantation and got a lesson in the life of banana trees. It takes three years to bear fruit and it is cut down after ten years or so. We passed a bull cow, which will mate with your female for USD 12. Finally another quick ferry ride to silk island, where we stopped at Heng Haysim's silk farm. Haysim served us delicious fruit and then took us for a tour. She had a degree in marketing (I think), but was back at her family's 

At a silk farm, dyed and woven silk fabric is produced from mulberry leaves. And the whole farm is under one modest house on stilts. In a rack flat baskets of contain silk worms. They eat so ferociously, that you could hear them crunching away at the leaves. The few mulberry trees on the property were not enough to feed them, so she had to buy leaves elsewhere. After 20 days or so, the caterpillar spins a cocoon, which she boils in hot water after which it can be unwound and spun into thread by a spinning wheel. Dying is done too somewhere, but I didn't see it. A couple of hand operated looms were in use to make the fabric, which looked very professional.

After our snack we rode on among the houses on stilts, pagodas and the countless little stands selling small items, including fruit, from the mainland. It is amazing what people live in. Many of the houses are no more than ramshackle shacks. Other houses were in much better shape. I assume they had electricity there, but I did not see faucets or water lines leading up into the houses. Sometimes the road was paved, or made of cement slabs or plain rutted dirt. Occasionally the road was gravel.

We stopped at one pagoda, of which there are many. We probably passed a dozen in our 33 km journey. The one we stopped at was closed. They are only open once every eight days. But we could walk on the grounds. This one housed the village dragon boats. These are long boats used once a year for pleasure races at the water festival in November. There was one for the men and a shorter one for the women.

We stopped at a small restaurant for lunch at which we chatted with the guide about his life. Our guide Chea Thong -Thong his given name- was in his early thirties and recently married with a 14mo daughter and another on the way. He had arrived in Phnom Phen years earlier with nothing and not much education. He lived in the drug infested slums. He worked nights unloading containers. At some point, a charity, Friends, opened in the slum and started educating the residents. He became highly active in this charity as a volunteer. He first became a peer teacher, i.e. he taught others what he had learned, but over time started overseeing small projects as a volunteer. He said he learned lots there, such as how to organize and to write proposals. After four years, he got a scholarship to study in Thailand for a month. He even got to meet the Thai president. They had to clean him up, because he did not own appropriate clothing. Eventually, he got a full scholarship to a university in Phnom Penh, where he graduated with a law degree. He could not get a job at a university with his degree and he did not want to be a lawyer given the political situation, so he started the tour business. He started with 6 bicycles and now is at 60 bicycles. He is only in business for a year and was able to get a USD 10k loan under low interest to finance the purchase of the bicycles.

He pointed out that peace has only really existed since about 2000 after which businesses like his could be started.

After lunch we rode on until we took our third ferry ride back to northern Phnom Penh. A Tuk-Tuk driver met us there and hung the bicycles to his carriage with rope. I joked about this high tech solution. Back at the hotel we took leave of our guide and relaxed until dinner. Dinner was held at the restaurant Romdeng, known for its eclectic Cambodian cuisine and its benevolence. It is a training restaurant, where kids from the street are given lodging, health care and training in waiting tables for a couple weeks. We had trantulas as an appetizer. I ate two, Saitha ate one, Max had none.

Max's Photos of the Day

Pagoda Sphere Photo

Saitha's Photos of the Day: #197 - 188

Joris's and Guide's Photos

August 22, Saturday: Saitha's Orphanage Visit

Saturday, August 22 was our big trip to the orphanage at which Saitha had spent about three months. Elephant, the director, picked us up at the hotel and drove us out there. He took us in his 1995 Toyota Land Rover over mostly paved, but often unpaved roads. It was a bumpy ride. It took a good hour to get there, even though most of the route was on Highway 1. Highway here often means two lane, often unpaved, road. 

Elephant first showed us a piece of the village farm project just outside the orphanage. It consisted of a plot of leased land and a small school building with a bunch of kids in it. It was a school to prepare the children for the public (I think) school in the village. We chatted with the kids and exchanged counting in each other's language. The leader, another man, explained that villagers were only allowed to use the farm land if they sent their kids to school and refrained from domestic violence. Families often stop sending their kids to school for immediate economic reasons, so an incentive is needed to encourage them to not give in. Additionally, domestic violence seems to be an issue here and The Sharing Foundation is determined to do its piece to reduce it. We also stopped by the sewing school: a small house with a half dozen sewing machines, in which women were trained to become seamstresses.

Then on to the highlight: the orphanage from which Saitha was adopted. Two nannies there recognized Saitha immediately and went up to pinch his cheeks. He was touched. One of them had even traveled to get him from his village the first time and had attended him, while he recovered from pneumonia in the hospital. We also heard of Max's nanny, whom we knew was very attached to Max. At the time of his adoption, they stayed at another orphanage, since closed. She joined the The Sharing Foundation's orphanage later. But by the time we got there she had gotten married and left.. She often had asked about Max, there known as Vandy, but I guess got no answer nor did we get inquiries. We never knew...

Some kids there had overlapped with Saitha, albeit a couple of years younger. We chatted with the kids -sort of- and then went out back for a game of barefoot soccer with the boys. That was good fun, see the pictures. At the end we handed out an apple to each kid. Apples are a delicacy there, as they are grown in the region and have to come from more western (priced) areas like New Zealand. 72 in total at the orphanage.

After returning to the hotel. Martha, Saitha and I went to the vegan restaurant Knay'Y, which also had some meat dishes on the menu. It was deserted even though it was Saturday night. The food was fabulous though. I had a vegan Amok. Amok is a Cambodia classic served by all restaurants. A bowl is made from banana leaves held together by toothpicks. This bowl is filled with a mixture that normally contains fish and then steamed. The flavors meld with the banana leaf. It is served in the banana leaf bowl.

Max's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos of the Day: #226 - 199

Joris's Photos of the Day

Sharing Foundation Courtyard Sphere Photo

August 21, Friday: Phnom Penh Aerobics and The Khmer Rouge Torture Prison

On this day Martha and Max arrived in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the Khmer Rouge torture prison. Max was moved, because at the airport he was granted a permanent visa to Cambodia. The officials told him how much he was wanted in the country and encouraged him to learn the language Khmer.

In the afternoon, the boys joined me to the Khmer Rouge torture museum Huol Seng. There people were tortured until they gave up more names of future victims. After that they were sent to the killing fields. Our guide had lost her father and elder siblings to the Khmer Rouge. He was killed, because he looked like a Lon Nol soldier. Lon Nol was the general that held the country before the KR. Her siblings died in the work camps. She escaped, because she was too young to work and was able to walk into Vietnam.

The KR,  like the Nazi's took pictures of the people the killed and tortured. Many of these  haunting pictures were on display. There audio was a photo of cheering Phnom Penh people when the KR took the city and of the KR soldiers.. The soldiers, were 12 - 16 yo boys.. They had been taken from their families when the were very young. They were indoctrinated thereafter.

The place was dreary and dark. Barbed wire everywhere to prevent suicide. There were signs everywhere reminding people not to laugh. No need to describe the many ways people were tortured. 

At dusk I decided to see and take part in the daily aerobics exercises that take place at the city stadium. The stadium is called the Olympic Stadium to inspire people even though the Olympics never took place there. On the top of the stadium above the seats aerobics instructors compete with each other for participants from 5:00 - 7:00 or so. People come up there to enjoy the fresher air from the stinky air down below.

Maxs's Photos of the Day

Saitha's Photos: 227-227

Joris's Photos of the Day

August 20, Thursday, Phnom Penh

Thursday, August 20 Saitha and I spent the day together in Phnom Penh. It consisted of a walk, a museum, a show and an interesting restaurant.

In the morning I elected to go for a walk to the river about 1.5 km from the hotel This walk was quite the adventure. All the sidewalks of the big streets are parked full with cars, vendors and Tuk Tuks, so we were usually forced to walk on the road. The road is crazy with (luxury) cars, motorcycles and Tuk Tuks. Tuk Tuks are motorcycles with a one axle carriage mounted to them that takes four people. There are few traffic lights and circles. Mostly traffic just weaves in and out of each other. As we found: you just have to cross and people go around you.

We eventually made it to the riverside, which was OK. There was construction going on in one place along the bank and the rest is kind of dreary. Overall the city is smelly and busy. We dropped by a few hotels on the way in order to decide if we wanted to stay in ours. There were nicer ones that had no pool or others that did not have twin rooms available, so we decided to stay in the one we were at.
We took a Tuk Tuk to the National Museum, which featured Cambodian sculptures and an interesting exhibit about women in villages. I don't remember much of it. We met two college students, who sold us tickets to a show to be performed that evening. From the museum we went to the Central Market, a covered slightly upscale market that sells jewelry among others and to the Olympic Market, where I bought durian, the quality of which disappointed me.

That evening we say the show run by a 120 person dance troupe including technicians, committed to paying its staff a living wage called Plae Pok of the Cambodian Living Arts. Plae Pok intends to rebuild Cambodian performing arts: the performers were in their low twenties. The dancers broken into two groups: three women were Apsara dancers: the traditional slow dance with the curved fingers using poses found on temple walls. And six men, six women that did village dances that were about fertility, harvest and rain.

Dinner was at Friends restaurant. Friends is a charity directed at slums. They train people there how to improve their lives. They run a restaurant and shop to raise funds and to train people in waiting tables and shop. We enjoyed the food very much as it was authentic Cambodian. Our favorite is the rice soup, which I did not find there: perhaps too mundane!

I started to make a connection with the hotel front desk staff. All young kids in their late teens or low twenties. Three women ran the day shift, three men the night shift. They work six days per week. I tried to remember their names and keep them apart, which I found quite hard. So much for my memory. At one point, we tried to figure out where Saitha's village was and the guys showed how proficient they were online.

The hotel was a large past-glory place. It had the expected amenities, but breakfast was mediocre and the carpets and pool were worn. But its location was good, the price OK, the AC and pool worked, so we stayed.

The hotel was located in the middle of a popular place for dining. We were surrounded by boutique hotels and small restaurants. I used Trip Advisor to select restaurants as well as  my responsible traveling guidebook.The restaurants were often not Khmer, so we often left there to find more authentic food.

We arrived at the airport the evening before. The most noted thing about the airport is that Max and Saitha were automatically granted permanent visas and work permits to Cambodia due to their Cambodian birth. An official spoke to each of them and encouraged them to learn  the language, to be proud of their country and to come often. I got to pay $32 for a one month visa and I am not allowed to work, so the official just grinned at me.

We got SIM cards at the airport and two more when Max and Martha arrived. So communication with each other and with people in Cambodia has been easy and inexpensive. No complaints there. Data works well in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. All the hotels and restaurants are in Booking.com, Agoda.com and Trip Advisor.com, so it is easy to book and to select restaurants.

Joris's Photos

Saitha's Photos: 230- 227

August 19, Wednesday, Flight to Phnom Penh

Our layover was in Hong Kong's new airport on an artificial island. As we flew and walked through the airport in I was reminded of how mountainous Hong Kong is. Our plane had a camera built into its bottom that I could watch as it landed. In fact, most of the buildings are skyscrapers at the waters edge. Hence the need for an artificial island to support the airport. 

On  our flight over Vietnam I saw an impressive cloud formation. A high wall of cloud followed the Vietnam coast. I wonder if this cloud formation is Monsoon related.

We arrived at Phnom Penh airport in the late afternoon . The most noted thing about the airport is that Max and Saitha were automatically granted permanent visas and work permits to Cambodia due to their Cambodian birth. An official spoke to each of them and encouraged them to learn  the language, to be proud of their country and to come often. I got to pay $32 for a one month visa and I am not allowed to work, so the official just grinned at me.

We got SIM cards at the airport and two more when Max and Martha arrived. So communication with each other and with people in Cambodia has been easy and inexpensive. No complaints there. Data works well in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. All the hotels and restaurants are in Booking.com, Agoda.com and Trip Advisor.com, so it is easy to book and to select restaurants.

Joris's Photos

Saitha's Photos: #244 - 232