Battambang and Beyond

I wrote this while sitting in the G Adventures mini bus as we drove from Battambang back to Siem Reap.  This mini bus trip turned out to be much faster and more comfortable than the public bus that I took the day before in the other direction.

I finished my time with CFC a few days ago.  I showed them some final experiments including a highly successful DNA extraction experiment and the demonstration of Newton's 1st Law where you knock a tray out from underneath an egg balanced on a toilet paper roll, and the egg drops into a glass of water.

 Chanda an Kimry took me to a very nice local restaurant that serves only vegetarian food that is off the beaten tourist track but very beautiful with comfortable shaded tables and lush vegetation.  I would recommend that place, called the Vitking House to anyone.

My last few free days in Siem Reap were spent doing some shopping, and a fair bit of just hanging around.  I have grown very fond of the kind staff at the Golden Temple Villa as well as a lovely Australian woman called Robyn.  She and I have shared many pleasant dinners at the gorgeous establishments run by NGOs, and have also shared shopping tips and stories.  It's funny because I have now spent enough time in Cambodia to come to the realization that even though I know more about this country than most tourists, there is so much more that I could know.  For example, it feels very good to spend a lot of money at a restaurant that is run by an NGO and offers training services to poor kids from provincial towns but this is not the only way to help the Khmer by spending your money.

You can also simply eat at the small local restaurants, and even eating and shopping at tourist restaurants that are not run by NGOs still provides work and security for many people.

Yesterday, I took the public bus to Battambang.  It was a bit of an adventure in and of itself really (as you would expect).  A shuttle picked me up at 10:30am, and then drove around picking up other passengers in the immediate area.  It then dropped us off at a bus depot where we boarded a larger bus.  We then drove to the outskirts of town, and changed buses again and it was at this point that we had our tickets collected.  But what is really odd, is that we then drove all the way back into town to the ORIGINAL bus depot - which by the way was a 3 minute walk from my hotel - and picked up a couple more tourists.  I really don't understand that.  Anyway, we were then on our way.  The bus was old and not terribly comfortable by western standards, and we kept stopping to pick people up.  There were times when we even picked up locals who then got dropped just a short distance away.  For about an hour of the journey, I had a woman and two small children squished in the single seat beside me.  This was definitely a deluxe bus though because it had AC (that sometimes struggled a bit it's true), and also a single small television monitor at the front.  I got to watch an action film starring Tony Jaa (remember Ong Bak, Thai Warrior???) and it was dubbed into Khmer from the original Thai.  Once that movie was over, we watched a series of music videos for Khmer Top 40 tunes.

The bus pulled into the bus terminal about 3km outside of Battambang city and I had no trouble getting a tuk tuk to take me to the hotel where the G group was.  I knew that they were arriving at approximately the same time that I was so when I arrived I went to the front desk and asked if the group was here yet.  The two women behind the counter had the strangest looks on their faces and one of them make a half gesture to behind me.  It was then that I heard 'Hello' and turned around to see Kevin - my tour guide from the first time I was in Cambodia - waiting behind me.  He had hid in the corner waiting for me and was behind me the entire time!  I was so surprised because I did not think that he was doing the tour at all and in fact he had already wished me well even though he wouldn't be there!  I had told him that I had booked this tour and in fact requested him and I had just assumed that he had been scheduled to another tour as per usual.  Anyway, I was very surprised, and after scolding him soundly for tricking me, and an now happily settling into this portion of my vacation.

 Last night the group walked around the faded glory of the city of Battambang.  The architecture is gorgeous with simply beautiful french balconies and iron-worked windows on french doors.  The roofs are sometimes tiled with peeling tile, sometimes with that red ceramic, and sometimes with the ubiquitous tin.  We had an absolutely delicious dinner and an early night because many people were jet-lagged, and there is not much night life in Battambang, especially in low season, despite efforts to re-create the Pub Street of Siem Reap.

This morning we opted for a really, really fun motocycle tour of the countryside.  The first stop was a ride on the very fun Bamboo Train.

 The tracks that were laid by the French in the early 20th Century have gotten quite old, and the years of instability in the region have made rail transport of goods or passengers impractical, but the local people who live near the tracks still make use of the rails with their own created flatbed cars made out of bamboo and wood, and driven by an outboard motor that spins an axle that rolls on the rails.  It was kind of like a kiddie ride at Disneyworld only way, way more fun because it represents something real.  Our local guide also took us to see how they make fish paste, bamboo sticky rice, dried fish, rice whisky, and rice paper where I had the most delicious fried spring roll of my life.

All this from the back of a motorcycle with a pleasantly ill-fitting helmet, a nice young man in front of me driving, and the red earth, green fields, and sleepy river scrolling by.

Now that the G Adventures tour has started, and especially since Kevin is our fabulous fun-loving CEO, I don't know how often I will be able to post. The next blog post will be about my return to the Temples of Angkor.

As always, thanks for reading!

Leslie

Khmer Kitchen Chemistry

Over the last couple if days, I have spent the last few mornings at Aranh High School practicing some chemistry experiments.  The chemistry teacher plunked the powdered metals in front of me (they really only have copper and zinc) and asked me what experiments they could do.  So we spent some time mixing them with the pink toilet bowl cleaner (HCl-containing) and watched the formation of hydrogen gas.  We tried to do the hydrogen gas test (the one where a burning splint pops) but that doesn't work for me reliably even under the best of conditions.

They only experiments that I can think of with the limited chemicals that they have are the single displacement of copper from copper sulphate or the displacement of hydrogen gas from acid.  I also showed them the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using Manganese dioxide that they had - amazingly - scraped out of the inside of 1.5 V batteries.  I watched Chanda score a battery with knife, and then give it to a student to go and smash with a brick until it busted open.  The black powder worked like a charm though.  The problem with this reaction is that MnO2 is not the healthiest thing and should have a proper hazardous waste proposal.  I know that they reaction also works with yeast.  Chanda and I bought some yeast at the Old Market but it reacted so slowly that it wasn't really worth using.  Today we went to Psar Leu (a huge local market) and bought some more active yeast.  We will give it a try tomorrow.

 ***Update!*** the stronger yeast worked as well as the MnO2.  And when you put dish soap in it, it foams right out of the test tube.  Hooray for kitchen chemistry!  Now I don't have to worry about the kids handling heavy metals or the safe disposal of things after they are done.  Even the glowing splint test worked great!  The splint bursts into flames when it is lowed into the bubbling tube.  The older kids can absolutely do that.  The burning dollar demo was a huge hit, and tomorrow I will try to make soap using lye from a drain remover, coconut oil, and palm oil.  I guess we will just have to wait and see.  ***Update!*** To soap worked beautifully!  We heated the oils and the drain cleaner in test tubes in a water bath to 37 degrees (as measured by the new thermometers!), mixed them together, and then took turn stirring for about 20 or 25 minutes before pouring it into the mould.  The soap is now sitting in Chanda's office curing away slowly.  I am pretty impressed.  Chanda wrote down the instructions so I think that she can pass that along to the other teachers.

I went to see the graceful Apsara dancers again and they are as beautiful as ever.  I don't think that I will ever get tired of watching that.

Last night, I went back to Route 60 with a great German couple that I met here.  Johannes has been in Siem Reap for over a month working on some kind of film. Marion has joined him for a few days here before heading to Thailand for a  holiday.  We drove out there with Mr. Ouhok, and this time had much better weather.   He dropped us and went to chill out while we perused the restaurants (outdoor barbeques and and skillets with plastic tables an chairs) but settled on street vendors where you give your order, and choose from the wide array of fish, chicken, and other things piled high on grills.  We ordered some chicken pieces, and a banana leaf wrapped around something mysterious, and then sat on reed mats across the street.  A boy who looked to be about ten years old became our server and interpreter because his English was better than his parents.  He brought us over some rice, plates, spoons, a box of tissues, and sauces.  The food was delicious even though the skewers that Johannes had thought was liver turned out to be chicken hearts, but all the same...just a little bit chewy that's all.  We chatted with a friendly family next to us who were in town from Phnom Penh because their younger daughter had needed surgery when she was a baby and the Children's Hospitals in Siem Reap are free for Cambodians and the care is very good.  There is a family of children's hospitals in Siem Reap that are funded by donations.  It's pretty amazing actually.  But even more amazingly, those same people tracked us down fifteen minutes after we had left because Johannes had left a tiny key behind.  We thought that was an amazing feat until we realized that we were the only white people there.  Maybe all they had to do was ask which way the white people went, and then follow the trail.

There are many children on Route 60 who roam around without parents.  Their parents are probably nearby, and might send them out to ask for money.  It is difficult to be sure.  But we picked up a couple of boys who followed us around for a while so when we bought a round of air gun shots, we let him shoot a couple of them.  And when Johannes paid a dollar to give them a ride of the ferris wheel, they were so incredibly happy, and waving at us through the metal cage.  Marion and I stood nearby and took photos until the thing started up and started going shockingly fast.  When they got off they were so excited and after we got out high-fives, they ran off happy and laughing.  Johannes said that it was the best dollar that he ever spent in his life.  I have to agree.

This morning, I went on a bicycle tour of the Siem Reap countryside with Grasshopper Bicycle tours.  It was wonderful and I am so glad that I decided to do that one instead of the longer trek to the floating village.

 There were several other people on the tour and we all went out for lunch at the Peace Cafe after returning back to town.  We rode out of town using side streets and then turned off onto smaller country roads that can only be accessed by bike.  The earth is red like Prince Edward Island.  Our first stop was in front of the ONLY slaughterhouse in Siem Reap (we didn't go in or anything it was just a convenient place to stop).

 Every single animal that is butchered and sold in markets is first brought there, and they are slaughtered by hand.  Kind of shocking of course but really, we are so removed from our food sources back at home.  We stopped for a snack at a local restaurant and I had what might be the most delicious iced coffee that I have ever had in my life.  We continued on through the beautiful and peaceful landscape, getting a glimpse into a farmers home, and visiting a crocodile farm, before finally returning to Siem Reap.  It poured rain on us once or twice, and I came home completely soaked, but actually the day was quite cool by relative standards, and I am very grateful for that.

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading!

Leslie

Fluke

I am currently sitting in my hotel room.  I can't believe that one week has already passed since I arrived here.  The time is just flying by.

Two days ago, I went out to Bakong High School to try to take the inventory of the three science labs there.  I was introduced to Chanda's assistant Kimry ( a lovely and clever young physics teacher ).  We began with Kimry's physics lab and it took a bit longer than the others because Chanda and Kimry kept wanting to ask me questions.  Kimry showed me the physics textbook that use and was hoping that I could explain a couple of lessons that she is not clear on.  I am not a physics teacher but I did recognize a lesson on engines and engine efficiency based on the diagrams.  I could even tell that it wasn't a Carnot engine because the heating and cooling steps were not adiabatic.  Unfortunately I was no help at all for the second lesson.  I could not interpret a single thing from the diagram amid the beautiful scrolling Khmer script.  There were several times when she wanted me to write down the identity of what was inside the baskets and bins so that she could translate them into Khmer.  I disappointed her a bit though when I told her that the things that she thought were lenses were in fact only watch glasses.  That definitely explains why I found 60 watch glasses in each physics classroom.  I moved each one to chemistry and have put lenses on my list of things to try to buy.  One of the classrooms does have a class set of those little plastic magnifying glasses that can be used as lenses.

The biology room contained several skeletons of fish and chickens...and I think that they were real.  Someone painstakingly removed every scrap of tissue.  When I told Diane this over brunch today, her face had this terrific mixture of pride and disgust.  It was great.  Anyway, Kimry told me that she wanted a clear glass cabinet so that the specimens could be displayed and scene by the students instead of being hidden away behind the white board.  Diane and I had a good laugh that CFC had created a monster and that the next thing they would be asking for are Smartboards and iPads class sets.  And really, if they get to the point where they can think of uses for that stuff, why not ask for it.  Amazing.

The chemistry lab is the original lab room that I remember working in last time I was here with Kyle.  Instead of having sinks in the middle of desks, it was two sinks by the wall and one of them is disconnected.  There are no sliding white boards in this room, and it only has a single glass cabinet with sliding doors to store things.  The rest of the equipment is in bins on the floor laid out in a row.  Kimry and I spent some time cleaning the dirt and dust off of some of that equipment as best as we could.  I also threw out a small amount of stuff that I decided was broken or useless.  I hate to see a chemistry lab without enough storage so I am going to order or commission more storage cabinetry for that space.  It's the original.  It deserves some attention.

That night I ate dinner at a local restaurant down the street.  Pretty simple and tasty.  I will try to keep costs down when I find myself alone in the evenings because when there are other people to eat with, it will be easy to spend money.  This way I can enjoy more mango smoothies by the pool.

Yesterday I went off to the final school.  This time I was greeted by Chanda and two of the other teachers.  At first I wasn't sure what to do with them because I needed to take the inventory and all I could ask them to do was to help me remove large bins from high shelves (carrying on my tradition of asking people to do menial tasks for me).  Anyway, I showed them the prepared slides that I had brought (thank you Rocio and Russell!) and they were a huge hit!  The teachers were enthralled because they recognized what they represented but had never seen them before.  I showed them how to carry the microscope properly, and how to focus it, and then I showed them a plant specimen of some kind - they were hooked.

They spent over an hour translating as many of the slides as possible.  I think that they like the human specimen bits the best.  The first slide that they wanted to look at was a cross-section of a liver fluke (gross!).  Unfortunately, that is not the most exciting thing to look at under the microscope.  You can't really see much cool stuff.  The ticks and chloroplasts were much more beautiful.  Lucky for me, this kept them occupied for over an hour while I finished writing down everything that I could find in the lab.   Now that inventory is done I have a wish list from the teachers that I met.  I have to get in touch with the supplier in Phnom Penh and see if they have more beakers, horseshoe magnets, scalpels, pipette bulbs, and other things like that.  I also have to get in touch with Savy because they have hundreds of test tubes but the white plastic racks that they ordered don't fit them!  And Savy has had some custom-made in the past.  I need to see if they can do more things like that.  And then of course there is the cabinetry and with a little luck, the sink fixing.

Today was a pretty quiet day.  I spent a fair bit of it on the computer in lobby area typing up the inventory list.  I then emailed the lab equipment supplier in Phnom Penh with a list of things that I am interested in buying to round out what the Science labs have.  Everything is pretty simple and meant to help the lab equipment that is already there work together more smoothly.  I have asked about pipette bulbs, universal clamps, erlenmeyer flasks, and beakers.  With any luck, they will have some of that stuff in that peculiar enormous warehouse of stuff that seems to be there.  I attempted to go to a local gym with a couple of the female staff members.

I would be lying if I said that it was in good condition with lots of good machines.  None of the cardio machines worked at all, either because they had broken parts or because they needed power to operate.  We stayed for a little under an hour and then I headed to the Frangipani to enjoy the pool   What a lovely hotel that one is.

This evening, I went out to Route 60 with a couple of the staff members.  Route 60 refers to a strip of highway that is overtaken by a sort of local night market / carnival / restaurant alley / shopping mall.  I rode with one of the reception staff who promptly ran completely out of petrol about 400 m away.  I hopped on his friend's bike and we drove around to find a corner vendor who sells that petrol in whisky bottles that you see everywhere.  Turns out that the price of gas here is almost as expensive as it is back home.  Importing into Cambodia is pricey I think.  Anyway, I tried not to laugh too hard when I saw poor Mr. Chai sort of kicking along with one foot as he propelled his motorbike to the corner to join us.  We then drove for about 15 or 20 minutes to get to Route 60.  We sat down at these low tables and sat on the smallest little plastic stools I have ever seen.

We all ate a delicious cold soup with cucumber, banana flower, water lily, and other vegatables, all poured over rice noodles.  I paid for my gracious hosts and their friends and the entire food bill for all of us came to $2.75.  There were little kids walking around with glasses of iced juice or lemonade, or empty baskets asking us if we wanted some sugar cane.

After the sun went down, we went over to the amusement park area.  I wish that we had had more time there because a strong wind storm blew up and everyone shut things down very quickly and we had to head home.  But we threw some darts at balloons, and shot rubber stoppers at little tiny toy bunnies.  Mr. Chai won a bag of candy which is now sitting behind the front desk for the evening and night staff to enjoy.

When that wind storm blew up, the vendors and carnies started to tear everything down with practiced speed.  There were some terrific childrens' rides which consisted of bit wheel -like things and other toy cars suspended in home-made metal baskets, which turned slowly around a central pole, and all brightly lit up with lights.  There other fun rides for kids - and even a small ferris wheel.  Route 60 seems to be the place where friends come to hang out, the place to see people and to be seen, a place to go on a date, and a place for families to come and have a picnic and then play games and go on rides together.

We got caught in a traffic jam of sorts as everyone, leaving at the same time, crowded onto the same exit road.  Some idiot in a car decided to back into the traffic of hundreds of motorbikes without someone outside of the car directing him.  And he was also clearly not using his mirrors properly because he knocked over a moto and a woman's ankle got pinned.  She got out of it and I think she is ok but it could have been much worse.  Mr. Chai told me that ever since a bridge collapsed after a water festival and 300 people died, Cambodians are afraid of situations like that one.

I actually read about that in my guide book.  Poor policing and lax safety standards still cause all kinds of problems in this country.  Anyway, we got out and around the traffic circle safely and then off we went back to the hotel with the wind blowing dust everywhere and then the rain washing it off.  On the road, we ran into 2 different university friends of Mr. Chai's just driving along.  The moto culture in Siem Reap is such that you can sort of chat with a friend on a motorcycle the same way that you can on a bike.

All in all is was great evening.  And am so grateful to the kind staff for indulging me and letting me see this very uniquely Cambodian experience.

Tomorrow evening I have a plan to go to see some traditional Khmer dance tomorrow with a friendly American that I met in the hotel.  I will never get tired of watching that.

As always, thanks for reading!

Leslie

On the cusp of changes

Yesterday, Mr, Ouhok picked me up from my hotel.  Maybe you remember that Mr. Ouhok was my faithful former independent gold extractor-turned tuk tuk driver for heading out to schools the last time he was here.  Apparently his daughter just had a baby and he is considering retirement to Phnom Penh although he has promised Diane that he will not leave Siem Reap until she finishes here at CFC.  Above is a sort of shaky video that I tried to take as he approached Aranh school.

Anyway, yes Mr. Ouhok picked me up yesterday and we drove out to the new Arahn High School south of the town.  I was reunited with Chanda who was absolutely delighted at the box of brand new 250 mL beakers that I carried in my suitcase.  Chanda is now the Vice Director at Arahn High School and is even busier than before although I didn't think that was possible.  She showed me the brand new Science labs that had been outfitted with equipment since the last time I was there.

The last time I was there, the school had just finished construction, and this year it has been full of classes.  She tasked me with taking an inventory of all of the science labs in the CFC family of schools and so I started with those ones.  I feel like my lot in life is to take inventory - so this means that I can do it pretty quickly.

The physics, chemistry, and biology classrooms were all neatly organized with all of the equipment neatly packed into rows of baskets.  The teacher in me took a look at how neat it was and thought  'it doesn't look like much of this is used because its way too neat' and indeed, Chanda confirmed that if teachers didn't know what something was, then they wouldn't use.  I found many beautiful glass pipettes still in their original packaging, but not pipette bulbs, and other specialized equipment that simply hadn't been worked into one of the set labs that they do in the schools.

Today, Mr. Ouhok drove me back out to Aranh and I took the inventory of the elementary school science labs.  It was here that I found the equipment and experiments that Kyle and I set up last year.  It was kind of cool to see all that stuff again reorganized into actual classrooms.

My afternoon and evenings over the past couple of days have been spent visiting hotels with pools, and enjoying drinks and meals in the comfortable evening temperatures of Siem Reap.  I met a young Dutch woman named Elma and we spent much of that free time together.  The Golden Temple Villa has a several sister hotels and we rented the rickety bicycles that they offer for free and peddled in the crazy traffic over there to be rewarded by cool water, shade, fresh peanuts, and fruit smoothies.  Today, with Elma gone, I biked over to Frangipani and was delighted to see some of the staff that grew to knew the last time I was there.  I swam in the pool amid the lush and fragrant Frangipani trees with blossoms falling everywhere.  I do miss that hotel.  This afternoon I also biked down the main business street and ordered a pair of prescription glasses.  I haven't bought a new pair of glasses in 5 years or so and my prescription has changed slightly.  As I was debating between 3 pairs, an Australian woman with a small Cambodian girl walked in and told me that she worked in the optical field for 25 years and that I had to take the black ones.  And so the black frames I did take.  Turns out she is the volunteer coordinator for an NGO that worked with and on the behalf of children in Cambodia and Diane is a good friend of hers.  Small world.  She was there getting the girl set up with a pair of glasses.  Pretty cool.

After dinner last night and the night before, Elma and I wandered around the spiffy Angkor Night Market.  It's really within spitting distance of what I guess is now called the Old Night Market.  It has a fair amount of local craft work mixed in with junk that is imported from Vietnam or China, and I get the feeling that over time, more and more Artisans will begin to set up shop there.  It is organized in such a way that you follow a board walk around twists and turns until you get to a quiet island bar in the centre of it all, with a spa and a coffee shop.  Pretty nice I must say.  I never really explored this neighbourhood the last times I was here when I stayed on the other side of the river or on Airport Road.  This block that my hotel is on also has some real gems of restaurants that I hope to sample  in due time.

Last night I sat in the hotel restaurant for two hours and delivered a mini lecture to the students at Shad Valley Carleton.  I talked for a short while about Cambodia and CFC, and then gave them some time to break into groups to work on a challenge that I had created for each house in advance.  I knew that they would produce some great ideas and they did not disappoint.  Some of them created games for children to teach dental hygiene or about child exploitation.  Some of created activities where the students could build a model water filter or barrier.  And one group outlined a long-term project for older students to help them transition to the working world.  It went until 2:30 am for me but it was worth it.  I am now sitting bleary-eyed in the hotel restaurant getting ready to head off to Bakong High School.  Hopefully I can finish inventory today.

Thanks for reading (as always),

Leslie

Return to Siem Reap

Last Friday was the last day of school.  Friday evening, I finished my final packing in preparation for my return to Cambodia one more time.  I am very grateful to Heidi for offering (and meaning it) to drive me to the airport for 4:30am.  The highways were empty and we flew along them easily to the airport.  'This is going to be a piece of cake' I thought to myself as I walked into Terminal 3.  Wrong.  I think that every single family and student on Earth was going on a trip to Europe and using the US as a transfer point.  There were thousands of people lined up at the various American carriers.  It took me a while to check in, and after my luggage tags were first printed incorrectly, I began to get a little nervous about ever seeing my stuff again 30 hours later in Cambodia.

After I finally got my tags, I joined the line thought to myself  'why aren't they taking the bags away before I go through security'?  It was only after several switchbacks later, when I rounded the corner, that I realized that we all had to go through U.S. Customs and Immigration because our two countries have such a close relationship.  I had to tell some poor sweet Latino customs officer at 4 am that I was not planning to stay in New York but was continuing on to Cambodia.  He said 'why are you going to such a hot country'? and then stamped me through.  After I went through security, I managed to get to my gate with 15 minutes to spare.

I am not a fan of flying through the US because of this extra step in getting off the ground, and the American Airlines flight itself was nothing special.  I didn't realized that I had to leave the secure area in New York and check in all over again or else I would have stayed in the gate area where the good restaurants were for a while instead of hanging out in the check in area for 3 hours before I could check in with Korean Air.  On a positive note, JFK has soaring windows with trees inside, and I managed to find a quiet bench and took a nap with the sounds of the little birds who live in the airport chirping.

My flight from New York to Seoul was probably the best long-haul journey I have ever done.  I was excited to see that it was the new A380 800 Dreamliner and I distinctly remember gasping (just a little bit) when I saw it.  Lots of overhead space, good leg room, extra washrooms, and a large area that they call a lounge where you can stand around for those times when you can't take any more sitting.  Cleverly, they even filled the lounge with elegant displays of all of the pretty toiletries and liquors that are available for purchase as duty-free.  The cabin crew were all beautiful women with immaculate hair pulled into buns that were accented with a ribbon.  They also had huge starched kerchiefs around their necks.  After some scouting, I managed to spot the lone male flight attendant whose job seems to be to lift up and take down all of the pieces of 'carry on' that do not fit under the seat in front of their owners.  Before we started boarding, the cabin crew formed two perfect little blue and white satin circles for some kind of pow wow and they were so interesting to look at that people actually slowed down to stare.

Upon arriving in Siem Reap, I used my usual strategy of walking quickly (but in a dignified way) to get ahead of as many people as possible.  While most of them were still bemused at the wall of tropical air that hits you when you step onto the tarmac, I was handing the nice customs man my passport, photo, and 20 USD.  I even picked up a new sim card.  The driver from the Golden Temple Villa eyed my two pieces of luggage with poorly concealed puzzlement and I soon learned why.  Tuk Tuk.  He balanced the backpack on top of the suitcase and insisted that it would be perfectly safe.  After we turned our first corner, and I was holding on to everything for dear life, I hauled the pieces onto the floor of the carriage and sat cross-legged the rest of the way clutching my travel pillow to my chest.  Ah Cambodia.  He never new.

The Golden Temple Villa is situated in an excellent location that is a 2-minute walk to both Pub Street and the new Night Market.  They upgraded me to a larger room, and carried up my things for me.  The room is plenty big and has a large window looking over the rooftops of Siem Reap.

My room at the Golden Temple Villa

My first day in Siem Reap, all I did was walk around a bit to orient myself, purchase some groceries and sunglasses, and sort through some of the science supplies that were kindly donated and carried over in my second suitcase.

Tuk tuk making his way

I met Diane at the FCC for cocktails and to hear all of the latest news from Caring from Cambodia.

When I was here last time, the new high school was literally empty, and there was only one equipped science classroom.  During my visit last time, funding came through to pay for more science labs, and she tells me that they have all been set up.  Tomorrow I am heading out to Aranh high school to see Chanda, who is now a vice principal, and start to take an inventory of the equipment in the three labs there.

The lovely Terrace of the Elephants hotel

I am hoping to identify some missing key elements and purchase them with the funds that have been donated to my fundraising site.  Thanks again to everyone who donated.

Yesterday I spent the morning working on my Shad Valley lecture and workshop activity, and in the afternoon a Dutch girl that I met whose name is Elma and I biked over to the fancy sister hotel of our guesthouse to use the pool.  Dinner in Pub Street Alley and a stroll through the Night Market rounded out our day.  Things are getting so fancy now in Siem Reap.

Pub Street sure looks different during the day

 I did not think that Pub Street could get any crazier and I thought that the giant neon signs saying PUB STREET that hang above everyone's heads was a good way of letting you know that you are in the middle of it all, but now there are also these curious little multi-coloured cubes that are hanging from wires suspended over the street.  It is all very festive.  I will try to get a photo at night,

Thank you for reading!

Leslie