Adrian: off the road and the beaten track

I am tired but restless tonight. Each day has been melting into the other and time has been flowing slowly connecting experiences, emotions, images, thoughts and people. It feels like I have lived in Siem Reap for a long long time. I am attached to my friends.  I feel connected to the locals. They no longer treat me as a sighting. I have adapted so well that they don’t chase me up to offer me tuk tuk lifts or sell me things in the same frequency. I don’t feel, and perhaps this is why I don’t seem, lost. Tonight, I have done the maths and I realise am leaving on Saturday, in just one and a half days. My departure is impending.

I jump on a green bicycle today and head to Matt’s Chilli bar. Matt is a friendly Aussie who runs a bar along the river 10 minutes away from my hostel on the bike. I was attracted to the bar by its beautiful outdoor riverside area with a swing. A few nights ago Matt joined me for a chat as I was enjoying an quiet evening on the swing. Inside the bar I met Annie, Tammy and Eda. Annie has lived in Cmabodia for 10 years and runs a language school and Tammy and Eda work here as English teachers. Annie I have not written much about but I do hope she keeps in touch with me because she is just so interesting.  Tonight I am back to leave Annie my ….marmite jar. Here I said it: I admit I am aaddicted to Marmite and brought it along with me. In my defense this is because some internet forum entries had convinced me that Marmite, which is high in vitamin B, is an effective mosquito repellent (when eaten and not applied to the skin). Soon I find that DEET is the only effective mosquito repellent for me. Annie is gagging for marmite so I think it best to pass the wonderful substance from one marmite junky to another.

But Annie is not around tonight, the bar is heaving  and is unrecognisable. It is mainly a group of 30 jolly men that fill the bar with laughter. They are not aggressive and drunk, just full of energy.

I almost regret getting a beer and sitting at my favourite spot , when about ten of them  come and sit at a table next to me. Have I become a recluse, a hermit and a snob of western crowds? As I observe them swiftly, I think ‘What an odd ensemble on different nationalities and ages?’.   The one closest to me introduces himself and starts chatting away.

Adrian and the boys are an ‘off road bikers’ group. The got together in Phnom Penh and biked around the country through to Siem Reap. Most of them don’t know each other. They book similar journeys at least once a year and travel through countries for 2 -3 or more weeks. There is a Welsh lad who waives excitedly when he hears I live in Cardiff. I mainly chat to Adrian about their journey. He comes to life when he talks about traveling through the countryside and the jungle not following roads and tracks, camping and sleeping in monasteries where they are welcomed by monks. He has crossed Cambodia in just over a week and will continue traveling around the rest of it for the remaining time. Tonight is their night of luxury.

I enjoy meeting people who introduce me to new ways of viewing the world. Traveling off road on a motorbike offers a different perspective and gives you much freedom from conventional routes. I would still prefer cycling through and I joke with Adrian about the group's environmental impact.

Adrian also tells me about visiting Ghana in the same manner. On that journey the group planned to stop at different schools and charities and do some hands on work. The groups are diverse in professions, skills and crafts. Some of the plumbers and electricians were deified in Africa and did essential work to schools and hospitals when they passed through.

Adrian who is down to earth and approachable seem to run a large and profitable business. He is really modest about it.  I am suddenly very tired and the rest of the group wants to head the noisy pub street near the old market. I really want to stop them from going there but then who am I am to interfere with people’s choice? I am somehow convinced that they will not last long there.  

VIllage Schools 4: Pok

Pok is witty and funny. His sense of humour (even in broken English) translates to all cultures and languages. The first time he teases me during the lesson I am taken aback. I am sincerely pleased that he is comfortable enough to be like this. There is not an ounce of disrespect in these young people, who usually really fear their teachers. Our friendly banter develops into an entertaining act for the rest of the students during each lesson. I am also impressed with Pok's connection with nature. He is a farmer in touch with his surroundings and the earth he cultivates. In some ways he is one of the most authentic and sincere environmentalists in the manner he connects to and describes his favourite places, his love of the sunrise in the open space of the rice paddies at; his respect of his livestock and what it offers him. He is one of the few of my students that is not dazzled by the lights of the Siem Reap ‘ metropolis’ but considers the countryside and surrounding nature his favourite place in the world.

Today I am honoured to be taking part in his class. His in the school furthest away from Siem Reap and the Pagoda. It takes us about an hour to get there. His students are representative of the area's population. They seem to be the deep countryside people who are perhaps most detached from the metropolis' ‘ civilisation’. His two classes merge into one: he usually delivers a two hour lesson. Once again we are surrounded and observed by parents and locals. But there are more villagers joining in and observing here than in other schools. And some of them squat down to listen and participate in the lesson despite the fact that they are in their fourties and fifties. During this longer lesson we get the opportunity to practice the last and current lesson a lot more. We play more games and actively learn during the lesson. After all and despite the emphasis we have collectively decided to put on revision and homework, it is often true that the students do not have much time to study in their free time. They work at the rice fields, some of them who are lucky might get the chance to go to state school and they also need to have enough time to support their family during the daytime.

This is a truly interactive session, that involves all of us in an equal and seamless manner. This young man is a conductor, who manages to sound clearer despite his thick countryside accent when he teaches. Phalla also joins in and he leaves the class with a clear message on the importance of studying hard when you can. And perhaps most significantly the importance of hoping and dreaming of a better place for yourself and your community. ‘ One of you might be a teacher, or even a doctor one day’ he says, ‘ you have to believe it and work hard’. To me this is what this is all about: giving these students the oppportunity and skills to learn, to want to learn and to want more for themselves and their community. In a way it is about empowering them to dare and showing them how a combination of work, courage and external support can eventually release them from dependence on external help. How it can release them from the fear of a bleak future, dependence and limited opportunities.

Fernando and Ines

I am becoming a permanent 'feature' of the restaurant, an adopted resident that that facilitates communications, gives directions and has sometimes brief other times longer encounters with people passing through. Today a man in his late forties sits on the table in front of me and to the left admiring the slow flow of people, the passing monks and children. I don’t recall how we start talking. Fernando is a pilot based in Singapore. He trains pilots to fly the massive Boeing 747 aircraft that carried me to Korea. He is here for a three day flying visit with Ines his niece , an airhostess, that stopped over in Singapore. When Ines walks out of the massage parlour above the restaurant the resemblance. Ines is …energy and light. We connect instantly in the limited time we get to talk to each other and discuss Cambodian culture and particularly our observaions on women. She has been here only for 3 days but I find her extremely insightful and perceptive. Her antenna is definitely tuned in.

Fernando and Ines become my Puerto Rican connection in Cambodia. We have a discussion about their family’s history and how Fernando’s family including Ines’ mother, left Puerto Rico for Cuba and later departed for the land of abundance and endless possibilities. It is nice to hear their Puerto Rican accent softening American English words. I feel an affinity to these two and it is so easy to be around them. I am sad to see them go but they have to catch a plane back to Singapore. As my mother rightly says:  ‘the more friends you make the more homes you have in this world’. I think I have two more added to my list.

Festival traffic

Every morning I enjoy strong dark coffee sweetened by condensed milk with my breakfast. I have grown so used to this ‘sweet’ morning habit that I knowI will not be able to shake it off on my return  UK. The traffic and commotion on our quiet part of the riverside has picked up in preparation of the Water festival. There are Khmer people camping under the trees, sleeping in hammocks and guarding their skilfully decorated boats. Today is a bright day and I am quietly contemplating a wander, just a walk to take it all in.

In the past few days the restaurant of my hostel has become busier and has welcomed a multinational clientele passing by as they walk along the riverside admiring the increasing numbers of boats which seem to be increasing by the hour. A token of various nationalities stop for dinner, lunch, a drink.  Dutch, American, German. A French couple stops by for breakfast every morning. They only want to talk to each other and have a routine of finishing their breakfast and taking off on bicycles they rent from the hostel. I meet Lucien the Belgian (volunteer) communications officer of Krousar Thmey a charity set up to help Cambodian deprived children. The charity currently has an exhibition on the water and it significance in Cambodian culture. There was also a memorable and loud group of fifteen or so Italians enjoyed dinner here a couple of nights or so ago. They talked about food throughout the whole meal, comparing the Khmer to their regional delicacies and planning what they will eat next. This is oddly familiar to me and Mr Green who never seizes to be amazed at my ability to talk about food, recipes and creative flavours for hours particularly during meals. It is clear that the approaching water festival has attracted more visitors to Siem Reap or perhaps if they have already been here it has definitely brought them to this side of town.  Siem Reap together with the rest of Cambodia is getting ready for the water festival. There seems to a sloe climax to the celebrations and I am getting excited in anticipation.