this photos is of Michael (Peace Core Volunteer down in Svay Rieng) and Fiona, we were visiting a Pagoda (again), this one called Svay Chrum Pagoda.
This is the market place in Svay Rieng. all the rubbish is pilled out into the middle of the street through the day, gets stomped down by the shoppers and cars and motorbikes and bicycles and small children during the day, and the dogs and cats drag off bits, and then the little ants and cockroaches chomp away at it, and then eventually, in the depths of the night someone comes and picks up what is left puts it into a huge basket and carries it off to who knows where...
The witch with purple pants, her broom and her Cat. This is the name of my next novel. This is Fiona's cat, called 'Dom Ruit' (or something similar). Which when pronounced right it means 'Policeman'.

Visited Fiona's house over Khmer New Year, down in the south by the Vietnam border. A little town called Svay Rieng. Very very cool place, and now my weekend retreat from the city. This photo shows Helen (Australian volunteer), Fiona and I enjoying a home cooked dinner! Helen played mother and spoilt us all, bringing loads and loads of good home comfort food from Phnom Penh.
Here are some extremely happy kids down in Svay Rieng, enjoying the Khmer New Year festivities. Khmer New Year is one of the major festivals here, and a bit like our Christmas (in terms of holidays, and families getting together).
A beautiful beautiful pagoda, called Prahout Pagoda - again down in Svay Rieng. I'm looking forward to passing lots of these on our bike trip through the country in December - they litter the countryside in a similar way to churches in Eastern Europe.
And, best of good luck for Khmer New Year! It rained and hailed on the last day of the 4 day New Year celebrations, a very good sign. Here is me doing a rain dance with the frogs which appeared from nowhere and hopped all over the show. It was the first time it had hailed in 30 years - Fiona's 27 year old friend visited her house after the storm and said he had never ever seen hail before in his life!
And yes - in the name of safety I invested in a helmet (in New Zealand). Very good move, as the roads here are shockingly bad. The trouble is I accidentally brought a SPACE HELMET, not a motorbike helmet. As a result, not only do people stare at me because I am white, but also because I am wearing the most ridiculous sized, hot air balloon shaped and sized thing on my head. However, the oxygen supply used for out of space travel is a bonus on hot days. Was very pleased to find out that the bikes in this country are built for people just my size, so I can easily reach the ground. I also dont usually show as much leg as this photo would suggest... i am in actual fact wearing an ankle length skirt!

PHOTOS FROM THE PAST FEW WEEKS (text update to follow in a few days... sorry).


...the above two photos were taken in Pagoda's - the equivalent of monasteries here. Khmer New Year has just been here (best of luck to everyone for the new year), and a Pagoda is the place to hang out during the festivals, dancing, carnival atmosphere, games and food - and lots and lots of people.

Next two photos are from a trip to Angkor Wat (although the bottom photo is in Phnom Penh), with Andrew McGregor from the Otago Geography department back in NZ. Was very fun to have a visitor.
Work photo for the year - can you spot me? (Rach, I'll explain about work in more detail soon!!)

Khmer cultural dance - this dance is called the 'Cardamom Picking Dance' (I'd write that in Khmer, but the script is impossible on this computer!). It talks about the 'Por', a minority group living in the forest, picking cardamom, planting rice and tea, the dance is supposed to portray the way of life of the Por people. And it does a very good job! Was amazing to watch one of the other dances when they wove cloth, you could almost see the cloth being made on a human loom made of dancers, it was very realistic.
This is Sokourn, my Khmer Language teacher! We hear lots of antics about his life, as well as learning some Khmer. (and notice that my hair is getting shorter and shorter.... I have a pair of scissors in my bathroom and keep snipping at it - might need to remove the scissors soon before it's all gone!)
This is Fiona and Sue, just this weekend. We had an easter lunch at my flat - nothing has happened here for easter (which is great), but it's odd for us when the eater egg hunt is real, and you have to search the entire city to find some where with chocolate eggs!
Fiona and I have been spending a lot of time with Nikray, our self appointed Khmer M'dai (mother). Here we are eating (yet again), our favorite lunch of vegetarian Pho! Yummy delicious goodness! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
This is Navy, he is a friend of Callum and Sovuthy from New Zealand - went out to a dinner with Him, a young lady called Tong, and Fiona when she was up this weekend! It was hallarious. Their english is good, but the menu was all in English. Can you read this? We asked. Yes, of course, but we dont understand it! Which lead to a great game of 'what is this'... (tastes like, looks like, is used in, grows here.... GINGER!) etc...

9 April 07

Kia Ora/Hej/Guten Morgan/Hello/Sue S’dai!

Ewwwwwwww discovered a cockroach family in my kitchen last night! Fiona Fumigated the place (even more ewww), and this morning I have the guys on their backs all over my floor with their little legs twitching! I had no idea there was anything which grossed me out more than spiders… it seems long twitching antenna, followed by a little armoured scuttly body are the thing.

I’d take a photo of these huge creatures for you… but as they were still twitching this morning, they have been hidden under bowls for the day – and I’m too scared to lift them up in case the critter runs at me. Animal (these things are large enough to belong to the animal kingdom) cruelty 101 – if they are still alive at all they will have to sit it out in the heat all day too.

Fiona is up for the weekend from Svay Rieng, so it’s been good times catching up with her – it’s amazing how much there is to talk about after four days in this country. We have barely left the house. Although I did go out to a cultural dance performance last night (Sunday), which was good… some long sections of ‘stand up comedy’ in between the dances which was a little hard to follow in Khmer. It’s nice to watch theatre and dance in different places. It was very different to anything we would have watched at home – even if we had been watching Khmer dance. The crowd was full of Cambodian people and children, who all laughed outrageously loudly during the comedy, and would repeat several sections with the actors. Mosquitoes EVERYWHERE, buzzing in and out of your sight (except actually the mosquitoes here are silent. Weird? But highly helpful, especially as just the noise of them makes me itch and distracted).

This morning Fi is off to work early (8am), and I have the luxury of starting at 8:30am. It’s been really nice to have someone around the house (call to all people interested in visiting Cambodia… come and hang around my house!!). Not to put you off coming, but I’ve also tried to make sticky rice this morning… it tastes terrible. I’m not sure if I’m missing a secret ingredient (maybe the little brown beans you find in it when you buy it on the street?), or if I need to use ‘regular’ sugar (I stuck in a little tablet of ‘palm sugar’, which is delicious stuff – it tastes like caramel). Actually in all honesty, I think it’s because I was expecting something like rice pudding – but of course there is no milk in it.

Have lots more photos and antics to share with you all, but will post them later in the day - my computer battery is almost out.

Hope all is well at home
xx
Anna

Floating houses along the Mekong

2^nd of April.

It’s been about a month now since I left home in New Zealand. It’s gone quite fast as we‘ve been so busy – and quite slow, especially when you are trying to get through the day and it‘s stinking hot!

I’m settling into my little house in Phnom Penh – my boxes arrived a few days ago, which made it really feel like home. Some familiar faces on the walls – a few small comforts, some general ‘stuff’ to put on my shelves and a food parcel! It’s funny what makes a place feel comfortable – for me, knowing I’ve got emergency food in the cupboard that doesn’t need any cooking, that I know is safe to eat, and I can expect the taste before putting it in my mouth, is a good thing. I’ll probably keep it there all year just so I know if I’m out of energy to make it to the market and wade through all the people, beggars and fish guts – I don’t have to. (Although when you are full of energy, watching, being watched, speaking with the beggars and carefully walking over top of the fish guts littering the floors of the market can be quite an enlivening experience!).

It’s hot here! It doesn’t help that it’s getting hotter. I haven’t worked out yet if I’m glad to have arrived just as it’s getting warmer (because then I know after May I’ve sat out the worst), or if it would have been better to arrive and acclimatise slowly in preparation for the hottest time (at the moment every day I acclimatise a bit… and as the temperature rises I’m forced to acclimatise more). I can happily say now though, that sitting in an air controlled room at 26 degrees has me looking for something to wrap around any bare skin. Wandering around in the midday sun in 42 degrees is still a little tough at times though (although everyone seems to be sweating it out – even the kids are drenched in sweat as they play or even sit and read!).

Time has gone fast because it’s been so busy over here. Lots of opportunities to take up, boating up the Mekong, visiting various Islands around, even keeping the house free from red dust, and clothes washed takes a fair amount of time. Not to mention trying to navigate the market for food, and then working out what to do with it! And I’ve started work too – which has been good, it’s strange not to be on holiday for the first time since November 2006!

Kitchen on the 'Silk Islands', where lots of tourists and market owners travel to buy the silk woven under peoples houses.

Fiona and I had our first swim in the Mekong last weekend, under the cover of darkness!! Catherine Cousins, who is one of the nicest people I have met to date, was having a little party on a boat and kindly invited us to join. So a little sunburnt (got my first Cambodian sunburn! Woops), we spent the day floating up and down the river.

Boating on the Mekong with a friend from Otago's Mum who lives here in Cambodia.

First swim in the Mekong, under the cover of darkness

Moto-duk rides are the other new discovery. With the arrival of my boxes (hence my helmet), I’ve been sitting on the back of bikes and tooting my way around the city. All good experiences, except one. Fi and I were catching a ride back from the waterfront, two on a bike (not unusual to see 4-5 on one motorbike here), and the back tyre burst. No worries, but we needed to find a new driver. Stranded in a busy part of road we took the first guy who pulled up - realising too late that he smelt of alcohol and was driving in a very sloppy manner. At that point we were also a bit lost, so pulled him up after a minute or so and paid a ridiculous sum (by now having paid our way home almost twice!). In the heat, sweating and lost and a bit scared by our scary weave through the traffic at speed, we wandering around finally finding a nice, more elderly gentleman to drop us safely home.

Fiona on the Mekong, with a Moto-tuk helmet in the foreground

Wednesday 7 March 2007 - Day 1 Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

Well - We arrived today into this hot red earth country. Except it wasn’t too hot (to begin with) - now I am lying in my underwear in Fi’s hotel room enjoying the air conditioning after sweating it out all day. The journey here was good. A quick overnight in Bangkok at first seemed ridiculous, but it was nice to get out of the airport and see a bit of Bangkok - have a shower, watch the cockroaches scuttle around, see our first beggar (with one foot missing), drink coconut milk from a nut hacked open by a street vender, and practice crossing roads with traffic flows like volcanic lava (and look the same lush red).

Got more and more excited as the hours became minutes before we reached Cambodia - though I was surprised at the size of the city as we saw it from the air. I guess a million people is a million people, wherever on earth you put them - and however much money they have (or don’t).

We were met by Sue Knight, Cee Chan and Kate. Nice to see Kate’s familiar face. I barely know her, and yet it was like seeing a close friend. I guess even feelings are relative. When you know many people those you love shine out of the crowd, and when you know nobody those who you have seen before shine out too.

We got a quick look at the VSA office (and email), before: hotel, bank and city drive by tour. The overall first impression? I’m going to love it here! It’s going to be amazing to see the city go through is seasons, see it in the heat, see it in the rain. But also to know it as I change. See it as I first see it, see it when I know my way around, see it when I am so familiar with the streets that I have begun to call it home. I can’t wait to get my wee apartment and begin to really settle here.

What an amazing opportunity. I am beginning to appreciate it more and more. As well as getting a little more scared about it all. I’m totally working on adrenaline buzz at the moment, and dreading the day I wake up and it’s gone, and I’m left exhausted after weeks of burning at both ends - to another hot hot day. It’s going to be scary. But for now I’m looking forward to exploring tomorrow. We have to be at the VSA office at 10am.

Fiona and I after our first lunch in PP

Ive already had a sore belly, but think that might be as a result of lack of sleep and messed up sleeping patterns. Hopefully it will settle in a few days. Looking forward to tomorrow and now must get some sleep! Scary to read Miris blog today and find out they are in a ‘state of emergency’! Hope all is well with them there, and that it adds to the excitement of the experience, not takes away from it.

Love you all

Xx

Anna

Lizards on the walls, I love these little guys.
They are so transparent that you can see their
stomachs right through their skin!

Adrian on the Auckland Harbour (yay)
Me enjoying being out on the water before getting into a stuffy airplane
Sandra and I on the boat
Fiona and I after swimming on board
YAY - ready to go

Sunday 4^th March

Actually it is early on the morning of Monday 5^th of March. I have less than 48 hours left in NZ and I am sitting on a 43ft yacht in the Auckland harbour! Adventures just keep arriving. I contacted Adrian and Sandra to see if we could meet up for a coffee and it has resulted in an evening sailing, dining and complete with a sleepover on their watery home. It’s superb!

Fi and her boyfriend Jeremy joined us too - really nice to see Fi and make some final last minute plans, nice to meet Jeremy as well, as I’m sure Fi will be raving about him over the next 9 months (she’s already been raving for months). He seems awesome, and added bonus - knows his way around boats! To kick of the evening Fiona and I jumped from the overloaded little row boat on the way to the yacht (anyone who goes boating with Adrian will know what this means) and swam it instead. It was a good half hour or so, and it felt so nice to be doing something ridiculous and impromptu - swimming along, miles from anywhere, in warmish water chatting away about things like sunlight soap and mosquito nets (part of the mental packing process). It was great to have someone courageous in the water with me! Means I can be brave too and do things like swim out to yachts!! Something I would never attempt on my own. Having travelled solo normally it’s going to be fun to have a travel buddy!

Cool seeing Adrian and Sandra again too. It’s been a while, I wish I had some more time here. I think I’m going to spend a lot of time talking to Adrian when Dunedin’s community centre gets going. Like Ben Nicholls he has a lot of good thoughts, and knowledge and experience. Nice to be running into them and crossing paths during adventures too. Like seeing them in Berlin which was the last time we overlapped properly. I think I’m liking being grown up and having grown up friends. It’s a whole other world opening up.

So I’m on the road again! Every now and again I wonder why I am doing this kind of stuff? Building a wonderful store of memories and experiences - and it is getting quite extensive, sometimes I surprise myself when I think over all the things I have seen, been a part of or experienced in some way. Its been a busy 22 years. I think soon I’m ready for a more settled stage - a growing and building experience rather than a frantically gathering, exploring and watching time. I’ve explored lots and seen many things. Now I want to have a go at creating something others can come and see, learning stuff by staying in one place and kind of being introverted towards one place rather than extroverted and ducking in and out of different cultures, communities and lives… if that makes sense. Sometimes I feel I cant explain it all very well - its so contradictory yet makes perfect sense!

Talking with Sophie and Harry, and now Adrian tonight I am getting more and more inspired about this community centre! It would be grand if I could mix it with a masters of planning. My research for Uni would pretty much be what I would be wanting to do in my own time for the centre anyway - very complimentary! I’ll keep thinking about it during this year, and perhaps feel clearer about it after 9 months of long hot evenings!

Anyway, download photos and head to sleep. Tomorrow will be busy getting ready to go! How exciting! I can’t wait (after feeling for ages that I might prefer to stay here, I’m glad I have this feeling of excitement and joy at going!). Yippee -

Xx

Anna

Sophie and Harry - Devonport, Auckland
Kim and Lor at the Bedford St Paradise!!

Rach and Anna, Portobello pizza gathering
Mitch above, and Em, Anna and Jana below at Tomahawk

Pete and Matt - You guys are awesome!


The Royal Terrace Crew making Pizza!

3 March 2007 - Good bye Dunedin

Day 1. I’m exhausted! It’s been several weeks of overdrive (not so much in productivity, but certainly emotionally). Fitting everything into an ever decreasing time frame. But it seems all is done. I haven’t thought of anything major I have left behind (except my copy of my VSA contract). And Fi rang me today to say our passports have arrived today with 3months of visa stamped into them. Yay!

I still don’t feel sad at leaving. It’s been an awesome summer - long, warm and full of so many lovely people. I feel as if there is a huge wall of sadness I will strike at any moment - perhaps it will be on the plane from Auckland to Bangkok? Maybe this time it’s different - because I know I’m coming back (and so soon!). All the other times have been on one way tickets, with the vague possibility that I might end up taking random opportunities which keep me away for a while. I guess that possibility is always there.

But for now I am nothing but excited. This is also a new feeling. Apprehension is the only other feeling I have had regarding leaving - but since two days ago I have really felt excited about going.

It has been good not having a place of my own for the last wee while. Now I am really looking forward to getting a base and being able to lay out my things, see what is there and start working out how to do the best I can with what I have. I’m much better at having a challenge, minimal resources, making do and improvising than I am at having too much stuff and having to decide which of it to select. I’m glad the packing is over! It must be the worst part of this process! Still - I think I’ve done reasonably well. As always mum is right, and I have much too much stuff, and wont need half of the two warm things I brought with me. It’s been really weird for me travelling with out my usual essentials (such as a sleeping bag and a rain jacket - I couldn’t bring myself to travel without thermals and snuck a pair into my bag at the last minute. Maybe I‘ll end up in Tibet or somewhere and need them).

I don’t think its registered yet. I am leaving the country for 9 months in a few days. It sill seems a while off.

I have landed in Auckland, and was pleased to do my first solo gear lug across an unfamiliar city, navigating bus and ferry routes (yes, this is my first time out and about in Auckland!). Now I am snuggled up with Sophie and Harry in their little Buddhist Centre munching on fantastic vegan delights and turning the compost. Making plans for eco communities, community centres and paper recycling plants! These two are inspirational and I love them so much! Harry’s garden is superb (Mum can you email me the chocolate zucchini cake recipe for them?), they have tomatoes growing everywhere, and even self seeding in the compost pile! Things just seem to grow here, and not surprisingly given the heat. I’m told its hot because of the humidity - yet this is at least a bit of a slow acclimatisation to Cambodia. By the time we’ve hit Bangkok too, Phnom Penh wont be such a shock for my little Dunedin acclimatised body. I’m a bit worried about the heat actually. I can do well, but I need my body to be working to be able to do it. Headaches and exhaustion from heat and lack of sleep (because of heat) sound like they could really put a dampener on the best of plans. Energy - it’s so vital. But we never notice or thank it until we don’t have it. Then we really miss it.

Anyway, an effort for an early night to try and strengthen the body mind and resolve for tomorrow and the weeks to come. Really happy to be on the road again (surprisingly), feels good to be carrying my belongings in a backpack around with me, to be washing my undies daily by hand, and exploring new places. I guess the travel bug hasn’t left after all - it was just dormant.

Love you all

Xx

Anna