Xmas trip 2006 (from here down) - In Cambodia: Zen shakes, Xmas day, homosexual Monks, a Lesbian magic man and Buddhist holy water
Where and why
To set the scene, i am staying with a Cambodian friend’s family (Lary) in a small dusty Cambodian town of 60,000 people that boarders with Thailand called Poipet - known as "the armpit of Cambodia" according to the lonely planet guide book. A friend who recently passed through described it as a cross between a western dustbowl town and some kind of purgatory with stinking garbage heaps on the street corners. There are few attractions to the place for anyone but a development worker or Cambodian economic migrant. The migrants come to work in the one of the 7 or so Casinos or to trade across to boarder. The ones not lucky enough to do either eek out a living in whatever way they can - this includes collecting recyclables for up to 3 Aussie dollars per day (on a good day), prostitution, sending their children to beg at the boarder from tourists (or pick pockets), renting out their babies to other children who beg at the border (for sympathy money) or even selling their children to human traffickers. There is a thriving trade in people here with an estimated 30-40 traffickers in the area. Many of the kids end up as maids and adults as seasonal labourers (both with out rights), many go to be beggars in Bangkok (some can earn up to 500B ($17 AUD) / day doing this but it nearly all goes back to a big boss) and the unlucky ones end up as child prostitutes.
I guess that's why I’m here really because it's certainly not for the great party scene. Some friends and i do this --> http://carpets.wyps.org and to help some families and kids break out of they cycle of poverty away from the boarder and get the kids in school. For updates on what's going on in the project check out http://cambodiaproject.blogspot.com.au
Zen master shake magic
So far the best thing the place has to offer is a unique "shake". Shakes are all over the place in Thailand and Cambodia and are basically fruit blended with ice and a bit of sugar/syrup and occasionally msg or salt. They are great! The rumour about not drinking anything with ice in it is a myth the ice is generally pretty clean. Always drink shakes! Anyway, one street shop here is home to the master of shakes. He has total Zen concentration of and the touch of a master chef. Unblinking he deftly adds exact proportions with a face with absolute efficiency only changing his routine to occasionally consider the sake and add a dash more of this or that.
Half the value of the shake is just in watching him make it and I’m always disappointed when one of the others does it instead. The other half is the awesome taste. Some of the ingredients include jack fruit, papaya (paw paw), coconut and other fruits as well as the yolk of an egg. If you are not me you also get condensed milk. Unfortunately the fruit is all pre cut and stored in little dishes in a cold box ready to go strait in the blender so I never get to see all the ingredients. If I ever learn the secrets of making them I swear I’ll hire the Zen master chef and export them to Australia and make a million dollars although we'll probably do away with drinking it with a straw out of a plastic bag.
Yesterday was Xmas day
I got a call from the family and talked to everyone which was all good. A big improvement on 2003 when I was chilling out in a temple in Thailand and pretty much forgot about Christmas. Before coming I promised myself that while I was here I would finally get out of poi pet and see a bit more of Cambodia to balance the slightly warped perspective that i have of the country from always staying in this town. I managed that yesterday and got half an hour away on a motorbike, and saw some village life stopping to play volleyball with some locals and then driving home on the terrible road in the dark - spitting out insects all the way. All good :-)
Homosexual Monks?
On this leisurely ride around the country side we (Lary and I) bumped into a temple and had a look around. On leaving one of the monks started chatting with me. Monks often have something interesting to say and I always like to chat with them and his English was ok but on this occasion i left feeling a little apprehensive after he told me that I was handsome. I'm hoping that it was just am idiosyncrasy of translation but it left me wondering how strict these Cambodian monks are with their vowels - I won't be heading back to find out.
The Lesbian Magic Man
On the note of the slightly strange - Lary's parents returned from their home province with some friends the day before xmas and I had a bit of trouble figuring out exactly who the dad was. Armed with the knowledge that she had never met her biological father and that they introduced me to a roundish little person I had assumed was a woman at first look and when I heard her softer slightly feminine voice. But when they introduced her / him 'dad' it slowly started to dawn on me that Lary had been raised by two women. It took me another day to be surer of this because there are pictures of her 'dad' on the wall in an army uniform with an AK-47 and another with a bazooka as well as wedding pictures. Then there was also the fact that all the male friends treated 'him' as any other guy and he spoke like a guy (Cambodian women say "Ja" for yes and men say ''Bart"), had man tattoos and is a respected magic man. I know that in Thailand they differentiate between normal lesbians and women who decide they are men so I guess the same goes here. The only other possibilities i could think of are a rare transgender genetic disorder when the sex of a child is unsure at birth and left up to them, or that he had some unfortunate accident in the war involving his testicles or that he possibly suffers a crazy hormone imbalance. However the fact remains that the man has breasts and last night he wore hot pink PJs to bed.
I don't want to come across as homophobic here - coz I’m not so please don't take my comments the wrong way - it just makes for interesting reading.
Some of you have heard my story of the crazy monkey spirits I had last time I was here in 2004. It consisted of the boiled down remains of 6 different animals and some serious distillation (tastes a bit like shautruse). My friend Jay wrote it up in "Farang:Untamed Travel" magazine in Bangkok. Anyway Lary's 'dad' is the magic man who made it and has just returned from collecting herbs and other stuff for traditional healing and magic. I'm going to see if he can tell me my future or show me some cool magic. Maybe he will make me a spirit belt like lots of Cambodians wear.
Buddhist Holy Water
This morning I was about to take a 'shower' (read splash cold water on myself from a big urn) when I was handed half a bottle of water and Lary told me to wash with this - It was water collected from 9 temples in the south of Cambodia. So after showering in the holy water of 9 temples I was ready for my day. No idea if this gives me some edge on enlightenment but holy water can't be bad right, as long as you don't drink it.
So, apart from that I’ve just been working on the project and next weekend I’m going to Phenom Penn for New years and will hire motorbike and cruise around the near by provinces. More updates after that.
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and see you in January some time.
To set the scene, i am staying with a Cambodian friend’s family (Lary) in a small dusty Cambodian town of 60,000 people that boarders with Thailand called Poipet - known as "the armpit of Cambodia" according to the lonely planet guide book. A friend who recently passed through described it as a cross between a western dustbowl town and some kind of purgatory with stinking garbage heaps on the street corners. There are few attractions to the place for anyone but a development worker or Cambodian economic migrant. The migrants come to work in the one of the 7 or so Casinos or to trade across to boarder. The ones not lucky enough to do either eek out a living in whatever way they can - this includes collecting recyclables for up to 3 Aussie dollars per day (on a good day), prostitution, sending their children to beg at the boarder from tourists (or pick pockets), renting out their babies to other children who beg at the border (for sympathy money) or even selling their children to human traffickers. There is a thriving trade in people here with an estimated 30-40 traffickers in the area. Many of the kids end up as maids and adults as seasonal labourers (both with out rights), many go to be beggars in Bangkok (some can earn up to 500B ($17 AUD) / day doing this but it nearly all goes back to a big boss) and the unlucky ones end up as child prostitutes.
I guess that's why I’m here really because it's certainly not for the great party scene. Some friends and i do this --> http://carpets.wyps.org and to help some families and kids break out of they cycle of poverty away from the boarder and get the kids in school. For updates on what's going on in the project check out http://cambodiaproject.blogspot.com.au
Zen master shake magic
So far the best thing the place has to offer is a unique "shake". Shakes are all over the place in Thailand and Cambodia and are basically fruit blended with ice and a bit of sugar/syrup and occasionally msg or salt. They are great! The rumour about not drinking anything with ice in it is a myth the ice is generally pretty clean. Always drink shakes! Anyway, one street shop here is home to the master of shakes. He has total Zen concentration of and the touch of a master chef. Unblinking he deftly adds exact proportions with a face with absolute efficiency only changing his routine to occasionally consider the sake and add a dash more of this or that.
Half the value of the shake is just in watching him make it and I’m always disappointed when one of the others does it instead. The other half is the awesome taste. Some of the ingredients include jack fruit, papaya (paw paw), coconut and other fruits as well as the yolk of an egg. If you are not me you also get condensed milk. Unfortunately the fruit is all pre cut and stored in little dishes in a cold box ready to go strait in the blender so I never get to see all the ingredients. If I ever learn the secrets of making them I swear I’ll hire the Zen master chef and export them to Australia and make a million dollars although we'll probably do away with drinking it with a straw out of a plastic bag.
Yesterday was Xmas day
I got a call from the family and talked to everyone which was all good. A big improvement on 2003 when I was chilling out in a temple in Thailand and pretty much forgot about Christmas. Before coming I promised myself that while I was here I would finally get out of poi pet and see a bit more of Cambodia to balance the slightly warped perspective that i have of the country from always staying in this town. I managed that yesterday and got half an hour away on a motorbike, and saw some village life stopping to play volleyball with some locals and then driving home on the terrible road in the dark - spitting out insects all the way. All good :-)
Homosexual Monks?
On this leisurely ride around the country side we (Lary and I) bumped into a temple and had a look around. On leaving one of the monks started chatting with me. Monks often have something interesting to say and I always like to chat with them and his English was ok but on this occasion i left feeling a little apprehensive after he told me that I was handsome. I'm hoping that it was just am idiosyncrasy of translation but it left me wondering how strict these Cambodian monks are with their vowels - I won't be heading back to find out.
The Lesbian Magic Man
On the note of the slightly strange - Lary's parents returned from their home province with some friends the day before xmas and I had a bit of trouble figuring out exactly who the dad was. Armed with the knowledge that she had never met her biological father and that they introduced me to a roundish little person I had assumed was a woman at first look and when I heard her softer slightly feminine voice. But when they introduced her / him 'dad' it slowly started to dawn on me that Lary had been raised by two women. It took me another day to be surer of this because there are pictures of her 'dad' on the wall in an army uniform with an AK-47 and another with a bazooka as well as wedding pictures. Then there was also the fact that all the male friends treated 'him' as any other guy and he spoke like a guy (Cambodian women say "Ja" for yes and men say ''Bart"), had man tattoos and is a respected magic man. I know that in Thailand they differentiate between normal lesbians and women who decide they are men so I guess the same goes here. The only other possibilities i could think of are a rare transgender genetic disorder when the sex of a child is unsure at birth and left up to them, or that he had some unfortunate accident in the war involving his testicles or that he possibly suffers a crazy hormone imbalance. However the fact remains that the man has breasts and last night he wore hot pink PJs to bed.
I don't want to come across as homophobic here - coz I’m not so please don't take my comments the wrong way - it just makes for interesting reading.
Some of you have heard my story of the crazy monkey spirits I had last time I was here in 2004. It consisted of the boiled down remains of 6 different animals and some serious distillation (tastes a bit like shautruse). My friend Jay wrote it up in "Farang:Untamed Travel" magazine in Bangkok. Anyway Lary's 'dad' is the magic man who made it and has just returned from collecting herbs and other stuff for traditional healing and magic. I'm going to see if he can tell me my future or show me some cool magic. Maybe he will make me a spirit belt like lots of Cambodians wear.
Buddhist Holy Water
This morning I was about to take a 'shower' (read splash cold water on myself from a big urn) when I was handed half a bottle of water and Lary told me to wash with this - It was water collected from 9 temples in the south of Cambodia. So after showering in the holy water of 9 temples I was ready for my day. No idea if this gives me some edge on enlightenment but holy water can't be bad right, as long as you don't drink it.
So, apart from that I’ve just been working on the project and next weekend I’m going to Phenom Penn for New years and will hire motorbike and cruise around the near by provinces. More updates after that.
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and see you in January some time.
