Why I eat a lot of bread.

Breadman

In flux

Sometimes life changes quickly.

After deciding to split up with Nika a few weeks ago, I have now decided to leave Phnom Penh. After visiting the Cambodian province of Mondulkiri three times I’ve decided that’s where I want to spend the next few years.
The original plan was to teach one more term in Phnom Penh, tie things up with Nika when she visits in August, and then arrange a move to Sen Monorom, capital of Mondulkiri.
But today, on the first day of the new term, I found that the school had decided to cut my teaching load from 5 classes a day to 3. Reason? A student survey showed some students don’t like my “strict but fair” approach. The outcome of this survey is used to evaluate teachers’ performance and the teaching load they get. But what the survey, taken six weeks into a term, doesn’t show is how the students feel at the end of the term (which is what counts): many of them who at first dislike my strict methods come to realize how much they learned. (I’m not the first teacher in Cambodia to lose hours or jobs because too much power is given to students. But I understand where it comes from. Schools are businesses, and students (and their parents) the customers, and a business cannot survive with unhappy customers…) I decided to resign there and then. And arrange my move to Mondulkiri as quickly as possible.
Also, my Phnom Penh apartment has become nearly unlivable: a nearby construction site covers the whole neighborhood in fine dust (plaster, cement, etc.). After just a few days my apartment is covered in dust, and my nose is stuffy all the time. Not healthy at all.
I have by now seen most of Phnom Penh, and the increasing pollution, traffic and people’s utter disregard for other people, the environment, heritage, etc. is getting to me.
Finally, after three years in Phnom Penh I still can’t properly speak or read Khmer. And I simply cannot find the motivation here to study and practice more. I hope that a simpler lifestyle, with more free time, and closer to the locals will help me improve my Khmer language skills.

I’ll have to find a house to rent, arrange a truck to move some furniture, and then figure out the best way to have an income. There are no foreign-run English schools in Mondulkiri, so teaching at a school is out of the question. I might become a private tutor, set up a small school, or find employment with an NGO. I’m not too worried though; I have saved some money that can keep me going for quite a long time. Besides hiking, biking, swimming and fishing, there really isn’t much to do in Mondulkiri: Sen Monorom is a market/transport/provincial government town, with only a handful of small restaurants and guesthouses, an Internet cafe, and a market. So there aren’t too many opportunities to spend lots of money.
Luckily I have made a few friends in Mondulkiri, who can help me getting settled in.

We’ll see what the future brings…

Nika and I have become friends

Nika and I have decided that it would be better for us if we decided to become friends instead of husband and wife.
Our lifestyles, plans for the future and general prespectives on life are too divergent. In other words, we’re too different.

For those wondering about the details: the fact that we were never officially married makes it very simple to split up. A simple phone call did it.
We’re still friends, we’ll keep in touch, and there are no regrets about what we had or didn’t have together. The past together was good, the future not together will be good too.

Bye bye trains

The reason I went from Banteay Chhmar to Battambang is because I wanted to take the train from Battambang to Phnom Penh.
I had taken the train from Phnom Penh to Pursat before, and I wanted to see the whole track this time. No luck, however. It turns out there are no longer passenger trains running between Battambang and Phnom Penh, or anywhere else in Cambodia for that matter.
The railroads in Cambodia are to be upgraded soon though (several companies have agreements with the government) and a new Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City railway is being studied.

I wish…

Sometimes you see a place and you just know you want it. That happened to me when I saw this villa along the riverside in Battambang. I asked the caretaker if it was for sale. It wasn’t, he said. He added that it was owned by an oknya who had already renovated one colonial villa and is now restoring a second. Well…

Road trip: Rubble in the Jungle: Banteay Chhmar (13-17 May 2009) Pt. 2

As a book about ancient Khmer cities (Claude Jacques, Angkor Cities and Temples, River Books Press, 2006) at the library taught me, eight smaller temples surround the temple. Of course I could not return home without having found these eight temples. So, map in hand I roamed the area around the main temple and found… nine ruins of temples! At first I thought the dimensions of the map were wrong. They weren’t, as I found out after rotating the map 90 degrees… Finding a ruin that was not on the map must have confused me. But I really should’ve known the sun rarely sets in the north.
Some of these ruins take a bit of effort to reach because of thorny bushes and rocks, so be careful. On the way to East Mebon, the island temple in the ancient baray (reservoir) I saw several “Danger! Mines!” signs, so be careful, and ask in town about the situation – there is a CMAC (Cambodian Mine Action Committee) office in town with a couple of big barking mine-sniffing dogs.
Unless you’re a temple freak, feel like Indiana Jones, or simply like to walk, only Ta Phrom is worth a visit. It’s only a ten-minute walk from the market, and it’s signposted. With its single moat, it’s a very peaceful place to relax.
(After visiting all these ruins I asked the locals for the names of all these temples. A big discussion started between the villagers, but no one was sure and no one agreed. Never mind…)
Count a whole day to see all of them.

Banteay Tuop
Another temple some 20 kilometers from Banteay Chhmar and built in the same period called Banteay Tuop (Army Fortress) is also worth a visit.
Nine kilometers before reaching Banteay Chhmar you’ll see a large stone gate and a sign with gold lettering) on your right. Follow this road, which soon becomes a reservoir dike road, for about 10 km until you see a sign “Banteay Tuop” on your right.
The right tower is especially impressive, the way it leans over. Spot the timber in place in some of the towers (supposedly original timber from the 12th century.
Ask at Banteay Chhmar market for someone to take you by moto. A return trip might take two hours.

Here’s photographic proof of their existence.

Here’s a map of the town and surrounding temples.

Adapted from: Claude Jacques, Angkor Cities and Temples, River Books Press, 2006)

Road trip: Rubble in the Jungle: Banteay Chhmar (13-17 May 2009) Pt. 1

Another holiday (Royal Ploughing Day and the King’s Birthday, which curiously lasts three days), another road trip. Destination: Banteay Chhmar.

The temple called Banteay Chhmar (’Citadel of the Cats’) lies in Cambodia’s northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey, some 100 kilometers northeast of Angkor, near the Thai border.
It was built in the 12th century, but why and why at that exact location is not clear. Later, additional annexes and walls were built.
Nowadays, the temple is in rather bad condition, and time and looting have removed many carvings. Nevertheless, there are still some very impressive carvings and decorations.
Wear decent shoes to climb the stones and rubble, which are piled up meters high. Look out for carvings of apsaras, musicians, lion-headed telamons, 32-armed gods, and the obligatory four-faced towers. The best time to see the carvings is mid-day, when there’s not too much contrast between light and dark. The best time to soak up the atmosphere is late afternoon, when the sun goes down. Count half a day for a relaxed visit.

The Global Heritage Fund is running a restoration project. $5 entrance is charged.

Here’s a basic map of the temple:

(Adapted from: Claude Jacques, Angkor Cities and Temples, River Books Press, 2006)

Getting there
Camrys and pickup trucks leave all day from the Sisophon transport stop to Banteay Chhmar town, which surrounds the temple. The road is not too bad. Tentative price: 10,000-20,000 riel.

Accommodation
As part of a Community Tourism Project five houses are available for homestays. Click here for more information. There are also seemed to be a few basic private-run guesthouses in town.

Eating and drinking
The town market offers basic food. A late afternoon-evening sweets shop some 100 meters west of the market offers fruit shakes and Cambodian desserts.

Sources:
- Claude Jacques, Angkor Cities and Temples, River Books Press, 2006
- Beverley Palmer and Steven Martin, The Rough Guide to Cambodia – 2nd Edition, Rough Guides, London, Sept 2005

Things I don’t understand pt. 4

When I was looking for an mp3 player I made the following observation.
Why don’t companies learn from Apple? Or any marketing/engineering/writing handbook for that matter: KISS.

iPods are solid products with marvellous mechanical build quality. There were however a few reasons I wanted something else: no FM radio, no possibility to add memory, quite expensive, plus everyone has one.
Creative has some cool products, but check out their website… They list a million models, old and new. And this is where they should learn from Apple: Apple has a very simple line-up. A few models, updated every year. And when there’s an update, the old models simply disappear. Not at Creative: they keep listing years-old models, making the choice very difficult.
So I opted for Sansa: cheap and cheerful. The build quality is quite toy-like, and there are even dust particles behind the screen, but it does everything I want it to do, and sounds great. (Never mind the battery is not user-replaceable, I was forced to install Windows Media Player/it doesn’t work with iTunes, and the video converter software is 100 meg (not supplied on CD) and doesn’t work.) And check out their site: a simple lineup with only a few models: one simple and small audio player, one larger video player, and one in between.

(Same when I researched a netbook. Apart from Apple, most computer makers’ line-up is completely incomprehensible, with different alphanumerical codes for models that look exactly alike.)

And what’s with Amazon? Why is EVERY COLOR of a device listed as a different model? Can you imagine Toyota’s website listing every color of their Corolla as a separate model?

My new toy

Red Sansa Fuze 4GB

Washington, DC (April 2009)

Here’s a very brief description of my exploits in DC.

First of all, Nika and I spend a lot of time carting the two kids, Elliott and Quinn around, which was quite fun (except for the nappy changes and Elliott’s frequent tantrums).

We visited some of the traditional sights: the Capitol, the National Mall and Memorial Parks, the Freer and Sackler Galleries (Asian art), the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the Holocaust Memorial Museum (recommended), Arlington National Cemetary, the Phillips Collection (recommended), and some more.
We took an interesting and fun Washington DC Hop-On-Hop-Off Open-Top Double-Decker Bus Tour twice (once Nika, the kids and me, and a second time woth dad, An and Bert).
We also spend a weekend (and Nika’s birthday) at a gorgeous old “cabin” (made up of two ancient cabins, but very luxurious) in Virginian country.

The day before I left we rented a big and boring Chevy Impala to go to Great Falls Park, and its opposite neighbor, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. It did prove my car driving skills are quite rusty, especially in a big a car as an Impala – which has zero visibility front and rear. An and dad were quite nervous when I drove along Virginia’s country roads. Luckily speed limits there are so severe that I didn’t hold up traffic that much. I’m sure they were very relieved I handed over the whell after less than 10 km.
That evening, we went to see Dengue Fever at the State Theater, Falls Church, VA. Nika got invited/pushed on stage to sing a song with Chhom Nimol, the lead singer of DF.

Here are some photos.