USA International School - Tree planting

Friday was a holiday here. Day off school, but had a duty to do. Go out to the tree planting at Rokar pagoda in Battambang. Apparently this is a 3 monthly occurrence, but this is the first I had attended. We where to meet at TR branch for USA International school and continue on to Rokar via motor scooter and the school's mini vans. Meeting time 7am!
Arrived at the branch to find teachers and the adult education student milling around. No one seemed in a particular hurry to get going, but then that is the way of things here. The adherence to timetables being a foreign concept and is possibly one of the things that people both love and hate about living here. Marady and I were meant to bring food for a picnic that we were meant to be having. I found the teachers I work with in the crowd and chatted briefly to them. The other foreign teachers were there too. These people offer a much more interesting and easy conversation. Marady said she was going to go grab some food to take with us. I passed her the keys to the moto and a small amount of money. I asked her if she knew our destination and she nodded. Poom Rokar (Rokar village) out towards Phnom Sampov.
I grabbed my camera and started snapping shots of the assembled crowd. This was one of my duties for the day. One that I love. Being in charge of DSLR is always good for me! Chat, click, click, chat. Make students and teachers pose. Chat, click, chat, click, click. Then the assembled group started filing into the mini vans and fetching their scooters. Marady was not yet back, so I was a little worried. Needed to follow this group as I had only the vaguest idea where I was going. But Marady had said she knew, so hopefully no problem. Vans and motos started leaving and still no Marady. I gave her a call and said hurry up!
Waiting on the now deserted side of the road, slowly puffing on a cigarette, waiting, wondering. Marady finally arrived and I knew that about 10 minutes had elapsed since the departure of the group. Marady said to me "Don't be mad!"
I quickly went through town and headed toward Phnom Sampov. Watching all the way to see if I could spot the USA school vans. We managed to get out all the way to the mountain and still no vans! Yikes. Grabbed the cell phone and dialed one of the other teachers. "Danny, Danny, please put on one of the Khmer teachers!" and handed the phone to Marady. Then the phone ran out of credit! This was turning out to be a shite day! Spied a phone shop and dashed inside. Brought some credit and phoned again.
Now armed with the vaguest of directions we headed back towards Battambang. Took a left at a service station and headed off in the country side. Marady said to stop at one of the road side stalls because she wanted to ask if this was the road to Poom Rokar. This is a normal way of navigating in Cambodia. One day their love for smart phones might go beyond games and they will discover that most have a GPS built in, and maps and the like. I actually prefer for people to give me co-ordinates. So much easier!
After it was firmly established that we were on the right road we continued the travel. One eye on the gas gauge, one on the road. We are heading into the back of beyond with not alot of petrol. I rued the fact that I had not topped up before I left, and with how luck was running today I was almost certain I would end up on the side of the road with no gasoline in sight.
After what seemed like and eternity of travelling down a dirt road the village loomed large! There was the Pagoda! And better still, the USA School vans! We were in the right place. grabbing the camera I quickly got to work, snapping pictures of the teachers and students planting the trees. Also of the monks that were offering a blessing to the trees. Wonder if now would be the time to mention that I am a minister in the church of eternal light and that I could bless them too. But thought the irony of a atheist doing this would be lost on them.
The USA International school certainly has done a great thing here with it's offering of tree planting, Cambodia leads the world in one thing. Deforestation! So big ups to this school for doing this.
We left after about an hour and a half after chatting with the appropriate people and headed for home. Hoping to find a petrol station in a hurry. But arrived home safe and sound without so much as a drop of rain falling on me. Must of shaken all the bad luck for the day!


 

Battambang Airport

Traveling out to Battambang airport I didn't know what to expect. My colleagues at work talked of a place where the air is fresh and there is plenty of greenery.  But in my heart I knew what it would be. One of the many derelict buildings and institutions littered around Cambodia. From old railway stations to fabulous multi million dollar investments. They have an air of a ghost town, a place that time has forgotten.The last scheduled air service out of the airport was in 2004. As the road from Phnom Penh was completed and it became a more comfortable ride, not the day long excursion along a poorly maintained dusty and dirty tracks with the ravages of war evident to all, the need for an air service was no longer needed. Built in the 50's it serviced Battambang with a freight and passenger service, but it is cheaper to operate this on the roads via buses and trucks now. The frugal Cambodians would never stand the price of a air flight when the bus only takes about 4 hours longer, but costs a pittance in comparison.
The journey is a mere 3 kilometers from Battambang city, the turn off being almost directly opposite Battambang University. We approached the gates to the Airport and caused a guard to get up off their plastic stool to greet us. He of course wanted a little 'tea money' to allow us to pass. 500 Reil, or to put in other terms, around 12.5 cents. I forked over the money and rode on.
The layout to the the airport is a 1950's style. What I mean by t
h
is is that it has none. The buildings are utilitarian, not for being pleasing to the eye. I drove around the buildings and proceeded onto the tarmac. How often do you get to ride a motor scooter on a runway. The runway is surprisingly long. At about 1600 meters it is possibly big enough to land and take off a ATR-72 or a Dash-8. There are also three disused open ended aircraft hangers. The size of which would accommodate a Cessna Caravan or a similar aircraft. These again are built in a utilitarian manner.
I stopped to take some photos along the way, just for fun. The most striking thing about the airport is that it has become a hangout for the youth of Battambang. There are no shortage of freshy boys on the new stylised motor scooters or young Khmer ladies displaying fashionable clothes and painted faces. How very quaint! I guess it is a meeting place for youth to find a girlfriend/boyfriend. There are also the ubiquitous collection of cheap food and drink stands. Perfect for a Khmer day out. 
I left after spending about an hour looking around the grounds and buildings. On the ride back to my house I was lost in thought. The absurd waste of money and infrastructure. Surely this place could now find a better use than as a meeting place for Khmer. Possibly as a freight Airport from the nearby Thailand, or even as a cheaper option to fly from Bangkok. Battambang, after all is a mere 2 hours to Siem Reap. It could also be converted into a drag strip or some such thing. Maybe to race cars or motorbikes along. Oh well, in a country of lost opportunities I guess that this is a fitting end.  

Battambang, Cambodia visa extention

Oh no! Visa renewal time. After living in Cambodia for 2 years now this has just become common practice. It a little bit of an inconvenience and a reasonable part of the cost of living here. I used Mottah travel when I was in Sihanoukville, but after leaving behind that shit hole of a town, where do you get your visa renewed?

Apparently all the towns in Cambodia you can get visa renewed at the local police station. These are the coppers in the brown uniforms rather than the ones that are in the blue which are the traffic police. As a side note I have never been stopped by the traffic police in Battambang. However, in Sihanoukville this was almost a daily experience. But the locals say "In Sihanoukville the police make there money from foreigners, in Battambang they make there money from the law". Most Barang wear their helmets, have drivers licenses and have motorbikes and cars that are in a good state of repair, so no money to be made in stopping them. Long may this continue!

The Police station in Battambang is located out towards the Ta Dambong statue, behind the President Hotel. It is a small and nondescript building and could easily be overlooked. There are however several Cambodian flags that are a dead give away!

Checking the status of the Visa I noticed I had about 5 days to sort it out so though "I'm on my lunch break, lets go find the building and try my luck!"

I found the building easily and though this might be my luck day. I had my Passport and a passport sized photo in my bag and the money required to pay the fee. Sadly, as I made my way into the compound I realised they kept the rather odd public service hours of Khmers. 8:00 AM till 10:30 Am when they break for lunch. Then return for the 1:30 PM till 4:00 PM shift. Open for a mere 5 hours a day. It was 11:30 PM. They were busy eating lunch and far too busy to help out a poor foreigner.

I concluded that the next day I would have to arrange a couple hours off in the morning to go and complete this task. The options being a trip to Phnom Penh, which would be at least 2 days, a trip to Siem Reap where there is apparently a large crack down on work visa for foreigners, including back dating the cost back to when you first came to Cambodia regardless of whether you had been working that time or not. The final option was popping over the border to Thailand. This held a certain appeal as it puts you back the the first world more or less. But coming back over the Poipet border is always a pain!

Time off arranged, with no loss of pay which was even better, I set off towards the Police station with my Khmer girlfriend in tow. We arrived at 7:55 AM so hopefully would be first in, best dressed! The were a large crowd of Khmers hanging around because Hun Sen had foolishly arranged a $4 passport (usually about $138!). The infrastructure is simply not set up to accommodate the number of passports the $4 fee would attract. However 300,000 Khmer have been deported from Thailand in the last 2 weeks where they have been working illegally without any documentation, which means no passport, and this is simply going to flood the local labour market and lead to hardship for the economy.

There is a separate desk for visa renewals, which is nice, and I was ushered to a chair at this desk. Passport, photo, phone number and cash at the ready all I needed now was the person who was meant to sit at the desk. In usual Khmer public service efficiency they had not yet made it to work. Oh well I thought, anytime soon! The anytime soon turned out to be an hour and a quarter later! Damn! I got to get me this gig! They said sorry, which was nice, but I knew they didn't mean it.

The actual process of getting the Visa renewal was simple! 5 minutes, exchange of passport, photo, cash and phone number. Six months for $168, not bad as the have to send all the passports to Phnom Penh. They have said they will phone when the passport is back in about a week. Hoping that it is all going to go smoothly!

Will update with the time it actually took later.

Banan Winery

The day broke grey and trying to rain. Laying in bed on a Saturday wondering what to do. This is my day off, a brief respite from a week of teaching people English. I saw the advertisement for Banan winery laying beside the bed. A winery! In Cambodia! 12 kilometers from Battambang! Coffee, a quick shower and we found ourselves winding our way down a narrow road heading for a vineyard. The road was lined by fire trees in bloom trying their best to brighten up the grey day and the smell of tropical flowers and people starting to prepare lunch. A narrow road, it made sure that you stayed alert. Dogs and people standing on the road, risky overtaking procedures and the occasional truck laden with dirt travelling to another building site in Cambodia.

I checked the odometer to see if 12 km were up yet. Almost there I thought. Then I caught the sign post out of the corner of my eye. Not all things are well marked here. A quick U Turn and we had arrived. Sadly the grapes were not on the vine. After talking to an employee we discovered that they harvest in September. We were much to soon. Also it was surprising that the person who was meant to be looking after us kept on disappearing and had remarkably poor English skills.

A nearby notice board proclaimed 12000 vines with a mix of Shiraz and Black Opal. My mind wandered back to New Zealand and the fabulous Shirah style that we make from this grape, or possibly it could be the similar to the explosive Shiraz from Australia with it's jam like qualities.

No free wine tasting was on offer, but you could have a glass of their finest red for $2, it was priced at $15 a bottle so possibly a fair price. A quick swirl of the glass, a sniff and I thought I was not in for a treat today. A small sip and my suspicions were confirmed. Not without it's charm, but never the less a poor quality wine. Like many things in Cambodia quality is almost an after thought. Sad really, because it had so much potential.

Finishing the glass of wine we headed for a quick walk around the vineyard and then the short trip back to Battambang.

Rubbish disposal in Sihanoukville

Shameful habit of burying ones rubbish in the sand is rife here. Or taking to the beach to burn. The attitude is that the river or sea will 'eat' the rubbish, then you don't have to see it or worse, pay someone to collect it from you. It all gets washed out to sea to pollute the ocean.

Wondering what I do in Sihanoukville?

Hi all,

Wondering what I do in Sihanoukville? Watch this.