holiday road

in february, l&c made the trip down under and spent a week touring nsw and victoria with us. we even brought them to see the nation's great capital... and our place, of course (it was very important to kp that they have a proper aussie cookout experience - he made lamb chops). 

the koalas and kangas were being coy, and the sun was MIA for the first few days of their trip (so much for aussie summer!), but it was a lovely vacation.

sydney, bronte beach

the sydney aquarium, aka, a shocking rip-off

look kids, parliament!

melbourne

torquay beach

l&c, daydreaming about fish and chips for lunch...

there's fish in there somewhere!

bells beach

view from our front porch at the johanna cottages in victoria

sunset over the same field

johanna beach

kp enjoying a well-earned pot at the bistro in laver's hill

the 12 apostles

tree top walk 

le building

i don't think i realized it when i booked my flight, but i decided to go to cambodia because of this building. known as "the white building," or sometimes simply, "le building," this is one of phnom penh's most iconic structures. designed by vann molyvann, it's among the few remaining examples of "new khmer architecture," an architectural movement supported by the recently deceased norodom sihanouk in the 50s and 60s. the movement flourished until sihanouk was overthrown in 1970, and many of the structures were destroyed during the khmer rouge. there are a couple of other great buildings around town, however, including the library and the institute of foreign languages at the royal university of phnom penh (i only caught a glimpse of these on my way out of town, but if i ever make it back to pp for a longer period of time, i may try to get some work there... and i'll definitely go by to get some shots of my own. in the meantime, there are some beautiful pics here.)

le building combines khmer modernism and traditional khmer design (commons spaces, outdoor/shaded couloirs, aeration, inner courtyards, etc). it is home to around 3,000 people (they live in every possible inhabitable space offered in and around the mildew-covered building): families, businessmen, drug dealers, prostitutes... and it is a privileged site in more than one of rithy panh's films. i first discovered it watching his 2007 documentary i've been working on, paper cannot wrap ember. i was struck by how isolated and liminal the space felt in rp's film, how removed the prostitutes he filmed were from the rest of society, and i imagined that this building was somewhere on the outskirts of town, the lone building in a sea of mekong mud and tin shacks. turns out, it was a 5-min walk from my hotel, just down the street from the independence monument. i snapped a few shots on my last afternoon in town, the sun fading fast. it felt like a pilgrimage of sorts. 

strategic advertising, i guess

all good things...

the independence monument

this is my last night in phnom penh. i'm leaving just one day before the week-long mourning period for king norodom sihanouk, who was responsible for both cambodian independence from the french in the 50s... and the khmer rouge in the late 60s/early 70s. i just bought david chandler's book on cambodian history from 1945-1970, so next time we meet i'll be able to fill you in on all the details. just ask.

a tiny part of me is sad to miss this event, most likely the last of its kind in cambodia, and for one of their most iconic and beloved figures, but the rest of me is SO RELIEVED that i'm slipping out before the estimated 3,000,000 folks from the provinces descend on the capital. after what happened here in 2010 during the water festival, i'm sure the city is ready... but i'm quite happy to confirm that from australian news sources. no need to be on the ground.

it was a good trip, despite my initial reticence. i managed to learn a few things and meet a few people, i made a tiny bit of progress on an article. i discovered khmer cuisine and confirmed my love for cambodian music. i had a thai massage and a yogurt scrub. all good things, indeed. but next time, i'm bringing kp with me. you know what they say: phnom penh is for lovers.

looking back, looking forward

bophana center, phnom penh

i spend my mornings in the bophana audiovisual resource center. part archive, part meeting space, part training facility, one of bophana's missions is to preserve the few fragments of cambodia's cinematic past that survived the khmer rouge. and there are few - nearly every reel was destroyed and the vast majority of the cambodian film stars of the 60s and early 70s killed at the hands of pol pot. other materials there include khmer rouge propaganda films, french (colonial propaganda) films, UN-funded edutainment, taped traditional dance performances... it's a treasure box. and a pandora's box of sorts. many cambodians who lived through the khmer rouge would rather forget what happened here 40 years ago, but recent population stats estimate that 40% of the population is under 30 years old. their trauma is passed down from their parents, and is shrouded in silence. they want to understand, to learn, to avoid the mistakes of their fathers. bophana provides the space for that learning. 

it's a pretty amazing place. and on a side note, davy chou's golden slumbers (2012) is a really beautiful documentary about the cambodian film industry... and its remains. at once haunting, bewitching, and devastating - like everything in cambodia - it's not to be missed.

the center is currently running an exhibition dedicated a vann nath (1946-2011), the painter of S21, the infamous tuol sleng torture center. vann nath was arrested in rural cambodia in 1978 for "violating the moral code" of Angkar (which is khmer for "organization", which is how they referred to their communist government), and transferred to S21. he survived because the head of S21 discovered he could paint and hired him to paint portraits of pol pot. one of 7 survivors of an estimated 17,000 prisoners, vann nath spent the rest of his life painting and writing about his experiences.

the exhibition features artists inspired by nath and works honoring his:

be your side, by your hand

i was on the back of a motodop the other day on my way to school, when i caught a glimpse of the sign for some asian bank here in phnom penh. it read: "be your side, by your hand." this is not the only creative use of the english language i've seen here this month, but i find it the most entertaining (with the sushi restaurant's "enjoy your new fresh flavor" coming in a close second). of course, i don't judge. every other sentence i attempt is awkward or inappropriate or flat out wrong, so who am i to throw linguistic stones?

i'm three weeks into my crash course in beginning modern khmer, and here is a list of sentences i can say with relative confidence:

i am not hungry.
i am american but i live in australia.
my vietnamese better than my khmer.
my cat's name is bob.
i do not have any brothers or sisters.
mango is orange.
i can't swim. 
please slow down.
she is a sex worker.
i am learning khmer in order to research cambodian literature and film (this is not exactly true, but it'll be years before i can explain my research interests in khmer)
i'm tired.
maybe i have malaria.

oh yes, and how could i forget: i'm sorry. i don't understand. could you say it again?

khmer is heavily influenced by sanskrit and pali, and in contrast to vietnamese, is not written in a modified roman alphabet. there was considerably more resistance during the colonial era to french linguistic elitism in cambodia, and in addition to preserving their language, the cambodians seem to have adopted fewer words from french (although i was delighted to learn this morning that, like the vietnamese, the cambodians call a spark plug a "bougie," which is french for candle). and whereas vietnamese, lao, and thai are all tonal languages, khmer is not. of course, they have more than made up for the lack of tonal variation with their vowels, of which i count 36! this switch from tones to such vowel complexity has thrown me a bit, but i'm starting to get the hang of it. now, instead of offending people with my tonal gaffes, i do it with incorrect vowels and/or consonants: the difference between "apple" and "fart," for example, is a simple aspirated "p." and good lord knows i won't be asking anyone for help here, because "please help me" becomes "please f*ck me" with the slightest change of one teensy little vowel sound...

the other night kp asked if i was learning to write, and i wanted to reach through the computer and smack him (sorry babe, but it's true). i am almost 37 years old, and i have just taken on my 4th language. this entire venture is a exercise in appreciating the limits of one's own abilities. i am barely hanging on here with my wild phonetic transcriptions of the simple sentences above. i have a book for writing, and i'd like to learn the basics... someday... but i think i'm at capacity.

salonpas: this is what happens in america

i saw this commercial for pain relief patches on tv the other night. you don't have to understand khmer (and i sure don't, honestly i'm not even 100% sure it is khmer) to get the message: send your daughters and girlfriends to study in the u.s., and they'll come back 50 lbs heavier! is there a corner of this world left that doesn't know our culture of excess?

hybrid forms

i rallied yesterday afternoon and made it out to the cambodian national museum, which was built in 1919, following the vision and architectural design of author, historian, and curator, george groslier. groslier was born in cambodia in 1887, and in 1928 published le retour à l'argile, a novel that not only questioned the validity of the french civilizing mission in southeast asia, but suggested that it was perhaps the french who should be learning from the khmer. spend an afternoon contemplating angkor wat, the early 12th-century temple and mausoleum built by king suryavarman II in the then capital of the khmer empire, and you might too. it certainly puts the louvre into perspective. interesting tidbit: the structure is today regarded as exemplary of khmer architecture, but according to the museum website, it's actually an exaggerated version of traditional temple prototypes interpreted through colonial eyes and designed to fit european museum dimensions.

the museum boasts an impressive collection of khmer statues in bronze, wood, and stone, and a number of ceramic pieces dating back to the neolithic period. and there was a strange and fascinating animation video put together by some australian researchers depicting life at angkor wat in the 12th century.

after the museum, i headed over to the silk boutique, which was was lame. but on my way there, i discovered a spa that offers 90-minute thai massages for $24, so it was totally worth the trip! now i know what i'll be doing next saturday.

the highlight of the day, however - aside from the impromptu 'gangnam style' rendition i witnessed in the market yesterday morning... that was special - was the contemporary dance performance i went to last night. i'd read about it on some dude's blog (everybody's got a blog these days), and ventured over to see what contemporary khmer dance looks like. it was a work-in-progress style performance, very casual, and very hybrid. more than worth the $2 ticket price. the dances were all very personal in nature, each meant to illustrate some aspect of the dancer's life, but i found there were ways to read recent cambodian history into the movement too - volatility, lifelines, forward progression... that kind of thing.

it was a pretty good day in the end.

monivong's revenge

well, it was only a matter of time before monivong, montezuma's cambodian cousin, found a weak spot in my otherwise iron constitution... twice. i'll spare you the details. you're welcome.

sisowath monivong 

king of cambodia from 1927 to 1941

(and wreaker of havoc on my digestive system)

i went to the market this morning with my friend mai, and sat there watching while she ate noodle soup with banana flowers and morning glory. i just couldn't do it. i didn't touch a thing the whole time we were there - no fruits, no rice cakes, no noodles, no sweet gloopy drinks (and you may recall that there is little i love more than sweet gloop). in fact, i haven't eaten in the market or on the street once since i got here, and that was practically all i did in hanoi. here, i buy my fruit (and petits écoliers!) at the supermarket around the corner. i eat in tourist restaurants. later today i'm going to go check out some swanky boutique that sells silk wares for foreigners... and i'll probably buy something!

worse, i'm having a hard time engaging. i keep telling myself i need to go to the killing fields, and i keep putting it off. i haven't visited a single wat. i haven't been to the river. i haven't even been to the national museum yet (though if monivong agrees, i might squeeze that in this afternoon as well).

i didn't expect all my cambodia posts to be such "poor me, why am i here?" downers, but it is what it is. for now, anyway.

(beach) holiday in cambodia

last weekend, i spent 8 hours in the back seat of a ford ranger with three other women, eating sweets, lamenting my numbed limbs, and watching my life flash before my eyes... i think it may have been my last southeast asian road trip. 

don't get me wrong, it was a nice trip, and a lovely invitation on the part of my khmer teacher. the company was fantastic, and i'm happy to have seen sihanoukville, cambodia's premier beach destination, and from what i understand, its seediest, most crime-ridden city. i can't say i was all that impressed with the beach itself (this is what happens when you live in australia - you become a beach snob), but it was a fine place to relax for a few hours. 

it's just that the destination hardly justified the trip... i don't know if you processed this when i mentioned it above, but i was sharing the back seat of a ford ranger with three other women. AND! i was riding bitch. sharing it, actually, with my new friend, mai. i couldn't feel my backside after 15 minutes. it didn't matter really, as we were all happily noshing on rambutan and mangosteen, two super sweet, crazy delicious seasian fruits. about an hour or so in, we stopped at a cambodian truck stop for coffee with sweetened condensed milk. i didn't really want any, but desperately wanting to feel my feet again, i went with. and i took some in the end, since i'm crap at asserting myself with asian women. it's a strange phenomenon - they tell me i need something, and i immediately acquiesce. i wisely declined any ice in mine, however, as i've read that while the water in phnom penh is award-winningly safe, such is definitely not the case outside the city limits. but i realized that without ice, which cuts the milk as it melts, i couldn't finish it. too bloody sweet. so i ended up holding it in my lap for the next hour, until we stopped for more fruit and i could sneak out and dump it. but just as i'd rid myself of the coffee, they stuck a piece of candied pineapple in my hand: "yes, eat it, older sister." i don't normally consume this much sugar in a week or more! but i took two bites to be polite, wrapped the rest in a napkin, and spent the rest of the trip wondering about diabetes.

mai

well, wondering about diabetes, white knuckling the passenger seat in front of me, and praying i didn't become a road statistic. the national highway between phnom penh and sihanouk is well paved, which meant our driver (and every other driver on the road) could travel at faster speeds. the speed poses a problem only because it's a two-lane highway serving motorbikes, tuk-tuks, dogs,  pedestrians, "vip" buses, mini-buses, trucks, both big and small, cows, and fancy new cars driven by men who may or may not have been drinking beer at lunch, and if our driver can be taken as an example, who are checking their text messages and listening to their ipods while driving. and the cambodians, not unlike the vietnamese, drive like maniacs. i stopped counting the number of times we played chicken with an oncoming car (to say nothing of the poor motorbikes) shortly after leaving the city. we were, ourselves, run onto the shoulder two or three times as others misjudged the distance needed to pass slower moving vehicle. there aren't many statistics on road accidents available here, but one asian news source i found quotes 1,591 deaths recorded between january and october, 2012. 

with all the cars here now, and the relative lack of driver education or traffic laws (by my count, 1 in 10 motorbikes is driving without headlights at night, and no one seems to care), it's just not worth it to me anymore.

what can't you buy?

a karaoke bar on my street - it's staffed by some rather skimpily clad young women

i'm sorry to report that cambodia truly does attract the skeeviest bunch of western men you'll ever see. so far i've discerned two basic types within this general category:

1) subcategory a: the old, haggard, burnt-out hippy. this guy has long scraggly hair and a definite vd-look about him. he speaks some khmer, has probably been here awhile, and can often be seen with a young khmer woman in a short skirt and ridiculous heels.

2) subcategory b: the young dude here to compensate what can only be understood as his inadequate manhood. this guy roars around town on a dirt bike, making way too much noise. and that's saying a lot here. this guy likely does the same thing back home (in a monster truck or motorcycle), but here he can also shoot AK-47s, eat fried tarantulas, and sleep with very young women for a couple of dollars.

both types are disgusting, and i find it remarkably difficult to hide my contempt when i see one saunter or haul ass by. it only drives home the extent to which the west (starting with the french colonizers, continuing with the UN peacekeeping forces who arrived post-pol pot, and leading straight into the current tourist market for sex and violence) has always been complicit with, if not directly responsible for, the perversion of cambodian society. this is a major generalization that i will not back up with any stats or research, not yet anyway, and this is not at all to say that the cambodians are innocent in all this... it's just to point out an observation. maybe i'll have more to say later.

but for now, i should really get back to studying. this language isn't going to butcher itself!