Part One: The Western Stop Offs, East of Monivong
Street 278 is part of my daily rat-run to the office and back. Four times a day I drive up and down its length from Wat Mohomontrei all the way to its conclusion at Street 51. It is less crowded and congested than the same stretch of Sihanouk Boulevard that it runs parallel to.
However, over the last few months there has been a noticeable increase in traffic on it and businesses along it, specifically along the stretch between Street 63 and Street 51, where several new cafés and restaurants have opened, plus it is that time of year again, when the $5 and $10 guest houses along it are beginning to fill up, most of them oddly enough being called golden something. So as I traverse its length, I occasionally stop off for a coffee, or small snack.
Near and Far; Bar and Restaurant
As I enter the restaurant for the first time, I warm to the waiter immediately, rather than the usual singsong greeting of ‘hello, hello sir, how are you’ the first thing that the waiter says to me as I stroll into the café is ‘wow, good bike; big and strong!”
As I sit down I order a strong Vietnamese coffee $1, and continue to peruse the menu while that is being dealt with. There is not anything on the menu that I would consider breakfast food – although some people might consider ‘black wheat pancakes’ breakfast material although these would probably be the same people that consider ‘granola’ edible by humans and claim that that is a breakfast food as well.
I did momentarily consider the pancakes (I assume that they meant buckwheat) as I read through the various fillings; ham $4, seafood $5, Veg $2:75, chocolate $2, honey and lemon $2 – but nothing really leapt out at me.
As my coffee arrived, with cup-top dripper, I scanned through the rest of the dishes on offer out of curiosity; spaghetti carbonara $3:50, Seafood Tom Yam $4
The restaurant itself is pretty enough, especially when compared with the others in this street. Terracotta floor tiles, a sea of colour coordinated greens tinting everything; ashtrays, cups, saucers, walls, cloth lampshades, light green mosquito nets tied back as drapes, even the thick, heavy, cushions on the wide hardwood stools had a green check to them. Giving the whole place a warm, organic sort of feel. I would guess that somebody had put a bit of thought into designing the interior.
While I had not found anything I fancied breaking my fast on I would have to conclude that it was a pleasant little stop for coffee and a scan through the newspaper – perhaps one to remember on a lazy Sunday morning.
EU Food Restaurant No. 11. Tel: 023 993 220Open at 07:00AM
Having failed the day before to find a substantial, non~rice, breakfast I thought that I would try again with this place. The sign outside proclaimed ‘American Breakfast US$2’ so I figured that this could be worth a try, having placed my order I mulled over the rest of the food on the menu, ever keeping an eye out for an interesting venue. London Fish and Chips for US$3:50, although why London was beyond the menus explaining. A set ‘Asian Lunch’ for US$3:50 looked like it might be worth a try, consisting of; vegetable soup, fish in palm wine, boiled rice and fresh fruit.
Further breakfast options were also on the menu, borrowing a little from everywhere; Cheese and Tomato Omelette $1:50, Toasted Ham Sandwich $1:50, Rice Porridge (chicken, pork or beef) $1:50, assorted sweet pancakes $1 (no savoury options)
The restaurant is just a typical hole-in-the-wall affair, but for some reason, possibly the rattan walls with fake tendrils of ivy, you get the feeling after a while that you are sat in a tunnel of some sort. The chairs were comfy though and at least they had proper cloth napkins, rather than loo roll in a box.
After a rather short wait my breakfast turned up; consisting of; two fried eggs, one small rasher of bacon, two hard chipolata sized German style sausages, two slices of tomato, two slices of toast and a quarter of a slice of a processed cheese square(?) Part of which had been used to arranged a smiley face on the plate with the eggs as eyes. Humm.
Still what can one expect for $2. Leaving at around 07:30 (late for work!) I passed the only other customer that had came in while I was there, a backpacker type from the cheap hotel next-door, drinking a fruit shake and perusing the establishments copy of the Cambodia (almost) Daily.
Khmer Angkor RestaurantOpen 06:30AM until 10:30PM
A few days later, having skipped breakfast that day, and then having been driven out of the office by a power-cut, I decided to have a spot of brunch somewhere.
The Khmer Angkor is a double width hole in the wall just along from the EU Restaurant and Bar.
As I entered I started to wonder if I had made a mistake in trying here, the place looked somewhat down at heel, to say the least, as I strolled past an antique looking Chinese motorbike – a Sym, since you ask – I parked myself down at a tin table and pulled up a plastic chair.
Over wanders an ancient and venerable looking Khmer gentleman who greets me with a smooth sounding ‘bonjour messier’ and a toothless grin.
Ordering a mug of coffee $0:80, I started scrutinizing the menu, it seemed to offer a little bit of everything; fried eggs and bacon $2, barbequed pork ribs $2, burger and fries $2:50, Thai green chicken curry $2:70, chicken porridge $1-$1:70-$2:50 S/M/L.
Feeling reckless, I order myself a Spanish Omelette and further contemplate the Anchor cans at $0:80.
The cloth napkins and table clothes, seemed somewhat superfluous, rather like putting a racing faring on a Daelim.
My meal turned up in good time, while it was not exactly a Spanish omelette, it was a pretty good folded ham, mushroom and cheese omelette.
New Bird Bar and Restaurant: No 4 Tel:012 42 95 42
Being set slightly back from the road front, gives the New Bird just a little more peace and quiet, not to mention parking space for the larger motorbike, I had almost overlooked its recent opening. Strolling into the salmon coloured walls and dark rattan bamboo furniture was a welcome relief form the warm sun and a fan was quickly switched on by the waitress. I ordered a coffee $1, and set about reviewing the menu, not quite sure what it was that I fancied. The reason for that may have been the fact that it was 10:30AM, I had neglected to eat the evening before, being far to busy consuming gins and tonic and had consequently arrived to late in the office for breakfast, so by this point of the morning my head had stopped throbbing, but my stomach had started rumbling.
The menu offered English / American breakfast $3, it also had a host of more luncheon orientated foods; cheese burger and fries $3, bacon cheese burger $3, Philly cheese steak sandwich $4, as well as more locally sourced dishes such as; Thai green chicken curry $3 and Tom Yam (chicken, beef or shrimp) $3:50. There was also a surprisingly large selection of Mexican dishes; enchiladas, fajitas, nachos $4. But I was intrigued by the breakfast burrito $3. Now I greatly enjoy Mexican food, except when I have had it in Tijuana, but the idea of a ‘breakfast burrito’ always seemed to me to be an Americanised version of something, although some of the best Mexican food I have ever had has been in San Diego, CA, where we often washed it down with large glasses of 15 year old, oak aged, tequila. Anyhow, having never had one, I cast caution to the wind, order one up and then settle back down with the newspaper.
I am halfway through reading about Chea Sovanna getting a slap on the wrist from the Iron Man for being ‘too sexy for her song’ when the little darling of a waitress reappears with my cutlery, place mat and napkin; I briefly wonder what One-Eyed Jack would think of her miniskirt and Lycra crop-top before she is gone again and I move on to an amusing article about journalists in Cambodia being reprimanded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for ‘dressing like tourists’ in flowery shirts or tee-shirts when covering the Prime Ministers events – and quite rightly so, sloppy attire is a social plague; I mean, what is to be next, low slung jeans and builders bum cleavage to cover the Khmer Rouge Trials ?
In the middle of all this digression, my meal arrives; two fried burrito parcels on a bed of lettuce, topped of with homemade salsa and sour cream. Cutting into the package, I find them filled with ground beef and refried beans, the tortilla flaky, yet firm, and quite delicious; although personally I could have handled some fresh chillies in the mix. The ground beef was particularly tasty, being tender, juicy and of infinitely better quality than I would have expected.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Friday, January 20, 2006
Cambodian Electricity – aka Bloody EdC
Power-cuts at the office are killing productivity; not to mention my motivation.
After half an hour of blackout the Ministry fires up its small generator which provide enough juice for a few PC’s but no lights and defiantly no air-con. At home, I do not even have any candles left!
Monday the 16th
AM No electricity in the office for 4 hours
Eve No electricity at home for 2 hour
Tuesday the 17th
PM No electricity in the office for 5 hours, go home
Wednesday the 18th
AM No electricity in the office for 3 hours
PM No electricity in the office for 2 hours
Eve No electricity at home for 3 hours
Thursday the 19th
AM No electricity in the office for 4 hours
Eve No electricity at home for 3 hours
Friday the 20th
AM No electricity in the office for 4 hours
Then the generator runs out of diesel and the Ministry has no more money to refill it
THIS IS GETTING SILLY !
After half an hour of blackout the Ministry fires up its small generator which provide enough juice for a few PC’s but no lights and defiantly no air-con. At home, I do not even have any candles left!
Monday the 16th
AM No electricity in the office for 4 hours
Eve No electricity at home for 2 hour
Tuesday the 17th
PM No electricity in the office for 5 hours, go home
Wednesday the 18th
AM No electricity in the office for 3 hours
PM No electricity in the office for 2 hours
Eve No electricity at home for 3 hours
Thursday the 19th
AM No electricity in the office for 4 hours
Eve No electricity at home for 3 hours
Friday the 20th
AM No electricity in the office for 4 hours
Then the generator runs out of diesel and the Ministry has no more money to refill it
THIS IS GETTING SILLY !
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Cambodia's film industry rebounds; Schlock vs Art
When Cambodia recently staged a national film festival, serious drama was in gruesomely short supply: almost half the entries were low-budget horror flicks.
It wasn't always thus.
In the 1960s, now-retired King Norodom Sihanouk was not only the patron of a Cambodian film industry; he was one of its most active practitioners. He wrote, directed and even acted in his own high-minded if formulaic romances and tragedies.
More than 300 Cambodian films were made during that vibrant era, some well-received in other Asian countries.
But when the communist, puritanical Khmer Rouge regime came to power in the mid-1970s it banned all kinds of entertainment and smashed cameras and film-making equipment.
As the country's spirit began to recover from the Khmer Rouge era, and economic revival took hold in the early 1990s, the industry began to rebound. More than 100 production houses sprang up, mostly using video equipment to churn out movies on a shoestring.
But most of them collapsed because of their amateurism, and the industry is still struggling to recover its former glory.
These days, about five movie making companies have the expertise and strong finances to succeed, said Chheng Sovanna, head of the Culture Ministry's movie production office.
"Most of them are accidental producers, who just spent US$3,000 on a camera, bought some tapes, turned on the light and started shooting," said Chheng Sovanna, himself a director who graduated from Russia's State Institute of Cinematography.
"We don't understand the way they make movies."
And the filmmakers lean more toward anarchy than artistry on screen.
At the recent festival, a typical movie featured a female vampire baring her canine teeth in a grin as she looked for prey. In "Nieng Arp," or "Lady Vampire," a flying female head with internal organs dangling beneath it chased a terrified couple in the dark.
Nine of the festival's 22 entries were in a similar vein.
"We make movies to suit the domestic market and the demand of our youths," said Korm Chanthy, the manager of FCI Productions, which made "Nieng Arp."
"They like to watch horror movies because they make them feel excited, thrilled and terrified," he said.
The government wasn't impressed. The filmmakers "injected too much hallucination and superstition" into their work, complained Culture Minister Prince Sisowath Panara Sirivuth.
"Their understanding of moviemaking is that it's just business," he said. "And they have this misperception that, without training, they can still make movies."
The government has touted the idea of establishing a film school, but in a country so poor and reliant on foreign aid as Cambodia the idea is unlikely to get off the ground anytime soon.
Korm Chanthy, 42, used to import medicine for the Health Ministry until five years ago, when he began writing scripts and directing movies on video after receiving some training in neighboring Thailand.
His small studio on the second floor of his Phnom Penh home _ accessible by climbing a steep and narrow metal staircase from a beauty parlor on the ground floor _ uses a mix of computer equipment for editing chores.
Another producer, 29-year-old Heng Tola, was looking to diversify his computer business when he founded Campro three years ago with several friends.
Making a movie takes Campro about three months and costs an average of US$30,000 (£á25,600), including about US$1,000 (£á853) for the lead actor, he said.
Despite the current taste for horror movies, Heng Tola believes a more serious trend is emerging, prompted in part by the resentment many Cambodians feel about its colonial past and toward domineering neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam.
One of the festival entries was a nationalistic epic about a peasant protest against high tax imposed by Cambodia's colonial rulers, the French.
"The Cambodian movie is being reborn after a long absence. Its existence has been up and down, and the question now is how we can make it really stand," Heng Tola said.
The best movie trophy went to "The Crocodile" a tale of the heroism of a man who killed the beast responsible for the deaths of several people in his village.
It starred Cambodian pop singer Preap Sovath and cost more than US$100,000, making it perhaps the most expensive Cambodian production ever, said Eng Chhay Ngoun, whose Hang Meas Video Co. made it.
More than 100,000 people flocked to theaters in Phnom Pehn for its one month season in October.
It wasn't always thus.
In the 1960s, now-retired King Norodom Sihanouk was not only the patron of a Cambodian film industry; he was one of its most active practitioners. He wrote, directed and even acted in his own high-minded if formulaic romances and tragedies.
More than 300 Cambodian films were made during that vibrant era, some well-received in other Asian countries.
But when the communist, puritanical Khmer Rouge regime came to power in the mid-1970s it banned all kinds of entertainment and smashed cameras and film-making equipment.
As the country's spirit began to recover from the Khmer Rouge era, and economic revival took hold in the early 1990s, the industry began to rebound. More than 100 production houses sprang up, mostly using video equipment to churn out movies on a shoestring.
But most of them collapsed because of their amateurism, and the industry is still struggling to recover its former glory.
These days, about five movie making companies have the expertise and strong finances to succeed, said Chheng Sovanna, head of the Culture Ministry's movie production office.
"Most of them are accidental producers, who just spent US$3,000 on a camera, bought some tapes, turned on the light and started shooting," said Chheng Sovanna, himself a director who graduated from Russia's State Institute of Cinematography.
"We don't understand the way they make movies."
And the filmmakers lean more toward anarchy than artistry on screen.
At the recent festival, a typical movie featured a female vampire baring her canine teeth in a grin as she looked for prey. In "Nieng Arp," or "Lady Vampire," a flying female head with internal organs dangling beneath it chased a terrified couple in the dark.
Nine of the festival's 22 entries were in a similar vein.
"We make movies to suit the domestic market and the demand of our youths," said Korm Chanthy, the manager of FCI Productions, which made "Nieng Arp."
"They like to watch horror movies because they make them feel excited, thrilled and terrified," he said.
The government wasn't impressed. The filmmakers "injected too much hallucination and superstition" into their work, complained Culture Minister Prince Sisowath Panara Sirivuth.
"Their understanding of moviemaking is that it's just business," he said. "And they have this misperception that, without training, they can still make movies."
The government has touted the idea of establishing a film school, but in a country so poor and reliant on foreign aid as Cambodia the idea is unlikely to get off the ground anytime soon.
Korm Chanthy, 42, used to import medicine for the Health Ministry until five years ago, when he began writing scripts and directing movies on video after receiving some training in neighboring Thailand.
His small studio on the second floor of his Phnom Penh home _ accessible by climbing a steep and narrow metal staircase from a beauty parlor on the ground floor _ uses a mix of computer equipment for editing chores.
Another producer, 29-year-old Heng Tola, was looking to diversify his computer business when he founded Campro three years ago with several friends.
Making a movie takes Campro about three months and costs an average of US$30,000 (£á25,600), including about US$1,000 (£á853) for the lead actor, he said.
Despite the current taste for horror movies, Heng Tola believes a more serious trend is emerging, prompted in part by the resentment many Cambodians feel about its colonial past and toward domineering neighbors such as Thailand and Vietnam.
One of the festival entries was a nationalistic epic about a peasant protest against high tax imposed by Cambodia's colonial rulers, the French.
"The Cambodian movie is being reborn after a long absence. Its existence has been up and down, and the question now is how we can make it really stand," Heng Tola said.
The best movie trophy went to "The Crocodile" a tale of the heroism of a man who killed the beast responsible for the deaths of several people in his village.
It starred Cambodian pop singer Preap Sovath and cost more than US$100,000, making it perhaps the most expensive Cambodian production ever, said Eng Chhay Ngoun, whose Hang Meas Video Co. made it.
More than 100,000 people flocked to theaters in Phnom Pehn for its one month season in October.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
PRESS RELEASE OF SPOKESMAN OF MINISTRY OF INTERIOR
The last few days the media and other sources, in their own views, have disseminated and interpreted on information regarding the selection of village chief, deputy village chief, and village members.
To ensure that the public are aware of the basic principles of the selection of village chief, deputy village chief, and village members, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior would like to highlight once again that village is not the administrative level stipulated in the 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Article 30 of the Law on Sangkat-Commune Administration states that in the aim of enhancing the effective Sangkat-Commune administration, council of each Sangkat-Cornmune shall select a village chief for each village within their Sangkat-Comrnune
Village chief shall appoint a deputy village chief and a village members who will be her/his assistants,
Minister of the Ministry of Interior shall issue instruction on procedures to select village chief, assumption of [he position, replacement and the appointment of village chief’s assistants."
Therefore, the Constitution and law do not require direct vote from the people to select village chief, deputy village chief~ and village members.
On 22 December 2005, Excellency and Samdech Deputy Prime Ministers and Co-Minister of Interior convened a meeting which discussed and agreed that instruction of the Ministry of Interior on the selection of village chief, deputy village chief and village members must be based on the basic principles stipulated in the Constitution and law on Sangkat-Commune Administration, especially Article 30, and other relevant documents to implement these laws in order to strengthen local governance in democratic and decentralized processes.
In the same token, Excellency and Sanidech Deputy Prime Ministers, Co-Minister of Interior also have tasked technical staff to draft instruction on the selection of village chief, deputy village chief, and village members, which will be submitted for consideration by the Ministry of Interior in the forthcoming meeting in January 2006.
To ensure that the public are aware of the basic principles of the selection of village chief, deputy village chief, and village members, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior would like to highlight once again that village is not the administrative level stipulated in the 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Article 30 of the Law on Sangkat-Commune Administration states that in the aim of enhancing the effective Sangkat-Commune administration, council of each Sangkat-Cornmune shall select a village chief for each village within their Sangkat-Comrnune
Village chief shall appoint a deputy village chief and a village members who will be her/his assistants,
Minister of the Ministry of Interior shall issue instruction on procedures to select village chief, assumption of [he position, replacement and the appointment of village chief’s assistants."
Therefore, the Constitution and law do not require direct vote from the people to select village chief, deputy village chief~ and village members.
On 22 December 2005, Excellency and Samdech Deputy Prime Ministers and Co-Minister of Interior convened a meeting which discussed and agreed that instruction of the Ministry of Interior on the selection of village chief, deputy village chief and village members must be based on the basic principles stipulated in the Constitution and law on Sangkat-Commune Administration, especially Article 30, and other relevant documents to implement these laws in order to strengthen local governance in democratic and decentralized processes.
In the same token, Excellency and Sanidech Deputy Prime Ministers, Co-Minister of Interior also have tasked technical staff to draft instruction on the selection of village chief, deputy village chief, and village members, which will be submitted for consideration by the Ministry of Interior in the forthcoming meeting in January 2006.
ADB $US15M Grant for Sustaining Livelihoods on Cambodia's Tonle Sap
A US$15 million Asia Development Bank grant will help improve livelihoods and reduce poverty in the five provinces that adjoin the Tonle Sap in Cambodia.Despite the richness of its natural resources, the Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, provides an inadequate living for most people living on or near it. Many communities own no land and depend entirely on fishing and foraging.
"Tackling poverty in Cambodia means working with the rural poor, initially where livelihood assets are being fundamentally affected by unfavorable trends," says Rajat M. Nag, Director General, Mekong Department.
"Such trends are obvious in the Tonle Sap region; its indicators of poverty are even more negative than for the country as a whole."The project will help increase access to assets by establishing a livelihood fund to finance small-scale community-driven activities relating to social infrastructure, income-generation, and community fisheries.It will help form special interest groups, assist organizations in formulating proposals for funding, and familiarize government institutions at the central, provincial, and commune levels with the livelihood fund.
The project covers 37 communes surrounding the lake, in which there are 316 villages with a population of 287,430."The asset base of the rural poor must be enhanced and developed.
Without improvements, investments in the Tonle Sap region will become progressively less productive," adds Olivier Serrat, an ADB Senior Project Economist.
At the same time, the project will ensure that the Tonle Sap's core areas are protected by establishing a management system that is compatible with biodiversity conservation.
Core areas are securely protected sites for conserving biodiversity, monitoring disturbed ecosystems, and undertaking research and other low-impact uses such as education.
High population growth in Cambodia is increasing the number of people who depend on the natural resources of the Tonle Sap. Pressing threats to the great lake include overexploitation of fisheries and wildlife resources, conversion of the flooded forest to agriculture, collection of fuel wood from the flooded forest, and widespread deforestation in the watersheds.
The project is part of ADB's Tonle Sap Initiative, a partnership of organizations and people working to meet the poverty and environment challenges of the Tonle Sap. This involves a suite of highly integrated loan, grant, and technical assistance projects to promote pro-poor and sustainable economic growth, access to assets, and management of natural resources and the environment.
ADB's grant, which covers 74% of the project's total estimated cost of $20.3 million, comes from its Asian Development Fund. The Government of Finland will provide a $4.7 million grant, and the Government of Cambodia will shoulder the balance of $600,000.
The Ministry of Interior is the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in December 2009.
"Tackling poverty in Cambodia means working with the rural poor, initially where livelihood assets are being fundamentally affected by unfavorable trends," says Rajat M. Nag, Director General, Mekong Department.
"Such trends are obvious in the Tonle Sap region; its indicators of poverty are even more negative than for the country as a whole."The project will help increase access to assets by establishing a livelihood fund to finance small-scale community-driven activities relating to social infrastructure, income-generation, and community fisheries.It will help form special interest groups, assist organizations in formulating proposals for funding, and familiarize government institutions at the central, provincial, and commune levels with the livelihood fund.
The project covers 37 communes surrounding the lake, in which there are 316 villages with a population of 287,430."The asset base of the rural poor must be enhanced and developed.
Without improvements, investments in the Tonle Sap region will become progressively less productive," adds Olivier Serrat, an ADB Senior Project Economist.
At the same time, the project will ensure that the Tonle Sap's core areas are protected by establishing a management system that is compatible with biodiversity conservation.
Core areas are securely protected sites for conserving biodiversity, monitoring disturbed ecosystems, and undertaking research and other low-impact uses such as education.
High population growth in Cambodia is increasing the number of people who depend on the natural resources of the Tonle Sap. Pressing threats to the great lake include overexploitation of fisheries and wildlife resources, conversion of the flooded forest to agriculture, collection of fuel wood from the flooded forest, and widespread deforestation in the watersheds.
The project is part of ADB's Tonle Sap Initiative, a partnership of organizations and people working to meet the poverty and environment challenges of the Tonle Sap. This involves a suite of highly integrated loan, grant, and technical assistance projects to promote pro-poor and sustainable economic growth, access to assets, and management of natural resources and the environment.
ADB's grant, which covers 74% of the project's total estimated cost of $20.3 million, comes from its Asian Development Fund. The Government of Finland will provide a $4.7 million grant, and the Government of Cambodia will shoulder the balance of $600,000.
The Ministry of Interior is the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion in December 2009.
How donors feel when funds are 'diverted'
IT is all about being transparent from the start when diverting money from one cause to another.
That's what some donors and charity officials told The New Paper.
Said Ms Josephine Lee, 56, a civil servant: 'The article stated specifically that the money would go to setting up libraries, buying reading materials and improving classroom conditions.
'Not funding the trip of three RJC teachers to go there and do some training on creative sciences.
'I'm not discounting the work of the volunteers, but it's just not right to tell donors one thing, and then use the money in another way.'
Another donor, Madam Lee Yew Huang, 59, an administrative assistant, said seeing the pictures of the poor children in Laos or Cambodia made her want to donate, and help improve their school.
Said Madam Lee, who donated $10 to the Metro Fund in 2003: 'But now, I find that out of the $158,000 raised in 2002, only $6,100 went to this charity that was featured, and it wasn't even to buy books or build libraries as published.'
Mr Ho Ka Wei, 31, a civil servant, said: 'Unless I know my money will go to the people I read about, and not for air tickets for volunteers to visit these people, I will not donate.'
Said Mr David Ong, president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Singapore): 'At the time of appeal for donations, it is important to let donors know how you will disburse your funds. Does the money go directly to beneficiaries?
'But donors must also ask the right questions - on how exactly the funds will be used, and if the project... can be sustained.'
Such information was made available in this case.
Last year's Metro for Children fundraising campaign had stated on the SIF website that it hoped to raise $140,000 for Singapore volunteers to carry out projects in Cambodia.
The SIF website also explained that donations to the fund would allow Singapore volunteers to work with three charities in Cambodia.
Should money be always put in the hands of the beneficiaries?
CORRUPT?
Some donors feel giving the money raised directly to the charities involved may not be the best way to disburse funds.
Said Mr Chris Wan, 29, an engineer: 'As donated funds sometimes go unaccounted for, or into the wrong or corrupt hands, especially in Third World countries, funding volunteers may be the best way to ensure the funds are used primarily for charitable purposes.'
The head of a voluntary welfare organisation here, who declined to be named, agreed.
Of the Padetc-SIF case, he said: 'This may simply be an issue of poor communication between the funding agency, and the beneficiary, not so much a matter of ethics. As long as the Singaporean volunteers go out there and do good work, the money has been well-spent.'
TOUCHY ISSUE
A spokesman from the National Council of Social Service said it has not received any complaints about SIF's fundraising practices.
The use of charity dollars has become a touchy issue after the NKF scandal.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer gave the National Kidney Foundation a grant of $75,000 so doctors could be trained to improve their management of patients on dialysis.
Instead, NKF used part of the funds to print Christmas cards for an event organised by the Kids and Teens Marketing department.
A Pfizer spokesman said, in an e-mail reply to TNP's questions: 'The disbursement of the fund was left to the recipient to manage for the purpose intended.
'We feel it is best to leave the matter in the hands of the experts and the authorities who are looking into the matter.'
That's what some donors and charity officials told The New Paper.
Said Ms Josephine Lee, 56, a civil servant: 'The article stated specifically that the money would go to setting up libraries, buying reading materials and improving classroom conditions.
'Not funding the trip of three RJC teachers to go there and do some training on creative sciences.
'I'm not discounting the work of the volunteers, but it's just not right to tell donors one thing, and then use the money in another way.'
Another donor, Madam Lee Yew Huang, 59, an administrative assistant, said seeing the pictures of the poor children in Laos or Cambodia made her want to donate, and help improve their school.
Said Madam Lee, who donated $10 to the Metro Fund in 2003: 'But now, I find that out of the $158,000 raised in 2002, only $6,100 went to this charity that was featured, and it wasn't even to buy books or build libraries as published.'
Mr Ho Ka Wei, 31, a civil servant, said: 'Unless I know my money will go to the people I read about, and not for air tickets for volunteers to visit these people, I will not donate.'
Said Mr David Ong, president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (Singapore): 'At the time of appeal for donations, it is important to let donors know how you will disburse your funds. Does the money go directly to beneficiaries?
'But donors must also ask the right questions - on how exactly the funds will be used, and if the project... can be sustained.'
Such information was made available in this case.
Last year's Metro for Children fundraising campaign had stated on the SIF website that it hoped to raise $140,000 for Singapore volunteers to carry out projects in Cambodia.
The SIF website also explained that donations to the fund would allow Singapore volunteers to work with three charities in Cambodia.
Should money be always put in the hands of the beneficiaries?
CORRUPT?
Some donors feel giving the money raised directly to the charities involved may not be the best way to disburse funds.
Said Mr Chris Wan, 29, an engineer: 'As donated funds sometimes go unaccounted for, or into the wrong or corrupt hands, especially in Third World countries, funding volunteers may be the best way to ensure the funds are used primarily for charitable purposes.'
The head of a voluntary welfare organisation here, who declined to be named, agreed.
Of the Padetc-SIF case, he said: 'This may simply be an issue of poor communication between the funding agency, and the beneficiary, not so much a matter of ethics. As long as the Singaporean volunteers go out there and do good work, the money has been well-spent.'
TOUCHY ISSUE
A spokesman from the National Council of Social Service said it has not received any complaints about SIF's fundraising practices.
The use of charity dollars has become a touchy issue after the NKF scandal.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer gave the National Kidney Foundation a grant of $75,000 so doctors could be trained to improve their management of patients on dialysis.
Instead, NKF used part of the funds to print Christmas cards for an event organised by the Kids and Teens Marketing department.
A Pfizer spokesman said, in an e-mail reply to TNP's questions: 'The disbursement of the fund was left to the recipient to manage for the purpose intended.
'We feel it is best to leave the matter in the hands of the experts and the authorities who are looking into the matter.'
Monday, January 02, 2006
2005 in News Quotes
January
"As a new exploration area for ChevronTexaco, Cambodia could offer the potential to build on our already very strong position in the Gulf of Thailand."
-John Watson, president, ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum.
"This is a flagrant violation of not only the Refugee Convention but the Convention Against Torture."
-Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, on the arrest and feared deportation of Vietnamese Montagnards.
"If he [Hun Sen] still has enough energy to maintain the position of prime minister, he remains to continue his position, which it is up to the party to give to him."
-Heng Samrin, speaking before the CPP party congress on who would be the party's candidate for PM in 2008 elections.
"[We have to] stop saying to the communities we are going to demine their land - this is not true and not even honest."
-Christian Provoost, coordinator of mine action and injury prevention, Handicap International Belgium.
"This is not strange to me. Always there is no justice - if there was justice maybe this would be strange to me. If the trial is fair, I will praise the judge and write him a letter, but it is not."
-Sok Sam Oeun, director, the Cambodian Defenders Project, commenting on irregularities in the trial for three Muslim men convicted of plotting to bomb the US and British embassies.
"Among the 80 women, there are many who it seems [were] taken away and illegally confined by this NGO."
-Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong, speaking in Paris on Jan 10 about the NGO Afesip.
"We call on the interministerial committee once again to conduct a neutral, fair, unbiased investigation into all aspects of the case, especially the initial police investigation and the process that led to the order of the release of the eight suspects."
-Afesip lawyer Aarti Kapoor, responding to Hor Nam Hong's comments on Jan 12.
"Men might have a wife and children, but they want to have sex for fun. Men hear information from gay, transgender that if sex with wife is not so fun, sex with man more fun. Then they try it and like it."
-Meas Chanthan, program assistant, Urban Sector Group.
"If we come here and no one helps, we will not be able to afford to come again. We'll just wait and die."
-Koy Horn, 52, one of 80 farmers from Takeo who came to the National Assembly on January 24 to protest lack of food.
"It's still ongoing. There hasn't been any substantial progress yet."
-Ramarat Sarabanamuttu of the World Food Programme, speaking on January 25 about negotiations with the government on the theft of up to $2 million worth of rice.
"When my fortuneteller says that I have good luck, the other members of the government have to be happy with their positions."
-PM Hun Sen speaking on January 25, days before the CPP party congress.
"I think that he [Hun Sen] is a politician and he can make an announcement as a prime-ministerial candidate. I am the partner in the coalition government [with the Cambodian People's party], I have no choice but to support him."
-Prince Norodom Ranariddh speaking on January 27 before the CPP party congress.
February
"Freshie boy is just a bridge to catch another career. If we want to catch the cub, we have to get into the tiger cave."
-Cheat Vibol, commenting Feb 4 on the Hello Freshie Boy and Girl 2005 contest.
"When they're weak or tired, or just have a headache, they think they need an IV. And most doctors make good money charging them to have it."
-Dr Sim Piseth, Surya Medical Services, commenting on the overuse of IV treatment.
"I strongly advise all international financial institutions - particularly the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank - to add their voice to the chorus of concern and to consider a suspension of operations in Cambodia until the corrupt leaders get the message that tyranny will not be tolerated."
-US Senator Mitch McConnell, responding on Feb 3 to the withdrawal of Parliamentary immunity of three SRP members.
"I think [Prime Minister] Hun Sen has learned he can do pretty much anything he wants, and after a few days everyone stops talking about it."
-A Western diplomat in Phnom Penh, commenting on the same issue.
"People see the Chinese are good in business, so they want to do like them."
-Li Seng Heng coffin shop owner Im Sreng, commenting on the increase in demand for Chinese-style burials by Cambodians.
"Even if the commission examines a report and finds a lack of transparency or irregularities [the National Assembly] will not punish the individual responsible."
-Cheam Yeap, Chairman of the Assembly's Finance Commission.
"The justice system is a joke. There is no sense of justice or democracy. We have to start over."
-Stacie Loucks, International Republican Institute, on the American-funded NGO's decision to halt programs.
"I would like to thank you for telling me about this. If you tell me, you are my good partner." -General Un Sokunthea, head of the Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection, when told on Feb 17 that police were involved in bribery.
"I'm positive the AIDS rate is going to rapidly increase if there isn't immediate intervention. But it may be too late."
-Graham Shaw, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, on the increasing use of amphetamines in Cambodia.
"I think it will be impossible for the government to think seriously about demobilizing because the army is the backbone of totalitarianism. It's the tool used to control the population, not to serve the people."
-SRP MP Son Chhay, commenting on the RCAF appointment of 214 new stars for generals.
"I will play hide and seek with the authorities and if they can find me they can arrest me." -Chhouk Rin, Feb 22, on the Supreme Court's ruling to uphold his life sentence.
March
"The attack was Vorn's duty, he was a region commander and Paet ordered [it]. There are many attackers still alive and living in Phnom Vour. Ninety percent of attackers are still here, you can ask them."
-Chhouk Rin, convicted of involvement in the deaths of three Western backpackers, denies he did it.
"They seem to get government contracts very easily. But it's better than having all the employees stealing the money."
-An industry source commenting on Sokimex's efforts to secure ticket rights for more temples.
"At the beginning I was afraid, but now I'm used to it. I can catch more than a hundred a day."
-Em Sem, who makes a living catching scorpions, netting him more than 30,000 riel daily.
"Donor countries which give recommendations are kind, but they don't know what the Khmers need."
-PM Hun Sen, on Mar 14, explaining his decision to no longer honor his promise to halt land concessions.
"The eviction was carried out with excessive use of force in violation of the law and provisions of the International Covenants on Human Rights by which Cambodia is bound."
-Margo Picken, director, UN Cambodian Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights on Mar 22, referring to use of force by police to evict villagers from land near Poipet.
"Every day Ruom Ritt is writing criticism about the government, if he does not criticize this one, then he criticizes the other one. Cambodia has only this kind of people, that's why it's like that. He is old, why doesn't he go to the pagoda?"
-Hun Sen speaking on Mar 28, responding to King Norodom Sihanouk's pen pal Ruom Ritt.
April
"In the States, for joyriding, we'd be out the same day. I got the feeling that the guy [prosecutor] had some real anguish towards Americans. They see us like we had our big chance to go to America and we fucked it up. We got in trouble and got sent back, so now they see us as garbage."
-Yuthea 'Chu' Chhoeuth, a Cambodian-American deported back to Cambodia for crimes committed in the US, sentenced by a Phnom Penh court on Apr 1 to five years in prisonfor robbery.
"They are trying to make a cake with no flour. We have made no such agreement."
-Te Duong Dara, director general, the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, on claims by an American company that they had been given offshore exploration rights.
"I believe that the destruction that occurred between 1975 and 1979 cannot be forgotten. I think that the Khmer Rouge trial has to be fair and independent to provide justice to the victims who suffered from this cruel regime. It is a step toward peace and national reconciliation and will help Cambodia to adhere to the rule of law."
-National Police Chief Hok Lundy, reflecting on the 30-year anniversary of the April 17, 1975 fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge.
"I think that within the next 15 years there will be no water to use, and the temples will also be affected when there is no forest to protect them."
-Vann Sophanna, author of a report of rampant land grabbing in Siem Reap.
"Impunity is a gangrene that undermines the fabric of Cambodian society. Although this phenomenon is well-documented, the Prime Minister and his government persist, in an ostrich-like way, to deny it and to say it does not exist."
-Peter Leuprecht, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, in an Apr 19 statement in Geneva.
"The report of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General does not reflect the real situation in Cambodia. This report does not consider Cambodia within the context of its historic tragedy which explains the complexity of the situation and the difficulties with which Cambodia has had to face in order to resolve following the years of troubles and total destruction."
-Chheang Vun, Cambodian ambassador to the UN, responds to Leuprecht's commentson Apr 19.
"Come and continue the proceedings. If [Rainsy] loses, he will just pay for the compensation, but if he has made no mistake, then his parliamentary immunity will be restored."
-PM Hun Sen speaking at a Apr 29 Council of Ministers meeting.
May
"The bank has clung to the notion that the mafia-style logging syndicates which have ravaged Cambodia's forests can be reformed."
-A Global Witness statement released on May 4.
June
"The US is leading the fight against terrorism, and they worked with us to arrest Yasith. I think that this [arrest] is not only from the demands of the Cambodian government, but from also the world."
-Prum Sokha, Secretary of State, Ministry of Interior.
"My body feels very hot when I get drunk [and] I always hurt myself. Sometimes I walk and hit myself with a wall or tree and sometimes I fall down on the ground unconscious."
-RCAF soldier Chhoun Saveoun describes his moderate drinking habits at the launch of a campaign to get soldiers to drink less on June 13.
"It's not true that the villagers were forced into an agreement. But later NGOs were [in the village] and they encouraged the people to be angry."
-Kham Khoeun, Ratanakkiri provincial governor, explaining why villagers in O'Yadav district were upset with being forced to sell their land.
"Progress on the land issue has been very disappointing. We continue to see land grabbing and weak implementation of the land concession framework. The indicators, which we all agreed upon during the last CG-meeting in December, so far have been largely missed."
-German Ambassador Pius Fischer commenting after a June 14 government-donor meeting to review 32 performance indicators.
"Samdech Hun Sen... does not allow me any power, and I am happy that he takes all the responsibility for this issue."
-King Father Norodom Sihanouk on June 22, referring to the Supreme National Council for Border Affairs.
July
"Their bosses put yama in the water and offer them [the fishermen] to drink. It affects the peoples' health and security in the village. It causes a lot of robberies, and people are killing each other."
-Hou Thy, village chief of Phum Pe in Pack Khlang district, Kok Kong province on the rise in drug use.
"Eleven years ago when I first came to Phnom Penh there were no lawyers, no bar association - there were just legal defenders. Today there is a Bar Association, 350 lawyers. There are problems, there are challenges, but there has been progress."
-Francis James, co-founder of Legal Aid of Cambodia, speaking at their 10th anniversary on July 14.
"We acknowledge that we were wrong because we did not implement our immigration law and those Montagnards should have been put in jail for between three and six months before we sent them away. Sending them away without [jail time] was the government's policy of humanity."
-Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak defending the deportation of asylum seekers.
"A lot of these middle-class kids, bong thom gangsters, are using it and pushing it on the streets. They have a lifestyle with impunity, so they spend a lot off time on the street earning money from street crime and the money they get from parents, they are loaded."
-David Harding, director of the NGO Friends, describing the use of "ice," the purest form of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
August
"With this verdict, the level of political repression has reached new heights."
-An Asian Human Rights Commission statement released on Aug 10 regarding the conviction of Cheam Channy.
"[I] confirm to the nation and our Cambodian people that our country has no political crisis. The trial of this or that guy is just a matter between personal and the legal procedures."
-PM Hun Sen commenting on Aug 11 on the Cheam Channy trial.
"In a messy country like Cambodia, they call an 'illegal army' anything that looks a little bit organized and works with some efficiency. They would crack down on the Salvation Army if there were such an organization."
-Sam Rainsy, commenting by email Aug 11 on the Cheam Channy trial, from self-imposed exile in France.
"Our brief is not to go out and find illegal logging, but to monitor the situation and then make the appropriate recommendations to the local authorities."
-Robert Tennent, SGS.
"...We are well aware that corruption in different levels - small, medium or large-scale - always has a negative impact on society. Corruption affects efficiency in production as well as implementing law... With the above mentioned reasons, it is not difficult for us to see the importance to combat against corruption which leads to the success of economic development of our country..."
-PM Hun Sen, Aug 17.
September
"So I think there are lots of irregularities which I think have now added up to so many cases that I would say it's a national crisis. The land crisis in Cambodia is probably, I would say, the national crisis, because it affects people every day of their lives."
-Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing for the UN, speaking at the end of his 13-day tour of Cambodia.
"Mixing red dye with water looks like the blood of a virgin girl. Any household that does not hang bottles or plastic bags of red dye in front of their houses risks having evil spirits come into their homes and sucking blood of their daughters or family member."
-Chheang Lay, resident of Thbong Khmum village in Kampong Cham province on how people are preventing vampire attacks.
October
"If there were any number of people who believed [that the government sold land to Vietnam], there would be chaos or armed force against the government. I will follow up to sue them in a French court and put them in jail and get compensation."
-PM Hun Sen on Oct 6.
"We cannot accept this kind of business. We regret that he [the owner] does not understand the pain of the Cambodian people. He wants to get benefit from the victims' souls. This should end now."
-Tourism Minister Lay Prohas explaining on Oct 6 why he closed the Khmer Rouge Experience Café.
"Some days, when my 23-year-old [daughter] gets sick [and can't work as a beer promoter], the entire family has nothing to eat and we don't have even the money to take [her granddaughter] Marady to hospital."
-Sochenda, whose husband died from AIDS and whose two daughters are also HIV positive.
"If this time around it is difficult to sign it, we should consider whether we should keep the monarchy or change to a republic with a president instead."
-PM Hun Sen speaking on Oct 17 in reference to the Supplemental Border Treaty.
"I am not Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk. Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk let others stage a coup. Hun Sen will not. Do not gamble on trying this. You do it, you die."
-PM Hun Sen, Oct 17, warning critics of the new border treaty.
"The arrests and detention of Mam Sonando and Rong Chhun in Prey Sar prison are highly irregular, and illustrate a deeply worrying trend... procedurally the arrests were illegal."
-Peter Leuprecht, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Oct 20.
"...the most severe assault on dissent in Cambodia since the aftermath of Hun Sen's coup in 1997. Hun Sen needs to accept that in a democracy leaders will be criticized when they make controversial decisions."
-Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch.
November
"When Cheam Channy, Mam Sonando and Rong Chhun are released from prison and parliamentary immunity is restored for Chea Poch, Cheam Channy and me."
-Sam Rainsy, on when he would return to Cambodia.
"Just now Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh, President of Funcinpec, on its behalf, declares me - Hun Sen - for the post of Prime Minister in case the Cambodian People's Party wins. I declare the CPP's support for Samdech Krom Preah for the post of Prime Minister in case Funcinpec wins the election."
-PM Hun Sen speaking at the Funcinpec party congress on Nov 14.
"Having achieved stable growth for a number of years successively and successfully, Cambodia has gained confidence and is now poised on an important threshold in its journey into the future. Cambodians have reached a crucial platform and look to their future with optimism and hope."
-PM Hen Sen, speaking to an investors conference on Nov 30.
December
"I warn that if [you] continue to grab land there will be a farmers' revolution, and I hope you will understand my difficulty. It is time for you to stop before the people lose their patience."
- PM Hun Sen, speaking on Dec 6 about the problem of land grabbing.
"This week has gone very well; I'm satisfied. I understand that people are disappointed by the many years of delay, but believe it or not-we're here now and we're here to stay."
- UN Khmer Rouge Trial Deputy Director Michelle Lee speaking on Dec 14.
"As a new exploration area for ChevronTexaco, Cambodia could offer the potential to build on our already very strong position in the Gulf of Thailand."
-John Watson, president, ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum.
"This is a flagrant violation of not only the Refugee Convention but the Convention Against Torture."
-Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, on the arrest and feared deportation of Vietnamese Montagnards.
"If he [Hun Sen] still has enough energy to maintain the position of prime minister, he remains to continue his position, which it is up to the party to give to him."
-Heng Samrin, speaking before the CPP party congress on who would be the party's candidate for PM in 2008 elections.
"[We have to] stop saying to the communities we are going to demine their land - this is not true and not even honest."
-Christian Provoost, coordinator of mine action and injury prevention, Handicap International Belgium.
"This is not strange to me. Always there is no justice - if there was justice maybe this would be strange to me. If the trial is fair, I will praise the judge and write him a letter, but it is not."
-Sok Sam Oeun, director, the Cambodian Defenders Project, commenting on irregularities in the trial for three Muslim men convicted of plotting to bomb the US and British embassies.
"Among the 80 women, there are many who it seems [were] taken away and illegally confined by this NGO."
-Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong, speaking in Paris on Jan 10 about the NGO Afesip.
"We call on the interministerial committee once again to conduct a neutral, fair, unbiased investigation into all aspects of the case, especially the initial police investigation and the process that led to the order of the release of the eight suspects."
-Afesip lawyer Aarti Kapoor, responding to Hor Nam Hong's comments on Jan 12.
"Men might have a wife and children, but they want to have sex for fun. Men hear information from gay, transgender that if sex with wife is not so fun, sex with man more fun. Then they try it and like it."
-Meas Chanthan, program assistant, Urban Sector Group.
"If we come here and no one helps, we will not be able to afford to come again. We'll just wait and die."
-Koy Horn, 52, one of 80 farmers from Takeo who came to the National Assembly on January 24 to protest lack of food.
"It's still ongoing. There hasn't been any substantial progress yet."
-Ramarat Sarabanamuttu of the World Food Programme, speaking on January 25 about negotiations with the government on the theft of up to $2 million worth of rice.
"When my fortuneteller says that I have good luck, the other members of the government have to be happy with their positions."
-PM Hun Sen speaking on January 25, days before the CPP party congress.
"I think that he [Hun Sen] is a politician and he can make an announcement as a prime-ministerial candidate. I am the partner in the coalition government [with the Cambodian People's party], I have no choice but to support him."
-Prince Norodom Ranariddh speaking on January 27 before the CPP party congress.
February
"Freshie boy is just a bridge to catch another career. If we want to catch the cub, we have to get into the tiger cave."
-Cheat Vibol, commenting Feb 4 on the Hello Freshie Boy and Girl 2005 contest.
"When they're weak or tired, or just have a headache, they think they need an IV. And most doctors make good money charging them to have it."
-Dr Sim Piseth, Surya Medical Services, commenting on the overuse of IV treatment.
"I strongly advise all international financial institutions - particularly the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank - to add their voice to the chorus of concern and to consider a suspension of operations in Cambodia until the corrupt leaders get the message that tyranny will not be tolerated."
-US Senator Mitch McConnell, responding on Feb 3 to the withdrawal of Parliamentary immunity of three SRP members.
"I think [Prime Minister] Hun Sen has learned he can do pretty much anything he wants, and after a few days everyone stops talking about it."
-A Western diplomat in Phnom Penh, commenting on the same issue.
"People see the Chinese are good in business, so they want to do like them."
-Li Seng Heng coffin shop owner Im Sreng, commenting on the increase in demand for Chinese-style burials by Cambodians.
"Even if the commission examines a report and finds a lack of transparency or irregularities [the National Assembly] will not punish the individual responsible."
-Cheam Yeap, Chairman of the Assembly's Finance Commission.
"The justice system is a joke. There is no sense of justice or democracy. We have to start over."
-Stacie Loucks, International Republican Institute, on the American-funded NGO's decision to halt programs.
"I would like to thank you for telling me about this. If you tell me, you are my good partner." -General Un Sokunthea, head of the Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection, when told on Feb 17 that police were involved in bribery.
"I'm positive the AIDS rate is going to rapidly increase if there isn't immediate intervention. But it may be too late."
-Graham Shaw, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, on the increasing use of amphetamines in Cambodia.
"I think it will be impossible for the government to think seriously about demobilizing because the army is the backbone of totalitarianism. It's the tool used to control the population, not to serve the people."
-SRP MP Son Chhay, commenting on the RCAF appointment of 214 new stars for generals.
"I will play hide and seek with the authorities and if they can find me they can arrest me." -Chhouk Rin, Feb 22, on the Supreme Court's ruling to uphold his life sentence.
March
"The attack was Vorn's duty, he was a region commander and Paet ordered [it]. There are many attackers still alive and living in Phnom Vour. Ninety percent of attackers are still here, you can ask them."
-Chhouk Rin, convicted of involvement in the deaths of three Western backpackers, denies he did it.
"They seem to get government contracts very easily. But it's better than having all the employees stealing the money."
-An industry source commenting on Sokimex's efforts to secure ticket rights for more temples.
"At the beginning I was afraid, but now I'm used to it. I can catch more than a hundred a day."
-Em Sem, who makes a living catching scorpions, netting him more than 30,000 riel daily.
"Donor countries which give recommendations are kind, but they don't know what the Khmers need."
-PM Hun Sen, on Mar 14, explaining his decision to no longer honor his promise to halt land concessions.
"The eviction was carried out with excessive use of force in violation of the law and provisions of the International Covenants on Human Rights by which Cambodia is bound."
-Margo Picken, director, UN Cambodian Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights on Mar 22, referring to use of force by police to evict villagers from land near Poipet.
"Every day Ruom Ritt is writing criticism about the government, if he does not criticize this one, then he criticizes the other one. Cambodia has only this kind of people, that's why it's like that. He is old, why doesn't he go to the pagoda?"
-Hun Sen speaking on Mar 28, responding to King Norodom Sihanouk's pen pal Ruom Ritt.
April
"In the States, for joyriding, we'd be out the same day. I got the feeling that the guy [prosecutor] had some real anguish towards Americans. They see us like we had our big chance to go to America and we fucked it up. We got in trouble and got sent back, so now they see us as garbage."
-Yuthea 'Chu' Chhoeuth, a Cambodian-American deported back to Cambodia for crimes committed in the US, sentenced by a Phnom Penh court on Apr 1 to five years in prisonfor robbery.
"They are trying to make a cake with no flour. We have made no such agreement."
-Te Duong Dara, director general, the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, on claims by an American company that they had been given offshore exploration rights.
"I believe that the destruction that occurred between 1975 and 1979 cannot be forgotten. I think that the Khmer Rouge trial has to be fair and independent to provide justice to the victims who suffered from this cruel regime. It is a step toward peace and national reconciliation and will help Cambodia to adhere to the rule of law."
-National Police Chief Hok Lundy, reflecting on the 30-year anniversary of the April 17, 1975 fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge.
"I think that within the next 15 years there will be no water to use, and the temples will also be affected when there is no forest to protect them."
-Vann Sophanna, author of a report of rampant land grabbing in Siem Reap.
"Impunity is a gangrene that undermines the fabric of Cambodian society. Although this phenomenon is well-documented, the Prime Minister and his government persist, in an ostrich-like way, to deny it and to say it does not exist."
-Peter Leuprecht, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, in an Apr 19 statement in Geneva.
"The report of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General does not reflect the real situation in Cambodia. This report does not consider Cambodia within the context of its historic tragedy which explains the complexity of the situation and the difficulties with which Cambodia has had to face in order to resolve following the years of troubles and total destruction."
-Chheang Vun, Cambodian ambassador to the UN, responds to Leuprecht's commentson Apr 19.
"Come and continue the proceedings. If [Rainsy] loses, he will just pay for the compensation, but if he has made no mistake, then his parliamentary immunity will be restored."
-PM Hun Sen speaking at a Apr 29 Council of Ministers meeting.
May
"The bank has clung to the notion that the mafia-style logging syndicates which have ravaged Cambodia's forests can be reformed."
-A Global Witness statement released on May 4.
June
"The US is leading the fight against terrorism, and they worked with us to arrest Yasith. I think that this [arrest] is not only from the demands of the Cambodian government, but from also the world."
-Prum Sokha, Secretary of State, Ministry of Interior.
"My body feels very hot when I get drunk [and] I always hurt myself. Sometimes I walk and hit myself with a wall or tree and sometimes I fall down on the ground unconscious."
-RCAF soldier Chhoun Saveoun describes his moderate drinking habits at the launch of a campaign to get soldiers to drink less on June 13.
"It's not true that the villagers were forced into an agreement. But later NGOs were [in the village] and they encouraged the people to be angry."
-Kham Khoeun, Ratanakkiri provincial governor, explaining why villagers in O'Yadav district were upset with being forced to sell their land.
"Progress on the land issue has been very disappointing. We continue to see land grabbing and weak implementation of the land concession framework. The indicators, which we all agreed upon during the last CG-meeting in December, so far have been largely missed."
-German Ambassador Pius Fischer commenting after a June 14 government-donor meeting to review 32 performance indicators.
"Samdech Hun Sen... does not allow me any power, and I am happy that he takes all the responsibility for this issue."
-King Father Norodom Sihanouk on June 22, referring to the Supreme National Council for Border Affairs.
July
"Their bosses put yama in the water and offer them [the fishermen] to drink. It affects the peoples' health and security in the village. It causes a lot of robberies, and people are killing each other."
-Hou Thy, village chief of Phum Pe in Pack Khlang district, Kok Kong province on the rise in drug use.
"Eleven years ago when I first came to Phnom Penh there were no lawyers, no bar association - there were just legal defenders. Today there is a Bar Association, 350 lawyers. There are problems, there are challenges, but there has been progress."
-Francis James, co-founder of Legal Aid of Cambodia, speaking at their 10th anniversary on July 14.
"We acknowledge that we were wrong because we did not implement our immigration law and those Montagnards should have been put in jail for between three and six months before we sent them away. Sending them away without [jail time] was the government's policy of humanity."
-Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak defending the deportation of asylum seekers.
"A lot of these middle-class kids, bong thom gangsters, are using it and pushing it on the streets. They have a lifestyle with impunity, so they spend a lot off time on the street earning money from street crime and the money they get from parents, they are loaded."
-David Harding, director of the NGO Friends, describing the use of "ice," the purest form of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
August
"With this verdict, the level of political repression has reached new heights."
-An Asian Human Rights Commission statement released on Aug 10 regarding the conviction of Cheam Channy.
"[I] confirm to the nation and our Cambodian people that our country has no political crisis. The trial of this or that guy is just a matter between personal and the legal procedures."
-PM Hun Sen commenting on Aug 11 on the Cheam Channy trial.
"In a messy country like Cambodia, they call an 'illegal army' anything that looks a little bit organized and works with some efficiency. They would crack down on the Salvation Army if there were such an organization."
-Sam Rainsy, commenting by email Aug 11 on the Cheam Channy trial, from self-imposed exile in France.
"Our brief is not to go out and find illegal logging, but to monitor the situation and then make the appropriate recommendations to the local authorities."
-Robert Tennent, SGS.
"...We are well aware that corruption in different levels - small, medium or large-scale - always has a negative impact on society. Corruption affects efficiency in production as well as implementing law... With the above mentioned reasons, it is not difficult for us to see the importance to combat against corruption which leads to the success of economic development of our country..."
-PM Hun Sen, Aug 17.
September
"So I think there are lots of irregularities which I think have now added up to so many cases that I would say it's a national crisis. The land crisis in Cambodia is probably, I would say, the national crisis, because it affects people every day of their lives."
-Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing for the UN, speaking at the end of his 13-day tour of Cambodia.
"Mixing red dye with water looks like the blood of a virgin girl. Any household that does not hang bottles or plastic bags of red dye in front of their houses risks having evil spirits come into their homes and sucking blood of their daughters or family member."
-Chheang Lay, resident of Thbong Khmum village in Kampong Cham province on how people are preventing vampire attacks.
October
"If there were any number of people who believed [that the government sold land to Vietnam], there would be chaos or armed force against the government. I will follow up to sue them in a French court and put them in jail and get compensation."
-PM Hun Sen on Oct 6.
"We cannot accept this kind of business. We regret that he [the owner] does not understand the pain of the Cambodian people. He wants to get benefit from the victims' souls. This should end now."
-Tourism Minister Lay Prohas explaining on Oct 6 why he closed the Khmer Rouge Experience Café.
"Some days, when my 23-year-old [daughter] gets sick [and can't work as a beer promoter], the entire family has nothing to eat and we don't have even the money to take [her granddaughter] Marady to hospital."
-Sochenda, whose husband died from AIDS and whose two daughters are also HIV positive.
"If this time around it is difficult to sign it, we should consider whether we should keep the monarchy or change to a republic with a president instead."
-PM Hun Sen speaking on Oct 17 in reference to the Supplemental Border Treaty.
"I am not Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk. Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk let others stage a coup. Hun Sen will not. Do not gamble on trying this. You do it, you die."
-PM Hun Sen, Oct 17, warning critics of the new border treaty.
"The arrests and detention of Mam Sonando and Rong Chhun in Prey Sar prison are highly irregular, and illustrate a deeply worrying trend... procedurally the arrests were illegal."
-Peter Leuprecht, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Oct 20.
"...the most severe assault on dissent in Cambodia since the aftermath of Hun Sen's coup in 1997. Hun Sen needs to accept that in a democracy leaders will be criticized when they make controversial decisions."
-Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch.
November
"When Cheam Channy, Mam Sonando and Rong Chhun are released from prison and parliamentary immunity is restored for Chea Poch, Cheam Channy and me."
-Sam Rainsy, on when he would return to Cambodia.
"Just now Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh, President of Funcinpec, on its behalf, declares me - Hun Sen - for the post of Prime Minister in case the Cambodian People's Party wins. I declare the CPP's support for Samdech Krom Preah for the post of Prime Minister in case Funcinpec wins the election."
-PM Hun Sen speaking at the Funcinpec party congress on Nov 14.
"Having achieved stable growth for a number of years successively and successfully, Cambodia has gained confidence and is now poised on an important threshold in its journey into the future. Cambodians have reached a crucial platform and look to their future with optimism and hope."
-PM Hen Sen, speaking to an investors conference on Nov 30.
December
"I warn that if [you] continue to grab land there will be a farmers' revolution, and I hope you will understand my difficulty. It is time for you to stop before the people lose their patience."
- PM Hun Sen, speaking on Dec 6 about the problem of land grabbing.
"This week has gone very well; I'm satisfied. I understand that people are disappointed by the many years of delay, but believe it or not-we're here now and we're here to stay."
- UN Khmer Rouge Trial Deputy Director Michelle Lee speaking on Dec 14.
For once, I agree with Utah!
December 2005 in Cambodia
Thursday the 1st
Dark, Hot and Tired
It is now 11:30 in the morning and we have had no electricity in the office all morning.
According to local wisdom, this should have stopped by now. As December and January are the ‘cold months’ when the temperature drop to a ‘freezing’ 25C.
Thus their should be much less demand for air-conditioners and fans, thus reducing the city’s electricity consumption, thus meaning we should have enough to go around.
Seems that is not the case this year, ho hum.
Friday the 2nd
A half day for me.
I have some external reports that I really need to finish for a meeting on Monday, if I am in the office for the afternoon I will probably not get them done – interruptions, power cuts, et cetera. So I decide to work from home for the afternoon, thus freeing up my weekend for weekend things rather than work J
Arrive home at lunch and am happy to see that somehow Heng has scrounged up enough cash to buy a new Calor gas bottle for the oven, we can cook again !
Now all I need to do is buy a fridge (and some food to put in it)
Oh, and a television, and a wardrobe, and something to sit and watch TV on…
Damn I need a REAL job REAL soon !?!?!!
Saturday the 3rd
First weekend in my new flat!
Decided to try and get to know my new neighbourhood a little better. Strolled around the streets nearby, stopped at one café for an iced coffee, stopped at another for breakfast.
Eventually arrived at P’sar Olympic (the Olympic market) which is now my nearest Khmer market, it is one of the larger ones, selling not only food but clothes and assorted household stuff. Might come in handy.
The local motodop’s that have been ferrying me around all week to work and back seemed most surprised that I was strolling around and kept asking where I was going and obviously were confused by my walking around
Tuesday the 6th
Locksmith to the rescue
Somewhere between taking my bike into the shop, moving out of my old flat, moving into my new flat and picking my bike up from the shop I managed to lose my keys.
Now, initially this was not a problem, the bike shop had the ignition key to the bike, my office keys were replaced the following morning I found them missing, but the problem remained about the key to the petrol tank on the bike.
In the UK this would have been easy enough to deal with – if somewhat costly. Here I was starting to worry a little about what I was going to do (especially as I was getting low on petrol!
So after Heng and I had turned the flat upside-down for the fourth time she said that she would take me to a key shop (which was news to me that Cambodia even had such a thing)
So it turns out that ‘shop’ was not quite the right word in this case. Just after lunch today we were sitting at the side of the road on the junction of streets 360 and 63 with a one-eyed Khmer guy who had a set of lock-picks, a selection of key blanks and a diesel powered hand-grinder. It took him around 20 minutes to pick the lock on the tank, dismantle the insides and then he started to eye up the tumblers with his one good eye and start grinding notches in a blank key. A further 10 minutes later he has furnished a working key, and had also cut me a spare ignition key and charged me the princely sum of 5,000 riel (US$1.25, or just under £1)
As they say, necessity is the mother of innovation !
Sunday the 11th
Movie Premier and Heng’s Screen Debut
The day started very early, about 06:30. For some reason the invite-only grand opening was taking place at 08:30 on a Sunday morning. Of course, the fact that I had been out the night before handing out free VIP invitations to the opening to various friends of mine in various bars did not help the fact that my head felt like there was Khmer wedding marquee being erected within it.
Arriving around 8 we hung around outside the cinema waiting for the red ribbon cutting ceremony for nearly an hour – yes, we were on Khmer time.
All the while the TV cameras were rolling and the young freshie girl presenter from TVK was interviewing people in the crowd, as well as the actors and actresses, who were just hanging around in the crowd with us. Somewhat more relaxed than their Hollywood counterparts would be at an LA opening of their new movie.
Eventually we had the ribbon cutting and we all filtered into the cinema, as we started to enter the auditorium we were handed fruit and water by the ushers.
Thankfully inside was well air-conditioned and a blessed relief from the sun that we had been standing in for so long.
As the last few people were taking their seats an announcer gets up on stage and introduces:
The stuntmen and martial arts crew; who after taking a bow launch into a quick enactment of a fight. After this the actresses get up on stage and take a bow and a round of applause. Then the director, producers, technical crew and assorted odds and ends get up to take theirs.
Finally with curtain up around 09:30 we were besieged with adverts for beer, phones and makeup taking us up to about 10:00 for the grand premier of…
The Divided Heart
A teenage love story and rights of passage movie set mostly in Phnom Penh. It tells the story of a beautiful girl who goes off to school and has two boys fall in love with her. One a nice guy from a rich urban family, the other an equally nice, but poor, kid from the provinces with his oddball sidekick acting as a scaramouch. Neither of them is really the villain of the piece, that role falls to the rich kids highly jealous, psycho, ex-girlfriend; who between causing a scene in a burger bar, trying to bribe Miss Beautiful to leave town and arranging for her to be kidnapped (along with telling the kidnappers to rape her) fulfils the obligatory ‘baddie’ position quite enough for a Sunday morning family movie.
Although the movie is all in Khmer, I could easily manage to follow it with my modest language skills and the fact that such a narrative is almost universal in storytelling around the world gives the viewer a sense of ease with the plot.
At this point I would like to give a special thanks to my western, non-Khmer speaking friends who turned up, slight warily, to support us all, they also found it reasonably easy to follow and enjoyed the morning greatly.
One of the refreshing things about this Khmer movie was the fact that it was just a simple love story, or love triangle, set against life in modern Phnom Penh, with pretty much only the obstacles that you face in everyday life. The fact that it did not contain; men with snakes for hair, or giant super snakes, or bouncing zombie vampire monsters with white squares of paper on their foreheads was also very much a bonus for us non Khmers and does, I feel, give a sense of hope that the industry here is not just going to keep churning out schlock horror gore laden B movies forever.
I will not give away too much of the ending, but it will suffice to say that, as one would suspect, all turns out well in the end, the guys survive, the girl escapes with her honour and virtue intact and the wicked get ‘a right royal arse kicking’, to quote a friend of mine. Having watched them film various scenes from the movie over the last six months and seeing the finished project, I would have to say that the stuntmen and martial arts crew certainly earned their money in the final showdown, especially as I know that they used no protective clothing and were working for peanuts, when they filmed that ‘right royal arse kicking’.
At some point I the New Year VCD’s will be available for sale; I will post a few back to the UK !
Week of the 12th to the 16th
My New Khmer Street; Same as the Old Khmer Street ?
Snapshots from my new window
Having recently moved into my new home, I have spent several early evenings sat on my new, large, L-shaped balcony. Just watching the world go by and musing on my new location and new neighbours. (I really, really, have to buy a television soon!)
Diagonally opposite is a small building site where a small office with flats above is being built, a bright, shiny, new blue building of seriously geometric design. Last weekend a surly looking Frenchman turned up to survey his new office building and flat, his Khmer wife was decked head to toe in western clothing and was glinting even in the distance with expensive looking gold and jewellery.
To the left is a small wooden house with a lean-to wooden shop at the front, which sells the usual assortment of shampoo, toilet roll, cigarettes, soft drinks, mangos and blocks of ice. At any given time there are usually half a dozen people milling around outside or pulling up on moto’s to buy things.
To the right is another large house which seems to have a constant stream of expensive looking cars and 4x4’s coming and going, some with NGO license plates, some with military police license plates. Yesterday lunchtime I came home to find a shiny new Jaguar S-Type parked outside my side door and one very smug looking Khmer guy leaning against it grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
At the end of my short road, on the corner is a small wooden shack restaurant serving plates of rice and noodles, outside which one usually finds several motodop’s hanging around should one need transport anywhere.
Opposite my door is a small Khmer concrete town house, in the evening around a dozen small children, 8 to 12 years of age, usually gather in the front room to learn English, from my balcony I can hear them reciting:
A is for apple; apple ply_pomm;
B is for book; book seal_pow
C is for car; car laan
D is for door; door t’weaa
And so on…
Underneath on the ground floor, with a completely separate set of entrances and stairwells is my paranoid, highly security conscious, landlord and his family. They have a shop a few road up in P’sar Olympic selling gold and jewellery
During the course of the day, up until the early evening a stead procession of street vendors’ cycle along touting their wares buy shouting out the name of the goods or service they offer; fresh bread, shoe repairs, key cutting and knife sharpening. Early in the morning there is often an old woman who pushes a large wooden barrow along the street full of vegetables and salad for sale.
As well as these cycling vendors there are the usual assortment of people selling food from wooden or steel handcarts that they push around; Chinese dumplings, papaya salad bok la’hong, rice pork bai suh_ch’rook, or whatever the current seasons fruits are.
Towards the end of the day, as traffic grows light, but before daylight totally abandons us, it is quite common to see several kids playing badminton, without a net, in the middle of the road, just batting the shuttlecock back and forth for fun. Elsewhere, street children are sifting through the rubbish outside peoples houses looking for empty cans or bottles that can be sold for recycling – two empty drinks cans (coke, beer, et cetera) sell for 100r, that is 2.5cents or just over 1 shiny new British penny.
These are scenes that anyone living in Cambodia, especially Phnom Penh, will be familiar with. After all the stress and hassle of moving house, I find that they are strangely reassuring.
Friday the 16th
Emerging Markets Consultants
At 11:00 this morning I have a semi-interview with a group of management consultants based here in Phnom Penh. They do not need extra staff just yet, but if they get all of the big contracts that they have been chasing this year – that are scheduled to start work next year, then they might have a position available for me…
The hour may or may not have been a waste of time, the partner I was meeting spent more time playing with his new PDA than talking to me… hmm
We are going to meet again mid January when they know more about next years work position.
Monday the 19th
A Proper Interview
This afternoon I have an actual interview for an actual job. Strangely enough I did not apply for the job, I just happened to send a speculative CV into this company at the right time !
I know that they are interviewing quite a few people so I guess we will just have to see…
Interview went okay, in fact, I have been invited back for a second one tomorrow ?!
Tuesday the 20th
Round 2
Second interview/test went okay, but they still have 3 or 4 more people to see so it is going to be a few more weeks before a decision is made…
Ho hum, I know patience is a virtue, but …
Friday the 23rd
Christmas build up
Spent the morning running around; going up to the VSO Office, going to the bank – damned expensive this Christmas lark.
Also managed to pick up my bike from the shop at long last, where it has had a new battery fitted and some wiring replaced. The new battery was difficult to find apparently, so the whole thing ended up costing me US$30 – ouch, there goes Christmas lunch!
Saturday the 24th
‘twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a gecko
Dave at the Peace Café is having an ‘open mike’ cabaret night, might be a laugh, plus he was talking about having some free beer !
Unfortunately, on the ride up there I met with a small accident. As I was just pulling out on to the Independence Monument roundabout, a huge, dark green, Landcruiser Prado 4x4 decided that it did not need to slowdown for the roundabout, or indeed change lanes or even look; fortunately I managed to swerve the bike out of the way of the two tons of metal screaming along at around 120kph, but in doing so I clipped the kerb (8 inches high here) which sent me and the bike spinning off onto the pavement. Thankfully, although god knows how, Heng came away without a scratch, hardly even a hair out of place(?!?!?) whereas I on the other hand have cuts and bruises all down my right arm and leg and also have a couple of painfully cracked ribs.
As I lay on the pavement with the (heavy 750) bike on me, wondering what the *&<£ had happened, Heng immediately started rounding up a couple of nearby security guards to help lift the bike and pick me up. After I had rested for a few moments, and checked again that she was actually unscathed, she managed to convince one of the guards to load my bike up into his pickup and take it home.
The Landcruiser Prado that caused all this? He did not even slow down, let alone stopped to see if anyone was hurt – B*&$>/& !
Have had the bike back from the shop about 6 hours, huhmph.
Sunday the 25th
So here it is Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun
Arranged to have Christmas lunch at the Tell Restaurant with Chris and Ayat.
Due to last nights little mishap I was not feeling all that Christmassy, but I was feeling hungry so I limped out of the house complaining – closing my eyes and muttering a few unprintable words as I saw the mess down the right-hand side of the bike – big dent in the tank, front and back indicators snapped off, block and side panels all scratched up, rectangular headlight now without a right angle on it… oh well, worry about getting it repaired in the New Year when I get paid.
Arriving at the restaurant about 11:30AM we were only the second table in there, but we were all so hungry it did not matter that it was so quiet.
Splurging totally recklessly [financially] Chris and I both opt for the full 9 course Christmas banquet – with an all you can eat buffet as the main course US$22:50 a head
(actually, if truth be told my lunch was funded by mum and dads’ Christmas money – thanks!)
The food was fantastic. The roast smoked turkey, the honey glazed ham, the beef béarnaise, mmm, I feel hungry again just looking at the menu and typing that !
We finally admitted dining defeat at around 3 o’clock. After which we all went back to Chris and Ayat’s new house to slump in front of the TV with a couple of new DVD’s.
After about an hour Chris vanished off into a back room somewhere and reappeared 5 minutes later with a cheese plate (Camembert, Danish Blue, Mature Cheddar) , crackers and several bags of Walkers crisps – along with yet another bottle of red wine… aggghh.
Got home around 10 and was ready for an early night.
Monday the 26th
Boxing Day
Stayed at home all morning unable to move due to the huge excess of Christmas foods :-)
Only went out for 5 minutes in the afternoon because I had run out of painkillers for my ribs (thirty second walk –waddle- round the corner)
In the evening, we went up to the Peace Café for a couple of hours as Dave was showing the new King Kong movie on his big screen. However, due to technical difficulties we ended up watching it in black and white!?!
Tuesday the 27th
For some strange reason (nagging pain in the ribs maybe) I was awake about 6. So I figured that I would pop into work for a couple of hours, check my Email and then return home. Halfway driving into the office I happened to spot a friend of mine having breakfast at a new restaurant down a side street I cut through on my way to work. So I stopped and had some excellent Vietnamese coffee with him for an hour !
I like the fact that Phnom Penh is such a small Capital City you can so easily run into people like that – plus with it being so relaxed, you can just turn up an hour late for work because you stopped for coffee!?!?
Friday the 30th
Another big dinner !
The Ministry of Fish, never one to miss an opportunity, is having an ‘International New Years’ Dinner this evening. Kicking off at 6:30PM at a Chinese hotel / restaurant, I have no doubt that it will all be over and done with by 8:00PM
It was held at the same place as we went last year; although I remember the food being better last year – (the chicken was rubbery: ah fank you velly much)
By 8:00PM half of the people had left already and they were starting to warm up the karaoke, time for me to make a swift exit! As my friend Pete is down from Battambang town for the weekend we headed up to a newish bar called the Red Fox to meet up with him and catch up for an bit. He had had an awful ride down on his new bike – a 250cc dirt bike TTR – halfway down in the middle of nowhere the clutch cable had snapped, so he had to limp along in second gear for a couple of hours before he got to a town and was able to find a bike shop to get it replaced, he was then worried about making it to Phnom Penh before it got dark – you do not want to be stuck out on a provincial road late at night in the dark, where there are no lights and cattle, pigs, chickens and people just stroll across, or sleep on, the road !
Saturday the 31st
New Years Eve
Due to having no transport, no cash and a painful set of ribs; New Years Eve is cancelled.
Will have to see how things are in a couple of months when we have Chinese New Year, or the month after that when we have Khmer New Year…
Ho Hum said Pooh.
Cheers everyone and all the best, hope that you all had a merry Christmas and a happy new year – ‘health, wealth and happiness’ (as my Khmer friends say)
Darren
Dark, Hot and Tired
It is now 11:30 in the morning and we have had no electricity in the office all morning.
According to local wisdom, this should have stopped by now. As December and January are the ‘cold months’ when the temperature drop to a ‘freezing’ 25C.
Thus their should be much less demand for air-conditioners and fans, thus reducing the city’s electricity consumption, thus meaning we should have enough to go around.
Seems that is not the case this year, ho hum.
Friday the 2nd
A half day for me.
I have some external reports that I really need to finish for a meeting on Monday, if I am in the office for the afternoon I will probably not get them done – interruptions, power cuts, et cetera. So I decide to work from home for the afternoon, thus freeing up my weekend for weekend things rather than work J
Arrive home at lunch and am happy to see that somehow Heng has scrounged up enough cash to buy a new Calor gas bottle for the oven, we can cook again !
Now all I need to do is buy a fridge (and some food to put in it)
Oh, and a television, and a wardrobe, and something to sit and watch TV on…
Damn I need a REAL job REAL soon !?!?!!
Saturday the 3rd
First weekend in my new flat!
Decided to try and get to know my new neighbourhood a little better. Strolled around the streets nearby, stopped at one café for an iced coffee, stopped at another for breakfast.
Eventually arrived at P’sar Olympic (the Olympic market) which is now my nearest Khmer market, it is one of the larger ones, selling not only food but clothes and assorted household stuff. Might come in handy.
The local motodop’s that have been ferrying me around all week to work and back seemed most surprised that I was strolling around and kept asking where I was going and obviously were confused by my walking around
Tuesday the 6th
Locksmith to the rescue
Somewhere between taking my bike into the shop, moving out of my old flat, moving into my new flat and picking my bike up from the shop I managed to lose my keys.
Now, initially this was not a problem, the bike shop had the ignition key to the bike, my office keys were replaced the following morning I found them missing, but the problem remained about the key to the petrol tank on the bike.
In the UK this would have been easy enough to deal with – if somewhat costly. Here I was starting to worry a little about what I was going to do (especially as I was getting low on petrol!
So after Heng and I had turned the flat upside-down for the fourth time she said that she would take me to a key shop (which was news to me that Cambodia even had such a thing)
So it turns out that ‘shop’ was not quite the right word in this case. Just after lunch today we were sitting at the side of the road on the junction of streets 360 and 63 with a one-eyed Khmer guy who had a set of lock-picks, a selection of key blanks and a diesel powered hand-grinder. It took him around 20 minutes to pick the lock on the tank, dismantle the insides and then he started to eye up the tumblers with his one good eye and start grinding notches in a blank key. A further 10 minutes later he has furnished a working key, and had also cut me a spare ignition key and charged me the princely sum of 5,000 riel (US$1.25, or just under £1)
As they say, necessity is the mother of innovation !
Sunday the 11th
Movie Premier and Heng’s Screen Debut
The day started very early, about 06:30. For some reason the invite-only grand opening was taking place at 08:30 on a Sunday morning. Of course, the fact that I had been out the night before handing out free VIP invitations to the opening to various friends of mine in various bars did not help the fact that my head felt like there was Khmer wedding marquee being erected within it.
Arriving around 8 we hung around outside the cinema waiting for the red ribbon cutting ceremony for nearly an hour – yes, we were on Khmer time.
All the while the TV cameras were rolling and the young freshie girl presenter from TVK was interviewing people in the crowd, as well as the actors and actresses, who were just hanging around in the crowd with us. Somewhat more relaxed than their Hollywood counterparts would be at an LA opening of their new movie.
Eventually we had the ribbon cutting and we all filtered into the cinema, as we started to enter the auditorium we were handed fruit and water by the ushers.
Thankfully inside was well air-conditioned and a blessed relief from the sun that we had been standing in for so long.
As the last few people were taking their seats an announcer gets up on stage and introduces:
The stuntmen and martial arts crew; who after taking a bow launch into a quick enactment of a fight. After this the actresses get up on stage and take a bow and a round of applause. Then the director, producers, technical crew and assorted odds and ends get up to take theirs.
Finally with curtain up around 09:30 we were besieged with adverts for beer, phones and makeup taking us up to about 10:00 for the grand premier of…
The Divided Heart
A teenage love story and rights of passage movie set mostly in Phnom Penh. It tells the story of a beautiful girl who goes off to school and has two boys fall in love with her. One a nice guy from a rich urban family, the other an equally nice, but poor, kid from the provinces with his oddball sidekick acting as a scaramouch. Neither of them is really the villain of the piece, that role falls to the rich kids highly jealous, psycho, ex-girlfriend; who between causing a scene in a burger bar, trying to bribe Miss Beautiful to leave town and arranging for her to be kidnapped (along with telling the kidnappers to rape her) fulfils the obligatory ‘baddie’ position quite enough for a Sunday morning family movie.
Although the movie is all in Khmer, I could easily manage to follow it with my modest language skills and the fact that such a narrative is almost universal in storytelling around the world gives the viewer a sense of ease with the plot.
At this point I would like to give a special thanks to my western, non-Khmer speaking friends who turned up, slight warily, to support us all, they also found it reasonably easy to follow and enjoyed the morning greatly.
One of the refreshing things about this Khmer movie was the fact that it was just a simple love story, or love triangle, set against life in modern Phnom Penh, with pretty much only the obstacles that you face in everyday life. The fact that it did not contain; men with snakes for hair, or giant super snakes, or bouncing zombie vampire monsters with white squares of paper on their foreheads was also very much a bonus for us non Khmers and does, I feel, give a sense of hope that the industry here is not just going to keep churning out schlock horror gore laden B movies forever.
I will not give away too much of the ending, but it will suffice to say that, as one would suspect, all turns out well in the end, the guys survive, the girl escapes with her honour and virtue intact and the wicked get ‘a right royal arse kicking’, to quote a friend of mine. Having watched them film various scenes from the movie over the last six months and seeing the finished project, I would have to say that the stuntmen and martial arts crew certainly earned their money in the final showdown, especially as I know that they used no protective clothing and were working for peanuts, when they filmed that ‘right royal arse kicking’.
At some point I the New Year VCD’s will be available for sale; I will post a few back to the UK !
Week of the 12th to the 16th
My New Khmer Street; Same as the Old Khmer Street ?
Snapshots from my new window
Having recently moved into my new home, I have spent several early evenings sat on my new, large, L-shaped balcony. Just watching the world go by and musing on my new location and new neighbours. (I really, really, have to buy a television soon!)
Diagonally opposite is a small building site where a small office with flats above is being built, a bright, shiny, new blue building of seriously geometric design. Last weekend a surly looking Frenchman turned up to survey his new office building and flat, his Khmer wife was decked head to toe in western clothing and was glinting even in the distance with expensive looking gold and jewellery.
To the left is a small wooden house with a lean-to wooden shop at the front, which sells the usual assortment of shampoo, toilet roll, cigarettes, soft drinks, mangos and blocks of ice. At any given time there are usually half a dozen people milling around outside or pulling up on moto’s to buy things.
To the right is another large house which seems to have a constant stream of expensive looking cars and 4x4’s coming and going, some with NGO license plates, some with military police license plates. Yesterday lunchtime I came home to find a shiny new Jaguar S-Type parked outside my side door and one very smug looking Khmer guy leaning against it grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
At the end of my short road, on the corner is a small wooden shack restaurant serving plates of rice and noodles, outside which one usually finds several motodop’s hanging around should one need transport anywhere.
Opposite my door is a small Khmer concrete town house, in the evening around a dozen small children, 8 to 12 years of age, usually gather in the front room to learn English, from my balcony I can hear them reciting:
A is for apple; apple ply_pomm;
B is for book; book seal_pow
C is for car; car laan
D is for door; door t’weaa
And so on…
Underneath on the ground floor, with a completely separate set of entrances and stairwells is my paranoid, highly security conscious, landlord and his family. They have a shop a few road up in P’sar Olympic selling gold and jewellery
During the course of the day, up until the early evening a stead procession of street vendors’ cycle along touting their wares buy shouting out the name of the goods or service they offer; fresh bread, shoe repairs, key cutting and knife sharpening. Early in the morning there is often an old woman who pushes a large wooden barrow along the street full of vegetables and salad for sale.
As well as these cycling vendors there are the usual assortment of people selling food from wooden or steel handcarts that they push around; Chinese dumplings, papaya salad bok la’hong, rice pork bai suh_ch’rook, or whatever the current seasons fruits are.
Towards the end of the day, as traffic grows light, but before daylight totally abandons us, it is quite common to see several kids playing badminton, without a net, in the middle of the road, just batting the shuttlecock back and forth for fun. Elsewhere, street children are sifting through the rubbish outside peoples houses looking for empty cans or bottles that can be sold for recycling – two empty drinks cans (coke, beer, et cetera) sell for 100r, that is 2.5cents or just over 1 shiny new British penny.
These are scenes that anyone living in Cambodia, especially Phnom Penh, will be familiar with. After all the stress and hassle of moving house, I find that they are strangely reassuring.
Friday the 16th
Emerging Markets Consultants
At 11:00 this morning I have a semi-interview with a group of management consultants based here in Phnom Penh. They do not need extra staff just yet, but if they get all of the big contracts that they have been chasing this year – that are scheduled to start work next year, then they might have a position available for me…
The hour may or may not have been a waste of time, the partner I was meeting spent more time playing with his new PDA than talking to me… hmm
We are going to meet again mid January when they know more about next years work position.
Monday the 19th
A Proper Interview
This afternoon I have an actual interview for an actual job. Strangely enough I did not apply for the job, I just happened to send a speculative CV into this company at the right time !
I know that they are interviewing quite a few people so I guess we will just have to see…
Interview went okay, in fact, I have been invited back for a second one tomorrow ?!
Tuesday the 20th
Round 2
Second interview/test went okay, but they still have 3 or 4 more people to see so it is going to be a few more weeks before a decision is made…
Ho hum, I know patience is a virtue, but …
Friday the 23rd
Christmas build up
Spent the morning running around; going up to the VSO Office, going to the bank – damned expensive this Christmas lark.
Also managed to pick up my bike from the shop at long last, where it has had a new battery fitted and some wiring replaced. The new battery was difficult to find apparently, so the whole thing ended up costing me US$30 – ouch, there goes Christmas lunch!
Saturday the 24th
‘twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a gecko
Dave at the Peace Café is having an ‘open mike’ cabaret night, might be a laugh, plus he was talking about having some free beer !
Unfortunately, on the ride up there I met with a small accident. As I was just pulling out on to the Independence Monument roundabout, a huge, dark green, Landcruiser Prado 4x4 decided that it did not need to slowdown for the roundabout, or indeed change lanes or even look; fortunately I managed to swerve the bike out of the way of the two tons of metal screaming along at around 120kph, but in doing so I clipped the kerb (8 inches high here) which sent me and the bike spinning off onto the pavement. Thankfully, although god knows how, Heng came away without a scratch, hardly even a hair out of place(?!?!?) whereas I on the other hand have cuts and bruises all down my right arm and leg and also have a couple of painfully cracked ribs.
As I lay on the pavement with the (heavy 750) bike on me, wondering what the *&<£ had happened, Heng immediately started rounding up a couple of nearby security guards to help lift the bike and pick me up. After I had rested for a few moments, and checked again that she was actually unscathed, she managed to convince one of the guards to load my bike up into his pickup and take it home.
The Landcruiser Prado that caused all this? He did not even slow down, let alone stopped to see if anyone was hurt – B*&$>/& !
Have had the bike back from the shop about 6 hours, huhmph.
Sunday the 25th
So here it is Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun
Arranged to have Christmas lunch at the Tell Restaurant with Chris and Ayat.
Due to last nights little mishap I was not feeling all that Christmassy, but I was feeling hungry so I limped out of the house complaining – closing my eyes and muttering a few unprintable words as I saw the mess down the right-hand side of the bike – big dent in the tank, front and back indicators snapped off, block and side panels all scratched up, rectangular headlight now without a right angle on it… oh well, worry about getting it repaired in the New Year when I get paid.
Arriving at the restaurant about 11:30AM we were only the second table in there, but we were all so hungry it did not matter that it was so quiet.
Splurging totally recklessly [financially] Chris and I both opt for the full 9 course Christmas banquet – with an all you can eat buffet as the main course US$22:50 a head
(actually, if truth be told my lunch was funded by mum and dads’ Christmas money – thanks!)
The food was fantastic. The roast smoked turkey, the honey glazed ham, the beef béarnaise, mmm, I feel hungry again just looking at the menu and typing that !
We finally admitted dining defeat at around 3 o’clock. After which we all went back to Chris and Ayat’s new house to slump in front of the TV with a couple of new DVD’s.
After about an hour Chris vanished off into a back room somewhere and reappeared 5 minutes later with a cheese plate (Camembert, Danish Blue, Mature Cheddar) , crackers and several bags of Walkers crisps – along with yet another bottle of red wine… aggghh.
Got home around 10 and was ready for an early night.
Monday the 26th
Boxing Day
Stayed at home all morning unable to move due to the huge excess of Christmas foods :-)
Only went out for 5 minutes in the afternoon because I had run out of painkillers for my ribs (thirty second walk –waddle- round the corner)
In the evening, we went up to the Peace Café for a couple of hours as Dave was showing the new King Kong movie on his big screen. However, due to technical difficulties we ended up watching it in black and white!?!
Tuesday the 27th
For some strange reason (nagging pain in the ribs maybe) I was awake about 6. So I figured that I would pop into work for a couple of hours, check my Email and then return home. Halfway driving into the office I happened to spot a friend of mine having breakfast at a new restaurant down a side street I cut through on my way to work. So I stopped and had some excellent Vietnamese coffee with him for an hour !
I like the fact that Phnom Penh is such a small Capital City you can so easily run into people like that – plus with it being so relaxed, you can just turn up an hour late for work because you stopped for coffee!?!?
Friday the 30th
Another big dinner !
The Ministry of Fish, never one to miss an opportunity, is having an ‘International New Years’ Dinner this evening. Kicking off at 6:30PM at a Chinese hotel / restaurant, I have no doubt that it will all be over and done with by 8:00PM
It was held at the same place as we went last year; although I remember the food being better last year – (the chicken was rubbery: ah fank you velly much)
By 8:00PM half of the people had left already and they were starting to warm up the karaoke, time for me to make a swift exit! As my friend Pete is down from Battambang town for the weekend we headed up to a newish bar called the Red Fox to meet up with him and catch up for an bit. He had had an awful ride down on his new bike – a 250cc dirt bike TTR – halfway down in the middle of nowhere the clutch cable had snapped, so he had to limp along in second gear for a couple of hours before he got to a town and was able to find a bike shop to get it replaced, he was then worried about making it to Phnom Penh before it got dark – you do not want to be stuck out on a provincial road late at night in the dark, where there are no lights and cattle, pigs, chickens and people just stroll across, or sleep on, the road !
Saturday the 31st
New Years Eve
Due to having no transport, no cash and a painful set of ribs; New Years Eve is cancelled.
Will have to see how things are in a couple of months when we have Chinese New Year, or the month after that when we have Khmer New Year…
Ho Hum said Pooh.
Cheers everyone and all the best, hope that you all had a merry Christmas and a happy new year – ‘health, wealth and happiness’ (as my Khmer friends say)
Darren
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