Hello from Kratie

What to say???

Our adventure to Ratanakiri began with a 12 hour bus ride that was bumpier than the rocky mountains. We got to Ratanakiri around 8pm and we were exhausted. The next day, we started by renting bicycles and driving around the town-which, by the way, is in the middle of the jungle approximately 70 km from the Vietnam border. For this segment of the trip, we left without Arn and Sey Ma since. Arn was sick so we brought two Cambodian Living Arts students Veasna and Nisa with us. They are awesome!!! The bikes were fun!!! Later part of the gang took off to the Yeak Loam volcanic lake. James and myself had to stay behind, since we were not feeling good. Although, we are glad we didn't go, because on the way back two of the bikes got flat tires in the middle of a rain storm and had to walk back at least 3 km. It was a wet night, we also lost power!!! The next day is when the adventure started, we woke up and headed to breakfest. As we were trying to plan our day out we ran into a man by the name of Sitha Hun or builds schools out in the villages for the kids. Each school holds at least 150 kids in only three classrooms. Sitha told us he would bring us out their but it was a two hour off roading expedition. While we were on the trail thr fist truck got stuck in one of the wet rice paths. So all 15 of us had to pile into one small tacoma for the other 3 km. It wasn't too pleasent. When we were on our way back the second got got stuck in the same rice feild. So we attempted several times to push it out, but all we were getting were dirty muddy clothes and we were in the dirtiest water ever!!! We soon realized we were stuck in the jungle. So we split for help!!! Mr. Riege, James, Nisa, and myself ventured out on a 5 km walk at least to get help. It wasn't too bad until we caused a moto accident!!! Nisa was lucky enough to get a ride to the village, as Mr. Riege James and I were walking we saw this big 4x4 Army looking viechle coming our way. It looked like it came from Vetnam... What an adventure that ride was. Getting the thing to the cars was tricky manouver since we needed a couple of trees to pull us out from the mud!!! This viechle was tough!!! We finally made it home after 7:30pm and realized what was suppose to be a 4-5 hour adventure turned into a day adventure... But it was a great experience. The next day we just hung out we went to some music and weaving villages and went back to the lake to swim. Ratanakiri was a cool experience I hope the trip next year can make it back. The one thing we didn't get too see was the coffee plantation. Fast fowarding to today Jake and I learned part of the Monkey Dance which is a lot of fun and then we drove off too Kratie which is about 5 hours NE of Phnom Penh. We came here to hopefully go out on the Mekong river and find the endangered dolphin called the Irrawaddy Dolphin. Hope we can see some!!! Other then that we are leaving tomorrow back to Phnom Penh for our final days. We are going to see Danny, Arn, Sey Ma, Charlie, for the last time. We hope to go to the Russian Market and take a cooking class!!! Don't worry four more days we are home. What a trip this has been!!!

Gary

Its over already!!?? :(

So today was the last day of the amazing arts festival. I would have to say that this was probably the most fun I've had at the festival. The night performance was probably the best yet. We had some hip hop, Khmer rap, folk dance, and so much more. I feel that at this festival I bonded a bit more with my fellow travelers as well as a whole lot with Man Mens Students. I'm going to miss the workshops because that means no more free Khmer music lessons but also because I dont get to experience more of the art from the culture. Hopefully I can get another chance to experience this amazing festival somewhere in the near future. Until next time guys. Oh one more thing Happy Birthday big bro.
Barros

Phnom Penh Photos

Traffic on road to Phnom Penh.



Morning snack in Skoun.


Learning Pinpeat at the Mohosroap.


Interviewed at the Mohoasrop.

Phnom Penh!

Greetings from Phnom Penh! We took a five hour drive from Siem Reap here the other day, and on the way Mr. Riege bought cooked tarantula and fried crickets. Some of us -- including me -- tried them, and they didn't taste too bad! The crickets were actually pretty good. Anyways, ever since we've arrived in Phnom Penh, we've been bombarded, in a good way, with the arts at Arts Festival. It's been fantastic, especially the workshops that we get to take in the afternoons. Every day, we get to choose from twenty or so workshops being offered in various Khmer art forms, like Pinpeat (an orchestra of gongs and xylophones), Shadow Puppets, a bunch of dances, etc. We've all been having a pretty fun time at those workshops, but sometimes it is difficult when a Khmer person -- in my case an old lady Pinpeat master -- is yelling at you and pointing furiously at the instrument, and you cannot understand a word, or sound, she is saying. Difficult as it may be, it is really cool. Yesterday we visited Toel Sleng before lunch, which was a high school back in the 70's that the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison and torture center. The buildings are old, concrete, and disturbing, and so are the prison wires all over the place that were used to keep people inside and to prevent them from committing suicide (the wires cover windows and balconies). There were signs everywhere with a smiling face on them with an "X" through it. I don't think anyone needed the advice. The pictures of the atrocities, as well as standing in the same rooms and places that so many people had been held unwillingly, had been tortured, and in some cases had been killed, was powerful and incredibly upsetting.
Anyways, we didn't let the horrific nature of our late morning museum visit hurt us! We went right to lunch and had a pretty good time. Mr. Riege played Tic Tac Toe with a boy who wanted to sell us guidebooks. They tied, so the price went down from $10 to $7. Mr. Riege and I did a workshop later that afternoon and saw the Memm being played. The Memm is a pretty ancient instrument that everyone thought was extinct until a year or two ago, when it was discovered being played by people in a tribal village in Ratanakiri, which is where we're going next week! It's so cool! It's like a violin, sort of, except the sound resonates our of your mouth as you play, because you hold a lizard scale between your teeth, which is attached to the instrument via string. It's complicated sounding, and I'm not describing it too well, but it was very cool to hear. We attended this workshop in a high school, which was an interesting experience in and of itself. The school reminded me of Toel Sleng in the depressed looking concrete structures and the small rooms with old tiled flooring. I couldn't imagine going to school there. It is another assertion of the poverty and difficult living situations here in Cambodia and Phnom Penh. Anyways, the workshops continue through tomorrow, so we will have, hopefully, a good deal of fun, and learn a lot, I'm sure. My feet still hurt after a Shadow Puppet workshop taught in bare feet on gravel. This week, and Ratanakiri should be amazing, even though the drive there will be 10 HOURS LONG.

More photos around Siem Reap

Swing in the woods at Kbal Spean.


At Bayon after getting up at 3:30 for a sunrise visit.


Village photo before our departure.


DRawing of water filters installed in village.



150 kilo pig on the back of a moto at Phnom Kulen.

Hey guys,
So yesterday was our last day at the village. It was really sad, because we had such a great week with the people and now most of us will never see them again. We had a lot of fun playing vollyball, running games, and making bracelets. I know I'll miss the village very much and I would love to come back and see them again. I hope our work there will show a difference when next year group travels.
Today we took a ride up a bumpy mountain to Phnom Kulen to see the Holy River. Luckly, it was a shorter ride than I thought and was defiantely worth it. First, we took a walk through the woods where there were giant rocks. This spot is extremely holy because at the top of a rock is a carving of the Buddha resting. It was quite a sight to see, especially since the rock was over 100 feet high. As we continued to walk, we saw other things like a Khmer Rouge camp and a fresh spring. Then we went to the Holy River. It was amazing! There are actually carvings at the bottom of the river and on the stones around the river. One of the best parts about the Holy River is that there are waterfalls. Not only were they beautiful but they were extremely refreshing after a sweaty hike. We all took a dip in the large pool beneath the falls. It was so nice. The second waterfall that some of us went to was a lot smaller, but full of adventure. The water paved a nice waterslide for us; our little group probably went down it ten times each. The only part that sucked was that I lost my bracelet that a girl my age at the village made for me. It was a really cool bracelet that she made and I lost it, not happy about it.
Anyways, tomorrow we will be off to Phemn Pen again for the Mohoasrop, an event where traditional Cambodian music, dance, and other forms of art are celebrated. This is our last night in Siem Reap and we've got a six hour bus ride ahead of us tomorrow at 7 am.

Kira

Doing Stuff in Siem Reap

The last few days have been so busy that I neglected to perform my blog posting duties. Riege hounded me, so I can no longer dodge my task. the last 3 or 4 days have been pretty heavily laden with a wide variety of activities. The service (and play) in the village, the visits to the temples and other miscellaneous activities,(such as a visit to a cambodian club, a tour around the siem reap children's hospital, and an intensely informational visit to a science facility that designs and builds water filters) have all been very enjoyable and interesting. But i have to say, that for me, there has been one primary highlight for this first week. I have become close to several people over the past few days, but none more so than our primary tuk-tuk driver, Tony. He is one of the happiest people that i have ever met, and despite the horrific experiences that he endured during the Khmer Rouge regime, he is always smiling. I make sure to talk to him as much as i possibly can, because i feel that i have so much that i can learn from him. he told me that before he drove a tuk-tuk, he was an english teacher. i asked him why he quit being a teacher, and he told me that his eyesight had gotten so bad that he could no longer read to his students, or even help his son with homework. this struck me as incredibly sad. after all this man had survived, his own eyes were doing him in. i thought to myself that we might be able to get him some glasses. I talked to riege, who in turn told me to talk to arn. arn said that he would see what he could do. a day later, riege walked up to me and told me that at 8:00 am the next morning, we would be going to the hospital with Tony to get him some glasses. we got to the hospital, and tony instantly recognized someone, who he had worked with when he had been in training to become a doctor. we got into the doctors office, Tony had some tests done, and since this hospital makes the glasses there, they had his prescription on hand. he was so happy that he could read the back of a water bottle again! it felt good to help someone, but i feel that the most important thing is that now, he will be able to read to his son and help him with his homework. I'll let Kira fill you in on the rest.
Andrew Powers