Thank you - Merci.....

SO.... a very BIG thank you to all my family and friends who donated money to ABOUT ASIA SCHOOLS.  Here is a rough breakdown on what the money will be spent on!

$3000 - a new Learning Centre in a village on the outskirts of Siem Reap (AAS will employ someone to give reading, handicraft and sports activities etc.  If you ever get the chance to visit Siem Reap, don't hesitate to contact AAS and they will organise a visit to the Learning Centre).

$600 - new uniforms (they can't go to school without a uniform)
$350 - 10 new bicycles for children who live far from their school
$150 - Khmer fiction and text books for the Learning Centre
$150 - Whiteboards and general repairs for Smiling Hearts (where I taught)

$1500 - further uniforms, bicycles, teaching resources, as required after consultation with the school principals.

PLEASE take a look at ABOUT ASIA SCHOOLS website www.aboutasiaschools.org and "like" their facebook page. https://m.facebook.com/ABOUTAsiaSchools1?id=124331894288135&_rdr to spread the word.

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND HELP!

Un énorme merci à toute ma famille et mes amis pour les donations à ABOUT ASIA SCHOOLS.  Voici une réparition approximative :

$3000 - pour une Centre D'Apprentissage (comme une Maison pour Tous gratuite) dans un village à l'exterieur de Siem Reap (AAS embauchera quelqu'un pour gérer le centre et animer les activités de lecture, arts plastiques et sports.... si jamais vous visitez Siem Reap, n'hesite pas à contacter AAS qui organisera une visite).

$600 - les uniformes (les enfants ont en besoin pour aller à l'école)
$350 - 10 vélos pour les enfants qui habitent loin de l'école
$150 - Livres en Khmer (les romans et les livres scolaires pour le Centre D'apprentissage 
$150 - Les tableaux blancs et quelques réparations générale à Smiling Hearts (où j'ai travaillé)

$1500 - pour d'autres besoins - après consultation avec les proviseurs des écoles.

Veuillez regarder le site web d'ABOUT ASIA SCHOOLS  www.aboutasiaschools.org et "like" leur page facebook pour faire passer le mot! 
https://m.facebook.com/ABOUTAsiaSchools1?id=124331894288135&_rdr

MERCI ENCORE POUR VOTRE GENEROSITE!

Finished teaching... Off to the beach!

My work in the High School Library "Book Bridge Association" was, to put it mildly, disappointing.  Mainly due to the fact that the students stopped coming to the school (and consequently the library) from the 1st April, meaning that I did activities with a group of about 6 for only 1 week.  The week just before their Khmer New Year I had one boy called Tharat (aged 13) who was keen to have English lessons so we did 2 hours every morning.

Goodbye Morning class SHAC (4 absent)

Goodbye Afternoon class SHAC (2 absent)

Main High School -Just a few motorbikes!

Just a few bicycles!

In the Book Bridge Association library

Weekend activities for me have continued!  I visited the Angkor Handicraft centre and Silk Farm.  I also visited a man who was about 78 who had created a miniature Angkor Wat, Bayon temple and Bantay Srei to scale, in his backyard (a sort of Cambodian equivalent of the famous French "Le Palais du Facteur Cheval" near Hauterive).  Mr. Dy Preung spoke good French as he had been employed by a French Conservationist in the 70's (just before the Khmer Rouge years).  Sometimes, out of the blue, we meet people who touch our hearts - I feel honoured to have met him!

Mr. Dy Preung - Angkor Wat miniature, to scale

Bayon Temple - and a few flowers

Bantey Srei temple 

Stone craftsman at work

Wood craftsman at work

Final touches

Sorting out the caterpillars

The caterpillars preparing to make their cocoons

Pure art!

Now I'm in Sihanoukville - which is on the Cambodian coast for 5 days before flying back to Siem Reap and then back to France.  This place is..... full of surprises (some good and some bad!)  The guesthouse where I am staying is run by an eccentric woman who calls herself "Mama Medicine" and who took me on a tour of HER temple that she paid for .... I would love someone to explain to me why people spend so much money on creating a building that serves absolutely no purpose apart from a place to pray.... which is right next to many other buildings built for praying.  Right next to the temples were small wooden shacks where, she told me, old people come to live and die in peace (surely the money could have been spent on a little comfort for these people... but here I have got it completely wrong!  There is no need for comfort or any personal belongings when you are old and going to die, these people had the company of each other and that is what was important).

Mama Medicine's temple at Wat Leu

Chinese graves (the Khmer prefer cremation) with Sihanoukville beyond

Next day, all day boat tour visiting 3 islands.  I was slightly worried when I saw the boat and was told there were no toilet facilities... but I've had so many "first experiences" during this trip - I thought "the difference between an ordeal and an adverture is your attitude" so what the heck!  I was glad however, that I didn't go for the bungalow experience of a night on the island - these shacks were completely run-down and very primitive - but the views were beautiful, the sea fantastically warm and the fish and coral very beautiful.  The men caught loads of fish while we were swimming, they barbecued them on the boat and we ate them 15 minutes later - you can't get fresher than that!

VERY noisy engine!  (see barbecue in foreground)

Bungalows for rent :(

Big thunderstorm coming, luckily it waited till we got back to the mainland

Very fresh fish - caught, cooked and eaten in 15 minutes

Weekend in Battambang

Last weekend I went on a bus at 7.30am to Battambang, a town 250km from Siem Reap but the trip took 5 hours.  The bus stopped so many times to pick up and drop off people that I thought we would never arrive!  But.... I met a French guy and we decided to share a Tuk-tuk driver to take us to see the tourist sites!  First stop - the Bamboo train!  Some of you may have seen a documentary of this on the TV, so we couldn't resist having a go.... though I can assure you that it is NOT comfortable at all.  When you meet another train, the train with the least amount of passengers must de-rail and let the other train past!  We travelled for 20 minutes, got off and were hassled to buy gifts for 20 minutes, then came back again....

The second visit was to Phnom Sampeau (a limestone outcrop with lots of temples on top).  We had to pay 3$ to enter and then another 3$ for a ride up on the back of a small motorbike (we could have walked but it would have taken 2 hours and it was FAR too hot for walking!)  Great views from the top but then a very sobering visit to the Killing Caves where 10,000 people were bludgeoned to death by the Khmer Rouge and their bodies thrown down into the caves.  A reclining Buddha lies peacefully next to a glass-walled memorial filled with bones and skulls

Who can find the two monkeys?

Just before dusk we returned to the base of the mountain to watch the most incredible spectacle that happens every evening at exactly the same time.  Millions and millions of bats leave their cave to go and feed on the insects in the fields.  It took about 20 minutes for them all to leave and the sky was literally filled with screeching bats.

On the Sunday, I was on my own so hired the same tuk-tuk driver for a tour around the villages where he showed me the rice-paper being made, banana slices drying on the side of the road and people making sticky rice in bamboo tubes (they are delicious!) We also saw quail cooked in batter and barbecued rats (and baby rats) - a real delicacy I understand - but I didn't try any!!  He also told me the very sad story of his life during the Khmer Rouge (he was about 17 at that time) when they drove the people out of their villages and forced them to work in the rice fields.  His parents and 2 brothers were killed (and other members of his family) and he thought he would die almost every day from starvation - they only had half a bowl of rice per day to live on.  A really exceptionally kind, genuine man.  Mr Han Houn.

Rice paper - like mini pancakes, so thin

Rice paper dries in 10 minutes in the sun (needs humidifying if you want to fold it)

Slicing bananas to dry in the sun

4 generations (the old lady was 90, her daughter had died during Khmer Rouge, but her grand-daughter and great-grand-daughter were there)

Quails in batter (head an' all!)

Barbecued rats (big ones and babies!)

The inscription on this temple next to another Killing Field says they were cut open and their organs cannabalized

Mr Han Houn

En Français:
Ce weekend, je suis allée en car à Battambang, en partant d'ici à 07H30.  C'est une ville à 250km de Siem Reap mais le trajet a duré 5 heures!  Le car s'est arreté tellement de fois pour poser ou prendre les gens que j'ai pensé qu'on n'allait jamais arrivé.  Mais..... J'ai rencontre un français et nous avons décidé de partager un tuk-tuk pour aller voir les sites touristiques.  Première site - le train de Bambou!  Vous avez peut-être vu un documentaire à la télé sur ce train, donc on n'a pas pu résister..... mais je peux vous assurer que ce n'est pas du tout confortable!  Quand vous croisez un autre train, le train le moins chargé doit de-railler et laisser passer l'autre train!  On a roulé pour 20 minutes, on a été harcèler pendant 20 minutes à acheter des souvenirs et puis on est rentré à la gare!

La deuxième visite était à Phnom Sampeau  (une colline en calcaire avec beaucoup de temples au sommet).  On a du payer 3$ pour entrer et 3$ pour monter le chemin derrière une moto (on aurai pu monter à pied, mais c'était 2 heures de marche et beaucoup trop chaud pour marcher!)  Des vues magnifiques d'en haut mais après nous avons eu une visite qui donne à refléchir - des "Killing Caves" où le Khmer Rouge a matraqué à mort au moins 10,000 personnes et ils les ont jetés dans la grotte.  Un Buddha est allongé paisiblement à coté d'un mémorial avec les os et les cranes des victims. 

Juste avant la tombée de la nuit nous avons retourné en bas de la colline pour voir un spectacle incroyable qui se passe chaque soir à la même heure.  Des milliers et des milliers de chauve-souris quittent leur grotte pour aller manger les insectes dans les champs.  Pendant 20 minutes, elles ont quittés leur grotte et le ciel était remplis de chauve -souris crissement forts.

Le dimanche j'étais seule donc j'ai pris le même tuk-tuk chauffeur pour un tour dans les villages où il m'a montré la fabrication du papier à riz, les tranches fines de banane sechant au bord de la route et les familles entières qui fabriquént le "sticky rice"
 - c'est délicieux!  Nous avons aussi vu des cailles cuits dans un pâte à frire et des rats 
cuits au barbecue (mêmes les bébés rats, un vrai délice apparament, mais je n'en ai pas essayés)!!  

Mon chauffeur m'a raconté sa vie très triste pendant le Khmer Rouge (il avait 17 ans) quand ils ont chassé les gens de leur villages et ils étaient forcés de travailler dans les champs de riz.  Ses parents et 2 frères ont été tués (et d'autres membres de sa famille) et lui même pensait qu'il allait mourir de faim chaque jour car ils avaient seulement un demi bol de riz pour vivre quotidiennement.  Un homme vraiment sincère avec un gentillesse hors commun... Mr Han Houn.

Fields of LOTUS!

Cycling is hot work in this country - so I set out at 6.30am to see where the river went!  Houses of various shapes and sizes (from brick built 3 floors, to corrugated iron shacks or bamboo homes) line the road and it was only after about 45 minutes that I could see the surrounding countryside.  Up a sandy track, a brief meeting with 3 buffalos and then..... the LOTUS fields!

I went back to the main road and continued towards the south and arrived at Phnom Krom (phnom means: hill) where I climbed up the steps to get a great view. In the rainy season, most of this area is flooded and really green I've been told.  (I thought it looked pretty green now!)  By this time I was really hungry (no breakfast) so I bought a wicked chilli flavoured sandwich from the market!

Looks pretty green to me now!

Chilli and pork and various vegetable sandwich

On the way back, the Lotus Handicraft centre was open and I watched as the women took the filaments from the stems and created thread which is then woven to make (very expensive) material.

Weaving the lotus threads

These kids see you coming!  

Flock of "Lesser Adjunct Storks" flew in

Fish drying at the side of the road (very smelly)!

Il fait très chaud pour faire du vélo, donc je suis partie à 6H30 pour voir le paysage au bord de la rivière.  Des maisons de toutes sortes (faites en brique, en tole ondulé, en bamboo) bordent la route et j'ai du pédaler 45 minutes avant de voir la campagne.  J'ai pris un petit chemin ensablé, rencontré 2 buffles et puis... les champs de LOTUS!  

J'ai repris la route vers le sud et je suis arrivée à Phnom Krom (phnom veut dire: colline) où je suis montée les marches pour la belle vue.  On m'a dit qu'en saison de pluie, la plupart de cette region est inondée donc très verte. Moi, je trouvais c'était déjà assez vert!  Comme je n'avais pas manger avant de partir, j'avais très faim donc j'ai acheté un sandwich avec chilli sauce au marché!

Au retour, la centre d'artisanat des lotus était ouverte et j'ai pu observer les femmes prendre les filaments des tiges de lotus et créer les fils pour fabriquer (tisser) un tissu très chèr.