Breakfast is lovely in Phnom Penh. I take my food onto the balcony and relax with the BBC news on my iPad. A lovely scent comes up from below as my neighbours always go outside, to their family shrine, to place food for the spirits and to pray. They use incense sticks and so I get the benefit of the smell before the spirits do. The equivalent in the West would be sitting close to a neighbour's clothes drying vent where we can smell fabric softener; my Cambodian experience is more authentic and pleasing.
Today I took Avikuo and his tuk tuk driver for breakfast so the smell was bbq'd pork. For a dollar I get a plate of rice, slices of bbq'd pork, a small bowl of soup, a dish of pickles and a large glass of local tea. After eating, Avikuo went off with the driver to visit the Killing Fields and S.22, the torture prison. I believe that anyone coming to Cambodia should visit these places in order to have a better understanding of the people.
A few years ago I met a Khmer lady who worked for UNICEF. She'd escaped to the USA during the fighting but returned to Cambodia as she thought it was her job to help her country. She refused to go to S.22 because it had been her high school before it was turned into a place of torture. She told me that when she was there the sounds were of laughter. Her husband paid a visit and he returned home and told her he'd seen photographs of members of her family that had been killed at the Killing Fields. The Khmer Rouge were systematic when they interned people; they photographed all of them and kept meticulous records of the interrogation sessions. Later she was asked to train former Khmer Rouge soldiers to be primary school teachers. She went to a village and saw the ex-soldiers coming to her class. They were wearing simple sandals made from rubber tyres. Her first thought was, "Those sandals killed my family; I can't work with them." She had a talk to herself and realised she couldn't improve the nation if she wouldn't work with former enemies.
I visited the same place for a workshop and men came on motorbikes. They parked their bikes and walked into the room. The room was our classroom but also the room where we slept and so they got the beds ready, including mine. Later, we sat on the floor for a meal and I was flabbergasted when every one of the men removed a prosthetic leg. They couldn't sit cross legged on the floor with one artificial leg sticking out, so they took them off. It was a strange meal eating with these men with legs lying on the floor.
I've noticed that other friends my age love having their grandchildren visit but they go home after a few hours. I have two bouncy, noisy lads from Friday evening until Sunday evening. I have to put my elderly, pensioned life on hold and put on my children's cap. Today we met Avikuo after his tour to say goodbye and then we went to a shopping mall for an ice cream. After that we went home for lunch which is generally noodles. It's only 2pm so what do I do with them until bedtime? I don't like them watching things on the phone and iPad so I had Ponleu continue using the Lego bricks. I don't mind him tipping them on the floor but, after they've left, I'm still finding some under the furniture. There's about 20 kg of bricks so it's a lot of cleaning up.
Oudom searched for something to make out of paper and he made something called a 'magic ball'. It meant hundreds of folds but he learnt after one effort and made a number of them. He even showed me how to fold but I have no clue how to do it a second time. I'm going to post a photo of what he made.
I was lucky enough to take them home just as their mother was leaving to buy some pizza. International pizza companies are here but I don't like their thick crusts and phoney cheese - they use a lot of mayonnaise. Cina goes to a small "Italian" place that makes a variety of pizzas that are very good. She came home with four large ones so we all tucked in. Sometimes there are advantages, taking care of children.
