The first few days in Penom Phen

(7/21) I arrived on a boat from the border of Vietnam and got brought with a few other women to a guest house called No Problem. It cost $1 a night for an ok room and it included a free Tuk-Tuk ride across town. I connected with the Cambodia' Labor Solidarity Center and planned to meet them the next day. The rest of my first day I spent contemplating my relationship with Latini and spending time with two great Irish women and a progressive woman from Texas.

(7/22) I met with Solidarity Center and decided to volunteer with them for the month. I was quickly welcomed and knew it was the place for me to be.  I had an incredible first day learning from Alonzo, Vathanak, Sethykun, An Nan, Parith, Theary, Somean, James (United Students Against Sweatshops' Intern), all the women involved in the labor movement they were giving a training to, and more people that I know I am forgetting.

That evening Vatanak brought me to his favorite restaurant on the lake where I ate fish for the second time that day and realized Cambodia may be a difficult place to be a vegetarian. Once I arrived back at No Problem I went to get a drink with a group of women. We were approached by a European man drugged out on heroine and begging for money. This was shocking to see in a country that is so poor.  It made me mad at first because if I am not going to give money to the cute children on the streets who are hungry because I don't want to contribute to the begging industry and the kidnapping of children, I am definitely not going to give it to him. 

(7/23)  Alonzo invited me to stay with him, his wife (Evelyn) and child which was fantastic.  After months of being on the road it is great to feel welcome and part of a family. I spent the afternoon getting to know Brian, Evelyn and Alonzo's 7 year old son. He taught me how to play Chess even though his rules always seemed to change. ( I was thoroughly amused as I remember doing that, I think I was the queen of it). He was extremely mature and I learn how amazing this boy is through the next few weeks.

That evening we went to the opening of a Philippino Restaurant and continued the night by crashing a wedding where Evelyn was singing at the Intercontinental Hotel.  It wasn't just any wedding, it included a drag show. I would presume that I would see a show like this at a wedding in Los Angeles where I grew up but no I saw it in Phnom Penh. We sang (scary thought that a group of Philippino professional singers with fantastic voices included and even encouraged me to get up and sing with them) and danced for hours. Brian was right there with us teaching us how to contort our bodies. However, Evelyn and the two professional performers with us were the only ones who could really keep up with him.

(7/24) I went off to explore the town. I fed a young boy who was hungry. At first he wanted money, which I do not give and then he began asking for food. I made him eat it with me because I was not sure it would actually get into his stomach if he brought it back to where he was working. I saw the royal palace and silver pagoda, enjoyed a great yuppie smoothie and ended the night with one of the best drum and dance shows I have ever seen performed by a local school.  If I can bring a drum home I will and hopefully I can learn to play it too! The students even included a comic relief act.

This is just the beginning to my amazing month in Cambodia which I look forward to sharing with you soon.

Mekong Delta

Finally getting back to my update... I will quickly update you on the Mekong Delta and if I feel like adding more details at some point I will but for now there are many more exciting experiences to share with you.

(7/18) Latini and I headed to My Tho where we hired a boat and a guide to take us through the canals. They were not like Venice, Italy. I guess I would compare them more to the Bayou outside New Orleans but with less moss. We ate freshly made coconut candy, which I have tried to save and bring back to the states for everyone to try but my mouth just couldn't hold out. We picked all types of fruit, including Longhans (one of my favorite fruit in Asia) and I learned to identify a Mango Tree- finally. Latini ate an elephant fish... supposedly it looks like an elephant but my eye could not discern the resemblance. Afterwards we took a motorbike that wouldn't work but Latini encouraged me none the less to practice and get comfortable on it. I did this until the sky opened up and rain came pouring down upon us.  We met a very cute couple while taking shelter from the storm.  Interestingly we passed a Cargill (one of the largest, if not the largest, meat producers in the world) meat factory that probably ships meat into Saigon up the river.

(7/19) The next day we got up as early as we could and headed to Cai Be's supposedly amazing floating market. It started out bad with me getting on a bus and tearing a big hole in my pants on something that was sticking out of the seat.  It would have been ok if it was a hole in the leg of the pants but of course it wasn't or I wouldn't be sharing it with you. The rip was at the upper thigh/ butt.  All that happened to me once we got to Cai Be was that I got incredibly frustrated with everyone and their mothers, fathers children and grandparents who tried to rip us off. Argh. 

We decided to get out of this town as soon as we were done so we headed out to the main highway.  There we sat at a roadside stand drinking sugar cane juice, as the nicest old man who made our day, held out signs to our destination. After about a half hour we got a bus to Can Tho.

(7/20) We woke up 5 minutes after our alarm had gone off and ran downstairs to meet our guide.  Our guide was not there. Instead was another man who walked us to the dock. Once we got there we had a battle with one guy because we had paid for a guide who lied to us and was only an agent. After the battle I was sad and annoyed with the people of Vietnam. I don't understand how the people could not just be honest. I am not the first to deal with this and I continue to learn that I am one of many this has happened too. It is ruining Vietnam's reputation and I hope it doesn't spread to other countries. We briefly saw the sunrise and Can Tho's floating market before Latini and I separated ways and he left for Saigon and I for Chau Doc, the border of Cambodia.

Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh which ever you prefer

Free Hotel Room, Sounds Good to Me

(7/11) I arrived on the train from Nha Trang around 5:30 in the morning and a man who was in my cabin on the train offered me a free hotel room no strings attached. I didn't have to go to dinner with them or anything. He is a Vietnamese-American back to visit his family and do business. He gave me money for a room in this nice hotel for one night. That was very exciting, especially because I had to pay $10 a night for the next five nights (it adds up quickly). That day I walked around Saigon, dropped my camera off to get fixed, got my Cambodian Visa and found the hotel I was going to stay at for the rest of the week.  That afternoon I met this guy Latini, from Ghana. We ended up traveling through the Mekong Delta together and spending a lot of time dancing in Saigon.

I needed to do things to get myself on a schedule or feeling normal for a little while so I went to the gym.  This was a very nice gym and had a lot of equipment I have never seen in the U.S. including a wooden hula-hoop to work out your sides. I had to have a woman show me how to do it because it was very different from the hula-hoops I played with as a child in the United States and I still couldn't manage it.  Maybe next time.

(7/12)  Vietnam - American War

Today I went to the War Remnants Museum, a one-sided but powerful view of the American War (the name the Vietnamese government calls the Vietnam War). The museum was definitely biased against the United States but all based in fact around photographs and the experiences of the photographers who documented the war. Learning about the impact of Agent Orange and Napalm bombings is unbelievable.  The stories are horrible and as I travel to Cambodia, the idea that sticks in my head is why do we stop for even a moment and learn from history?  People have told me this since I was a child but why don't we stop complaining and talking about it and do it. I will start, I guess that is what I am doing.

(7/13) Caodaism

Today I went on an all day tour to the famous underground system of tunnels called the Cu Chi Tunnels and visited a Cao Dai temple. Cao Daism is a religion combining the practices of Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism and other religions. Many years ago their pope fled to Cambodia during the war, where he died and his body remains.  There is still no pope because no one is qualified; no one has passed through the necessary stages of enlightenment. Seven chairs remain empty for the deceased pope and high officials. There are nine steps to reach nirvana but it takes 10-15 years to pass through one. Anyone want to try? The goal is to escape reincarnation by following the prohibitions of sensuality, killing and lying. Just like all religions there are contradictions.  In this case, they had their own army that fought and killed the North and South Vietnamese soldiers in 1956 to gain an autonomous region and they choose not to eat meat (not kill) only 10 days of the month.

The temple was beautiful. It is fully restored and decorated in all bright colors, which of course I like. They welcome visitors during their services. You have to stay on the second floor and are not allowed into certain sacred areas but are welcomed to take photos.  Of course my camera was being fixed and the disposable I bought ruined all my pictures. So as the story continues, my great camera luck continues.

Next we went to see the system of underground tunnels and even crawled through one for tourists which is twice the size of a real one and that was hard for me to fit through. I have no idea how the Cu Chi people fit through them. The tunnels had to be small to withstand the earth shaking from the bombings. Their technology of making tools and traps was incredibly inventive. 

(7/14 -17) The rest of the week: I had a few days of adventures in the city. Saigon is definitely my favorite city in Vietnam.  I went to Chinatown and on a few cyclos, one cheating me (or I wasn't being smart whatever way you want to see it), and the other gave my friend and I a joy ride but we barely made it to our destination. I went to a clothing factory (more later) and went dancing for three nights. My ego grew when the three African men I was with commented on how I can dance! I won't forget that either. On my last day I went to Latini's school where he teaches children English and I taught them the dance to Ring Around the Roses.  The school coordinator liked me and probably has some jobs to fill so she offered me a job. Exciting but not what I want to do. If I go somewhere to teach English it will definitely be China. That afternoon Latini and I headed to My Tho, two hours or so from the city even though it took us over 3, to see why people speak so highly of the Mekong Delta.

Garment Factory- Wow!

I went to this factory on a connection from my father. Only if there were a lot more factories like this.  All three factories in the two blocks radius that were a part of this company were beaming clean, had new machines, and a cooling system to say a few.  I do not know if the workers are happy or if they have a contract but I know they are not union, which could be fine. Anyhow the workers do get a chance to try different jobs, learn different skills and move up in the company.  This is very rare but a great step in the right direction. I learned all about the industry, frustrations and benefits to having a factory in Vietnam.  The staff were all great hosts and the whole experience was extremely different that mine in China.