After lunch, brick laying continued followed with application of a finishing coat of cement to walls.
Again, a well deserved swim at Kep Beach greeted everyone after a good days work.
Don Brimacombe
DWC Volunteer Team Leader
Cambodia: February 2015
Showing posts with label service trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label service trip. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
February 10, 2015: Focused On The Task At Hand
Arriving at the worksite, the water had been drained and prepared for
the inlet and outlet walls. There was a different feel around the
project today...focused. Fairly quiet around each site as everyone was
busy with task at hand. Today was also a special day in honour of Larry
Steele, Lindy's beloved husband who passed recently. We all shared in
Lindy's heartfelt blessing and dedicated this site in Larry's name. We
are a team of eleven.
After lunch, brick laying continued followed with application of a finishing coat of cement to walls.
Again, a well deserved swim at Kep Beach greeted everyone after a good days work.
Don Brimacombe
DWC Volunteer Team Leader
Cambodia: February 2015
After lunch, brick laying continued followed with application of a finishing coat of cement to walls.
Again, a well deserved swim at Kep Beach greeted everyone after a good days work.
Don Brimacombe
DWC Volunteer Team Leader
Cambodia: February 2015
Sunday, July 13, 2014
July 13: Seoul and Beyond--and Trip Conclusion
We arrived in Seoul on time and having heard that we might be able to get into the city during out 11-hour layover looked for bus transportation and answers to questions. As we were walking through the transfer area, we stumbled up on the Transit Tour Desk and a woman there told us about the whole deal. Basically, the Seoul/Incheon Tourist Board ran buses and tours for very low prices (or free) ranging from two to five hours. There was a Seoul City Tour leaving at 0800, so we hurried to through the immigration desk to the airport entrance. The cadets liked this option, too because it meant that they got a South Korean stamp on their passport and could check South Korea off as another country visited.
At the tour desk, we were told that the five-hour tour would cost $10, but included a lunch. We tried to sign up but the lady there said that the 0800 trip was full. She did put us on a waiting list, though, saying that a large group of 11 had reserved spots but that they had not yet shown up. As it turned out, they never did, so we made it onto the 0800 long trip instead of having to settle for a two-hour tour of just the Incheon area.
We joined 15 others and a very animated guide who obviously lover her job. The drive into Seoul took us an hour and we went directly to the Gyeongbukgong or Royal Palace on the northern part of Seoul. Our guide explained that only about 10% of the palace is original because “we’ve been invaded many times,” and Becky and I had visited the sites around the palace when we were here in 2010, but it was still a great walk and clear that more renovations had been accomplished since we were there before. Our guide managed to walk us through most of the palace in just over 45 minutes with some lively descriptions and quick walking. This was France-style power tourism at its best.
When we made it back to the bus there was one irate guy still on the bus with his two small children. He claimed that they were the last ones off the bus and by the time they had exited they couldn’t find the guide and didn’t know where to go so they just sat on the bus. His wife was in the bathroom in the parking lot and we had to wait for her to come back. The guide told the whole bus, though, with her microphone before we left that if you got separated you just needed to be back at the bus by 1000. Still, this guy gave her hell for leaving them behind. Ugly Americans—though they said they were in transit from their home in Hong Kong. Why someone would take two kids under six years old on a tour like this is crazy anyway. The guide handled it well, though, and apologized profusely but didn’t really give in.
Our next site was the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple more in the center of town. When we got there, our guide made it clear that we had only 15 minutes at the site and then we would be moving on. I didn’t see the family get off the bus. The temple was very impressive and there were many inside following a chant leader. The exterior was decorated with many hanging paper fish which our guide said was indicative of the season. Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to walk around and take a few photos. Luke fell asleep in the back row of the bus and missed this stop completely, much t our amusement.
We reboarded and next went to the traditional street market (Insadong) and shopping area in downtown Seoul that, I recognized, was in the same area as the hotel at which we had stayed four years earlier. Our guide described the area and then told us that we would be going to lunch first. We walked down a narrow street (inaccessible to cars) and then upstairs to what looked like a traditional Korean restaurant. The six of us sat together on rustic wooden chairs and we had a prix fixe menu that included several starters, rice, and then a choice of three main courses. The appetizers were some very good kimchi that was not too hot, some fermented eggplant, seaweed, and potatoes each in separate bowls that were repeatedly refilled by the servers. My main course (along with Dylan) was s spicy soup that had an egg plopped into it raw—it cooked quickly in the hot broth—lots of tofu, some potatoes, and plenty of spice. It was medium hot and very tasty. Our guide told us that the way to eat is was to have a spoonful of soup and the go for a bite of rice. The others had dishes that they clearly enjoyed. Dylan, Winston, and I ordered a bottle of the local beer (0.5 liter) and recognized that we were back in the developed work when the bill for each one was $5 or 5000SKW. The coupled that complained about being left behind got off the bus, saw a a fried chicken and French fry place and went there directly, skipping the Korean lunch that they’d already purchased. I liked the fact that the cadets recognized boorish behavior of Americans overseas.
After lunch we broke into two groups—Dylan and I were more into the back alley walking while the other four were window shopping. The sites and people were fun to see and we covered a lot of ground quickly. We went to one park that seemed to be populated almost entirely by old men. The inner walls of the park contained large bronze high relief murals showing key historical events in Korean history, specifically the Japanese occupation period, and there were statues and monuments to key resistance leaders. It was small and peaceful with some beautiful flowers, too.
We continued our walk around, passing down narrow alleys to see various pork parts cooking in small kitchens, one restaurant clearly dedicated to octopus since they had an aquarium filled with small ones front and center at the entrance and an caricature octopus in their logo. There was a small children’s science museum with funny statues that showed a large elephant being sucked into a black hole (not clear where the front part of the elephant was located, but I’ll presume that it was another painted black hole somewhere else in the city). One gentlemen seemed to have stepped out onto the sidewalk midway through a barbershop shave visit.
Seeing downtown Seoul was a revelation to the cadets. They were amazed at how clean the streets were, that people in cars and on motorbikes actually followed traffic signals and laws, and there were no stray pets roaming the streets. Dylan and I wondered at what point in the development of a modern society citizens start being conscientious about trash and follow traffic rules. I didn’t realize at first how amazing the Seoul scenes must’ve been to them since their only Asian experience had been Cambodia, and told them that Singapore made Seoul look dirty by comparison.
The time passed quickly a before we knew it, we were back on the bus and headed through town back to the airport. The cadets got to see the Seoul tour through the fog, but not much else since the air was thick, but relatively cool. We were happy to not be sweating much more after all of our travels and glad that the temperature in Seoul was much lower than the 94F (35C) it was the day before. Here's the slide show of our morning in Seoul.
Back at the airport, we passed through passport and security check quickly despite some lines and took the train to the international terminal. We were at out gate by 1330 for the 1730 departure so everyone had time to catch another nap, walk around, or work on blogs and photographs. The airport was annoyingly warm (probably upper 70s despite air conditioning. I cleaned up as best I could in the bathroom, changed shirts right before we got ready to board, and brushed my teeth. Some of the cadets got some food before boarding as they planned to just skip dinner and go to sleep once we were on board. I ate my last Clif Bar as my dinner and had my Ambien in my pocket for easy access as part of my plan.
We when went forward to board the Delta 767, they told us that our boarding passes issued in Phnom Penh were no goo and that they needed to reissue new ones to us. We stepped aside and went to the customer service agent at the gate and handed over our passports. Then, things went downhill again—much like they had at Phnom Penh. I asked why we weren’t either alerted to do this in the four hours prior to boarding or why the boarding passes were not sufficient but didn’t get any solid answer other than “Delta is not Korean Air.” True, but both flights were Delta/Korean code shares, so that didn’t make much sense. We really began to worry when the whole plane was boarded and they now were asking for our baggage claim tickets. Suddenly the thought that our bags may not have made the transfer (in 11 hours!) dawned on us. They entered the numbers and we asked if our bags would be on the flight, but again the explanation in their best English left significant room for doubt. Luke had to explain his name again, but this passed quickly. Luke, Hansena, and Annie boarded when they got their passes as they were all on the same reservation with me, but Dylan and Winston were on a different confirmation code that required even more work and research. I waited outside for them and we were the final three people to board the plane by about ten minutes.
Finally, though, we were on board. I popped my Ambien, set the music on my tablet on shuffle, put on my facemask and can’t say I remember much from takeoff until almost five hours into the flight. Hansena was seated next to me at the window and she slept most of the flight. I managed to finish my second book of the trip (Willa Cather’s 1923 Pulitzer Prize-Winning “One of Our Own,” about rural Nebraska and World War I) and also got more work done processing and cataloguing photos. We landed on time at a sunny SeaTac and made our way to customs and immigration.
The lines were long at the passport checks, but they had new kiosks that allowed US citizens to just scan their passports, answer a couple of quick questions on a touch screen, and then have a photo taken with an integrated camera. The kiosk then printed a receipt that we handed to the agents with our passports. I was impressed with the entire system. Annie was less pleased, though, as for some reason not clear to any of us here receipt printed with a big red “X” in the middle and she had to go back through the system. We’re not sure if it was a random check or some malfunction. Still, she met us down in baggage claim about ten minutes later. Dylan, Hansena, Luke and I were already waiting for our bags and we had one of our bigger reliefs of the trip when we saw them on the carousel.
Recheck-in went smoothly and we passed security eventually—I was reminded that we were back in the States because my TSA agent that patted me down after I set off the metal detector with my metal hip offered the kind of stateside attention that I’d missed in Korea and Cambodia.
We made it to the gate area about four hours before boarding and used the time to set up our typical camp near a bunch of recharger plugs. Dylan promptly went to sleep sprawled out on a back of nearby seats and he was joined by Winston a little while later who found a parallel set. The others were watching the Netherlands-Brazil soccer match and they returned later. Luke went to sleep. Hansena woke Winston three or four times because he was laying on his back and his snoring was audible throughout that SeaTac C Terminal. Dylan hardly budged for four hours.
SeaTac’s free wifi was blazingly fast and I managed to get all of my remaining photos processed and uploaded to my Zenfolio account, my Microsoft OneDrive cloud backup, and to several smaller Facebook albums. I also added a few items to our Googledocs spreadsheet documenting some expenditures during the trip, called our shuttle company in Colorado Springs to reconfirm our pickup, and get some pages into “The Book Thief.”
By 1730 we were all cleaned up, awake, and ready to board the final flight leg of our trip. A call came out for a volunteer to take a middle seat in the exit row (non-reclining seat) so that a family could sit together in this oversold flight and I took it, reasoning that the cadets were tired of me sitting around them, I’d get more leg room, and I didn’t plan to recline anyway since I would be typing this blog. The family was thankful and it worked out well.
Nothing to report on the return flight and our bags and driver were on time worked out well. On the final van ride back to the Academy, our driver (a Marine Corps Vietnam vet) had lots of questions about the trip because he was also the driver that took us to the airport three weeks earlier. (Let me note that it was a 30 minutes longer trip than it had to be because USAFA has decided to close the North Gate after 2200 so our driver had to go all of the way to the South Gate and then back north to the Cadet Area to drop off the cadets) With all of his questions, and my answers, he was happy that we’d had a good trip and surprised by how upbeat we were about Cambodia and its future. I realized the same thing, while trying to balance my comments with all of the challenges that we saw. The conversation really helped all of us focus on what we saw and learned on the trip and was a great way to finish.
Becky picked me up at the South Gate as did Winston’s sponsors. We all had a few shorts words of mutual thanks and congratulations on a trip very well executed. This is my fourth official cadet immersion trip and it was the smoothest—even though it was the most physically and culturally challenging and immersive.
Thanks to all who followed us on this trip, checked the blog, and wrote encouragement. Special thanks goes to the USAFA Class of 1981 for supporting this trip through their generous donations to the USAFA Endowment as part of our class gift (If you’re ‘Second to None,’ reading this,and haven’t yet contributed to the Class Gift, I hope this blog and the success of our trip will encourage you to do so). Cadet final reports will be submitted and publically available via the USAFA Endowment's website sometime in early August. I'd also like to thank Developing World Connections (especially Ashley Ekelund), Equitable Cambodia, Intrepid Travel, Mango Tours Cambodia, and our great guides and leaders: Dan Tc, Sotheavy Sov, Sokkheang Ly, Kheng Senh, and Savorn Toem for helping make this such an amazing, memorable, and important experience for our cadets (and me). All 5000 of my photos are now up at martyfrance.zenfolio.com.
And that’s it folks. More adventures start soon when I depart for a semester abroad at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore as a Fulbright Fellow. The Cambodia trip and strengthened my resolve to travel as much as practical throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia while I’m there as well as making plans to meet Becky in Hong Kong during our Fall Break to see that great city and let Dan serve as tour guide again--for beer and photo discussions. I’ll run a blog for that trip, too.
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Seoul, South Korea: July 2014
At the tour desk, we were told that the five-hour tour would cost $10, but included a lunch. We tried to sign up but the lady there said that the 0800 trip was full. She did put us on a waiting list, though, saying that a large group of 11 had reserved spots but that they had not yet shown up. As it turned out, they never did, so we made it onto the 0800 long trip instead of having to settle for a two-hour tour of just the Incheon area.
We joined 15 others and a very animated guide who obviously lover her job. The drive into Seoul took us an hour and we went directly to the Gyeongbukgong or Royal Palace on the northern part of Seoul. Our guide explained that only about 10% of the palace is original because “we’ve been invaded many times,” and Becky and I had visited the sites around the palace when we were here in 2010, but it was still a great walk and clear that more renovations had been accomplished since we were there before. Our guide managed to walk us through most of the palace in just over 45 minutes with some lively descriptions and quick walking. This was France-style power tourism at its best.
When we made it back to the bus there was one irate guy still on the bus with his two small children. He claimed that they were the last ones off the bus and by the time they had exited they couldn’t find the guide and didn’t know where to go so they just sat on the bus. His wife was in the bathroom in the parking lot and we had to wait for her to come back. The guide told the whole bus, though, with her microphone before we left that if you got separated you just needed to be back at the bus by 1000. Still, this guy gave her hell for leaving them behind. Ugly Americans—though they said they were in transit from their home in Hong Kong. Why someone would take two kids under six years old on a tour like this is crazy anyway. The guide handled it well, though, and apologized profusely but didn’t really give in.
Our next site was the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple more in the center of town. When we got there, our guide made it clear that we had only 15 minutes at the site and then we would be moving on. I didn’t see the family get off the bus. The temple was very impressive and there were many inside following a chant leader. The exterior was decorated with many hanging paper fish which our guide said was indicative of the season. Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to walk around and take a few photos. Luke fell asleep in the back row of the bus and missed this stop completely, much t our amusement.
We reboarded and next went to the traditional street market (Insadong) and shopping area in downtown Seoul that, I recognized, was in the same area as the hotel at which we had stayed four years earlier. Our guide described the area and then told us that we would be going to lunch first. We walked down a narrow street (inaccessible to cars) and then upstairs to what looked like a traditional Korean restaurant. The six of us sat together on rustic wooden chairs and we had a prix fixe menu that included several starters, rice, and then a choice of three main courses. The appetizers were some very good kimchi that was not too hot, some fermented eggplant, seaweed, and potatoes each in separate bowls that were repeatedly refilled by the servers. My main course (along with Dylan) was s spicy soup that had an egg plopped into it raw—it cooked quickly in the hot broth—lots of tofu, some potatoes, and plenty of spice. It was medium hot and very tasty. Our guide told us that the way to eat is was to have a spoonful of soup and the go for a bite of rice. The others had dishes that they clearly enjoyed. Dylan, Winston, and I ordered a bottle of the local beer (0.5 liter) and recognized that we were back in the developed work when the bill for each one was $5 or 5000SKW. The coupled that complained about being left behind got off the bus, saw a a fried chicken and French fry place and went there directly, skipping the Korean lunch that they’d already purchased. I liked the fact that the cadets recognized boorish behavior of Americans overseas.
After lunch we broke into two groups—Dylan and I were more into the back alley walking while the other four were window shopping. The sites and people were fun to see and we covered a lot of ground quickly. We went to one park that seemed to be populated almost entirely by old men. The inner walls of the park contained large bronze high relief murals showing key historical events in Korean history, specifically the Japanese occupation period, and there were statues and monuments to key resistance leaders. It was small and peaceful with some beautiful flowers, too.
We continued our walk around, passing down narrow alleys to see various pork parts cooking in small kitchens, one restaurant clearly dedicated to octopus since they had an aquarium filled with small ones front and center at the entrance and an caricature octopus in their logo. There was a small children’s science museum with funny statues that showed a large elephant being sucked into a black hole (not clear where the front part of the elephant was located, but I’ll presume that it was another painted black hole somewhere else in the city). One gentlemen seemed to have stepped out onto the sidewalk midway through a barbershop shave visit.
Seeing downtown Seoul was a revelation to the cadets. They were amazed at how clean the streets were, that people in cars and on motorbikes actually followed traffic signals and laws, and there were no stray pets roaming the streets. Dylan and I wondered at what point in the development of a modern society citizens start being conscientious about trash and follow traffic rules. I didn’t realize at first how amazing the Seoul scenes must’ve been to them since their only Asian experience had been Cambodia, and told them that Singapore made Seoul look dirty by comparison.
The time passed quickly a before we knew it, we were back on the bus and headed through town back to the airport. The cadets got to see the Seoul tour through the fog, but not much else since the air was thick, but relatively cool. We were happy to not be sweating much more after all of our travels and glad that the temperature in Seoul was much lower than the 94F (35C) it was the day before. Here's the slide show of our morning in Seoul.
Back at the airport, we passed through passport and security check quickly despite some lines and took the train to the international terminal. We were at out gate by 1330 for the 1730 departure so everyone had time to catch another nap, walk around, or work on blogs and photographs. The airport was annoyingly warm (probably upper 70s despite air conditioning. I cleaned up as best I could in the bathroom, changed shirts right before we got ready to board, and brushed my teeth. Some of the cadets got some food before boarding as they planned to just skip dinner and go to sleep once we were on board. I ate my last Clif Bar as my dinner and had my Ambien in my pocket for easy access as part of my plan.
We when went forward to board the Delta 767, they told us that our boarding passes issued in Phnom Penh were no goo and that they needed to reissue new ones to us. We stepped aside and went to the customer service agent at the gate and handed over our passports. Then, things went downhill again—much like they had at Phnom Penh. I asked why we weren’t either alerted to do this in the four hours prior to boarding or why the boarding passes were not sufficient but didn’t get any solid answer other than “Delta is not Korean Air.” True, but both flights were Delta/Korean code shares, so that didn’t make much sense. We really began to worry when the whole plane was boarded and they now were asking for our baggage claim tickets. Suddenly the thought that our bags may not have made the transfer (in 11 hours!) dawned on us. They entered the numbers and we asked if our bags would be on the flight, but again the explanation in their best English left significant room for doubt. Luke had to explain his name again, but this passed quickly. Luke, Hansena, and Annie boarded when they got their passes as they were all on the same reservation with me, but Dylan and Winston were on a different confirmation code that required even more work and research. I waited outside for them and we were the final three people to board the plane by about ten minutes.
Finally, though, we were on board. I popped my Ambien, set the music on my tablet on shuffle, put on my facemask and can’t say I remember much from takeoff until almost five hours into the flight. Hansena was seated next to me at the window and she slept most of the flight. I managed to finish my second book of the trip (Willa Cather’s 1923 Pulitzer Prize-Winning “One of Our Own,” about rural Nebraska and World War I) and also got more work done processing and cataloguing photos. We landed on time at a sunny SeaTac and made our way to customs and immigration.
The lines were long at the passport checks, but they had new kiosks that allowed US citizens to just scan their passports, answer a couple of quick questions on a touch screen, and then have a photo taken with an integrated camera. The kiosk then printed a receipt that we handed to the agents with our passports. I was impressed with the entire system. Annie was less pleased, though, as for some reason not clear to any of us here receipt printed with a big red “X” in the middle and she had to go back through the system. We’re not sure if it was a random check or some malfunction. Still, she met us down in baggage claim about ten minutes later. Dylan, Hansena, Luke and I were already waiting for our bags and we had one of our bigger reliefs of the trip when we saw them on the carousel.
Recheck-in went smoothly and we passed security eventually—I was reminded that we were back in the States because my TSA agent that patted me down after I set off the metal detector with my metal hip offered the kind of stateside attention that I’d missed in Korea and Cambodia.
We made it to the gate area about four hours before boarding and used the time to set up our typical camp near a bunch of recharger plugs. Dylan promptly went to sleep sprawled out on a back of nearby seats and he was joined by Winston a little while later who found a parallel set. The others were watching the Netherlands-Brazil soccer match and they returned later. Luke went to sleep. Hansena woke Winston three or four times because he was laying on his back and his snoring was audible throughout that SeaTac C Terminal. Dylan hardly budged for four hours.
SeaTac’s free wifi was blazingly fast and I managed to get all of my remaining photos processed and uploaded to my Zenfolio account, my Microsoft OneDrive cloud backup, and to several smaller Facebook albums. I also added a few items to our Googledocs spreadsheet documenting some expenditures during the trip, called our shuttle company in Colorado Springs to reconfirm our pickup, and get some pages into “The Book Thief.”
By 1730 we were all cleaned up, awake, and ready to board the final flight leg of our trip. A call came out for a volunteer to take a middle seat in the exit row (non-reclining seat) so that a family could sit together in this oversold flight and I took it, reasoning that the cadets were tired of me sitting around them, I’d get more leg room, and I didn’t plan to recline anyway since I would be typing this blog. The family was thankful and it worked out well.
Nothing to report on the return flight and our bags and driver were on time worked out well. On the final van ride back to the Academy, our driver (a Marine Corps Vietnam vet) had lots of questions about the trip because he was also the driver that took us to the airport three weeks earlier. (Let me note that it was a 30 minutes longer trip than it had to be because USAFA has decided to close the North Gate after 2200 so our driver had to go all of the way to the South Gate and then back north to the Cadet Area to drop off the cadets) With all of his questions, and my answers, he was happy that we’d had a good trip and surprised by how upbeat we were about Cambodia and its future. I realized the same thing, while trying to balance my comments with all of the challenges that we saw. The conversation really helped all of us focus on what we saw and learned on the trip and was a great way to finish.
Becky picked me up at the South Gate as did Winston’s sponsors. We all had a few shorts words of mutual thanks and congratulations on a trip very well executed. This is my fourth official cadet immersion trip and it was the smoothest—even though it was the most physically and culturally challenging and immersive.
Thanks to all who followed us on this trip, checked the blog, and wrote encouragement. Special thanks goes to the USAFA Class of 1981 for supporting this trip through their generous donations to the USAFA Endowment as part of our class gift (If you’re ‘Second to None,’ reading this,and haven’t yet contributed to the Class Gift, I hope this blog and the success of our trip will encourage you to do so). Cadet final reports will be submitted and publically available via the USAFA Endowment's website sometime in early August. I'd also like to thank Developing World Connections (especially Ashley Ekelund), Equitable Cambodia, Intrepid Travel, Mango Tours Cambodia, and our great guides and leaders: Dan Tc, Sotheavy Sov, Sokkheang Ly, Kheng Senh, and Savorn Toem for helping make this such an amazing, memorable, and important experience for our cadets (and me). All 5000 of my photos are now up at martyfrance.zenfolio.com.
And that’s it folks. More adventures start soon when I depart for a semester abroad at Nanyang Technical University in Singapore as a Fulbright Fellow. The Cambodia trip and strengthened my resolve to travel as much as practical throughout Southeast Asia and Indonesia while I’m there as well as making plans to meet Becky in Hong Kong during our Fall Break to see that great city and let Dan serve as tour guide again--for beer and photo discussions. I’ll run a blog for that trip, too.
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Seoul, South Korea: July 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
July 10: The Weather Breaks!
On what was supposed to be our final work day, we were all a bit on
edge because we wanted to work, but the weather had stymied us for two
days and we were wondering if we'd have any chance at all. There was
rain overnight and, when I awoke, it looked like it had just stopped
raining. We all met for breakfast and it sprinkled just a bit--as we
could see in the swimming pool--but the clouds didn't look as
threatening and the wind wasn't so strong as in the last two days.
The forecast was still not good, so we left at 0800 hoping to get a chance. When we arrived at the work site, our little bridge was totally submerged and we had to take another way around that included zig-zagging on the little levies that separate the rice paddies east of the houses. As you walk along these, little frogs jump into the paddies and there were ducks enjoying the rains as well. Cows are everywhere in rural (and urban) Cambodia, so we passed a few of them as well.
As usual, the families were there to great us, shake our hands and thank us for the work. Jay was using a hatchet to turn a couple of branches and some leftover wood into scaffolding--some seriously impressive innovation--and Mr Song was helping him. We started mixing mortar right away and went to work finishing the bricklaying. Winston and I shoveled mud into the gaps around the concrete cylinders, too, while Mr Song leveled the mud/dirt inside the latrine and we distributed the base granite stones evenly and marked on the interior walls where the cistern containment would be.
The work went quickly except for a couple of frustrations with deciding how high to go and the correct slope for the roof. Just as at the other site the previous week, I would put up bricks, Jay would tell me they were too high or that a vent was going into that spot, then a few minutes later, Mr Song would come over and tell Jay and me that we needed to go higher or that something else had to be fixed.
This touches on the whole translation thing. With Vy working at the other site, we did seven days of work with no common language. Jay knew "yes," "no," and "okay" in English, and I knew only "thank you," "hello," "goodbye" and how to count to five in Khmer. This made for an excellent immersion experience for the cadets (and good patience training for me), but in the end it did cost us time and work.
We finally settled on heights and slopes, though, and soon began stuccoing the exterior of the latrine. We had some mix issues (too thin) to begin, but those were solved quickly and Dan, Annie, and I got to work--with Tiem helping us, Jay finishing the top of the bricks, and Winston mixing. The ladies and girls were constantly hauling new buckets of stucco to us when they weren't presenting us with fresh coconuts to drink with a straw or holding out baskets of fresh bananas and rambutan. The other team didn't have as much support as we did and one less worker, so they were a bit frustrated and behind, but still happy to be moving along.
The weather continued to hold and was overall as pleasant or more so than Monday, with a nice breeze and overcast but light skies. We worked hard and long, getting as much done as possible before breaking for lunch just after noon. We drove to the Vines and everyone agreed that this should be our shortest lunch of the trip--we were all anxious to get back to work before the rains came again. Lunch included morning glories deep fried in a light eggy batter as well as another delicious soup and the ever-present rice. We settled up for the additional drinks quickly and were back to work well before 1330.
From here on, both teams worked almost non-stop until 1730. We had the usual breaks for iced-coffee and bananas, but those didn't last long. Even Jay was taking fewer smoke breaks as we all thought that the rain would arrive at any moment--but it didn't.
After getting most of the exterior walls done, Jay and I went to work finishing them--Tiem worked on one wall himself--then Annie and Dan moved inside to start stuccoing there. Winston kept us in stucco all afternoon and did some of that himself when we was ahead of the game.
And so the afternoon went--smoothing and evening the sides until they were flawless using a wet sponge and a straw broom as the finishing touches. By 1700, it looked like we were going to finish the outside walls completely and that the basic coats of stucco would be done inside, too. The other team found a stopping point and came over to see our work--it was also on the way back to the van since we now walked an alternate route. Jay and Tiem moved inside the latrine to do finished work and I helped for awhile, but it was obvious that we'd hit our stopping point and it was time to go by about 1715. Mr Song and Vy assured us that the workers would be able to finish everything on Friday and that it was okay to leave, so we began saying out goodbyes to the family (grandma, two of the three sisters, and three granddaughters) who'd been feeding us so well. We took photos and had our hands shaken about a hundred times. It was just a superb ending to two weeks of work and everyone clearly appreciated the entire experience.
On the way back to the hotel, we decided that we would, in fact, wade out to the Kep Crab for photos. I set the camera up for Vy and as we arrived it looked like the tide was going out and that we'd have no trouble getting there from the narrow, but sandy, shoreline. Winston and I took off our boots and waded in socks because of the many rocks, a couple of the cadets kept their shoes on, and we started the meter wade to the base of the Crab.
Vy took the first set of photos and then we decided (on Dan's urging and demonstration) that we could climb onto the platform. Luke found a couple of large, strategically place rocks near the platform and we were able to swing ourselves up. Luke and Hansena climbed farther up the Crab and we took another round of photos. After that, Dan climbed down and scouted the bottom to find a sandy section not too far away from the platform and I jumped off, seat first, landing easily in the shallow water--rock free. The others followed suit and we were all wading back in a few seconds.
When we got to the road, we all realized that we didn't want to get into Dee's van and mess it all up, so the cadets decided to run back to the hotel--about a half mile. So, we made a very interesting picture to the locals as seven fully-clothed but soaking wet people were jogging along the seashore's sidewalk, squishing with every step.
We were back to the hotel by 1830 and decided to go out to one last dinner at Holy Crab that night, leaving at 1915. On our way over, though, Vy called us to say that Holy Crab wasn't open on Thursdays, so we chose our second favorite restaurant in Kep--La Baraka.
We were seated outside at Lar Baraka on their upper deck and had ordered drinks and were enjoying them. Everyone was very pleased with their day amazed that the time had gone so fast. Suddenly, though, our luck ran out and we heard the "plop, plop" of a few big raindrops and then suddenly it was like someone had turned on a shower head directly above us. We were drenched in a matter of seconds and sent scurrying inside with our drinks. The staff, though, was very accommodating and found us a table within minutes. We'd beaten the rain on our final work day and it all felt good. Everyone was so tired that dessert was ruled out and everyone went straight to their rooms upon return to the hotel. Here's the slide show from today--I'm up to almost 5000 shots for the trip.
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
The forecast was still not good, so we left at 0800 hoping to get a chance. When we arrived at the work site, our little bridge was totally submerged and we had to take another way around that included zig-zagging on the little levies that separate the rice paddies east of the houses. As you walk along these, little frogs jump into the paddies and there were ducks enjoying the rains as well. Cows are everywhere in rural (and urban) Cambodia, so we passed a few of them as well.
As usual, the families were there to great us, shake our hands and thank us for the work. Jay was using a hatchet to turn a couple of branches and some leftover wood into scaffolding--some seriously impressive innovation--and Mr Song was helping him. We started mixing mortar right away and went to work finishing the bricklaying. Winston and I shoveled mud into the gaps around the concrete cylinders, too, while Mr Song leveled the mud/dirt inside the latrine and we distributed the base granite stones evenly and marked on the interior walls where the cistern containment would be.
The work went quickly except for a couple of frustrations with deciding how high to go and the correct slope for the roof. Just as at the other site the previous week, I would put up bricks, Jay would tell me they were too high or that a vent was going into that spot, then a few minutes later, Mr Song would come over and tell Jay and me that we needed to go higher or that something else had to be fixed.
This touches on the whole translation thing. With Vy working at the other site, we did seven days of work with no common language. Jay knew "yes," "no," and "okay" in English, and I knew only "thank you," "hello," "goodbye" and how to count to five in Khmer. This made for an excellent immersion experience for the cadets (and good patience training for me), but in the end it did cost us time and work.
We finally settled on heights and slopes, though, and soon began stuccoing the exterior of the latrine. We had some mix issues (too thin) to begin, but those were solved quickly and Dan, Annie, and I got to work--with Tiem helping us, Jay finishing the top of the bricks, and Winston mixing. The ladies and girls were constantly hauling new buckets of stucco to us when they weren't presenting us with fresh coconuts to drink with a straw or holding out baskets of fresh bananas and rambutan. The other team didn't have as much support as we did and one less worker, so they were a bit frustrated and behind, but still happy to be moving along.
The weather continued to hold and was overall as pleasant or more so than Monday, with a nice breeze and overcast but light skies. We worked hard and long, getting as much done as possible before breaking for lunch just after noon. We drove to the Vines and everyone agreed that this should be our shortest lunch of the trip--we were all anxious to get back to work before the rains came again. Lunch included morning glories deep fried in a light eggy batter as well as another delicious soup and the ever-present rice. We settled up for the additional drinks quickly and were back to work well before 1330.
From here on, both teams worked almost non-stop until 1730. We had the usual breaks for iced-coffee and bananas, but those didn't last long. Even Jay was taking fewer smoke breaks as we all thought that the rain would arrive at any moment--but it didn't.
After getting most of the exterior walls done, Jay and I went to work finishing them--Tiem worked on one wall himself--then Annie and Dan moved inside to start stuccoing there. Winston kept us in stucco all afternoon and did some of that himself when we was ahead of the game.
And so the afternoon went--smoothing and evening the sides until they were flawless using a wet sponge and a straw broom as the finishing touches. By 1700, it looked like we were going to finish the outside walls completely and that the basic coats of stucco would be done inside, too. The other team found a stopping point and came over to see our work--it was also on the way back to the van since we now walked an alternate route. Jay and Tiem moved inside the latrine to do finished work and I helped for awhile, but it was obvious that we'd hit our stopping point and it was time to go by about 1715. Mr Song and Vy assured us that the workers would be able to finish everything on Friday and that it was okay to leave, so we began saying out goodbyes to the family (grandma, two of the three sisters, and three granddaughters) who'd been feeding us so well. We took photos and had our hands shaken about a hundred times. It was just a superb ending to two weeks of work and everyone clearly appreciated the entire experience.
On the way back to the hotel, we decided that we would, in fact, wade out to the Kep Crab for photos. I set the camera up for Vy and as we arrived it looked like the tide was going out and that we'd have no trouble getting there from the narrow, but sandy, shoreline. Winston and I took off our boots and waded in socks because of the many rocks, a couple of the cadets kept their shoes on, and we started the meter wade to the base of the Crab.
Vy took the first set of photos and then we decided (on Dan's urging and demonstration) that we could climb onto the platform. Luke found a couple of large, strategically place rocks near the platform and we were able to swing ourselves up. Luke and Hansena climbed farther up the Crab and we took another round of photos. After that, Dan climbed down and scouted the bottom to find a sandy section not too far away from the platform and I jumped off, seat first, landing easily in the shallow water--rock free. The others followed suit and we were all wading back in a few seconds.
When we got to the road, we all realized that we didn't want to get into Dee's van and mess it all up, so the cadets decided to run back to the hotel--about a half mile. So, we made a very interesting picture to the locals as seven fully-clothed but soaking wet people were jogging along the seashore's sidewalk, squishing with every step.
We were back to the hotel by 1830 and decided to go out to one last dinner at Holy Crab that night, leaving at 1915. On our way over, though, Vy called us to say that Holy Crab wasn't open on Thursdays, so we chose our second favorite restaurant in Kep--La Baraka.
We were seated outside at Lar Baraka on their upper deck and had ordered drinks and were enjoying them. Everyone was very pleased with their day amazed that the time had gone so fast. Suddenly, though, our luck ran out and we heard the "plop, plop" of a few big raindrops and then suddenly it was like someone had turned on a shower head directly above us. We were drenched in a matter of seconds and sent scurrying inside with our drinks. The staff, though, was very accommodating and found us a table within minutes. We'd beaten the rain on our final work day and it all felt good. Everyone was so tired that dessert was ruled out and everyone went straight to their rooms upon return to the hotel. Here's the slide show from today--I'm up to almost 5000 shots for the trip.
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
July 8: Rain Out
We awoke to torrential rain and thunder, but hoped that things would
clear and we drove to our work sites this morning. It looked like our
hopes would be fulfilled as we saw a few glimmers of blue and the
precipation subsided for a little while. When we arrived and parked the
van, the little pond we needed to cross was swollen and the palm log
was insufficient to cross. The homeowner graciously waded out into the
pond barefoot (clearly thinking, "What's up with the American's that
can't get their feet wet") and placed another log to bridge part of the
gap. The last few steps were still tricky, though, much to the delight
of our spectators.
We each split up into our two groups and headed over to work. Just the senior sister was home at our project and she was very happy to see us again. Vy told us the day before that she was 49, but she looked easily 60. She doesn't know a word of English, but we're all trying to communicate and learn a few words--Winston most of all.
We bailed our cement pit of water--it had about two inches of standing water in it from the rain--and were close to beginning to mix concrete when Jay pointed to the Southeast and we saw a squall line incoming. We waited for almost two hours for the weather to clear, but we never go to the point of being able to mix concrete and go to work. Vy translated for me as I spoke to the woman of the house and senior of the three sisters that we met the day before. She said that five lived in the house, plus the grandmother who often slept there. This included her daughter (teenager), her youngest sister who had a small baby, and her son. All three of the sisters were widows. The youngest had just lost her husband recently, while the oldest had lost her husband in conflicts with the Khmer Rouge after the 1979 liberation. She said that her husband had been in the Army and had died shortly after their daughter (youngest child) was born. The daughter looks like she's about 16 or 17, so that would put his death sometime in the late 90s. She also said that her middle sister just lived a few kilometers away and visited often. I asked who worked the rice fields that surrounded the house and she said that she did most of the work. Having seen her use the hoe to dig the day before, I believed her! She also pointed out her well that had been built four year before with contributions from a Cambodian restaurant in California. Looking into the well, you could see that the water table was only about a meter down. Still, they got all of their water from it. Vy said that any drinking or cooking water is first boiled, though, and since it tastes so bad they usually only drink it in the form of tea. (Photos)
At about 1030, we decided to just go to the Vines, tour the peppercorn farm, catch an early lunch and hope things would clear. Lunch was again fantastic with a fish and tomato soup and some stir-fired veggies. We are eating healthily here. Soon after we started eating the weather seemed to clear and we went about a half hour without a sprinkle. Vy called Mr Song and we packed up after lunch and headed back to work. I did get a chance to take some pictures of Dan's friend, Savorn, and his 18-month-old son which I liked a lot. (Photos) I also took a lot of flower shots... (Photos)
When we arrived back the work site, the water had gone down in the pond and we forded it easily. It wasn't raining, so at our site we bailed out the new inch of water in the concrete ring and Annie and Winston wanted to start mixing a batch even though jay wasn't there yet to give instructions. I cautioned against it and Dan agreed. Dan pointed out that losing a full bag of cement was probably more costly to them that a day's work--the raw materials were relatively expensive--and that we should proceed without Jay's direction and some clearer skies. Sure enough, about five minutes later, the skies opened up and it rained for the next 90 minutes almost non-stop. We sat on the front porch of our homeowners house and just watched it rain. In the barnyard area, rain ran like little rivers towards the rice paddies that were gently terraced and connected with small drainage ditches to slow the flow between each and keep the young rice submerged by about three inches. The rain just didn't let up. We couldn't even get back to the work site for some time and when it slowed for a few minutes, it would recommence even harder than before.
By 1400, we just decided that we just had to call it a day. It rained all of the way back to the hotel and is still drizzling as I write this. The forecast isn't much better for our remaining days either. We'd been lucky in the first week to get the work done with only minor interruptions for rain, but this IS the rainy season and our luck seems to have run out. We're committed to doing as much as possible and will work into Friday morning if the weather allows. Still, the cadets are disappointed and frustrated to have a task in front of them and not be able to get it done. (Photos)
Everyone relaxed for about 90 minutes back at the hotel and we slowly congregated on the deck/cabana area to play some pool and cards. There's really not much else left to do until the weather clears, so we'll try to make the best of it.
Here's today's slide show...
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
We each split up into our two groups and headed over to work. Just the senior sister was home at our project and she was very happy to see us again. Vy told us the day before that she was 49, but she looked easily 60. She doesn't know a word of English, but we're all trying to communicate and learn a few words--Winston most of all.
We bailed our cement pit of water--it had about two inches of standing water in it from the rain--and were close to beginning to mix concrete when Jay pointed to the Southeast and we saw a squall line incoming. We waited for almost two hours for the weather to clear, but we never go to the point of being able to mix concrete and go to work. Vy translated for me as I spoke to the woman of the house and senior of the three sisters that we met the day before. She said that five lived in the house, plus the grandmother who often slept there. This included her daughter (teenager), her youngest sister who had a small baby, and her son. All three of the sisters were widows. The youngest had just lost her husband recently, while the oldest had lost her husband in conflicts with the Khmer Rouge after the 1979 liberation. She said that her husband had been in the Army and had died shortly after their daughter (youngest child) was born. The daughter looks like she's about 16 or 17, so that would put his death sometime in the late 90s. She also said that her middle sister just lived a few kilometers away and visited often. I asked who worked the rice fields that surrounded the house and she said that she did most of the work. Having seen her use the hoe to dig the day before, I believed her! She also pointed out her well that had been built four year before with contributions from a Cambodian restaurant in California. Looking into the well, you could see that the water table was only about a meter down. Still, they got all of their water from it. Vy said that any drinking or cooking water is first boiled, though, and since it tastes so bad they usually only drink it in the form of tea. (Photos)
At about 1030, we decided to just go to the Vines, tour the peppercorn farm, catch an early lunch and hope things would clear. Lunch was again fantastic with a fish and tomato soup and some stir-fired veggies. We are eating healthily here. Soon after we started eating the weather seemed to clear and we went about a half hour without a sprinkle. Vy called Mr Song and we packed up after lunch and headed back to work. I did get a chance to take some pictures of Dan's friend, Savorn, and his 18-month-old son which I liked a lot. (Photos) I also took a lot of flower shots... (Photos)
When we arrived back the work site, the water had gone down in the pond and we forded it easily. It wasn't raining, so at our site we bailed out the new inch of water in the concrete ring and Annie and Winston wanted to start mixing a batch even though jay wasn't there yet to give instructions. I cautioned against it and Dan agreed. Dan pointed out that losing a full bag of cement was probably more costly to them that a day's work--the raw materials were relatively expensive--and that we should proceed without Jay's direction and some clearer skies. Sure enough, about five minutes later, the skies opened up and it rained for the next 90 minutes almost non-stop. We sat on the front porch of our homeowners house and just watched it rain. In the barnyard area, rain ran like little rivers towards the rice paddies that were gently terraced and connected with small drainage ditches to slow the flow between each and keep the young rice submerged by about three inches. The rain just didn't let up. We couldn't even get back to the work site for some time and when it slowed for a few minutes, it would recommence even harder than before.
By 1400, we just decided that we just had to call it a day. It rained all of the way back to the hotel and is still drizzling as I write this. The forecast isn't much better for our remaining days either. We'd been lucky in the first week to get the work done with only minor interruptions for rain, but this IS the rainy season and our luck seems to have run out. We're committed to doing as much as possible and will work into Friday morning if the weather allows. Still, the cadets are disappointed and frustrated to have a task in front of them and not be able to get it done. (Photos)
Everyone relaxed for about 90 minutes back at the hotel and we slowly congregated on the deck/cabana area to play some pool and cards. There's really not much else left to do until the weather clears, so we'll try to make the best of it.
Here's today's slide show...
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
Saturday, July 5, 2014
July 5: R&R Day 1
The started with plans to leave at 0600 with our driver, Dee, and a
guide that was to be provided by the hotel. We would spend the day
visiting Bokor Mountain
for hiking and then go into Kampot and also visit some local caves.
All six of us were ready to go, but the driver couldn't find the guide,
so Vy got involved with her mobile phone. We were told that he was "on
his way," but by 0630 no one had shown up, so we decided to just take
off on our own with Dee.
I rode shotgun in the van and enjoyed taking photos out of the windows with my 70-200mm image stabilized lens. The morning light and traffic gave me some pretty good shots given the circumstances. You can check those out directly in this Facebook Album.
We arrived in Kampot at about 0715 and Dee drove us around a little bit to see the Durian Monument, the external views of the Central Market and also to see the new and old bridges. We headed out from there a few minutes later, crossing the New Bridge on National Road 3 (two lanes, no centerline) towards Sihanoukville and Bokor. The phone rang a few minutes later and it was Vy asking us to go back to Kampot because she had found a guide that could meet us at the Durian monument at 0800. So, we turned around and were there by 0730. Dee let us out of the van and we walked around a little bit.
One of the cadets needed to find a bathroom, but he soon discovered that not all gas stations in Cambodia are really "rest stops." So, we were on the search for a WC. He tried a couple of guest houses, but they wouldn't let him in. A few blocks down the road, we came up on the Kampot Pie and Ice Cream shop that we'd seen in an advertisement on our regional maps and found it open. We ordered drinks (espresso for me, iced Vietnamese coffee for Annie and Dylan, and some fruit juices I think for the others while first Winston then others cycled through their bathroom. The servers were very pleasant and asked us to come back later in the day for ice cream--which we did because they gave us two-for-one coupons for ice cream. The espresso shot was only $1 and the same was true for the ice cream.
Back at the Durian Monument, we took more photos, but the guide never showed. We waited until after 0830,but just left. We'd now wasted almost two hours of the morning.
The drive up to the top of Bokor Mountain was not unlike driving up to Olympic National Park in Washington--a long, winding road taking us from the shore to over 3,000 ft in altitude over about 20 miles (32 km). Along the way, we saw a giant Buddhist statue that was partially covered in fog. I was just happy that no one got car sick and we didn't have any head-on collisions with on-coming Vietnamese tour buses cutting the turns.
By the time we arrived at the summit, it was foggy, misting heavily and refreshingly cool. We went past the new. modern casino to the "Old Casino" built during French Colonial times (1921) and long since abandoned and stripped of everything except maybe a few tiles. The starkness of the stucco and architecture, along with water settled on many of the floors (even upstairs) made for some fun photography and the cadets enjoyed roaming around the haunted house. We followed all good horror story laws, though, and didn't let anyone go off alone or run towards any screams. We were also lucky that we got a clearing in the clouds for about two minutes, allowing us to take a few good exterior shots.
Apparently, Dee didn't want to take us to the other "ghost town"-like spots. Communication was difficult as Dee knows only about 5 words in English. I was texting questions and tour suggestions to Vy who was then texting or calling Dee to pass along that info. Much was lost in translation.
From the Old Casino, we went to a beautiful Buddhist temple complex and monastery on a hill well above the modern casino. Shrouded almost completely in mist while we were there, it reminded you of being much higher in the mountains as clouds raced up the cliffside from the valley below. During the few clear moments, though, we could see all of the way to the beach and the Gulf of Thailand. The cadet and I explored the entire area and even made it into the monk's area for their lunch to get a few photos.
From the temple, we went to the (supposedly) four-star New Casino to look around. This was a large, Las Vegas Resort-sized complex with hundred of rooms in several buildings, bars, gaming areas, etc. It was also almost completely empty. We walked around in it almost like it was the Old Casino--only with uglier interior decorating and architecture. It just reeked of the style of cheap, garish decor, lines, and design that I've seen so many time before in bad Chinese construction. I took zero photos of it because it was just so ugly--and not even in the good, quirky way that makes for some good photos. Ugh. We were happy to leave.
From there, we'd hoped to be able to go see some local waterfalls, but all of my suggestions and map-pointing apparently did not impress Dee, so we headed down the mountain for lunch in Kampot, stopping along the way to get a panoramic photo.
We lunched in Kampot at the Rusty Keyhole on Vy's recommendation. She said that they had the best ribs in Cambodia. The placed looked good and had small pitchers of beer for $2.50 and reasonable prices, so we stopped in. The drinks were quite good,too, though the ribs were nothing special. Luke had a cheeseburger with egg on top and fries. Annie had pasta, Hansena and Dyland shared ribs, and Winston got some stir-fried squid dish. I ordered the daily special grilled barracuda. In what has become a common theme of restaurants in this area, everyone's food was served, but it took well over 30 minutes for my "special" to arrive. When it did, it was quite good, but knowing that it doesn't take long to grill a barracuda filet, they may well have gone across the street to the fish market to get my lunch.
After lunch, we decided to split into two groups and then meet back at the ice cream shop at 1500 and then at the Durian Monument to meet Dee at 1515. Winston and Dylan came with me and we made our way to the Central Market, pricing scooters along the way and taking photos. The market was pretty amazing and ALL locals. We didn't see any souvenir or T-shirt shops here. We did buy some durian fruit here and Winston was the brave man who tried it first, much to the viewing pleasure of the locals. Kampot is the center of both the agricultural durian market and also for the production of peppercorns. We saw lots of peppers (black, white, green, and red) and even some jars of pickled green peppercorns that we almost bought.
We all rendez-voused on time at the ice cream shop and passed around the tray of durian for the others to enjoy. I'm no fan--primarily because of the muddy texture that is somewhere between a rotting avocado and pudding, all with a smell that would clear out a public bus (you can't eat them in public transpo in Singapore), and a bit of a sickly sweet taste. Winston had another piece and I ate three chunks to help encourage the others. Dylan, who'll eat almost anything that crawls or flies or can be found under a rock almost gagged on his and the other three cadets tried their best to choke down one segment, but couldn't quite finish their small bites. Still, we'd all done our duty and tried the treasure of Kampot.
On our return, we turned left off of the National road towards Phnom Chhnork, a cave complex in the nearby hills that houses a Pre-Angkorian Hindu Cave Temple and an interesting rock formation at the entrance that looks like an elephant. The admission cost was $1 apiece and we climbed the 203 stairs to the entrance accompanied by three ad hoc tour guides all about 13 or 14 years old. They spoke excellent English and some French and asked the cadets with help on some idioms--though they knew quite a few. (For example, when one of them asked me to climb/slide down into a steep, dark part of the cave and I said, "No way", he chimed in immediately with "Way!" I then taught him the phrase "November Foxtrot Whiskey," thus contributing to his cultural knowledge of the American military.
We took some photos near the entrance of the small temple and all went with the guides into the depths of the cavern except for Annie and me. I used the time to take a panoramic shot of the view from the cave entrance. They all emerged about 10 minutes later from another entrance down the mountain much to our relief.
From there, we walked back through the fertile and busy farmland about a half-mile to where Dee had parked the van. We crossed a two-log bridge over a canal and chatted more with the kids. They said that they'd only been studying English for two years bu that their school was very good.
It rained lightly for most of the return to Kep. After a shaky start, we'd had a good day and all of the cadets were happy to return at a reasonable hour. We later met for dinner with Dan, his Cambodian friend, Savon, and Vy, discussing our plans for the next day (boat to Rabbit Island (Koh Tonsay) and Koh Por) and turning in early. Here's the link to the entire slide-show from yesterday.
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
I rode shotgun in the van and enjoyed taking photos out of the windows with my 70-200mm image stabilized lens. The morning light and traffic gave me some pretty good shots given the circumstances. You can check those out directly in this Facebook Album.
We arrived in Kampot at about 0715 and Dee drove us around a little bit to see the Durian Monument, the external views of the Central Market and also to see the new and old bridges. We headed out from there a few minutes later, crossing the New Bridge on National Road 3 (two lanes, no centerline) towards Sihanoukville and Bokor. The phone rang a few minutes later and it was Vy asking us to go back to Kampot because she had found a guide that could meet us at the Durian monument at 0800. So, we turned around and were there by 0730. Dee let us out of the van and we walked around a little bit.
One of the cadets needed to find a bathroom, but he soon discovered that not all gas stations in Cambodia are really "rest stops." So, we were on the search for a WC. He tried a couple of guest houses, but they wouldn't let him in. A few blocks down the road, we came up on the Kampot Pie and Ice Cream shop that we'd seen in an advertisement on our regional maps and found it open. We ordered drinks (espresso for me, iced Vietnamese coffee for Annie and Dylan, and some fruit juices I think for the others while first Winston then others cycled through their bathroom. The servers were very pleasant and asked us to come back later in the day for ice cream--which we did because they gave us two-for-one coupons for ice cream. The espresso shot was only $1 and the same was true for the ice cream.
Back at the Durian Monument, we took more photos, but the guide never showed. We waited until after 0830,but just left. We'd now wasted almost two hours of the morning.
The drive up to the top of Bokor Mountain was not unlike driving up to Olympic National Park in Washington--a long, winding road taking us from the shore to over 3,000 ft in altitude over about 20 miles (32 km). Along the way, we saw a giant Buddhist statue that was partially covered in fog. I was just happy that no one got car sick and we didn't have any head-on collisions with on-coming Vietnamese tour buses cutting the turns.
By the time we arrived at the summit, it was foggy, misting heavily and refreshingly cool. We went past the new. modern casino to the "Old Casino" built during French Colonial times (1921) and long since abandoned and stripped of everything except maybe a few tiles. The starkness of the stucco and architecture, along with water settled on many of the floors (even upstairs) made for some fun photography and the cadets enjoyed roaming around the haunted house. We followed all good horror story laws, though, and didn't let anyone go off alone or run towards any screams. We were also lucky that we got a clearing in the clouds for about two minutes, allowing us to take a few good exterior shots.
Apparently, Dee didn't want to take us to the other "ghost town"-like spots. Communication was difficult as Dee knows only about 5 words in English. I was texting questions and tour suggestions to Vy who was then texting or calling Dee to pass along that info. Much was lost in translation.
From the Old Casino, we went to a beautiful Buddhist temple complex and monastery on a hill well above the modern casino. Shrouded almost completely in mist while we were there, it reminded you of being much higher in the mountains as clouds raced up the cliffside from the valley below. During the few clear moments, though, we could see all of the way to the beach and the Gulf of Thailand. The cadet and I explored the entire area and even made it into the monk's area for their lunch to get a few photos.
From the temple, we went to the (supposedly) four-star New Casino to look around. This was a large, Las Vegas Resort-sized complex with hundred of rooms in several buildings, bars, gaming areas, etc. It was also almost completely empty. We walked around in it almost like it was the Old Casino--only with uglier interior decorating and architecture. It just reeked of the style of cheap, garish decor, lines, and design that I've seen so many time before in bad Chinese construction. I took zero photos of it because it was just so ugly--and not even in the good, quirky way that makes for some good photos. Ugh. We were happy to leave.
From there, we'd hoped to be able to go see some local waterfalls, but all of my suggestions and map-pointing apparently did not impress Dee, so we headed down the mountain for lunch in Kampot, stopping along the way to get a panoramic photo.
We lunched in Kampot at the Rusty Keyhole on Vy's recommendation. She said that they had the best ribs in Cambodia. The placed looked good and had small pitchers of beer for $2.50 and reasonable prices, so we stopped in. The drinks were quite good,too, though the ribs were nothing special. Luke had a cheeseburger with egg on top and fries. Annie had pasta, Hansena and Dyland shared ribs, and Winston got some stir-fried squid dish. I ordered the daily special grilled barracuda. In what has become a common theme of restaurants in this area, everyone's food was served, but it took well over 30 minutes for my "special" to arrive. When it did, it was quite good, but knowing that it doesn't take long to grill a barracuda filet, they may well have gone across the street to the fish market to get my lunch.
After lunch, we decided to split into two groups and then meet back at the ice cream shop at 1500 and then at the Durian Monument to meet Dee at 1515. Winston and Dylan came with me and we made our way to the Central Market, pricing scooters along the way and taking photos. The market was pretty amazing and ALL locals. We didn't see any souvenir or T-shirt shops here. We did buy some durian fruit here and Winston was the brave man who tried it first, much to the viewing pleasure of the locals. Kampot is the center of both the agricultural durian market and also for the production of peppercorns. We saw lots of peppers (black, white, green, and red) and even some jars of pickled green peppercorns that we almost bought.
We all rendez-voused on time at the ice cream shop and passed around the tray of durian for the others to enjoy. I'm no fan--primarily because of the muddy texture that is somewhere between a rotting avocado and pudding, all with a smell that would clear out a public bus (you can't eat them in public transpo in Singapore), and a bit of a sickly sweet taste. Winston had another piece and I ate three chunks to help encourage the others. Dylan, who'll eat almost anything that crawls or flies or can be found under a rock almost gagged on his and the other three cadets tried their best to choke down one segment, but couldn't quite finish their small bites. Still, we'd all done our duty and tried the treasure of Kampot.
On our return, we turned left off of the National road towards Phnom Chhnork, a cave complex in the nearby hills that houses a Pre-Angkorian Hindu Cave Temple and an interesting rock formation at the entrance that looks like an elephant. The admission cost was $1 apiece and we climbed the 203 stairs to the entrance accompanied by three ad hoc tour guides all about 13 or 14 years old. They spoke excellent English and some French and asked the cadets with help on some idioms--though they knew quite a few. (For example, when one of them asked me to climb/slide down into a steep, dark part of the cave and I said, "No way", he chimed in immediately with "Way!" I then taught him the phrase "November Foxtrot Whiskey," thus contributing to his cultural knowledge of the American military.
We took some photos near the entrance of the small temple and all went with the guides into the depths of the cavern except for Annie and me. I used the time to take a panoramic shot of the view from the cave entrance. They all emerged about 10 minutes later from another entrance down the mountain much to our relief.
From there, we walked back through the fertile and busy farmland about a half-mile to where Dee had parked the van. We crossed a two-log bridge over a canal and chatted more with the kids. They said that they'd only been studying English for two years bu that their school was very good.
It rained lightly for most of the return to Kep. After a shaky start, we'd had a good day and all of the cadets were happy to return at a reasonable hour. We later met for dinner with Dan, his Cambodian friend, Savon, and Vy, discussing our plans for the next day (boat to Rabbit Island (Koh Tonsay) and Koh Por) and turning in early. Here's the link to the entire slide-show from yesterday.
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
Friday, July 4, 2014
July 4: Fourth of July
Once again, I took a morning walk along the coastline, this time with
Winston joining me. We were lucky enough to see a few fishing boats come
into the shore and enjoyed seeing them unloading. The rest of the walk
was uneventful, though we had some great conversations on corruption,
the future of Cambodia, etc.
Once the van picked us up, we stopped at a local beverage shop and bought four cases of drinks--two of beer and two of soft drinks--as well as some snacks and other goodies that we intended for later in the day when our work was complete.
When we arrived in the village, we started work right away. Mark, who joined us yesterday and is interning with Equitable Cambodia, joined Winston and Dan, along with our homeowner in bailing out the septic cylinder area and then adding the second cylinder so that they extended a few inches above the ground. The evening before, pipe had been run from the latrine to the tanks, so they were also able to install the lids to the tanks with cement.
Meanwhile, Annie and I were still stuccoing the interior walls and sealing the cistern compartment with pure cement. We worked non-stop through the morning and got quite a bit done, including some patching of bridge work that I screwed up from the day before. Jay was very patient, though, and let me do more and more of the actual skilled work.
On the other side, Team 2 looked to be well ahead of us, but they had lots of interior work to do, too. Dylan was their stucco-master, and the others did a lot of work in that area, too. They had their roof on and were just concentrating on sealing and stuccoing as were we.
By 1130, we were ready for lunch having worked just about three hours in the sun without let-up. Winston was constantly mixing and shuttling mortar to us and as Jay finished each wall we helped him with some spot patching. Dan was entertaining the kids when he wasn't mixing mortar with Winston or working on installing the septic cylinder lids.
Lunch at the Vines was again excellent, this time with an egg, spinach, and winter squash soup along with another chicken stir-fry concoction. The cadets only had about 20 minutes to nap again, but I passed the time by finally remembering to bring my tablet so I could read.
In the afternoon, our roof was installed and we finished stuccoing the internal walls. The roof kept the temperature down just a little bit in the latrine, but the lack of a breeze made up for that. Mr. Sing worked most of the afternoon prepping and then installing our combo sit/squat toilet. The design is such that there is no flush tank. Instead, the cistern area will hold water that can then be used with a shower head to rinse the toilet after use with all of the contents flowing down through the toilet through PVC pipe to the septic cylinders. We were happy to be the first to have our toilet installed as that marked the essential end to our work. Jay and I still patched and finished a little and there are remaining steps to complete the whole thing (pour the final main floor coat of concrete, install a tank in the cistern area, and (we heard) tile the floor and some of the lower internal walls. I wouldn't liked to do some tiling as that is something I actually know--oh well.
With the completion, the family where team two was working brought out snack for all of us. The grandmother had these wonderful dumplings stuffed with coconut, peanuts, rice flour, and palm sugar wrapped in banana leaves and cooked until steaming hot (and safe). We each at two of them I think--they were delicious.
Dylan was the last one working, sealing their cistern area with cement, but we began to gather around team two' project area. When Dylan finally finished, we started our little party by spreading out plastic tarps on the ground and bringing the coolers and snacks for everyone. We took photos in front of each latrine and then, with the help of Vy, I said a few words to the families about our Independence Day and how much we'd enjoyed working and helping the village.
The grandfather (age 53) of the home where Dylan, Hansena, and Luke were working then said a few words, too, and was quite sincere and moving. He said that the village had never had foreigners come in and help them before--that they were thankful for our hard work and how friendly and enthusiastic we were. Vy's translation of his words was that this "was an historic event" for the village and they were very, very thankful to all of us. We were all quite moved by his words.
After this, we pulled out the drinks. I toasted Jay, my mentor, and gave him a pair of Air Force Academy sunglasses. The kids were having fun because they were all drinking Fanta and Sprite getting all hopped up on sugars that they probably didn't see very often. Dan was corrupting them by showing them how to say "Ahhhhhhh!" with a big wide open mouth when they had finished a slurp. He also put his GoPro camera on one of the boys and promised to post on Youtube what the world looks like through the eyes of a Cambodian 4-year-old.
We stayed for some time drinking and eating, talking to each other with Vy's assistance. The village leader was there as were members of the extended families, all excited about our work and anxious to catch a glimpse of the latrine.
We left at about 1700 and drove back to the hotel. I had just enough time to process my photos and get ready for dinner. At 1830, we left for dinner at the Kep Sailing Club along with Vy and Mark.
The view at the atmosphere was wonderful at the Sailing Club. The food was quite good, too, after we worked through a minor glitch--they said, when we were placing our orders, that the kitchen was closed (at 1900?). With some cajoling, Vy managed to get them reopened as quickly as possible and they finally agreed.
Great seafood and some fancy mixed drinks were available at the Sailing Club along with good seafood and the usual drinks. The ocean breeze was enjoyed by all and we didn't leave until after 2100. We'd like to go back on another day when the sunset is at its peak and may do that Saturday or Sunday.
Tomorrow, we're going touring again since the work doesn't recommence until Monday. Our driver will be taking us to Bokor Mountain National Park to see some old ruins as well as to hike on their many trails. From their, we'll go to Kampot for lunch and then look into some of the local caves before returning for dinner.
Here are the slides from the day--enjoy!
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
Once the van picked us up, we stopped at a local beverage shop and bought four cases of drinks--two of beer and two of soft drinks--as well as some snacks and other goodies that we intended for later in the day when our work was complete.
When we arrived in the village, we started work right away. Mark, who joined us yesterday and is interning with Equitable Cambodia, joined Winston and Dan, along with our homeowner in bailing out the septic cylinder area and then adding the second cylinder so that they extended a few inches above the ground. The evening before, pipe had been run from the latrine to the tanks, so they were also able to install the lids to the tanks with cement.
Meanwhile, Annie and I were still stuccoing the interior walls and sealing the cistern compartment with pure cement. We worked non-stop through the morning and got quite a bit done, including some patching of bridge work that I screwed up from the day before. Jay was very patient, though, and let me do more and more of the actual skilled work.
On the other side, Team 2 looked to be well ahead of us, but they had lots of interior work to do, too. Dylan was their stucco-master, and the others did a lot of work in that area, too. They had their roof on and were just concentrating on sealing and stuccoing as were we.
By 1130, we were ready for lunch having worked just about three hours in the sun without let-up. Winston was constantly mixing and shuttling mortar to us and as Jay finished each wall we helped him with some spot patching. Dan was entertaining the kids when he wasn't mixing mortar with Winston or working on installing the septic cylinder lids.
Lunch at the Vines was again excellent, this time with an egg, spinach, and winter squash soup along with another chicken stir-fry concoction. The cadets only had about 20 minutes to nap again, but I passed the time by finally remembering to bring my tablet so I could read.
In the afternoon, our roof was installed and we finished stuccoing the internal walls. The roof kept the temperature down just a little bit in the latrine, but the lack of a breeze made up for that. Mr. Sing worked most of the afternoon prepping and then installing our combo sit/squat toilet. The design is such that there is no flush tank. Instead, the cistern area will hold water that can then be used with a shower head to rinse the toilet after use with all of the contents flowing down through the toilet through PVC pipe to the septic cylinders. We were happy to be the first to have our toilet installed as that marked the essential end to our work. Jay and I still patched and finished a little and there are remaining steps to complete the whole thing (pour the final main floor coat of concrete, install a tank in the cistern area, and (we heard) tile the floor and some of the lower internal walls. I wouldn't liked to do some tiling as that is something I actually know--oh well.
With the completion, the family where team two was working brought out snack for all of us. The grandmother had these wonderful dumplings stuffed with coconut, peanuts, rice flour, and palm sugar wrapped in banana leaves and cooked until steaming hot (and safe). We each at two of them I think--they were delicious.
Dylan was the last one working, sealing their cistern area with cement, but we began to gather around team two' project area. When Dylan finally finished, we started our little party by spreading out plastic tarps on the ground and bringing the coolers and snacks for everyone. We took photos in front of each latrine and then, with the help of Vy, I said a few words to the families about our Independence Day and how much we'd enjoyed working and helping the village.
The grandfather (age 53) of the home where Dylan, Hansena, and Luke were working then said a few words, too, and was quite sincere and moving. He said that the village had never had foreigners come in and help them before--that they were thankful for our hard work and how friendly and enthusiastic we were. Vy's translation of his words was that this "was an historic event" for the village and they were very, very thankful to all of us. We were all quite moved by his words.
After this, we pulled out the drinks. I toasted Jay, my mentor, and gave him a pair of Air Force Academy sunglasses. The kids were having fun because they were all drinking Fanta and Sprite getting all hopped up on sugars that they probably didn't see very often. Dan was corrupting them by showing them how to say "Ahhhhhhh!" with a big wide open mouth when they had finished a slurp. He also put his GoPro camera on one of the boys and promised to post on Youtube what the world looks like through the eyes of a Cambodian 4-year-old.
We stayed for some time drinking and eating, talking to each other with Vy's assistance. The village leader was there as were members of the extended families, all excited about our work and anxious to catch a glimpse of the latrine.
We left at about 1700 and drove back to the hotel. I had just enough time to process my photos and get ready for dinner. At 1830, we left for dinner at the Kep Sailing Club along with Vy and Mark.
The view at the atmosphere was wonderful at the Sailing Club. The food was quite good, too, after we worked through a minor glitch--they said, when we were placing our orders, that the kitchen was closed (at 1900?). With some cajoling, Vy managed to get them reopened as quickly as possible and they finally agreed.
Great seafood and some fancy mixed drinks were available at the Sailing Club along with good seafood and the usual drinks. The ocean breeze was enjoyed by all and we didn't leave until after 2100. We'd like to go back on another day when the sunset is at its peak and may do that Saturday or Sunday.
Tomorrow, we're going touring again since the work doesn't recommence until Monday. Our driver will be taking us to Bokor Mountain National Park to see some old ruins as well as to hike on their many trails. From their, we'll go to Kampot for lunch and then look into some of the local caves before returning for dinner.
Here are the slides from the day--enjoy!
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
July 1: Day 2 of Work
We arrived at about the same time this morning and found our latrines still standing and the walls well set. The locals had done little or no additional work after we left the day before, but that was okay with us.
I started the day by pulling out a couple of foam rubber baseballs that we got from the Academy's Admissions Office as souvenirs and gave them to a few of the kids that had been hanging around us and watching. Needless to say, they were pretty pleased by their new toys. Dan was nice enough to take a few photos before we got started.
The morning consisted of Winston doing more digging--but first he had to bail the pit out because we arrived to find his pit completely filled with water (well, to about 12 inches of the edge) and since it didn't rain that much, it confirmed what I deduced the day before. The water table in most of Cambodia is only about 12 inches below the ground!
Anyway, he and another local bailed it all out while Dan, Annie, and our Cambodia expert, Jay (sp?), mixed a fresh batch of mortar on the ground with five, five gallon buckets of sand and one 50 kg bag of Portland Cement. After that, we got to it with the bricks and made good time until we got near the top of the door frame. At this point, day installed the concrete-poured vent window pieces. Things were getting a bit sporty with the height, too, and you can see in the photos that I was standing on the equivalent of two parallel 2x4s that were on top of the one meter circular cylinders (in full rolling formation) because they hadn't been installed yet. I managed to make it through the whole day without a fall, which is a very good thing considering my potential impact points. The other group, despite being in much better ground, was only slightly behind us ;-) and progressing well, too.
The morning was generally uneventful except for the fact that they constantly asked Winston to widen his pit to fit the concrete cylinders. We measured the pit an few times and thought that the cylinders would fit, but we had a few Lost in Translation moments getting that point across, so Winston continued to dig and scrape and bail.
We left for lunch at about 1130 and again arrived at the Vine ravenous with hunger. Everyone looked like they were going to fall asleep on the deck, but the food brought them back to life. We had about a 30 minute siesta next, though, which I used to walk around the gardens with my camera and to explore the peppercorn fields.
When we returned, the work got very busy. We worked hard to complete the walls of the latrine and we had a few more translation issues dealing with how high the walls would ultimately be. Finally, after a few replaced, then disassembled bricks, we settled on a height over the door frame that included a slope to the back for drainage from the corrugated steel roof that would be installed later.
We finally got clearance on the pit for Winston after a couple of locals helped us pull out some big rocks and also dislodge an unside down five gallon bucket that Winston had been using as a stable island in his inland sea of muck.
Note: the pig was gone from his/her sty this morning. In the trash, we saw a pig's tail. You can do the math on that one. The family looked happy and well-fed.
The installation of the pipes/cylinders that followed was tough work. Each of the cylinders easily weighed 100 kg and probably more--reinforced concrete one meter in diameter. They were slid into the pit on poles and then set by a combination of methods that included digging out a little more around them for balance, Winston and I jumping on the them to set them, and, when was slid in wrong, looping a rope through the side drainage hole and hoisting it up with the help of three people. It was funny that the barefoot kids watched our every step, each of them only inches away from falling into the muck.
Finally, though, the first two cylinders were set side-by-side, to the great relief of Winston. We spent the rest of the afternoon completing the brick laying and got to the last few bricks just before quitting time. We let Jay and Mr. Senh do the last few bricks so that they would get it right and meet their expectations. We'd realized early in this process that helping is good, but there are times when we just need to step back and let them do their thing the right way without our good intentions or interference. Vy was very helpful throughout this process as she interpreted for us.
The other team was at about the same point as we were by about 1600 and twenty minutes later we decided to call it a day. The roof is left, as is setting the pieces and running the drain lines from the latrine to the septic cylinders.
Good news about today was that we had very little rain and the ground was a little drier. We had probably our sunniest day of the trip, but the cadets were pretty diligent about their sunscreen even if I had to play "Dad" and remind them a few times.
We left just before 1630 and made our way back to the hotel, arriving just before 1700. Winston, Hansena, Annie, and Luke made a beeline for the beach and I loaded photos on the laptop for later processing. I joined them a few minutes later and enjoyed cooling off in the water, wading through the shallows, and taking a few more photos. The water certainly wasn't clear, but it was a little cooler than I expected, too. I used the opportunity to do a little more washing of my DWC shirt, but still came back and did shower laundry with my shorts.
During the break before dinner, I post-processed all of my RAW photos and got them backed up. We left for dinner at 1830 and went to a very nice restaurant (The Veranda) which had a stunning overlook of Kep Bay. We could see thunderstorms over the water while we enjoyed a very good dinner. The cadets went "western" and ordered pizza, steak, and pasta, while Dan and I had one of the national dishes of Cambodia, Cha Kreung. Winston was kind enough to treat the over 21ers to fruity happy hour cocktails, too. Luke saved half of his pizza for later and took it back to the hotel room to refrigerate until the US-Belgium World Cup game starts at 0300 local time. We'll see how productive the cadets are tomorrow as we (hopefully) finish our first two latrines--what a big day!
Here are today's shots
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
I started the day by pulling out a couple of foam rubber baseballs that we got from the Academy's Admissions Office as souvenirs and gave them to a few of the kids that had been hanging around us and watching. Needless to say, they were pretty pleased by their new toys. Dan was nice enough to take a few photos before we got started.
The morning consisted of Winston doing more digging--but first he had to bail the pit out because we arrived to find his pit completely filled with water (well, to about 12 inches of the edge) and since it didn't rain that much, it confirmed what I deduced the day before. The water table in most of Cambodia is only about 12 inches below the ground!
Anyway, he and another local bailed it all out while Dan, Annie, and our Cambodia expert, Jay (sp?), mixed a fresh batch of mortar on the ground with five, five gallon buckets of sand and one 50 kg bag of Portland Cement. After that, we got to it with the bricks and made good time until we got near the top of the door frame. At this point, day installed the concrete-poured vent window pieces. Things were getting a bit sporty with the height, too, and you can see in the photos that I was standing on the equivalent of two parallel 2x4s that were on top of the one meter circular cylinders (in full rolling formation) because they hadn't been installed yet. I managed to make it through the whole day without a fall, which is a very good thing considering my potential impact points. The other group, despite being in much better ground, was only slightly behind us ;-) and progressing well, too.
The morning was generally uneventful except for the fact that they constantly asked Winston to widen his pit to fit the concrete cylinders. We measured the pit an few times and thought that the cylinders would fit, but we had a few Lost in Translation moments getting that point across, so Winston continued to dig and scrape and bail.
We left for lunch at about 1130 and again arrived at the Vine ravenous with hunger. Everyone looked like they were going to fall asleep on the deck, but the food brought them back to life. We had about a 30 minute siesta next, though, which I used to walk around the gardens with my camera and to explore the peppercorn fields.
When we returned, the work got very busy. We worked hard to complete the walls of the latrine and we had a few more translation issues dealing with how high the walls would ultimately be. Finally, after a few replaced, then disassembled bricks, we settled on a height over the door frame that included a slope to the back for drainage from the corrugated steel roof that would be installed later.
We finally got clearance on the pit for Winston after a couple of locals helped us pull out some big rocks and also dislodge an unside down five gallon bucket that Winston had been using as a stable island in his inland sea of muck.
Note: the pig was gone from his/her sty this morning. In the trash, we saw a pig's tail. You can do the math on that one. The family looked happy and well-fed.
The installation of the pipes/cylinders that followed was tough work. Each of the cylinders easily weighed 100 kg and probably more--reinforced concrete one meter in diameter. They were slid into the pit on poles and then set by a combination of methods that included digging out a little more around them for balance, Winston and I jumping on the them to set them, and, when was slid in wrong, looping a rope through the side drainage hole and hoisting it up with the help of three people. It was funny that the barefoot kids watched our every step, each of them only inches away from falling into the muck.
Finally, though, the first two cylinders were set side-by-side, to the great relief of Winston. We spent the rest of the afternoon completing the brick laying and got to the last few bricks just before quitting time. We let Jay and Mr. Senh do the last few bricks so that they would get it right and meet their expectations. We'd realized early in this process that helping is good, but there are times when we just need to step back and let them do their thing the right way without our good intentions or interference. Vy was very helpful throughout this process as she interpreted for us.
The other team was at about the same point as we were by about 1600 and twenty minutes later we decided to call it a day. The roof is left, as is setting the pieces and running the drain lines from the latrine to the septic cylinders.
Good news about today was that we had very little rain and the ground was a little drier. We had probably our sunniest day of the trip, but the cadets were pretty diligent about their sunscreen even if I had to play "Dad" and remind them a few times.
We left just before 1630 and made our way back to the hotel, arriving just before 1700. Winston, Hansena, Annie, and Luke made a beeline for the beach and I loaded photos on the laptop for later processing. I joined them a few minutes later and enjoyed cooling off in the water, wading through the shallows, and taking a few more photos. The water certainly wasn't clear, but it was a little cooler than I expected, too. I used the opportunity to do a little more washing of my DWC shirt, but still came back and did shower laundry with my shorts.
During the break before dinner, I post-processed all of my RAW photos and got them backed up. We left for dinner at 1830 and went to a very nice restaurant (The Veranda) which had a stunning overlook of Kep Bay. We could see thunderstorms over the water while we enjoyed a very good dinner. The cadets went "western" and ordered pizza, steak, and pasta, while Dan and I had one of the national dishes of Cambodia, Cha Kreung. Winston was kind enough to treat the over 21ers to fruity happy hour cocktails, too. Luke saved half of his pizza for later and took it back to the hotel room to refrigerate until the US-Belgium World Cup game starts at 0300 local time. We'll see how productive the cadets are tomorrow as we (hopefully) finish our first two latrines--what a big day!
Here are today's shots
All the Best,
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
Kep, Cambodia: July 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
June 6: Meeting the Team
The selection process for picking the cadets that would have the rare honor and privilege of traveling with me (or torture and woe, depending upon your perspective) was quite in-depth. I sent out invitations to hundreds of cadets across all majors and the trip was also publicized by the Academy's Int'l Programs office (DFIP). I received dozens of applications and narrowed the field down to about a dozen before conducting interviews. What do I look for in an interview? A sparkle in the eyes, curiosity, flexibility, and a desire to get outside of one's comfort zone to experience new things. I don't travel with picky eaters or people that like to sleep in and treat a once-in-a-lifetime adventure like it's "vacation." I don't need to travel with high-maintenance people that insist on things like clean, fresh clothes every day and 24/7 air-conditioning. And, frankly, I need people that I think can make good judgments, stay out of trouble, keep me out of trouble, are enthusiastic about making friends wherever they are. Having successfully led four other cadet trips (China, Rwanda/Uganda/Ethiopia, Trans-Siberian/Mongolian Railway, and an unofficial winter trip to the Baltic) with only minor casualties, I think I have some clue what makes a good traveler...
I think I've hit the jackpot with this year's travel group. Here's some info on each:
C1C Dylan Montana Juedeman is an Aeronautical Engineering major from Alamogordo, New Mexico with a variety of personal interests, including botany, entomology, geology, paleontology, and humanism. Actively involved in various clubs, he is the squadron commander of USAFA’s Arnold Air Society squadron, volunteers with the STEM club and at animal shelters, builds and flies RC planes with the Model Engineering Club, and has designed and built high-power rockets with the USAFA Rocket Society. C2C Juedeman strives to become a pilot for the Air Force, and travel the world to experience Earth’s diverse cultures and geography.
C2C Hansena R. Vangen is a small town farm girl from rural Wisconsin. She participated in sports and clubs in high school, milked cows on the weekend, graduated as valedictorian and then came to the Academy. Since being here, She has continued her love for music by playing the euphonium in Drum and Bugle Corps and participating in Blue Bards, earned her jump wings, learned how to ski, and ran the Falcon 50 Miler Ultra-Marathon. She is a Foreign Area Studies with a focus on Africa and wants to be an Intelligence officer after graduation.
C2C Anne Von Seggern hails from League City, TX. She moved 11 times in her life, including to SHAPE, Belgium and Heidelberg, Germany. This experience abroad provided her the opportunity to be immersed in different cultures and draw from new perspectives. In her travels, she learned to speak French, German, and Spanish. She is currently studying Russian at the Academy and is Political Science major with emphasis on international relations. She hopes to utilize her language skills in service to her nation as a United States Air Force officer.
C2C Lucas Stensberg is from the North Shore of Chicago and attended New Trier High School where he had a radio show with a friend and ran Track and Cross-Country. He is an active member of the cadet Freethinkers Club and enjoys playing team handball—a totally new sport for him. He also loves to go out snowboarding on the weekends. Lucas is a Geosciences major and hopes to go to pilot training after graduation.
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
June 2014
I think I've hit the jackpot with this year's travel group. Here's some info on each:
C1C Dylan Montana Juedeman is an Aeronautical Engineering major from Alamogordo, New Mexico with a variety of personal interests, including botany, entomology, geology, paleontology, and humanism. Actively involved in various clubs, he is the squadron commander of USAFA’s Arnold Air Society squadron, volunteers with the STEM club and at animal shelters, builds and flies RC planes with the Model Engineering Club, and has designed and built high-power rockets with the USAFA Rocket Society. C2C Juedeman strives to become a pilot for the Air Force, and travel the world to experience Earth’s diverse cultures and geography.
C2C Hansena R. Vangen is a small town farm girl from rural Wisconsin. She participated in sports and clubs in high school, milked cows on the weekend, graduated as valedictorian and then came to the Academy. Since being here, She has continued her love for music by playing the euphonium in Drum and Bugle Corps and participating in Blue Bards, earned her jump wings, learned how to ski, and ran the Falcon 50 Miler Ultra-Marathon. She is a Foreign Area Studies with a focus on Africa and wants to be an Intelligence officer after graduation.
C2C Anne Von Seggern hails from League City, TX. She moved 11 times in her life, including to SHAPE, Belgium and Heidelberg, Germany. This experience abroad provided her the opportunity to be immersed in different cultures and draw from new perspectives. In her travels, she learned to speak French, German, and Spanish. She is currently studying Russian at the Academy and is Political Science major with emphasis on international relations. She hopes to utilize her language skills in service to her nation as a United States Air Force officer.
C2C Lucas Stensberg is from the North Shore of Chicago and attended New Trier High School where he had a radio show with a friend and ran Track and Cross-Country. He is an active member of the cadet Freethinkers Club and enjoys playing team handball—a totally new sport for him. He also loves to go out snowboarding on the weekends. Lucas is a Geosciences major and hopes to go to pilot training after graduation.
Marty France
USAFA Faculty Chaperone & DWC Volunteer
June 2014
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