Asian Vibes Comin' Atcha

Howdy Everyone:

Thought I'd send one of those much anticipated mass emails to those who
may want to get a little southeast Asia flavor.

The group landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a city of about one million.
One immediately notices the deteriorating infrastructure, remnants of
the French presence here in the 1970s. One also notices the youth of
the population...so many people died during the Khmer Rouge years that
almost a whole generation is missing, and the 1980's generations was
encouraged to have lots of kids. So, voila, a youthful population.
Since many who died during the K Rouge were targeted artists,
intellectuals/academics, scientists, and skilled laborers, the culture
is suffering from a lack of directed/focused artisic expression,
intellectual/political movements, technology, and
structural/architectural/infrastructural progress/inspiration. How was
that sentence for ya? Phnom Pehn itself is rather gritty, with
consistently foul/soot filled air, unnaturally drab skies (read
pollution!), decaying buildings, and trash everywhere. However, like
everyplace else out there, many a good folk call the place home, and
people are making do. Construction projects abound (they frame with
bamboo, even high rises), motorscooters race down the streets,
sometimes loaded with an entire family. Not that this is necessarily
progress in my eyes, but to the world, and to a people lacking
direction for so long, it is.


There are many accounts to be heard of people directly effected by the
Khmer Rouge. Remember, this happened in the 1970's, very recently, and
estimates of the death toll range from a low of 1.5 million, and a high
of 4 million. Mass graves are still being dug up. So, anyone who is
over 40 has very vivid memories of this time. Nearly everyone lost
relatives (oftentimes several). Our driver, Po, lost his mother,
father, sister, and brother. He went to go get food, came back, and his
family was gone...except for his little sister, who had died of
starvation/dehydration. This is a fairly common experience for the mid
and older generations here.


The group visited the Killing Fields and the Killing Caves, where
thousands of human skulls are on display as testament to the
atrocities. In order to save bullets, most people were killed with an
ax, ho, shovel, or other farm implement. The skulls reveal the truth of
this practice. At the Killing Fields, I took my mandolin out and played
for nearly an hour, just trying to give some good energy to a place
that housed thousands of corpses at one point. I meditated and let the
music flow, and ended up playing in a melancholy Dminor most of the
time, but perked up to a happy tune in the key of G by the end. In case
you wanted to know :)


We have been in Battambang for several days, volunteering at a
Cambodian run NGO that works with girls who have escaped from the sex
trade or have been referred by a social worker. For the referred girls,
there families get to come live here too, so many
father/mothers/brothers are on the premises as well. The women get
trained in weaving/sewing/cooking/serving/hospitality, and the men get
trained in construction and rattan furniture making. The work has
alternated between labor intensive and absent, as planning and resource
availability are issues here. The girls and families have taken us in
with open arms, as we are the longest group stay they have encountered.
I introduced the frisbee and the hackey sack, and we play every night
after dinner. I've also played the mandolin every night on our porch,
and smile as folks come out and sit on the stairs and listen. There is
an older woman who asks me to play, and she just sits on her steps,
closes her eyes, and smiles. There is also a baby girl here who is a
cross between a Buddha and a ninja, I think. She is 2, and is already
so athletic and aware. She has a whole village raising her, literally,
and it shows. Here, people do not follow kids around to protect them
from everything....they are allowed and encouraged to explore and
learn...thus, this girl is way more advanced than any child this age
I've ever seen. The cool thing is that, while no adults are hanging
over her all the time, because a village is raising her, someone has
always got her back. Pretty cool!!


We leave tomorrow for a 7 hour river trip up the Tonle Sap river to
Tonle Sap lake, a huge interior lake in northcentral Cambodia. There,
we will explore Angkor Wat, pamper ourselves a bit, then move on into
Laos.


That's all for now...thanks for listening.

I hope this finds everyone healthy, happy, and grateful!!

James