Climate shame

The non-result of the climate conference at Copenhagen which I got to know on Saturday evening was a disaster – is a disaster as climate change remains a threat.
Being, as I am, in Cambodia and having little direct access to media, except for this blog, I have little means of protest. I very much appreciate the protest so many people expressed via media or in Copenhagen directly.
In the despair politics at Copenhagen have thrown me into, I decided to set at least some sign of protest and solidarity with protesters all over the world by shaving my hair.
I know it is not much and I am conscious of that fact that many of you might object to it, either because of aesthetical reasons or because you consider the action senseless and having now effect, especially here in Cambodia. But be assured, even by objecting you make yourself part of the small effect I am trying to achieve.

Another (un)fortunate interruption of information flow

When I started giving an account of my holiday experiences, I was strongly determined to publish a post at least every second day. As some of you might have observed, this commitment has ended pretty quickly. The reason is that after a long search a finally found a field and a corresponding place of study increasingly appealing to my interest. Therefore, I am currently busy writing my application and find little time for other preoccupations, as the first submission deadline I am intent on meeting is the first of January.

Holiday Day 4 (29.10.09)

This day was another early waking up. The luggage was reassembled and our tired bodies hurried towards the bus station.
After waiting another few minutes, we boarded it and thus entered upon one of the most disagreeable bus trips I've made so far.
We were seated in the back row together with three other adults and three children. Unfortunately, all of them seemed to have trouble stomaching the trip. Three of them (a man, a woman and her daughter) frequently emtpied the contents of their interiors into plastic bags, where they were conserved for the rest of the trip. This did not contribute to the olfactory enjoyment of the journey. The most repulsive thing, however, occurred when an unfortunate girl sleeping on the ground was covered by the contents of a breaking plastic bag placed above her head. All this did quite spoil our appetite. Not even the filled turtles offered at a restaurant where we had a break could change tempt us.
Finally in Siem Reap, we were able to evade the attacking tuktuk drivers by having Michael, another ww-volunteer, pick us up on his moto. The result was another test as to how much can actually be transported on a single vehicle. We managed to fit onto it with three persons, two trekking-backpacks, two daypacks and a guitar. The rest of the day was largely uneventful. We relaxed a bit in the hammocks at the boys' house, got to know some more ww-volunteers in Siem Reap, had some ice cream, transferred our luggage to the girls' house, had a look at the bar scene of Siem Reap and finally went to bed.

Note: Siem Reap is the town with the highest ww-volunteer density in Cambodia, with 6 people placed here. There is an equal distribution of
gender which resulted in the boys occupying one house and the girls another. The town is also witness to Cambodia's first ww-internal love relationship.

Holiday Day 1 - 3 (26.-28.10.09)

Long time ago I posted my last blog entry. At least, this lends some truth to its title, as it was partly in expectation of my future preoccupation/laziness that I chose it.
As I promised to give a detailed account of my holidays before and during the water festival (2.-4.11.), I will try to note down at least the most striking points now.

I spent the first day travelling to Phnom Penh, a largely uneventful, long journey (8 instead of 6 hours due to delays at the border of PP - The preparations for the Water Festival were already underway). Luckily, there was not so much karaoke music, however, a Khmer comedy was shown, during which the four somewhat disgusting men behind me continuously erupted into fits of laughter.

Having arrived in Phnom Penh and evaded the TukTuk drivers' ambush - a phenomenon I had quite forgotten during the peaceful months in Battambang - I walked to Moritz's, another weltwaerts-volunteer's place. Here, I was to spent the night in a 'deck chair in the living room in the company of an older Khmer woman, an acquaintance of one of Moritz's  flatmates. Though not the most comfortable lodging avaiable, it was certainly the cheapest and even included free pancakes as breakfast and dinner.

After a somewhat irritating visit to a noble hotel and casino called "Naga World" with Moritz and Matthias from Battambang the first evening, I spent the next day buying an acoustic guitar and sitting in free-wifi caffees, where I completed the last extensive entry on this blog.

The next day I had an early wake-up as my travelling schedule was rather tight. I was due to go to Siem Reap with Saskia on 29th and did not want to miss the opportunity of getting at least a brief impression of Kampong Cham, where she lives.

I therefore took the bus at 7:00 which took me to KC in 5 hours - a journey even less eventful than the first one, which was a good thing with regards to the journeys to follow.

In Kampong Cham, after resolving some confusions at the designated meeting place, I finally managed to arrive at Saskia's and Fabio's abode.
Here, we had a perfectly delicious self-cooked lunch (fortunately I was not involved in the process of its creation) on their idyllic terrace.
Afterwards, I accompanied Saskia to her workplace. We were a bit delayed as the bike we (read "I") were driving, was unwilling to go up a hill with our combined weight on its back and broke its chain.
When we arrived, there was not much work to do. I had a nice encounter with the head-monk of the organization (Buddhism for Society Development Agency: BSDA), whom I knew from a lecture he had given at our preparatory seminary. Saskia showed me around the place, which contained besides the office, a crafts school, a sewing centre, an Apsara school, English classrooms and an old temple beside which a pagoda was established.

In the evening, we had a beer (brand: Angkor) at the river(Mekong)side and tried to play some badminton. We had a phenomenal failure at this but succeed at entertaining the surrounding Khmer profoundly.
We had dinner at the BSDA-run "Smile" restaurant, where I made the acquaintance of a DED-worker in Kampong Cham, who was interesting due to his long experience in the work and his self-critical attitude.