Back in Phnom Penh

Friday, February 20, 2009
It is 7:00 a.m. and I am sitting in my hotel room in Phnom Penh. I decided that having internet in my room was important so I sought a room that would be affordable and comfortable. I am here attending the CamTESOL conference, a conference on the teaching of English in Cambodia. Today we will go on a field trip and the meetings will begin on Saturday morning. I am looking forward to it. Some folks that I met up in Hanoi will also be attending. I am very excited to learn about teaching methods and ideas here in Southeast Asia, as well as networking with fellow educators.

On Tuesday, I went to visit Phnom Tamao Rescue Center and Zoo. This is an incredible place! Animals that have been confiscated from illegal animal trade or other situations have been given large enclosures to be wild and mostly free. There were some elephants, a couple of tigers, some gibbons, various birds, and more than 100 bears! The bear center is incredible! They have at least 5 large enclosures and an education center that is really done nicely. They have several sun bears, and a nursery with a few sun bear cubs. They were adorable!

Another Planet

February 9, 2009
I began this entry thinking that I was going to write about our visit to District 7, under the same title: Another Planet. But then I got to thinking about it, and there are several moments when I feel like I'm on another planet. It is fun to watch myself in these situations and see what my reactions are. One day I may laugh, the next I may get upset. Most of the time I just go with it and smile.

Every day is like an adventure here. I don't know why I don't see the world that way at home..it seems easier to release control when I am not at home, in the U.S. I tend to think of the moments of discomfort and stress as moments for growing. "O.K. You are upset. That's fine. What can you learn from this?" Again, I am not so good at doing this at home...

Some of our "other-worldly" adventures have included:

The Com Chay: 'Com chay' means vegetarian restaurant. Vegetarianism is not rare in Asia, but it is unusual. Our friends call us "not normal". Around Hanoi or HCMC you can find vegetarian restaurants. They are interesting. The cooks, who are truly masters, take tofu and manipulate it into shapes with flavors and textures that so closely resemble meat, I frequently have to ask, "is this vegetarian?" The menus at restaurants like these list the items like you'd see them on a regular menu: Bun Bo Hue, a famous noodle dish from Hue, in central Vietnam, is one such example. The dish arrives and it looks just like meat. When I taste it I am freaked out a little bit. When our omnivorous friends eat it, they KNOW it is not meat.

We ordered "vegetable beer" there, assuming that it would be beer made of vegetables. OK. When it arrived we learned that it was really "near beer". Maybe everything in a com chay is fake?

The Market: The markets are always my favorite! I love learning the language there-informal and quick, and how people buy things. Every market experience is an opportunity to learn. I typically try to ask how to say something (what is this called?). That never seems to work- a woman yesterday wouldn't listen to my question. She thought I was asking the price. I had to give her an explanation: "This is a banana, what is this?"

It is funny how the mind works. People get a bit nervous dealing with foreigners. They see us and categorize us as non-speakers, so they don't listen. People who work with us often have gotten used to our way of pronouncing things and saying them grammatically incorrect. They listen and gather what they can from what we are saying. At times like the one in the market, my reflection is: I need to start studying again so I can be understood. But then I think that it might not make a difference- even if I spoke the most perfect Vietnamese, they would not hear me, at first.

Development Zones: District 7: We took a city bus out to District 7 yesterday. The main roads are wide, divided highways with very little traffic. There are tall apartment buildings that look like they've been beamed to Vietnam from New York or any other city in the U.S. or Europe. There are wide sidewalks in front of cafes, and cars outnumber the motorbikes. That's not saying much since there is very little traffic on the roads. We were walking along and didn't feel like we were in Vietnam anymore.

It is disturbing: it is too quiet.
I am walking on the sidewalk and getting run over by motorbikes.
The roads are wide, and empty
The vehicles are not swervinig wildly out of their lanes.
There are big cars- SUVs, Mercedes, and Hummers
It is too quiet.

As we walk back out to the main road, a motorbike drives up on the sidewalk. As I get to the end of the walk, I notice that the transition from sidewalk to street is sharp, vertical..the driver still managed to get his bike up onto the sidewalk. I smile. I am still in Vietnam.

These 2 photos are of the wide, empty streets of District 7, in the southern part of HCMC. Most of Vietnam doesn't look like this.

Conservation Work

February 2, 2009
Coming back into the city, I rode with some friends who work with Free the Bears. They, and Wildlife at Risk (WAR), frequently get reports of animals that have been confiscated and need a place to live. They also get reports of places that keep animals illegally. For a couple of days I went with these guys to investigate these rumors.

I have mentioned previously the belief in Southeast Asia of the medicinal value of bear bile. Thousands of bears are kept in tiny cages and are milked for their bile. The law in Vietnam states that people may keep bears, but it is illegal to milk the bears. We spent some time visiting locations that are rumored to have bears and may be milking them.

We also got to visit the Cu Chi rescue center, a place where confiscated animals are taken and given a better living situation. Unfortunately, many of these animals are either unhealthy or have been near humans for too long. It would be unsafe, for them and for people, to release them back into the wild, meaning that they will spend their lives in cages. The hope is that they, like the bears in Cat Tien, can have a chance to spend some time in larger, more stimulating enclosures than the tiny metal cages they are usually kept in as pets or as "milking bears".

3 bears were out behind a gas station out of Cu Chi, heading towards Cambodia. They were big, and beautiful- gentle and friendly.

Crocodiles..tons of them, in three tanks right next to the bears. A restaurant next to the gas station serves croc.

The facilities at the Cu Chi rescue center. It's small but well-kept and good for the animals. Some animals will stay here while others, like the bears, will only stay until they can be taken to another center.

There are 6 otters at the Cu Chi center. Isn't he cute?

Some Photos of Tet

Mid-January, 2009
In mid-January I spent a few days in Hanoi. I attended an English Language teaching conference sponsored by the British Council. The conference was great fun and a fantastic way to get my brain back into teaching, as well as meet other people interested in teaching. I got to meander through the streets of the old quarter around Hoan Kiem Lake and see some of the preparations for Tet.

This temple is next to Hoan Kiem Lake. Usually the gates are closed, but one afternoon I walked by and the temple had just received a new coat of paint and it was open! These two photos are of the temple.



As part of the preparations for Tet, people clean their houses-like spring cleaning for us in the U.S. Buildings get a new coat of paint, old junk is discarded or sold, and tons of flowers are bought to make the house beautiful for all of the visitors. I understand this to represent the cleansing of the old year to welcome good luck for the new year. On the flight up to Hanoi, I read about a junk market that begins a week before Tet. On the morning of January 18th I headed through the streets of the old quarter and found the impromptu market and all of the shops along the street selling decorations for Tet. This is a family's "junk" laid out on the street to sell- cleaning for Tet and a way to make some money. Like Christmas for us, Tet can be very expensive and quite a strain on some families.

This shop is stocked with Tet decorations. Red and gold are the colors that represent good luck.