More about Pchum Ben

Sorry we have not posted a blog item recently we have been busy but also we haven't had a camera for a while as when we were out one dark moonless evening Angela cycled into a ditch and she went underwater along with her bike and handbag.She was OK once I hauled the bike off her and pulled her out of the ditch but she had a scratch that went infected with the water, this cleared up with antibiotic cream.Anyway the camera and mobile phone filled with water and dont work anymore.

We mentioned the gongs and chanting that went on during Pchum Ben ón our last post.

A tour around the local Pagoda Wat Leu identified an impressive array of huge drums and gongs  responsible for the sounds including a large unexploded bomb converted into a gong. Not sure which country would like to claim responsibility for this but as usual the monks waste nothing.

Pchum Ben is one of the most important holidays in Cambodia where Buddhism is the state religion and it is celebrated at Pagodas across Cambodia. I do not fully understand the ceremony and I can only offer the following information I have read and observed, apologies if some of it is wrong etc.

We live opposite a Pagoda so we are well aware of any ceremonies taking place and this particular one for feeding the spirits of the damned is not for late risers. The Pagoda loudspeakers begin their call in the 4 am blackness reminding Buddhists to make offerings and by the time the sun rises the ceremony is over and the ground littered with glutinous balls of rice. This is nourishment for the spirits of the damned and the damned only come out during the holiday and only at dark.

The call is repeated in the early morning each day of Pchum Ben which lasts for the first 15 days of the Khmer lunar month of Photrabot. This year the holiday began Sept 24 and ended Oct 8.

Before the rice balls are thrown to the ground in the ceremony, they are blessed and carried three times around the pagodas inner temple. Offerings are also made to the spirits of relatives and spirits without living relatives with celebrants bringing meals for monks later in the day.

Such offerings allow individuals to acquire merit; if anyone is grateful to their dead parents or others and in return does good to them they will receive merit. The offerings can also go to feed the dead who have been reborn in non human form such as small insect’s even ants.

It is believed that if you do not go to the pagoda to offer food to the monks and your dead cannot see you, you will be cursed.

During this time we went into the Pagodas grounds to have a look round and also to see the drums and gongs that awaken us early every morning. Although the English language class I teach is only small there are two students who are monks at the Pagoda and when I visit they always come over for a chat and to show us around.

Chris , Gong and Song the monk

The final evening there is a big celebration in the evening and when it is dark to say farwell to the spirits as they leave. Bamboo boats are floated on the river with lit candles and naked flames on bamboo torches as the boats are carried away by the strong river current at this time of year. I was very interested to see the boats being built out of nothing more than split bamboo and strips of rubber.

Bamboo boat being built in the Pagoda grounds

 The people making them were very skilled in making a large lattice structure very light and strong out of nothing more than slivers of bamboo. The candles were put in condensed milk tins and nailed to the boat.

The sides for the boat being made out of slivers of bamboo

So we first looked at the boats being built in the pagoda and then next saw them when they had been taken across the road and placed ready to receive incense sticks and lit candles and then placed on the river.

The same bamboo boat now adrift on the river as thespirits sail away

Smaller boats were brought by families and placed on the water with offerings of money (fake) and food placed aboard.

Families boats with offerings prior to being put on the river to float away

Chris and firework

 On the final night large crowds lined the river and many fireworks were lit and thrown about. The Cambodians currently handle fireworks like we were allowed to 40 years ago. I bought a long stick of explosive fireworks for 40p and had great fun lighting it and pointing it out over the river.

Other offerings being made

An advantage of being here for two years is that next time the celebration comes around we will know what to expect and build on our knowledge and enjoyment and order in the thicker earplugs!

listen carefully I will only say this once!

Next day we were invited to another Pagoda by our friend Thin who used to be a monk and he showed us around the pagoda he helped to build and we also joined in the celebrations there.

Beer tastes better in the morning!



As with most celebrations there is always an excuse for drinking and in this case we were invited to  Thin's brothers house to drink a case, 24 cans of beer, at 11.00am and to have some food.

Sounds of the Night Cambodia

In the early evening sounds from the local Karaoke bar, with its loud speakers, drift across from the riverside, but this finishes around our bed time 8.30pm and we go to bed with just the cicadas screeching joined by the squawking frogs if it has been raining –which at present is most nights.

The local dogs start barking, howling and fighting each night to see who is the pack leader at around 10-11 pm. There is usually a terrific thunder storm at around midnight and the rain on the tin roof is deafening.

                                                       Our house with large tin roof.

The animals that live in the roof space run about at various times –2am, 4am etc. are they rats? mice? lizards? night squirrel or birds? –I lie awake pondering this as some nights they seem to just skitter around while other nights they seem to bang about having fights.

The geckos sit on the mosquito screens of the bedroom windows (we have no glass in any windows) and randomly shout ‘gecko, gecko’ at each other.

At present it is the 2week festival of remembering the dead and appeasing the spirits: Pchum Benn so at 3.30 a gong is banged in the Pagoda across the road to awaken the monks for prayers. The chanting starts at 4am and lasts about an hour. Then they play what to my western ears sounds like plinky plonky ice cream van music for about a further hour. By 6am the motos are buzzing about as people go to work and the water buffalo in the field outside are complaining at being made to move –sounds like a cow bellowing deeply.

                                           Water buffalo during a rain storm taken from our window

My alarm goes at 6.30 having enjoyed all these cultural sounds that I would not have experienced in Kendal. As for Chris – he sleeps with industrial ear plugs in and misses it all!

Pauline and Graham visit

Recently we had our first UK visitors arrive for a holiday, our good friends Pauline and Graham.

We spent most of the time showing them around where we live in Stung Treng and I think we all agreed we had a great, fantastic time without resorting to the usual tourist sights in other parts of Cambodia e.g. Siem Riep etc.

I met them at the airport where they arrived after one week in Thailand.

Kirsty, Graham and Pauline on cycling tour in Thailand (Kirsty returned to UK after Thailand) 

Next day they were subjected to a 9 hour bus journey up to Stung Treng town where unfortunately the bus stops next to the outdoor market which, after all the food has been lying around in the sun all day, stinks to put it bluntly or ,as Pauline exclaimed looking out of the window, ‘’Has there been a disaster here?’’

We are now in our new house so we were pleased to show P&G where we live.

Angela in our new house as Pauline and Graham arrive.

We travelled extensively around Stung Treng by motorbikes and by bicycle and had many adventures including 3 motorbike punctures and 2 bicycle punctures.

This is the life!!! better than walking, where's the beer?

Finally the motorbike tyre decided it wasn't playing anymore and we had to walk to the next repair shop which we were told was 1.5Km away but turned out to be 6Km ,luckily some local men came past on a tractor and trailer and we lifted the bike onto the trailer and they took Pauline, Graham and the Moto to a local Stung Treng repair place where we got a new tyre and tube.

Typical road we travel along.

We ate out in the evenings and here we are trying the 'meat mountain' - gas flame under the domed grill.

The meat is brought to the table raw and you cook the individual pieces to your liking. The juices run down into a deep lip at the bottom which has water and various vegetables added , as the cooking continues the water becomes a soup at the end which can be very tasty. You need to keep an eye on the flame and heat otherwise the water boils off and nothing is left.

Pauline and Graham kindly donated some toys and clothes for the Orphanage here in Stung Treng so we visited one afternoon.

At the Orphanage the children with finger puppets.

The bridges can be a bit of a challenge.

We went a motorbike ride following the river on what should have been gravel roads according to the tour notes but was in effect a mud path but this was great fun until we came to a flooded part and were forced to turn back. As we were turning around I noticed what looked like a spring dangling down from the motorbike handle bars so I touched it and it disappeared inside the plastic covering of the motorbike- it was alive and it turned out to be a mouse’s tail –yes I has driven with a mouse inside the frame of the motorbike all the way from the shed where we keep the motorbike- they get everywhere.

We were told to make sure they get out of the bike otherwise they chew the wires and your lights stop working.

As it is the wet season the roads can be quite a challenge but that all adds to the fun of travelling in very remote areas where the sight of foreigners is a big event.

It is the wet season after all!!

Graham very bravely and kindly offered to donate blood whilst he was in Stung Treng so we spent an unusual afternoon at the hospital where he gave a unit of blood and received a can of Coke, a meat sandwich and a T Shirt.

Graham giving blood in Stung Treng Hospital

 He must be one of the very few people in the UK with a T shirt which says, in Kamai, I gave blood in Cambodia, how about you?

Been there, done that, got the Tee Shirt - have you?

Never ignore an opportunity when a volunteer so Angela has taken the hospital photos and turned them into a publicity poster to place , with the management permission, on the wall of the hospital to hopefully stimulate people into donating their own blood.

We had two days at the end to spend in Phnom Penh with all its usually unavailable luxuries,we went for happy hour cocktails to the Foreign Correspondents Club.

Singapore Sling

Chris and Graham in the Tuk Tuk on the way back to the guest house after another couple of cocktails and some draught beer.

The following day a change of mood as we visited some of the important Tourist sights In Phnom Penh. 

We  went on a guided tour of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.  See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum_

 where we met one of only 7 known survivors of the prison, Chum Mey , a victim in the Toul Sleng Prison.

 

Chris with Chum Mey at the prison site.

See http://www.ksaemksan.info/

From there we visited the killing fields at Choeung Ek. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choeung_Ek 

Another change of mood and on our return journey into Phnom Penh we were recommended by the Tuk Tuk driver to visit a shooting range which appeared to be around the back of an army barracks although I may be completely wrong about the location. We found a place where it was possible to shoot almost any weapon for a price e.g. hand grenade $60, RPG $350.If you chose the RPG they transport you to another location to fire it at the side of a mountain.
We were given a menu each (Pauline replied : Oh no we haven't come here to eat) This listed all the weapons and the price to fire them.

No Graham put it down its $350 !!!

Finally the shot everybody wants to get a hospital patient on their way home with their drip still in place - quite a common site in Cambodia.

Picture taken from our Tuk Tuk

Unheard of in the UK of course but you never know what sights you will see on the streets when travelling.
So lovely holiday and sad to see them return to the UK.
Any friends want to visit you are very welcome.

Frog's, Floods and Midwives

My day began at 5am as we had been told that we were leaving the hospital at 6.30 to travel with the lead midwife and the head of the Maternal and Child health department to Kompot, a Health Centre about an hour away. However no one else arrived until 7am and it was then decided to have breakfast in the local café. My Volunteer Assistant ,Channa, was especially pleased about this as he was hungry and likes the breakfasts at this café. His braised beef on rice with a fried egg on top and side salad did look more interesting than my 5am muesli.

So 7.30 we set off by motor bike following the Sekong River upstream. The rains this year have been very severe so the river is very high and the rice fields flooded which look beautiful with bright green shoots in perfect hand planted rows. Consequently the road is flooded in places but Channa just drives straight in with a casual comment that the engine might stop if the water gets in. I have become very good at tucking my feet up to avoid a soaking. However the water buffalo we passed seem to enjoy the mud and floods –I just wish they would stay off the roads.

On arrival at the Health Centre the lead midwife interrupted a busy Antenatal clinic to test the standards of practice of the midwife. For the next hour she fired questions from a checklist at her: how do you deliver a breech baby? What are the signs of pre eclampsia? What do you do when a woman hemorrhages? What constitutes a post natal check? We were sat in the tiny examination room and I suddenly became aware of a dirty cloth hanging from the tap of the water bucket –did it move or was it just the breeze? Yes it definitely is moving! So interrupting the verbal exam as calmly as possible I asked what on earth the thing on the tap was. ‘’Just some frogs for my lunch,’’ came the midwife’s reply. And yes indeed that was all it was; 5 live frogs tied by their back legs with a strip of dirty cloth and hung on the tap in the AN clinic. I always said you see something different every day in midwifery!

Try this link  www.leisurecambodia.com/Leisure_Cambodia/No.19/Kkang%20Kep%20Baob.html

Photo's I'd like to share

Looking on the Computer at our Pictures we have taken since we came to Cambodia here are a few Photo's I like (some taken by Wendy another  friend and VSO Volunteer).

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This is a picture I took whilst out riding on the motorbike visiting a remote village which you got to by riding along a brown dirt road, the expressions on the faces are amazing.

I am doing some Voluntary work with a local NGO who are developing an Orphanage, this is the new living house for the children taking shape, very interesting for me to watch as the materials and methods of construction are so different from the UK

Another construction job but nothing to do with my work or the orphanage, Wendy took this photo off her balcony. It seems when it rains you just strip off to your boxers and carry on!!(fingers crossed the trench does'nt collapse)

Angela took this  pic out of the hospitatal window during a meeting- what can you say? at least if the spike got stuck somewhere he didnt have so far to cry for help

Moving house day Cambodia style, another photo of Wendies.This is Chris with Angela driving moving a satellite chair, the cushion had to come on the next trip

I'll get into a lot of trouble for posting this!! but its what you do here when it rains-buy a cheap raincoat and carry on.(Available in various colours)

Arriving with the chair- what a relief!!(Angela driving,Chris carrying)

A very peaceful place to stay in another province a couple of months ago

come to see us and we'll take you there.(You pay)

Chris and the Elephant all peace and harmony.

Chris down and the Elephant has moved on.

Pic outside the local hospital choose from any of these Ailments and come on in!!

Transporting live pigs on the local ferry

Chris and work mates enjoying lunch in a local village house. Just been told -  careful with the fish Chris its raw

Walked out of the house the other day and the landlady had hung this food up to dry by our door- Why?

We have since moved.

So in between houses at the moment but looking forward to being settled again soon.

Also our first visitors from the UK coming soon -Pauline and Graham  - cant wait!!!

House Sharing in Cambodia

Angela and I don’t live in the house alone in fact when we go to sleep things get quite busy in the other rooms. Large spiders live in the bathroom-something to look at whilst taking a shower.

We have an agreement - we don’t bother moving the spiders and they don’t bother us.

 Ants run around the kitchen we try to keep those down with a spray.

Geckos live in most rooms and tend to hide behind picture frames and they come out at night to eat insects. If I had to guess I would say in the 6 rooms we have there are maybe 8 geckoes living in various cracks and behind picture frames.

Picture taken this morning when I got up it hadnt gone to bed.

Geckos interesting (?) facts:

If you hold a light up to one ear of some geckos, the light will shine clear through the head and out the other ear.

How did they get the Gecko to stay still long enough to find that out? Right where’s my torch?

Geckos have millions of tiny hairs on their feet so they appear to stick to ceilings etc.

I have just noticed two creatures were not quick enough when the bedroom door was shut one time, they are paper thin - is the lowest one a cockroach?'

Well they will be able to take the place over completly this weekend as we are on the move and moving across town to a lovely timber framed house on concrete stilts with a balcony to put the hammock on.

It is a more typical Kamai house and we are looking forward to posting some pictures of it although it will not be vacant for 3 weeks and we are staying with Wendy our friend and fellow Volunteer in the meantime. All luggage and furniture, not that we have much of that, has to be moved on Bicycle or motorbike. As they say in Great Harwood: it will be rheet. - Sorry- It'll be rheet.

Relaxing at the House

Some evenings, Friday in particular, we may relax outside our house with a beer or two this is especially good if it is thundering and lightening as we are sheltered but have a good view of the night sky. That sort of rainy, stormy weather is very common at this time of the year.

There are 2 dogs living at the landlady’s house and these have taken a liking to Chris and sit with him at every opportunity, the problem is they have fleas and probably worms so we don’t touch them or let them in our rooms. Cambodians, I think it is fair to say, do not have animals as pets, if they have any livestock it is for a purpose. These dogs are guard dogs not because they are ferocious but as they bark, and bark they do frequently throughout the night outside our door as they sleep against the door for some reason.

They chew everything left lying around and one night pulled the door mat under the door and chewed it to bits. Another morning we went out and there was a dead rat on the tiled area- a present for Chris? It was moving but only because about a thousand ants had taken ownership and decided to transport it elsewhere!

When we approach the house the gate is locked and we need to put our hand through the bars with the key and undo the padlock. The trick is to do this without the dogs seeing you as they come rushing to the gate and start licking your hands and arms through the bars- yuck! When we both come back together say in an evening Chris has to put his arms through the gate, Angela can’t bear the thought of the licking, but to be fair she does try to distract the dogs away from my arms but as they love me so much they are not to be distracted.

Oh, we drink the beer with many ice cubes as it is so hot the drink never stays cool for long and it helps to balance the fluid intake.

For drinking water in the house we buy a 20 litre barrel from a small shop up the road from us we transport it back on the bike one of us pushing the bike and the other holding the bottle. This 20 litres costs 4000Riel approx $1 dollar or 60 odd pence; you may get a 300ml bottle for that in the UK.

20 litres will last us 4/5 days and is used for everything that goes in our mouths the tap water is definitely not suitable for us to drink.

PS Since we wrote this a week or two ago we are now down to one dog. The smaller one went for a ride in the Landlords car and it seems he had a one way ticket never to return. I think nipping the backs of people’s legs as they walked along was not acceptable – I wonder where he is?