PEPY Ride IV: Phenom Penh to Kep Part

So, left off with arriving in Battambang on December 29th right?

December 30th: 2nd day in Battambang.  I was feeling much better enegy-wise but something was still a bit off.  We went to a cooking class at a restaurant called "Smokin' Pot".  No joke.  The food we made there was delicious!! First we went to the market, bought all the ingredients and made Khmer Curry from scratch!!  We even made our own coconut milk from shredded coconut. . .mm my mouth is watering just thinking about it again.  In the afternoon we visited a social venture in Battambang called DDD (Digital Divide Data)  They train disadvantaged Cambodians in IT services and outsource to global clients.  Just as the visit was wrapping up, the "a bit off"- ness that I was feeling earlier, started to come to a head and I was running to the bathroom about twice or three times an hour. . . After dinner I got some Ciprofloxacin over the counter from a pharmacy (>.<) and was feeling 100% better by morning which was good because. . .

January 1st 2009!!!: We split up.  It was also pouring rain.  Half of us stayed in Pursat and did eco-lessons at the Sustainable Cambodia school there. The other half of us rode 30km out to Kravanh to do the same at the school out there.  Of course, I joined the riding group.  However, because of the rain, and dirt road, we all got SOOOOO muddy.  I was the only one who had a rain jacket so my jersey stayed relatively clean but everything else was an unsalvageable mess.  Well. . .maybe it just needed to be washed but anyway, we were late for the lesson we were supposed to teach because we all had to have bucket showers (ie. cold water poured over yourself with a bucket) before we looked even remotely presentable. It was quite the experience. After the lesson and lunch with the staff from the school, I wanted to go back to Pursat so Lucky and I took a less muddy and bumpy and more scenic/ slightly longer road back into town (the rest of the Kravanh group opted to stay overnight in hammocks at the school).  By this time it had stopped raining so it wasn't so bad.  I taught another eco-lesson with the other group when I got back at the school in Pursat.  

Krakor: Boat Tours

January 2nd: We were scheduled to be going out to a village just outside of Pursat to see some of the development work being done by Sustainable Cambodia but most of the Kravanh group had fallen ill so only the group that stayed in Pursat (plus me) ended up going. We played with some kids at a preschool and learned about some of the projects going on in the community before going back to the Pursat school for the Bike ceremony!! The school gave bikes to some very poor students so that they have a means of transportation to and from school. It's also an incentive for more students to enrol. A bicycle!!??! Yes please!
After the ceremony we had a quick lunch and then cycled 30km to Krakor. When we arrived, we had a few minutes to change and then tried to go out to a floating village. A number of families lived along the littered road to the floating village. Upon arriving at the boat launching point we were surrounded by villagers trying to get us to ride in their boats. Enter striped shirt guy (herein ssg). He comes over with a giant sign telling us that there is an official price for all tourists that has been put in place (as of this morning. . .apparently) by x government official who's name was at the bottom of the sign. The sign also says, only those who hold a license are allowed to take passengers. Ssg says that we must pay $10 for a 5 person boat (by Cambodian standards this is insanely expensive). Ssg also says, if anyone takes us out in a boat for a cheaper price, he will call the police. We decided as a group to boycott the floating village and spent the money we would have used for the boat on buying coconuts and fruit juice from the people who had set up shops around the boat launching point. Over dinner we had a long conversation about government corruption and challenges PEPY has faced because of it.

January 3rd: Cycled 60km to Kampong Channang. I cycled out front with another guy who had joined our group since Battambang. His name is Rithy. He was teaching me some Khmer the whole ride and I kept annoying him by repeating many many times what he taught me to make sure I remembered. It was really fun though and a beautiful ride. We all just hung around until it was time to go to dinner. After dinner Lucky and Rithy told us a bit about what their families had related to them about the Khmer Rouge. From the first of January until the 7th of January all of Cambodia celebrates the fall of the Khmer Rouge which was January 7th 1979. This year is the 30th anniversary.

January 4th: Woke up bright and early for our hot 92km ride into the big city Phnom Penh! When we finally arrived my head was pounding which I think was a result of too much sun.  We had a delicious dinner out and I wanted to go out with the group for some celebratory drinks but decided to take it easy because of my head and just went to bed.

RDIC waterpump

January 5th! today! Today the only thing scheduled was a visit to another NGO RDIC.  Most of the team took tuk tuks but Lucky had mentioned that the ride over there was beautiful. . .so I decided to cycle it.  We left around 8:45am waited for the ferry, arrived on an island about half an hour later.  It was soooo beautiful! We saw tons of mango trees (and took a mango that was way too unripe) and got some sweet rice cakes from a lady living along the path.  It was also such a beautiful day, though hot. The NGO was apparently close to the other ferry port off the island, so we took another ferry and crossed back over the river. . .by this time, however, our tour guide was getting worried about where we were. We were supposed to be there by 10am but it was now 11:30!  So, I ended up missing a lot of the NGO visit which was sad, but the ride was sooooooo good, so I didn't really mind.  Anyways, RDIC does tons of really cool stuff.  They make water filters out of clay so that Cambodian people can have clean water.  The pots are $8 which is not cheap but affordable for many Cambodians.  They do a lot of children's TV programming to teach literacy and some values like forgiveness, friendship, etc.  They also make Karaoke videos as a means of education. . .we watched one that was about taking care of your chickens. . .apparently it got really popular and 2 famous people performed it for the prime minister!  RDIC also does water testing all over Cambodia since many pumps installed by large NGOs can't be trusted due to arsenic concentration (and lack of research before well installation). . . 

A lot of the wells in Cambodia that have been provided by NGOs pump water with dangerous arsenic levels.  Not so much that it kills immediately but enough to poison and cause serious tissue and organ damage over time.  The well at the school in Chanleas Dai happened to be one of those wells.

So, that's the end of my story so far!  We have a few more days in Phnom Penh and then we head out to Kep to have a few beach days!  I'm enjoying my trip immensely.  Cambodian people are so friendly, we have choruses of children screaming "hello!!!!"at us all the way down the road.  It's like, tour de Cambodia or something :)

To Part I!