Well, I think it's close to a new 'world-record' ... I was home for NINE whole MONTHS. Time for gestation of not much more than to get involved in some other volunteer endeavours, such as: helping a busy business advisory centre produce seven newsletters a month and giving weekly computer lessons to the elderly through an NGO that supports the older person. For the first time in many years, I actually ran out of duty free rum!
I did have hernia surgery that had been held in abeyance....except that it all went rather 'pear-shaped'. After being discharged from hospital after surgery, I was adorned with huge mottled, bright blue bruises from waist to thighs (yes, including .......). Then the incision evolved into a prominently bulbous haematoma that no one knew what to do with. I awoke one Saturday at 3am in a pool of blood in the bed. I called an 'emergency doctor' service next morning and all she could say was: "Well, it's not infected" and left. I went to a GP for help and all he offered was: "Do you mind if I take a photograph of it?" I contacted the surgeon that had done the deed and he told me to readmit myself to the same hospital through 'emergency'. He had another go and I was in hospital for nearly another week as blood tests indicated 'infection'. As I was in a teaching 'public hospital', so many people had examined my groin, I told my daughter that my penis was signing autographs. STILL: all done now. Nowadays I have: a metal valve in my heart, plastic lenses in both eyes and a sheet of plastic flywire in my abdomen holding all those pipes in place......heading for 'bionic-man'!
Then I went to my dentist for a check-up before travelling - she made a 90 minute appointment for three procedures. After that, my face was totally numb from neck to forehead for ages. That was: $972 please! The dentist also signed a form attesting to the fact that I was: 'in good dental health and fit to travel'. Two days later: a filling she'd just done fell out (at Easter and a week before scheduled departure). Back to the chair for more remedial torture, at least there was no extra charge.
As the agency I work with is supported by the federal government, there is a plethora of paperwork and a comprehensive health check that included: two hours of medical checks, including: ECG, nine vials of blood extracted for tests, such as tuberculosis. Shots for: Boostrix (diphtheria, tetanus), Hepatitis, Typhoid, Pneumococus (pneumococcal vaccine prevents serious blood, brain, and lung infections) flu shot, etc. Had to go back for three weeks for the full course of one rabies shot per week (at $115 per shot). Plus tablets for malaria.
The organisation I am with recruits volunteers and we receive a small allowance to cover direct expenses, plus travel and insurance cover. However: there is a growing number of organisations cashing in on what is now called 'voluntourism', where the exercise is a commercial enterprise: the volunteers pay the organisation and often have to arrange/pay for their own travel, visas and insurance. In the UK alone, 85 organisations place some 50,000 volunteers overseas every year. The majority of these organisations are for-profit travel agencies charging high fees to their customers; mostly affluent under-25s. One organisation, Projects Abroad, charges a minimum of $2,215 (£1,145), not including flights or visa costs for two weeks’ teaching in Cambodia - that's enough to pay a local teacher for more than a year. In 2007, First Choice Travel bought the for-profit voluntourism organisation i-to-i for £20m (A$41.5m)!
The aid situation in Cambodia has become very involved with a number of fake 'orphanages' seeking volunteer staff and donations - some kids could be from deprived circumstances, but they may go home to their families at night. Between 2005 and 2010, the number of 'orphanages' in Cambodia increased by 75%, according to a study by UNICEF and the Cambodian government. What's even more startling is that nationwide, only about 23% of the children advertised as orphans are, in fact, orphans.
If any masochistic, long-suffering recipients actually read any of these missives, they will have suffered through my descriptions of the heart-wrenching and troubled times that inhabitants of Cambodia had been through from 1975 to 1978. The crazy Pol Pot was responsible for killing around two million (about 25%) of his country's inhabitants....80% of all teachers were killed, along with 95% of doctors and darn near anyone else with an education. I must have mentioned this before, but: on a previous assignment, I was working with a man who was a driver for Pol Pot ... I shook the hand of a guy who shook the hand of Pol Pot - scary, eh - like meeting a guy who knew Hitler?
In 1994, about 65% of the Cambodian population above the age of 15 were illiterate, however, that is improving. Infant mortality (death within the first year of life) in Cambodia is 111 per 1,000 live births, only surpassed by Bhutan (129) and Afghanistan (164); in Germany it is 6 and in Japan just 4. The average life expectancy in Cambodia has risen from 51 years to 63 years over the past 15 years due to improved conditions.
In Cambodia there is one physician per 16,365 people. Only Nepal is worse off with 16,830 people per doctor. In Thailand there is one doctor per 4,361 people, in Vietnam it is 2,857. In Germany there is one physician per 333 people, in Italy it is per 210 people.
Nowadays, Cambodia has ten mobile phone operators fighting for customers, and internet access is readily available throughout the country and free at restaurants, hotels, even in some tuk tuks, etc.
SO: then it was on again. Acceptance must be something to do with (reasonably) frequent travel, or old age...or something. But, this time, I had no emotions whatsoever about travelling. No 'excitement' no 'apprehension' no 'enthusiasm' - absolutely nothing... just 'ho hum'. Decided the day before travelling that perhaps I should pack: which is now almost done by rote. Out of bed at 3am in a virtually autonomic state, taxi to the airport and mingle with the travelling masses. First stop was Changi Airport in Singapore (a destination I used to call 'home' after doing several assignments in Asia) where I was in-transit for five long hours. With most of the more recent assignments being in the South Pacific I had not been in Changi for about three years years. It's a HUGE airport with multiple terminals and efficient, driverless trains zipping between the complexes. The emphasis seems to be as much on 'retail' as scheduling aircraft with lots of high-end stores: most with no customers! The income from retail rentals must be massive.
Changi Airport serves more than 100 airlines flying to some 320 cities in about 80 countries and territories worldwide. Each week, about 6,800 flights land or depart from Changi, or about one every 90 seconds, with 55.4 million passengers passing through the airport in 2015.
This next assignment concerned a species of turtles in the Mekong that was thought to be extinct until 're-discovered' in 2007, and is now endangered. They had a facility featuring the turtles that was not overly successful - so: the aim was to build a program and promote it into a successful tourism enterprise in order to raise sufficient funds in order to protect and preserve the species for the future. OR: to build a totally new centre to raise funds to protect the species.
Cantor’s Giant Soft-shelled Turtles continue to be harvested both for sale in local markets and to meet international demand. The turtles are caught by using hook lines and bamboo traps. If trafficked, an adult turtle can be sold to local middlemen for $10 per kilogram. Given that the average adult turtle weighs 50kg and the minimum monthly wage is around US$80/month, this presents an astronomical economic opportunity for poachers.
Locally, turtles and their eggs are eaten at home, and turtle meat and products can be found in local markets and restaurants. They are also used for traditional medicine. The turtle's flat, soft shell is covered with rubbery skin, which is valued for use in traditional post-natal treatments in Cambodia. It is also believed that burning and soaking the skin in wine will produce a cure for nausea.
It's challenging to create a 'tourism attraction', as this turtle spends about 90% of its life under water, buried under sand and motionless, with only its eyes protruding. However it has powerful jaws and experts claim it can strike with the speed of a cobra. It surfaces only twice a day to take a breath, and the adult female lays 20-28 eggs (about 1.2 to 1.4 inches [3.0-3.5cm] in diameter) around February / March on riverbanks; the babies emerge about 60 days later. Apparently, like other turtles, the average temperature of the eggs in the nest determines if the young will be male or female.
On day three of my arriving at the office there was an all day meeting with a guy who had been commissioned to look at the details of turtles in 'our' stretch of the Mekong and to contribute a feasibility study. He had done an amazing amount of research and sent two reports with twenty attachments. At 5pm that afternoon, I was told that a staff member was going to Kratie (where the turtle complex was housed) early the next morning - 350km from Phnom Penh - and I was asked to accompany him! So after moving into a different hotel that afternoon (after three nights), I was off again.
Up at 05.30 to catch a 'bus' at 06.30. The 'bus' turned out to be an 11-seater van carrying some cargo for the trip. A bunch of us crammed into the van, and we collected a few more en route around town. Then there were fifteen of us (plus the cargo) sandwiched in the 11-seater for the 5½ hour trip - me the only 'round-eye' on board.
A half hour into the trip we stopped and most people squeezed out to buy snacks. About an hour later there was a 'toilet-stop' while the driver topped up with fuel (for the vehicle that is), we all decompressed to oblige. The 'gents' was interesting: adjacent to the 'ladies' was a wall with three urinals: so the men just fronted up in virtually the open air. There did not seem to be any other facility for men who wanted to perform a variation of their ablutions. Oh, to be gross, I guess that they could face the open air and SIT on the urinal to make a contribution. An hour later we stopped for 'breakfast' at a basic Khmer 'restaurant'. When we arrived in Kratie, the driver drove around dropping off passengers and cargo.
That afternoon, we had a hour meeting with the Director of Fisheries - all in Khmer.
Next day we drove 45 minutes, then took a local boat for a 3 hour run up the Mekong for a meeting. That was also all in Khmer, no one (apart from my companion) spoke any English. The meeting took about 45-minutes, the aftermath of paperwork took over two hours! I created a minor stir by only picking at the local lunch - about 70 of us, seated on the floor in an elevated small basic hut. I stopped eating lunch about a year ago, decided that I was just consuming three meals a day purely out of nothing more than habit. There was one great highlight - we released over a hundred baby turtles into the Mekong; survival rate remains a mystery - they just waddled into the water and buried themselves in the sand.
After another trip charging around on the Mekong, with assorted other meetings and locating nests, we were to head back to Phnom Penh. Approaching Khmer New Year (where the country virtually closes for four days); the traffic and prices were both up. My companion ultimately found a car that was making the trip - $10/person for a five hour taxi ride. BUT - we were crammed in a very small SUV with: two guys crammed in the front passenger seat, four of us in the rear seat, and two more perched in the luggage area...eight of us (plus driver) in a small car for 5 hours. I had said (several times) that I'd pay the driver $20 for two less people - but the concept was just too foreign!
Funny the quirks that come back to you about this country: like the practice of women wearing pyjamas as day wear, and fluffy slippers (with teddy bear or duck faces) as acceptable work wear. The traffic is insane and there are limited allowances for pedestrians (crossings/lights) - you just look for a slight gap in the constant stream and walk into it and the traffic (somehow) flows around you. One-way traffic, rules to keep right, and traffic lights are taken more as a mild suggestion than an instruction. There does not seem to be any aggravation, if a vehicle cuts off another, or turns suddenly, you may just sound your horn! There are footpaths, but you have to walk on the road, because cars and motor bikes (motos) are parked on the footpath; plus, cars park in the right-hand lane of main roads (they do drive on the left). Or someone has set up a stall, or a portable 'restaurant' on the footpath. Oh, and leading up to New Year, and it being 'wedding season', if you want to host a party at home or office: you just set up a marquee outside your home and extend it halfway across the road, fill it with chairs and tables, crank up that wailing oriental music on big speakers to the max - and no one bats an eyelid: vehicles just take their turn to squeeze through what's left of the road. And then there's the smoking in restaurants and bars - funny how quickly you accept that as not acceptable anymore!
Currency is also a bit quirky. When the Khmer Rouge was in power (and murdering) from 1975-80, 'money' was abolished and there was no legal currency. The national currency is now the Riel, denoted as: KHR. However, apart from small local transactions, the standard currency is the U.S. dollar. But - there are no coins. It is accepted that there is 4,000 Riel to US$1 (no fluctuations, except at banks). SO: if you buy something that costs say, $4.50, and you tender $5, you will get 2,000 Riel (notes) as change. One day, I only had a $10 note for a $2 tuk tuk trip - I received change of: 3 x $1 notes, plus 2 x KHR10,000 notes ($2.50 each).
Phnom Penh at Khmer New Year is something I've seen before; but, it's truly something to witness. Usually the entire city is abuzz and throbbing with life, zooming traffic (cars, motorcycles, tuk tuks, etc) and people everywhere. For 'New Year': from Wednesday until the following Tuesday, people flock out of the city to their home villages - most offices and retail outlets are closed and the town is practically deserted. You'd swear that the crazy Pol Pot had returned and evicted all the town's people, again. There are 32 days of 'public holidays' per year in Cambodia, with 3 New Year's (International, Khmer and Chinese).
I seemed to have picked up 'something' detrimental to my health on that trip charging up and down the Mekong saving turtles and eating local food. Developed rather strong stomach pains (in the 8/10 category) - at one stage I was on my hotel bed crying in pain. I went to a local clinic recommended for foreigners (ironically called the SOS Clinic) who were unsuccessful in finding a cure, and then to the Australian Embassy doctor who prescribed a few pills.
At one stage I had to sneak away from my desk at the office and curl up in the foetal position on the conference room floor waiting for pain killers to kick in.
Had a bunch of tests (they were obsessed with stool samples) which ultimately revealed 'no parasites', and 'no salmonella' - so it was all rather inconclusive. One bunch of 'tests' I had to convey way out of town to a French Institute and the instructions/results were all in French.
But, the pain very gradually faded and I was not gobbling medication every six hours, hopefully before the pain could kick in.
About a week later - I was invited on another five-day Mekong excursion on 'turtle watch' - I declined J.
I was chatting to the manager of the hotel where I was ensconced and he was telling me (and I had seen) the long hours he worked; plus that the hotel was owned by a Chinese person and he was paid the princely sum of US$150 per MONTH (without accommodation).
The assignment itself was blossoming into some aspects that severely challenged me (and the rest of the staff). We learned that, because the infant endangered turtles were in the enclosed Conservation Centre, they were all very ill and suffering from a bone deficiency disease through lack of vitamin D, that they'd normally receive (like humans) from sunlight. So: they needed ultra-violet light, then they needed UV-A as well as UV-B for some heat as well (even in the tropics). The Centre needed filtered, circulating water - so that created a need to calculate water flow, consider sinking a well and testing the water, research adequate pumps, filters, etc. Plus, as electricity was expensive, they needed to fathom out how to use solar power: and the amount of electricity (batteries and panels) required to power all the pumps and ultra-violet lights.
AND - because so little is known of these turtles' lifestyle (spending 90% of their life under water and under sand) - a decision was made to fit temperature loggers into the nests, just above the eggs, to monitor and create at least some research data. It is known that the temperature of the nest decides the gender of the other turtles. So: the hunt was on for suitable temperature loggers - I found several but it was difficult to choose over the internet, plus factoring in suitability, freight, etc. I found one supplier in the USA who looked likely, then they explained that there were three one-hour webinars on how to use their software; plus, I located their software manual and it was 248 pages. I figured all that would be way beyond practical use by the rangers who did not speak English. Back to more research! ......and a steep 'learning curve'! Located the supplier of a USA made logger who was closer (in Hong Kong) so the freight would be less.
At about the halfway mark, I was wondering if I'd been in Phnom Penh too long. I was walking out of the guesthouse in the morning and hopping into a tuk tuk without having to say where I wanted to go....the drivers knew. I had a semi-regular driver, but when he was not there, someone else just conveyed me to the office without instruction - they must have been telling each other where I went. Same with the return trip and different drivers.
The client's office was in a HUGE complex including a university....and on the 4th floor (with no lift). When going 'home' - I walked downstairs, though a car-park, out through security and on to the main road where a tuk tuk would be waiting for me. When the 'dry season' started becoming the 'wet season' and it was raining rather heavily ... I walked downstairs - and there was a tuk tuk waiting for me (inside the complex).
In May we had a visit from an American turtle expert who gave us some great advice. He also said something that I was amazed to hear. A researcher in South America established that turtles talk to each other, that the hatchlings in their eggs communicate and time their emergence together and that the mother waits offshore to call her babies and introduce them to the big, wide world. How amazing is THAT? And we were considering we were helping the young by catching them as they emerged and rearing them until they were bigger and 'safer' - meanwhile mother COULD have been waiting for them. Nature knows best...? They also think that releasing the baby turtles at a different beach from where they emerged from their nest may be thoroughly confusing them.
I was researching into doing business in Cambodia, and came across this: 'Out of 183 economies, the World Bank has ranked Cambodia 171st in terms of ease of setting up a new business. The average number of days it takes to register a business clocks in at 85. A fair amount of palm-greasing, or 'tea money', is required to start a business. Each step of the process requires fees, many of which are not strictly legal. For example, once your company is fully registered, in order to stay compliant with Cambodian law you must pay your taxes. In order to pay your taxes, you need to pay an unofficial $20 'facilitation fee' at the tax office each month. If you don’t, your taxes won’t get registered as being paid.'
The staff in the office seemed to be of the opinion that when you sneezed: it was imperative to bounce a decibel meter off the top of the scale.
The extent of construction in Phnom Penh is staggering - there's huge, multi-story buildings popping up everywhere like mushrooms. Rumours proliferate that much of the financing is bedded in Chinese laundering money. The guesthouse where I was domiciled was ringed by rampant construction sites (clanging steel, loud hammering...) from 6am until late at night, every day.
Couple that with the racket of night clubbers and motor bikes in the street from nearby clubs until the wee small hours (like 4am). Then there were European soccer games televised at midnight until about 3am, attracting mindless revellers. One day at crazy am a bunch of guys were raucously singing La Marseillaise (presumably following watching the senseless football), the only saving grace being that it must be the best national anthem?
I was looking forward to getting home to peace and quiet, where the only morning sounds would be the birds singing in the gum tree next door at dawn, sometimes including the ubiquitous kookaburra - they sit in the gum tree, telling each other jokes and laughing like crazy. Never heard them? Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Op4PZzwwU
While sitting at Phnom Penh departure lounge- going through and adding some minor corrections to a long report on the amazing Tonle Sap lake; I received an email from a woman in Indonesia who had been supported by the aid organisation I seem to have dedicated my life to. She sounds amazing as she has built up a business selling produce from some 200 organic farms, to the extent that the business seems to have run away from them and they need some guidance. SO: a one hour Skype message exchange the day after I arrived home and it's looking like I'm off to Indonesia next month.
Bunch of photos on.....
https://picasaweb.google.com/116314286847914749962/6302910209241494705