Green Gecko Project, Siem Reap, Cambodia

We visited a project called Green Gecko http://www.greengeckoproject.org in Siem Reap.

The Green Gecko Project focuses on helping street kids. It was very well-run. Some things that stood out in what they are doing:

• The children are organized into groups identified by an animal, e.g., with names like the bumble bees, frogs, tigers, monkeys, snakes, elephants... The children in each group range in ages from young to late teens. Each group has their own area for eating lunch, etc. and they each have a permanent "mother" and a "father", and "uncle" and "aunty". These adults have a corresponding role in the children's lives while the children are in the community. Remember, these are street kids, who most likely come from non-existent or dysfunctional families and communities. So Green Gecko gives the kids a functional family and community with corresponding responsibilities.
• 
The children who have a home to go to, are strongly encouraged to go home on the weekends. This can be a problem if the home is dysfunctional, so Green Gecko has a social worker who works with the family, to ensure the children are going back to a functional home with food, no alcohol and good communications. The Green Gecko Project understands that parents need to be involved if a good environment is going to be developed. So children are not forced to go home on the weekends if they don't want to, but they are strongly encouraged to do so when the social worker deems the parents to be ready for it.
• The green gecko project runs out of a base where the children do everything except formal education (they attend school). So they eat, sleep, play, clean, do activities like games, reading, drawing, watching movies, etc. on the base. They do everything in their groups, which emulate families living in communities. They do things like growing their own food in a garden, playing soccer and once a week they watch English movies so they get exposed to English...
• Some of the "children" were older than 18. The Green Gecko Project lets children stay until they graduate from high school, and some of them got a later start on school than others.
  
  
• The Green Gecko project is based a few kms from Siem Reap, so volunteers can stay in Siem Reap and cycle to The Green Gecko Project everyday.

I was impressed and pleased to see such a well-run initiative doing such good work. The Green Gecko Project looks like a very good volunteer opportunity, especially to understand the wide range of factors that need to be addressed to help street kids integrate into constructive communities.

These are the "lunch rooms".

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

In early April we went to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat (and some of the other temples from past civilizations in the area).

Siem Reap itself has a nice old town centre, with unfortunately urban (or should I say hotel) sprawl around it. I liked the old part of Siem Reap very much. The sprawl is a pity, but since the phenomenon is so much worse in Canada and I haven't done anything to stop it, I guess I can't be too negative about it.

Angkor Wat is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is hard to describe these glimpses into past worlds.

I've included photos, but they just don't capture the experience. Partly because they don't show the magnitude and sheer numbers of these temples, nor the intricate detail. I had not realized before we arrived that there are more than 100 temples in the area, and the area covers a few hundred square kms. Needless to say, we didn't see everything. I saw Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom (the Bayon, Elephant Terrace, Terrace of the Leper King, ....) and a few others. Ron toured more of the smaller temples. The area around Angkor Wat is beautiful, with lakes and treelined boulevard-type roads.

Another reason why the photos don't do the experience justice is that a good part of the experience is not visual. One small part of Angkor Wat that I really loved was an echo chamber, which looks like a large stone chimney. You stand in it with your back against the wall and thump your chest, and the echo reverberates through your body. You do this 7 times for good luck. What an amazing feeling.

We were there during the dry season, and it was very hot and sunny. The temples in the trees (e.g., Bayon) were much cooler in the shade.

Looking out from the 3rd level of Angkor Wat.

One of the pools on the 3rd level, Angkor Wat.

Seven-headed statue in Angkor Wat.

Statue of a woman with red face.

Royal library, Angkor Wat. Gong, Angkor Wat.

Looking towards the main entrance, from inside Angkor Wat.

Here are some interesting professional photos of Angkor and environs, FYI. I'm sure there are many more on-line.

http://www.ourplaceworldheritage.com/custom.cfm?action=WHsite&whsiteid=668#

This site shows a beautiful photo of the Bayon temple:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668

Phonsavanh, Laos and the Plain of Jars (dry season)

The first place we went to before we left Laos in early April was Phonsavanh, Laos. The minibus ride from Luang Prabang was stunningly beautiful. It seems to follow a mountain ridge so the views (usually from switchbacks with terrifying drops) are incredible. A real eyeful of rural Laos (which is of course how most of the population lives). We saw some slash and burn either in progress or recently burnt. Villages were few and far between, but were strung out along the road, regardless of the fact that the road is on the edge of a cliff. Every village seemed to have little Lao boys running. In that heat! Beautiful to see. I was happy to see a lot of children walking to and from school. It's good that so many of the villages have schools. And every village had dogs and chickens and people on the road. This was in spite of the fact that the road is a two-lane highway - Hwy 13 - which is the main route south to Vientiane. I was happy that the minibus driver drove slowly (not over 40 km/hour in the mountains) and even stopped to let a snake cross the road. Which explains the lack of roadkill. Then for the last hour or so of the trip, we came out on the plains - a whole other world.The countryside is beautiful around Phonsavanh and the Jars are impressive. It's tragic that the locals have to deal with the UXOs - the land would be wonderful for farming if it wasn't for the bombs. And of course the land IS being used for agriculture, in spite of the bombs.

We went to the Plain of Jars. I can certainly see why the French liked to picnic at the second site of the Jars - the countryside looks like it could be England or France (except for the rice paddies, of course). We tried to take photos but they just don't capture the beautiful panoramic views. Nor do photos capture the other sensations above and beyond the sights: the bumpy, dusty, red dirt roads, the hot dry sun, the much cooler air under the huge pine trees, the smell of the pines around the jars (just like home).

Apart from the obvious attractions of the scenery and the awesomeness of the Jars themselves, the highlight of our trip was meeting a local named Manophet, who works for the UXO as an interpreter in the field during the day, then teaches English before and after work - to 240 students! He didn't intend to have so many students, but they keep arriving and insisting on staying so he can't say no. They see how good he is and that their future is brighter if they learn from him. He has a website http://www.laos-edc.com/. I certainly recommend a visit to Manophet to anyone going to Phonsavanh - his personal story is amazing, above and beyond the inspirational work he is doing with his students. Manophet teaches out of his house. He seems to have very effective techniques. We met a student of his at the second Plain of Jars site (he is a tour guide and was there giving a tour). This student spoke English very well. We were impressed. Manophet does not focus on grammar - he focuses on speaking English. He believes students learn better when doing something else, so he gets them playing soccer (and speaking only English on the field). He has SONY-ERICSSON sponsoring the soccer team (14 players) to go to some soccer competition in Sweden this July. Apparently they are good at soccer as well as English. Manophet is in the process of setting up looms at his place for weaving, so the students will be able to do that too.

- Photos -

Bizarre tractor-type vehicle, which seemed to be the norm around Phonsavanh.

Jars at the first Plain of Jars site. Easy to believe they were carved from rocks!

Bomb crater at the first Plain of Jars site, from the Vietnam war. Note that Phonsavanh is in Laos, but this area is still riddled with unexploded ordinances (UXOs) today.

MAG marker. Indicates that one side is deemed to be safe from UXOs. The other side - not. The path is lined by these markers. Deviate from the marked and worn paths at your own risk!

A tree growing out of a jar the the second Plain of Jars site.

Ron entering a bomb crater at the Plain of Jars site 2.

Ponies in a field near the second Plain of Jars site.

Headhunter's (Bamboo) Dance

While in Sabah (Borneo) Malaysia, I've had the pleasure of seeing the traditional headhunter's dance (also known as the bamboo dance). It is impressive to watch live. The sound of the bamboo sticks clapping together reverberates through your bones. Check out this example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS2CgndFLnI.

Scuba diving at Sipadan Island

Ron and I had 3 AMAZING dives yesterday at Sipadan Island, a reef off the continental shelf (600 m drop) on the
southeast of Sabah (Borneo), Malaysia. We saw white-tipped sharks, huge turtles, a huge school of barracudas, a devil ray, two octopuses, and just many, many fish of all types off this impressive wall. We are due to go again on Sunday.

We've been diving around here for the last week or so and have seen some neat things but EVERY DIVE at Sipadan is the best of all of those dives (and more). Wow. It is a national park and access is restricted so the reef is in very good health (unlike some others we've seen around here), so that is encouraging. Ron (who has training in reef health) says some of the other reefs are beat up, or diseased or over-fished.

Sipadan has only been a protected area since 2005, so it is encouraging that the reef can be healthy if left alone. The other reefs we've seen here with healthy and abundant marine life of all sorts have been artificial ones.

Sabah is covered in rainforest. Where they have designated national parks things are good (Mount Kinabalu, Sipadan Island). But where things are not protected, the environment is taking a hit (not unlike at home, really). I have a Malaysian friend in Kuala Lumpur who tells me Malaysia has just recently restructured the tax money that goes to Sabah, such that Sabah gets it's own money. This is very good for Sabah, and I have high hopes (naive optimist that I am) that good changes will come as a result.