No need for big machinery eh. Here’s a team of five Khmer (in flip-flops) pounding away at the building with just a sledgehammer each. It took them about two weeks to take this building down and haul away the debris.
Olympics 2008
Such a spectacular display of the greatest advances across industries! And I’m glad to see the Bird’s Nest architecturally reflect an Asian context.
Photo courtesy of http://en.beijing2008.cn/ Official Beijing 2008 site
Asian culture, its arts and legacy, is beautiful, that it’s disappointing to see the westernisation of Asia– particularly in Bangkok and other major cities. Phnom Penh itself is exemplifying rapid westernisation and eradication of its heritage. Local officials in ill-fitting western suits and ties often arrive at meetings, and villagers trade in their more useful kromas (all-purpose scarves) in favor of mass-produced generic garbs branded by company logos. And then there’s Hong Kong with its otherwise pretty harbour skyline so totally marred by the marquees and billboards advertising major corporations on top of nearly every building. How is this allowed to happen, to dismiss Asia’s beauty in favor of European notions of class or for capitalistic ideals?
Asians ourselves play a huge part in this. Hordes of students flock to study ballet and master the harps and bass, meanwhile Cambodian artists are hard-pressed to even pay young kids to learn their own elegant classical dances. Ever seen ciseauzs performed in classical ballet pieces by Asian dancers? This music was not created for the shorter bodies and legs, and therefore stretch, of an Asian. While it’s beautiful to see nevertheless, it’s disappointing that western culture is more valued by Asians than our own rich heritage.
On the one hand I appreciate the vast growth and potential I’m witnessing in Asia/SE Asia. And on the other, the various aspects of its politics and culture make it difficult to be entirely supportive of its (and especially China’s) inevitable rise. There’s a balance that still hasn’t been achieved– the pace of change is happening fast. Western ideals of self-actualisation and governance has a place in Asia’s growth, and it’s possible to adopt other philosophies of progress, without Asians having to drop our cultural heritage and roots.
Anyway, I digrees. Here’s a look at the medal counts of participating countries throughout the history of the modern Olympics.
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beyond Phnom Penh.. in Kampong Cham
Photos courtesy of K Kelly
We just wanted to go for a walk to get some air, after two whole days indoors through several ceremonies. We attended a Buddhist ceremony in Kampong Cham for a friend’s grandmother who passed away 10 years ago. This is the province with the beautiful women, according to many Khmer men in Phnom Penh. It might somewhat be validated by the recent legislative crackdown on weddings to foreigners, to prevent trafficking of women. Apparently Korean men looking for a nice obedient wife tend to look for one to buy/marry in this province, until several miraculously escaped abusive relationships in S Korea and reported it upon return.
But I digress. This couple were guests at the event, and we inadvertently followed them home. When we indicated through various gesturing and mimings that we wanted to walk around the village a bit, they wouldn’t have that– “dangerous”, they said. “Come with us to our house.”
There they served us up some tea and cashew fruits. The lands to and around Kampong Cham are dedicated to farming cashews and rubber plantations. The soil is particularly good for growing very high quality cashews, but they are mostly grown for export to Vietnam and Thailand. The Khmer in turn imports Vietnam’s sub-par cashews to sell to its own people. Rubber is exported to China. It fetches high prices, but not high enough to compensate for the damage it renders the soil after a few years of high yield. The agriculture policy is still not effectively implemented, and besides, there’s very little regulatory capacity not to mention intense corruption when it comes to land and land use. Small farmers are pretty much left to their own devices and vulnerable to the demands of neighbors and subsequent market imbalances. 
They eat the flesh of the cashew fruit here, not just the nut. The older folks especially love it (maybe cuz it’s soft?) dipped into a sauce of palm sugar and water.
We walked back to my friend’s house in the sunset..
What do you listen to when you’re on the road?
I see a fair bit of the road, which makes an mp3 player such a trusty companion. Since I have a lot of down time anyway, I like to take along podcasts. They’re available via online audio/videostreams but my connection speed here is just too slow.
It’s amazing to me how, given the political will, the connectivity infrastructure can be easily put in place. The technology is cheap and getting cheaper. What donor would not provide the funding to connect Cambodia’s population to the world, if requested? But I guess information is power, and so for now Khmers will have to settle for poor internet access. The ‘democratically elected’ government isn’t ready for an educated populace. Having said that, a major factor for Cambodia’s stability is the authoritarian rule, and stability brings in much foreign capital, with the economy seeing robust growth over the recent years.
Anyway, I’m not a serious investor–yet–but keeping up with the global economic indicators seems to be a smart thing to do. I’ve liked the following so far, all downloaded conveniently from iTunes:
Deutsche Welle’s Inside Europe
NPR’s Economy
Bloomberg’s On the Economy
BBC World News Service
I need a good Asia region News/Economy daily podcast that doesn’t focus exclusively on China. Any ideas?
A common sight
Photos courtesy of H. Prytherch
This is a common sight along the roads of Cambodia– a patient riding on the back of a moto on the way home, hooked up to an IV. There’s large demand for IVs and injections in the country, and people seek it out whether or not it is medically necessary. The problem of overuse of drugs/IVs is more prevalent in rural areas where educational levels are much lower.
We asked some people in the communities when they typically get IVs, and we were told it’s good for making the body strong again after many days out fishing or working in the fields. We’re told they can be bought at any pharmacy or clinic, and the colored IVs are better because the medicine in it makes it more potent. (Unknown to them, oftentimes it is due to food coloring by unscrupulous drug vendors capitalising on the poor knowledge of drug use.)
…I can almost see the image of this in the bas reliefs of Angkor Wat!
How to vote in Cambodia’s national elections
Tomorrow the country holds its 4th national elections since the 1991 Paris Peace Accords were signed, ending decades of civil war and foreign occupation. In the runup to this weekend our counterparts in the Ministry of Health and all health professionals were required to partake in campaigning for their parties. (This meant that all activities agreed upon were essentially put on hold for two months).
I asked one of them, a hospital director, what it is he does when he goes out to the villages and communities to campaign. “I teach people how to vote”, was the response. Really? How do you teach them how to vote? “I show them which box on the ballot to check”. Do you like to do that? [[He hesitates, then…]] “It doesn’t seem right… But it’s good for CPP to win so that we won’t have violence again. And I’m a doctor and I have responsibilities so I should vote for CPP.”
The dominant CPP party had to settle for a coalition government with FUNCINPEC because they didn’t win the required 2/3 majority in the 2003 elections, and the PM has taken steps to ensure that won’t happen again. CPP’s campaign was largely about threatening violence if CPP does not take a majority.
Needless to say, people in a generally subdued mode…