Hello Out There

Hello to all, it has been a long time and we really have no excuses....

Life here is still great - we have fun at school everyday. The kids are lovely, although there are a lot of them this year, and we are enjoying getting into the new PYP curriculum. It is an inquiry based approach - very student centered with a lot of questions and independent projects. People seem to think it is the "latest and greatest" but really it is stuff that has been around since way back when - 20 years ago when I started teaching. Oh no! Just dated myself a bit there.

We just had a lovely holiday to Viet Nam for Water Festival Week, spent some time in Saigon and Hoi An which is one of our favorite cities in Viet Nam. Perfect timing for a typhoon so not much beach time!

Our hotel - funnily enough, a friend here in Cambodia recommended it - when we got there it turns out it was the same hotel we had stayed at during our 2003 trip. The bakery is still across the street for fresh, warm baguettes for breakfast.

This is actually the sidewalk along the river where we alked the day before- these poor shops and restuarants get flooded all the time they said. Not just the storms but also because they don't manange the dam up river properly.

So then guys like this come out with their little boats and float the tourists up and down the sidewalk... guess the economy keeps going pretty well that way - it was a fun boatride and I sure didn't want to wade in that brown, murky water. The locals just walk or ride their motos right through it but they know where the sidewalk ends and the river starts... we sure didn't!

Of course that doesn't stop the shopping and the tailors - you can have anything made it this city, shoes, bags, suits etc. I had some self restraint and only had one skirt made - wish I had got that leather bag... gives us a reason to go back perhaps?

On a bit of a sad note, there will be no more moto adventures.... after more entanglements with the police, the last one being almost violent, we sold the moto and are now just bicyle or tuk-tuk riders... probably much safer in the long run but I will miss those Dora the Explorer floor mats and Simon "Evil Knivel" doing his moves through traffic.

Our summer vacation...

A lovely blow hole in Sri Lanka - the beaches are wonderful.
My new friend in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka.

Just a relaxing day at the beach in Sri Lanka

Greetings from Cambodia! It has been a long time since I posted (I just saw it was May). Wow! Where does the time fly? We had a lovely summer with two great trips, one quick one home and one to check things out in Sri Lanka. Hope all is well with you and I will try to be better at posting, internet issues, busy with the beginning of the school year.... well, just having too much fun!

Just some random photos from the last few weeks

No, this isn't our school - it is a typcial village dwelling for Viet Nam. I won't complain about my apartment any more.

Street life in Hanoi - we spent a week there for Khmer New Year. Same, same but different as the saying goes - good food, lots of motos and quite a bit cleaner than PP. We saw how they make those cone hats - many hours of labor, everyone seems to have one.

Hiking in North Viet Nam - it was all uphill to this 1000 year old tree - we don't have any hills in Phnom Penh (except for Phnom Penh - phnom means hill).

Simon and Sara (team S) getting ready to swim across the mighty Mekong river. It was about a 20 minute swim for Simon - I didn't want to do it because of the color/condition of the water. So I ended up on the other side pulling people out of the water and up the muddy bank. So much for staying clean! The Safety equipment for the Mekong river swim - love those life rings... the guys in the "life boats" were from the Hash House Harriers (our running/drinking club) - hmmm....

Hope this finds you well and happy - we're thinking about you- the offer still stands, come on over and enjoy some of these sights for yourself! Take care, Marilu and Simon

We Should Have Paid Those Bribes

Greetings from Phnom Penh, it has been a while since we have written. It is hot here; big surprise and things are going pretty well for the most part.

We did have an unfortunate incident the other night coming home from dinner in a Tuk-Tuk. Just as we were pulling up to our apartment building a moto came alongside us and reached in to the Tuk-Tuk and grabbed Marilu’s bag. As we had just been to the gym they got away with a lot – clothes, running shoes (impossible to get the real thing in Cambodia), iPod (almost impossible to get the real thing, phone (O.K they have got these), Oakley sun glasses (they have these spelt Oklee, probably not much of a sun block) and biggest bummer, the camera. The good part is that we had been carrying our passports earlier in the day to get travel visas and we had stopped home on the way to the gym to drop them off. So it could have been so much worse. #@%*^^&$ thieves!

So, being who we are, we ranted and raved, called the bank to cancel the ATM card and called the phone company to stop the SIM card in the phone – we had called the phone and it was constantly busy so the thieves were calling everyone they knew to gloat about their latest targets I am sure (you didn’t happen to a call on Friday from a gloating Cambodian, did you?). Once we got English speakers, the cards got cancelled, we think – you are never sure here and one huge cultural difference is the people smile and laugh at everything – even robbery. You can imagine how well that went over with us as we were angrily trying to get things sorted, strangely they don’t seem to have the words ‘Mother F%#@er’ and ‘Thieving Co%^$#%ers’ in Cambodian. We were told the ATM card was cancelled but we couldn’t check our balance or anything cos we couldn’t remember the secret number (turns out later the bank had it in their system with some wrong characters). We were told the phone was blocked but we couldn’t stop them from transferring the credit to another phone and they couldn’t trace where it was (I think they can). Confused by all this, us too.

The next day we made a list of what was gone and had it translated in Khmer by our apartment manager (who we had to apologize to for shouting at the night before when she was smiling and telling us what great entertainment it was to see Marilu crying and the thieves were roaring down the street on their motos-talk about cultural differences). We took it to the police station around the corner – now comes the part about the bribes…

You enter a small, narrow office where a man is asleep on a folding bed and another one is sound asleep on the desk, both of them in their underpants. Simon had to physically shake one to wake him up. They looked at us, said nothing and produced a rickety plastic chair that they insisted Marilu sit in (nothing for Simon). The awake one cleaned up his bed, went outside, farted (I guess something is the same in Cambodia) washed, brushed his teeth and went around back to start cooking food – still not a word. We had given him the letter in Khmer and he put it on a desk. Simon decided to go get gas for our moto and left for 15 minutes, during which the other one was woken up, Marilu was motioned to sit back down every time she stood up to see what was going on and they all sat down to eat outside. When Simon returned he asked what they would do and was greeted by blank stares… in the end we got a pen from a beauty shop, wrote down names (not real, I am sure) and then shook our heads. On the way out Simon mentioned a reward for returned items and all heads perked up – a pen was produced (wonder where that one came from) and our address was duly noted (on the guy’s hand) so he could come collect the reward. We are not holding our breath for any results from Cambodia’s finest. Remember that last time we were here in 2002 Simon was able to buy an authentic Police I.D badge from an authentic policeman for $3.
So, should we have given more when pulled over by the police- would that have increased our standing with the city’s best? It does make me wonder (and worry) what would happen if something were truly wrong – don’t think I will be going to the police for help.

And since the rat thieving bastards (cleaned up for kids) got the camera, no pictures this time for the blog….. Marilu and Simon

PS This should not stop anyone from coming to visit us – bag rip offs happen in any city anywhere and there was no physical damage whatsoever to either of us other than high blood pressure, extreme anger and feeling stupid for having my bag on my lap rather than between us where I always carry it as a precaution. Off to Vietnam for the Cambodian New Year. It is the year of the cow so happy Moo’s to you and yours.

A picture is worth 1000 words

As the saying goes... we thought we would spare you the blah, blah, blah this time and leave you with some visuals of life in Cambodia. Love to hear from you, Marilu and Simon


Yes, this girl is trying to sell Simon that giant spider. He did eat some fried ones that day but the live one stayed with our new friend.

We now have official names on the Hash (our running club with a drinking problem). They were kind to us, Simon is Hold Em' and Marilu is Fold Em' and the Kenny Rogers song was used during the "ceremony".

This is how a tuk-tuk gets across the Mekong river - on the way toSilk Island on a ferry.

Simon with some school kids - a local school - see he is a natural teacher!

Life's a boat ride - evening cruise on the Mekong - the boat was $20 for our party for 2 hours. No one else was on the boat. Beautiful sunset and good company.

Simon the moto dop driver- giving James(Simon's dad) a ride down the street.

Build it and they will come? This is the entrance to .... nothing beyond the arches yet... hmm..