Just finished my tour of 'Nam

Hey all, just got back from my Christmas vacation in Vietnam. Glad to be back in Cambodia.

I got there on the 23rd of December and went directly to Sapa. It's a little town in the North of Vietnam surrounded by hill tribe villages. It was really cool seeing the minority tribes going about their business in town. After that, I went to back to Hanoi and on to Halong Bay. I spent 1 night on the junk and 1 night on Cat Ba Island. It was worst tour I have ever done - the tour guide was arrogant and the tour was poorly planned. After that I went back to Hanoi for a couple days before going south. Hanoi was a neat city but the people in the North of Vietnam aren't as friendly as they are in the South.

After Hanoi I went to Hue and toured around the old capitol, their tombs and the coolest part was the Thien Mu pagoda where the monk on the cover of the first Rage Against the Machine album studied. He drove from Hue to Saigon in an old Austin, then got out of the car and self-immolated.

From Hue I took a bus to Danang and then Hoi An. Hoi An was my favourite place of all; the old town is really cool - good food, great architecture and nice cafes.

After Hoi An I went to Nha Trang for some much needed rest on the beach. It was nice to stay in a nice hotel and do nothing but read and listen to music.

From Nha Trang I went to Saigon, where I spent two days before going home. There isn't a lot to see in Saigon but I went to the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi tunnels. From Saigon it is just a 5 hour bus ride home.

Vietnam is a cheap place to travel and the scenery and history is great. The people however seem a lot colder and more greedy than Thai and Cambodian people.

Pictures of the trip are up on my Flickr site.

Anyway, school starts tomorrow so I'm about to go in to get this ready.

Happy New Year everyone!

The Doldrums

Wow...it is been 3 months since my last post! I started a post about 6 weeks ago but never finished it.

I just finished a 10 day holiday in a nice country and have to go back to work for 6 weeks. Argh.

School has been really, really busy. We are in the thick of accreditation. It makes for a lot of extra tedious work that I don't know how anyone can enjoy. The schools weeks fly by and the weekends are usually spent catching up on rest (and nursing hangovers.)

A few of the highlights in the last 12 weeks (from least to most recent):

1) Attended an International Baccalureate training workshop in Kota Kinabalu. The venue was amazing - there was a 27 hole golf course at the hotel and the food was all really high quality. The workshop wasn't so stimulating but at least I've got the piece of paper and a little more knowledge about IB.

2) 4 guys and I put a team into the inaugural FCC Nations Cup at the Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap a few weeks ago. It was amazing organized and the course was spectactular, even after being pounded by Typhoon Ketsana. It was a two day tournament (Saturday and Sunday.) Team Canada came in second on day 1 and then edged out the competition on day 2 to win! Looking forward to defending our title next year.

3) I adopted a street cat. His name is Umi and he is a monster. He is very clever and growing like a bad weed.

4) I spent the last 10 days in Laos. It was water festival in Cambodia and I was told everyone and their dog comes to Phnom Penh. I flew from P.P. to Vientiane and spent the first 3 days in Vientiane. It immediately struck me how quiet and slow-paced everything is there. There are some nice sights, great food and the sunsets over the Mekong were an enjoyable way to spend an evening. After Vientiane I took a bus to Vang Vieng and stayed for 2 nights. The main draw to Vang Vieng is the tubing, which was a very enjoyable trip. There are bars and rope swings and volleyball courts set up along the way and if you go at a leisurely pace it takes about 4 hours to do. Vang Vieng itself isn't a very nice town though - the guesthouses are run down and the restaurants are pretty crap. Luang Prabang was the last stop in Laos. It is a world heritage city and very worthy of the title. There are wats everywhere, natural scenery within easy access, excellent restaurants and it doesn't feel overrun with tourists. I did a mountain bike/kayak day trip to a nice waterfall, wandered around the town in awe, and took a bus ride to another beautiful waterfall. From Luang Prabang I flew to Bangkok for a night with the old gang, and then returned to a pile of work and a messy house yesterday.

There are six weeks until our Christmas break now and school will definitely be very busy until then. Reports are coming up and the accreditation work will hopefully finish up. I have to go to the village where I'm taking my "Week Without Walls" sometime this month to check everything out. That will be a full weekend of buses and boats I'm sure. I'm also going to try to get out of Phnom Penh on the weekends more often. Supposedly there are some nice sites nearby and I feel the need to take advantage of them. Finally, I am going to do the Angkor Wat Half Marathon on December 6th so I will be doing a lot more training for that. I don't know what I'm doing for Christmas break yet - either Vietnam or Indonesia - but I am attending a Khmer wedding the first day of the holiday.

One last point, this week at school Jackie Chan is coming to speak to the students. That's right Jackie Chan! (I just noticed that Umi has ruined my number 1 key on my keyboard.) He and a few other celebrities and nobel laureates are coming to Thailand and Cambodia to talk about peace and their work. Oliver Stone is slated to come in January.

Alright...picture will be put up today or tomorrow.

Where does the time go?

Sua sdey everyone. Sok sabaay dtay?

4 weeks have already passed since my last update. After a week of orientation and preparation, the kids started 3 weeks ago. Things are going well. It is very busy and the "To Do" list keeps growing and growing but it's all good. I am teaching grade 8 math (intro to algebra!), grade 9 science (atoms, cells and waves), and Diploma (grades 11 and 12) chemistry. Since it is all IB, it has been a very steep learning curve but my colleagues have been really helpful.

The students are about 25% Khmer, 25% Korean, and the rest from all over. They are all really nice kids. I haven't had any classroom management things to deal with yet - other than a bit of chit-chatting.

I am running a recreational swimming club on Thursday nights and planning a Week Without Walls trip for February (grades 6-10 leave school for a week for some EOTC.) I am trying to get something going with an ecotourism group in Koh Kong province, South West of Phnom Penh, to do some mountain biking, trekking, camping, and volunteering in the Chi Phat village. Also, I'm joining a house building group that is going to build houses for needy families in nearby villages. That will be in January but we need to start fundraising now.

On top of all that, I'm going to Kota Kinabulu, Malaysia for 4 days next month for training, Bangkok the weekend after that, then Laos in October/November. Oh, and I think I volunteered myself to do something at a friend's wedding here in December.

As I mentioned, my colleague are all really great. (I am realizing how much I use that word...oh well, could be worse.) Most are married with children but still manage to go out once in a while. We have a regular group of guys that golf every other Friday afternoon. We have a "Thursday Night Curriculum" group that meets at a local bar for happy hour drinks. And we have another group that goes out most Fridays for after school drinks. Needless to say, Mr. Liver has never been happier.

I'm also really enjoying Phnom Penh. There is no shortage of bars, cafes or restaurants to spend an afternoon or night in. I have been getting around.

Anyway, I'm off to meet some friends at nearby place for dinner. Take care.

1 week into Cambodia

Well, I have nearly been here a week. Let me tell you, so far so great!

I have a great apartment. I have some good/young/fun co-workers. I have a sweet maid that keeps my place clean. I have an excellent landlord that looks after things terrifically promptly. I have glorious weather (a bit humid but I'm trying to stay positive.) I have impressive restaurants and cafes to choose from. I have a highly regarded place job that I am feeling impressively calm about. And I... I don't know.

So yeah, things are going well. I rode to school today and it takes about 7 minutes. I walked the other day and it took about 10. (When I walked home I picked up one of those giant water-cooler bottles of water and walked home with it. It started leaking halfway, all down my right pant leg, so I got some funny looks from khmer people.) The school is like most others except a little more quaint. I am a little bummed that I didn't get a laptop and have to make due with a desktop. (I'm actually considering going and buying a netbook for school but I think that might be silly.)

I shouldn't lie, I'm feeling a bit nervous about starting on Monday. I'm sure things will be fine and I have done a lot of preparing this week but I don't feel totally prepared. The staff has been really helpful and everything is going as planned - the bank account is set up and money is going to be deposited, the passport has been sent away for the visa, the classroom is ready, some work is ready, etc.

So yeah, all is good. Come visit everyone! You will love it!

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The time has come

Well, I have been home for 3 weeks to the day and now it is time to head back. To the heat, to the noise, to the smells, to home I guess. It's been a good visit; fairly eventful; saw lots of friend's and family, ate lots of good food, played a few rounds of golf, drank a bit too much.

Last weekend I went to Toronto on a rainy Saturday to see the Six String Nation guitar. I had heard about Jowi Taylor's project - to get bits and pieces from historic people, places, and things, then build a guitar out of them - back when I was in New Zealand. Well, it was unvieled a few years ago now and has been making the rounds to festivals, concerts, and workshops ever since. I was lucky to be around for this one! We listened to Jowi tell the project story and then got our pictures taken with the guitar. (If anyone has seen the book or the website, the pics should look like the ones found there.) I was so glad that I was able to attend because this was honestly the first time in my 29 years as a Canadian that I have felt like part of my country's history, rather than reading it, hearing it or looking at it.

Also while in Toronto, we went to a new pub that was written up in "The Globe and Mail" a few weeks ago called "The Ceili Cottage." One of my pet peeves is going to an "irish" pub and not really getting the feel of anything irish at all. This one felt very authentic, down to all the servers having a bit of a brogue. I would highly recommend it.

Besides my trip to Toronto, while I was home the old boys of Renison had the second annual "Old Boys Olympics." Ian took the gold this year, with Oliver coming up second, and Randy and myself tying for bronze. It was great having 6 competitors this year, rather than the paltry 3.5 in the inaugural year. Keep up the tradition boys!

That's about all from this trip home. Sorry I couldn't catch up with everyone. You are all welcome to come visit me though!

Round the world

I realized yesterday that it has been almost 2.5 months since I last updated my blog. Sorry everyone...I am slipping. Looking back over the 75 days, a lot has happened so this might be a long blog.

Where to begin, where to begin...

-got a new tattoo.

-went night golfing a few times. (It is the most fun thing ever - the course is lit up with giant stadium lights and you play as normal. The temperature is perfect. The caddies are all about having a good time. The Heinekens are ice cold. And it is cheaper than regular golf!)

-went to Chiang Mai to visit a friend in June. (We went on the Flight of the Gibbon. It is a zipline adventure through the rainforest north of the city. Very fun but not all that exhilarating.)

-went to brunch again. (Mmm...brunch.)

-saw a few movies.

-finished my contract at ELC Bangkok.

-Randy came to visit and we went back to Cambodia.

He came after school ended and we had a few nights in Bangkok where I showed him the sights. We took a water taxi to the Grand Palace, and Wat Po. Got "taken" by a taxi to Vimanmek mansion, King Chulalongkorn's palace. We went out to the Ancient City and rode bikes for an afternoon. While he was in Bangkok I had to pack up my apartment and move out. (Jess had left for Canada on June 19th, as soon as school ended.) Then on Saturday June 27th, I started moving things over to Cambodia with Randy's help. We flew into Phnom Penh and got settled at Hotel Cara. This time I started with the sad things: Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng, followed by a good lunch at Friend's. We finished the day with happy hour at the FCC and dinner at a great Khmer restaurant, Khmer Borane. (In case you are wondering, Khmer food is similar to Thai food in a lot of respects but more bland. Although, we found that if you add extra chili it brings all the flavours out and makes everything a lot yummier.) The next day we dropped the bags we had brought off at my new apartment. I met the girl who currently lives there and bought some things from her (including the most comfortable couch ever! in case anyone wants to come and visit.) I also met the land lady and signed a lease. Then we went for another great lunch at Java cafe. (I will just stop myself right now. All the lunches and dinners we had were great. There are a lot of great restaurants, bars and cafes in Cambodia and oh, oh so cheap.) After lunch and a siesta, we went to the National Museum, Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. I'm still very excited about moving to the city.

We left Phnom Penh and headed south to Kampot. The main draw of Kampot, besides being a quiet little backwoods set on a (slightly) attractive river, is there is an old, abandoned casino, built by the French, on top of a mountain near Kampot. However, on arrival we found out that it would take a 3 hour walk up, followed by a drive to the top, just to see the place. THEN we would have to walk back down. Now I'm all for a little physical activity and hiking is one of my favourite things, but when it is nearly 40, and full sun, I just don't have the motivation. So instead we drank and read away the afternoon and night.

The next day we took a mini bus ride to Sihanoukville. Along the way, the driver and his co-pilot (I can only assume) stopped at their village at the foot of the Bokor Mountains and asked us to come with them. Fearing for our lives, we politely refused and stayed by the van. Randy played some water bottle soccer with some local children and attempted to learn Khmer from them. About an hour later, the driver returned and we carried on our way, picking up only 1 hitchhiker. The drive to Sihanoukville was mostly very pretty. We passed a lot of typical South East Asian scenery - rice paddies, wats, palm trees, and small thatched homes. But we also passed through a few really sad and dirty "towns" that reminded us how poor and undeveloped some places still are. Sihanoukville is your typical "Gulf of Thailand" beach town with bungalows and guesthouses on the beach, BBQ's at night, warm, clear water and sun. The difference is is that it is so cheap because it is Cambodia. Our accommodation was $25/night (the most expensive place we stayed in!) and the BBQ dinner was $12 USD (for 2 dinners and 4 pints each.) Apart from me getting a terrible sunburn, it was a great place and I will definitely go back on weekends I need to get out of the city.

Taking the night bus to Siem Reap was our biggest mistake on the trip. It was pack, cramped, noisy, and took too long. But we were both really looking forward to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor city. We found a place to stay, had some breakfast, found a tuk-tuk driver, and then headed out to the temples. On the first day we explored Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (which consists of numerous temples itself), Ta keo, Ta Prohm, Srah Srang, and Banteay Kdei. At risk of sounding like a guide book, nothing can really prepare you for the temples. Having seen Pompeii and the churches of Europe, I was still blown away by the grandeur and detail of these structures, built almost 1000 years ago. You could spend a day in each temple if you were so inclined. (We weren't.) The other thing that you cannot prepare yourself for is the constant barrage of tuk-tuk touts, and children selling cold drinks, postcards, bracelets, scarves, and musical instruments. We must have been harassed at least 100 times a day while in Siem Reap.

The next day our trusty tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Lam, took us to Kbal Spean, the headwaters of Siem Reap river, where the Khmers carved scenes and lingas into the riverbed in order to bless the water as it flowed to them. After that we went to Banteay Srei, East Mebon, Pre Rup, Ta Som, Neak Pean, and Preah Khan. It was another full day of mind-blowing architecture and carvings but after it all we were templed out. More good food and cheap beer was in need.

Our second last day in Cambodia Mr. Lam took us to the floating village on Tonle Sap lake. It was an enjoyable hour-long tour of the village. The people live in floating houses with fish farms underneath. There are floating schools, floating mechanics, floating grocery stores, and floating restaurants. In the dry season they move everything out into the deeper water of the lake and in the wet season, they move everything farther up river. (The water level changes by 15 metres in some places!) After our tour we went to the Angkor National Museum, which was a very modern and beautiful building, filled with many statues and artifacts that had been returned to the Khmer after being looted after the Khmer Rouge regime. (This officially museumed us out though.)

The last day in Cambodia was spent drinking coffee, eating and reading at a few cafes in Siem Reap before flying back to Bangkok. It is a great way to spend a day. We flew back to Bangkok and stayed a friend's apartment before flying home to Canada via Hong Kong. I'm home for 3 weeks now, before I go back to Cambodia to start my new job in August.

A few reasons to love Thailand

Bangkok has really grown on me. Coming back from Nepal, an even more frenetic, noisy, dirty place, made me realize how good I have it here. Some more evidence:

1) My lunch today cost me $1 Canadian Dollar. I had so much I am still full (at 4:30pm) and I have some for dinner.

2) I booked a flight to Chiang Mai for a weekend. It cost me $60 Canadian Dollars to fly there, return, for the weekend. It would cost me that much to drive to Windsor and Back at home.

3) I just took a motorcycle taxi home. It took me 30 minutes to get from school home. No helmet, sun on your face, weaving in and out of traffic. So enjoyable.

Come visit!