On Youth in Cambodia

Now onto a little more serious topic....

Through an event I attended last Wednesday that discussed reconciliation work in Cambodia, I learned a little bit about youth peace activism here.  Due to the massacre of a third of the population under the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975-79, almost 35% of the country's current population is under the age of 15, according to this report.  This is problematic in the country that is still struggling to recover economically, especially in the rural villages.  Unable to find opportunities to pursue their education or utilize their talents, youth population is often discouraged and disempowered.  According to the survey conducted by the Youth For Peace (YFP) organization, whose work I learned about, the youth expressed they needed opportunities for spiritual education.  Based on that, YFP began their work in empowering youth to become peace-builders and an agent for reconciliation in the country.

The mission of YFP is to create a culture of peace in the country that has suffered a tremendous amount of trauma that has largely been left unaddressed.  They aim to engage the youth to implement programs that both provides an opportunity for the young generation to learn about the atrocities, and also for the older generations to speak out about their experience, reconcile with the past, and memorialize their grief.  The ultimate goal of YFP is to create the Peace Institute of Cambodia, which conducts "research and documentation work on issues of peace, reconciliation, truth-telling, and memorialization."  Here are some of the ongoing programs led by YFP:

Youth for Justice and Reconciliation aims to promote awareness about the Khmer Rouge atrocities among the younger generation.  As the current educational curriculum does not mandate formal education of the Khmer Rouge regime, children are left to learn about it from their families.  Even then, because of the gravity of the atrocities committed, some young people have a hard time believing their parents and grandparents.  I asked OSJI's administrative assistant who is a 23-year-old Khmer woman, why young people have difficulties in believing and she said that it is hard to believe human beings are able to commit such awful things against other human beings.  They also think that older generations are trying to scare them so they would listen to their parents.  Anyway this outreach project not only provides opportunities for young people to have inter-generational dialogues and visit local mass killing sites and memorials, but also provides skills in facilitation, proposal and report writing and communication skills.  How fascinating!  Another important thing is that this projects tries to engage equal ratio of male and female students.

Youth Empowerment Project provides youth from rural areas the vocational skills to become "role modes and work for their community."  Through giving tools and skills to help them gain employment, confidence, and money to go to school, they hope to turn youth into "agents of social change" in their communities.

Young Leaders for Peace Project.  This is a really cool one too.  Through this project, the organization engage youth to discuss the broader Cambodian culture and provide a forum for them to talk about human rights.  Including in that is issues like domestic violence, environment and health, all of which are enormous issues Cambodia has to continue working on.  Promoting awareness and establishing a culture of dialogue in these areas would surely contribute to changing attitudes and behaviors around human rights, which can be helpful when they assume leadership roles in the country in the future.  I am so excited that many organizations like YFP are working to cultivate an environment where youth population can find ways to think and talk about how they can change the country.

There are more neat NGOs out here in Cambodia, and I hope to introduce them too!

Wirlwind Bangkok in 36 hours

Since I'm already here in Cambodia, I decided to take advantage of the (relatively) cheap travel cost to visit Bangkok, Thailand.  According to my mom, I have been there when I was just a baby.  But since I don't remember that, it was basically my first time in the city.  If I had to describe Bangkok in one word, it would be "vast."  The city is spread apart in so many different districts that each offer a different charm.  My favorite part was definitely the elaborate Buddhist temples and the Grand Palace.

And the river, the river!  Since visiting Singapore and living in Phnom Penh, I have really come to love the river culture of SE Asia.  People rely on the rivers here and there is a vibrant community along it.  Every time I walk by Tonle Sap river, I wished that there was more of a distinct river culture along the Potomac too.  I guess the SW fish market kind of comes close to it.  What I admired was the use of river boat taxis that cuts through the crazy Bangkok traffic.  I didn't get a chance to use it this time around, but I love the concept!

I met up with a friend from undergrad who is from Thailand, who gave me an amazing tour of Bangkok in 36 hours.  He showed me the best of Bangkok, old and new.  According to my friend, there are three must-do's in Bangkok: visiting the temples, shopping, and eating.  And we did just that.  The first night I got in Bangkok, we went to a fun restaurant along the river, followed by a posh bar in the popular area of town where he taught me the culture of "ladyboys" (guys who get sex exchange to become girls) and helpfully pointed some people out for me.  Bangkok is very open-minded in that area, which is definitely unthinkable in Japan or even in DC, but really admirable. And some of them were really pretty and far more feminine than I could ever be in my life!

The next day, we started our visit with the elaborate temples of Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and the Grand Palace.  The temples in Bangkok, compared to the ones we saw in Angkor Wat, are so colorful and elaborate.  The bright colors used on temples contrasting with the bright blue sky was so striking.  After climbing up the steep steps of the Temple of Dawn, we enjoyed the 360 degree panoramic view of Bangkok.  What a great city!

Eating aspect of the trip also far surpassed my expectations.  Just over the weekend, I tasted the best of Thailand, starting with soft shell crab, on to papaya salad and fried chicken from Som Tam, and ending with the world's best Pad Thai at Thipsamai.  Of course, there were a whole bunch of sweets in between like black jelly at the market (herbal jelly on ice - so refreshing!), toast with condensed milk, and Shibuya honey toast (thick slice of toast with ice cream and honey).  I think I also had coconut shake and the best fresh orange juice I have ever tasted in my life.  Okay, now that I write them out, no wonder my stomach ached all weekend.

Another interesting aspect of Thailand, not discoverable unless I'm with a Thai person, is the movie experience.  At the movie theater, before the movie starts, audience is required to stand up to pay tribute to the King.  The screen shows various pictures and clips showing the king and all the things he has done for the country, including an image of electricity spreading through Thailand, accompanied with the Royal Anthem (which is really heroic!).  Ignorant as I am, I asked my friend if the King single-handedly brought electricity to Thailand.  The answer, of course, was no, but the king a proposed, funded, and implemented a lot of development projects throughout the years of his reign.  And what impressed me the most is the fact that the king learned what was good for the country from reading and learning from other countries.

Since the post is getting too long now, I will write about the shopping experience tomorrow! 

Stupa in the Grand Palace premise.  See the sky is so strikingly blue!

Wat Pho - the Temple of the Reclining Buddha

The river culture I am jealous about

It's rainy season in Cambodia...

I know it's cliche, but I just have to talk about the weather here.  Though the temperature stays pretty warm all year around, there are technically four seasons here in Cambodia: cool and dry (Nov - Feb), hot and dry (Mar - May), hot and wet (Jun - Aug), and cool and wet (Sept - Nov).  July is in the middle of the monsoon season, which means rain becomes a part of our lives.  And when it rains, it literally pours.  It feels really liberating to see the rain here, as it brings down the temperature and the humidity down a little bit, settles the dust in the air and washes away everything.  And unlike in DC, nothing stops when it rains hard.  Tuk-tuk drivers pull down their plastic covers, moto drivers put on their ponchos, and outdoor markets...well outdoor markets just keep going.  People embrace the rain and I really love that about this city.

The gym I go to faces the Tonle Sap river, so when it's light enough outside, I can see the rain clouds coming over the river, bringing the lightning with them.  The view is spectacular and I almost fell off the treadmill watching the lightning show today.  On the way home as I was walking in the drizzle, a moto driver picked me up to take me home.  Speedy moto ride among Phnom Penh traffic (without a helmet), in the rain with veins of lightning above me, has become an experience I can never forget.

Ominous clouds on my way home from work

Rain rain rain rain in Sihanoukville

At the beach in Sihanoukville

I'm at the beach!  My co-worker Stephanie, her friend Murray, and I decided to take advantage of the weekend to travel to Sihanoukville, a peninsula facing the Gulf of Thailand, which is about a 4-hour bus ride away from Phnom Penh.  Described by the Rough Guide as "Cambodia's primary coastal party town," Sihanoukville did not fail to impress me with its craziness.  I must admit, I was a little weary of coming here since partying and dancing are two of my biggest fears.  But I'm glad I came -- Sihanoukville, with the sound of waves and sea breeze, is beautiful (and going out last night was actually really fun!).

We're staying at a beach bungalow called The Cove, which has cute rooms and balconies overlooking the water.  The place is surrounded by so much nature that it makes you feel even more secluded from the rest of the world.  Even now as I write, I can hear geckos chirping and some strange rodent jumping from a tree branch to another.  It's a luxury I can't easily get in Washington DC.  Being surrounded by water, Sihanoukville is also famous for its seafood.  We ate at a beach BBQ place last night that served an entire squid, shrimp and barracuda on the grill.  It was fresh and I particularly liked the barracuda.  We're planning to check out local fish & chips, which I am very excited about.

At the same time, the town also has its difficulties, being one of the most prized tourist destinations in Cambodia.  While we sat and ate on the beach, we were approached by many amputees, sometimes accompanied by small adorable children, asking us for money.  Later at night, we saw some kids around ten years old trying to sell bracelets and impress us with their dance moves that were not innocent.  I wonder where they learned that from...probably from watching foreigners dance at a nearby bar or from those who thought it would be funny to teach these kids risque moves.  I wonder if tourism centered on partying like here does more bad to the local population than good....

Anyway, more on Sihanoukville tomorrow!

On transportation in Phnom Penh

Without proper public transportation, two of the most common ways to get around Phnom Penh (and probably other cities in Cambodia) are motorcycles and tuk-tuks.  Tuk-tuks are those carriages that are pulled by a motorcycle that makes you feel like a princess for just $1-2.  They are everywhere...I mean EVERYWHERE.  They will wait for you at every street corner to get you to where you want to go.  They will even ask people who have just gotten off another tuk-tuk if they need a tuk-tuk.  Another remarkable thing is that once you ride on someone's tuk-tuk, they kind of "claim" you and there is an unspoken understanding that that customer belongs to that tuk-tuk driver.  It seems pretty common for everyone to know the phone number of tuk-tuk drivers they like and call them to schedule a pick them up anywhere they are...which goes the same for motorcycles.  I think there is a sense of security for foreigners to know the driver too, especially when you are riding one at night.  My Canadian friends I met during my first week here introduced me to Mr. Serey, who speaks amazing English and has a dream of becoming a teacher, so hopefully I can rely on his tuk-tuk when I need to go far :)

Their ability to remember faces is amazing too -- Ben and I had the privilege of riding on a tuk-tuk driven by Mr. Seung in Siem Reap, who took us around several temples including Angkor Wat the entire day.  Among hundreds of tourists and tuk-tuks, he always identified us and came to save us from walking.  Granted I was wearing a bright blue t-shirt and was one of the few Asians walking with a white guy, I was so impressed by his spotting ability.  We liked him so much that we also asked him to drive us to the airport next day, which turned out to be really eventful!  We first encountered a severe sand storm, which is pretty painful when you're on an open carriage driving straight into it, followed by a monsoon which lasted for about 10 minutes. But no problem - there is a plastic cover on all sides of the carriage that prevents rain from getting in.  It was ingenious!  But it definitely didn't protect the driver, so by the time we got to the airport, Mr. Seung and Ben's shoe was soaked.  Thank you Mr. Seung, I gave your phone number to my friends going to Siem Reap in a couple weeks!

On to motorcycles.  Those are for people who are traveling alone or want to look cooler like me.  I was pretty hesitant to ride on the back of a motorcycle considering the traffic (and nonexistent traffic laws) and that I don't yet have a helmet.  But one ride on the back of a motorcycle changes your life!  It's faster and cheaper than a tuk-tuk, and you blend in better so you don't get curious looks from bypassing motorcycles.  It's pretty amazing to see Cambodians sharing a motorcycle -- I have seen 4 people max on one vehicle, in including a small child who was sandwiched between two adults.  But if I plan to continue riding a motorcycle, I should seriously consider getting a helmet -- though I am sure that won't do much against the oncoming traffic.  I'm loving the ways to get around already.

The Very First Post - from June 18, 2012

Keeping a blog during my time away from the US was the first thing I thought about, and the last thing I wanted to do.  It's not that I didn't want to keep in touch with everyone back home and write about my experience.  It's that I knew it was going to take an effort to document my experience and write it out in a way that's entertaining, witty, but also informative.  I wasn't sure I was up for the task.  But experience like this is once in a lifetime and it would help me to keep track of how much I will learn and grow in the next two months.  

For those of you whom I have not had the chance to talk, I will be interning at the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to do some research on the ongoing Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). ECCC is a hybrid court staffed by both Cambodian and international judges that investigates and tries those who were the most responsible for the mass atrocities that took place under the Pol Pot regime during 1975-79.  Rule of Law development has always been my interest and this is my first experience doing research in the country that is doing that very work.   Since I received permission from OSJI to do my internship there in January, I haven’t really been able to contain my excitement. I will definitely continue writing more about the ECCC as I start my internship there on June 24, so stay tuned.

Lastly, here is a quick special thanks to Professor Brian Kritz for thinking of the creative name for this blog, Phnom Penh Pals!  I was so excited when he came up with this name, I went straight home and created this blog (thinking that someone will take the name as soon as I wanted it).  I know that this name itself is enough to make the blog fun to read :)  One glitch though was that I didn’t really do a “preemption check” for the name – a shame to my law school education – and I soon found out that there is another blog called Phnom Penh Pal.  But it’s okay; this gives me more motivation to work extra hard to make this blog as good as, but different from, theirs!