On Sunday I met Jon Morgan for breakfast and we arranged for an interview and filming on Allie, the Vietnamese Khmer girl that captains, cooks, fixes the engine and does just about all of it on the boat TLC#1. We then talked about what drives people to do humanitarian work as he was telling me about an American dentist that his work and doing missions has gotten him into emotional trouble. Jon believes that in order to do this work one has to be a missionary, a mercenary and a madman!!
In the afternoon took a 2.5 hour drive to Battambang and on the way had a snack of sticky rice, which is rice, coconut milk, and other goodies put in a piece of bamboo and then cooked in the fire. It is yummy. Next day had sugar cane juice which was also great.
Battambang is a sleepy town and went to a beer garden with my driver and had sort of a weird time listening to live Cambodian music and eating spicy beef salad and of course some beer. Here it is often served with ice and a straw and it is very refreshing this way in this hot climate. If I order red one it is usually hardly drinkable and then often it is either chilled or the glass is chilled, so beer is the better option.
The next day I had a meeting at the Circus school called Phareps. There I met an American named Kathy who was very helpful in giving me the lay of the land. She is writing a book profiling all of the performers ( with really great black and white photos) that will be sold when the troupe does its tour in Europe starting in April. I was told that I was in luck in that there was a dress rehearsal of the First Generation group doing a new work called Kingdoms, which I did go to that night. Kathy told me all about the artistic director of the circus Det and as well about an 18 year old girl, Phenom. ( I remember the name as to me it is short for phenomenal)
I also played tourist in the afternoon with my guide Sirbath and did a ride on the bamboo train, climbed a mountain and visited a vertical cave where the Khmer Rouge did mass killings by pushing the villagers into the hole at the top and ended up a very hot afternoon with a visit to a reservoir built by the Khmer Rouge that cost the lives of 10,000 people; and I went for a swim in the sluice in a rented swim suit.
Ended up after the show having a glass of wine with Jean Christof who would like me to help promote a tour in the US as well as help fund raise. I could easily find employment here. Dinner was very late at the Madison Cafe. Lunch at the Green Gecko where I could connect my finicky PC directly with a plug in and not rely on the WiFi, which continues to plague me. Next laptop I must give in to an apple.
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