CPP: Cambodian Purim Party

Seth: Tonight I’m hosting a Purim party at the guesthouse where Erin and I are staying. I’ve downloaded a Megillah, bought some booze, baked some hamantaschen and printed some flyers, so I’m all ready to go. It’s all you can drink for $3 ($2 if you come in costume, $1 if you cross dress). Sovy, the owner of our guesthouse and my frequent chess adversary, is going to sell spring rolls, beer and “happy shakes” to make a few bucks for himself and supplement my offerings of hard alcohol and hamantaschen.

Annette, the woman who runs the NGO we’ve been volunteering at, is married to Neil, who is Jewish. I sent him an electronic copy of the flyer I put up around town, and he forwarded it to the Jews he knows here in Cambodia. While most aren’t coming and started up a more “kid-friendly” Purim party, one offered to bake hamantaschen, so I arranged to make mine with her.

This was a clever move on my part, because much of what you see in the photo is not actually mine. I neglected to pack my stove, oven, rolling pin, blue oven mitt and cookie tray on this trip, so finding someone who had all these things made hamantachen-baking more easy than it otherwise would have been.

I brought papaya-pineapple and rose apple jam for the fillings, and Nicole, my lovely hostess, made the dough and a cinnamon-walnut filling and provided the fully-stocked kitchen. While we baked we discussed the NGO/expat scene here in Phnom Penh, and the life of an aid worker. She grew up as an expat kid in Thailand, India and Indonesia, and has worked for NGOs in Uganda and Burma, so she’s had a pretty interesting life. We had a nice talk, and the hamantaschen came out pretty tasty. And in case you doubt my baking prowess, the ones I’m pulling out of the oven in the photo are chocolate (with rose apple filling), not burnt.

On the flyer I asked people to RSVP so I’d know how much booze to buy and how many hamantaschen to make. I only got four replies, but I heard some variant of “I think I might stop by” from at least a dozen other people, which was not so helpful. I settled on two bottles of vodka and one each of whiskey and rum, plus mixers. That set me back $42, which is a week’s lodging for us, so I hope I don’t end up too much in the hole for the party. We’ll see…

And for those of you wondering about this post’s title, the ruling party of Cambodia’s kleptocracy is also called the CPP, for Cambodian People’s Party. My party will definitely be more fun.

Meet Roo

Erin: This little guy hangs out near one of the internet cafes by our hostel. At first, I thought he had just wandered into the area by mistake, but we see him at the same place most every day so I think he must be someone’s pet. His spine/tail is kind of twisted, giving him the pot-bellied look you see in the photo, but he doesn’t appear to be in any pain. Although he is only about half the size of an average rooster, he proudly struts his stuff around the patio.

I told Seth I wanted to take Roo home with us, but he jokingly reminded me that trying to bring a chicken from Southeast Asia through Hong Kong (where we have a layover) and then back into the US probably wouldn’t be looked upon too kindly by bird flu scientists. I then proposed crafting a tiny chicken-sized SARS mask for Roo to wear on the plane as a way to ease their fears. Unfortunately, I think we’re just going to have to say goodbye to our little buddy here in Phnom Penh.

The Temples of Angkor

Erin: This post is about three weeks overdue, in large part because I think we’ve both been struggling with how to put into words how incredible these structures are. Seth had been to Siem Reap before and done a one day mad dash around the area, but this was my first time. I generally get “templed out” fairly easily, but the days we spent exploring were a real treat. Some of my highlights were nature reasserting its dominance at Ta Prohm, the intricate carvings and beautiful pink sandstone coloring of Banteay Srei, and the looming faces of Bayon. Without further failed attempts to describe what we saw, I think I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.

A Toast to Mary McGuire

Erin: These days, we don’t have much need to know what date it is, so while filling out my visa application in the Laos embassy on Monday I was surprised to note that it was the 17th of March, St. Patrick’s Day. How could I have forgotten? It’s always a big celebration with my dad’s side of the family and we have many fun associated traditions (hope you guys all had a great time on the slopes last weekend!). One of these traditions is in memory of my great grandmother Mary McGuire, who every year used to commemorate the day by sitting down at her table with a glass of whiskey and a cigar. As my brothers and cousins and I were growing up, you can imagine some of the looks and comments from teachers when there were class projects about family traditions and we said, “We drink whiskey and smoke cigars!”

Well, it certainly wasn’t the same being halfway around the world without a big group of family around (and also without costumes!), but Seth and I nevertheless managed to find some whiskey and raised our glasses to Mary McGuire. Love to you all! Miss you!

Sorry! And An Update

Oops! Sorry about the four youtube posts that went up. I tried posting the video a week ago four times and it never posted. Until now. So I’m sorry for clogging up everyone’s inbox with garbage. And in general, sorry for the lack of posts. We certainly have the ability to blog, we just haven’t gotten around to it.

We’re currently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We got here about ten days ago, and we’ll be here for another two weeks or so.

It’s been nice to be a little less transient. We’re staying at a place that feels like home. They have a hammock, a terrace, a huge library, pleasant ambient music and a good-natured owner that likes board games.

Most afternoons we volunteer at a local NGO that helps kids who used to live in the dump. We read to them and teach them English and computer skills. I’m also helping the organization with some technical stuff. Since our work there is only a few hours a day, we have plenty of time for doing nothing.

Phnom Penh has a thriving expat scene. It’s really weird and mildly revolting, but pleasant and addicting at the same time. I’ll go into it in more detail in later posts. In a nutshell, hundreds of NGOs work here, and their employees fund a vibrant world of yoga studios, documentary festivals, Indian restaurants, organic rice, interesting-sounding symposia, art exhibits, etc.

So we oblige.  Even with all these things that white people like, we’re living for about $30 a day between the two of us.  In San Francisco, we never had the time or the money to do this stuff, but here/now we do!

So all is well.

Lexus Sticker

Seth: Most of the Lexus SUVs have huge stickers on each side that say “Lexus”. Apparently, the stickers cost $200. It is used to alert others that the car you are sullying with your eyes is, in fact, a Lexus. This helps clear things up for those who could not otherwise tell the make of the vehicle.

Curiously, I’ve only seen these ridiculously stickers on Lexi (is that the plural of Lexus?), but theoretically they could be put on any car.

So here’s my latest scheme: I will import Lexus stickers for you, my dear readers. If you Paypal me $300, you too can have a gaudy Lexus sticker. You can put it on your 1984 Datsun and fool everyone into believing that you are fabulously wealthy. I’m taking orders now!

Visitors!

Seth: We went to Siam Reap mainly to hang out with Randy and Jeff. “Aunt” Randy is always fun to hang out with, and holds the distinct title of being the only friend or family member of ours to visit us somewhere on our trip.

We managed to stay at a hotel only five minutes away from theirs, so we could easily walk back and forth. Theirs had a pool, AC, fresh fruit and other luxuries that we took advantage of at their prodding. It didn’t take much. I’m pretty sure that their hotel cost more than ours, which at $5 was actually quite the bargain. Nevertheless, they were happy to share.

We managed to spend a few hours a day together for the three or so days that our trips overlapped. It was nice to talk politics with real Americans who have been in America recently. At first it was a little weird to speak with intelligent people who speak English so well. It’s been a while since we’ve had that opportunity. Jeff is really quick-witted, so it took some time getting used to his sarcasm which we haven’t heard recently.

Jeff, by the way, was hilarious to shop with. He learned enough Khmer to charm whoever he was bargaining with. What started as a hard-nosed negotiation turned into a congenial conversation, complete with family details, gossip, jokes, etc. Jeff even managed to have friendly interactions with the tuk-tuk drivers, whom we usually view as nuisances at best. He would just take over, and within minutes everyone was cracking up, and he managed to keep a smile on the seller’s face while paying no more than 1/3 the asking price. I wished we could just bottle Jeff up for all of our negotiating needs.

As usual with Randy, she was way too nice to us. She delivered and then mailed my ballot, which Dallas County had been kind enough to send to her house. She and Jeff also gave us access to her and Jeff’s Angkor Wat guide and driver once they were became “templed out”. And at the end of the trip, they gave us all kinds of useful supplies like ziploc bags, a recent copy of The New Yorker, two scarves, some malarone, a recent guidebook for Cambodia and a crisp $50 bill. This from the woman who is storing 90% of what we own in her basement in San Francisco.

So it was a lot of fun, we were sorry to see them go. If any of y’all want to meet up with us, its not too late!

Lexus from Texas, in Cambodia

Seth: Oddly enough, there are tons of Lexus SUVs here in Cambodia. Apparently, the Cambodians who emigrated to the US are exporting cars back to Cambodia, the most popular being Toyota Camrys and Lexus SUVs. Sometimes they still have their state registration tags, such as this one. Other times they’ll have bumper stickers for regional universities, sports teams, etc.

Rumor has it that Cambodia’s rich can order special motorbikes which are then stolen-to-order in Japan. I find that hilarious, but I guess it’s more efficient on a global scale then building a car in Japan and exporting it to Texas, where it is then re-exported to Cambodia.

Shopping With Jeff and Randy

Seth:  I have never had so much fun shopping as I did this night in Siam Reap. It’s truly a shame that I only caught one of the ten minutes of this hilarious exchange.  

“Tlai Na”, uttered with such sorrow at the beginning of the clip, means “expensive” in Khmer.

I Like Stuff White People Like

AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Oh man, you have to check out Stuff White People Like. I’m dying right now. So far, I’m only down to #75: Threatening To Move To Canada, but I can’t stop. Read it right now!

Thanks to Eric for passing it along.

Why I Voted For Obama

Seth: A few days ago, I voted for Barack Obama in the Texas Democratic primary, thanks to Randy who hand-carried my ballot across the Pacific.

I voted for Obama because his views are somewhat similar to mine and he has somehow managed to catapult himself into the foray of “electibility” without having kissed a lot of ass in Washington for eons. To me, being in Washington for decades translates to “owing favors to lots of people I don’t like”. Others call that “experience”.

I think a lot of people have the capacity to be a great president. A president has to hire thousands upon thousands of folks to be cabinet members, undersecretaries, ambassadors, trade envoys, etc. These folks are the ones who really run the country. The president just has to be smart enough to trust the right people and brave enough to lead the country in the right direction.  So I am not a fan of voting for the most experienced candidate.
Obama seems to speak from his soul. Maybe that’s why people keep flocking to hear him speak.  He’s an incredibly gifted orator who can convince cynical people to take a chance on him. As a president, that power of persuasion would be crucial, whether used with Congress, foreign leaders or the American public.

The only time I heard him is when he gave the keynote address at the 2004 DNC. I was floored.  And from what I read on the internet about his rallies, I am not the only one.

Clinton, on the other hand, doesn’t seem so convincing. Plenty of people hate her. I’m not sure really why this hatred is so strong, but it doesn’t matter. A despised politician inherently lacks persuasive acumen, and that translates into having a harder time reaching compromises and getting things done.

Right now, our democracy sucks. Normal people feel disenfranchised, so they don’t vote, don’t pester their representatives, don’t form citizen’s committees and are generally not engaged in the political process. The gap is filled by people and corporations with vested interests in specific legislation.  They concoct bullshit names for their faux-grassroots efforts like Americans For A Better Way. I just made that up, but it probably is a real group, and they probably advocate something I hate.

I haven’t drunk the Obama Kool-Aid as much as some of y’all.  I have strong problems with his vocal support of ethanol, which I truly believe is a crime against humanity.  But I will spot him one.  If he can motivate unprecedented numbers of Americans to engage in our democracy, than all of us will benefit.

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And as long as I have your attention, vote to re-elect Lupe Valdez.  Having a lesbian Latina sheriff of Dallas County for the last four years has helped me defray negative Texas stereotypes held by Texas-haters around the world.  Well, mainly in California…

Bangkok to Siam Reap Adventures, Part III

Seth: Once we got to Sisophon, we saw an incredibly full (and yet not full enough!) pick-up leaving for Siam Reap. We got out of the first truck and clambered into the second. This one was considerably more full.

The first driver told the second how much we paid for the first ride, so he could accurately gauge how eggregiously he should overcharge us. He said $5 each. We had remembered from the website that we erred in negotiating beforehand. Had we just gotten in and not agreed to anything, we would’ve gotten a better price at the end of the trip. Lesson learned. First time shame on you, second time shame on me.

So we shoehorned ourselves into the new pickup. This truck had 16 people in the back of the truck, including ourselves and myriad piles of miscellany. This photo was taken then, when I could still move my arms enough to take photos.

We roared out of the bus station, drove three blocks and stopped. The guys loaded in more people and precariously arranged everyone’s stuff. Then we roared back to the bus station, where the truck gives the impression that we’re REALLY LEAVING this time. We repeated this cycle a few times until we actually left. Final total: 18 people in the back, 5 on the roof, and 7ish in the cab.

The driver drove just far enough for it to be too far for us to walk back to the station and stopped. He got out and began negotiating our fare. We ignored him until we couldn’t, and then I firmly said 50 baht each. There was a significant language barrier. At first, he thought I was saying $5 each. Then he understood, and a protracted bargaining session ensued, much like our previous session with the visa official.

At one point, a woman got out of the cab. She started haranguing me in Khmer. I held strong. Eventually, she thrust a pink cell phone in my face. At first I was confused, but she and the driver motioned for me to hold it to my ear. I did, and some English-speaking relative of hers continued the negotiation with me. He said 50 baht each was less than what locals paid, which I didn’t believe. Anyway, we finally settled on 100 baht each. They wanted it up front, but that’s just giving them permission to kick you out somewhere down the road to cram in locals with more common sense.

We refused, and we set off for real. The first hour was still awesome, but my happiness-quotient began dropping after that. This ride was much less comfortable than the previous one. It sounds silly, but 18 people in the back of a pick-up is considerably more than 9. There was no rain (or water trucks!), so the dust was pretty bad. The crowd was less congenial, and everyone’s legs fell asleep or were otherwise contorted. Since it was only 103km, we thought it would take about two hours, but it ended up taking closer to four.

At one point, we stopped for a pee/food break. All the Cambodians busted out bags of rice, skewers of meat or bundles of fruit. This reminded me that although I’d been awake for 12 hours by this point, I’d only eaten a bag of chips, half of one of these and a handful of peanuts. So I was hungry, and didn’t have much left to eat.

It got dark, and the lack of street lights or 100% vehicle light participation made the last stretch a little harrowing. Those of us perched on the sides or back of the truck had been depending on the daylight to allow us to predict which way to lean on turns. After that we sorta guessed.

Eventually, we saw an airplane in the distance, which foretold paved roads and Siam Reap. Soon afterwards we lumbered into town, and found the greatest $5 hotel room we’ve ever seen. Attached bathroom, cable tv, towels; the works! We were grimy, and our showers felt amazing.

The whole pick-up experience was fun, although we could’ve done with a little less of it. But at then end of the day, we felt like we really had an adventure, unlike more tame stretches of our trip.

Bangkok to Siam Reap Adventures, Part II

Seth: Once we had our entry stamps, we were surrounded by moto drivers. These were sketchy young men who put you on the back of their motorbike and shuttled you to wear you wanted to go, or more likely, where they wanted you to go.

We could’ve chartered a Toyota Camry share taxi for about $50, but that was way more than we had to spend, even with splitting the cost with our new Swiss friend. So we asked to be dropped off at the pick-up trucks, which leave when full.

As we learned, “when full” is a relative term. We thought the price should be 30 baht per person for inside the cab, but the pick-up driver, moto driver, and eight random dudes hanging around just laughed at that. Negotiations went swiftly, and we settled on 100 baht each for the bed of the truck. It was starting to rain lightly, and I wanted to get the show on the road.

It seemed like 300 baht total was quite a windfall for the driver and his surprisingly large entourage, since multiple people kept confirming the price in the span of two minutes. So we hopped in the back, drove around for five or ten minutes to find more people/stuff to pile in, and then left. Then we stopped again, the driver got off and ran down a side road, reappearing five minutes later with more stuff.

By this point, there were nine of us in the back of the pick-up, and quite a few more inside. At the time, I thought it was pretty full. After a few more stop-and-go’s, we left for good.

The ride was a blast! Literally. Five minutes of light rain knocked down the dust, the breeze cancelled out the heat, and we reumbled along the semi-paved road with the wind in our hair and not a care in the world. For the first time in a while, our trip felt like an adventure.

I felt like I was back at Burning Man. After all, I was in a ridiculous form of transportation through a dusty hellhole, but was having an amazing time with newfound friends. Most of us had various forms of eye/mouth dust mitigation, just like at Black Rock City. We passed a water truck in one of the towns that sprayed water to beat down the dust. It started its spray cycle just as we passed and doused me. Everyone shared a laugh, including me.  Definitely brought back playa memories.

We got to Sisophon in about an hour, and I was sad to leave the pick-up. I was especially not looking forward to another negotiation session.

Bangkok to Siam Reap Adventures, Part I

Seth: Our journey from Bangkok to Siam Reap, Cambodia was nothing if not exciting.

The fun started at 2AM the night before we left. We were treated to the loudest, oddest and most ridiculous sex sounds we’ve ever heard, thanks to our neighbor and his prostitute. Eventually we got to sleep, but 5:15 came waaaaaayyyyy too early. We got up and, to our pleasant surprise, quickly caught a public bus to the appropriate bus station (Bangkok has four).

Even though we got to the ticket office at 7:25 and could’ve taken the 7:30 bus, we decided to take the next one at 8:00 so we could buy snacks/breakfast/lunch for our journey ahead. We got on the bus, and after an uneventful 4-5 hours we ended up at Aranyaprathet, the Thai border town.

We caught a tuk-tuk to the border, and the efforts to scam us began. Our driver dropped us off about 100 yards away from the border, and as soon as he stopped the rickshaw, he ran behind a truck to get his friend. This guy told us that he was with Cambodian immigration and we needed to buy the visa from him. We ignored him and walked toward the border. We managed to successfully walk the gauntlet of assorted thieves, beggar-kids, scammers and touts to get out of Thailand and into Cambodia.

There we had to walk past two casinos to get to the visa office, where we steeled ourselves for some tough negotiating.

Above the office was a dusty sign that said “Tourist Visa – 20USD”. The office itself consisted of about half a dozen guys, some wearing uniforms and some not, sitting around a table watching CNN’s US election coverage. When we got there, some of the officials informed us that the visa cost 1000 Thai baht, which works out to be US$30. We’d heard this repeatedly during our walk down the tout gauntlet, and as this badass website had informed us, knew it to be untrue. Ignoring them, we put a $20 bill in our passports and handed tehm over along with the entry forms. Thus began a repetitive, unfriendly dialogue. Here’s the short version. For a fun drinking game, take a drink everytime you read the word “no”:

Corrupt Cambodian Visa Official: Cambodian visa is 1000 baht.
Seth: No, it’s $20.
CCVO: No! 1000 baht!
Seth: No, it’s $20 (pointing at sign above my head).
CCVO: No, the sign is old. It’s 1000 baht.
Seth: I’m old. So no, it’s $20.
CCVO: 1000 baht!
Seth: No, it’s $20.
CCVO: The law changed, the sign is old!
Seth: I’m old. So no, it’s $20.
CCVO: Everyone pay 1000 baht.
Seth: No, it’s $20 (pointing again).
CCVO: Sign is old. 1000 baht.
Seth: I’m old. So no, it’s $20.
CCVO: Ok, 20$ and 200 baht (US$6).
Seth: No, it’s $20.
CCVO: No! The sign is old, the rule changed! $20 and 200 baht.
Seth: I’m still old. So no, it’s $20.
CCVO: If you only pay $20, you’ll wait for two or three days!
Seth: That’s ok, I’m patient. I’ll be sitting right over there. Here ya go.

So we handed off our passports, $20 bills and entry forms and sat down in the conveniently provided chairs, hoping our bluff would pay off soon. Note that the riel, Cambodia’s currency, was never mentioned as an acceptable medium of payment.

Sure enough, one of the officials came by 5-10 minutes later with our visas/passports. Strangely, he was really friendly and smiled profusely, as if our terse conversation had never taken place. We thanked him, he wished us well, and we walked toward the entry desk, pleased as punch.