Return to Cambodia

We arrived at the Siem Reap airport in the early afternoon and were greeted by our Tuk Tuk driver Mice.  The drive in from the airport filled me with joy. The beauty of the countryside, the shabby shanties, the dust and heat and shiny brown naked children jumping in the brown muddy puddles beside the endless lime green rice fields, the lotus lakes, the dodgy dodgy wiring, the smell of roadside fires, the smiles of the people. It made me feel I had returned to somewhere loved.

We booked into our hotel. It has about 8 garden units around a swimming pool and everywhere lotus, palms, bamboo and banana palms. It is lush and green, beautiful pots everywhere filled with water, fish and floating lotus.

It is hot and humid and I could almost  hear the mozzies clapping their legs together as they saw me coming, what they didn't know was that I came with Bushman's tropical strength DEET which I wear as my new perfume!

After settling in we walked up the back streets toward the town, over the bridge across the fast flowing smooth brown Siem Reap river and into the chaos that is Siem Reap town.

Everywhere there are motor bikes purring along, Tuk Tuks touting for business, a string of flash imported cars,  which are new to the scene since our last visit amble along and weaving between this are a plethora of people of all ages on push bikes, people pushing wheel chairs and people missing limbs and using crutches sharing a road as there are no pavements as we know them. 

We sat outside for a beer and spring rolls and watched the world go by. Small brown big eyed children, some with missing arms come sullenly to our 

table to beg before they are shooed away by proprietors. It is a hard world for these young people and your heart bleeds for them. You have to confront your own humanity as you look away and vow to make a large donation to a Cambodian children's charity when you get home, knowing that any money you give these begging children is likely to be commandeered for alcohol or drugs by their desperate parents. We make a mental note to take some dried fruit to give to these kids next time we see them.

We wander down the road and find a restaurant for dinner, sitting at the side and enjoying the the mix of accents as the tourists of many nations congregate at this amazing place full of history and pain.

Replete after dinner we find a Tuk Tuk driver to take us home. We give him the name of our hotel and he asks if we know the way, Fortified by wine and beer we feel it can't be all that difficult to find our hotel. Siem Reap is not a big place and we know we have to cross the river.

We drive for a few minutes and a police man steps out in front of our Tuk Tuk. There is a short conversation and the policeman stands with his arms folded, his expression and the gun in his holster make him look very fierce. A few minutes later our Tuk Tuk driver opens his wallet and passes some bank notes to the grumpy cop. He then returns to the Tuk Tuk and apologises to us. I ask him if he got a receipt for the money he paid and he laughs and says "No, madame, this is Cambodia".  It was a quick reminder of the corruption that exists that exists within the ranks of those that hold the power. 

Suddenly we are quite sober and Jim is pouring cold water on my desire to go back and photograph the policeman.

We proceed in the direction of what we think is our hotel, the Petit Villa Boutique and Spa, Wat Damnak, Salakomrouk Commune, Siem Reap. Unfortunately with no side works, dirt roads and  no electric street lighting, everything looks so different. Our Tuk Tuk driver has no idea and neither do we. Rattling down dark shrub shrouded alley ways in a strange  country with no idea of the direction you're travelling is quite an exhilarating experience. Eventually boredom set in for the tuk driver and he stopped to ask several people who were eating at road side stall, all seemed to point in different directions, so our driver acted on the consensus and eventually delivered us back to our hotel, 

Well its happened again!

Now, as those of you that know me realize I'm one that is all for a quiet life! I'm content to sit in the sun and ruminate on how good life is, but every now and then I think that perhaps I am missing something. And I am! I'm missing my son Tim and his wife Jen and I'm missing my youngest daughter Clare.

So Jim and I did a quick calculation and thought that if we were sensible (!) we could eek out the money for another visit to Singapore and from there it is a quick jump to Cambodia and Clare. So we're off! We've had our shots, bought our tickets and are now counting down to next Thursday when we fly out. For those of you that are interested you will be able to follow out travel adventures here.

Sweet, sweet Singapore

After the tumultuous events of Madrid and Ireland it was great to arrive in Singapore again. We cleared customs in no time and nimbly grabbed a cab to Lakeview estate. Jen was waiting for us and interested in all our news. After no sleep for about 20 hours I feel we probably made little sense but a visit to the long house for copi and a lazy day, visiting the supermarket with Tim while Jim had a lie down and then a wonderful home cooked dinner and we were almost right again. Sunday we had a really relaxing barbeque picnic by the water with Lee and Chris, two Tim and Jen’s friends. We went for a swim in the salty Singaporean sea.

Monday we stooged around and had brunch at our favourite Indian restaurant, packed and got ready for the overnight trip home to Sydney and Keda and Sanjay’s home for a few days before returning to Crowdy Head. Time to say good bye to Tim and Jen.

 

dreamy, damp Dublin

Dublin August 2012

After waiting in the passport check for an hour we were so excited to get into the airport to see Clare and our brother in law Connor waiting for us. He is a wise and gentle man and it was great to be made to feel so ‘at home’.  We went straight to Connor’s house to catch up with the family and say hello to Jim’s other sister Miriam who was visiting from America Amazing hospitality as Jim’s sister effortlessly effects miracles in her tiny kitchen feeding recurrent waves of blow ins all welcomed with her calm god humour.  A cup of tea turned into lunch and we finally got up from lunch at 7pm so that Connor could take us to our hotel to check in.

 

 

It was the first time I had visited Dublin in summer. Most days we saw patches of sunlight when the clouds cleared but at any time Dublin is a great city. It is full of people from all countries, walking through Dublin is like being at the league of nations.

Meeting with Jim’s eldest brother in a genteel establishment, pitching emotions as we hear the news that can’t be told in letters and even talking makes little sense. Days and nights swirl into meeting with loved ones.

Breakfast at the Castle hotel, a cacophony of European languages surrounding belly’s full of a traditional Irish breakfast. People cheering themselves on despite the pervading grey. Summer temperature hovering around the teens interspersed with light then heavy rain. Quite a change after the 40’s in Spain.

Time out of mind at Clara Cottage in the Wicklow Mountains, shared meals and love surrounded by the beauty of the amazing country.

 

Too soon it is time to go with promises of a quick return.

 

 

Santa Maria de El Paular-Rascarfria

 Rascafria

Course 353 staring 29^th July till August 3^rd 2012.

Rascafría is a beautiful, peaceful town in the northwestern area of the Madrid region. It is set in the amazing Lozoya valley. The area has been settled for a long time.

In the town there is a church of San Andres the Apostle which was built in the 15^th century. It’s central nave has Gothic vaults and coffered ceilings. In the bell tower we saw three stork’s nests. Awesome builders

The monastery at Rascafria El Paular was founded in the 14^th century. It is two kilometres from town. The church is magnificent. The stone façade was worked from stone by Gil de Hontanon.The area we were staying in is run by the Sheraton Hotel and it was originally  part of the monastery. It has fabulous gardens, a great swimming pool and many courtyards and passages and libraries. It was a little like something out of Harry Potter.

The monastery was built in the 14^th Century and is amazing. There is a huge corridor that runs around the church and the 56 huge paintings that Vicente Carducho painted between 1626 and 1632 of the life of St Bruno, Founder of the Benedictine monastery are hung here. They have been collected and restored by the Prad museum and returned to the monastery and were wonderful to see. We went for a tour of the monastery guided by a sprightly monk who had been at the monastery for 53 years and was a friend of the Pope. I think he was amazed by my purple hair as he kept taking me by the arm and propelling me around the cloisters and the refectory. He spoke no English but when he asked one of our Spanish friends where I was from and he answered Australia, he said that he had had a friend who went to Australia to bring God to the people but they weren’t very attentive. Despite the weird interaction it was a great visit and an amazing monastery.

 

Our group consisted of 7 Spaniards and 13 English with our facilitator Merissa, an Australian woman who had lived in Spain for 20 years and Pete, the Master of Ceremonies from the UK also living in Spain. We had English, USA, Canadians, Croatians, Singaporeans and us and of course 7 awesome Spaniards. Like the previous group they amazed and inspired us. The program was roughly similar to the previous program, with lots of theatre sports, walks and laughter. The countryside was stunning and we took every opportunity to go for walks or sit in the peaceful gardens of the monastery surrounded by ancient trees who were wise with the observations of the centuries.

 

 

 

Our Spanish hosts are

Miquel A

Miquel M

Isobel

Laura

Alvaro Loring

Francisco

Estabelth

They are such fun and fabulous people and told us about the Via de la Platz (the silk road) and the amazing fire festival in Valencia in 15^th -19^th March. I would love to go there.

The Anglos were Sally (IK) Hanbin Zen (Singapore via Paris) Nick and Debbie (UK) John (USA) Jenna and Sandy (Canada) Jan (Isle of Wight) Clare and Veronica (Croatia)

On Thursday evening we walked into the town of Rascarfia. There is an amazing natural chocolate shop there where we sampled a number of chocolates (delicious) and also enjoyed beer and tapas by the little river that runs through the town.

Each night brings its own entertainment, We have had a celebration and salutation to the Gods with the creation of some liquor steeped in herbs and orange skins and set alight that is performed in the Basque country where they speak a form of Spanish that no one else understands! An Interesting night held in the courtyard cloisters of the old monastery.
 

 

 

Another fantastic week.

 

 

marvellous Madrid

Madrid

For 8 months of the year Madrid goes without any rainfall, and although there are many, many huge tress and  fountains throughout the city all of them use recycled water. The south of Spain is dryer than the north with a small desert down in the bottom right of the country called the desert of Tabarno. Just near here is where they grow tomatoes. 70% of all tomatoes used in the UK come from Spain and the best variety is Raff.

 As we’ve travelled around the countryside we’ve seen forests of Wind Farms on the tops of ridges and learned that de-salination plants were established on the Canary Islands because there was so little rainfall there. Franco was aware of this and in the last years of his ‘dictatorship’ in the early 70’a he created great reservoirs throughout the country. In Valencia they have a ‘tribunal of the waters’.

We’ve spoken a lot to the Spaniards about the global recession and the particular problems of Spain. Apart from the inequity of the 7% interest rate from the German global banks loans the political structure in Spain has become quite unwieldy.

There are 17 autonomous regions or communities and many of them have their own government with their own laws and languages. Andalucía (south) has 8 provinces each with their own local government. I’ve been told that there are 455,000 politicians on the payroll!

Another reason that Spain is suffering so much at the moment is that it has to support a brilliant infrastructure. It appears to me that all the small time politicians in the provinces stay in power by giving the people what they want, there are 52 airports in Spain as well as high speed trains (RENFE) connecting all parts of the country and fantastic, well maintained highways and historical buildings and gardens. The over abundance of politicians in each local government gains favour with the local people by providing excellent infrastructure. Compare the 52 airports in a country  one fifteenth the size of Australia which has 26 international airports (Ireland has 4) and 15 regional airports. High speed rail projects have been under investigation in Australia since the 80’s although it hasn’t progressed past the planning stage. Spain on the other hand has 9,000 kilometres of fast speed railway!

The payment from the government for unemployed young people is around 1,000 euros a month but this is only paid for 18 months. To rent a modest two bedroom apartment in Madrid costs about 1,000 a month. Most young people live at home until they are 32 or 33 years old.

The economic recession has hit hard and there are now around one million apartments that were in the process of being built but now vacant not so surprising when we were told that 40% of all apartments built in Europe in the last 5 years were built in Spain.

One of our Spanish friends who is an engineer gave us a fascinating talk about building roads in Spain. A normal stretch of road costs 3 million euros a kilometre and bridges and tunnels cost 30 to 50 million euros a kilometre. It gave us all a new respect for roads! Many areas such as Cadis and Seville to Leon are built along the original roman roads.

He spoke about the difficulty of building a road when so many excavations produce remnants of roman ruins. He told us that along that road Merida is a Roman City where you can see the Granite base of the military base which is generally 1 mile long and half a mile wide with manor houses and churches contained within it. Outside are the remnants of the Jewish quarter. Merida also has the best Roman theatre where you can actually watch theatre presentation in the ancient Roman theatre.  There is also a hippodrome nearby.

Our time in Madrid was far too short. Our last night in Madrid we took a tour bus around the city. Sitting on the front seat of the top deck, listening to a commentary with headphones in English at 8pm and 35 degrees was fantastic. We realise that to enjoy Madrid properly would take months. It is a magic city full of green leafy chestnut trees, amazing architecture and fabulous fountains and littered with museums and art galleries that we had no time to visit. It definitely deserves another visit.

Around 10.30pm after our bus tour we went back to our favourite tapas bar for wine garlic prawns and chicken skewers all washed down with a lovely crisp Spanish Verdelho. Sitting at the edge of the park being entertained by roving musicians, talking together and to our favourite Spanish waiter was a lovely end to our Spanish holiday.

Our bright and breezy disposition deteriorated as we left Madrid when we realised that  Jim’s new leather manbag complete with the new video camera (and a week’s worth of photos and video)  and Mukiem our travelling bear companion had disappeared. With no Spanish and a plane to catch we were forced to be philosophical about the loss, but the videos from our English program will be sorely missed.

Awesome Avila (Gredos)

Avila is located at 111km North West of Madrid the Capital of Spain.

Ávila de los Caballeros, the real name of the town, is also the capital of the province with the same name, it is now part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, In Spain few cities, like Barcelona, or Madrid are at the same time a city name and a region or province name.

The city is 1117 meters (3665 feet) above sea level, the highest provincial capital in Spain. It is built on the flat summit of a rocky hill, and is surrounded by a landscape strewn with immense grey boulders, and surrounded by soaring mountains.

This hotel is located virtually in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms and mountains in the distance. It is a lovely calm, rejuvenating place to relax.The rooms are comfortable and most have a spa bath (which they call a jacuzzi, but it really is just a normal bath with jets). The rooms are modern with huge timber beams and all the amenities that go with four star hotels.

Near the main house is an old shearing shed that has been converted into a gym, sauna and huge indoor pool with opening bi fold walls that look out to the mountains. We have set meals, three courses with wine and a salad bar.

  

It's a lovely place to unwind in the clean mountain air and there is a beautiful river within easy walking distance to swim in. We went down to the river and put our feet in and a million tiny fishes nibbled at the dead skin on our feet, so tickly.

We have only six wonderful Spaniards on our program, Fernando, L and Fernando, P, Julian, Manuel, Marissa, and Sol.

We also have thirteen English speakers, Gerry (Ireland) Linda, Barbara, Brandi, Cheri,  and Mary (USA) Taissa,Brazil, Glenys, Karen, (UK) Kaz (NZ) and Jim and I (Aust)

And our master of ceremonies Tom and Carmen the organiser.

  

Our day begins at 9am with a shared breakfast. Small tables each with at least one Spaniard. A smorgasbord of cereals, pastries, croissants, breads, smoked salmon eggs, tomatoes, juice tea or coffee and beautiful fruit, nuts, local peaches and cherries. Delicious!

10am till 1pm are either one to one (English with Spanish) sometimes teleconference or just sitting in the shade or walking and talking. At 1pm we come together for a group activity, which usually involves a lot of laughing and then at 2pm it is lunch for an hour, again a  shared meal with Spaniards.

Lunch is followed by a siesta till 5pm.

From 5pm till 8pm we have group activities, theatres sports, skits, improvisations and much hilarity. This is sometimes followed by a one to one before dinner at 9pm.

From 10pm onwards if free time but often means congregating in the bar for some songs, a game of bingo or just sitting chatting with the Spaniards.

Included in each day is an hour (or sometimes two) of free time where you can rest, do your washing, go for a swim or to the village (or write a blog) or look at stork's nesting on the cathedral.

The one on pone’s are fascinating. I look forward to them even though you must be totally focussed and concentrating for one hour. In these intense discussions you learn so much about the Spanish way of life. The people are warm, interesting and funny and very open to having fun. We have travelled into fragile territory discussing religion, politics, the economy, homosexuality – no subject has been excluded and the Spaniards are open, intelligent and quick to learn. I feel so privileged to have shared this week with them.

As part of the English immersion program the Spanish are required to make a short presentation in English, a daunting task for anyone but a colossal task for a fledgling English speaker. Each of our Spanish friends presented on a different subject.

How stressful presentations are, the stages of road building, a trip by barge along a canal, the history of the town of Avilla, the emergence of a shopping centre built in an old railway station and the annual festival held in Julian’s home town of Seville.

The presentations were great, informative, interesting and funny and the Spaniards were so brave to make them. There was also lots of theatre and skits that had us laughing till we cried. I was so sad when the week came to an end and we had to say goodbye. I will carry such warm memories of the Spaniards and the Spanish countryside from that week forward in my heart. It was an awesome adventure.