oNe PhOtO a DaY dEcEmBeR 2019

THE PROMPTS 

SUNDAY 1st OUT AND ABOUT: Hoping for sales at the Kampot Arts Design and Handicrafts Fair - representing IWA upcycling and selling our own Eco-wraps to support the little monks of Kep today

MONDAY 2nd LIGHTS: The closest thing to Xmas Lights I can spot in a Buddhist Kingdom

TUESDAY 3rd FESTIVE: For us Aussies the festive season is mid-summer and this vista as we arrived on Rabbit Island for an overnight stay with friends seemed the perfect festive season view to me

WEDNESDAY 4th I BOUGHT THIS: haul of goodies at the market on Sunday. With some of these items we are hoping to begin another fundraising project to assist our little monks and themed “Say no to plastic.”

THURSDAY 5th THE WEATHER TODAY: is perfect beach weather and even the local monks thought so

FRIDAY 6th SMALL: One very small orchid flower from the garden 

SATURDAY 7th HOMEMADE: Today we had to make more medium sized eco-wraps to replace those sold at the market last weekend. I was plugging this size and we are more than happy with our first round of sales

PS Thrilled to say that this one made it to the Fab 9 grid for the “homemade” prompt on Facebook too

SUNDAY 8th MORNING: wouldn’t be the same without our standard baguette breakfast and coffee

MONDAY 9th SANTA: must be doing his laundry in Australia in anticipation of the big day, because I can see his stockings and cap on the iconic Hill’s Hoist (washing line for all non-Aussies) and there is definitely no trace of him here in the Kingdom of Cambodia

TUESDAY 10th GIFT: As we were leaving the pagoda after class today the Abbot presented us with this gift. At certain times of the year gifts like this are given to the pagodas by families and there is always an excess. In this case it was fresh fruit so we have spent the afternoon gifting rambutans, “milk” fruit, persimmons and melon to friends and neighbours as there was simply too much for two of us to eat. So, this was gifted three times over!

WEDNESDAY 11th MAIL: It will have to be email for me, since I have received exactly two pieces of mail all year! Yesterday I sent out 99 (yes, I just counted) emails with our Xmas message in them and so far, only 7 have bounced and I have received two replies. Hoping for some more replies over the next couple of weeks

THURSDAY 12th GREEN: All the mango trees in our yard are fruiting up now and there is an abundance of green mangoes. Not long before we will be eating them

FRIDAY 13th SPARKLE: The sparkle of light in the crystal in the studio of the Dust in the World; original jewellery in Kampot. Among all the glittery, colourful baubles waiting to be transformed into spectacular accessories it was the crystal that drew me inside to investigate

 

SATURDAY 14th RED AND WHITE: Xmas star made locally by Khmer Hands from painted strips of rolled recycled newspaper. It just happens to be the only Xmas decoration I have ever bought

SUNDAY 15th FUN: This is Ti. He is very serious and studious in class but on Thursday after class he had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face while pretending to ride this motor scooter. I guess that’s what he calls fun

MONDAY 16th WRAPPING: Strips of green, banana palm fronds are the wrapping for my favourite Khmer snack - sticky rice with coconut cooked in palm sugar. This eco-friendly wrapping for a variety of food pre-dates plastic and polystyrene and hopefully will become the norm once again in a world increasingly aware of the danger of single use plastic

TUESDAY 17th TREE: This gorgeous tree provides shade and cools the entrance to the garden at a dear friend’s house here in Kep

WEDNESDAY 18th DECORATION: done my way! My favourite corner of the living room decorated in keeping with the two Buddhist cultures I love best

THURSDAY 19th JOY IS.......: a weekend break in the capital and a chance to soak up some culture

FRIDAY 20th XMAS TREAT: My homemade traditional, Guinness, boiled fruit cakes took on a tropical flavour this year when I replaced some of the usual fruit with locally produced dried pineapple, mango and papaya. We have been making them and giving them to friends and family for almost 20 years. This is half of this year’s batch and we always keep only one for ourselves but we did have to taste test the two small cupcake size ones with friends a couple of days ago just to prove they were edible .....

SATURDAY 21st STAR: Kak Channthy, also known as Cambodia’s Amy Winehouse and an incredible singing star of the kingdom is immortalized in street art in this little laneway in Phnom Penh. She died in March last year as the result of injuries sustained in an accident involving a car and Tuk Tuk in the early hours of the morning while returning from a performance

SUNDAY 22nd I DID THIS TODAY: Found my favourite Kampot clothing outlet’s latest branch in PP and the super friendly and competent staff member Ryan, who use to work at the flagship store, at the exact same time a favourite student from Bhutan started messaging me.... just had to buy a coffee, sit down and chat. I feel blessed

MONDAY 23rd TRADITION: After spending a few days in the capital, we go to the Central Market very early on the day of departure to buy a few fresh treats we cannot get in Kep. This morning was no exception. I can see an Asian style Xmas feast in the making right here

TUESDAY 24th XMAS EVE: Spent a good part of the day delivering small,l mostly homemade gifts of Xmas cake and shortbread to friends and tonight these small gifts will be delivered too. I firmly believe the best part of Xmas is giving

WEDNESDAY 25th CELEBRATE: Our contribution to the tribe to celebrate Xmas tonight

THURSDAY 26th HAT: That would be me in Ian’s authentic Panama hat, made and bought in Peru.... Doesn’t that make it a Peruvian, not a Panama?

FRIDAY 27th I’M GRATEFUL FOR....: the opportunity to interact with and teach these monks and the woman who drew us all together. They have added immeasurably to the quality of my life and I firmly believe our connection has done the same for them

NB: I’m delighted to have been chosen in the Fab Four selection for this prompt too

SATURDAY 28th I GOT THIS!: Our landlord gifted us three green coconuts and Ian harvested his turmeric crop today so I got a mid-afternoon refresher of fresh coconut water and flesh blended with turmeric. Might be just the detox needed after recent excesses

SUNDAY 29th SELFIE: Something I have never been good at and rarely attempt, but here is one I did a week ago in Phnom Penh because the art on the wall behind me inspired me to try ..... what could be better than my favourite colour combination of orange and aqua in a dragon mural?

MONDAY 30th LUNCHTIME: We rarely eat lunch but often have coffee and a treat in the middle of the day. Today’s special breakfast, sightseeing tour and picnic late lunch plans were cancelled due to a friend having an accident, so a rather special treat was our lunchtime pick me up today

TUESDAY 31st MY BEST PIC OF 2019: I agonised over this decision but this cyclo driver resting on a shady corner in Phnom Penh won the prize. It was taken on my birthday trip to the capital and I recently had it printed to display in our living room. However two days ago, a friend, with a guesthouse was looking for some decorations for a newly painted room and I offered her the choice of any of the 12 Cambodian prints I had not yet put up and this was the first one she selected. That confirmed my choice

Seasons’ greetings from Cambodia

Once again, we have reached December. The year is drawing to a close and Xmas is almost upon us. We are now firmly settled here in Kep and we are thankful to have found a small niche in the world where we feel comfortable, useful and happy and are surrounded by a small but eclectic group of friends of widely different ages and nationalities. 

Having a tribe to belong to and to share the joys, celebrations and miseries life inevitably throws your way has been the biggest benefit of residing in this small Cambodian town with a vibrant expat community. We have gained something of a reputation for hosting informal gatherings of friends at home and providing vegetarian buffets to celebrate significant holidays, farewells and milestones. I have also morphed into a speciality birthday cake maker and Ian has become the purveyor of pickles, kimchi and local pesto in addition to distributing some of the fresh produce from his productive kitchen garden. 

Our major focus this year has continued to be our little monks and they are challenge enough for us. We continue with the routine of twice weekly morning classes and support them by providing snacks, milk, fruit, hygiene products and the occasional outing. They have been treated to yoga classes and pool outings and recently a return trip to Rabbit Island, which was initiated entirely by them. There is still a transitory population who go off to other pagodas and may or may not return but we have a core group of four who have remained with us for over two years now and several others who have joined later and stayed on as well as a few of the original group who have returned after months of absence. 

They have made good progress and continue to engage positively and attempt to use their skills at every available opportunity, whilst also remaining young boys with mischievous natures at heart. My favourite quote from last week was in response to the question who is your friend, and our oldest and most diligent boy replied, “Buddha is my friend.” Only a week earlier when we arrived with and distributed traditional Cambodian rice snacks made from sticky rice and coconut cooked in palm sugar, another of the boys took it and responded, “Rice is my friend.” Travellers passing through, family members and local friends have also continued to make generous donations to enable us to offer outings, expand the project and buy the necessary supplies and resources. We feel blessed to have these young boys in our lives.  

As their needs expand we have embarked on a fundraising venture to help cover costs and enable us to continue. We now make eco-wraps from mostly recycled, cotton cloth and pure beeswax. They have proved quite popular and many local guesthouses and friends are reducing their ecological footprints by replacing plastic cling film with our product. We have plans to expand into another eco-friendly product in the new year but for now we sell our wraps via word of mouth or in the various markets we already attend to sell IWA products as volunteers.  

Although we had expected to see a Khmer style wedding before we experienced first-hand the rituals and ceremonies of a funeral, that was not to be. The brother of a Cambodian friend passed away suddenly early in the year and this small closely connected community was in shock. He was a relatively young man with a vision for improving the education and quality of life of poorer Khmer children in Kep and he has left behind a legacy of goodwill, as well as a young son, and a devastated family. We attended a memorial dinner and service with the family as did literally hundreds of local Khmer and foreign residents. While standing in for his parents, at our friend’s request, at one of the memorial services, we observed the private, but simple and solemn rituals performed in his home and by our own little group of young monks. From this we learned a great deal about the ceremonies and the grieving process as well as seeing the devout and dignified behaviour of our boys – as I love to call them. 

I celebrated my birthday quietly in the capital this year and chose to attend a cultural dance and music performance and visit local sights we had not yet seen. It was a delight to enjoy the many fabulous restaurants and be able to play tourist and expand our cultural knowledge at the same time.   

With the assistance of dear friends, we were able to acquire visas to visit Bhutan in the middle of the year. Our primary objective was to attend the graduation ceremony for one of my former class IXC students from Rangjung Higher Secondary School, but we definitely wanted to catch up with life-long friends and former colleagues, and celebrate Ian’s birthday as well as making one last road trip across the kingdom and back. Once the difficult task of getting our visas was over things seem to fall naturally into place. 

Friends materialised at exactly the right moment, gatherings found their own timeslots, coincidental meetings and long planned reunions all played their part in making us feel warmly welcomed and loved. Spontaneously our favourite driver, with whom we have done the cross country tour several times in the past, contacted us just when we were discussing how best to reach out to him to engage his services. Even the rainy season and landslides favoured us with safe passage and spectacular views. New destinations included Gasa, Nimalung and Bikhar and having student guides and companions in addition to staying in family homes made this trip even more memorable. 

Although I personally had expected this would be a goodbye adventure and I would finally have Bhutan out of my system, I can now acknowledge that I left an even bigger part of my heart behind and still long to return, so I guess the lesson learnt is, you never really get Bhutan completely out of your system and I’m sure now that I never really want to!

We are still cycling and swimming at every available opportunity and have become the bicycle delivery service for IWA products to local guesthouses and resorts. We are also exploring more of the back roads and visiting other small education projects similar to our own. These mostly young volunteers also enjoy visiting our classes so it has become a sharing of resources and strategies to some small extent. 

Monthly Tuk Tuk trips to Kampot provide us with a few essentials we cannot obtain locally, access to a much larger and more diverse fresh produce market and an excuse to eat out at one of the eateries with many more vegetarian options than we are able to find locally. Several adventures in Phnom Penh have likewise provided ingredients to expanded our culinary experiments and enabled us to live a little of the high life that time in the capital allows.

  

Just last week we did an overnight stay on Rabbit Island and I now wonder why it has taken us so long to take full advantage of this little treasure immediately off the coast in Kep. With generator power only running from 6pm to 10pm and no cars or mechanised transport beyond the boats which run from the mainland, and being completely surrounded by calm, clear, turquoise water and ringed with coconut palms, it is a tropical paradise. The perfect phones off, stress-free get-away was made all the more enjoyable for us by sharing the experience with a group of likeminded friends. 

Breaking news is that the student we sponsored and travelled to see graduate gained employment in the field in which he qualified in the past week.  This is no mean feat anywhere in the world, and especially in Bhutan. Only 4 months had elapsed since his graduation, so we feel very proud of his efforts and achievement.

Well, that’s about it from this end. Let me finish by saying that I wish you all the joys of the season and a happy and prosperous year ahead. I hope you have found your own tribe and a sense of belonging that translates to living with satisfaction, contentment, happiness and gratitude. Please feel free to drop us a note about where the year has taken you and your own plans for the future. May 2020 bring you all that you wish for and in the upcoming festive season may you be safe, and feel loved. 

Peace and love always, 

Vicky and Ian