Recent flood photos

This morning I went for a ride down our road. The duck farmers house is flooded, so they were doing it all on the road. I also saw people using boat type things to get around. I've been posting photos on our other blog Kronicle Extra, also some of the fishing nets that are set up on campus.



I have a friend whose house is really hard to get to, so she and her 3 year old are staying with her mum. But her husband has to stay and look after their ducks. They were joking about how its like they are divorced for rainy season. She's looking fwd to the water going down so she can be married again. Although for the long weekend she is going home, and taking some friends to visit her house. They are excited because they will be catching and eating fish.. fishing from the comfort of your own home!

Sheep head anyone?

'We began to realise that, as much as we were committed to adapting to our adopted culture and doing things the Mongolian way as much as possible , sometimes we had to draw the line. In three areas we were unable (or unwilling) to give up our own culture's ways: birth, death and breakfast."There's a sheep in my bathtub by Brian Hogan
page 165

Flood!

The water levels on campus are about as high as they were at their highest last November. If you click here you can see photos from last year, in each set there is one or two for when it was pretty flooded, and one for when it was really flooded.

Inside the temple

At the moment Festival of the Dead is on, as I mentioned below. Last year Rachael went to see what they were all up to at 4.30am in the temple. Have a look at her photos here.

That time of year again!

The other week we had our first big rain of the season, as Karen noted on her blog.

The flooding started earlier last year, and the roads were really flooded, as you can see in these photos (click here) I took August 2008. Today Our roads aren't flooded but on campus is!


I don't think we need to water the veggie garden today.

Looking after your deceased family members in Asia

Last Thursday as I rode to and from work I saw people burning things outside their houses. They used metal bins or big metal bowls to burn money and other paper things for their dead ancestors. I'll try to get a photo next year. I think they also had a special meal that day. Its a Chinese festival, although I don't remember seeing it in China. Religious things are more obvious here.

And on Saturday the Cambodia "Festival of the Dead" began. It's called 'Pchum Ben'and goes for two weeks. During these two weeks the streets are filled with people in their best clothes going to temples to give food to their ancestors. Some photos: KI Media, Pchum Ben photos
See also Feeding the Dead
The last few days are public holidays and everyone goes back to their hometown.

Shadow puppets (mum visit part 6)

We visited Sovanna Phum and saw a performance of drumming and dancing. We also saw these shadow puppets on display, an ancient art form SP keeps alive.

PS (mum visit part 5.5)

Just found Rachael (who is now back in the US) has a great blog about the cooking class too. She did it awhile ago- have a look here.

Cooking Khmer food! (mum visit part 5)

While Mum was here we went to a Khmer cooking class and made lots of yummy food. This is a photo of some of the herbs and spices.


First the teacher took us to the market so we could learn about some interesting things there, then we went back and made a few dishes. One of our classmates did a blog on it. She has lots of photos and explained lots of the highlights of the day. Have a look at Ali's How to be a domestic goddess: Khmer edition

Almost all our classmates were Aussies- it was funny to hear them all talking in Aussie accents to each other! Not something I hear often, esp as I can't seem to get Radio Australia very clearly these days.

And if you want to see a video of cooking Khmer food have a look at this. I don't know if its any good or not as my internet isn't fast enough to watch videos.

Banteay Meanchey (mum visit part 4)

The road from Siem reap to Sway sisophon (Banteay Meanchey province) is done! Last year it was so bumpy with lots of detours and we felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere.

Battembang (mum visit part 3)

In Battembang we saw a train station- can you spot the train tracks?

We also saw this guy with 8 arms...

...and some crocodiles. We also saw a graduate of the Bible school who is now working at a church there.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat (mum visit part 2)

While we were in Siem Reap we saw the sunrise over Angkor Wat, the famous ancient temples that are on the Cambodian flag.

Last few weeks... (mum visit part 1)

We drove around the big lake again. Almost the same trip as last year, but this time we went in the opposite direction and we took both our mums! I'll tell you more over the next few blog posts.

Crossword clues part 2

Some of you may have just got our crossword in the mail, please ask us if you need more clues than you can find on here. And if you want to see our news and photos, I keep a journal on Kronicle Extra.
* The Mekong river runs through Kompong Cham
* Our church meets at a place where students live
* Floors can be made of bamboo
* Kimsoeun's first contact with Christianity was by watching a movie

Pol Pot's old high school (crossword clue)

Here is the gate of the high school that Pol Pot went to, although his family wasn't from Kampong Cham. This school is named after Norodom Sihanouk, father of the current king.

This should help if you are doing Kronicle Crossword! Ask us if you need any more hints.