Photo-shopped out!

I got the photo-shopped snaps of the Khmer traditional dress photo shoot today. They "put" me in different Cambodian settings, and eliminated every blemish. I can see what they to models in magazine!

Around about & Khmer Surin

Just round and about and reading in Phnom Penh this afternoon. 

ANZ Bank loaned a sugar company money to plant sugarcane, and hundreds of farmers were evicted from their land to make way for the sugarcane. This man is laying a CURSE on ANZ!

French Colonialism - still here

a little wat on Sisowath Quay ..  

 

 French influence again - huge boulevards and gardens

Mum at FCC, and Courtenay & me at my favourite KHMER SURIN for dinner.

The White Building

Mum and I also explored a building which lots of people know as a building with brothels and crime. I read this:

“For many in Phnom Penh, the White Building is perceived as an irregular community, cloaked in stigma associated with poverty, drugs, sex work, petty crime, dangerous construction and poor sanitation. However, the White Building is one of the city's most vibrant communities, housing more than 2,500 residents, including classical dancers, master musicians, skilled craftspeople, cultural workers, civil servants, and street vendors”

As we walked through, there was a beautiful sense of community. 

It is called the White Building, and was part of a urban planning project in the 1960s (before the Khmer Rouge) when Phnom Penh’s population tripled to one million.  It was King Sihanouk’s vision. He said:

“our capital must deal with the problem urban population… We must begin the construction of low-cost apartment buildings that can be rented or sold to average and small-income families. This will no doubt take some time and requires progressive planning and investment”.

But then, the Khmer Rouge emptied the city. Later some of the former residents returned and they are part of a thriving art community. We couldn’t go in, because it’s not safe without an invitation to see the archives or art work. I want to next time. 

This is what it DID look like

 There's also Art Deco influences with geometric shapes. AND there has been some work done on another building next to it - which is definitely Art Deco inspired. 

Art Deco in Phnom Penh

ART DECO IN PHNOM PENH

The name Art Deco came from an exhibition in Paris in 1925 called the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.  It’s what I’m learning in Technology, I have to design jewellery based on the Art Deco style. So, because it was French and because Cambodia was French Colonized and because there is a spectacular Art Deco building in Phnom Penh, Mum and I went walking today. To the Central Market - which was built in 1937 (between WW1 and WW2 .. when Art Deco flourished)

The entrance - symmetry, geometry.

Art Deco is characterized by geometric shapes, which was influenced by machines and  modern technology. So there were also stylized wheels, circles, and angular shapes. It was often symmetrical.  [Art Deco also had decorative themes of natural elements like sunbursts or flowers].

The roof .. light filters inside through the geometric openings

Close up of geometric motif

Art Deco is more symmetry rather than asymmetry, and more rectilinear rather than the curvilinear.

There is a balance of angular and round - wheel inspired

The sunburst dome ceiling inside.

 I took photos (obviously)

 Below is an art work depicting the Central Market and making a statement about Cambodia- victims, war, clash, evacuate, Hun Sen, Democracy !!!! I really liked this, it's clever. I saw it at FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club). 

ALSO, when I was slurping down my chocolate milkshake, I spied MORE Art Deco motifs on the building opposite. It is amazing to see how much French influence still remains - IF I look!

JEANS - I’M TALL !Kour- KOUR

We went to the Russian markets this morning .. when it was cooler. I’ve grown about 5cm since last summer and I needed new jeans, and because they cost USD9 here it’s where I get them. But, imagine a sauna, imagine a 1 metre wide alley, imagine stalls almost sitting on top of each other .. and imagine peeling on jeans with the sweat to try on under a dress? Mum says that if the jeans fit with dripping perspiration legs, they’ll definitely fit me in Sydney! (no photos - we just wanted to get our watermelon juice and mango smoothie!)

It’s funny being here because I’m TALL!

Everyone is surprised I’m 12 because I am SO TALL !! In Australia I’m the shrimp! I’m the shortest 12 year old amongst my friends in Sydney!! 

The main reason I’m so “tall” here is because lots of the kids my age have grown up with malnutrition, which means they aren’t getting enough of the right vitamins to increase their bone strength and growth. I met a girl at the end of the bamboo train in Battambang, at first I thought she was 9, she was up to my shoulders but when I told her my age she burst out laughing exclaiming she was 12 as well!! I guess Mum serving me my pink cauliflower and blue potato mash when I was two paid off after all!!!

Here’s someone else I’ve know since I was three. Kour, a beautiful woman. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Kour is definitely beautiful, every time I see her warm, loving, brown irises, her infectious smile and incredibly generous personality. I don’t even notice her acid burnt face. Mum’s bought all her books about Cambodia over the years, and she’s always been so loving to me. Someone threw acid on her face about 15 years ago, this is not uncommon in Cambodia. She has had some operations to graft skin and rebuild her nose, but again - I don’t even see it. 

Kour and me at the Russian markets

Here are just some snaps I took walking "home" this afternoon. 

Monk, motodop, SUV

Someone's drink waiting

Expensive shops are sprouting in Phnom Penh

Down Sihanouk & My "Get & Give" ONLINE store

We turned left from Monivrong Boulevard into Sihanouk Boulevard.
(BTW, Norodom Sihanouk was the King of Cambodia from 1941-1955 and from 1993-2005 but he was also President and Prime minister. He died in 2012 and is known at The King-Father of Cambodia).

We walked passed the “pet shop” which is a cage of dogs which probably have diseases. There were cages of dogs for sale in Saigon too. One dog reminded us of Binky, so Mum wrote Bink an email saying she was thinking of her!

Then we walked to Herb Cafe opposite Wat Langka which has been my regular chocolate frappe cafe, and Mum’s watermelon juice .. I took photos of what I just take for granted, like Bridgepoint or Woolworths carpark. 

Then we went to IPC where I bought some cool stationery to make an online shop for friends, to raise money for Cambodian Children’s Trust. This afternoon I took photos, and set up a simple online shop. It’s here:

http://getgivehelp.blogspot.com

Then Chetra and Carol came over for a swim, a drink and dinner. I didn't take any photos because it was just "normal" being in "our" Phnom Penh balcony with them. 

Monivrong again!

MONIVRONG - AGAIN ..

Every day this week Mum and I are going to The Missionaries of Charity on Monivrong Boulevard. We just call it “going to Monivrong”. Today we went to Lucky supermarket first to get coffee for the Sisters (because they don’t buy luxuries for themselves, but they still like coffee!) and chocolate milk (with extra calcium and Vitamin B) for the kids, AND biscuits which the kids love. Mum wanted to also buy toothbrushes and toothpaste. Will will tomorrow.

It was almost nap time when we got there at 11am. The 18 children had already had lunch and were getting into their cots, but Samnang, who calls me bong srei … which means older sister, was NOT going to take a nap. I’ve known Samnang since he was 1 year old, he’s now almost 6. I helped him go to school last year, but he can’t go to the orphanage school without the right papers.  His parents are dead and his grandma can’t look after him, so until she can get the papers from a distant province, Samnang can’t move. He’s a cheeky monkey, he loves to wear Mum’s sunglasses and go through her backpack, but also  likes to scribble. I spent an hour trying to teach him to draw but he preferred to be creative. 

Sister Lumina is soooo cool. I feel close to her but even more today when she told me she was the second person to hold me after I was born. She is the only person I know today who has known me my WHOLE life! Mum’s going to help Sister Lumina’s nephew who is an Engineer in India, in Australia where he wants to study more. 

And Sister Sanctia (who’s from Papua New Guinea - PNG) has also known me all my life. Sr Sanctia and Mum talk for hours. 

Samnang and bong srei

Sister Lumina and me

Sister Sanctia, Samnang and me

nap time

18 children at Monivrong. Only Samnang is an orphan, the other children have been taken there by a parent who is unable to care for them for a whole. 

The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's Order) are Catholic