Harvesting Pepper

Gongnov's front yard

This past week was Khmer New Year, so all of CRDT had a 9-day holiday. I was invited to spend the holiday with Gongnov (pronounced gung-now), one of the CRDT staff who worked closely with Julie. This was lucky because it is a real treat to experience a proper Khmer New Year and I haven't really been here long enough to make any close friends, so I just tagged along with Julie. Thanks Julie!

Gongnov comes from Kampong Cham Province where apparently, there is a lot of pepper harvesting. The picture above is of Gongnov's front yard. Her parents run a pepper farm, as do most of the neighbours, and they dry the pepper outside of their house on large tarps. It takes 3 days to dry a batch of pepper. Below is a picture of what pepper looks like in its original form. I had no idea! I feel so naive.

Pepper on the tree

 Pepper drying on the farm

Julie and I had the chance to pick pepper for a couple of hours. It was hot, but fun. Gongnov's family also gave us each a Kilo of pepper to take home. I hope it's not a problem going through customs!

Visiting Julie in Koh Preah

Boat "docked" on Koh Preah

I arrived on the island of Koh Preah on April 3rd to visit Julie, who has been teaching there on and off for the past couple of months. Koh Preah, translated literally, means the Island of God, and I am not surprised. It is a beautiful, idyllic place where everyone has a mango tree in the backyard. The people are lovely, and the community is alive!

My journey there was a little stressful. I took a taxi from Stung Treng where I had to catch a boat that sails daily to Koh Preah. I thought the boat was supposed to leave at 12pm, but after a tenuous conversation with the boat driver (finding the boat driver was a whole other issue), I found out the boat left at 2pm. So I returned at 1pm, just to be safe and the boat was gone! I panicked a little, but it turned out the boat was returning eventually to pick everyone up.  Three hours later I'm sitting in the boat, sweating my butt off waiting for an impossible number of people and their belongings to somehow cram themselves onto the boat. It was an exercise in meditation.

Above is a picture of the boat when we arrived at Koh Preah. I should mention that this photograph was taken AFTER we dropped off about 10 people and their belongings. I should also mention that I am standing in the water whilst taking this picture because there is no dock. We sort of just beached ourselves and then everyone started crawling out of the boat. I was happy to crawl out after two hours. Below is the inside of the boat, also post-exodus.

Boat ride to Koh Preah

Koh Preah is trying to develop itself as an eco-tourism destination, which can be a very good source of income with little to no environmental impact. The community hosts homestays for tourists who are looking for a remote Cambodian experience, and while they don't need to change anything about their island to achieve that, they do need to have a basic level of English to communicate with foreigners. As a result, Julie has been leading an English class on the island. The class was initially intended for adults, but they are so busy with household responsibilities and farming that the class is primarily attended by children and teenagers.

I'll be teaching the class next month, which means I quickly adopted the name "New Teacher", while poor Julie got stuck with "Old Teacher". She asked for it though. She just finished a lesson on opposites.

Julie's Class on Koh Preah

 Here is a picture of our LOVELY homestay mother. She is really amazing. The whole family bent over backwards to make us feel comfortable.

Vanara, our homestay mother

One day we had some free time in the afternoon and the kids took us to another island where watermelons grow in the dry season. I've never seen where watermelons grow! Not only did we get to see and eat watermelons, but we also got to meet a woman from California who is doing research on rare birds on the Mekong. "Curly" introduced us to her. Curly and "Puppet" are her translators who lived in California for about 20 years. They were really nice and it was funny to hear Cambodians use slang terms like "she's off the hook" and "where you at?". Obviously, it's not unusual in Canada, but in Cambodia, you rarely come across Americanized Cambodians. I think they probably do really well now because it is such an asset to be fluent in English here.

Puppet, Drey and Curly

The great thing about meeting Drey was that she had an opportunity to talk to the kids about her research. One of the biggest threats to the population of birds she is researching (the River Lappling and another one I don't remember) is that children in the area take the eggs or disturb the nests. We then incorporated what the children learned into the next day's lesson.

I know this post is getting long, but just a couple more note-worthy events...

I got to paddle! That was very exciting, but I must say the paddles are not quite as effective as the ones I'm used to. Maybe I was using it improperly...

Chanteoun and I

Julie cutting watermelon

Cutest puppy ever (our homestay puppy)

The departure...

So I thought maybe the departure from Koh Preah would run a bit smoother than the last boat ride, but it didn't really. Vanara and I were supposed to catch the boat at 7am (which actually runs on-time), and I thought I'd be in the clear since I was traveling back to Stung Treng with a Cambodian that I knew, but at 6:50am, I started to wonder why we were still sitting in the house. (You might wonder why I didn't ask, but there is really no point. You just have to go with the flow here). As Vanara's mood changed from relaxed to not-so-relaxed (Cambodians always seem relaxed to some extent), and she began calling people frantically on her cellphone, I figured we missed the boat.

Then they sent me to a man down the road who has a boat. I thought "Great! I have my own boat and I don't need to be cramped for 2 hours!" Ha. There is no such thing as a vehicle with extra room in Cambodia (I'm aware of all the Cambodian generalizations, and please note that they are based on my experience). First Vanara's live chickens needed to be loaded on. Then Vanara's friend, and then another guy, oh ya and his motorbike. Obvioulsy.

Live chickens going to the market

Can you fit a motorbike in a canoe?

On the boat

Anyway, we made it back in time and the boat ride wasn't that uncomfortable. I was just thankful that Vanara has such good connections.

Thanata Learns to Walk

Thannada (10 months old)

Learning to walk

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Thannada smiling, but she is one of the cutest babies I have ever met, especially when she smiles. This stick you see her holding onto is a classic Cambodian toddler tool to practice walking. It is simply a bent stick inside a piece of Bamboo. Usually it sits directly in the ground, but this one was built into the porch by her dad, Viraii. Viraii is one of the CRDT staff members I was working with in Mondulkiri. I don't have any pictures of Mondulkiri because the most beautiful thing there was Thannada!

Maybe I'll have pictures of Thannada's parents at the CRDT party, which is on April 8th. 

Ok, I have one more piece of video technology from my short trip to Mondulkiri. Here is a small taste of what it's like to ride in a "taxi" from one town to the next...

Khmer House Warming Party!!

Dinner for hundreds of people!

On Sunday night I got to go to a traditional Khmer house warming party. These parties are basically the same calibre as weddings. In fact, the invitation says "Wedding" on the front, and then on the inside it says "House Warming Party". Awesome.

Typically everyone in town is invited and it is customary to bring a gift of $10 US or something for the house, like a clock. So we brought a clock. This clock is special because it not only tells the time, but it also boasts a beautiful picture of a waterfall with tigers, and when you plug it in, it shimmers!

Proud house owner with his new clock

There is lots of dancing at a Khmer house warming party and a live band! We danced a lot.

Live band

Walker and drunk teenagers

Floating on the Mekong!

On Thursday, my second day in Cambodia, I got to float down the Mekong river! The Cambodian Rural Development Team organized a team trip down the Mekong, one of the most bio-diverse rivers on the planet. Not only that, but out of every 200 fish caught in the world, 1 comes from the Mekong River!

We floated on inner tubes for 20km from Campi to Kretche, where the CRDT head offices are. The section we covered is home to a dwindling dolphin population and the float trip was meant as a kind of parade to draw attention to one of the most important resources for Cambodia, as well as the rest of South East Asia, since it also runs through Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Right now, Laos is proposing a dam that could do irreversible damage to the river. Not enough research has been done to determine what the side-effects might be and environmental experts are advising that they take more time - up to ten years - to do the research. Still, the dam's construction could begin as early as April.

We will see what happens after the next meeting, but apparently the majority of the committee is more interested in the relatively small economic benefits than the environmental impact.

Nevertheless, we had a great day. The water is warm and the current is fast.

Even the Cambodians got a little burnt!

Prints and Cards Still Available

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe how much support all of you have shown me and the Cambodian Rural Development Team! I really can't thank you enough. I can't wait to get into the part of the blog that is actually about Cambodia, but for now, I must take care of these financial logistics (and I'm not in Cambodia yet!).

Some people have been asking if prints and cards can still be ordered. The answer is yes! Although I have cemented the order to the printer, I have many extra prints and cards up for grabs. I have posted ALL of the prints available below.

There are also lots of cards, and you can request which paintings you want on them, but I can't guarantee that they will be available. Let's call them an "assortment"...like donuts.

I have one more thing to add if you've read this far. Due to an issue with the quality of the large format printing, I am going to be printing all paintings on 11" x 17" card stock. This means that the prints will be slightly smaller, but the good news is they will look much better AND they will fit more conveniently into a standard picture frame, so you don't need to get expensive custom frames. If this is a really big issue for anyone, please let me know.

Now for the updated list of prints available:

Birch Reflections 11" x 17"

Birch Trees SOLD OUT

Chief 11" x 17"

Country House 11" x 17"

Keremeos 11" x 17"

Long Forest 11" x 17"

Mushroom Forest 11" x 17"

Newfoundland 11" x 17"

Niagara Winter 11" x 17"

Surf 11" x 17"

Trees on Wood 11" x 17"

Windy Tree 11" x 17"

Last Chance to Order Custom Prints!

NEW! Greeting cards, 5"x7"

Hi all!

Thanks to much help and support, my fundraising for Cambodia is becoming a success. I've raised almost half of the money that I need to get there, with over 40 prints ordered in Toronto and Vancouver!

Now I am in the process of ordering the prints from the printer. I will still be ordering extras, so if you haven't had a chance to order yet, there is one for you! However, I will only be printing extras of the two most popular prints "Mushroom Forest" and "Birch Trees".

But wait, there's more! I am also going to be printing a bunch of greeting cards, because who doesn't need greeting cards? They will be assorted prints of all the images on my website. They cost $5 each or 5 for $20.


Thanks again for all of your support!

Getting Ready for Cambodia

As some of you know, I am leaving for Cambodia on March 20th to volunteer with a Cambodian NGO called the Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT). This organization is trying to improve the living standards of subsistence communities in rural Cambodia by giving communities alternatives to support their ecosystems. The projects advise on renewable resources and appropriate agricultural technologies in order to help conserve the forest and prevent illegal poaching.

Since this organization is run primarily by Cambodians, my role will be to help staff learn English so that they can communicate their projects to the international organizations that fund them.

The organization asks that I pay for my flight, immunization shots (which are expensive and painful!) and daily expenses to the community that will be hosting me. Thankfully, they are not "charging" me to volunteer beyond those basics, but the cost of the trip will be between $2,500-$3,000. That's why I'm asking my friends and family for some help raising the money, and anything I raise above my expenses will go directly to CRDT.

Prints for Sale!

Instead of asking for money, I would like to sell high-quality prints of my paintings. Here are the prints available so far:

Birch Trees, 11" x 17"-  SOLD OUT

Mushroom Forest, 11"x17" - $35

Niagara Winter, 11"x17" - $35

All prints will be printed on thick card stock in full colour with a white border. For more print possibilities, see my website at www.bonicworks.com

If you are not personally interested in buying a print, maybe you know someone who is. Please pass this along! I only have to sell 100 prints to meet my goal.

Thanks!