Adventures in Northeastern Cambodia

About six weeks ago I got to take an amazing work trip, courtesy of a visit from our Regional Environmental Officer, Jim Waller, who is based in Bangkok. We spent six days in Stung Treng and Ratanakiri, two remote and sparsely populated northeastern provinces an 8-12 hour drive from Phnom Penh. (Stung Treng town and Banlung, the capitals of Stung Treng and Ratanakiri provinces, are shown on the map below.)

The focus of the trip was to look at the impact of dams in Vietnam on three rivers that feed in to the Mekong--the Sesan, Sekong, and Srepok rivers. We also investigated illegal logging and quasi-legal logging and economic land concessions in the region.

We started out with a trip up the Mekong River from Stung Treng town. In typical fashion, the Cambodians insisted that Jim and I get two of the few life vests even though we both knew how to swim and several of the Cambodians along didn't.

Jim and I perch on top of the boat, while our driver Sideth and translator Sethy stand on the deck with community members from one of the towns along the river.

The Mekong is wide and beautiful, and we saw animals out for a drink, a "flooded forest" and the endangered dolphins I blogged about seeing in January (no photos of those this time.)

Our big adventure was hiking up jagged rocks up to the Khone Falls, which form the border between Laos and Cambodia. I knew we were going to be close to the waterfalls and so asked if we could visit them. A long conversation in Khmer (most of which I didn't follow) ensued between our translator and the leader of the trip. Then came the one word summary: "Okay." What they didn't tell me is that the boat we were taking was too big to navigate the shallower waters near the falls, and we'd need to switch to two motorized canoes (which they'd have to go looking for, and one of which was piloted by someone who looked to be about 12), go up rapids, and even then we wouldn't be able to boat all the way to the falls.

It was a real adventure to get to the waterfalls, but Jim was determined to make it and I was happy to push aside the rest of the schedule to make it happen. He was the big shot visitor, after all, and I was happy for an excuse for an adventure. After riding various boats, leaving half the group at a rock outcropping in the middle of the river so the more experienced boat pilot could lead each boat over the rapids, and a long, strenuous, and extremely hot hike without water or food, we finally reached the falls. Surely one of the more remote places on the planet, and well worth the trip.

Our plan had been to get back to the community where we started for lunch and a discussion of changes in rivers and forests in their area and its impact on their lives. We did go back, but we were three hours late after our waterfall diversion. Fortunately, no one minded, and we arrived hot and famished, wolfed down lunch, and had a good conversation.

The next day was important but less exciting day of meeting government officials and NGO leaders in Stung Treng. (Sadly, a few weeks after our trip an activist for one of the NGOs we met with was killed--some said because of his work in promoting villagers' rights to use and protect forest and river resources.)

Then it was off to Ratanakiri by way of a small and remote ethnic Phnong village on the banks of the Srepok, one of the rivers slated to be dammed. We had to drive three hours through the forest on what was essentially a dirt track to reach the village. Rainy season had just started and I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to make it in on the muddy track.

At one point, after about two hours of driving through the forest with no people in sight, I was worried that we were on the wrong path. I asked the NGO rep who was leading us how many times he had visited this village and, sensing my worry, he laughed and said, "Only once, and that was more than a year ago!" At another point, our car was surrounded by tons of big black flying insects and I asked my translator what they were. He consulted with the NGO rep and then told me, "I don't know what you call them in English, but they suck your blood." Comforting! I passed around the Deep Woods Off.

Despite my misgivings and with several stops to push the car, put branches, etc under the tires to get traction, we made it.

Beautiful meadow and flowers on our way to the Kbal Romeas ("Rhino Head") Phnong village. (And, yes, those faint tracks in the meadow were the road!)

Getting to the village on the dirt track was a real challenge. Here we are bringing back fallen logs to put on the muddy road to help our SUV get some traction. I wasn't sure that we'd make it to the village, but we did!

Ethnic Phnong home and children. There are several different minority groups who live in northeast Cambodia, and the Phnong are among the most numerous. They live in really remote areas, and only in the last year or two did researchers announce that they had figured out a way to write the language. Whereas ethnic minorities in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos have often retained their colorful traditional clothing, in Cambodia they tend to wear Khmer or used Western clothes. Many have suggested that this is a good thing, as it will not beckon the hordes of Western tourists who descend on ethnic minority villages in neighboring countries.

In a country where 80% of the population lives in rural areas, I think field travel--and specifically getting a sense of what the issues and perspectives are outside Phnom Penh--is one of my most important jobs. But it's often very difficult to find the time to get away from the daily grind of the office. A work visitor, like Jim, provides the perfect motivation/excuse to make that field travel happen rather than put it off, and means that superiors will almost certainly sign off on the trip.

In the field, we spend a lot of time like this, meeting with local communities and listening to their concerns. Despite the fact that this community was dramatically affected by construction of a dam upstream in Vietnam, no one had ever come to meet with them to talk to them about the construction or what would happen to water levels. They already reported floods during the dry season which destroyed crops and increased pollution in the river.

During our conversations with communities, men and women consistently segregated themselves, and the men dominated the conversation. We purposefully tried to solicit the women's opinions but they were reluctant to talk and, frankly, their few comments were often not as insightful as the men's. It really seemed as if their realm was the family and day to day life, while the men were the ones who kept track of the outside world.

After our meeting with the Phnong community, we high-tailed it to Banlung, the capital of Ratanakiri, where we had a 4:30 meeting with the Ministry of Environment. When we arrived (just in the nick of time) we learned that the provincial governor had cancelled our meeting. Apparently he was offended that we were meeting other provincial officials before we were meeting him. In reality, we had scheduled that meeting for the afternoon after the Phnong village because it was less important and we knew we might be running late. We scheduled the governor for 8 am the next day because we knew we wouldn't miss the appointment. Ironically, the next day the governor was unable to meet with us so we met with the vice governor instead.

The good news about the meeting being cancelled is that it gave us extra time to visit Yaklom Lake, a small but very beautiful lake just outside of Banlung. I went back to the lake at sunrise the next day for a terrific run.

Mist rising off Yaklom Lake

Jim and I enjoy walking through the bamboo forest on the trail around the lake.

My favorite photo from the trip. Sunset at the lake as seen from the bamboo forest.

After our leisurely stroll around the lake, Jim (being even more adventurous than I) wanted to sample some of the local delicacies on offer at the little snack shop. So we shared two jugs of a very unusual type of rice wine, which is also found in the central highlands of Vietnam. Somehow, husked rice is "dry fermented" and packed in these ceramic pots. To get to the wine, you pour in bottled water, and then suck out the rice wine with bamboo straws. Just like a tea bag, you can add more water and get more rice wine, though it gets more dilute each time. It tasted surprisingly good, and we even asked the driver to take some back to Phnom Penh for us, though unfortunately he had to leave in a hurry to avoid a rainstorm and wasn't able to.

Not wanting to drink on an empty stomach, we also had grilled, marinated deer jerky and grilled dried snake. And rice, of course. This is Cambodia after all. (OK, to be honest, I went back to the hotel and had a lovely western meal afterwards.)

Sethy and I drinking the delicious rice wine.

This was the adorable son of the food stand owner. He loved watching us snack and chat.

The next day we went to the "3S River Celebration," an NGO-organized consciousness-raising and information-sharing event to bring together people from communities along the 3S rivers (Sesan, Sekong, and Srepok) who have been or maybe affected by the damming. While Cambodian villagers--many who were poor and various ethnic minorities--came from fairly long distances to attend, unfortunately only one government official showed up.

Consciousness-raising Cambodia-style. The event was held in the meeting hall of a pagoda, and we all sat on the floor...for hours...and you can't let your feet point at anyone because that is considered incredibly rude. (Because we were the VIPs, we were seated in front facing the audience. I'm in the white t-shirt behind the post in the middle of the photo.) Physical flexibility and a high tolerance for discomfort should be hiring criteria for the Foreign Service.

Talking to the press after the event.

On this trip, even going home was an adventure--we booked tickets in a tiny Cessna. The plane is operated by Missionary Aviation Fellowship, whose main goal is--you guessed it--to get missionaries into and out of remote places. However, they don't have enough business from just missionaries, so they also take NGOs and embassies (but not the general public). At $100 for a one-way plane ticket and a 1 1/2 hour ride vs. a 12 hour drive, they were a great deal! But what a tiny plane! Only six seats (including the pilot) and Jim had to sit in the co-pilot's seat.

We had also hoped to fly up to the northeast, but the plane was already booked so we had to drive instead. Chatting with other passengers on the way back, they said..."Oh, that was the Williamsons. They're missionaries in Mondulkiri and they just got back from home leave in Australia." Imagine one family (with four kids) is enough to sell out the whole airplane!

Our tiny plane...

and the tiny airport. The airport was never actually unlocked. We just stood under the little roof at the entrance to get out of the rain. Shortly before the plane was to land, the pilot called a moto driver on a cell phone and the moto driver went to get all the joy-riders off the dirt runway.

See that little wooden structure with the funky roof on the left? That's the control tower. And no one was inside.

The views from the plane were amazing. Here you can see illegal logging in progress.

And on a happier note, here is the Mekong, weaving its way through the Cambodian countryside.

Health update

Some of you have heard that I've had back problems for a few years, but they recently have taken a turn for the worse. It appears from an x-ray I had done on Monday that I've got a compressed disk, that may be herniated. They can't tell from the x-ray, and I'll maybe be going to Bangkok for an MRI in the next few weeks, but for the moment I'm just seeing a physical therapist a few times each week. I'm getting good care, no need to worry, but I am learning a bit about chronic pain. No fun. So if you get a grumpy e-mail or phone call, you'll know what's going on.

A new low for approval ratings

George W. Bush made Ben cry yesterday. I was reading the Economist at lunch, and Ben decided he needed to sit on my lap. He grabbed a subscription card out, and was looking at the old cover images that were all over it. He pointed to a few and asked what they were, so I told him. He then pointed to a picture of Bush, and asked who he was. I said "that's our president, Ben". He proceeded to start crying and saying "NOOOOOO! I don't want him to be President!!!" I could only reply by saying "neither do I, buddy".

History Repeats Itself

In grad school, I wrote my thesis about how government and rebel forces used the 1984 Ethiopian famine and the food aid that it spurred to perpetuate their civil war. For me, it was an eye-opening lesson in how foreigners operating under the best of intentions can make situations worse rather than better, and how difficult it is to make foreign aid effective, particularly in conflict situations.

Sadly, this New York Times article shows that similar issues are cropping up again, more than 20 years after the famous 1984 famine.

July 22, 2007

Ethiopia Is Said to Block Food to Rebel Region

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 21 — The Ethiopian government is blockading emergency food aid and choking off trade to large swaths of a remote region in the eastern part of the country that is home to a rebel force, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation, Western diplomats and humanitarian officials say.

The Ethiopian military and its proxy militias have also been siphoning off millions of dollars in international food aid and using a United Nations polio eradication program to funnel money to their fighters, according to relief officials, former Ethiopian government administrators and a member of the Ethiopian Parliament who defected to Germany last month to protest the government’s actions.

The blockade takes aim at the heart of the Ogaden region, a vast desert on the Somali border where the government is struggling against a growing rebellion and where government soldiers have been accused by human rights groups of widespread brutality.

Humanitarian officials say the ban on aid convoys and commercial traffic, intended to squeeze the rebels and dry up their bases of support, has sent food prices skyrocketing and disrupted trade routes, preventing the nomads who live there from selling their livestock. Hundreds of thousands of people are now sealed off in a desiccated, unforgiving landscape that is difficult to survive in even in the best of times.

“Food cannot get in,” said Mohammed Diab, the director of the United Nations World Food Program in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government says the blockade covers only strategic locations, and is meant to prevent guns and matériel from reaching the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the rebel force that the government considers a terrorist group. In April, the rebels killed more than 60 Ethiopian guards and Chinese workers at a Chinese-run oil field in the Ogaden.

“This is not a government which punishes its people,” said Nur Abdi Mohammed, a government spokesman.

But Western diplomats have been urging Ethiopian officials to lift the blockade, arguing that the many people in the area are running out of time. “It’s a starve-out-the-population strategy,” said one Western humanitarian official, who did not want to be quoted by name because he feared reprisals against aid workers. “If something isn’t done on the diplomatic front soon, we’re going to have a government-caused famine on our hands.”

The blockade, which involves soldiers and military trucks cutting off the few roads into the central Ogaden, comes as Congress is increasingly concerned about Ethiopia’s human rights record.

Ethiopia is a close American ally and a key partner in America’s counterterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa, a region that has become a breeding ground for Islamic militants, many of whom have threatened to wage a holy war against Ethiopia.

The country receives nearly half a billion dollars in American aid each year, but this week, a House subcommittee passed a bill that would put strict conditions on some of that aid and ban Ethiopian officials linked to rights abuses from entering the United States. The House also recently passed an amendment, sponsored by J. Randy Forbes, a Virginia Republican, that stripped Ethiopia of $3 million in assistance to “send a strong message that if they don’t wake up and pay attention, more money will be cut,” Mr. Forbes said.

Ethiopia’s pardon on Friday of 30 political prisoners who had been sentenced to life in prison could ease some criticism. But Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, is pushing ahead with measures to more closely vet assistance to the Ethiopian military. According to human rights groups and firsthand accounts, government troops have gang raped women, burned down huts and killed civilians.

American officials in Ethiopia said they were trying to investigate the situation but that the Ogaden was too dangerous right now for a fact-finding mission. American officials said they had heard persistent reports of burned villages and that the blockade was putting the area on the cusp of a crisis.

Villagers say that anyone who criticizes the government risks getting killed. According to Ogaden Online, a Canadian-based news service that has been highly critical of the Ethiopian government and covers the region through a network of reporters and contributors, some equipped with satellite phones, four young men who were videotaped by The New York Times at a community meeting in an Ogaden village in May were later tortured and executed.

The claim could not be fully verified independently, but their identities may have been discovered by Ethiopian soldiers who had arrested three journalists for The Times in the Ogaden and confiscated their notebooks, cameras and computers.

“The army is out of control,” said Jemal Dirie Kalif, the member of Parliament who defected.

The blockade has been in place since early June, and thousands of people have already fled on foot and by camel. Two weeks ago, Abdullahi Mohammed, a 17-year-old student, walked from his village deep in the Ogaden to the nearest town with a bus station. He carried with him a few pieces of bread. He said that when he stopped to ask villagers in the Ogaden for food, they asked him for some instead. “They had nothing,” he said.

Though good rains this year have fed the few crops in the area and provided a little cushion, “The most these people can last without facing serious problems is one month, maybe two,” said David Throp, country director for Save the Children UK.

Even if relief trucks are allowed in to all the critical areas, the food might not reach the people who need it. According to humanitarian workers and several former Ethiopian officials, including Mr. Kalif, food aid is embezzled in two stages. First, soldiers skim sacks of grain, tins of vegetable oil and bricks of high-energy biscuits from food warehouses to sell at local markets.

“The cash is distributed among security officers and regional officers,” a former government administrator from the Ogaden region said in a recent telephone interview on condition of anonymity because he still works with government officials.

Then the remaining food is hauled out to rural areas where the soldiers divert part of it to local gunmen and informers as a reward for helping them fight the rebels. The former administrator said he also knew of specific cases in which army officers stole food from warehouses and gave it to the families of women whom their soldiers had raped, as compensation.

Several Western humanitarian officials estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the donor countries’ food aid to the Ogaden — aid that last year was valued at more than $70 million — routinely disappears this way. To cover their tracks, the soldiers and the government administrators who work with them tell the aid agencies that the food has spoiled, or has been stolen or hijacked by the rebels, humanitarian officials said.

Relief workers in Ethiopia have known about these problems for several years, a humanitarian official said, and have tried to set up committees of local elders to oversee distribution. But that did not work either, and aid officials eventually concluded that as long as the majority of the food was getting through, they would not stop the shipments.

When informed about these allegations, Mr. Diab of the World Food Program said, “This is the first I’ve heard of them.”

Mr. Mohammed, the government spokesman, denied that Ethiopian troops were pilfering or mishandling foreign aid. “We don’t do that,” he said.

As the food crisis looms, Western diplomats are also concerned about a separate plan by the regional government in the Ogaden to divert a share of its own budget for development projects — like schools and farming — to the Ethiopian military.

This seems to be part of the Ethiopian government’s strategy to do whatever it takes to crush the rebels, who have deep popular support and, according to the government, are getting arms and training from neighboring Eritrea, Ethiopia’s bitter enemy.

The people of the Ogaden are mostly Somalis and ethnically distinct from the highland Ethiopians who have ruled the country for centuries, and the long battle over the region has been steadily escalating this year. The country director of one Western aid agency, who recently returned from a field visit there, said he saw two villages that had been burned to the ground and several schools that had been converted into military bases, with foxholes.

Humanitarian officials say the military is building up militias and setting the stage for clan-based bloodshed. The rank and file of the Ogaden National Liberation Front tend to be members of the Ogaden clan, and so the government has turned to other clans to form anti-rebel militias. In the past few weeks, thousands of men have been armed.

“Those Ethiopians are smart,” Mr. Kalif, 32, said. “They know Somalis are more loyal to clans than anything else.” Tactics like these, he said, drove him to defect June 20 while attending a conference in Wiesbaden, Germany. He was affiliated with the ruling party, and had been representing an area in the eastern Ogaden for the past seven years.

He described a scheme with a United Nations polio program, which was corroborated by two former administrators in the Ethiopian government and a Western humanitarian official, in which military commanders gave prized jobs as vaccinators to militia fighters, and in the end, much of the polio vaccine was never distributed.

“Army commanders are using the polio money to pay their people, who don’t pass out the vaccines, so the disease continues and the payments continue,” said Mr. Kalif. “It’s the perfect system.” United Nations officials in Geneva said they did not know whether that was happening, but that they would investigate.

When asked how he knew about the polio scheme, Mr. Kalif said: “Everybody out there knows. They’re just too scared to talk.”

“If I don’t get asylum and they send me back to my country, I’m dead,” he added. “But I was sick of being a parrot. I have no regrets.”

Will Connors contributed reporting from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Aw...shucks

So, over the weekend, Ellie and I had a rough afternoon where I got fed up with her for not settling down to rest quietly or take a nap (and most importantly, keeping me awake). So eventually I woke Nathan up from his nap and made him take over, and he made Ellie sleep in a pack in play in the guest room, when she really wants to nap in the bedroom she shares with Ben.

After the nap, I was feeling a little guilty for not having infinite patience, when Ellie came up to me and sweetly crawled into my lap and snuggled in. Then she turned to me and said, "Mom, when I grow up I want to be just like you." I smiled, my heart warmed, and I tried to mentally save this moment so I could cherish this ultimate compliment.

I turned to her and said, "How do you want to be like me, sweetie?" She looked up at me sweetly and replied...

"When I grow up, I want to wear nail polish on my toes, too."

New Photos from Spandeland

Nathan and I have been doing an awful lot of travelling recently, but we do still have regular old moments at home and out and about in Phnom Penh. Here are some of the less exotic things we've been up to lately. (Pics from Nathan's trip to Geneva, Jen's trip to NE Cambodia, and our weekend away in Kampot to follow...sometime.)

Smiley guys

Ellie loves to be the same as the rest of us...same color shirt, same color pants, or in this case, convincing mommy to adopt the same hairstyle

Hunter Ben, cunningly disguised as a pig, stalks a peacefully sleeping mommy, wielding his mailing tube bazooka

Nathan and the kids hunt for Easter eggs at the embassy

Ben and Ellie love their new mouse slippers from Aunt Jess...


...and their Hmong clothes that Mommy brought back from Laos

Reading with Senin

Reading with Somany...maybe the helmet keeps all the new words in?

Naptime in Spandeland

Ben and Teacher Lisa play games at school in celebration of International Children's Day

Mommy, Ben, and Ellie with the piece d'resistance: Ben's baptism day cake

Water Festival in Laos

Sorry all for the radio silence from our end for quite a while. Life has been busy, per usual, and I find that I only have time to focus on one computer-related task at a time. So I've been having a long email conversation and restocking some staples via the internet rather than blogging. Plus, I've also done a fair amount of traveling.

Speaking of traveling, here are the long-awaited photos of my trip to Laos over Water Festival (yes, that was in April, two months ago).

After traveling to Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, and Thailand as a family, Nathan and I decided to try something different: separate grown-ups only vacations. We're close to exhausting the reasonably cheap family-friendly vacation spots in the region, and we were both struck by how expensive even a cheap family vacation was. Once you pay for all the plane tickets, two hotel rooms or a suite, airport and visa fees, and all those meals out, you're paying an awful lot...especially when you consider that a lot of our time is spent doing kid-oriented things we don't think are too exciting or unique to that area--visiting parks, zoos, and swimming pools. The price for each visit Nathan and I get to make to a museum or other locally unique site is pretty high. So, we decided that we'd do some less kid-friendly travel separately. I would spend a week in Laos with my married friends Cullen and Vanessa in April, while the next month Nathan would help his Geneva-bound friend look for houses and schools there.

Vientiane

Lonely Planet describes Vientiane as "the world's most laid-back capital city" and it's hard to argue with that description. On the banks of the Mekong, this sleepy low rise city feels a little bit like Phnom Penh with half the people and one tenth of the cars. We rented bikes every day to get around, and that was a blast. Biking on Phnom Penh roads is foolhardy as the traffic is crazy, but it was a stress-free experience in Vientiane, and since temps were in the 90s we were glad for the extra breeze.

Sleepy Vientiane from the city center

Vanessa and I in front of Patuxai, a beautiful monument built in the 1960s with American-donated cement intended for construction of a new airport, leading expats to refer to it as the "vertical runway."

Pha That Luang is the most important national monument in Laos. It's a giant stupa, supposedly holding the a piece of the Buddha's breastbone. From a distance, it looks a lot like a gilded missile cluster.

Adorable twins hanging out on the banks of the Mekong at sunset.

Now, those pictures of Vientiane only give you part of the picture. In between chatting with cute kids and visiting pretty monuments, we were also trying and failing to avoid getting completely soaked. We were taking advantage of the Khmer New Year holiday to travel to Laos. Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia all celebrate their new year in April, but Thailand and Laos, they take it a step further...

Lao New Year (Bun Pi May) is the traditional time to clean the house, put on new clothes, and wash Buddha statues. Water that touches the Buddha statues becomes holy and is collected and taken home for later use.

Now, the Laos have a real reputation as a not terribly serious or industrious folk who really enjoy having a good time. "Fun" is an important cultural value, much the way that the Protestant work ethic or the American dream shape our culture. So, those fun-loving Laos decided that Buddhas weren't the only thing that needed to get wet during their country's hottest month.

As a result, Lao New Year is basically like a three-day, drunk block party meets mega water fight, with groups of people standing outside drinking beer and dancing, buckets and super soakers ready to soak anyone who comes down the street. It's all very good natured and people are actually very considerate about getting you wet. They do a very thorough job, but often pour the water right down your neck where it really cools you off. Foreigners are especially valued targets. Here you can see the women holding buckets about to get this pair on a moto.

This young girl was armed and ready--part of one of many groups of young people that were roaming around on the back of pick up trucks looking for victims. Some of the most fun was watching two groups of teenagers in pick ups soak each other completely.

Near the end of the three days of wet fun, we were all starting to get a bit tired of the process and longed to just go about our touring in dry clothes. One afternoon we were walking back to our hotel in clothes that had mostly dried from our most recent soaking when I saw this young man in the black t-shirt a few feet ahead of me holding a 5 gallon bucket full of water and smiling at me. He was clearly going to enjoy making the nearly dry blond foreigner his next victim. Instead, I surprised him by grabbing the bucket and to my surprise, he good naturedly let me pour all five gallons on him! In the end, though, the joke was on me as he then gently grabbed me by the arm and led me to where his friends were a few feet away and asked me politely in his best broken English: "Please to sit in the water bucket." It was clear that I wasn't going to get away without a bit of a struggle and seeming like a big grump, so I decided to take my turn graciously and laughed while I sat in the bucket and got completely soaked again. Fortunately, my friends were nearby to take my camera from me (the Laos were very considerate about waiting for me to hand that off before dousing me) and taking this photo!

Vang Vieng

After a long, wet, fun weekend in Vientiane, Cullen headed back to work while Vanessa and I headed north to the small town of Vang Vieng. The town itself isn't very exciting--overrun with backpackers and restaurants serving pizza, pot, and re-runs of Friends, but the setting is absolutely spectacular. (Thanks to Liz for recommending this stop!) We avoided the backpackers, who seemed awfully immature to us old foogies, and soaked up the beautiful surroundings.

Clouds moving in over Vang Vieng's distinctive limestone karst formations.

In addition to cycling around on our own and getting great massages, Vanessa and I also did a day-long caving and kayaking tour.

This cave was over a little creek...

...so the only way in was by inner tube, with flashlights on our foreheads!

After caving and a terrific lunch of grilled kebabs at the cave, Vanessa and I kayaked 10 km down the Nam Song river.

Luang Prabang

We had taken a bus north from Vientiane to Vang Vieng and our original plan had been to continue north by bus from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. However, in Laos we learned from embassy friends that there had been several recent armed guerrilla attacks on locals and foreigners alike on the highway just north of Vang Vieng--a reminder that the insurgency still bubbles up now and again in Laos. We didn't want to miss out on anything on our itinerary nor did we want to take our chances with the guerrillas, so we bussed back from Vang Vieng to Vientiane and then flew to Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is a sleepy, lovely little French outpost in northern Laos. Exactly the sort of place where it is wonderful to be an adult with a friend, cycling around, reading in coffee shops (I read about 900 pages during the week), visiting temples, and just relaxing. But where it would be lethal to be with bored kids who don't enjoy those things, and where there is nary a swimming pool or zoo to be found.

Wat Xieng Thong, one of the largest and most beautiful of Luang Prabang's many temples.

Beautiful detail at Wat Xieng Thong

Luang Prabang has a bustling night market (which actually gets started in the late afternoon). We found this friendly and saavy Hmong vendor there, who was only too happy to pose for a photo for us, and then entice us to try on some of her clothes, knowing that we'd buy some things to say thank you.

It was a great trip, and just the right amount of time with terrific company!

Recent events

Things have been pretty quiet here recently. Jen is currently in Laos with some friends, and I've been home all week on my own with them. For the first part of the week we really tested my sanity since it was Khmer New Year, and having our staff work would be like forcing you all to work on Christmas. It just isn't done. So the three of us spent four days with no help, and managed with only a few minor bruises (this is of course literal - Ben still can't get over hitting, head bonking, and biting his Daddy and sister).

Prior to that we had a good run of health in the family, suffering only from a cold or two, when Ben managed to slam his thumb in the big metal door on our stairs. This was of course a traumatic experience for him, but it may have been worse for Jen and me. There was a fairly significant amount of blood spurting out, and we rushed him to the clinic for an after-hours fixup. We were fortunate that our friend, a British doctor there, happened to stop by, and when she saw who it was decided to take care of him personally. I'll spare you all the details, but no stitches were needed under the nail, but the nail will fall off any day now. It still hurts him a bit, but it is slowly but surely getting better.

That's about all our news. I continue to write for Dark Reading, only now they are paying me for it, which is a good thing I think. Work for Jen is a always challenging and constantly changing, most recently with the bust of a major drug production facility near Phnom Penh. Tons (literally) of chemicals for making meth were found, and as the point person for drug issues here, she's been doing a bunch of work on that.

That's about all for now. I'm sure Jen will have some great photos of her trip to put up soon, so keep checking in!

Long overdue photos

I just noticed that we haven't blogged for a month. Certainly there isn't much news, but we do have some photos from Grandma Beth's and Grandpa Dick's February visit. They were here in February, spending a few weeks with us around Ben's second birthday.
Here we have the balloon man preparing for Ben's party with friends, with Grandpa Dick providing some nice ballast (that's a rubber duckie) so his balloon doesn't float away.

We had a few of his friends come over, including Lucca and Lucy, who have their backs to the camera, and Thomas (whose face is actually visible), who is being held by his dad the Ambassador.

Here Grandma Beth helps the kids open up presents, which included the basketball hoop and several books and games, including one book that is also a game.
We took a trip to the water park, which is not nearly as bad as you might expect a water park in Cambodia to be, and Ben spent almost the entire time playing with Grandma Beth.
And of course no visit would be complete without a grumpy child sitting with Grandpa Dick being silly.

Peter Pan in Church and other Cutisms

Here are some more good vingettes from the kiddos...

Today we took the kids to the embassy playroom in the afternoon. Ben and Ellie crawled up into a plastic playhouse and Ellie told us she was in church. She then told us where the priest stood (no doubt the influence of the Catholic Church we had been attending here...no mainstream Protestant churches to be found!) and that they were listening to the sermon. Then we had a bit of a divergence as she said that John and Michael were sitting next to her and Ben. When I remarked that those just happened to be the names of two of the kids in Peter Pan, she said, "Yes, and I'm Wendy and Ben is Peter Pan!"

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(With apologies to Andy...) A few weeks ago we were talking about some gift that my sister Jessica had given to Ben and Ellie and we used the opportunity to review the family tree a little. I said, "And who is married to Aunt Jess?" Ben didn't hesitate before saying "Christmas!"

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Beth and Dick gave Ben a "talking" car and removable driver for his birthday that says things like "vroom vroom". It also says "Full Speed Ahead" which has been misheard by the kids into cute nicknames for the toy. Ben calls the driver Eeda (as in "Full Sp...Eeed a ...head") and Ellie calls him "Old Beater Head"!

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A few months ago, as Ben was still mastering greetings, he got confused by the different things we'd say to our cleaner, Somany, when she left for the day. Usually we'd say "See you tomorrow!" but on Saturdays we'd say "See you on Monday!". Ben decided to cover both bases by making his standard farewell "See you tomonday!"

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Another oldie but goodie...last year as Ellie was learning all the lingo about our lives here in Cambodia, she used to always get confused by our local English language paper, The Cambodia Daily, and the hotel where we go swimming, The Cambodiana. When we mentioned going swimming, she would say, "Are we going to the Hotel Cambodi-daily-ana?"

Another Item in the Annals of Foreign Policy Gone Wrong

Well, our local English language daily is continuing to ask questions about our drug report. A story they plan to run early next week will cast doubt on the drug estimates we used, based on an estimate from the recognized leading drug expert in the country, and will contrast it with the government's official line--a number 1/25 of the estimate we used, and based on assumptions like 1. all drug users in the country have been reported to the police 2. each drug user takes one amphetamine pill per day and 3. no drugs transit through Cambodia on their way to other countries.

Fortunately, once again a foreign government (well, in this case, Ambassador) has been reported by the press in an embarrassing situation, reminding me that some diplomats are answering far tougher questions than I am!

Israel recalls ambassador found naked

Diplomat, wearing sex bondage gear, found outside El Salvador residence

The Associated Press

Updated: 1:31 p.m. ET March 12, 2007

JERUSALEM - Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after he was found naked, bound and drunk, according to Israeli media reports confirmed Monday by a government spokeswoman.

The longtime diplomat, Tsuriel Raphael, has been removed from his post and the Foreign Ministry has begun searching for a replacement, said ministry spokeswoman Zehavit Ben-Hillel.

Two weeks ago, El Salvador police found Raphael in the yard of his residence, tied up, gagged with a ball and drunk, Israeli media reported. He was wearing sex bondage equipment, the media said. After he was untied, Raphael told police he was the ambassador of Israel, the reports said.

Ben-Hillel said the reports were accurate and that Raphael has been recalled, although he did not break any laws.

“We’re talking about behavior that is unbecoming of a diplomat,” she said.

The ambassador did not file a police complaint in the incident, she said.

Raphael had served for six months as the ambassador in El Salvador and for several years at different missions around the world, she said.

The embarrassing affair was one of several involving Israeli diplomats in recent years. In 2000, Israel’s ambassador to France died of cardiac arrest in a Paris hotel under circumstances the Foreign Ministry refused to publicize. Media reports said he was with a woman who was not his wife at the time.

Last year, Israel replaced its ambassador to Australia, Naftali Tamir, after he said Israel and Australia are “like sisters” because both are located in Asia and their peoples don’t have the Asian characteristics of “yellow skin and slanted eyes.”

In 2005, Israel canceled the appointment of a diplomat to Australia after it was discovered that he published pictures of nude Brazilian women on the Internet while on a mission in Brazil.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Good, Bad, and the Downright Hilarious

Well, it's not even 3 pm and it's already been an up and down weekend.

This morning, after starting up a bit roughly with Ellie waking Ben at 5:30 am, I called my friend Andrea in Chile and had a lovely time chatting. We haven't spoken for several months, so it was really nice to get caught up with her.

Then I opened up the Cambodia Daily only to read the headline "Some Question Numbers in US Drug Report". Hey, that was my drug report that we just published! Who was questioning those numbers? Either due to shoddy journalism or the inaccurate memories of people I interviewed three months ago (Washington's deadline for submitting the Cambodia part of the report, which they only released publicly this week), the report seemed to imply that I used old numbers from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime and described them as new numbers from the World Health Organization. In fact, I was quoting a WHO estimate based on trends since the UNODC report was done. I was downright pissed, feeling like I got egg on my face and just waiting for some senior embassy person to call me up and yell at me. Fortunately, the embassy consensus so far seems to be that it is shoddy journalism to blame, not me.

What really made me feel better, though was to read this headline from the New York Times. Yes, today some Swiss diplomats are answering far tougher questions from the press than I had to. I don't envy them.