The Land of the Constant Horns

I think this must be the first picture of me taken in the desh. It was at a RMMRU presentation on the 22nd of November. Benji is on my right, he was a fellow in RMMRU at the time.

It was a month to the day yesterday till my departure date from the desh. I am having some very mixed feelings about the big event; the most significant realisation is that I am ready to leave this country. I will have been here one year, seven months and twenty days (for reason for exact figures, please refer once again to my entry on ‘Irish Politics’) when I leave on the 28th of June. I am sure I will have a mighty long entry on Bangladesh once I am safely back in Ireland, but the reason for this entry is a document which I came across while cleaning up my files at the weekend. Appropriately titled, ‘The Land of the Constant Horns’, it was written on my fourth day in Dhaka while paying my first visit to Mango Café in Gulshan. I am going to include a few extracts here which caused me great amusement when I read them.

Dubai passed in a flash as I scurried from one plane to the other. Upon entering the boarding area I was struck by the sudden realisation that I was somehow different; everyone else in the boarding area looked Bangladeshi or at least Asian. Rather than feel self-conscious or afraid I felt a sense of excitement at the realization that I was again ‘different’. Having grown up in an environment where blonde girls with freckles were a thing of a place far away, I guess I had become accustomed to the attention. (Used to the attention! What was I thinking? One never gets used to the ‘attention’ in the desh)

About Babu – the Bangaldeshi migrant worker who sat beside me on the plane to Dhaka:
After asking where I was from and why I was bound for Dhaka, he proceeded with the usual interrogation concerning my martial and religious status. It didn’t bother me though, maybe it was the lack of human contact or maybe it was because after the ‘coldness’ of Dublin, this conversation had a real sense of humanity about it. (But after being asked it for the one millionth time in Bangladesh, it has started to bother me just slightly)

The duty free counter looked more like a secondary school tuck shop where you pointed at the treasures just beyond your reach and then half-heartily handed over half your pocket money. (The one next to immigration still does!)

Patience is not virtue in Bangladesh, it is a necessity; I discovered this immediately as we queued for the immigration process. (Very wise words…)

My first CNG trip in Dhaka:
The 45 minute journey was definitely an eye-opener; where Gulshun Avenue had housed palatial accommodation and green trees; the road on which we now found ourselves was a scene of chaos and a vision of the Bangladesh I had pictured so many times over the last three weeks. Although the road consisted of three clearly marked white lines, these seemed to be more for the illusion of a main road rather than any hope that they would be obeyed. Rickshaws, CNGs (consist of a three wheel motorcycle, which runs on natural gas, covered with tarpaulin with room for three on the back), people and cars all fought hard to get through the traffic with no acknowledgment of each other and all of them going on their way with their hands placed firmly on the horns.

I am introduced to a few people and begin to put faces on to the email addresses which I have been communicating with. I make my way into the head of the centre’s office who is not in fact Dr. Abrar whom I have been communicating with and was lead to understand was in charge, but rather his wife Professor Tasneem Siddiqui. After a day of travelling and sleep deprivation a discussion around my interests was the last thing on my mind but I launched into a summary of my research experience and my areas of interest and it seemed that I was the only one who could hear the ringing in my head. (The ringing is still there when I talk to ‘min chef’, but it is no longer due to jet lag!)

Horrors in our lifetime

I have thought long and hard about this entry, and I guess in a sense I have avoided writing it for quite a few days; however, I feel that I need to at least acknowledge the fact that I saw and experienced what I did.
Our last day in Cambodia was spent visiting the recent history of the country and its unbelievable horrors – the Khmer Rouge. This involved a visit to the Tuol Sleng museum and The Killing Fields. I can only speak for myself and not for my travelling companion, but I have still not been able to process all I saw, and the mixture of feelings of horror, sadness, and most of all disillusionment. I will give you a few phrases which I wrote to myself that night in my journal to give a small insight into what was running through my mind.
“Words can never express some of the emotions which I have felt today. The cruelty of the species which I call my own is beyond comprehension.”
“The most frightening thought which taunted me the entire time that we were there, was that even as I stood there and tried to process the cruelty, the same is happening today all around the world.”
There is a strange sense of peace at The Killing Fields, which one hopes those people who suffered so much, have finally found. I have heard debates as to whether places like Tuol Sleng and The Killing Fields should be open to the general public; my comment there would be most definitely YES. We need some way of seeing the ‘results’ of the hatred, greed and power which drives so many people to carry out actions which are beyond comprehension. So I would urge you to visit these places of the past as they exist all over the world, and maybe one day there will come a time when they really will become just memories, but which should never be forgotten.

Irish Politics

Bertie cartoon on the front page of The Irish Times today

Ireland is apparently the best place to live in the world... or so they tell me. I have been living away from the Emerald Isle for 16 months and 14 days (my exact figure is due to a certain friend of mine, yes you Tawila, who has a great need for exact dates). However, during this time I have been closely monitoring the 'goings on' on the island and I can say that it has not all been rosy! Today the Irish people are voting for the 30th Dáil or parliament, and it seems too close to call. I am deeply shocked at this fact as the current government is more backward and corrupt then any government in many of the 'developing' countries I have lived in.
Ireland today is a different place to the country I visited in the summers of my childhood. Now the streets are filled with people from all corners of the globe, which is wonderful in terms of the cultural awakening of Ireland, but unfortunately this has not translated itself in the hearts of the Irish people. There is no integration and many immigrants and labour migrants suffer greatly. The crime rate has risen dramatically particularly in the area of gun and drug related crime. One main reason for this entry is that I just heard from one of my in-country sources that a 21 year old woman was being sentenced this morning for murdering a 22 year old woman outside a supermarket in Dublin; she stabbed her in the heart with a knife which she picked up in the shop!
So Bertie, I would ask you to step down and let some 'fresh' blood flow into the veins of Irish politics; where this is to come from I don't quite know, but we need a change and we need it now!
A quote from my very wise in-country source, ‘the corridor culture gets wilder as we approach summer and warm weather winds them up’.

Last day amongst the temples and back to Phnom Penh

Linda left us early Tuesday morning to head back to Dhaka, and Anna and I decided that we had the patience for one more temple. It was a special temple - about 30km from Angkor Wat lies the temple of Banteay Srei with the most wonderful carvings I have ever seen. It is a small temple, they believe it was either built by a scholar to one of the kings or else may have been built by a woman.
On our way back we stopped at a shadow puppet shop - they are wonderful pieces of art and so articulately done. The afternoon involved a tour of the Angkor design facility where local people learn the ancient trades of carving and painting. Six months of the year the fishermen of the area live on the river - literally. They have their houses, schools, restaurants, town hall and even a pool hall all floating on the water. At 7 that evening I had one of the most wonderful experiences of my life - a massage by a blind man. An organisation started this enterprise a few years ago and it has spread all over Cambodia; it is a way of training blind people to give massages and therefore empowering them to make their own living. We ended the day with a wonderful meal at a Khmer restaurant with a bottle of wine.
Wednesday was a long bus journey back to Phnom Penh, an afternoon in the coffee shops and a wonderful evening chez Pia. Tomorrow was going to be a very difficult day - I will write about Thursday as soon as I have gathered enough thoughts to put into words what I felt at I visited the recent past left behind by the Khmer Rouge.


Banteay Srei - the final temple


A boy sitting amidst history with not a care in the world


Me in the arches of the temple


Life on the river


A pretty little house floating on the water


A very cute resident of the floating village

Siem Reap day two - best told in pictures

Although the clouds covered the 5.30am sunrise, the light was amazing and breakfast at 6.30 afterwards was well received


Before entering Angkor Wat we had a photography session with a Cambodian family on holiday in Angkor


The bas reliefs of Angkor Wat - carvings of the past which astound us with their detail and beauty


Monks descend from the heights of Angkor Wat


The otherside of the great Angkor Wat


Lunch with our wonderful tuk tuk driver in the shadows of Angkor Thom


The faces of Bayon in Angkor Thom


Even in the midst of all the temples and ancient history, I manage to locate someone who would tell me the future!!


Preah Palilay - a temple oasis


The lovely four girls we met at Preah Palilay who kept us company for half an hour


Horror of all horrors I am caught kissing a snake on the walls of the Leper King Terrace


The best preserved elephant in Angkor at East Mebon - the last stop of the day

Cambodia - living with the past

The Royal Palace on the riverside in Phnom Penh


Cambodia's independence monument based on the temples of the past


Dinner with Pia at a wonderful French restaurant


Linda suddanly doesn't seem so tall sitting on the Giant Root tree!


Laura Croft's tree from Tomb Raider movie


Another tree....


The corridors of Preah Khan


The dancers of the past


The god Shiva battles with the demons


Dinner at The Dead Fish Tower

Following a brief three hour sleep, we arose again to head off to Cambodia. We were eating breakfast on the riverside in Phnom Penh before I have even turned over most Saturday mornings! I could not believe I was finally in Cambodia, a country with one of the richest ancient civilisations in Asia and one of the most brutal recent histories.
We spent the day strolling the streets and visiting coffee shops, before relaxing in the home of a Swedish lady Pia who works for Sida in Phenom Penh. We sipped cold white wine and gorged ourselves on delicious Swedish cheese and ham, as we listened to some of her experiences of living in Cambodia for the past two years.
After dinner in a wonderful French restaurant we enjoyed a nightcap at the Foreign Correspondents Club before retiring for a brief but well deserved sleep.
The bus left for Siem Reap at 7am. Two interesting experiences from the journey was the care observed by the driver on the narrow roads - a slight difference to what we are used to in Dhaka! The second was getting a lesson in how to eat a cricket, although I abstained from indulging I was intrigued by this Cambodian snack as well as by the trays of fried spiders being carried around. We opted instead for bananas and plain baguettes.
With a brief break for lunch at BouSavy guesthouse for lunch and a shower we headed off into Angkor to discover the secrets of the past.
A brief mention here for my grandfather in Canada, whom I received an email about upon arrival in Siem Reap. He is in hospital in a serious conditions, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
The first afternoon was spent marvelling at the wonder and beauty of the tree temple otherwise known as Ta Prohm. Here we gazed upon the famous Giant Root tree and the Tomb Raider tree, and all the other wonders of the temple which literally has the jungle living in its midst.
Second stop of the day was Preah Khan where apart from a very talkative Indian couple from Delhi who were a wealth of information for us, we were the only other people there. The temple hosted numerous corridors which were illuminated by natural light, as well as a hall of dancers and a god’s room. The carvings on some of the walls were so well in tact that it is hard to comprehend just how old they actually are!
I tried the Cambodian dish Amok (a fish curry) later that night at a wonderful restaurant called The Dead Fish Tower. The restaurant was set on different levels and dancers performed some traditional Cambodian dancing.

'One night in Bangkok' well four actually

Anna enjoys a cocktail on Khaosan road


Linda and I out on the town


Paddy and I surrounded by all his toys


Paddy - the youngest of the O'Brien cousin clan


Linda waits patiently for her long awaited Somtom


The Thai show


The girls watching the show

So welcome back to my blog all of you, it has been a while since I have been away on the trip of a life time - Cambodia. First stop however, was Bangkok for a long promised eating and shopping trip with my Dhaka girls. We left Dhaka on Tuesday morning and following a brief stop in Chittagong we were in the New York of South Asia! It was a wonderful few days spent living it up and eating in the markets and restaurants of Bangkok. Linda acted as our guide and having lived there did it perfectly with not a moment left to spare.
The highlights:
- Good good good food
- Call me shallow but the vast anonymous malls were a blessed change from Gulshan 2!
- The cinema - even though we saw Spider Man 3!
- Meeting me youngest cousin Paddy
- Going to a Thai show
- Hitting a Thai night club on our last evening - fully equipped with a singer in the girls toilet, double toilets, 5 different areas with different genres of music - the Thais definitely know how to party.....
A very special thanks to Linda aka Tawila, for organising a fabulous few days in this hip happening city.
Stay tuned for a full account of Cambodia which will take so many words to even begin to share the experience with you all.