Thursday, April 28, 2005
Hello from Cambodia!
Soosedai (hello) from Phnom Penh!
I am here in the capital city of Cambodia to teach a course on International Commercial Transactions to future attorneys at the Lawyers' Training Center of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Earlier this afternoon, my co-professor, Stefan, and I were finishing a leisurely lunch of shark meat soup at a sidewalk terrace when a boy rode by on a huge elephant as Buddhist monks in their saffron robes weaved past the elephant on their motor scooters to avoid being crushed. At that moment, I was reminded that I am far from home, and so I thought it would be an appropriate time to report back to you on the progress of my trip thus far.
My voyage to Cambodia began in a slightly less exotic locale: I took a quick flight to Toronto. From there, I flew 15 hours direct to Hong Kong, via the North Pole. The view of Baffin Island and the polar ice cap from the airplane was spectacular, with ice and snow as far as the eye could see and no sign of civilization. The flight then took us over Russia, Mongolia and China.
Spending 15 hours in the confines of an airplane was made somewhat bearable by the fact that I had managed to get bumped up to first class, with all of its inherent benefits, including five feet of legroom, a seat that turned into a bed, and videos and video games on demand.
I spent the next 24 hours in Hong Kong before continuing on to Phnom Penh. Although best known for the skyline of Hong Kong Island and the bustling streets of Kowloon, Hong Kong is actually comprised of 235 islands, many of which are sparsely inhabited. Nearly all of the residents of Hong Kong live in apartment buildings, which in some cases reach 70 or more storeys into the air.
The more luxurious apartment buildings are located on the slopes of Victoria Peak. The less luxurious apartment buildings are located in Kowloon and in what are called the New Territories. From the outside, these poorer buildings often appear to be in need of a paint job. Their inhabitants do not seem to own clothes dryers, as they hang their laundry from their windows to dry. The sight of laundry hanging outside all the floors of numerous 40-storey buildings makes some parts of Hong Kong look like the world's biggest laundry room.
Of course, the wealthier parts of Hong Kong are far more impressive. The famous skyline of Hong Kong Island contains three of the world's 11 tallest skyscrapers. At night, I watched a sound and light show from the waterfront in Kowloon during which laser beams were projected from the rooftops of 40 skyscrapers and colourful lights danced along the walls of the same buildings from one end of the Hong Kong skyline to the other, all set to music and perfectly synchronized. This is the sort of centrally planned showpiece that could only happen in a place like China (which now runs Hong Kong as a "Special Administrative Region"). The Chinese may not be allowed to vote, but they do benefit from the best in sound and light shows!
After the sound and light show, I walked around crowded Kowloon, where I was often approached by shady-looking characters who would ask me, "psst … wanna buy a custom-made suit?"
The next morning, I took the famous Star Ferry across the harbour and then the funicular railway to the top of 556-metre Victoria Peak, from where I enjoyed a spectacular view of the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the busy port of Hong Kong.
That afternoon, I took a two-hour flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from where I had last departed 50 weeks earlier. Driving into town from Pochentong Airport, I was struck by how the strange sights of Phnom Penh now seemed oddly familiar to me on this, my second visit. The streets teemed with motorbikes, bicycles, tuk tuks (a form of taxi made up of a small trailer pulled by a motorbike) and cyclos (pedicabs), along with the odd Toyota Camry, Lexus SUV and Mercedes sedan.
After a good night's sleep, I decided to re-acclimate myself to the ways of Phnom Penh. I set out in the 38-degree humidity on what would be a long walk through the local streets. I immediately regained my Cambodian jaywalking skills, which involve crossing the crowded streets very slowly (rather than quickly, as human nature would normally dictate) and allowing the scooters, cars and trucks to weave around you. Along the way, I stopped at several markets and occasionally purchased a bottle of water to keep me going. I walked past the Olympic Stadium (no, Cambodia has never hosted the Olympics - wishful thinking perhaps?)
I also walked by the French embassy, where the last foreigners were holed up when the Khmer Rouge took over in April 1975, the nearby Japanese Bridge across the Tonle Sap River, the Royal Palace and the well-guarded US Embassy, as well as the congested Central Market area. From the nearby central bus station, adjacent to a smelly set of gas pumps, minibuses packed to the rafters with goods and passengers, including several people clinging to the roof of each bus, were departing every few minutes, destined for the countryside. On the side of the road, vendors were selling cockroaches and grasshoppers by the kilogram, presumably as snack food (I passed).
It seemed that the Phnom Penh I knew from last year had not changed significantly. In fact, this place has probably not changed much in the last 25 years. One minor change, though, is that small concrete dividers have been installed in the middle of several major roads, ostensibly to prevent drivers from crossing onto the wrong side of the road. In reality, though, it simply means that drivers who were already driving on the wrong side of the road are forced to stay there.
I eventually ran out of energy and so I flagged down a cyclo pedaled by an old toothless man with leathery skin. I stated the name of my hotel and he nodded knowingly and with enthusiasm. I then made the mistake of assuming that his reaction had meant that he knew where to go, so I settled into the pedicab's seat and stopped paying attention. About 10 minutes later, I looked at a street sign and realized that he had been taking me in the diametrically opposite direction of where I wanted to go. I asked him to stop, gave him a dollar and set out along the street in the blazing sun looking for some form of transportation, which was nowhere to be found. As I was becoming more and more parched, I finally found another cyclo driver, who, like most cyclo drivers, was old, toothless, leathery-skinned and apparently incapable of understanding my instructions. However, with much pointing, I was able to direct him across town to my hotel. After making him pedal for 45 minutes in the scorching midday sun, I felt bad and gave him $5 (which represents 5 days' salary for the average Cambodian). He was absolutely thrilled.
Pedicab operators generally sleep in their "vehicles." Late at night, we often come upon groups of 30 of them asleep on their cyclos, which I suspect in many cases represent the entirety of their worldly possessions.
On Monday morning, we returned to the now-familiar Royal University of Law and Economics on chaotic Monivong Boulevard. We said hello to the staff of the school, all of whom we knew from the previous year. We made our way up to Room C44, the same bare concrete classroom that we had used in 2004, except that this year, they had installed a couple of extra ceiling fans. I still lost five pounds teaching each class. Also, as a result of donations by the governments of Japan and Canada, there was a projector for the PowerPoint presentation that we had prepared in advance.
The students are very enthusiastic this year. There are 60 students, of whom 40 percent are women. The students are 22 years old, on average. We teach in English, with simultaneous translation to Khmer provided by Visnow, our translator. There are less than 400 lawyers in all of Cambodia. Once this year's group graduates, we will have taught 30 percent of all the lawyers in Cambodia!
Once again, not only did we teach law, but we also presented our Western ways of life and business. For instance, since the Gap purchases 30 percent of Cambodia's total exports, it is important that the students understand what the Gap is all about. I showed them a photograph of a typical Gap store, along with a Gap advertisement featuring Madonna. They seemed to be aware of Madonna (but the Gap was new to them).
When teaching about international franchise agreements, I asked whether they knew of McDonald's. This year, unlike last, some students had actually heard of McDonald's, although none had ever eaten at one.
Often, the class discussion would go off on a tangent. For instance, on one of my PowerPoint slides, there was a Canadian flag. A student asked what the significance of the Canadian flag was and what the flag represents. Fortunately, I had recently watched a Newsworld documentary on the 1965 adoption of the flag and so I was prepared with an answer!
Another discussion veered onto the topic of respect for international trademarks. One student stated defiantly, "We do not need to respect the trademarks registered in other nations: We are a sovereign nation, not controlled by anyone!" His comment was not surprising in light of the various occupations of Cambodia by foreign powers. (I explained to him that, as a new member of the World Trade Organisation, Cambodia would have to respect its international treaty obligations, despite the fact that it is indeed a sovereign nation.)
Last year, we visited the principal sights of Phnom Penh, so this year we decided to explore less-visited tourist destinations. Therefore, on Wednesday, we hired a driver to take us to Udong, a Buddhist commune 41 kilometres north of the city, past rice fields and houses on stilts. Udong boasts a number of stuppas (shrines) containing the ashes of several former Cambodian kings. There were no other foreigners at Udong when we arrived. Despite the harsh heat, we hiked up numerous stairs to the highest stuppa, located on top of a mountain. On the way up, we encountered every sort of poor and pathetic figure you could imagine, from shabbily dressed children to amputees (presumably land mine victims), as well as religious Buddhists in flowing robes asking us to make an offering of incense to Buddha. It was weird - like a scene from Apocalypse Now.
From the top of the mountain, the view was spectacular. We decided to hike down the other side of the mountain, rather than face the same characters we had met on the way up. We found a fascinating rural setting in the valley below, which included a set of Buddhist temples, a mosque with bullet-pocked walls that had been blown up by the Khmer Rouge and many friendly rural villagers, including a girl walking her pet cow on a leash and some young Buddhist monks playing in a dried-up reservoir. We also saw one family's pet monkey.
From the start of our hike and throughout the afternoon, four little girls followed us the entire way, fanning us to minimize the effect of the heat. At first they were annoying, but their charm eventually grew on us. Along the way, we were followed by a dog who then started chasing two cows, who in turn also started following us and finally some roosters crossed our path: It was quite the parade! We finally gave the little girls some money for their efforts and returned to the city.
Once we finish teaching, I am off to Bangkok for the weekend and then to China. I will keep you apprised of my adventures.
Until then, Nilai (goodbye).
--Larry
