Gardening and thinking

This weekend we went to the garden store. We have a small backyard that is brand new, so its just a little plot of grass. We hired a gardener, Mr. Chuong, to come once a week and maintain. On Saturday, he met us in the morning to go about 20 minutes outside of the city to what seemed like about a mile or two stretch of road with little "garden centers" on each side. We made it to the one that he must have some relationship with, and started figuring out what to get.

The situation would have been an 8 out of 10 on the awkward meter without the help of our tuk tuk driver Thol, as landscaping will really get you into the meat of bargaining. While Gavin and I tried to just get a sense of what was going on, Thol would casually come up behind us and mutter what was being said and what our counter offer should be, and occasionally start arguing on our behalf as well. Bargaining is such a constant in Cambodia, but it's still so uncomfortable for us. To just willingly accept the first price, however, is considered rude, so it's game-on every exchange.

We went back and forth and ended up buying some really beautiful plants. Three big Bougainvillea bushes, a beautiful looking and smelling Frangiapani/Plumeria tree (shout out to the ladies!), a couple of small palms, and about a dozen suspended Orchids to hang from the razor wire on top of our walls... The whole thing was pretty relaxing and fun, despite the constant haggling over price. I can also assure you that there is no sweaty like a garden store in Cambodia sweaty. Magically cramming all of the plants into another tuk tuk, we now have some lovely color around our house.

The beauty of gardening aside, the realities of Cambodia are becoming much more present as the honeymoon wears off.  It's a tough scene. I think it's only right that I diverge from the joys of living here to talk a little about the actual place that we are lucky enough to experience. Today, riding home from the Embassy with Thol, he suddenly pointed out an empty plot of land right next to our gated community, one that we pass pretty regularly, and told me that was where he used to live. He now lives nearly an hour drive outside of the city, after he, his family and his friends were forced off of the land so that they can build luxury housing (like ours). It was so surreal talking about the politics of poverty here, something that I keep thinking and reading about, and being so directly implicated in it. Not two minutes later he is dropping me off at my giant house, which no doubt sits on the ground of some other former home like his.

Every time we leave the house, we come face to face with an overriding theme of Cambodia-- abject poverty. In a country where people still earn on average $1/day, just how poor the vast majority are will make your head spin.  Phnom Penh has undergone rapid changes over the past 5-10 years, and you can see them all around. Construction is everywhere, every street has something new going up or being redone. Most of the "growth" seems directly related to wooing outside investment, and as is the case in so many developing countries, what that means for the local populations and environment is a mixed bag. There is an immediate upper class that has risen from the post-genocide decades, but everyone else seems to really be struggling.

The human and environmental impacts of these inequalities are a constant presence. Healthcare and education are leagues behind neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand. In one part of the city there is a canal of black putrid water that is essentially the runoff of all of the sewage and streets. We asked a conservationist that we met at a party recently where that ends up, and were met with the bleak answer that it just pours directly into a community of stilt houses that make their living farming Morning Glory; a delicious little green that is found in a lot of Khmer food. The implications of things of that nature on a widespread basis are hard for us to imagine. I had a conversation with our friend Angie the other day, and she made the good point that essentially Cambodia is trying to be present in 2012, without the benefit of the past 30-40 years leading up. The scale of devastation from Cambodia's recent history seems to have left the country trying to play catch up without a leg to stand on. 

Disclaimer: I cant, for better or worse, turn this blog into a socio-political soapbox (as much as my natural inclinations drive me to do that). As members of the Embassy, it wouldn’t be in our best interests to be too engaged in a commentary of our surroundings in Phnom Penh or the inner workings of the country as a whole. I do encourage anyone reading this to do some research on this area, because I think it is a perfect example of a developing country with everything at stake. I will just say that all of the basic ingredients for injustice are lined up quite nicely…. I have a lot to learn from Cambodia, and truthfully it is very humbling.

So, on that note... how about some pictures of flowers to lighten the mood? Hm? Ok!

Mr. Chuong and the garden lady.

 Gavin and Thol talking Plumeria

Orchids for days!

Beep beep!

Tuk tuk full of our plants.

Daisy of the Bouganvillea.

The most boring thing I've ever posted.

Orchids!

Only an orchid can brighten up razor wire.

Our lovely little Plumeria tree.