The started with plans to leave at 0600 with our driver, Dee, and a guide that was to be provided by the hotel.  We would spend the day visiting Bokor Mountain for hiking and then go into Kampot and also visit some local caves.  All six of us were ready to go, but the driver couldn't find the guide, so Vy got involved with her mobile phone.  We were told that he was "on his way," but by 0630 no one had shown up, so we decided to just take off on our own with Dee.

I rode shotgun in the van and enjoyed taking photos out of the windows with my 70-200mm image stabilized lens.  The morning light and traffic gave me some pretty good shots given the circumstances.  You can check those out directly in this Facebook Album.

We arrived in Kampot at about 0715 and Dee drove us around a little bit to see the Durian Monument, the external views of the Central Market and also to see the new and old bridges.  We headed out from there a few minutes later, crossing the New Bridge on National Road 3 (two lanes, no centerline) towards Sihanoukville and Bokor.  The phone rang a few minutes later and it was Vy asking us to go back to Kampot because she had found a guide that could meet us at the Durian monument at 0800.  So, we turned around and were there by 0730.  Dee let us out of the van and we walked around a little bit.  

One of the cadets needed to find a bathroom, but he soon discovered that not all gas stations in Cambodia are really "rest stops."  So, we were on the search for a WC.  He tried a couple of guest houses, but they wouldn't let him in.  A few blocks down the road, we came up on the Kampot Pie and Ice Cream shop that we'd seen in an advertisement on our regional maps and found it open.  We ordered drinks (espresso for me, iced Vietnamese coffee for Annie and Dylan, and some fruit juices I think for the others while first Winston then others cycled through their bathroom.  The servers were very pleasant and asked us to come back later in the day for ice cream--which we did because they gave us two-for-one coupons for ice cream.  The espresso shot was only $1 and the same was true for the ice cream.

Back at the Durian Monument, we took more photos, but the guide never showed.  We waited until after 0830,but just left. We'd now wasted almost two hours of the morning.

Pano 3

The drive up to the top of Bokor Mountain was not unlike driving up to Olympic National Park in Washington--a long, winding road taking us from the shore to over 3,000 ft in altitude over about 20 miles (32 km).  Along the way, we saw a giant Buddhist statue that was partially covered in fog.  I was just happy that no one got car sick and we didn't have any head-on collisions with on-coming Vietnamese tour buses cutting the turns.

By the time we arrived at the summit, it was foggy, misting heavily and refreshingly cool.  We went past the new. modern casino to the "Old Casino" built during French Colonial times (1921) and long since abandoned and stripped of everything except maybe a few tiles.  The starkness of the stucco and architecture, along with water settled on many of the floors (even upstairs) made for some fun photography and the cadets enjoyed roaming around the haunted house.  We followed all good horror story laws, though, and didn't let anyone go off alone or run towards any screams.  We were also lucky that we got a clearing in the clouds for about two minutes, allowing us to take a few good exterior shots.

Apparently, Dee didn't want to take us to the other "ghost town"-like spots.  Communication was difficult as Dee knows only about 5 words in English.  I was texting questions and tour suggestions to Vy who was then texting or calling Dee to pass along that info.  Much was lost in translation.

From the Old Casino, we went to a beautiful Buddhist temple complex and monastery on a hill well above the modern casino.  Shrouded almost completely in mist while we were there, it reminded you of being much higher in the mountains as clouds raced up the cliffside from the valley below.  During the few clear moments, though, we could see all of the way to the beach and the Gulf of Thailand.  The cadet and I explored the entire area and even made it into the monk's area for their lunch to get a few photos.

From the temple, we went to the (supposedly) four-star New Casino to look around.  This was a large, Las Vegas Resort-sized complex with hundred of rooms in several buildings, bars, gaming areas, etc.  It was also almost completely empty.  We walked around in it almost like it was the Old Casino--only with uglier interior decorating and architecture.  It just reeked of the style of cheap, garish decor, lines, and design that I've seen so many time before in bad Chinese construction.  I took zero photos of it because it was just so ugly--and not even in the good, quirky way that makes for some good photos.  Ugh.  We were happy to leave.

From there, we'd hoped to be able to go see some local waterfalls, but all of my suggestions and map-pointing apparently did not impress Dee, so we headed down the mountain for lunch in Kampot, stopping along the way to get a panoramic photo.

Pano 1 We lunched in Kampot at the Rusty Keyhole on Vy's recommendation.  She said that they had the best ribs in Cambodia. The placed looked good and had small pitchers of beer for $2.50 and reasonable prices, so we stopped in.  The drinks were quite good,too, though the ribs were nothing special.  Luke had a cheeseburger with egg on top and fries.  Annie had pasta, Hansena and Dyland shared ribs, and Winston got some stir-fried squid dish.  I ordered the daily special grilled barracuda.  In what has become a common theme of restaurants in this area, everyone's food was served, but it took well over 30 minutes for my "special" to arrive.  When it did, it was quite good, but knowing that it doesn't take long to grill a barracuda filet, they may well have gone across the street to the fish market to get my lunch.

After lunch, we decided to split into two groups and then meet back at the ice cream shop at 1500 and then at the Durian Monument to meet Dee at 1515.  Winston and Dylan came with me and we made our way to the Central Market, pricing scooters along the way and taking photos.  The market was pretty amazing and ALL locals.  We didn't see any souvenir or T-shirt shops here as you can see in this album on Facebook.  We did buy some durian fruit here and Winston was the brave man who tried it first, much to the viewing pleasure of the locals.  Kampot is the center of both the agricultural durian market and also for the production of peppercorns.  We saw lots of peppers (black, white, green, and red) and even some jars of pickled green peppercorns that we almost bought.

We all rendez-voused on time at the ice cream shop and passed around the tray of durian for the others to enjoy.  I'm no fan--primarily because of the muddy texture that is somewhere between a rotting avocado and pudding, all with a smell that would clear out a public bus (you can't eat them in public transpo in Singapore), and a bit of a sickly sweet taste.  Winston had another piece and I ate three chunks to help encourage the others.  Dylan, who'll eat almost anything that crawls or flies or can be found under a rock almost gagged on his and the other three cadets tried their best to choke down one segment, but couldn't quite finish their small bites.  Still, we'd all done our duty and tried the treasure of Kampot.

On our return, we turned left off of the National road towards Phnom Chhnork, a cave complex in the nearby hills that houses a Pre-Angkorian Hindu Cave Temple and an interesting rock formation at the entrance that looks like an elephant.  The admission cost was $1 apiece and we climbed the 203 stairs to the entrance accompanied by three ad hoc tour guides all about 13 or 14 years old.  They spoke excellent English and some French and asked the cadets with help on some idioms--though they knew quite a few.  (For example, when one of them asked me to climb/slide down into a steep, dark part of the cave and I said, "No way", he chimed in immediately with "Way!" I then taught him the phrase "November Foxtrot Whiskey," thus contributing to his cultural knowledge of the American military.

We took some photos near the entrance of the small temple and all went with the guides into the depths of the cavern except for Annie and me.  I used the time to take a panoramic shot of the view from the cave entrance.  They all emerged about 10 minutes later from another entrance down the mountain much to our relief.  

Pano 2

From there, we walked back through the fertile and busy farmland about a half-mile to where Dee had parked the van. We crossed a two-log bridge over a canal and chatted more with the kids.  They said that they'd only been studying English for two years bu that their school was very good.  

It rained lightly for most of the return to Kep.  After a shaky start, we'd had a good day and all of the cadets were happy to return at a reasonable hour.  We later met for dinner with Dan, his Cambodian friend, Savon, and Vy, discussing our plans for the next day (boat to Rabbit Island (Koh Tonsay) and Koh Por) and turning in early.  Here's the link to the entire slide-show from yesterday.

Once again, I took a morning walk along the coastline, this time with Winston joining me. We were lucky enough to see a few fishing boats come into the shore and enjoyed seeing them unloading.  The rest of the walk was uneventful, though we had some great conversations on corruption, the future of Cambodia, etc.

Once the van picked us up, we stopped at a local beverage shop and bought four cases of drinks--two of beer and two of soft drinks--as well as some snacks and other goodies that we intended for later in the day when our work was complete.  

When we arrived in the village, we started work right away. Mark, who joined us yesterday and is interning with Equitable Cambodia, joined Winston and Dan, along with our homeowner in bailing out the septic cylinder area and then adding the second cylinder so that they extended a few inches above the ground.  The evening before, pipe had been run from the latrine to the tanks, so they were also able to install the lids to the tanks with cement.  

Meanwhile, Annie and I were still stuccoing the interior walls and sealing the cistern compartment with pure cement.  We worked non-stop through the morning and got quite a bit done, including some patching of bridge work that I screwed up from the day before.  Jay was very patient, though, and let me do more and more of the actual skilled work.

On the other side, Team 2 looked to be well ahead of us, but they had lots of interior work to do, too.  Dylan was their stucco-master, and the others did a lot of work in that area, too.  They had their roof on and were just concentrating on sealing and stuccoing as were we.

By 1130, we were ready for lunch having worked just about three hours in the sun without let-up.  Winston was constantly mixing and shuttling mortar to us and as Jay finished each wall we helped him with some spot patching.  Dan was entertaining the kids when he wasn't mixing mortar with Winston or working on installing the septic cylinder lids.

Lunch at the Vines was again excellent, this time with an egg, spinach, and winter squash soup along with another chicken stir-fry concoction.  The cadets only had about 20 minutes to nap again, but I passed the time by finally remembering to bring my tablet so I could read.

In the afternoon, our roof was installed and we finished stuccoing the internal walls.  The roof kept the temperature down just a little bit in the latrine, but the lack of a breeze made up for that.  Mr Sing worked most of the afternoon prepping and then installing our combo sit/squat toilet.  The design is such that there is no flush tank.  Instead, the cistern area will hold water that can then be used with a shower head to rinse the toilet after use with all of the contents flowing down through the toilet through PVC pipe to the septic cylinders.  We were happy to be the first to have our toilet installed as that marked the essential end to our work.  Jay and I still patched and finished a little and there are remaining steps to complete the whole thing (pour the final main floor coat of concrete, install a tank in the cistern area, and (we heard) tile the floor and some of the lower internal walls.  I wouldn't liked to do some tiling as that is something I actually know--oh well.

With the completion, the family where team two was working brought out snack for all of us.  The grandmother had these wonderful dumplings stuffed with coconut, peanuts, rice flour, and palm sugar wrapped in banana leaves and cooked until steaming hot (and safe).  We each at two of them I think--they were delicious.

Dylan was the last one working, sealing their cistern area with cement, but we began to gather around team two' project area.  When Dylan finally finished, we started our little party by spreading out plastic tarps on the ground and bringing the coolers and snacks for everyone.  We took photos in front of each latrine and then, with the help of Vy, I said a few words to the families about our Independence Day and how much we'd enjoyed working and helping the village.  

The grandfather (age 53) of the home where Dylan, Hansena, and Luke were working then said a few words, too, and was quite sincere and moving.  He said that the village had never had foreigners come in and help them before--that they were thankful for our hard work and how friendly and enthusiastic we were.  Vy's translation of his words was that this "was an historic event" for the village and they were very, very thankful to all of us.  We were all quite moved by his words.

After this, we pulled out the drinks.  I toasted Jay, my mentor, and gave him a pair of Air Force Academy sunglasses.  The kids were having fun because they were all drinking Fanta and Sprite getting all hopped up on sugars that they probably didn't see very often.  Dan was corrupting them by showing them how to say "Ahhhhhhh!" with a big wide open mouth when they had finished a slurp. He also put his GoPro camera on one of the boys and promised to post on Youtube what the world looks like through the eyes of a Cambodian 4-year-old.

We stayed for some time drinking and eating, talking to each other with Vy's assistance. The village leader was there as were members of the extended families, all excited about our work and anxious to catch a glimpse of the latrine.

We left at about 1700 and drove back to the hotel. I had just enough time to process my photos and get ready for dinner.  At 1830, we left for dinner at the Kep Sailing Club along with Vy and Mark.

The view at the atmosphere was wonderful at the Sailing Club.  The food was quite good, too, after we worked through a minor glitch--they said, when we were placing our orders, that the kitchen was closed (at 1900?).  With some cajoling, Vy managed to get them reopened as quickly as possible and they finally agreed.

Great seafood and some fancy mixed drinks were available at the Sailing Club along with good seafood and the usual drinks.  The ocean breeze was enjoyed by all and we didn't leave until after 2100.  We'd like to go back on another day when the sunset is at its peak and may do that Saturday or Sunday.

Tomorrow, we're going touring again since the work doesn't recommence until Monday.  Our driver will be taking us to Bokor Mountain National Park to see some old ruins as well as to hike on their many trails. From their, we'll go to Kampot for lunch and then look into some of the local caves before returning for dinner.

Here are the slides from the day--enjoy!

Dylan joined me on my morning walk and we made it about 4 km down the road before the van caught up to us.  We saw a lot of things along the road including many old, abandoned houses (some pretty big) and some new construction.

When we got to the work site, Team 1 got right to it with more stuccoing.  We'd done three walls yesterday and needed to get another one done on the back side first.  The fun part about this was that any step backward would put us right into the septic pit that was now full again.  I tried to step on what looks like a bag of sand to get some leverage but then was comforted to realize that it was just a big bag of pig manure.  Lovely.  All over my shoes.  Jay laughed.  I laughed--the rinse them off in the dirty water that was next to the pig manure, too.  I love my Gore-Tex lined Merrell hiking shoes.

Annie and I worked on the back wall while Dan and Winston were in charge of the mortar mixing and distribution.  The other team was a little ahead of us and by lunch they'd stacked their second concrete cylinder and were starting to stucco inside as well as laying the brick on the inside for the flush water tank frame that would sit in the back left.

Annie and I made pretty quick work of the back wall and Jay started work on the finishing as well as working the corners of the building and laying the first rows of bricks inside for the toilet seat and the water tank frame.  I felt pretty good because when he started to do the finish work on our wall, he asked for me to finish the bricks on the inside for him.  Winston joined me and we got a few rows done before lunch inside the walls of the latrine with the sun beating down on us.  I was just dripping sweat--enough to keep the mortar moist.

The time just flew this morning.  We started by 0830 and I didn't even look up or take more than one sip of water for the next three hours before we left for lunch.  

Lunch was again very good--we had a chicken green pepper stir-fry and a salad that we can only describe as Cambodian cole slaw. It's a wonderful mix of shredded young tamarind, carrots, green mango, peanuts, and a nice vinaigrette-like dressing.  This was probably the fourth time we've had it at a restaurant and I think Hansena and I are particular fans of this.  Lunch was shorter today, but a few of the cadets managed to get a short nap in before we returned. 

While we were gone, Jay fixed a few of my bricks--I'd gone up too high on one side and he took the bricks down.  He was working on those when we returned, so he asked Annie and me to begin stuccoing the interior.  THAT was hot work, but we got a light, brief rain shower, so that helped cool it down a little.  We finished two walls through the course of the afternoon and I finished the brick work, again with excellent support from Dan (who also did some stucco work) and Winston, whom we name "Sir Mix-a-Lot" for his skills in the mortar pit.  The other team, with their flat open ground lacking booby-trapped bags of pig poop , banana breaks and other details that I'm not at all bitter about, were now well ahead of us.  They didn't have as much brick work inside their latrine--presumably theirs is going to be a "squatter," while ours will be a high quality seat.  Still, their pit was finished at the end of the day and they were close to finishing their stuccoing, to0.

I'd wondered throughout the process why we didn't lay down PVC pipe to connect the inside of the latrine to the outside pits--building around the piping and having it in place.  I still don't know why we didn't do that because near the end of the day,with a beautifully stuccoed wall on the back side, Mr Sing pulled out a hammer and a chisel and smashed about a 4" hole in the side of the wall at its base, below the interior's sand and rock floor that had already been layed.  After smashing through the stucco and brick, they went inside and dug up their sand and moved rocks to make channel from the hole.  We left at about that time, but I'd bet that they're going to wedge PVC though the hole and run the line to the squatter, then patch it all back up.  Mine is not to wonder why, mine is just to keep laying brick, stuccoing, and trying not to step into any more pig shit.  Tomorrow, we SHOULD finish.  If we do, we're planing to buy refreshment for all those from the village that helped with the work--and their families--then go out for a nice 4th of July dinner in town.

The day started out beautiful with an exceptional sunrise over the water.  I decided to get a little exercise in and started walking about 40 minutes ahead of our minivan to take some shots of Kep in the early morning--those are the first shots in the slide show.

A very busy and productive day found us finishing the brick work early, then hauled sand a rocks into the latrine area.  After spreading the sand and distributing the rocks around, we made little ones out of big ones in order to make the concrete floor (first step) in the latrine.

We went to lunch before starting to stucco on our latrine, but Team 2 was well ahead of us and they did a good job breaking rocks and also getting started on their stucco.

Lunch was again at the Vines restaurant and  the food was excellent.  The cadets (except for Hansena) fell asleep immediately after eating.  A group of high school kids from Kent Denver showed up and they ate on the balcony while we were on the ground level below in the shade.  The kids were just obnoxious brats and it hurt our ears to hear them.  They were their as part of a school trip and planned to work one day doing some digging, but then they had a two day "home stay" with some families.  If felt so bad for the team leader who was from Tennessee and didn't even know these kids before taking them on the trip as the leader.

We woke the cadets up just before 1300 and headed back for a full and satisfying afternoon of stuccoing outhouses.  It really doesn't get any better.  I liked stuccoing even more than laying brick.  Annie was a great help, while Dan and Winston were the mixologists for the stucco (just concrete made  thin) and Jay gave me hints and cleaned up behind me.  We again worked well together and got a lot done.  We finished two walls, while the other team did three.

We were back to the hotel at about 1630 and four of us decided to go on hike into the Kep Montain Forest National Park just above us.  Luke and Hansena went for a 45 minute run, while Dylan, Dan, and Winston joined me for some serious climbing.  We repeated what Dylan and I had done two days ago and then went to the Summit (286 meters!) as well as to Sunset Rock.  The trails were well marked and maintained and we loved the exploring and the additional workout in the steamy air.  We were back by 1800 a cleaned up quickly quickly for dinner.

At dinner, we went back to the crab market area and visited La Baraka--a place with both Western and Cambodian food.  Three of the ordered pizza and we had some good conversation just along the beach with the Sun going down.  I don't have time to pull out individual photos, so here's the link and the slideshow again.  

Hopefully, we'll finish the outhouses tomorrow, but we were very happy with our progress today.  Here's a link to all of the photos, plus the slide show below...

I wrote these notes on Sunday trying not to watch as we drove to Kep from Phnom Penh.  They're just my personal observations to date:

Money:  The Cambodian currency is the Riel ($1 = KR4000), but the standard currency here in practice is the US dollar.  It was explained to us that so many NGOs work here  that the dollar has become fault because most of the NGO employees (from whatever nation) are paid in dollars.  All UN activities are in dollars, too.  There are no US coins here, though.  Instead, the 1000KR and 2000KR bills take the place of quarters and half-dollars, while there are a few 10,000KR bills floating around, too, worth about $2.50 each. 

Tuk-tuk rides to all about $2 or $3 from hotels and they tend to be a little more coming back.  The price is the same whether there is one passenger or six, and we’ve seen as many as 12 in and on a tuk-tuk in something that looked like a family challenge. The tuk-tuks are just two-wheeled carts with front- and rear-facing seats and a roof, open-aired, that attaches to the back of the motorcycle.  Most of the drivers where helmets, but there are no seatbelts on the tuk-tuks.  I think top tuk-tuk speed is about 25 mph, maybe 30 but that’s pushing it.  On most tuk-tuks, we could fit three across with our relatively narrow hips (for Americans), with some tuk-tuks being more comfortable and wide than others.

There are a few full-fledged taxis around, but most of the transpo—including 10 km out to the airport is by tuk-tuk.  Individuals can catch rides on the back of motorbikes for a cheap price and there are some pedal-powered tuk-tuks as well, but again, not many.

Motobikes pull everything here—from the pig going to market photo I posted to a flat-bed cart with a family of 15 on it, charcoal bags, water jugs, mattresses.  You name it ana motorbike pulls it around here.  And EVERYONE’s on a motorbike.  Families of four routinely were seen on them with mom of dad steering, the other parent in the back, one kid in between them and one standing (for scooters) in front or sitting on the driver’s lap.  Many drivers had helmets, but most passengers did not.  We saw some kids on motorbikes that could not have been 18 months old and the largest number that we’ve seen (several times) is five.

We noticed another thing along the sides of the roads in little shops.  Lots of Coke-style beverage bottles (glass, one liter, and two liter) in racks, filled with a strange looking yellow liquid. I was afraid to ask what it was, but when I did, Sing told us that they were all filled with gasoline for motobikes.  We see plenty of gas stations around, but he said that the people don't always trust the metering on the pumps and that it's a pain to pay at them, so when they want to be sure they're getting what they want in the amount that they want, they just guy it liter by liter on the side of the road.

Driving here is just crazy.  Signals mean nothing except at the largest intersections and the only governing rule is that the vehicle with the highest overall momentum has the right of way. Minibus and automobile drivers honk constantly to warn motorbikes that they are coming from behind and the motorbike needs to get over to the shoulder or at least make room.  Left turns are made at any point in time and are shaved off and shallow so much so that form sometimes 50 or 100 meters, the driving turning left is driving on the wrong side of the road.  No one fully stops at uncontrolled intersections—they just slow down and find a gap to merge or cross, no matter how small.  When traffic is snarled in one direction, most drivers think nothing of just moving over to the left and commandeering one of the oncoming lanes that may appear to be unoccupied a the time.  Once occupied, though, and a face off is set, gridlock ensues.

Driving in the countryside is free form.  The only rule is:  don’t hit something.  All else goes.  It doesn’t matter what side of the road you’re on at any point, so long as you’re not about to impact someone else in the next microsecond or two.

Driving through villages is very much like what we experienced in Rwanda about seven years ago.  The driver barrels through (as traffic allows), with dogs, children and bicyclists performing a calm but effective Darwinian Dance to avoid and evade.  In Cambodia, you’re either aware, or you’re dead.  The idea of distracted driving here (cell phones) is terrifying.  We’ve seen very little cell phone use by drivers.

Population

According to our Intrepid Travel guide, Kean, Cambodia has about 15 million citizens with 58% of them being 18 years old or younger.  Kids are just everywhere here.

We arrived at about the same time this morning and found our latrines still standing and the walls well set.  The locals had done little or no additional work after we left the day before, but that was okay with us.

I started the day by pulling out a couple of foam rubber baseballs that we got from the Academy's Admissions Office as souvenirs and gave them to a few of the kids that had been hanging around us and watching.  Needless to say, they were pretty pleased by their new toys.  Dan was nice enough to take a few photos before we got started.

The morning consisted of Winston doing more digging--but first he had to bail the pit out because we arrived to find his pit completely filled with water (well, to about 12 inches of the edge) and since it didn't rain that much, it confirmed what I deduced the day before.  The water table in most of Cambodia is only about 12 inches below the ground!

Anyway, he and another local bailed it all out while Dan, Annie, and our Cambodia expert, Jay (sp?), mixed a fresh batch of mortar on the ground with five, five gallon buckets of sand and one 50 kg bag of Portland Cement.  After that, we got to it with the bricks and made good time until we got near the top of the door frame.  At this point, day installed the concrete-poured vent window pieces.  Things were getting a bit sporty with the height, too, and you can see in the photos that I was standing on the equivalent of two parallel 2x4s that were on top of the one meter circular cylinders (in full rolling formation) because they hadn't been installed yet.  I managed to make it through the whole day without a fall, which is a very good thing considering my potential impact points. The other group, despite being in much better ground, was only slightly behind us ;-) and progressing well, too.

the morning was generally uneventful except for the fact that they constantly asked Winston to widen his pit to fit the concrete cylinders.  We measured the pit an few times and thought that the cylinders would fit, but we had a few Lost in Translation moments getting that point across, so Winston continued to dig and scrape and bail.  

We left for lunch at about 1130 and again arrived at the Vine ravenous with hunger.  Everyone looked like they were going to fall asleep on the deck, but the food brought them back to life.  We had about a 30 minute siesta next, though, which I used to walk around the gardens with my camera and to explore the peppercorn fields.

When we returned, the work got very busy.  We worked hard to complete the walls of the latrine and we had a few more translation issues dealing with how high the walls would ultimately be.  Finally, after a few replaced, then disassembled bricks, we settled on a height over the door frame that included a slope to the back for drainage from the corrugated steel roof that would be installed later.

We finally got clearance on the pit for Winston after a couple of locals helped us pull out some big rocks and also dislodge an unside down five gallon bucket that Winston had been using as a stable island in his inland sea of muck.

Note:  the pig was gone from his/her sty this morning.  In the trash, we saw a pig's tail.  You can do the math on that one.  The family looked happy and well-fed.

The installation of the pipes/cylinders that followed was tough work.  Each of the cylinders easily weighed 100 kg and probably more--reinforced concrete one meter in diameter.  They were slid into the pit on poles and then set by a combination of methods that included digging out a little more around them for balance, Winston and I jumping on the them to set them, and, when was slid in wrong, looping a rope through the side drainage hole and hoisting it up with the help of three people.  It was funny that the barefoot kids watched our every step, each of them only inches away from falling into the muck.

Finally, though, the first two cylinders were set side-by-side, to the great relief of Winston.  We spent the rest of the afternoon completing the brick laying and got to the last few bricks just before quitting time.  We let Jay and Mr Senh do the last few bricks so that they would get it right and meet their expectations.  We'd realized early in this process that helping is good, but there are times when we just need to step back and let them do their thing the right way without our good intentions or interference.  Vy was very helpful throughout this process as she interpreted for us.

The other team was at about the same point as we were by about 1600 and twenty minutes later we decided to call it a day.  The roof is left, as is setting the pieces and running the drain lines from the latrine to the septic cylinders.

Good news about today was that we had very little rain and the ground was a little drier.  We had probably our sunniest day of the trip, but the cadets were pretty diligent about their sunscreen even if I had to play "Dad" and remind them a few times.

We left just before 1630 and made our way back to the hotel, arriving just before 1700.  Winston, Hansena, Annie, and Luke made a beeline for the beach and I loaded photos on the laptop for later processing.  I joined them a few minutes later and enjoyed cooling off in the water, wading through the shallows, and taking a few more photos.  The water certainly wasn't clear, but it was a little cooler than I expected, too.  I used the opportunity to do a little more washing of my DWC shirt, but still came back and did shower laundry with my shorts.

During the break before dinner, I post-processed all of my RAW photos and got them backed up.  We left for dinner at 1830 and went to a very nice restaurant (The Veranda) which had a stunning overlook of Kep Bay.  We could see thunderstorms over the water while we enjoyed a very good dinner.  The cadets went "western" and ordered pizza, steak, and pasta, while Dan and I had one of the national dishes of Cambodia, Cha Kreung.  Winston was kind enough to treat the over 21ers to fruity happy hour cocktails, too.  Luke saved half of his pizza for later and took it back to the hotel room to refrigerate until the US-Belgium World Cup game starts at 0300 local time.  We'll see how productive the cadets are tomorrow as we (hopefully) finish our first two latrines--what a big day! 

Here are today's shots:  

We all met for breakfast at 0700 at the hotel and were on the road to the village of Oudong before 0800.  IT was about a 20 minute drive through some very pretty countryside.  Along the way, we stopped for a big jug of water with a spigot on it so that we could fill our water bottles throughout the day.  We turned off the main road down a red dirt trail and into the village, arriving at about 0810 to meet Mr Senh (Sing) who is the local leader of the project.  The village itself is very poor with very few improvements.  There's a pump for ground water (non-potable) and several homes along the dirt road main street.  Dogs were every where as well as cattle and preschool age children.  Dan and Vy told us that we would divide up into two teams of four to do the work, so I picked a number between 1 and 100 and the losers were Dan, Annie, and Winston.  Vy led the others across the narrow road to their project and we surveyed the two big piles of raw materials that were deposited by where the van stopped:  small granite boulders (about a foot or so in size), a stack of bricks, a pile of sand, and four half-meter length concrete cylinders about a meter in diameter each (maybe a little less).  

Mr Seng led us to the back yard area behind one home and we met a Cambodian guy that was leading this construction.  He had staked out wand strung the outline of the latrine--it was to be about two meters square.  Just inside the lines/wire, he was using a hoe to rip up the ground and dig a ditch about one foot deep and the width of the hoe (about 8").  Our first job was to haul all of the boulders back to the muddy yard, then haul the bricks and restack then, then carry buckets of sand and 50 kg bags of Portland cement.  We then carried buckets of water back and mixed the sand and cement in an open pit next to our project.

The leader (actually a skilled worker) had, by this time, completed the foundation trench and was lining it with the large granite boulders.  As the concrete was mixed, buckets full went into the trench on top of the rocks and he and Mr Senh used tampers to level the foundation.  

Once that was done, the first bricks were laid and we joined in doing the same.  About this time, Dan also started digging a big pit next to the latrine that would house the concrete cylinders (turned vertically).The original goal was to dig a two meter deep pit and then stack the cylinders on top of each other to make a two meter deep septic tank system.

Dan got to work as Annie and started laying brick and Winston helped with hauling and mixing more concrete.  That was the division of labor for most of the day, though I did dig some in the pit--enough to realize that a flat front edge shovel wasn't going to the the job when we started hitting dense whitish-colored clay as well as some buried clothes and other trash.  Did I say the ground was REALLY muddy, too?

We took short breaks for fresh coconut milk (a good benefit of the job, since they came directly from the trees around us and were cut by the neighbors) and some regular water as well as taking photos--Dan with his Nikon and me with my Canon and 16-35 f/2.8L II lens.  Kids watched us and we learned a few words of Khmer  There also short breaks as we were hit with intermittent rain showers much like the "pineapple rain" one sees in Hawaii. 

The work went quickly, though, and Dan dug quite a bit. Winston was a machine in the hole, too, but we started running into water issues.  The water table is just so high here that even at one meter depth in the rainy season we had water seeping in.  Mr Senh and Vy quickly decided that we would be changing plans for the pits and decided to dig one meter deep, but put the cylinders stacked two high next two each other.  The adjustments were made, we found a pointy-ended shovel and Winston went to work.  Meanwhile, Annie and I were laying bricks and actually having a good time doing it.

Did I say it was muddy?  We were all covered in mud from the knees down pretty quickly.  We also noticed that our work was being carried out only 10 feet from the family's covered pig sty, so that added a little "atmosphere" to our work.  (It was a healthy looking pig, too)  It was clear that the "lawn/work area" was well fertilized, too, as the grass was growing quite well.

We worked until about 1130, doing much more than we or the project leaders thought we'd accomplish, then took a lunch break.  We drove about 10 minutes away to a place call "The Vine," a combination bed and breakfast, restaurant, and peppercorn farm.  Dan told us that it was owned by the head of Equitable Cambodia and they would provide our lunches in each of the weekdays that we worked.  We took off our shoes at the door and climbed to a second floor deck that overlooked a pool below, the peppercorn fields, and the Cambodia countryside--it was beautiful and the breeze felt wonderful.  We also took advantage of the facilities to do a little personal clean-up.

Lunch consisted of and excellent sour fish soup, rice, and something that was the Cambodian equivalent of Egg Foo Yung.  All of it was good, accentuated by the hunger brought on by a very tiring morning.  We lingered a little while, but we were back to the work site by about 1330 to get more done on the latrines.

Progress picked up in the afternoon and the walls of our latrine were getting high enough that we could work standing up.  Also, our work leaders had earlier installed framed doors into each latrine and we were now bricking around those.  The other team's latrine was going well, too, with Hansena doing much of the digging in the morning, followed later by Dylan and Luke, plus a few of the locals.

Back at our latrine, Winston was singing (and inventing) work songs to laugh about all of the muck he and Dan were digging out of the hole as they continued to make progress and get muddier and muddier.  Our walls continued to get taller and we enjoyed the work.  I found it very calming, structured, objective, and logical--like laying tile.

We had a few more rain showers, but not too much in the afternoon.  WE continually recharged the concrete/mortar pit by hauling more sand and water, but ultimately decided to call it quits for the day at about 1630.  I took a set of "after" photos to document where we were for each project.  The cylinders were set for Team 2, while we were close to doing so.  The doors looked solid and both latrines had about the same total number of bricks laid.  WE wondered if by us leaving the real experts might actually get it done quicker than if were there and they had to take the time to fix our mistakes.

On the way back, we stopped at a small convenience store and the cadets bought soap for doing sink laundry and a few other sundries. Back the hotel, Luke, Winston, Annie, and Hansena immediately ran to the beach and umped into the water wearing their Equitable Cambodia shirts.  They were having fun and they waved to Dylan an me as we watched from the balcony of the Beach House.  

We weren't going to dinner until 1830, so Dylan and I decided to try out the trail behind the hotel that led into the national forest.  It was called the Stairway to Heaven and it had small yellow signs telling us the distance in meters to landmarks along the trail.  We started at 1714 and decided to hike until 1725 and then turn around and return to clean up for dinner.  

The trail started with about 100 stairs and then transitioned to a single track dirt trail that had about a dozen switchbacks through the jungle before arriving at a small Buddhist Temple on the side of the hill that overlooks Kep Beach and the water.  It took us almost exactly 10 minutes to get to this point and we were encouraged by signs pointing out reasonable distances to the summit of the mountain and other landmarks.  We'd climbed 129 meters in altitude (0ver 400 feet) and were again covered in  sweat.

The hike down was quick and uneventful and we were both back in our rooms before 1740.  I used the time to do sink/shower laundry, download files, and process some of them.  

We departed the hotel with Vy and Dan at 1830 and went to out for seafood to a local place that had great grilled fish, shrimp, and squid, plus cheap beer, but horrible service.  We enjoyed dinner, though, especially the fact that you could get about 12 BIG grilled shrimp for $5.  We were back in the hotel by 2030.

I'd like to pick out a few photos to show here, but it's getting late and the easiest way to do this is to just link to the zenfolio gallery and slideshow, so here it is!  

For lunch, we went to Khmer Kitchen near Pub Street on Kean’s recommendation.  We had some of the best food we’ve had all trip at this little hole-in-the-wall place.  Cheap beer and really freshly prepared food.  I tried the Fish Lab which was a nice white fish prepared in a green peppercorn and sauce with lime juice and fresh basil.  Winston asked for the hottest Thai curry from the special Thai page of the menu and was again disappointed.

We returned to the hotel and packed out bags for the return to Phnom Penh, meeting Kean in the lobby at 1515.  We’d checked out by 1300, so I stayed in the lobby and watched the bags while the cadets got yet another round of shopping in.

As Kean left us at the airport, we thanked him profusely, gave him a tip equal to $10 apiece and dragged out bags to the counter.  The flight went off without a hitch—and the landing was a lot smoother this time, too.  As we exited the airplane, a young man was holding an Intrepid sign with my name on it and we were shuttled back to the Plantation Hotel through very heavy rush hour traffic.  Intrepid travel had once again done a great job on a cadet trip and I’ll definitely use them again as soon as possible.

We checked into the hotel and were once again presented with their intoxicatingly good fresh passion fruit and orange juice in a champagne flute along with the iced cotton towelettes.  We love the Plantation!

We’d made plans to meet our guides, Dan from Developing World Connections, and Vy from Equitable Cambodia at the hotel at 1900 and then all go out for dinner.  They were on-time and we hailed two tuk-tuks for the eight of us to go to Sovanna Khmer BBQ on Vy’s suggestion.  We made a small mistake, though, when Dan and Vy got into on tuk-tuk with Winston and me, while the other four cadets got into another one.  We had our first tuk-tuk race of sorts and were enjoying the ride through the evening air around the Independence Monument until we arrived at the corner near Sovanna to be dropped off.  Suddenly, the cadets and their tuk-tuk were nowhere to be seen.  We waited a few minutes, but they didn’t show.  Vy and I left Dan and Winston at the corner to wait for them (the restaurant was about 50 meters down a narrow road), to see if their driver had deposited them in front of the place.  They had not.  Then, Vy pointed out to me that there was another location for Sovanna on the same street about 200 meters down the road.  The driver must’ve left them there. She walked there, while I stayed in front.  Luckily, she found them at the other location and we finally all met up for some grilled food Khmer-style.

The restaurant was bustling with people, completely open in the front, with ceiling fans going full speed and a decent breeze.  Grills were in front of the building and the kitchen was raging I nthe back.  Vy made suggestions and we ordered things like Grilled Bull’s Heart, Grilled Kidneys, Grilled Tongue, Whole Grilled Fish, and some other dishes.  Luke ordered what the menu said was a beef steak, but it bore very little resemblance to what we would call a steak and I don’t think he liked it very much. The beer was again cheap and we were surprised at the end to have a bill of only $65 for all eight of us.  We took tuk-tuks back to the hotel—with Vy in one and Dan in the other this time—and made plans to meet the next day at 1130 for checkout from the hotel, loading our bags onto the vans to take us to Kep, getting lunch on the way.

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