Katrina K. Photography

We wanted to visit Cambodia on this trip because it’s the only country we know of where the children attend school in the summer. We spent two weeks in Siem Reap (the town closest to Angkor Wat) this summer and were able to visit a lot of schools and talk to a lot of local Khmer. Money According to Cambodia’s Prime Minister, 50% of that country’s budget relies on foreign aid. On the one hand, it’s good that foreign governments and people are helping this poor country (one of the poorest in SE Asia), but on the other hand, seeing all the corruption and lack of involvement of the government makes me wonder if the aid is a good thing, or just allowing the county to slide by without any incentive to fix itself. Now I am not trying to be judgmental, but I certainly think that there are some screwed-up things happening there. And after talking to a lot of locals, I know that many Khmer feel the same way that I do.

Sorry for the long delay in blogging. We are actually home now. We came home 2 ½ weeks early because we finished our work a little early (more on that below). It turned out to be a good thing, as I developed both bronchitis and pneumonia at the end of our trip. (Yay ! Another visit to a hospital! We're getting travel insurance next time.) I’m better now except for this darn cold. UPDATE: Actually, it's strep throat. Even my doctor was disappointed. At any rate, let me tell you about our progress on the project.

Hoi An's old town is beautiful and charming. Part of the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with French-colonial architecture, and narrow streets that cars are not allowed on. While we were there, the Miss Universe pageant was beginning its visit to Vietnam, so they made a stop in Hoi An. There was a parade through the old town, so only foot traffic was allowed.

Flower H'mong fabric being woven in Sapa Vietnam has some beautiful textiles, and we were lucky enough to see some being made. One town we visited, Hoi An (in the center of the country, near the de-militarized zone) is especially famous for its clothing. Nearly all people who come here get clothing made. Although we left without custom clothes, we did get to see the pre-process in action.

A sweet family in Moung Koung As you know, we have many friends in Sapa that we made the first time we went there. All of our friends are doing very well, and Hang and Nam are no exception. We first met Hang when she worked at the Mountain View Hotel, where we stayed the first time. She was the front desk manager, and so we came to know her well. (It turned out that it was her husband Nam’s bike that Tadashi crashed, causing the muffler burn on my leg.) We became quick friends with Hang, and she invited us to her room for dinner one night. We had hot-pot for dinner and it was fantastic. She and her husband rented a little room that was about the size of a dorm room, but with an attached bathroom. Although it was small, they made it very cozy. The last time we we in Sapa, (3 years ago) Nam & Hang had opened their own CD/video shop. This shop was small, but it was theirs and it had a nice size sleeping room above it.  This time we went to Sapa, they are doing even...

Last week we helped Gom and her family plant their rice. Once again, Tadashi has a great story to tell about this as well. All of our H’mong friends – as well as most of the H’mong selling to tourists in Sapa – are from the village of Lao Chai. This is a huge village, and

About one hour into our stay in Sapa, we were invited to our friend's wedding reception -- which we had to leave nearly right away for. Tadashi's written a very good description about this on his blog, so I won't try to be redundant. You can read about it

After 24 hours of traveling, we're finally in Hanoi. The flight to Hong Kong was 14 hours, then 2 hours to Hanoi. I tried a pair of compression socks for the long flight, and man-oh-man, what a difference! It was so amazing that I'm going to get T a pair when we get back. We've been to Hanoi many times, but a lot has really changed since the last time 3 years. The biggest difference is

It's official: Tadashi has been approved for a sabbatical Spring 2009 semester to work on this project!!! And I've been ok'd to take a semester off (without pay) to work on it with him! (Not easy to be non-tenured and given a semester off!) Although we'll be beginning the project this summer as planned, we'll be in Southern Asia working on this project Jan - July 2009. Freaky, isn't it?? We will begin in Vietnam, in Sapa then Hoi An, before moving on to Siem Reap. Look for an update in the next week or so.

You may be interested to know our plan for this summer. We're especially excited about this year's trip because we're beginning a book project! We're going to begin working on a book about education in poor, rural, Southern Asia countries. This book will have narratives about teachers, students and parents that we will interview. It will also have background information on the country and area, as well as photos of our informants, the schools and the region. To begin this project, we're going back to the places that first inspired this project: Northwest Vietnam, to Sa Pa, and Siem Riep, Cambodia (that's where Angkor is). Our very dear friend, Gom, lives in Sa Pa, so we're going to start the project off by interviewing her and her family. We're also going back to a school in Siem Reap. I'm in the process of finding a publisher for this book, but we'll see how that works. I may not do the e-mail list this year, as I have a new blog. That way,...