An early start yesterday morning with a trip to Kampot by tuk-tuk to purchase workshop supplies and meet officially with the General Manager, Hannah Stevens, the Creative Director, Katie MacCabe, and Program Manager, Roth Leahkena of Epic Arts (British-Cambodian organization which promotes inclusion, social integration and community regeneration. They organize and run arts projects for disabled and disadvantaged children and adults). Of course we could not have had a visit at Epic Arts without one of their mammoth, delicious, decadent brownies that we had heard so much about from previous teams. The bakery/cafe is all part of the Epic Arts program for facilitating the development of new skills, self-confidence, community inclusion.
Once again a great adventure travelling in a tuk-tuk with Mr. Chen who donned with great flare a full helmet with face shield and driving gloves to drive the 15 km. at 15 km. per hour. Highly entertaining for us considering the context in which most people driving the roads wear no protection of any kind. Our time in Kampot was spent trying to find paper goods in the maze of stalls selling live (almost) fish, live chickens, vegetables, pharmacy supplies, clothing – everything except notebooks without advertising for WWF on the cover (probably not appropriate for our educational workshop!).
After the day, which seemed longer than it was, returned to Vanna Bungalows and enjoyed deep fried prawns and a cold Ankor beer on the restaurant patio overlooking the lush forest opening out to the sunset on the Gulf of Thailand. As we gaze around the patio, we see orchids and bird of paradise growing in pots but untendered and we think about how much effort and cultivation people in Canada put forth to nurture these plants. Although it is winter in Cambodia and locals are finding it quite cool, the temperature has been ranging from about 22 degrees at night to over 30 degrees (plus humidity) in midday.