Siem Reap

Having left Phnom Penh by bus a couple days ago, I have now been in Siem Reap, a moderately sized, tourist oriented town near Angkor Wat in Cambodia's poorest province. I have spent most of the last two days with Seng, who the program coordinator for CLA, and two chapei masters, Kong Nai and Suan Beng, who were performing at a fancy hotel in town, where one of my friends is currently putting on an exhibition of his sculpture. It was wonderful to spend time with the two elderly masters, as they both had animated personalities and joyful laughs. It was a little hard to communicate with them because of the language barrier, but Seng was often able to translate and I could often understand from context even if I had no idea what they were saying. Kong Nai and Suan Beyng are both lively performers, too, and it was great to see them performing side by side.

Ratanak, an assistant to Seng, arrived in Siem Reap yesterday, and the three of us have been going to meetings and visiting the masters in the area. One of masters we visited, a teacher of the troe ming funeral music, is also a full-time rice farmer, so we went to see him and his family near their rice fields. The master teaches his students in a small, thatch-roofed house in the middle of his rice paddies. There was no class in session today because so many of the students were away working in their own rice fields. We will visit again tomorrow.

Seng and I also had a chance to visit Wat Bo yesterday. The head monk of the temple, Ven. Pin Sem, a supporter of the arts and a great friend to Silapak Khmer Amatak (Cambodian Living Arts), is very wise and I feel fortunate to have the chance to talk with him. I am pretty sure that I will pursue monastic training while in Cambodia, and most likely I will end up at Wat Bo under Pin Sem. I hope I will get another chance to meet with him before I return to Phnom Penh.

I have yet to see Angkor Wat or any of the many other ancient temple in the vicinity of Siem Reap, but I am hoping that I will also get a chance to see these. I have many pictures from the last few days, but the computer does not seem to want to cooperate enough to post them here. The internet connections, along with the power and water utilities in Cambodia, are adept at cultivating patience. And with the ever-present heat, it's nice to slow down and enjoy.