AngeLog

Beatocello

One day a slightly eccentric Swiss doctor decided to start up a children’s hospital in Phnom Penh. He didn’t have enough money to run the hospital so he decided to play some Bach on his cello in hope of raising some funds.

That’s basically the story of Beatocello. Except that it leaves out the fact that Dr Beat “Beatocello” Richner has since gone on to fund three hospitals in Cambodia costing around $17 million a year, and most of that comes from private donations.

All services at the hospital are free, and everyone must wait their turn. Being adament that these hospitals need top facilities has given him some opposition, but he doesn’t believe that third world countries need third world equipment.

Each Saturday (and sometimes Friday) night he gives a cello concert made up of mostly Bach but a couple of his own pieces and lots of talking about the hospitals too. The concerts are held in a building next door to the hospital on a road leading out to Angkor Wat. It’s an amazing theatre he has created – concrete and bamboo poles lit from behind – and it could be an arts centre in any cosmopolitan city.

On the night we went to his concert (and probably on most nights), he told a story about performing a song on Swedish (actually, it was probably Swiss) television and trying to raise awareness of his charity. The problem was that it was against the law to actually publicise phone numbers or bank account details. Beat solved the problem by writing a song that contained all the details someone would need to donate. Very amusing.

Siem Reap – Day 2

We left our room before sunrise, fighting with the frogs for a clear path out of the guesthouse. Our driver proceeded to drive us through the mostly sleeping city and onto the road to Angkor Wat. We sat half asleep in his tuk-tuk and gradually saw the tourist area come to life as we joined other tuk-tuks, motorbikes and coaches in the race to get to Angkor Wat before sunrise.

The morning was looking to be spent shoulder to shoulder with a pack of foreigners on the tourist trail. We sat on a wall of the first building to view the main temple as the sun rose behind it. But dawn was slow to break and the cool haze of the morning led us to jump from the wall to gain a head start on exploring the temple.

For a while we wondered if we were breaking protocol by taking off early – we hardly crossed the path of anyone, except for the odd sweeper. A loud radio, from what must have been a nearby village (although the huge temple ground is surrounded by a moat), disturbed our peace. It sounded like Khmer race calling, but I could’ve be mistaken.

Once again, lots of climbing was required. We were on the middle level when we spotted a set of steps with a railing to get us up to the top level. Thank god for the railing because these were not steps that even a triathlete could take two at a time. A few steps from the top I discovered the sun rising. It was dwarfed in the distance compared to the towers up close. We walked around the top level admiring the early morning sun from various angles and rarely bumping into many other tourists. I know the temple is huge, but how could all of those tourists who bustled into the temple in the darkness not be here yet? Some people clearly had top organisational skills. One couple with a little girl were having a picnic breakfast on a ledge which could’ve been an 11th century version of a verandah.

We didn’t need to cross the moat to realise we’d left the temple area as the already too familiar cries of “Lady! Cold drink? $1!” came ringing back to us. This time I planned to give in to whoever hassled me with postcards. The first to reach me was an entrepenurial girl, who couldn’t have been older than seven, by the name of Bopha. Her name means flower girl. I just happen to know all this because she handed me a note (from a pile she had prepared earlier) wishing me good luck mabye six times, and also telling me that I have a nice smile and that I’m very nice and friendly. What good fortune that that she was able to find such a person to give the note to! I liked that she left email address at the bottom of the note too. Next thing she’ll be starting her own dot com business.

Ta Prohm, which features on the Cambodia Lonely Planet cover, was the next stop. It was as spectacular as expected. Beautiful trees engulfed many of the remaining walls that we climbed through and under and over.

Ta Keo is a stark and bold tower that was never completed. Never wanting to leave a stone unturned, I climbed to the top after doing a lap around. The steps were of the variety that required me to be cat-like in the use of my hands and feet. Reaching the top put me at the same height as the giant trees which surrounded the temple.

It was getting hot by the time we reached Banteay Kdei so I don’t remember much beyond the interesting gate we walked through. That and my tiring legs as we went up and down steps each time we came to a doorway (and that was quite often). The Apsara workers must have been tired too, because once again we saw them napping in doorways. If only we had time to do the same.

Across the road was Sras Srang, a stone whaft like monument which was nice to chill out on for a bit. It didn’t take long for a little girl selling bracelets to climb around from the river side and try her persuasion skills out on us. Her skills in persuasion finally included leaving a bracelet on my knee as I sat. For some reason she didn’t see the humour in being told that giving away merchandise was bad business practise, but at the same time, she wasn’t offended when I made her take it back.

Siem Reap – Eating and drinking

This place caters remarkably well for the Western tourist. And why shouldn’t it? With so many wealthly French and English tourists passing through the place, the locals should have as much chance to make money as the oil company guarding access to the temples.

First thing to take note of is that any beer ordered in a bar in Cambodia will also score you a bowl of peanuts. Great for the staving backpacker, but there’s no need for even a backpacker to be hungry when there’s so much good and cheap food around.

We ate the local delicacy, amok, at Soup Dragon, a place known for its Vietnamese food. Interesting.

At a very resourceful Asian restaurant off the main strip we had fish curry that was cooked and served in a coconut, complete with a lid carved out of the husk.

Back on the main strip In Touch made us feel like we’d walked out of Cambodia and straight into the Loft bar on Sydney’s Cockle Bay Wharf. There was dark wood and beige walls all ’round. This place was so cool that it even had astroturf on one of the walls. Once again, we couldn’t resist the fine dining experience for only $5. We debated whether spending $3 on a cocktail was reasonable for a while before coming to our senses and ordering a couple. I even got adventurous and ordered a foaming pink thing that may have involved gin.

The Red Piano is supposedly Angelina Jolie’s favourite bar. They’ve even got her favourite cocktail on the menu. It was good, but not as exciting as In Touch. We lazed in their wide cane chairs in the hot afternoon, hardly even noticing the security guard near the door or the delicate bank-queue ropes which kept any unsavoury types out.

The Temple Bar is best avoided. We should’ve known better than to enter a place named after the famed Dublin strip but two for one cocktails had us taking the risk.

Angkor What? is a cute name for a pub, but we didn’t last long perched high on their stools reading eye-rollingly dull phrases that previous travellers scrawled on the walls.

Go to The Blue Pumpkin for great brioche. The place transports you into a generic cafe in any Western city. In fact, I think it may even have wireless net access for those travelling with laptops.

All the temples have people selling food from stalls nearby. That’s if you can manage to get excited by food when it’s so damn hot. I know I can, even if their calls of “Lady! Cold drink? One dollah!” got to me.