peh-&-penh

peh-&-penh
Originally uploaded by honeybeealtman.

These two beautiful women are Cambodian traditional dancers who will be touring the U.S. for the next eight weeks. I met them during a rehearsal at the Royal Academy and we met them for dinner later that night. They are both amazingly talented, smart, charming and outspoken. It was a pleasure hanging around with them and I hope to be able to see them when they perform at Wesleyan in April. I'm hoping we can go out to dinner together again, but they may be kept under lock and key while not performing, for fear that they will defect.

Yesterday morning we went to Olympic Stadium to recreate one of Amy's favorite pictures of her and her father before he sent her out of Cambodia. As we were searching for the exact spot the picture was taken (without the actual photo), Amy's aunties struck-up a conversation with some people hanging out at the stadium. Turns out that they Knew both her father and biological mother.

We went and sat with 3 very tall and striking Cambodian women--professional volleyball players back in the 60's and 70's. Apparently, Ly Kim Long was a volley ball afficianado, who frequented Olympic Stadium and always brought gifts and prize money to give to the winning team. He is well remembered. They also remembered Amy's birth mother--also a professional volleyball player and instructor, and set up a meeting with us the following morning.

After Olympic Stadium, we went the University where Amy's father was Dean of the School of Letters. They set up a meeting with us for later that day. Then we took a tour of the University and found all the old buildings that Amy remembered. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was suffering from heat stroke. 4 hours of hand-held video shooting in this heat, with the camera heating up as well, took it's toll. I was in the hotel-room salivating, shaking and dry-heaving for the rest of the day.

Amy's meeting with the current Dean of Letters and a former student of Ly Kim Long's was fruitful. He promised to set up a meeting with her and one of her father's colleagues from back in the day. This man, also a former Dean of the University, had escaped Pol Pot because he was married to a French woman, and had moved to France during the previous regime.

We met with him this morning. His was the first air-conditioned home we experienced in Cambodia. He is quite well-off. His was also the first place where we saw a personal library. His name is Prum Moal and he was a professor of ancient literature. Like Ly Kim Long, could probably read Sanskrit. He had many books in French, on Linguistics and Semiology.

While talking to Amy about her father, he went into teacher-mode and gave her family a much-needed lesson in Cambodian political history. It was a really fun morning, though I began to feel sick again.

This afternoon, after a long, long, cold shower, I interviewed Ly Sok Kim and Ly Cree. There was no translation, we just came up with questions and had the interpreter read them. The women answered in Cambodian, without interruption and Amy plans to have this translated when we get back to the U.S.. During this time, Amy, Liesel and Bill are at Cambodian National TV getting interviewed. I am waiting for them to get back now, so we can go have a good-bye dinner somewhere.

Tomorrow we go back to Singapore.