Battambang, the unnoficial report.

Lets begin at the beginning...wait, quick aside: whenever I try to write the word beginning, I write it beggining. I think I might have some mild dyslexia, because I do this with a few words consistently, words that I know I know how to spell.

ok, now lets begin:

I was already pretty excited about the conference in Battambang, having read some news on the Baha'i World News Service(BWNS), and hearing of other conferences from various friends. Then I got wind of the fact that someone, somewhere, had thrown my name out as a journalist/reporter for the conference. At first I thought that they should find someone else - since I was sure there had to be someone better at journalizing and reporterizing than I. It turns out that those people existed, but they were all otherwise occupied, and thus it was that I heard the ear-piercing toll of the bell of destiny echo through me: khello english friend, time to write! true story, the bell of destiny speaks with a khazak accent and if it had a face, would look like borat.

So, I'm all geared up to go and do this thing, which I know nothing about. Luckily, I manage to snag an assistant who does, in the form of one "Emily-with-a-T", from Malaysia. Having already written a report for a similar conference in Malaysia, I was now set up to delegate my work, and simply assume responsibility and reward for the work of my slave(s). :D

I confer with Jarnha and Neissan on a regualr basis, and Jarnah informed us of the imminent arrival of Ryan Lash (international man of mystery). Also, being a facebook addict, I was able to, with the assistance of Avuth, coordinate to have Haifa stay with us when she got in to Phnom Penh. This is all to the backdrop of mountains of midterm-exam marking.

On the 27th, Avuth and I eat some banana in place of lunch, and then set out to retrieve Haifa from the airport. The bananas were packed in sticky rice, and wrapped in bananaleaf, and then BBQ'd to perfection. The Sticky rice is also coconut-flavoured. Just awesome. Before getting Haifa, we went and bought tickets for the bus to Battambang for Avuth, Haifa, Ryan Lash (interlashional man of mystery), and Myself.

When we bought the tickets, I was given this spiffy new 20,000 rial bill! I was so pumped about it that I insisted on taking pictures, and refused to use it to purchase anything until the last days of the Bang. Soon later, we found ourselves at the airport.
After picking up a terrified Haifa, we proceeded to drop off some bags, and then go for a nice khmer lunch at boat noodles. After the delicious fish amok and fried veggies, we returned to my place, only for Haifa to discover that not only was she my captive, but that she had to mark some of my midterms for me! Avuth played guitar to calm her nerves while we worked away. I realize this stpry is turning into a series of photos and descriptions, so I'll try and avoid that and move along a little quicker.


We all ate Gado-Gado for diner with beattie and her p-units, and then chilled in the park, and then had fruit juices. sweetness.

Wednesday! the 28.

I had barely enough time to do laundry, hang it up, and hope for the best by the time our 1PM bus left. Ah procrastination, the character flaw which haunts me most. Needless to say we went out for lunch, and my clothes were dry and packable upon our return. The trip up was fairly dull, except for the absolutely RIDICULOUS hong-kong-dubbed-khmer movie. Millionaires, mad-scientists, teachers, robots, great film. aske me about it sometime.

We hit the ground running in Battambang, helping out with the conference preparations by sorting out tags and stuffing folders. Avuth, Haifa, and I stayed in the CORDE building while Interlashional made his way down to Gems international school to get his photo gear sorted, etc. The next day was much of the same, Ry and I got a briefing on the conference, most of what I got out of it was that there was much yet to be decided...and I still had no clue what I was doing. I decided to do my own research, reviewing the instructions from BWNS, and reading up on past conference coverage. I was finally put at ease when my contact from BWNS gave me a shout and told me to "capture the spirit", "gloss over the details", "get good quotes", and "enjoy the conference". Instant new friend. Best news I could get. So, I reset my mind-frame to one of simply absorbing what I saw and felt, and keeping alert for the notable and the quotable.

This feels like a good place for a picture.


The Representatives of the House of Justice made it into Battambang on thursday in the evening - their departure was delayed a bit, but everyone got to watch a sweet, sweet dragon dance while we waited. Check the bar to the right for a video, and facebook for some pics! They cleared up the schedule of the conference and all the logistics in a meeting almost as soon as they arrived, efficient to the max! There were some problems, mainly with the venue: There were too many people, so the organizers had planned to move the conference outside, creating a large hall made of tents. This might have worked, except for the fact that the khmer wedding tents were too low for people to be able to see any kind of screen for presentations, etc. So they went inside to double-check the capacity. After some shuffling of chairs here and there, it was discovered that hundreds more than originally thought could be fit in by simply using smaller chairs. Genius. So it was figured that 1400 or so could fit in the main hall, with the spill-over in some tents set up outside the hall. There were many such situations like this - problems, followed by observation, and nearly-magical common-sense solutions.

Friday we did some more random tasks, and I got to move my things to a hotel - and invest in a much needed shower. There is nothing as refreshing as drenching yourself in cold water when you're in a hot, muggy, dusty place (nothing, that is, except for the shower followed by fresh lime juice in soda-water, with sweet-syrup).

I'll skip the highlights of the conference, as they are contained in the "official report"...and as it is late, and I am recovering from being a sick people, I'll hit you with the rest in the morning...but I'll leave you with a photo.