Our first update in Cambodia!!

Well, Eyes Wide Open is officially in Cambodia! Yes, after 36 hours of grueling travel covering six cities and four countries, we are now in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We had some long flights and long layovers, and a race to the gate in Detroit (the final boarding call for our Tokyo flight was called just as we got off the plane from Columbus), but in the end, all was well.

We landed on Sunday morning (11/19) in a twin-prop plane, and walked down the ramp to humid heat and bright sunshine! After some initial head-scratching and trying to figure out how to get ALL the luggage into the car, we piled in and headed to the hotel. The Angkor Village Resort is filled with lots of beautiful plants, trees, flowers, bushes, and a very refreshing pool that winds for 200m through the hotel grounds. Our room overlooks the pool, and is very comfortable. The people are very friendly and willing to help, and always have a smile.

We may have unpacked first, just to try to figure out where to put everything, but the very next thing we did was hit the pool! It was wonderful just to be able to stretch out and move freely without someone telling us it was OK! The sun was very strong since it was about 11 am, but it was well worth it (and we didn't get burned). After that it was a long nap (much longer than we planned), and up again at 5:30 to head to dinner. It seems like it's been all about food so far, since that's always the bright point in those seven- and fourteen-hour flights. We ate at the hotel, and enjoyed some delicious traditional Cambodian and Thai food. The next big thing on our agenda? More sleep!

Monday came bright and early. We woke up at 6:45 to a sunny, bright blue sky. It was already humid that early, but we knew what to expect. We went for breakfast and ate in the same open air dining room of the hotel. There's always a light breeze helped by the fans, and it's a pleasant way to begin the day.

We started out the day with a driver and guide to explore the city and find our way around. Mr. BoBo gave us some background as we drove around the downtown area. We saw the Old Market and Center Market, both tourist areas where they sell every Cambodian souvenir you could want (a bargain hunter's paradise). Then we headed to Artisans Angkor, a school for students 18-25 years based on traditional Cambodian crafts such as stone carving, silk painting and wood carving. They are working hard to revive and maintain all the Cambodian traditions, because so many of them were almost lost during the civil war years.

Later that afternoon we went met with the organizer of the Angkor Photography Festival (www.angkorphotofestival.com), the reason we are here. He explained the details of our presentation, and told us it will be held in the Royal Gardens--across from the Raffles Grand Hotel--and will be open to the public. Most of the other presentations of the Festival are private, so we are very excited! We also spoke to local gallery owner and professional photographer John McDermott (www.mcdermottgallery.com), who agreed to exhibit the two Eyes Wide Open canvas pieces we brought, and to put the information cards and book with them. The gallery is opening on Thursday 11/23, and EWO will be a part of that (talk about a Happy Thanksgiving!). We finished off the day with another wonderful dinner in our hotel.

Tuesday also started out bright and early, the sun was shining and the humidity was heavy in the air. Another breakfast in the hotel (it's free, you know), and we headed to town to run a few errands. We dropped the canvas pieces off at the gallery and left a note for Mr. McDermott. We caught up on some emailing in an Internet store, and then did some shopping in the Old Market.

The afternoon was very exciting. Lourm, an employee of the hotel, took us to her sister's home out in the country. Ly and five of her children live in a wood hut on stilts in the middle of a field. A sixth child lives with the grandmother and Lourm and her son next door. Ly's home has no electricity, no running water, is one room, and she is very poor. She has very little education and no income, and grows vegetables in a small plot of land down the road. She has very little for herself and her family, but she makes sure her children go to school. The children were a little shy at first, but their big grins soon came out.

We invited Li and her children into our project, and asked that the children take photos of their everyday life, to show us the things they see every day that make them happy, or sad, or upset, or any other emotion. The children now have cameras in their hands, and will be taking photos over the next six days, both at home and at school.

Ly showed us her vegetable plot, which she shares with her mother. She has to walk down the dirt road and cross a very unstable bridge, which spans the creek of sewer water from the city. That water is used to water the vegetable plot, and there is also a vegetable planted in the water directly. Ly makes no income from this plot, it is only enough to feed her family, and often isn't enough for that, either. We are very excited to work with Lourm, Ly and her family!

Later that afternoon we met with John McDermott directly, and he agreed to exhibit our pieces during our entire stay. We are working on finalizing the pictures and music for the presentation, and we finished the day with dinner at The Blue Pumpkin, a local French bakery and sandwich shop with WiFi Internet. Things are going very well for Eyes Wide Open in Cambodia! We've had a great few days so far, and there's some great things to come. That's it for now, we'll post more updates soon.