Day 12: Manelli's Downfall

Let's just go back for a second to remind you all about our contest. We're trying to see who can last the longest without getting sick. Elliot was out on day 2 with heat exhaustion, Sean was day 4, Sharon was day 6 and so sort-of was Liza, illness was rampant but the name of the game was if you got sick, you were a loser.

Today, Liza lost again. We weren't really sure what did it, but something definitely did. (Probably the red peppers in her omelette)

Back to the story, we finally decided to get down to some real educational business. By that, we mean taking our readings with us to go get foot massages. It kind of worked for a while, until the head massages took over. We talked about ethnography and the effects of tourism in Cambodia, clearly relevant to our experience in the field. After our massages Helen gave us an assignment to explore funding for NGOs through international benefactors versus reliance on tourism.

We started, and finished thanks to Liza, at CONCert, an NGO working to connect tourists with local NGOs. It was a win-win set-up, pairing ability with need. They had 25 different organizations under their headline, all unique. There were some working to save wildlife and the environment, some cleaning up land mines and dealing with the consequences of them, and lots that helped children and worked to further health care and education. We talked with the head of the company, both the founder of CONCert and the director, Michael Horton. He was a real British gentleman, interupting our conversation for a cup of tea. Extremely knowledgeable, obviously, he told us all about their goals and hopes for the country. One point of interest that we talked about was the simbiotic relationship CONCert has with hotels in the area, bringing in people who want to look beyond the tourist facade of the town to get involved. If you're ever in the area, give it a try.

Moving outside into the heat we realized returning to the hotel and the airconditioned bed was necessary and cut our exploration a bit short. By two o'clock we had lost Helen and Susan to a villiage outside of the city limits, Liza to bed, and Sean to Scooby Doo antics, so Elliot and Caya left to try some of the exotic cuisine available in the Old Market. They had kangaroo. It was tender and delicious and cooked right at the table. Returning to the hotel and reuniting with everyone except Liza, we spent a while in the rooftop pool and then went out for dinner at a Khmer joint nearby followed by excellent full body massages for Helen, Caya, and Elliot.