April 12th (2020)

 

April 12th

Easter Sunday.

Phnom Penh Post Today

‘In an effort to halt Covid-19 infections in the Kingdom, Prime Minister Hun Sen has postponed the Khmer New Year holidays scheduled from April 13 to 16.

While the people will not have their usual break, nor will there be any public celebrations or gatherings at pagodas, the people can still celebrate within their families.

Hun Sen promised to compensate with a five-day holiday at a more suitable time.

He told all government officials, the private sector, and factory workers to continue working as usual.

Speaking in a special press conference at the Peace Palace this morning, Hun Sen said the decision was made to contain Covid-19 infections in the Kingdom.

“A holiday for three days ... what do you need it for when people in the countryside are afraid of getting infected by you, and you are also afraid of getting infected by them,” Hun Sen said.

Hun Sen appealed to the public not to return to their hometowns or visit any resort during this time.’

I am awake at 3.45am for no good reason at all.

There is silence except, that is, for the usual groans of the building and the sound of the air conditioning thrumming away.

To tell the truth, it wasn’t until I saw it on Facebook that I realised that this is Easter Weekend. Like many other people, because of the strangeness of the times in which we are living, there is a distinct sense of days running into each other.

I am only aware of Fridays and Saturdays because of my Projects. Another, possible, reason for not remembering that it is Easter (or pagan Eostre), might be that I have been so focused on Khmer New Year (which will begin on Tuesday, April 14 and ends on Thursday, April 16) that the Christian lunar festival had escaped my attention altogether in this, largely, Buddhist land. 

The Khmer New year is solar, Chuon Nath Sangkranta (in Khmer), which means a changeover time from the previous year to the new year. The actual New Year ceremony is Maha Sangkran, Virak Vanabat or Vearak Loeng Sak, and like many major festivals across the world, it is a time for family and for community. It is believed that the Khmer New Year celebrations have their origins in the ancient Indian Spring Festival of Makar Sankriti, celebrated in January, whereas Khmer people celebrate this as the passing of an old year and the birth of the new. This year, due to the restrictions imposed because of the Covid 19 virus, mass celebrations will be curtailed, making this Khmer New Year a very quiet, and personal affair.

I get up, make Lipton’s Tea, sit, ponder and write this while eating a few McVitie’s Digestive biscuits. The packet, for whatever reason, has Arabic printed along the bottom.

6.13am

I still cannot sleep. 

6.54am

Now I’m thinking of having breakfast next door, at Ellen Café, however prudence prevails and the desire to save money is stronger than my desire for bacon and eggs. So, cornflakes, milk, and sugar it is then, for an early breakfast, with that mug of ‘Red’, of course. I do like bacon, and Cambodian bacon is so much better than Malaysian (pig) bacon, which has a strange aftertaste. Irish bacon is, of course, the best. To buy eggs and bacon at the supermarket and cook them in the sticking wok, is fiscally prohibitive and unpredictable in regards to my ability to produce suitable sunny-side up eggs. Sigh. 

9.38am

I slept again.

I am eating breakfast of cornflakes etc, when there is a knock at the door. It’s Kosal telling me that an air con man is coming to clean the air conditioning unit. I grumble a bit about not being told, because, well I’m British, and you gave to, then I acquiesce. Kosal and friend strip the bed of its linen. They are about to move the mattress when I stop them, ‘let’s wait until the chap comes, shall we’. They look at me. I know that they understood the words, but maybe didn’t quite get why. ‘I am a little tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I’ll move it when he comes. This is about 11.30am. Kosal comes back and says ‘Air con man gone to lunch. Be back at one o’clock’. 

I rest until 1.30pm, on the mattress on the bed, when there is another knock on the door. I understand, and move the mattress off the bed with Kosal’s help.

I’ve never seen a large blue bag plastic bag, especially having a distinct resemblance to an Ikea bag,  put over an internal air con unit, then attached to a small electrical pump unit, until now that is. Within just a few minutes of erecting a step ladder, literally, on the bed, connecting the various parts and starting the pump, and it’s all done. Meanwhile I have eaten iceberg lettuce and tomato, with a spare sprinkling of salt, for lunch. The chap has left. I have finished washing my plate and wooden chopsticks, made the bed again, and am about to rest. What an exciting Easter Sunday, no chocolate or bunnies in evidence.

It’s now 2.45pm

Rest time.  

6.19pm

‘Down came the rain

It's happened again

The thunder and lightning

Down came the rain’

(written by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, first released by Mister Murray in 1965.)

Yes, for the first time this trip, it rains.

It is a glorious sound, and really does sound (well, a little, if you stretch your imagination) like pitter patter. The rain glosses everything, somewhat like a varnish, brightening the colours of shop lights and their street reflections. Momentarily it is a cooling rain. I can sit without air conditioning for a welcome while. But, it’s transient, soon over. Even in this evening, the heat begins again. Not as fierce as the dry day, but now the heat is humid too.

I stayed in today, so there is no shopping comparison. Yesterday’s amount now counts for two days, and for two days I am under budget.