Not only do the people of Cambodia have to put up with poverty, brutality, the ramifications of recent history, broken roads and massive corruption, but nature seems to be against them as well...

Malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea and various other air and water-born diseases continue to inflict misery on the population on a massive scale. But no disease is more threatening, especially to the children of Cambodia, than Dengue fever.

This endemic disease, which has its natural height in the annual wet season, is prolific, deadly, and thankfully (if it is caught soon enough) treatable. But there is a catch...

Many governments in the civlised west see Cambodia as a 'developing' (and therefore 'second-class') country - with the ridiculous result that its citizens are only entitled to second-class and poor quality generic drugs to treat its various illnesses. This is shocking, but reflects not only the state of play in Cambodia, but throughout the rest of the developing world.

One man - a Swiss, cello playing, paediatrican called Dr Beat Richner - long ago decided that this wasn't very fair and did something about it. The result is a series of privately funded childrens hospitals that work tirelessly to provide high quality, first world treatment of Dengue fever for the poor of Cambodia: free of charge and free of corruption.

These hospitals are known as Kantha Bopha, and you can read more about them, and the work of the Dr Richner here.

Whilst in Siem Reap we attended a performance by Dr Richner - known locally as Beaticello - and listened to his fantastic playing as well as his simple request: that if you were young enough he wanted your blood, if you were old enough he wanted your money, and if you were in-between he wanted both!

An easy enough request for a couple of relatively healthy tourists to fulfill, but sometimes giving $20 and 350ml of blood isn't enough; which is why we are here now...

SO, WHERE ARE WE NOW in 2008?
Why this CD is being made available

When I got back to Europe, with 8,000 photo's and a hat-full of songs, I wondered whether or not I could do something useful with the recordings I'd made. After encouragement from various people, who suggested that I make the songs available, I decided that it would be a nice gesture (if nothing else) to donate any profits from the sale of a CD to a worthy cause.

Kantha Bopha seemed the perfect recipient. Of all the things myslef and my wife saw and experienced over nine months of travel and exploration, the briefest of times in South East Asia was undoubtedly the most memorable and rewarding. Without sounding too over-the-top, it was an experience that will truly live with us for the rest of our lives.

So it doesn't seem much for a jammy sod like me to try to make a few quid for such a worthwhile institution!

Which is exactly where we are now.

I hope you enjoy the 12 songs on the CD, and if you buy a copy please accept my sincere thanks. And if you ever get the chance, then I can do no more than encourage you to visit Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, and to experience a truly amazing part of the world.

Thanks,
Phil Dolby
June 2008

SAME SAME...
One more thing: about "The Same But Different"

If you ever spend any time in South East Asia (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia) you will see people wearing t-shirts with "Same Same" written on the front and "But Different" written on the back.

This comes from the many stall holders and souvenir sellers who try and sell you anything for "one dollar". Bartering is always a lengthy & protracted experience in these parts, but has to be done. So, when you explain to the vendor that you can get the same item he's selling for half the price a little further down the road, the stall holder will tell you to ignore this fact because what he is trying to sell you is different - whilst at the same time being exactly the same!

When you try to explain to the stall holder that this simply doesn't make sense, the stall holder will inevitably just nod, smile and repeat that it's all just "Same Same, But Different."

I love this idea! Four words that sum up the Indochina experience: slightly desperate, nonsensical and endearingly funny at the same time.

Whilst in Cambodia in 2007 I began to write a song that eventually became The Same But Different, which is now the closing song on the CD Where Are We Now?

It seemed obvious to relate the idea of Same Same to the bigger picture: that we are all very different, but at the end of the day pretty much the same, with similar hopes and fears, and definitely the same needs, wants and desires. In Bangkok this was exemplified by seeing a monk in a temple talking on his brand new Nokia phone - the ancient and the modern coming together and declaring that; just because you're a monk doesn't mean you can't have the best cell on the market!

Visiting places like Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the notorious Killing Fields soon makes you realise that Cambodia has a wretched history of tragedy and destruction, and is still living with corruption and violence on a massive scale today. Sat drinking cocktails at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh (where journalists drank as they reported on the war) I reflected on how, despite all this mess, the people of Cambodia are some of the warmest, friendliest and most positive people you could ever wish to meet. Something which is at the same time incomprehensible, amazing and life-affirming.

Cambodia had a profound effect on me, and has stayed with me since I returned to the 'civilised' west. The one thing that struck me above all else is how life in Cambodia, and elsewhere in Indochina, is hard. Yet the people there just 'get on with it'.

This was highlighted to me as we travelled from Siem Reap to the Thai border along the 'main' highway, and one which is little more than a muddy track. It started to rain torrentially and suddenly this mud track became a quagmire. Lorries, cars and bikes were skidding all over the place, getting stuck in the mud, or sliding off the track into fields and ditches. Then, just as we were beginning to realise that making progress was hopeless and dangerous, out of the window of our stationary bus I saw a man on a moped ride past with a pig strapped to the back of his bike (that's him in the photo on the CD cover). He was obviously off to market, and a little bit of mud and rain wasn't going to stop him!

I couldn't help but feel for this man who was battling the odds because - well - he had no choice. I thought that if that was me I'd just quit and go home, put my feet up, watch some TV and think about it tomorrow. But he didn't have the that option - he had a pig to sell!

An hour or so later, after we'd turned around and were heading back to Siem Reap, we passed this man again; only now he was at the side of the road repairing a puncture! Nothing like kicking a man when he's down, I thought. The thing is, this is what life is like - not occasionally - but all the time, for millions of people all over the world.

It makes you think....

So the final verse of my song is a simple reflection: when you think your life is crappy, just stop for a minute and remember that somewhere in the world there'll be some poor bugger on a bike in the pissing rain trying to get a pig to market. It's not a new idea, I know, but I don't know whether it's been expressed in such a way before....

So there you have it: reflections on a country far away that I have spent not much more than a week of my life in, but which will stay with me forever.

Click here for the lyrics

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone. Phil Dolby, dolby, phildolby.co.uk have no connection whatsoever with Kantha Bopha.