On to Ankor

Jan 23^rd 2010

I have arrived in Cambodia after a month of preparationion. Of course, I am not quite prepared, but here I am in a land that is like a 30 year back to the future time warp from its neighbor Thailand.

I boarded the early train to Cambodia, a six hour ride for about $1.40. Leaving into the sunrise, and open windows to smell the new day and all of its colors.

Crossing the border where they were screening for H1N1 with a survey that they weren’t actually checking.

A bus into Siem Riep on the newly paved road cut the trip from 5 to 2 hours last year.

The pleasant town of Siemp Riep is the hub for visiting the temples of Ankor Wat,

I had visited last year, so, I just enjoyed the night and had a refreshing night. The next morning I got a ticket to the capital city of Phnom Penh.

During the trip I saw rice fields, vast as far as the eye could see. Some of the dry land was on fire, and the train kicked ash into the open windows as passed through 10 Kilometers of blackened fields. Burning the rice fields is a way to restore nutrients into the soil, the charcoal left behind from the burn helps the soil retain nutrients.

However, lost is the energy that the fire released in heat, as well as carbon and ash thrown into the sky.

The good news is that part of the effort with Re3-Generation when working with the farmers and rural communities aims to incorporate using the plant waste in a biogasification rather then just open burning.

Biogasification is a process that harnesses the thermal heat and gas called syngas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) produced by heating plant waste in the absence of oxygen, like in a kiln.

So, what is produced is useful heat for many industrial purposes and a clean gas called that can power a generator for electricity, which normally diesel fuel would be used. Fifty percent of the carbon matter is locked down in the form of charcoal, and now called biochar.

Spreading that biochar into the fields helps retain nutrients and raises the crop yield, and is a great way to store carbon. This kind of agriculture application mimics an ancient practice called Terra Preta, used to farm the unfertile Amazon soils.

Jan 24^th

The second day into Cambodia I have many emotions surging through me.

A new language to learn, a slightly different culture, a feeling of being alone, and in poorer country to start this project. Shouts of “Barang!” which is the default for every foreigner, even though it means “French.” Cambodia was colonized by the French, and so naturally, seeing my big noise, they might confuse me for French.

I am here…step taken.