Angkor Wat – an exuberance of creativity in stone

Yes, I’ve been there at last. I’ve joined the throngs of visitors from around the world coming to admire the impressive evidence in stone of Angkor Wat’s ‘golden period’ of temple building. Such expressions of artistic and architectural brilliance are rare in world history. And this is one of them. I’m sure you’ve seen the marvellous photos, just as I had, but I found that actually going there was really awe-inspiring.

The ‘golden period’ of temple building at Angkor – experts date the ‘Angkor period’ from about 802 to 1431 AD – saw a flowering of creative brilliance as, under royal direction, architects, artisans, builders and sculptors created abodes on earth, firstly for the Hindu gods, and later dedicated to Buddha, when the people embraced Mahayana Buddhism. 

Please take my advice and plan to spend some time there. Angkor is really a series of temple complexes over quite a large area of land. I felt sorry for the people who went on one-day visits. That’s really not enough time to take it all in.

I went with my Marisa, my daughter, and her husband, Kovit (see photo left, at the Bayon temple), and we stayed for three days and two nights. We found that about the right amount of time. The nights were spent at the Tara Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap, the modern small city close to the ancient sites. The city is clean, orderly and easy to get about, and you can take the local version of the samlor around town. We even saw a party of visitors going out to a temple in a convoy of samlors.

There are plenty of good hotels in Siem Reap, and more being built. The Tara Angkor had very comfortable, attractive rooms and everything you could want – and more – for breakfast. However, tired after walking and sightseeing on the second day, we paid an after-lunch visit to Raffles hotel to fortify ourselves with tea in their lovely Colonial-style establishment. They served us excellent tea and there were even cucumber sandwiches on their refreshments platter.

For sightseeing in Siem Reap, there’s the bright hurly-burly of Pub Street and the quieter elegance of the small French quarter. We found an excellent bookshop with both Angkor-period and modern history books. The food offerings for lunch and dinner were of uneven quality. But I do have one strong recommendation: dinner at Palate Restaurant & Bar at Lyn Naya (www.lynnaya.com). Every course of our dinner was delicious and meticulously prepared as, our waiter said, their chef has worked for 20 years in a five-star hotel. Very believable claim.

We were lucky to have a wonderful guide in Mr Keo (one of their registered guides) who was very thoughtful and kind, as well as knowledgeable. And having hired our own car was a real bonus, giving us the option of both getting about conveniently and avoiding ‘the rush’ of other visitors (most of the time). Do consider this ‘guide and car’ option. It really is a good investment.

Dr Beat ‘Beatocello’ Richner, a medical ‘saint’ for Cambodia

On Saturday nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia, there’s a cello concert of real note. It’s given by the remarkable Swiss doctor Beat Richner who, over the past 23 years, has performed medical ‘miracles’ to benefit the ordinary people of Cambodia. Over that time, 13 million outpatients have been treated at the Kantha Bopha hospitals he established and runs, and 1.56 million seriously ill children requiring hospitalisation have been cared for.

A considerable amount of the money required has come from government, NGO and other donations. Some has, and does, come from Dr Richner’s Beatocello performances on Saturday nights.

What an inspiring story. Dr Richner first came to Cambodia as a young medico sent by the Swiss Red Cross in 1974/75. That visit came to a swift halt when the Khmer Rouge took over. Dr Richner returned to work in Zurich Children’s Hospital, and he also developed his Beatocello performances as a poetic and musical entertainer.

In 1991, the Cambodian government invited Dr Richner to return to Cambodia to rebuild and manage Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital. In March 1992, he set up a foundation in Zurich to provide funding for this project and moved to Phnom Penh. The Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital opened in November 1992.

That was the first one. A second hospital opened in 1995, and today there are five hospitals, including one in Siem Reap, opened as an extension of the Jayavarman VII hospital. The needy of Cambodia – especially children suffering diseases or who have stepped on a landmine – have a wonderful champion and devoted carer in Dr Beat Richner. (It’s tragic to know that there are still unexploded landmines in the country, often in remote fields where children play!)

Much information about Dr Richner and his work is available online and donations can be made via his website www.beat-richner.ch  

I agree, Mr Turnbull

I agree, Mr Turnbull, respect is fundamental to getting rid of domestic violence in our society. Thank you for saying we need a change in culture. We do. The spate of murders of women and children in our society (in Australia) over the past week is truly shocking. To me, it indicates a society in crisis.

Respect is fundamental to any good relationship. That means within our families, in our schools and work places, in the community at large. Respect is not just about other people, either. Showing respect tells about who we are as people. It is a positive value that makes our own lives better.

I’m no angel and I’ve certainly made many mistakes and done plenty of things I shouldn’t have, but life does teach you things after a while. One of these is that good actions are much more likely to produce good results than bad actions.

We can see this in our families: treat people well and fairly and you’ll achieve good results. It happens on the international scene too. I’m amazed at how often national leaders think that bad actions will produce good results. Despite clear evidence to the contrary. The situation between Israel and the Palestinian states is a notable example of this. But that’s politics.

In our own families, I’m sure that showing respect, love and care is what gives us good families and allows our children to grow up as happy and well-balanced individuals.

Bad behaviour teaches people too, but mainly it teaches that bad behaviour is the way to go; and that can result in violence, crime and – as we see – death. Bad behaviour brings bad results.

So let’s reach for the best in ourselves; let’s be our best selves, our kind, loving, respectful selves. We’ll feel better about ourselves. And we will live in much happier families and in a less troubled society. Amen to that.

 

A Generous World

There has been an outpouring of generosity in our world and it’s wonderful to see. I applaud the courage of leaders such as Angela Merkel in Germany who have taken the steps to do what we all know in our hearts is good.

Around the world, human hearts have a balance of fear versus goodness; a worry that if ‘I’ give or do too much, ‘I’ will suffer for it, balanced against our compassion and fellow-feeling for others. That’s the paradox of the human heart.

Years ago, I lived in Thailand and a Thai friend said to me, ‘People are just people’. It’s true; we are brothers, sisters and cousins in the one human family, with the same needs, wishes and fears.

I’m sure all of us have felt moved in the past few of weeks by the plight of refugees fleeing to Europe by sea. Only the desperate would make these perilous journeys. They have put authorities and residents in Greece and Italy under severe stress because of their numbers; and we have all seen the determined would-be asylum seekers in Europe walking stoically along roads and railway tracks to reach their goal of acceptance and a new, safe life. Many I saw have called out, ‘I’m human! I’m a human being!’

We all are human beings and I believe we feel better for acknowledging that. My heart warmed when I heard German citizens clapping their hands, applauding the first refuge-seekers to walk into Germany after their long trek.

The way ahead for our world is clearly not going to be easy and I have no crystal ball about how matters will turn out. But I do truly believe that if you do your best, things will work out much better than if you do your worst.

Of course, as a Christian, I hold dear the teaching of Jesus: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. Amen to that. 

The strawberry decision

Now, here’s my question: what is the yummiest way to serve fresh, delicious strawberries?

Is it strawberries with cream, or strawberries with vanilla ice-cream? With the Southern Hemisphere spring making our days beautiful, it’s time to enjoy a classic dessert. And what’s better than strawberries with cream or ice-cream? Unless, of course, you add a little rosewater or a splash of kirsch.

Strawberries and cream, I read on Wikipedia, were introduced to the court of English King Henry VIII by his advisor Thomas Wolsey. Henry VIII became king in 1509 and Wolsey soon gained an influential position in his court, and was the king’s Lord Chancellor from 1515 to 1529. It’s not certain which English summer it was when Wolsey’s chefs brought in the first bowls of strawberries and cream to tempt the royal palate. But for hundreds of years now, the English and their visitors have loved summer-time strawberries served with dairy-fresh, clotted cream.  

They might also have loved it with ice-cream – as we have it today. I’m sure Henry VIII, a man with a hearty taste for life, would have enjoyed it with his strawberries. But ice-cream was still developing. Chilled dessert treats were not new. The Chinese had chilled treats (of ice and rice) about 200 BC. People in the ancient Persian Empire poured concentrated grape juice over snow; and the Arabs had milk ices, sweetened with sugar and flavoured with rosewater, dried fruits and nuts. Not bad.

In Europe, the Roman Emperor Nero (54 to 68 AD) had ice brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings to create chilled delicacies. And records say that Catherine de’ Medici brought Italian chefs into France in 1533, when she came to marry the Duc d’Orlέ᷂ans (who became King Henry II). These Italian chefs are said to have had recipes for sorbets and ices.

Today, we are the lucky inheritors of this smart thinking and have a wonderful range of ice-creams. For my photograph, I’ve used strawberries with Gippsland Dairy pure double cream, on the left; and strawberries with Kohu Road ice cream vanilla flavour, made with Heilala vanilla, top and right. I can vouch that both variants were delicious, though I did have to go a bit easy on the double cream.

A short history of strawberries

I went back to Wikipedia to learn that the first strawberries our ancestors enjoyed were the woodland strawberries growing wild in the countryside. Such strawberries are mentioned in Roman literature for their medicinal purposes. The wild strawberry was seen in illuminated manuscripts and in Italian, Flemish and German art and in English miniatures. The woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca, began to be cultivated in Europe in the early 1600s.

A great breakthrough came about when French explorer Amέ᷂dέe-Franꞔois Frέzier introduced a new strawberry variety, Fragaria chiloensis, from Chile into France in 1714. There it was crossed with the North American strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, sometime in the 1750s to produce the garden strawberry. The place was Brittany in France.  Our modern, cultivated strawberries, Fragaria x ananassa, grown around the world, come originally from this French cross-breeding.

Of course, the strawberry is not really a berry. Botanically, it is an aggregate accessory fruit. Each apparent ‘seed’ on the outside of the fruit is in fact one of the ovaries of the flower (which preceded the fruit), with a seed inside it.

Health benefits

Strawberries are rich sources of vitamin C, phyto-nutrients and minerals. They help fight infections and colds, are powerful anti-oxidants, contain folates, and are low in carbohydrates. So strawberries are good for you – although unfortunately, some people are allergic to them.

In Australia, we are lucky that strawberries are grown all year round to supply our fresh fruit needs; in our winter months, in Western Australia and Queensland, and at other times in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales.

The world’s biggest strawberry producer is the United States of America, followed by Turkey, Spain, Egypt and Mexico.  

Thank you, Dr Abuelaish

It’s humbling … I have just finished reading Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish’s book ‘I Shall Not Hate’ and I am dazzled by the spirit, courage and humanity of this distinguished Palestinian doctor shining through every page.

This book is a plea to our humanity - our common heritage as human beings - and the call we can all feel to be forces for good in our society. 

In Australia, as I write, we are facing ourselves in the mirror with the question ‘Are we a racist society?’ I certainly hope not. However, in all our societies there are people who see our shared humanity write large, and those who are disturbed by difference. There are even a few who fall into hatred. However, I believe that the great majority of human beings can learn to see beyond difference and grow in friendship and understanding.  

This is the prime call behind, ‘I Shall Not Hate’. It is a call to establish peace between Palestinians and Israelis through understanding, mutual respect and building goodwill instead of bad. In Dr Abuelaish’s case he sees medicine as having a prime role in this.

The book reveals in a very personal way the experience of deprivation, poverty and lack of opportunity. The doctor tells us how and with what determination – and help from his mother and certain teachers – he survived his childhood and rose to become a medical doctor and a specialist.

As a doctor, he worked in an Israeli hospital and made firm friends of Israeli colleagues. He worked hard to bring about understanding and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He calls the Israeli people brothers and sisters and notes how similar they are to Palestinians.

That is a remarkable achievement in the face of the provocations he faced: the destruction of his childhood home to make room for Israeli tanks to pass down the street; the continual humiliation and aggravation at border crossings; the rockets and the shelling; and, finally, the death of three of his innocent children and a niece. A lot of lesser people would have descended to hatred.

But hatred is an ignoble human emotion and we, all of us, are capable of rising above it. If we are to have good societies, we must do so. Being our best selves, as individuals, is crucial to building good societies. It is the pathway to peace – in families and communities, within countries, and globally. Hatred only breeds more hatred; and that is a lesson I hope we can all learn.

I was lent this copy of ‘I Shall Not Hate’ by my local minister – I’m a Christian and an Anglican, living in Sydney – which tells us that goodwill and sincere faith are able to rise above faith divisions.

Our world needs goodwill and people with the courage to give of their very best.

‘I Shall Not Hate’ by Izzeldin Abuelaish is published by Bloomsbury.

 

 

 

Hail the Imperial mandarin!

Imperial mandarins are an Australian citrus. I was surprised to discover this when I started reading about Imperial mandarins online the other day. It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and I’ve been tucking into Imperials lately because they are a winter joy: sweet, juicy, easy to peel, and rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. Finding out that they first appeared here in Sydney, in about 1890, was the icing on the cake.

My online research said that the Imperial mandarin appeared as a chance hybrid of the Mediterranean or the Willowleaf mandarin with another, possibly Emperor. Plainly it was a hit in 1890, and has been popular ever since. Imperial is an early maturing fruit, the first mandarin in my local fruit shop just when I’m trying to avoid winter colds.

These days Imperials are widely grown, many in central Queensland, where orchardist Bindi Pressler and her husband Craig have their 2PH farms. Like farmers everywhere, Bindi and Craig have had difficulties to face – I take my hat off to farmers around the world for their courage and resilience. Craig and Bindi had to replant 1600 acres of citrus trees in 2007, after citrus canker devastated their farm in 2005. Then in 2011, the central Queensland floods arrived to set them back again. Good luck for the future, Bindi and Craig.

Further south in the Sunraysia district, near the Murray River, is Seven Fields, a 100% Australian family owned company that grows, packs and markets excellent citrus fruit. David Stephens of Seven Fields is a major grower of the Afourer mandarin. Also called the Nadorcott or W. Murcott, the Afourer is said to have come from Morocco.

The origin of mandarins is interesting. They are considered to be native to South-East Asia and the Philippines and grown abundantly in Japan, southern China and India. I read that dried mandarin peel is known in traditional Chinese medicine and in ayurvedic or traditional Indian medicines. According to molecular studies, the mandarin, the citron, pomelo and papeda were the ancestors of the commercial citrus varieties we know today. And, I’m told, the mandarin is the only truly sweet fruit among them.

I read that two varieties of mandarin were taken from Canton to England in 1805, and later adopted for cultivation around the Mediterranean. Somewhere between 1840 and 1850, the Willowleaf or China Mandarin was imported by an Italian consul to the consulate in New Orleans, and carried from there to Florida and California.

My mandarin photo, above, also shows a few cumquats from our garden. They grow abundantly and every year I make some cumquat marmalade using a recipe from the Burke’s Backyard (former) TV show. There is a twist, though. I add a little more lemon juice to reduce the sweetness and, just after it has jelled, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar.