Babs’ travels -The Peking to Paris Rally and other driving adventures.

On January 31st, 1907 the following appeared in Paris Matin:  'What needs to be proved today is that as long as a man has a car, he can do anything and go anywhere.  Is there anyone who will undertake to travel, this summer, from Peking to Paris by automobile?' Well, this summer we have answered that call and are participating in the 4th Peking to Paris Rally.  It is still a hugely challenging event, with the nine days crossing Mongolia the biggest challenge of all. This vast country has few roads, and our journey will be over rutted tracks, through rivers, across soft sand and the navigational difficulties will be immense. We will camp in Mongolia, in possibly sub-zero temperatures, but will need to be self sufficient in case we are unable to reach our designated camping areas each night. We have been told that the nomadic people we will encounter are hugely hospitable but, although being invited to sleep in a cosy ger has some appeal,  being fed fermented mar...

It is very difficult not to bring western ideas of fairness into a developing country. Especially one with a recent thirty year history of civil war, genocide and occupation.  A good example of this is the Khmer Rouge war crime trials. The big show trial is of Comrade Duch the former commander of the notorious S21 prison and torture palace in Phnom Penh. It is an awful place, as you would expect, but the more so because it was a school before 1975 and has the instantly recognisable architecture of all schools in Cambodia. Unspeakable things happened here. Almost noone left alive and the bodies were taken from here to the killing fields on the outskirts of the city. It is unknown how many died an agonising, slow death here. Duch has found Jesus and now, apparently, admits his crimes and shows remorse. His trial has split Cambodian opinion. The way that the majority of people cope with their terrible history is to draw a line in front of it and move on. Everyone in this coun...

My two short weeks in Cambodia ended too soon.  There is so much to be done and not enough hours in the day.  I didn't manage to do any teaching this time as I was immersed in medical matters.  The children get the most horrendous skin problems as well as all the usual childhood ailments.  I have dealt with literally hundreds of infected skin cuts;  ear infections, scabies, eczema, gut problems, many toes that have been stubbed  with nails damaged and falling off, babies whose legs have been caught in bicycle wheels, boils, a girl whose ear was pierced with a bit of wood and was infected, a girls who'd been whipped by her father etc,etc. Every day I would see and treat about 50 children.  The adults from the village started coming too but I had to harden my heart and say no, I could not help them.  It is difficult but we are in the business of helping children.  Indeed, we make it a rule that children have to be enrolled in school before w...