Starting in Battambang

The page is back on track and I'm happy to give some updates on how it's going here in Cambodia. Since the last entry, I have moved to the city of Battambang, about 300km north-west to Phnom Penh and found a small appartment not too far to the city center. Working also for CIRAD on another project on rice, a classmate from HAFL is based here in Battambang also, and whilst we're both happy (or at least me) to have someone to talk to and exchange, we've decided to live next to each other in the same complex of appartments. The area around our houses is all green. Mango, papaya and jackfruit trees give shade and many plants we know as houseplants in Switzerland grow independently and healthy. The landlady takes care of the area herself and has a radiant smile when welcoming someone home. My classmate and I are both really happy to have found this calm place to stay in for the coming five months.

Battambang is much less frantic than Phnom Penh and doesn't really give the feeling of a city, as I would imagine it. For one, you can find green spots everywhere and the river cutting the city in half, is giving a relaxing atmosphere. Then traffic is less dense and I feel comfortable enough to ride a bicycle! Just yesterday I bought one and I realized once again, how nice it is to ride the bicycle. wow. CIRAD's office is in the national univeristy of Battambang, about 2km from our appartment and the team here consists of rather young Cambodians - most of them master students in agronomy. They are giving much effort for giving me the needed context for the projects in the area, in which my work is embedded in, and some days ago we went on a first trip by motorbike to the area, where we will test the indicators for biodiversity. It's a 20km trip through the countryside with small villages and ricefields. A new rice cycle is just starting, as rainy season is setting in, and most farmers have either sowed out the rice already, or are preparing the fields to do so.

Me on the other hand I am preparing the first few tries for indicator testing in these fields. I would like to start with testing various traps to catch insects. The traps target different insect groups - for example a light trap will hopefully attract some moths or other flying insects drawn to light, or a pitfall trap should catch some soil dwellers like ground beetles or ants. So for the coming weeks we will finally be more on the field and construct and test these samplings.