Ukulele playing in.. Cambodia?

dianalele

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So, here's the story.
I currently reside in New York. About a year ago, I applied for a job with the Peace Corps. For people who are unfamiliar with the Peace Corps, it is a government agency that sends qualified volunteers to countries who ask for help in areas like health, education, community development, HIV Prevention, etc. After a year of interviews, essays, forms, evaluations, etc, I got the job!

I have been placed in Cambodia in Asia, which is right between Thailand and Vietnam. I am moving to Cambodia in 25 days and I will be living there with a host family until October 2013! My primary job will be teaching High School English. My secondary jobs will include any kind of community development the the town and I have interest in.

For my sanity, and for a fun cross-cultural ice breaker, I am bringing my ukulele! I'm bringing my tenor Cordoba. It's my favorite one and I know it is sturdy because it has been through a lot (Haiti, Costa Rica, etc).

You can be sure that the ukulele will be doing some sort of good in Cambodia.

My favorite thing to play on the uke is instrumental stuff with or without tab. I have John King's book of Classical arrangements and I LOVE it. I also have While My Guitar Gently Weeps that I'm working on. I want to take more music with me! I need to keep myself occupied for over 2 years!
Does anyone have any suggestions for other similar books? Or does anyone know where I can find music/tab to instrumental songs they love playing and they think I would enjoy learning?
 
Aloha Diana,
Glad to hear you will be working for the peace corps...what a fulfilling job...and we are so proud of you...wow wee ..you must have just graduated from school with your teaching degrees....wow
I know a friend who just went over to japan and do the same thing but it wasn't the Peace Corps.. Glad to hear you are bringing your uke..(bring extra strings.) ha ha...will you have access
to a laptop so you can go online....wow over two years commitment..holy smokes..but that's cool.. contact Itsme...she's into that stuff... Good Luck, Happy Strummings..MM Stan
 
I love Cambodia, been there three times. The first time was in the early 90's when it was still pretty much closed to tourists and full of UN soldiers.
Flying from Phom Penh to Bangkok takes only about an hour, so hopefully you will be able to visit some Uke shops in Bangkok occasionally. I've got a few Thai guitar chord books, but they are written in Thai so not much help. One peculiar thing about SE Asia is they still love some of the old songs that were popular from the Vietnam war era. Alot of them know, "Have you ever seen the rain", "Take me home,country roads", "You are my sunshine", some stuff like that.
 
Have you seen the "Daily Ukulele" I just got one for Father's Day and it's very nice...a great selection of all kinds of songs with both notes and chords with lyrics.
 
Extra strings! I didn't even think of that! thanks!

I was really hoping that somebody in the forum has been to Cambodia and would have some ukulele-related words of advice! This is awesome. From what I can tell, the ukulele hasn't really made it to Cambodia (yet). But I know it's pretty big in Thailand. If I ever need to fill my ukulele store craving, I'll have to make a trip to Bangkok. There are music stores in Phnom Penh, but I've heard its pretty much limited to guitars. Just one question... what the heck were you doing in Cambodia in the 90s? And then twice more after that?

I looked up the Daily Ukulele. Looks pretty awesome, i might have to invest. thank you :)
 
Extra strings! I didn't even think of that! thanks!

I was really hoping that somebody in the forum has been to Cambodia and would have some ukulele-related words of advice! This is awesome. From what I can tell, the ukulele hasn't really made it to Cambodia (yet). But I know it's pretty big in Thailand. If I ever need to fill my ukulele store craving, I'll have to make a trip to Bangkok. There are music stores in Phnom Penh, but I've heard its pretty much limited to guitars. Just one question... what the heck were you doing in Cambodia in the 90s? And then twice more after that?

I looked up the Daily Ukulele. Looks pretty awesome, i might have to invest. thank you :)

I lived in Thailand for a couple of years working in a refugee camp. Alot of refugees were from the Vietnam/Cambodia border area. I went to Cambodia on a Christmas/New Year weekend and also inbetween contracts or jobs. I recomend taking a boat from Phom Penh to Angkhor sometime, I'm sure there are quick flights up there now, but the cheap public speedboat trips were cool. You will also be very close to Vietnam and Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city and Laos. Let me know if you have any other questions about them parts. Fond memories
 
I'd bring a couple of tuners with some spare batteries (if you need a tuner) and if you have room and can afford it perhaps a couple of dolphin ukes or something like that that is cheap and sturdy. You can teach some other folks to play and play together. In that vein perhaps a very exhaustive chord book would be good too.
 
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