Weather: RAIN. RAIN. RAIN. GALE FORCE WIND. RAIN. RAIN. RAIN
Khmer word of the day: Seam Reap Soor (formal greeting...accompanied by mini bow and praying type hand movement)
So Jeltje and I have moved to Sen Monorom for our placement visit which will last one week and be an introduction to our life here in Mondulkiri.
Right, I had better start with our journey up here. When I heard there was a taxi picking us up I imagined a Toyota Camry (v popular saloon car here) but actually what turned up was a Toyota Landcruiser. I was like, wow, that’ll be nice and comfy not squished in a tiny car. As VSO pay for slightly better tickets, Jeltje and I were in the back seat with another Khmer guy and it was fairly comfy although we were jammed in with our helmets. However, in order to get more people in the car they had replaced the boot with 3 seats in which were crammed 3 lovely (but squished) French guys. One of them had been volunteering in PP for 2 years and his friends were visiting him. However, why they decided to visit the most remote province in Cambodia during the rainy season out of choice I do not know!! So off we went, very comfortable in the air conditioned car (listening to RnB singer Akon at this point to be followed by many a power ballad including ‘I can’t live if living is without you’ my miming along to which was particularly inspired) chatting away to these French dudes. The road was tarmac so pretty amazing considering what was to come...Jan then text me saying ‘let us know when you hit dirt’. Mmmm. Ok.
So we ‘hit dirt’ at a town called Snoul (this means slut in Dutch which makes Jeltje embarrassed to say it and me giggle!) and headed out into the wild east of Cambodia. The road at this point was a little bumpy but ok. We then hit an amazing patch of tarmac, then dirt, then tarmac. It seems they are building the road in totally random sections rather than from start to finish...very odd! It was after about an hour of this that we started to hit some serious off-road stuff. We were slipping all over the road, in and out of huge ditches and holes of mud. We went past many abandoned cars and trucks (may I say, this was during a monsoon, of course!) and people trying to dig their way out of huge ruts. At one point we went down a particularly massive hole and the car made a very odd noise and refused to move (on the plus side, the hot French guy was now sat next to me...!). It was the most serious driving conditions I have ever experienced (I don’t want to scare you Mum but there were many, many landslides) so all in all quite an adventure. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure those who would like to visit that the road is only like this for a few months of the year, just so happens it is these few months!
Anyway, after that journey we arrived in a very misty, wet and dare I say it, COLD Sen Monorom! We were dropped off at our hotel (quite nice) and then taken to Keith and Jan’s place at the bottom of the valley by the lake to meet everyone. When we arrived we were told that another couple of ex-pats had arranged afternoon tea for us. It was amazing! Their house is gorgeous and Roz had made real life chocolate cake, which tasted like heaven! Roz and Gabriel work for an NGO here but are actually paid proper salaries so have a great house. and cake. They also have a really cute little boy who is very sweet and loves cake!
We then popped next door to have a look at Jan and Keith’s place, which is amazing too! They live above a family and have the top floor, which over-looks the lake. It has an oven too, which is pretty rare out here (also good for the making of cake).
We then went out for dinner with the other VSO volunteers and the volunteer assistants to this really nice place and had a yummy Khmer curry, then proceeded back to our hotel for an early night which of course turned into watching a dvd until 11:30pm!!
We got up at 5:45am (!!!) and headed out for breakfast (duck eggs and baguette) then up to the Provincial Office of Education to meet all of our colleagues and see the office. I’m sure I will take some pictures at some point but today it was thick fog and rain so really nothing to see. Besides, I was riding pillion for the first time on the back of a motorbike so really quite focused on that!!!
Good meeting, mostly about the importance of finding a good house here and trying to settle in properly before thinking about the work. So that was nice and the volunteer assistants are great, so friendly and warm. They’re all young guys and referred to as ‘the boys’!
We then headed off to open a bank account which took quite a while but is all sorted now so we can get paid our allowance and rent into there. It was then time for lunch break, which is 3 hours!! Rigorously enforced so no stuffing a sandwich in at your desk allowed! Jeltje and I went and chilled at the hotel for a bit and had a chat about houses and life in general then headed into town to investigate. All this proved to be was a quick way to get dirty, wet and lost, so quickly gave up and headed to a place called ‘The Greenhouse’ for lunch. We had a cheapy lunch of curry (J) and noodles (me) and were joined by a very cute kitten whom we have called ‘Two Puck’ (said Tu Pac!). There is a very long story behind this that I won’t bore you with!!
So then on to house hunting...what an experience! It really was interesting. The first house we went to was a literal mansion, consisting of 2 floors and 6 bedrooms. Waaay too expensive though although J is thinking of trying to bargain for just the top floor.
We then proceeded to see many more houses on a scale of ‘NO WAY’ to ‘maybe if...’ Then we found THE house. It was a totally random find that we just happened to drive past and see the sign. It has obviously just been re-done, is a very nice size and great views over the valley. Must be out of our price range...When the land-lady arrived 20mins later we discovered 2 bedrooms (one v big) and a lovely living area. Haven’t seen the kitchen or bathroom yet but assured that it will have a stove and sink and the b’room has a shower. Great. So on to price. The land-lady originally said $200, then $180 and after explaining that I am in fact a volunteer she is giving it to me for $150pm! It is amazing for that price so pretty chuffed. Going back in the morning to negotiate some more on furniture and to see the kitchen and bathroom but fairly positive so far!
I also found out today that to have internet in your house is $30 pm! Lots of volunteers here do it as skyping so much cheaper than international calls and very convenient. Also can get 900 cable channels for $8pm (about 30 of which are in English but includes 6 football channels apparently) so not going to be so disconnected from outside world as first thought!
Anyway, a massive tropical storm has rolled in this evening from the Philippines, where I understand it has wreaked havoc (so makes a change from the constant torrential rain by adding gale force winds!) and I am exhausted from today so going to sign off and write another blog when I can.
Love xx
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