Weather: Windy as hell and cold! Sorry, I know you guys in the UK are suffering from really awful weather at the moment and hate to complain but I’ve just got used to the heat!
Khmer word of the day: tro chek (cold!)
Ok, so it has got really windy here again and after my sleepless night on Saturday, when I was actually concerned about my house taking off, I decided to go into a guest house for the night! I know it is a bit of a cop out but my house rocks all over the place when it gets really windy and scares the bejesus out of me! I have, however, been informed that the windy season is nearly over and after that there is hardly any wind so I think I will stay in my house and stay in a guest house when it gets too scary!
On the plus side it meant that I got a good night’s sleep (concrete buildings don’t rock in the wind!) which was nice. Well, I say that, but another wedding started up at 4:50am this morning so I had seriously loud khmer karaoke as an alarm! I really don’t understand 1) why the weddings start that early 2) why the music is loud enough that the entire town can hear it 3) how the people at the wedding’s ears don’t bleed! Gah. It is wedding season now though so I guess I’ll just have to get used to it!
This morning however, I did manage to make it out on my bike through the wind to Pulong school, where I had a quick meeting with the School Director. I didn’t want to keep him long though as he is teaching 5 grades today as one teacher didn’t turn up, another is giving birth and the other one has a nasty throat infection so has gone to PP for treatment. It is amazing though how all the kids are sat patiently and quietly in the classes, waiting for the teacher to come it. Considering how many kids in the UK would do anything for their teacher not to turn up, for the kids here it means one less day of being able to learn.
Anyway, I have a meeting with him next week to discuss community involvement in the school which I think will be quite positive as he already has good ties with the community and has had successes in getting them to help build a playground.
Just in the office now with the wind blowing around us making some plans for a student support network I am interested in setting up.
Tomorrow morning we are going to Pu Trom school, which is next to our friend Jack’s elephant project so we are going there for lunch. He has his own chef there who he says is great so I am looking forward to it and seeing the elephants in the wild!! I will take lots of pictures and post them on here as soon as I can.
Here’s hoping I don’t blow away...!
C x
Monday 30 November 2009
Tuesday 24 November 2009
The Curious Incident of the Motorbike on a Sunday
Khmer word of the day: tummy ache: chew puh
Weather report: No more rain but it has been replaced by cool winds which really aren’t much fun. Especially if your house is on stilts!
I’m sorry for not updating my blog more recently but please accept this following blog entry as way of explanation...
So a couple of Sunday’s ago Jeltje (the other new VSO in Mondulkiri) and I decided to head up to Sen Monorom waterfall with a couple of friends for the afternoon. However, in order to get to the falls you have to go up a really steep hill...which is where we ran into trouble. I was riding pillion behind Jeltje, as I was yet to receive my own bike, and J was trying to shift down the gears but struggling, then it clicked into first and J lost control, opening the throttle up full. This caused the bike to fly straight up in the air and for me to go flying off the back. I was completely winded and rolling about, some Khmer people came running out of a house and carried me inside lying me flat on my back and immediately covering me in tiger balm (which causes your skin to burn like mad!!). This probably helped quite a bit as it probably prevented any more bruising than there was.
So here I was, lying on the floor of a tiny wooden house, everything I feared coming true. Seven hours from any real medical help. Anyway, the friends I was with managed to borrow a 4x4 to take me to the hospital. When I say hospital here, it is a very loose interpretation of what is considered a hospital. The most medical thing about it is the big sign outside and the pictures on the bill boards. When we got there we realised that there was absolutely nothing there, which is very sad as this is supposed to be the entire provinces access to free healthcare. However, we were informed that there is a private clinic in town which has an x-ray machine, so off we went there. Again, this clinic is extremely basic with a pharmacy shop at the front and 3 beds with drips behind. They did have an x-ray machine of kind upstairs though (a really steep, skinny set of stairs...what if you had a broken leg?!). Anyway the x-rays didn’t show any fractures, but got to admit, the doctor really didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t even check me for concussion until we made him. Anyway, we relayed all this info to VSO who informed London as they have to do.
I stayed with J that night just in case, plus I really couldn’t move properly so I just laid where they left me! So that was Sunday, then Tuesday night I get a call from VSO London telling me that I had to go to PP asap for further scans as they always treat neck and back injuries very seriously. Fortunately Veasna (one of the volunteer assistants) managed to arrange travel for me the next morning in a taxi, which only took 6 hours (VERY good!).
So I went to the hospital in PP and had lots of x-rays done again which came back clear. However, by this point the bruising and swelling was really getting going and it was actually more painful then after the accident. So I was quite grateful to get some anti-inflammatory medication and head on back to the Programme Office to lie very still!
However, being back in PP does offer some advantages...I went to the Pavilion Hotel one day and had a nice swim and hot power shower. I also got to see the new batch of volunteers again, which was nice. The vast choice of food in PP is also great...always somewhere nice to go for dinner relatively cheaply.
I also got to pick up my handmade shoes from ‘Beautiful Shoes’ and they are indeed very nice. Fit really well but my feet just aren’t used to wearing closed in shoes after sandals for so long so the blisters came swiftly. It is amazing that you can get a pair of bespoke shoes here for $18. Love it.
Whilst in PP I have also managed to make contact with friends of a friend from Uni who have just invested in a bar on an island just off the Cambodian coast! Pretty brave step and they only arrived two weeks ago and have been really busy setting everything up. So it was nice to meet up and I have been showing them around PP and helping them to source stuff they need for the bar, which has been quite fun really.
But please, don’t think it has all been fun! I have also had a bout of gastric-enteritis whilst here which has been far from pleasurable but not something a course of antibiotics can’t fix.
So, I am feeling well again and looking forward to getting the go ahead to go back to MDK soon, so that I can really start to get my teeth into things up there again.
Since being in PP has given me some spare time I have done lots of research into a Girls Support Network programme and am really interested in setting one up at a couple of schools as a community project. I now just need to figure out how....!
I promise to update again soon!
Charlotte x
Weather report: No more rain but it has been replaced by cool winds which really aren’t much fun. Especially if your house is on stilts!
I’m sorry for not updating my blog more recently but please accept this following blog entry as way of explanation...
So a couple of Sunday’s ago Jeltje (the other new VSO in Mondulkiri) and I decided to head up to Sen Monorom waterfall with a couple of friends for the afternoon. However, in order to get to the falls you have to go up a really steep hill...which is where we ran into trouble. I was riding pillion behind Jeltje, as I was yet to receive my own bike, and J was trying to shift down the gears but struggling, then it clicked into first and J lost control, opening the throttle up full. This caused the bike to fly straight up in the air and for me to go flying off the back. I was completely winded and rolling about, some Khmer people came running out of a house and carried me inside lying me flat on my back and immediately covering me in tiger balm (which causes your skin to burn like mad!!). This probably helped quite a bit as it probably prevented any more bruising than there was.
So here I was, lying on the floor of a tiny wooden house, everything I feared coming true. Seven hours from any real medical help. Anyway, the friends I was with managed to borrow a 4x4 to take me to the hospital. When I say hospital here, it is a very loose interpretation of what is considered a hospital. The most medical thing about it is the big sign outside and the pictures on the bill boards. When we got there we realised that there was absolutely nothing there, which is very sad as this is supposed to be the entire provinces access to free healthcare. However, we were informed that there is a private clinic in town which has an x-ray machine, so off we went there. Again, this clinic is extremely basic with a pharmacy shop at the front and 3 beds with drips behind. They did have an x-ray machine of kind upstairs though (a really steep, skinny set of stairs...what if you had a broken leg?!). Anyway the x-rays didn’t show any fractures, but got to admit, the doctor really didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t even check me for concussion until we made him. Anyway, we relayed all this info to VSO who informed London as they have to do.
I stayed with J that night just in case, plus I really couldn’t move properly so I just laid where they left me! So that was Sunday, then Tuesday night I get a call from VSO London telling me that I had to go to PP asap for further scans as they always treat neck and back injuries very seriously. Fortunately Veasna (one of the volunteer assistants) managed to arrange travel for me the next morning in a taxi, which only took 6 hours (VERY good!).
So I went to the hospital in PP and had lots of x-rays done again which came back clear. However, by this point the bruising and swelling was really getting going and it was actually more painful then after the accident. So I was quite grateful to get some anti-inflammatory medication and head on back to the Programme Office to lie very still!
However, being back in PP does offer some advantages...I went to the Pavilion Hotel one day and had a nice swim and hot power shower. I also got to see the new batch of volunteers again, which was nice. The vast choice of food in PP is also great...always somewhere nice to go for dinner relatively cheaply.
I also got to pick up my handmade shoes from ‘Beautiful Shoes’ and they are indeed very nice. Fit really well but my feet just aren’t used to wearing closed in shoes after sandals for so long so the blisters came swiftly. It is amazing that you can get a pair of bespoke shoes here for $18. Love it.
Whilst in PP I have also managed to make contact with friends of a friend from Uni who have just invested in a bar on an island just off the Cambodian coast! Pretty brave step and they only arrived two weeks ago and have been really busy setting everything up. So it was nice to meet up and I have been showing them around PP and helping them to source stuff they need for the bar, which has been quite fun really.
But please, don’t think it has all been fun! I have also had a bout of gastric-enteritis whilst here which has been far from pleasurable but not something a course of antibiotics can’t fix.
So, I am feeling well again and looking forward to getting the go ahead to go back to MDK soon, so that I can really start to get my teeth into things up there again.
Since being in PP has given me some spare time I have done lots of research into a Girls Support Network programme and am really interested in setting one up at a couple of schools as a community project. I now just need to figure out how....!
I promise to update again soon!
Charlotte x
Wednesday 4 November 2009
Water Festival (and more!) 4/11/09
So this weekend was the annual water festival in Phnom Penh celebrating the end of the wet season and the change in direction of flow of the Tonle Sap River. It is a very old tradition for hundreds of teams to compete in dragon boat races on the river in front of the king and over 2 million people who travel to the city for the festival. So it is pretty crazy in Phnom Penh as you can imagine.
Anyway, VSO have entered a boat into the race for the past few years and it was up to us to continue this tradition. The VSO boat is the only boat with foreigners on (and women I might add) so we obviously drew quite alot of attention driving through town in an open top lorry in matching bright green t-shirts and caps! I do recall one man in fact just stood pointing and laughing. A great team morale booster there! I mean, we only did 4 hours of training and some of these teams spend all year training for this event as it is a really big deal to win.
As is typical of Cambodian organisation the only thing we knew on the day was that we were racing at some point! At about 9:30am we found out that we were racing at 12:30pm so had some free time on the quay to get suitably burnt. This is a massive issue for me at the moment as my skin has gone photo-sensitive from the anti-malaria tablets I am taking. I had factor 50 on and completely covered but could feel my skin burning through the tree, sunscreen and clothing! Really annoying and when it came to getting in the boat I got into my seat for about a minute before having to get out as my skin was so sore. Later when I got back to my hotel I discovered that I had been burnt though everything which is just crazy and really sore so I was very glad that I got out as the team was in the boat for way over an hour and I would’ve been in agony. I was really disappointed though as I was really looking forward to the experience of rowing in the race. As it turned out though the team didn’t quite make it to the start line as the current was really strong so they let them start with an advantage, though still managed to lose that race and the one after!! I managed to watch from the roof of the Foreign Correspondents Club which was really cool (and shady!).
So after all that action we went back to the guesthouse to prepare for the after-party! It was at this place with a really nice roof terrace not too far from the Royal Palace with a Moroccan theme. So lots of yummy food, a bit of random dancing to cheesy music and happy hour cocktails! Then onto the Heart of Darkness which is an infamous club in Phnom Penh, full of a massive mix of people and really very funny! I had a very enjoyable dance with a hilarious lady boy!
The morning after the night before we headed over the lakeside which is the backpacker district, in search of an English breakfast (it is ok to do this if you are an ex-pat!). So after some eggs and baked beans (to absorb alcohol) and banana shake (for potassium) we were all feeling much better so headed off to the river front to watch the second round of the races (which we obviously didn’t make it into). There was an amazing party atmosphere with the whole area pedestrianised and full of vendors, music and people having fun.
So in the afternoon I did a couple of jobs cruising around on my bike, which was a bit mental considering the heightened weight of traffic and I actually saw my first big accident with two people being knocked clean off their moto by a Lexus.
Anyway, that evening we had planned to meet at a restaurant not too far from the Programme Office and I knew the other guys had taken their bikes there so I hopped on mine and headed in that direction. However, I inadvertently managed to drive into the worst and maddest traffic ever. Everything was completely stationary with a car on fire in the middle, several ambulances trying to make their way through a completely solid mass of people and traffic. It was totally crazy and I was completely jammed in and spent over an hour trying to force myself and the bike through the scrum. So I arrived really really late for dinner and very stressed! It wasn’t long before the traffic had affected nearly every road in the area and we were penned into our restaurant! It calmed down enough after about an hour which meant that we were able to creep our way back to the PO. I have never seen so many Cambodians though, there must have been millions of people on the streets on Phnom Penh, with little to no organisation (other than the police randomly shutting roads and making you pay to go down them!). MENTAL.
So, I have now made it back to Mondulkiri in what was actually our best journey so far. Took about 7 hours so meant we were here at about 3pm which is really good. When we arrived it was a bit windy owing to another typhoon remnant rolling in but it has got worse and worse and I am now writing this at 11:30pm as I am unable to sleep as my house is rocking in the wind. Scary times!! We had a typhoon a few weeks ago and obviously my house survived that but it is still really scary as it is on wooden stilts and the walls and floor are very gappy which means that it is like sitting in a wind tunnel. Oh and just to top it off a rat just ran across my bedroom floor into its little hole. This is definitely not a highlight of my time in Cambodia so far...
Sorry to end on such a downer, hopefully things will pick up soon and I can write about that!!
Love xx
Anyway, VSO have entered a boat into the race for the past few years and it was up to us to continue this tradition. The VSO boat is the only boat with foreigners on (and women I might add) so we obviously drew quite alot of attention driving through town in an open top lorry in matching bright green t-shirts and caps! I do recall one man in fact just stood pointing and laughing. A great team morale booster there! I mean, we only did 4 hours of training and some of these teams spend all year training for this event as it is a really big deal to win.
As is typical of Cambodian organisation the only thing we knew on the day was that we were racing at some point! At about 9:30am we found out that we were racing at 12:30pm so had some free time on the quay to get suitably burnt. This is a massive issue for me at the moment as my skin has gone photo-sensitive from the anti-malaria tablets I am taking. I had factor 50 on and completely covered but could feel my skin burning through the tree, sunscreen and clothing! Really annoying and when it came to getting in the boat I got into my seat for about a minute before having to get out as my skin was so sore. Later when I got back to my hotel I discovered that I had been burnt though everything which is just crazy and really sore so I was very glad that I got out as the team was in the boat for way over an hour and I would’ve been in agony. I was really disappointed though as I was really looking forward to the experience of rowing in the race. As it turned out though the team didn’t quite make it to the start line as the current was really strong so they let them start with an advantage, though still managed to lose that race and the one after!! I managed to watch from the roof of the Foreign Correspondents Club which was really cool (and shady!).
So after all that action we went back to the guesthouse to prepare for the after-party! It was at this place with a really nice roof terrace not too far from the Royal Palace with a Moroccan theme. So lots of yummy food, a bit of random dancing to cheesy music and happy hour cocktails! Then onto the Heart of Darkness which is an infamous club in Phnom Penh, full of a massive mix of people and really very funny! I had a very enjoyable dance with a hilarious lady boy!
The morning after the night before we headed over the lakeside which is the backpacker district, in search of an English breakfast (it is ok to do this if you are an ex-pat!). So after some eggs and baked beans (to absorb alcohol) and banana shake (for potassium) we were all feeling much better so headed off to the river front to watch the second round of the races (which we obviously didn’t make it into). There was an amazing party atmosphere with the whole area pedestrianised and full of vendors, music and people having fun.
So in the afternoon I did a couple of jobs cruising around on my bike, which was a bit mental considering the heightened weight of traffic and I actually saw my first big accident with two people being knocked clean off their moto by a Lexus.
Anyway, that evening we had planned to meet at a restaurant not too far from the Programme Office and I knew the other guys had taken their bikes there so I hopped on mine and headed in that direction. However, I inadvertently managed to drive into the worst and maddest traffic ever. Everything was completely stationary with a car on fire in the middle, several ambulances trying to make their way through a completely solid mass of people and traffic. It was totally crazy and I was completely jammed in and spent over an hour trying to force myself and the bike through the scrum. So I arrived really really late for dinner and very stressed! It wasn’t long before the traffic had affected nearly every road in the area and we were penned into our restaurant! It calmed down enough after about an hour which meant that we were able to creep our way back to the PO. I have never seen so many Cambodians though, there must have been millions of people on the streets on Phnom Penh, with little to no organisation (other than the police randomly shutting roads and making you pay to go down them!). MENTAL.
So, I have now made it back to Mondulkiri in what was actually our best journey so far. Took about 7 hours so meant we were here at about 3pm which is really good. When we arrived it was a bit windy owing to another typhoon remnant rolling in but it has got worse and worse and I am now writing this at 11:30pm as I am unable to sleep as my house is rocking in the wind. Scary times!! We had a typhoon a few weeks ago and obviously my house survived that but it is still really scary as it is on wooden stilts and the walls and floor are very gappy which means that it is like sitting in a wind tunnel. Oh and just to top it off a rat just ran across my bedroom floor into its little hole. This is definitely not a highlight of my time in Cambodia so far...
Sorry to end on such a downer, hopefully things will pick up soon and I can write about that!!
Love xx
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