Lunch Break at Ou Reang Waterfall
Coco!
Sean with his blackboards and Pu Trom Cha
Much, much better!Thursday, 17 December 2009
Pictures
Lunch Break at Ou Reang WaterfallCoco!Sean with his blackboards and Pu Trom ChaMuch, much better!
Success at Last! 16/12/2009
So far this week has been a series of up’s and down’s with work, starting badly and now going great! On Monday I had planned to have a meeting with the School Director of Pu Long School to discuss involving the community in creating a new school map for this year. However, when we turned up we were informed that he had in fact gone to a workshop in SM. Not great. Communication is limited at best here and in his defence he was probably informed of said workshop that morning. It would’ve been nice of him to give us a call though and save us the journey. Still, Jeltje was able to do a lesson observation with the grade one teacher whilst I headed back to SM with Sean (a volunteer with another project locally who offered to help us out for a couple of days doing whatever he could).
My Tuesday meeting at Pu Trom Cha was looking to go the same way when we arrived after a 45min gruelling off-road drive (including one painful spill on the way there and one VERY painful and scary one on the way back. And here was me thinking I might be bruise free in time for the beach!). The School Director was there but the community were not. He did dispatch several girls from the school to go inform the village chief that I was here and would like a meeting though, which is progress. The door which we had asked him to fix 8 weeks ago (in order to make the school secure, so we could give it some resources) was still leaning up against the outside wall. So we asked him if it would be possible for us to try and fix it now while we waited. The SD ummmed and ahhhhed for a while and eventually hopped on his bike to go get some tools from his home. He arrived back and immediately he, the teacher, Chak and Sean were all systems go creating new hinges and repairing the old ones. The door was back on again and working in about 10mins with all them sweating like mad in the sun! Still, the door was now fixed and several village elders hod now turned up so I went ahead with my community meeting whilst Sean and Jeltje re-painted the blackboards which were completely knackered.
The meeting was a great success with the SD having listed his issues and ideas for school improvements and the community giving their opinions about the school too. The one thing that was really highlighted was the amazing level of poverty in the community which was certainly reflected in the school. The children there are hardly dressed, have no paper, books or pens as their parents simply cannot afford these things. The school is very run down with hardly any resources, the class room walls are pretty much bare and there is nothing to fill them with. The school is also lacking a water supply which means there is nowhere for the children to wash, go to the toilet or drink. It is by far the worst school I have visited so far and it really pulls at the heart strings when you think about how little is actually needed to get it on the right track. It costs $200 to build a well, around $50 to provide it with resources such as paper, pens, card, chalk etc.
Still, although I have no funding to give them I am determined to help somehow to improve the school. It is the first one I’ve been to where the community has turned up so I am really keen to encourage continued partnership between school and community. During the meeting I suggested a ‘Community Open Day’ where everyone is invited to the school to see what happens there and also to see how it needs some support to make improvements. The community and SD were all really keen on this idea and have really flown with it. I have asked them to come up with some ideas and expectations for the day for our next meeting so we can set a suitable date and a list of activities.
So that was great, a very uplifting experience after weeks of feeling like I’m banging my head against a wall, not getting anywhere and being sick in Phnom Penh!
I have a meeting with Lauka School and the community there tomorrow morning which I really hope goes just as well!!
Just a quick update...I now have a kitten called Coco! She is very cute but still a little too small to catch mice and rats (sadly, as I am completely overridden with the buggers!).
Merry Christmas! I had almost forgotten...I do not feel even remotely Christmassy here as I am warm, it is sunny and everyone here is Buddhist!
Love xx
My Tuesday meeting at Pu Trom Cha was looking to go the same way when we arrived after a 45min gruelling off-road drive (including one painful spill on the way there and one VERY painful and scary one on the way back. And here was me thinking I might be bruise free in time for the beach!). The School Director was there but the community were not. He did dispatch several girls from the school to go inform the village chief that I was here and would like a meeting though, which is progress. The door which we had asked him to fix 8 weeks ago (in order to make the school secure, so we could give it some resources) was still leaning up against the outside wall. So we asked him if it would be possible for us to try and fix it now while we waited. The SD ummmed and ahhhhed for a while and eventually hopped on his bike to go get some tools from his home. He arrived back and immediately he, the teacher, Chak and Sean were all systems go creating new hinges and repairing the old ones. The door was back on again and working in about 10mins with all them sweating like mad in the sun! Still, the door was now fixed and several village elders hod now turned up so I went ahead with my community meeting whilst Sean and Jeltje re-painted the blackboards which were completely knackered.
The meeting was a great success with the SD having listed his issues and ideas for school improvements and the community giving their opinions about the school too. The one thing that was really highlighted was the amazing level of poverty in the community which was certainly reflected in the school. The children there are hardly dressed, have no paper, books or pens as their parents simply cannot afford these things. The school is very run down with hardly any resources, the class room walls are pretty much bare and there is nothing to fill them with. The school is also lacking a water supply which means there is nowhere for the children to wash, go to the toilet or drink. It is by far the worst school I have visited so far and it really pulls at the heart strings when you think about how little is actually needed to get it on the right track. It costs $200 to build a well, around $50 to provide it with resources such as paper, pens, card, chalk etc.
Still, although I have no funding to give them I am determined to help somehow to improve the school. It is the first one I’ve been to where the community has turned up so I am really keen to encourage continued partnership between school and community. During the meeting I suggested a ‘Community Open Day’ where everyone is invited to the school to see what happens there and also to see how it needs some support to make improvements. The community and SD were all really keen on this idea and have really flown with it. I have asked them to come up with some ideas and expectations for the day for our next meeting so we can set a suitable date and a list of activities.
So that was great, a very uplifting experience after weeks of feeling like I’m banging my head against a wall, not getting anywhere and being sick in Phnom Penh!
I have a meeting with Lauka School and the community there tomorrow morning which I really hope goes just as well!!
Just a quick update...I now have a kitten called Coco! She is very cute but still a little too small to catch mice and rats (sadly, as I am completely overridden with the buggers!).
Merry Christmas! I had almost forgotten...I do not feel even remotely Christmassy here as I am warm, it is sunny and everyone here is Buddhist!
Love xx
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Ratanakiri, Bum breakage and Saturday swim with Elephants! 13/12/09
So this week I spent Sun 6th-Thurs 10th Dec in the province of Ratanakiri, attending a workshop on the issue of education of indigenous children.
This is a problem in several provinces around Cambodia, as in order to reach the UN Millennium Goals by the 2015 deadline, all children must be in education. However, there is a serious issue with indigenous peoples as they all speak their own languages but the teachers speak in K’mai, making it impossible for the children to follow. It is therefore necessary to train bi-lingual teachers who can also teach the children K’mai so that they can stay in education.
There are also issues surrounding teacher retention. The teachers are paid very badly, if at all, so there is a high rate of teacher absence as they usually have to work second jobs. Also, teachers are sent to these remote communities straight from teacher training college and frequently don’t settle as a result of a drastic change in lifestyle.
So, these are some of the issues we discussed during the two day workshop, with representatives from the government, UNESCO, UNICEF and CARE, who are all key NGO’s working in the region in education.
It was an interesting few days and we created some good recommendations for the government on how to increase school attendance amongst indigenous children, namely, recruiting good teachers from the community who are then given bi-lingual education training. Also it is vital that the government pay their teachers sufficiently and on time. However, this has been said many, many times before by lots of NGO’s and nothing is being done. The army on the other hand have been given a large pay rise...watch out Thailand!
Anyway, I’ll tell you a little bit about Ban Lung (capitol of RTK). Well, it is much larger than Sen Monorom, with proper shops and a massive market. It is also much flatter, now that I am used to be surrounded by hills it feels weird! It also has a beautiful volcanic crater lake not far from the town which is simply breathtaking. We went swimming the warm green water and it was just ACE! There is lots of mythology and religion surrounding the lake and it is a sacred place for the local communities who care for it. Sadly, Kirsty (the vso I was staying with), said that there are plans for the government to sell it to the Vietnamese who are going to build a casino right on the shore of the lake. I can’t think of anything worse than this happening and I really hope they come to their senses.
My journey back from RTK (and the bum breakage mentioned in the title) was certainly a little interesting. I managed to arrange to get a lift with the UNESCO people down to Snoul, which is an easy place to get a ride to Sen Monorom. However, the driver got confused and took me to Kratie instead, which meant I needed to get a ride to Snoul from there and then another up to SM. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after much bartering with drivers I managed to get the front seat of a pick up (with 5 people in the back seat, designed for 3 and someone sat with the driver!) to Snoul and the same driver then arranged for me to get in another pick up to SM. This pick-up was the most laden down vehicle I have ever seen! It had about 3 tons of stock on the back, about six people on top and 6 people in the cabin. It went ridiculously slowly as a result and the 2 hour journey took almost 4! Another day in Cambodia!
Anyway, after our stressful week, Jeltje and I decided that we needed to relax so yesterday we headed on over the Pu Long waterfall, about 30mins moto ride through the hills on dirt roads. You would not believe the dust now that the dry season is here. It hasn’t rained in about 5 weeks and the roads and just pure red dust, meaning that whenever you go out you inevitably get a ‘mondulkiri tan’. So, jumping into the cold water after the trek down to the waterfall was an amazing feeling, as was washing off the orange coating! We had a lovely time, swimming, pick-nicking, sun bathing and reading on the rocks at the fall. Then something really cool happened, an elephant trek arrived so they could take a bath in the waterfall. It was great seeing the elephants in such close proximity and watching them in the water. However, I felt a bit saddened by the way they were draped in chains and have decided that I don’t want to ride one. We are going to our friend Jack’s elephant project on Tuesday (after visiting a school to meet the community members!) and he doesn’t do rides but does do treks to see them in their natural habitat which I think will be better than going on a touristy ride.
I have put a couple of elephant pictures up but I need to get the photo’s from Kirsty of RTK as I had to leave my other camera in PP to be fixed, sadly.
I will update again soon with pictures from the elephant project and more news about how my work is going here.
C x
This is a problem in several provinces around Cambodia, as in order to reach the UN Millennium Goals by the 2015 deadline, all children must be in education. However, there is a serious issue with indigenous peoples as they all speak their own languages but the teachers speak in K’mai, making it impossible for the children to follow. It is therefore necessary to train bi-lingual teachers who can also teach the children K’mai so that they can stay in education.
There are also issues surrounding teacher retention. The teachers are paid very badly, if at all, so there is a high rate of teacher absence as they usually have to work second jobs. Also, teachers are sent to these remote communities straight from teacher training college and frequently don’t settle as a result of a drastic change in lifestyle.
So, these are some of the issues we discussed during the two day workshop, with representatives from the government, UNESCO, UNICEF and CARE, who are all key NGO’s working in the region in education.
It was an interesting few days and we created some good recommendations for the government on how to increase school attendance amongst indigenous children, namely, recruiting good teachers from the community who are then given bi-lingual education training. Also it is vital that the government pay their teachers sufficiently and on time. However, this has been said many, many times before by lots of NGO’s and nothing is being done. The army on the other hand have been given a large pay rise...watch out Thailand!
Anyway, I’ll tell you a little bit about Ban Lung (capitol of RTK). Well, it is much larger than Sen Monorom, with proper shops and a massive market. It is also much flatter, now that I am used to be surrounded by hills it feels weird! It also has a beautiful volcanic crater lake not far from the town which is simply breathtaking. We went swimming the warm green water and it was just ACE! There is lots of mythology and religion surrounding the lake and it is a sacred place for the local communities who care for it. Sadly, Kirsty (the vso I was staying with), said that there are plans for the government to sell it to the Vietnamese who are going to build a casino right on the shore of the lake. I can’t think of anything worse than this happening and I really hope they come to their senses.
My journey back from RTK (and the bum breakage mentioned in the title) was certainly a little interesting. I managed to arrange to get a lift with the UNESCO people down to Snoul, which is an easy place to get a ride to Sen Monorom. However, the driver got confused and took me to Kratie instead, which meant I needed to get a ride to Snoul from there and then another up to SM. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after much bartering with drivers I managed to get the front seat of a pick up (with 5 people in the back seat, designed for 3 and someone sat with the driver!) to Snoul and the same driver then arranged for me to get in another pick up to SM. This pick-up was the most laden down vehicle I have ever seen! It had about 3 tons of stock on the back, about six people on top and 6 people in the cabin. It went ridiculously slowly as a result and the 2 hour journey took almost 4! Another day in Cambodia!
Anyway, after our stressful week, Jeltje and I decided that we needed to relax so yesterday we headed on over the Pu Long waterfall, about 30mins moto ride through the hills on dirt roads. You would not believe the dust now that the dry season is here. It hasn’t rained in about 5 weeks and the roads and just pure red dust, meaning that whenever you go out you inevitably get a ‘mondulkiri tan’. So, jumping into the cold water after the trek down to the waterfall was an amazing feeling, as was washing off the orange coating! We had a lovely time, swimming, pick-nicking, sun bathing and reading on the rocks at the fall. Then something really cool happened, an elephant trek arrived so they could take a bath in the waterfall. It was great seeing the elephants in such close proximity and watching them in the water. However, I felt a bit saddened by the way they were draped in chains and have decided that I don’t want to ride one. We are going to our friend Jack’s elephant project on Tuesday (after visiting a school to meet the community members!) and he doesn’t do rides but does do treks to see them in their natural habitat which I think will be better than going on a touristy ride.
I have put a couple of elephant pictures up but I need to get the photo’s from Kirsty of RTK as I had to leave my other camera in PP to be fixed, sadly.
I will update again soon with pictures from the elephant project and more news about how my work is going here.
C x
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Pictures
Sea Forest
Playing footie at break time!
See saw fun, see the buffallo in the background?
Wall of Fame!!
Swinging in the company of large animals with horns!!Pu Tang Cha and Sea Forest 01/12/09
Weather: Windy, windy, windy but lots of sunshine too which makes it easier to deal with!
Khmer word of the day: chor t’lai (discount!)
Wow, I cannot believe it is December already the time is going so quickly!
So today we went on a visit to our furthest school at Pu Tang Cha which is a Pulong village about 40km from Sen Monorom. It doesn’t get visited very often and after you leave the main road you can see why. The roads to the village are seriously hardcore biking and I am actually surprised I made it with only one small incident when the bike fell into a ditch and I physically couldn’t lift it out.
The school is seriously run down and lacking in basic materials. It does, however, have a play ground where the children park the water buffalo they have to look after whilst they’re in school! The kids there are great though, sat patiently waiting to be taught by a teacher who is teaching three grades in one classroom. Their behaviour is impeccable.
The School Director there is also really keen to get the community involved in improving the school and has arranged a meeting for me to meeting the village chiefs to discuss how I can support them, which should be really interesting.
On the way back we decided to stop by our friend Jack’s elephant project which was really beautiful. Unfortunately we had just missed him or we would’ve gone on a bit of a trek to see the elephants in the wild. Still, I am here for another 11 months still so plenty of time!
In the afternoon we headed up to our closest school, Lauka. The main teacher there, Lavi, is amazing. She really takes everything on board and is really keen to improve the school and as a teacher. So we had a positive meeting and next week I am meeting with the school director there to discuss community involvement, which is currently none, so lots of work to do there!
On the way back from this visit we went to the Sea Forest, which is literally a blanket of jungle with little hills in it so it looks like waves. It is very beautiful and from here you can see the Vietnamese border. Really puts into perspective how much this region must have suffered during the US’s blanket bombing of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border.
So I have uploaded some pictures of the beautiful kids at Pu Tang Cha School and of the Sea Forest. Also put one up of ‘the wall of fame’ where I stick all the cards I receive from home...see if you’re on there and if not then send me something!!
C x
Khmer word of the day: chor t’lai (discount!)
Wow, I cannot believe it is December already the time is going so quickly!
So today we went on a visit to our furthest school at Pu Tang Cha which is a Pulong village about 40km from Sen Monorom. It doesn’t get visited very often and after you leave the main road you can see why. The roads to the village are seriously hardcore biking and I am actually surprised I made it with only one small incident when the bike fell into a ditch and I physically couldn’t lift it out.
The school is seriously run down and lacking in basic materials. It does, however, have a play ground where the children park the water buffalo they have to look after whilst they’re in school! The kids there are great though, sat patiently waiting to be taught by a teacher who is teaching three grades in one classroom. Their behaviour is impeccable.
The School Director there is also really keen to get the community involved in improving the school and has arranged a meeting for me to meeting the village chiefs to discuss how I can support them, which should be really interesting.
On the way back we decided to stop by our friend Jack’s elephant project which was really beautiful. Unfortunately we had just missed him or we would’ve gone on a bit of a trek to see the elephants in the wild. Still, I am here for another 11 months still so plenty of time!
In the afternoon we headed up to our closest school, Lauka. The main teacher there, Lavi, is amazing. She really takes everything on board and is really keen to improve the school and as a teacher. So we had a positive meeting and next week I am meeting with the school director there to discuss community involvement, which is currently none, so lots of work to do there!
On the way back from this visit we went to the Sea Forest, which is literally a blanket of jungle with little hills in it so it looks like waves. It is very beautiful and from here you can see the Vietnamese border. Really puts into perspective how much this region must have suffered during the US’s blanket bombing of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border.
So I have uploaded some pictures of the beautiful kids at Pu Tang Cha School and of the Sea Forest. Also put one up of ‘the wall of fame’ where I stick all the cards I receive from home...see if you’re on there and if not then send me something!!
C x
Monday, 30 November 2009
Huff and I’ll Puff and I’ll Blow Your House Down!! 30/11/09
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
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
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
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Moving to Sen Monorom, Modulkiri, Cambodia (At last!!) 28/10/09
Sorry I haven’t updated my blog for quite a while now I have been really busy as you shall see in the following blog...!
Right, so where to start?!
On 23rd October we all headed back to Phnom Penh from Kampong Cham with all of our things ready for the last part of our ICT (In Country Training) and to do a last bit of shopping before heading off to our placements. This was really quite hectic and exhausting but we ate lots of great food (HAS to be done in PP!) before heading off to different parts on Cambodia on the Sunday.
So the plan was that Jeltje and I were going to get a truck to take us and our stuff up to MDK however the truck driver decided that he didn’t want to come into the city as he was worried about police fines or something. Anyway, he sent this big tuk tuk to get us and all our things to take us out of town where our stuff would be loaded onto the truck. VSO had arranged to hire us the entire truck, which meant no other passengers of things however when we arrived the truck already had stuff on it but never mind, this is Cambodia and really not much we could do about it. So we managed to leave about 8:30am and made amazing time until our driver decided to help tow a mini bus out of a flood. Then proceed to wait there just watching and chatting on his mobile phone for THREE HOURS. Jeltje and I asked him several times when we were leaving to which he said ‘two minutes’ after about an hour we told him we wanted to leave NOW and he just ignored us completely. At the two hour mark we rang our translator who spoke to the driver who said he was waiting for his father or something...anyway after three hours a van did turn up and a man got into our truck. No-one else was supposed to be in the truck but we were so grateful to be leaving by this point that we just went along with it. By now, after a lovely sunny afternoon, a massive storm was rolling in. Obviously this didn’t exactly improve the state of the roads. At 5pm he stopped again to eat which seriously pissed us off as he had stopped so much and could’ve eaten in the three hours we had to sit by the edge of the road in the sun!! Grrr. Anyway, by the time we left again it was 5:30 pm and it was practically dark which is obviously when you want to be travelling on the most deserted, dangerous and remote roads in Cambodia...!
The long and short of this section of the journey was that Jeltje and I were scared witless, sliding sideways down roads towards ditches and landslides. It was really way beyond being even remotely fun. Especially as we kept having to stop to tow others out. Anyway, I’m trying not to think about it!! So eventually we made it 14 hours later! Over double what it should take, even at the moment. Turns out the driver wanted to wait for his brother so he could give him a free lift. Needless to say he will not be used again. As we arrived so late on Sunday I spent the night in a hotel and moved into my house on the Monday morning.
My VA (volunteer assistant, that is my assistant, he’s not a volunteer)Tak has been completely amazing completely sorting my house out and everything is great. Now I have unpacked and moved all my things in it is really starting to feel like my home.
After doing a bit of unpacking on Monday morning we headed out of town for our first school visit. Larka school is set in a beautiful position at the top of one of the many hills in MDK. There are two classrooms in the school and it is dire need of a spruce up and a playground for the children. So lots of work for me to do there and I’ve got loads of ideas to share with the community. The main teacher there called Lavi is great, really keen to develop the school and it has come a long way in the short time that VSO have been working there.
So after the school visit we headed up to the Pegoda on the top of the biggest hill in SM where there are amazing views all around the area. We have had amazing weather since we arrived with temps about 25 during the day and clear blue sky’s which means we can do lots and certainly better than the typhoon we had last time...!
So back on the motorbikes and into town for some dinner at Meg’s place and an early night!
Yesterday we had another very productive day visiting a school in another amazing location. On the way I just couldn’t believe that this is now my office! Amazing. I have taken lots of pictures so have a look on facebook as I can’t put them all on here, sorry! The teachers here are also amazing and the school director very keen to have some help. However, his daughter is very sick so he is frequently absent from the school. The students there are also almost entirely Pulong and speak very little Khmer which makes it very hard for the teachers. This is not helped by almost no community involvement in the school. In fact many of the local people have no idea what happens in a school as they never went themselves...I feel a community open day coming on...!
On the way back we had a break on a hillside overlooking the most amazing and unspoilt country I have ever seen. Then as we were chatting I gasped very loudly which gave Meg quite a start and her immediate reaction was ‘what’s on me’?! However, I had just seen an elephant approaching! The Pulong people still use them as transport and it was carrying a range of goods and people. Very cool. My first elephant!
We had a lovely lunch at the Nature Lodge, which is down a very scary track which meant some serious bum hurtage! We also went into a bush at one point which really hurt! That is saying nothing about Tak’s driving, he’s been on a bike since the day he was born, but rather the awful state of the roads here. Nature Lodge is very swiss family Robinson with huts built into the trees and little wooden lodges for people to stay in. The food is great there too but a little pricey now that I am used to eating for less than $2 a meal!
Last night it was my turn to cook dinner for everyone so I thought ‘when in Rome’ and made curry. The only problem is that i’m not entirely sure how to make a Cambodian curry, neither is Tak. So it was generally a fun shopping in the market/cooking experiment! I let Tak cook the rice as he says barang don’t know how to do it properly and to be honest I kind of agree with him...! Anyway, it tasted great (my own curry paste too, made in my new massive stone motar and pestle!) and everyone left very happy!
So today we headed off to Pulong school which is down another bumpy muddy track so much bum/back cracking there too! However, it was well worth it as the school is amazing. It has a great playground and the school director is very involved with the community. Saying that, they still need some help and support with some aspects so I really think I can help them take their work forward.
After the school visit we went to a waterfall to go swimming. WOW. I cannot believe I live somewhere where I can go swimming in a tropical waterfall after work! It goes without saying that the waterfall was beautiful and it was great to swim in the really cool water after the trek through the jungle to get there.
So, then back to base for lunch and an afternoon meeting with the District Director of Education in MDK who is great and very supportive of VSO. We have arranged to go on a visit to the schools together so we can discuss what to work on with each school.
Anyway, at the end of my 3rd day of living here I am completely loving it. I really think there is alot of work I can do here and I can’t wait to start. I also really like my house and the fact that it is so much cooler here. At night I sleep under a quilt and actually considered wearing a jumper in bed too last night...! However, it is back to the sauna of PP tomorrow. Hopefully won’t take 14 hours this time! Tak has arranged a truck and one of his friend’s is driving so at least there won’t be a 3 hour pointless stop and it hasn’t rained for 3 days so the road will be good which will be the first time for me!
I am going to have to wrap this up now as I need to get ready for Meg’s leaving party this evening. I will really try and update early next week when I get back from water festival (I’m rowing, shopping, dancing and drinking!). I also believe that it is quite traditional...you can even watch it on-line. We will be the boat about 3 races behind!!
Love J xx
Right, so where to start?!
On 23rd October we all headed back to Phnom Penh from Kampong Cham with all of our things ready for the last part of our ICT (In Country Training) and to do a last bit of shopping before heading off to our placements. This was really quite hectic and exhausting but we ate lots of great food (HAS to be done in PP!) before heading off to different parts on Cambodia on the Sunday.
So the plan was that Jeltje and I were going to get a truck to take us and our stuff up to MDK however the truck driver decided that he didn’t want to come into the city as he was worried about police fines or something. Anyway, he sent this big tuk tuk to get us and all our things to take us out of town where our stuff would be loaded onto the truck. VSO had arranged to hire us the entire truck, which meant no other passengers of things however when we arrived the truck already had stuff on it but never mind, this is Cambodia and really not much we could do about it. So we managed to leave about 8:30am and made amazing time until our driver decided to help tow a mini bus out of a flood. Then proceed to wait there just watching and chatting on his mobile phone for THREE HOURS. Jeltje and I asked him several times when we were leaving to which he said ‘two minutes’ after about an hour we told him we wanted to leave NOW and he just ignored us completely. At the two hour mark we rang our translator who spoke to the driver who said he was waiting for his father or something...anyway after three hours a van did turn up and a man got into our truck. No-one else was supposed to be in the truck but we were so grateful to be leaving by this point that we just went along with it. By now, after a lovely sunny afternoon, a massive storm was rolling in. Obviously this didn’t exactly improve the state of the roads. At 5pm he stopped again to eat which seriously pissed us off as he had stopped so much and could’ve eaten in the three hours we had to sit by the edge of the road in the sun!! Grrr. Anyway, by the time we left again it was 5:30 pm and it was practically dark which is obviously when you want to be travelling on the most deserted, dangerous and remote roads in Cambodia...!
The long and short of this section of the journey was that Jeltje and I were scared witless, sliding sideways down roads towards ditches and landslides. It was really way beyond being even remotely fun. Especially as we kept having to stop to tow others out. Anyway, I’m trying not to think about it!! So eventually we made it 14 hours later! Over double what it should take, even at the moment. Turns out the driver wanted to wait for his brother so he could give him a free lift. Needless to say he will not be used again. As we arrived so late on Sunday I spent the night in a hotel and moved into my house on the Monday morning.
My VA (volunteer assistant, that is my assistant, he’s not a volunteer)Tak has been completely amazing completely sorting my house out and everything is great. Now I have unpacked and moved all my things in it is really starting to feel like my home.
After doing a bit of unpacking on Monday morning we headed out of town for our first school visit. Larka school is set in a beautiful position at the top of one of the many hills in MDK. There are two classrooms in the school and it is dire need of a spruce up and a playground for the children. So lots of work for me to do there and I’ve got loads of ideas to share with the community. The main teacher there called Lavi is great, really keen to develop the school and it has come a long way in the short time that VSO have been working there.
So after the school visit we headed up to the Pegoda on the top of the biggest hill in SM where there are amazing views all around the area. We have had amazing weather since we arrived with temps about 25 during the day and clear blue sky’s which means we can do lots and certainly better than the typhoon we had last time...!
So back on the motorbikes and into town for some dinner at Meg’s place and an early night!
Yesterday we had another very productive day visiting a school in another amazing location. On the way I just couldn’t believe that this is now my office! Amazing. I have taken lots of pictures so have a look on facebook as I can’t put them all on here, sorry! The teachers here are also amazing and the school director very keen to have some help. However, his daughter is very sick so he is frequently absent from the school. The students there are also almost entirely Pulong and speak very little Khmer which makes it very hard for the teachers. This is not helped by almost no community involvement in the school. In fact many of the local people have no idea what happens in a school as they never went themselves...I feel a community open day coming on...!
On the way back we had a break on a hillside overlooking the most amazing and unspoilt country I have ever seen. Then as we were chatting I gasped very loudly which gave Meg quite a start and her immediate reaction was ‘what’s on me’?! However, I had just seen an elephant approaching! The Pulong people still use them as transport and it was carrying a range of goods and people. Very cool. My first elephant!
We had a lovely lunch at the Nature Lodge, which is down a very scary track which meant some serious bum hurtage! We also went into a bush at one point which really hurt! That is saying nothing about Tak’s driving, he’s been on a bike since the day he was born, but rather the awful state of the roads here. Nature Lodge is very swiss family Robinson with huts built into the trees and little wooden lodges for people to stay in. The food is great there too but a little pricey now that I am used to eating for less than $2 a meal!
Last night it was my turn to cook dinner for everyone so I thought ‘when in Rome’ and made curry. The only problem is that i’m not entirely sure how to make a Cambodian curry, neither is Tak. So it was generally a fun shopping in the market/cooking experiment! I let Tak cook the rice as he says barang don’t know how to do it properly and to be honest I kind of agree with him...! Anyway, it tasted great (my own curry paste too, made in my new massive stone motar and pestle!) and everyone left very happy!
So today we headed off to Pulong school which is down another bumpy muddy track so much bum/back cracking there too! However, it was well worth it as the school is amazing. It has a great playground and the school director is very involved with the community. Saying that, they still need some help and support with some aspects so I really think I can help them take their work forward.
After the school visit we went to a waterfall to go swimming. WOW. I cannot believe I live somewhere where I can go swimming in a tropical waterfall after work! It goes without saying that the waterfall was beautiful and it was great to swim in the really cool water after the trek through the jungle to get there.
So, then back to base for lunch and an afternoon meeting with the District Director of Education in MDK who is great and very supportive of VSO. We have arranged to go on a visit to the schools together so we can discuss what to work on with each school.
Anyway, at the end of my 3rd day of living here I am completely loving it. I really think there is alot of work I can do here and I can’t wait to start. I also really like my house and the fact that it is so much cooler here. At night I sleep under a quilt and actually considered wearing a jumper in bed too last night...! However, it is back to the sauna of PP tomorrow. Hopefully won’t take 14 hours this time! Tak has arranged a truck and one of his friend’s is driving so at least there won’t be a 3 hour pointless stop and it hasn’t rained for 3 days so the road will be good which will be the first time for me!
I am going to have to wrap this up now as I need to get ready for Meg’s leaving party this evening. I will really try and update early next week when I get back from water festival (I’m rowing, shopping, dancing and drinking!). I also believe that it is quite traditional...you can even watch it on-line. We will be the boat about 3 races behind!!
Love J xx
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Nausea and vomiting...are symptoms of everything! 09/10/09
So today I’ve been hit really hard by a vomiting bug. Was up at about 5am feeling seriously dodge and had some really bad stomach pain but managed to get back to sleep. However, by morning it was starting to become clear that something was really wrong ...
Anyway, to cut a long (boring) story short I have been vomiting all day with serious stomach pains and nausea. Can’t even keep water down so am attempting some re-hydration salts but the thought is making the nausea even worse (if possible). Still, it was bound to happen at some point and at least I have my own toilet.
So I’ll see if it gets any better tonight and if not by tomorrow then I think I may have to see a doctor as these are symptoms of a whole range of cheerful illnesses.
I shall now share some more cheerful stuff as I haven’t updated in a little while. Whilst back in Phnom Penh we had the opportunity to do some shopping which was lovely. I got some furniture for my house and cushions and things like that. Still need to do the practical shopping though, for things like cooking utensils and blankets! I really want one of these quilts I’ve seen which are made by local communities and sold in PP. I saw the shop whilst out on one of my epic bike rides around PP and now can’t remember where it was, so that’ll be another epic bike ride!
Jean has also promised to show me how to make yoghurt which will be ace. Dairy is not that big here and in MDK impossible to buy. Apparently all I need is live yoghurt and a thermos flask! It is very exciting!
Ok going to have to go now, typing is actually really sapping me of what little energy I have left. Urgh. Re-hydration salts.
Ta ta xx
Anyway, to cut a long (boring) story short I have been vomiting all day with serious stomach pains and nausea. Can’t even keep water down so am attempting some re-hydration salts but the thought is making the nausea even worse (if possible). Still, it was bound to happen at some point and at least I have my own toilet.
So I’ll see if it gets any better tonight and if not by tomorrow then I think I may have to see a doctor as these are symptoms of a whole range of cheerful illnesses.
I shall now share some more cheerful stuff as I haven’t updated in a little while. Whilst back in Phnom Penh we had the opportunity to do some shopping which was lovely. I got some furniture for my house and cushions and things like that. Still need to do the practical shopping though, for things like cooking utensils and blankets! I really want one of these quilts I’ve seen which are made by local communities and sold in PP. I saw the shop whilst out on one of my epic bike rides around PP and now can’t remember where it was, so that’ll be another epic bike ride!
Jean has also promised to show me how to make yoghurt which will be ace. Dairy is not that big here and in MDK impossible to buy. Apparently all I need is live yoghurt and a thermos flask! It is very exciting!
Ok going to have to go now, typing is actually really sapping me of what little energy I have left. Urgh. Re-hydration salts.
Ta ta xx
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Pictures
CRAZY ROADS!!
Tail back as a hi-lux's wheels got glued by mud! To put it in context, this is where there was a 6ft pass between two sheer land-slides...talk about 'sense of adventure needed'!
View from my balcony/veranda (incl. hanging basket!)
Sen Monorom Falls
MY HOUSE :) Traditional Khmer style, on stilts. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 balconies. Also, it is surrounded by lots of fruit trees which I'm welcome to pick!!
My First Cyclone (or typhoon, I’m not sure which it is called in SE Asia!)... 30/09/09
So yesterday we woke up to very substantial winds and even more rain (if that is possible) then started to hear stories from other people in the town that the Cyclone, which has caused havoc and many deaths in the Philippines, was heading our way. It seemed as though it was going to hit Vietnam about 200km north of us and move up through Laos, so we were only ever going to get the tails. However, I have now decided that this is more than enough to ever get of a Cyclone!
In the afternoon we went on the bikes (eek) down to Meg’s house and had the handover meeting, having to bellow over the howling wind and rain. Was almost amusing apart from the fact that a) soaking wet b) freezing cold c) in a Cyclone!!
We then decided that we should maybe inform VSO about said storm heading towards us, just in case. Also, all the locals had never seen anything like it (this is the worst weather here for about 70 years!) so not really sure what to do. VSO then got on to the Embassy and the advice came back that we were to get ourselves into low concrete accommodation. Problem was, by this point it was getting very dodge to leave Jan and Keith’s (and they had made an amazing dinner for us all, including two different kinds of cake!) so we decided to stay there and wait it out. Their house is wood but not on stilts, as it has been built to the landlord can live under it. Also, by this point the electricity had come back on so we could watch CNN (we were on it quite a lot actually!) and play video games.
I notice how Cambodians can fix the electricity in about 2 hours in a Cyclone but our electricity was off for nearly two days at home when a tree fell on a power line, thank you South West Electric.
So anyway, we had an amazing dinner with mashed potato, yummy casserole and veg followed by carrot cake and raisin cake WITH CUSTARD. There was also plenty of wine, which may have helped. So we had a jolly good time really whilst the storm raged around us.
At about 9:30pm the worst of it had past and we were able to get a moto lift from the boys back to our (concrete) hotel.
So all is well! Just the other 3 cyclones forming at the moment to worry about...!!
Love xx
In the afternoon we went on the bikes (eek) down to Meg’s house and had the handover meeting, having to bellow over the howling wind and rain. Was almost amusing apart from the fact that a) soaking wet b) freezing cold c) in a Cyclone!!
We then decided that we should maybe inform VSO about said storm heading towards us, just in case. Also, all the locals had never seen anything like it (this is the worst weather here for about 70 years!) so not really sure what to do. VSO then got on to the Embassy and the advice came back that we were to get ourselves into low concrete accommodation. Problem was, by this point it was getting very dodge to leave Jan and Keith’s (and they had made an amazing dinner for us all, including two different kinds of cake!) so we decided to stay there and wait it out. Their house is wood but not on stilts, as it has been built to the landlord can live under it. Also, by this point the electricity had come back on so we could watch CNN (we were on it quite a lot actually!) and play video games.
I notice how Cambodians can fix the electricity in about 2 hours in a Cyclone but our electricity was off for nearly two days at home when a tree fell on a power line, thank you South West Electric.
So anyway, we had an amazing dinner with mashed potato, yummy casserole and veg followed by carrot cake and raisin cake WITH CUSTARD. There was also plenty of wine, which may have helped. So we had a jolly good time really whilst the storm raged around us.
At about 9:30pm the worst of it had past and we were able to get a moto lift from the boys back to our (concrete) hotel.
So all is well! Just the other 3 cyclones forming at the moment to worry about...!!
Love xx
It’s like Jurassic Park...only without the dinosaurs (I hope) 28/09/09
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
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
Sunday, 20 September 2009
For Crying Out Loud! 21/09/09
Khmer word of the Day: NGO Ong Kaa Krao rot taa pii baal
Weather: Hot and Wet. Again.
Day 2 of the Patchum Ben Festival here so another day off.
I have never spent so much time in my life imagining how I would silence a baby. Don’t think my cruel and of course I would never do it, but the baby next door NEVER STOPS CRYING! It goes all day (when trying to study) and all night (when trying to sleep). This morning it was so bad at about 5:30am that I had to go to the drastic measure of closing all the windows and just relying on the fan to stop me sweltering. It has become a common phrase in the house now ‘what time did the baby wake you up?’ ‘Do you think that baby is sick?’ Anyway rant over...!
We had the most enormous monsoon yesterday. I was chilling in my room, when the others went to market to get some lunch bits, when this almighty noise began. All the roofs around here are made of corrugated iron (although I can’t think why, it is boiling in the sun and makes so much noise when it monsoons!) so the noise is immense. I had to leg it (well, hobble and hop) my way upstairs to the roof terrace to bring in the laundry, language work and furniture to stop it from getting soaked. So by the time I got back downstairs I realised that all the windows in our rooms were open and rain was pouring through. I came off worst here as my windows were directly facing the direction of the rain. Put it this way, my unearthed electrical extension was sat in a relative pond on the floor and my fan (which was on) was soaked. Scary moment. Can’t believe I actually touched it now but managed to mop everything up then go around closing everyone else’s windows without too much water damage.
Spent the rest of the afternoon going through all my language stuff and getting really quite frustrated with it as is getting progressively a lot harder! I would feel better if when I tried to converse with Khmer people I could get a response. They mostly just stare at you blankly as they expect you to be speaking English and have probably never heard Khmer spoken with a foreign accent (or so our teacher says!).
I then went down to Smiles, the lovely little wireless cafe place and had a chat with my parents on video skype. If anyone wants to do this e-mail me! We hung out there forever and eventually headed off for some dinner with the promise of returning later as it was Fabio’s birthday (a German NGO worker who helps run the project with street kids at Smile who we have all become quite friendly with). We had noodles at our usual street cafe in the market which were ok but I thought they tasted a bit different. The only issue with eating there is you get a lot of beggars approaching you and it is really hard to know what to do. The general advice from our Khmer teacher and VSO colleagues is not to feel you have to give and if you do only give to the elderly and disabled. Never to the children as the money does not go to them and perpetuates the problem of street children as they will be sent begging rather than to school if we give them money. However, I didn’t finish my food so I gave them that and they finished it all hungrily. Sarah and I then headed back off the Smiles and had a really nice time with the German NGO workers and then some teachers (English and Russian) visiting from PP. However, when we were sat there my tummy started to feel awful and I was sweating like mad so I had to rush home. Really surprised I made it to be honest, thought I would have to pull over to puke on the way back. So that was a fun night all around. I Managed to get some sleep though (until the baby started at some ridiculous hour!) and feel a lot better this morning.
So I need to practice my Khmer numbers before I head to the laundry and Smiles for lunch and to upload this blog!
Love xx
Weather: Hot and Wet. Again.
Day 2 of the Patchum Ben Festival here so another day off.
I have never spent so much time in my life imagining how I would silence a baby. Don’t think my cruel and of course I would never do it, but the baby next door NEVER STOPS CRYING! It goes all day (when trying to study) and all night (when trying to sleep). This morning it was so bad at about 5:30am that I had to go to the drastic measure of closing all the windows and just relying on the fan to stop me sweltering. It has become a common phrase in the house now ‘what time did the baby wake you up?’ ‘Do you think that baby is sick?’ Anyway rant over...!
We had the most enormous monsoon yesterday. I was chilling in my room, when the others went to market to get some lunch bits, when this almighty noise began. All the roofs around here are made of corrugated iron (although I can’t think why, it is boiling in the sun and makes so much noise when it monsoons!) so the noise is immense. I had to leg it (well, hobble and hop) my way upstairs to the roof terrace to bring in the laundry, language work and furniture to stop it from getting soaked. So by the time I got back downstairs I realised that all the windows in our rooms were open and rain was pouring through. I came off worst here as my windows were directly facing the direction of the rain. Put it this way, my unearthed electrical extension was sat in a relative pond on the floor and my fan (which was on) was soaked. Scary moment. Can’t believe I actually touched it now but managed to mop everything up then go around closing everyone else’s windows without too much water damage.
Spent the rest of the afternoon going through all my language stuff and getting really quite frustrated with it as is getting progressively a lot harder! I would feel better if when I tried to converse with Khmer people I could get a response. They mostly just stare at you blankly as they expect you to be speaking English and have probably never heard Khmer spoken with a foreign accent (or so our teacher says!).
I then went down to Smiles, the lovely little wireless cafe place and had a chat with my parents on video skype. If anyone wants to do this e-mail me! We hung out there forever and eventually headed off for some dinner with the promise of returning later as it was Fabio’s birthday (a German NGO worker who helps run the project with street kids at Smile who we have all become quite friendly with). We had noodles at our usual street cafe in the market which were ok but I thought they tasted a bit different. The only issue with eating there is you get a lot of beggars approaching you and it is really hard to know what to do. The general advice from our Khmer teacher and VSO colleagues is not to feel you have to give and if you do only give to the elderly and disabled. Never to the children as the money does not go to them and perpetuates the problem of street children as they will be sent begging rather than to school if we give them money. However, I didn’t finish my food so I gave them that and they finished it all hungrily. Sarah and I then headed back off the Smiles and had a really nice time with the German NGO workers and then some teachers (English and Russian) visiting from PP. However, when we were sat there my tummy started to feel awful and I was sweating like mad so I had to rush home. Really surprised I made it to be honest, thought I would have to pull over to puke on the way back. So that was a fun night all around. I Managed to get some sleep though (until the baby started at some ridiculous hour!) and feel a lot better this morning.
So I need to practice my Khmer numbers before I head to the laundry and Smiles for lunch and to upload this blog!
Love xx
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Snap Happy 19/09/09
Weather update: HOT. Followed by lightning storm and monsoon.
Khmer word of the day: deik (to sleep)
So a bit of an update!
It has been boiling hot for the past few days, easily near 40 degrees every day and no rain. So we were all kind of hoping and praying that it would monsoon so it would cool down a bit! Last night we got our wish...sat on the roof terrace eating dinner we watched the most amazing lightning I have ever seen. Huge forks which went across the sky lighting it up all different colours. I tried to take some photos and videos but typically it was never at the perfect time! The storm seemed to be happening all around us but completely missing KC so we were worried that it wouldn’t happen. We all headed to bed about 10 (early morning for temple visit, will explain later) and I sat up reading and watching family guy until about 12, when the rain and thunder started...MY GOD it was loud! It was completely mental. The wind was so strong and the noise so bad that I had to shut the windows for the first time and just rely on my fan. It went on for ages and when I fell asleep it was still going strong.
As we have a day off today (Patchum Ben, biggest public holiday of the year in Cambodia) we decided to get up early and cycle to a pretty famous temple about 7km away. When we awoke this morning it was to find that thanks to the storm it was pretty cool and we headed out of town towards the temple in a barang convoy which caused much laughter amongst the Khmer people here. Riding a push bike here is seen as pretty low status and no one rides for enjoyment (too hot!) so they think it is pretty amusing when they see us cycling along. It is quite rare to see barangs out of Lexus 4x4’s, unless of course, they are volunteers and not on an obscene NGO salary!!
So after the 7km cycle we were all pretty pooped and had a water break at the top of the hill (which we pushed the bikes up...I am yet to see a bike here with gears!). It was really busy owing to the festival but had a really vibrant spirit with all the Khmer people dressed in their best and carrying offerings to the temples. At the festival Buddhists believe that their dead ancestors who have been unable to reincarnate, owing to being naughty, come back to earth. If you’re a bad spirit your curse is your mouth being too small to eat rice (which is seen as an awful thing here as they eat nice all day every day). This one day a year they are able to eat rice so they go to the temple to pray and throw rice at them. I did not see much actual rice throwing but there was plenty lying around on the offering shrines.
Lots of photo taking ensued, followed by some drinking of sugar cane juice (which isn’t as sweet as you’d think and mixed with lime and lots of ice) and some random monkeys. We then decided to proceed onto the temple under the hill but part of the same complex. So hopped onto our bikes and headed down the hill where there was an actual bike parking area and lots and lots of people. It was at this point, whilst walking down a really uneven path that I fell over. My right ankle just completely gave way and I was unable to get up as it was really painful. The girls ran to the guys selling cold drinks and managed to get some ice which has probably prevented it swelling more. Was a nightmare as completely unable to even stand un-aided so we had to call Gideon (the tuk-tuk driver from the boat trip) who came and picked up me and my bike. He was really nice and put my bike away and practically carried me into the house. I gave him a massive tip, then crawled to the stairs and spent about 30mins going up on my arse! Then crawled to my room and managed to pull myself up onto the bed. Jean has made some kind of strapping for it but it has started to go lots of wonderful colours and swelling like mad. Yes Mum, I have taken ibuprofen and also some arnica from Jean. So just great really as am now pretty much bed ridden. Jean thinks I have torn a tendon or ligament on the top of my foot/ankle as she has had something pretty similar but I will need to see a dr for confirmation. I highly doubt the presence of an x-ray machine here though and really hoping I won’t need to do 3hrs on a bus to PP for it. Will definitely need crutches though as I cannot put any weight on it at all. Total pain in the arse basically but the other volunteers have been very supportive, bringing me food, drinks and company.
Anyway, I’m going to spend my time productively studying. Hmmmm. Very hot again.
Love xx
Khmer word of the day: deik (to sleep)
So a bit of an update!
It has been boiling hot for the past few days, easily near 40 degrees every day and no rain. So we were all kind of hoping and praying that it would monsoon so it would cool down a bit! Last night we got our wish...sat on the roof terrace eating dinner we watched the most amazing lightning I have ever seen. Huge forks which went across the sky lighting it up all different colours. I tried to take some photos and videos but typically it was never at the perfect time! The storm seemed to be happening all around us but completely missing KC so we were worried that it wouldn’t happen. We all headed to bed about 10 (early morning for temple visit, will explain later) and I sat up reading and watching family guy until about 12, when the rain and thunder started...MY GOD it was loud! It was completely mental. The wind was so strong and the noise so bad that I had to shut the windows for the first time and just rely on my fan. It went on for ages and when I fell asleep it was still going strong.
As we have a day off today (Patchum Ben, biggest public holiday of the year in Cambodia) we decided to get up early and cycle to a pretty famous temple about 7km away. When we awoke this morning it was to find that thanks to the storm it was pretty cool and we headed out of town towards the temple in a barang convoy which caused much laughter amongst the Khmer people here. Riding a push bike here is seen as pretty low status and no one rides for enjoyment (too hot!) so they think it is pretty amusing when they see us cycling along. It is quite rare to see barangs out of Lexus 4x4’s, unless of course, they are volunteers and not on an obscene NGO salary!!
So after the 7km cycle we were all pretty pooped and had a water break at the top of the hill (which we pushed the bikes up...I am yet to see a bike here with gears!). It was really busy owing to the festival but had a really vibrant spirit with all the Khmer people dressed in their best and carrying offerings to the temples. At the festival Buddhists believe that their dead ancestors who have been unable to reincarnate, owing to being naughty, come back to earth. If you’re a bad spirit your curse is your mouth being too small to eat rice (which is seen as an awful thing here as they eat nice all day every day). This one day a year they are able to eat rice so they go to the temple to pray and throw rice at them. I did not see much actual rice throwing but there was plenty lying around on the offering shrines.
Lots of photo taking ensued, followed by some drinking of sugar cane juice (which isn’t as sweet as you’d think and mixed with lime and lots of ice) and some random monkeys. We then decided to proceed onto the temple under the hill but part of the same complex. So hopped onto our bikes and headed down the hill where there was an actual bike parking area and lots and lots of people. It was at this point, whilst walking down a really uneven path that I fell over. My right ankle just completely gave way and I was unable to get up as it was really painful. The girls ran to the guys selling cold drinks and managed to get some ice which has probably prevented it swelling more. Was a nightmare as completely unable to even stand un-aided so we had to call Gideon (the tuk-tuk driver from the boat trip) who came and picked up me and my bike. He was really nice and put my bike away and practically carried me into the house. I gave him a massive tip, then crawled to the stairs and spent about 30mins going up on my arse! Then crawled to my room and managed to pull myself up onto the bed. Jean has made some kind of strapping for it but it has started to go lots of wonderful colours and swelling like mad. Yes Mum, I have taken ibuprofen and also some arnica from Jean. So just great really as am now pretty much bed ridden. Jean thinks I have torn a tendon or ligament on the top of my foot/ankle as she has had something pretty similar but I will need to see a dr for confirmation. I highly doubt the presence of an x-ray machine here though and really hoping I won’t need to do 3hrs on a bus to PP for it. Will definitely need crutches though as I cannot put any weight on it at all. Total pain in the arse basically but the other volunteers have been very supportive, bringing me food, drinks and company.
Anyway, I’m going to spend my time productively studying. Hmmmm. Very hot again.
Love xx
Sunday, 13 September 2009
The Boat Trip 14/09/2009
So yesterday we had arranged with a local guy called ‘Gideon’ to go on a boat trip up the Mekong stopping at a couple of places along the way. So we all arrived promptly at 10am expecting something quite different to what we got. Firstly, whilst we were waiting and chatting with Gideon it became clear that what Jeltje had thought was ‘seals’ were in fact ‘silks’! So we weren’t going to be seeing any animals then...! When the boat pulled up I think we were all a little shocked. I had imagined a small dragon boat type thing. What we got as a REALLY old flat bottomed fishing boat with a mat in the middle to sit on! As Bob pointed out afterwards, if VSO had seen what we had got on they would’ve actually had kittens. So anyway, after negotiating our way across all the rubbish covering the river banks, (in sandals. I tried not to think about it.) and the boat rocking dangerously, threatening to throw us off we all managed to find a place to sit and were underway!
I was right at the front which means I got the very wet seat as it was really quite choppy and I got quite wet. However, this was the least of my problems! We had been promised that the boat had a cover. Therefore, when I was getting dressed in the morning and all my long sleeved tops were still drying I thought, that’s ok, I’ll be under shelter. Needless to say the boat did not have a cover. It was 38 degrees yesterday with the tropical sun beating down on us, my factor 50 didn’t stand a chance. However, I was so absorbed at looking at all the sights around us and holding on to the boat that I didn’t notice any of this until our first stop and it was pointed out to me!
So our first stop was at a Muslim village on one of the Islands of the Mekong. The ladies there make the most beautiful silks all from hand. It was tempting...until I heard the prices $80 for 4m. Apparently this is the actual price and not just a tourist one, in fact in PP the Cambodian ladies who buy the silk are charged around $200 for 4m by the companies that buy it off these ladies. So, no silk on a VSO budget but it was gorgeous.
We also had quite a gathering of little children and it felt really weird as I felt like a tourist going around looking at these people’s lives as a ‘them and us’. Bob and Jean have been on quite a few of these trips before (unintentionally, like this) and refer to them as the ‘human zoo’. However, it was quite useful to see what the traditional houses and villages look like and to meet some of the lovely children. Saying that, Jeljte found a hand in her bag not long after we arrived and although the people here do not usually steal it is different when Westerners are involved. They believe that every single white person is rich and will therefore not miss the contents of their bags. This is a belief held by many people here, not just village kids. On the boat Gideon, who has very good English, was asking if we have any poor people in the West. We then had to try and explain that in our country we are not considered to be rich at all and there are many poor people. He found this very surprising even though he had been to Ireland for a month! He also failed to understand the concept of someone Indian or any other race, being British. In Cambodia you are what your ethnicity denotes, even if you’re born there.
Anyway, I digress, back to the village! They’re building a massive new mosque there which really dominates the whole place. Sadly we weren’t allowed to take pictures of it so you will just have to take my word! So, with this gaggle of children following us we carried on walking around and we asked if we were expected to give them money or something. Gideon did not want us to give them money as he said it breeds corruption and makes the children believe in begging and perpetuates the idea of Western wealth. So he suggested we buy them some sweets, however, I still kindda disagreed with this but we did it anyway as it was clearly what the kids expected and wanted.
So back on the boat...by this point it is 11:45 and the hottest part of the day. So the ideal time to be on an uncovered boat in the middle of a river without covering clothes or a hat! I reapplied tons of sun cream and got my waterproof out of my backpack and put it over my back. Jen kindly lent me a bandana to cover my head but it was seriously hot! Anyway, I think these actions prevented my sun burn from getting any worse and it has in fact just become very annoying tan lines!!
We went on for just over an hour, looking at all the submerged riverbanks and houses then turned off the main river onto a little tributary leading up to ‘The Wooden Temple’. When we got there our first stop was the sugar cane juice stall to sit in some shade and rehydrate. Now, sugar cane juice still isn’t quite to my taste (kind of sugary, greeny and limey tasting) and I’m avoiding ice, but it was nice just to be in the shade for a minute.
When we went in to the temple it was really quiet and we sat on a ledge under a nice shady tree while Gideon explained the purpose of the temple. Basically, from what I understand, it is an evil temple and there is an evil spirit which dwells there. Gideon described it as a kind of ‘satan’ (this is because he is Christian I think) and said that he is seen as a giant black man with a little beard who can step over the entire temple. He also claims that he has seen him twice and that if we stayed just one night there we would see him also. I was pessimistic! So this temple is one of only 2 wooden temples left in Cambodia and a very powerful one. Many people come to pray here and I’m guessing the idea of evil spirits isn’t the same as in Christianity but my knowledge of Buddhism is seriously limited!
Gideon also told us that when the Americans were bombing the area during the Vietnam War a bomb was dropped on the temple but the power of the temple caused it to disperse the bombs so they fell elsewhere. Pol Pot also failed in destroying the temple. His soldiers were unable to stay there and when one tried to saw a pillar he was plagued by the spirits (or something like that!).
When we were inside the Temple and Gideon was explaining about Pol Pot he also opened up about his life during that time. His grandparents were both killed as they were doctors and he and his family were in a work camp when a friend of his grandparents (a soldier) came to them and told them to run as they were to be arrested and killed. Pol Pot killed entire families as he believed that if one person was bad then the whole family, even those without genetic contact, were bad too. They then left and ran the entire way to the Vietnamese border, where they lived until just after Pol Pot was overthrown. He looked very emotional whilst telling us this story, the most I have seen a Cambodian get in fact (tears in public are very frowned upon here). It is great that so many people are so open in sharing their stories with us and it really helps to hear the individual accounts.
So this temple has stood for over 200 years and it was pretty fascinating. The gardens surrounding it were full of statues of all the different gods and other stone sculptures. They were also full of fire ants which really sting when they bite! So not too long spent in there...! We then walked on to another village where they make cotton. All these ladies sit at these massive looms under their houses producing this vividly coloured cotton to sell to others and also to trade. We quickly had another gaggle of small children, who’re all really sweet and shout ‘Hello’ at you every 5 seconds. They also got really in to hi 5’s which they kept wanting to do with us! It felt a bit better here as we were here to buy the cotton so didn’t feel the need to give them money for nothing. We went upstairs into one of the houses on stilts (the floor is just bamboo reeds placed across and looked very weak. I was concerned as I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to take Western weight!). I chose a pink (of course) and blue one in a stripey pattern. It cost $2, which is less than what they usually charge tourists ($4) as Gideon explained that we’re volunteers. The lady also said that the money was going towards building her a new house which was nice. So armed with our scarf material (no hems yet) we headed back to the boat. This time, after the tranquillity of the temple and village I really noticed the extremely noisy engine which was really starting to grate. It is a shame as it would’ve been amazing if it hadn’t been for the noise. I should also probably say at this point that there was a boy on the boat whose sole purpose was to continuously bail out all the water we were taking on. This was not totally reassuring! It also began to rain on the way back and although I was grateful that this meant no sun it also meant getting wet. Luckily a tarp was produced and we put all our bags under this (which is good as I really don’t think my ‘Northern Rock’ bag from the market is waterproof...!). So with our poncho’s and waterproofs on we settled in to getting wet for the 2 hour ride back. It wasn’t until we got onto the main river that we realised how much of a problem the rain was going to be. Basically, the wind and rain has whipped the river up so it was really quite choppy. This would be fine on anything other than the low lying, flat bottomed, rickety wooden thing we were on! We decided not to share this trip with VSO as we feel we may get into trouble!
Anyway, after a fairly hairy trip back we managed to get back to dry land and decided to go for drink in at the Lazy Mekong cafe, where they informed us that quite a lot of the restaurants and cafe’s would be closed this week for the Pachum Bum (wrong spelling, sorry) Festival, which is the biggest one of the year. Great.
Anyway, we then went back to the same stall as last night and had some noodles. We had a bit of trouble as Bob and Jean are vegetarian, which is a concept fairly alien to Cambodians, especially outside PP. On the way back I stopped to get some water and we noticed a shop full of boys and sewing machines and Jean and I paid them 1000rl (about 25c) to hem our scarfs. So feeling pretty exhausted we headed back to the house to scrub off all the filth of the day. However, I had literally just got out of the shower when the power went off. We have been having loads of problems with the electricity and it was quickly obvious that is was just our house affected in the whole street again. I hate to think what sate the electrics are in and in fact am trying not to think about it. We spoke to our land lady who spoke to a Cambodian at the VSO who said that they were not sure who had the key to the electrics box so we would have to wait until morning. So that put the scuppers on my planned evening of sorting photos and blog writing. It also meant no fans which caused a very restless and hot night. Definitely one of those ‘always look on the Brightside of life’ moments.
So this morning we have had the electricians here and I can smell electrical burning which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing...! My fan has just buzzed into life which is an amazing feeling and it means I can charge up my phone which died and continue to write this blog.
On a more personal note, I am seriously starting to miss things from home, so anyone who wants to send me stuff please, please do! E-mail me for the address J
Love xx
I was right at the front which means I got the very wet seat as it was really quite choppy and I got quite wet. However, this was the least of my problems! We had been promised that the boat had a cover. Therefore, when I was getting dressed in the morning and all my long sleeved tops were still drying I thought, that’s ok, I’ll be under shelter. Needless to say the boat did not have a cover. It was 38 degrees yesterday with the tropical sun beating down on us, my factor 50 didn’t stand a chance. However, I was so absorbed at looking at all the sights around us and holding on to the boat that I didn’t notice any of this until our first stop and it was pointed out to me!
So our first stop was at a Muslim village on one of the Islands of the Mekong. The ladies there make the most beautiful silks all from hand. It was tempting...until I heard the prices $80 for 4m. Apparently this is the actual price and not just a tourist one, in fact in PP the Cambodian ladies who buy the silk are charged around $200 for 4m by the companies that buy it off these ladies. So, no silk on a VSO budget but it was gorgeous.
We also had quite a gathering of little children and it felt really weird as I felt like a tourist going around looking at these people’s lives as a ‘them and us’. Bob and Jean have been on quite a few of these trips before (unintentionally, like this) and refer to them as the ‘human zoo’. However, it was quite useful to see what the traditional houses and villages look like and to meet some of the lovely children. Saying that, Jeljte found a hand in her bag not long after we arrived and although the people here do not usually steal it is different when Westerners are involved. They believe that every single white person is rich and will therefore not miss the contents of their bags. This is a belief held by many people here, not just village kids. On the boat Gideon, who has very good English, was asking if we have any poor people in the West. We then had to try and explain that in our country we are not considered to be rich at all and there are many poor people. He found this very surprising even though he had been to Ireland for a month! He also failed to understand the concept of someone Indian or any other race, being British. In Cambodia you are what your ethnicity denotes, even if you’re born there.
Anyway, I digress, back to the village! They’re building a massive new mosque there which really dominates the whole place. Sadly we weren’t allowed to take pictures of it so you will just have to take my word! So, with this gaggle of children following us we carried on walking around and we asked if we were expected to give them money or something. Gideon did not want us to give them money as he said it breeds corruption and makes the children believe in begging and perpetuates the idea of Western wealth. So he suggested we buy them some sweets, however, I still kindda disagreed with this but we did it anyway as it was clearly what the kids expected and wanted.
So back on the boat...by this point it is 11:45 and the hottest part of the day. So the ideal time to be on an uncovered boat in the middle of a river without covering clothes or a hat! I reapplied tons of sun cream and got my waterproof out of my backpack and put it over my back. Jen kindly lent me a bandana to cover my head but it was seriously hot! Anyway, I think these actions prevented my sun burn from getting any worse and it has in fact just become very annoying tan lines!!
We went on for just over an hour, looking at all the submerged riverbanks and houses then turned off the main river onto a little tributary leading up to ‘The Wooden Temple’. When we got there our first stop was the sugar cane juice stall to sit in some shade and rehydrate. Now, sugar cane juice still isn’t quite to my taste (kind of sugary, greeny and limey tasting) and I’m avoiding ice, but it was nice just to be in the shade for a minute.
When we went in to the temple it was really quiet and we sat on a ledge under a nice shady tree while Gideon explained the purpose of the temple. Basically, from what I understand, it is an evil temple and there is an evil spirit which dwells there. Gideon described it as a kind of ‘satan’ (this is because he is Christian I think) and said that he is seen as a giant black man with a little beard who can step over the entire temple. He also claims that he has seen him twice and that if we stayed just one night there we would see him also. I was pessimistic! So this temple is one of only 2 wooden temples left in Cambodia and a very powerful one. Many people come to pray here and I’m guessing the idea of evil spirits isn’t the same as in Christianity but my knowledge of Buddhism is seriously limited!
Gideon also told us that when the Americans were bombing the area during the Vietnam War a bomb was dropped on the temple but the power of the temple caused it to disperse the bombs so they fell elsewhere. Pol Pot also failed in destroying the temple. His soldiers were unable to stay there and when one tried to saw a pillar he was plagued by the spirits (or something like that!).
When we were inside the Temple and Gideon was explaining about Pol Pot he also opened up about his life during that time. His grandparents were both killed as they were doctors and he and his family were in a work camp when a friend of his grandparents (a soldier) came to them and told them to run as they were to be arrested and killed. Pol Pot killed entire families as he believed that if one person was bad then the whole family, even those without genetic contact, were bad too. They then left and ran the entire way to the Vietnamese border, where they lived until just after Pol Pot was overthrown. He looked very emotional whilst telling us this story, the most I have seen a Cambodian get in fact (tears in public are very frowned upon here). It is great that so many people are so open in sharing their stories with us and it really helps to hear the individual accounts.
So this temple has stood for over 200 years and it was pretty fascinating. The gardens surrounding it were full of statues of all the different gods and other stone sculptures. They were also full of fire ants which really sting when they bite! So not too long spent in there...! We then walked on to another village where they make cotton. All these ladies sit at these massive looms under their houses producing this vividly coloured cotton to sell to others and also to trade. We quickly had another gaggle of small children, who’re all really sweet and shout ‘Hello’ at you every 5 seconds. They also got really in to hi 5’s which they kept wanting to do with us! It felt a bit better here as we were here to buy the cotton so didn’t feel the need to give them money for nothing. We went upstairs into one of the houses on stilts (the floor is just bamboo reeds placed across and looked very weak. I was concerned as I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to take Western weight!). I chose a pink (of course) and blue one in a stripey pattern. It cost $2, which is less than what they usually charge tourists ($4) as Gideon explained that we’re volunteers. The lady also said that the money was going towards building her a new house which was nice. So armed with our scarf material (no hems yet) we headed back to the boat. This time, after the tranquillity of the temple and village I really noticed the extremely noisy engine which was really starting to grate. It is a shame as it would’ve been amazing if it hadn’t been for the noise. I should also probably say at this point that there was a boy on the boat whose sole purpose was to continuously bail out all the water we were taking on. This was not totally reassuring! It also began to rain on the way back and although I was grateful that this meant no sun it also meant getting wet. Luckily a tarp was produced and we put all our bags under this (which is good as I really don’t think my ‘Northern Rock’ bag from the market is waterproof...!). So with our poncho’s and waterproofs on we settled in to getting wet for the 2 hour ride back. It wasn’t until we got onto the main river that we realised how much of a problem the rain was going to be. Basically, the wind and rain has whipped the river up so it was really quite choppy. This would be fine on anything other than the low lying, flat bottomed, rickety wooden thing we were on! We decided not to share this trip with VSO as we feel we may get into trouble!
Anyway, after a fairly hairy trip back we managed to get back to dry land and decided to go for drink in at the Lazy Mekong cafe, where they informed us that quite a lot of the restaurants and cafe’s would be closed this week for the Pachum Bum (wrong spelling, sorry) Festival, which is the biggest one of the year. Great.
Anyway, we then went back to the same stall as last night and had some noodles. We had a bit of trouble as Bob and Jean are vegetarian, which is a concept fairly alien to Cambodians, especially outside PP. On the way back I stopped to get some water and we noticed a shop full of boys and sewing machines and Jean and I paid them 1000rl (about 25c) to hem our scarfs. So feeling pretty exhausted we headed back to the house to scrub off all the filth of the day. However, I had literally just got out of the shower when the power went off. We have been having loads of problems with the electricity and it was quickly obvious that is was just our house affected in the whole street again. I hate to think what sate the electrics are in and in fact am trying not to think about it. We spoke to our land lady who spoke to a Cambodian at the VSO who said that they were not sure who had the key to the electrics box so we would have to wait until morning. So that put the scuppers on my planned evening of sorting photos and blog writing. It also meant no fans which caused a very restless and hot night. Definitely one of those ‘always look on the Brightside of life’ moments.
So this morning we have had the electricians here and I can smell electrical burning which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing...! My fan has just buzzed into life which is an amazing feeling and it means I can charge up my phone which died and continue to write this blog.
On a more personal note, I am seriously starting to miss things from home, so anyone who wants to send me stuff please, please do! E-mail me for the address J
Love xx
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Photo-ma-graphs!
Breakfast!!
Shopping in the Monsoon!
Guitars...I am yet to hear them play though!
Night time tuk-tuk
Welcome party- Kirsty (l) Jen (r)
It was requested that I put some photo's up on here of my adventure...so here goes. This is just going to be a highlight, if you would like to see them all add me on facebook search 'Charlotte Harman' and I am in my profile picture so you should recognise me!!
Hot and Uncomfortable 12/09/09
Khmer word of the day: Hael teuk ( to swim...yes please!)
Weather update: Really very hot! The clouds have cleared and it hasn’t rained for a couple of days so it is boiling. I have forgotten what cold feels like again! It reminds me a lot of Greece but the heat here is a lot more humid at the moment.
So another day in Kampong Cham learning the Khmer language...
It is great here and I love learning the language, however, there has to be a but here...! As I keep being reminded ‘nothing worth doing is easy’ well no, but sat in my office in the UK doing the VSO applications I never imagined it would be this hard either!
The home sickness and culture shock are all encompassing and fairly crushing to deal with. Although I know it is going to get easier every day, it is still really very upsetting right now!
Anyway, enough of my moping! Our language teacher, Dara, is a really nice guy and has been teaching VSO volunteers for nearly 20 years. He really doesn’t like it hot when he is teaching and it is about 30 degrees at the moment and I’m sure it is worse in the classroom. Dara says that every year he has worked for VSO they have provided air conditioning, except this year. From what I understand, this is a result of the recession and the weakness of the pound against the dollar, VSO are getting a lot less spending power from their DFID (Department for International Development) funding. So no air conditioning for the classroom! However, if it continues being this hot the we are thinking of putting some money in every week so we could get it for him. This affects us especially as we are in the afternoon class, when the heat is really starting to sap energy.
During one of the breaks yesterday Jen and I cycled and bought a green coconut with a straw in to drink. We had seen a little shack place selling them and decided it might be quite refreshing, so to get out a bit, we cycled down there and a nice lady cut us a couple with a massive machete. These then when in our baskets (much to the locals amusement) and we cycled back with them to the school.
When we returned we all sat at our desks just chatting and I don’t know how it began but Dara started telling us about his experience of life under the Khmer Rouge. That is one thing you have to remember here, everyone over 30 has some kind of memory of that time and their lives. Dara was working in the fields for exactly 3 years 8 months and 20 days, he remembers the dates exactly. He fought in the civil war before that for 5 years and was 17 when he went to the fields. Dara explained how he and his fellow prisoners (he referred to it as a prison without walls) were set to work at 6am when they would watch the sun all day until 12. They would then get a 1 hour break to eat a spoonful of rice and work again until the sun set about 6 when they would get another spoonful of rice. Everyday he would watch the sun move across the sky and couldn’t wait for another day to be over. His entire family was killed apart from 3 of his brothers, who still live today, all together in Siem Riep.
After the war Dara was moved to a refugee camp in Thailand (he called it ‘the cage’) where he lived for 10 years in the rough conditions of the camp. He remembers when it was cold, putting hay over his body to keep warm. It was also here where a group of Americans taught him English and he was given a certificate showing he could teach English. This was his way out and shortly after this he began work with VSO.
It was a very moving story and I don’t think I moved a muscle the entire time he was speaking; I was so riveted by what he was saying.
When you hear stories like that from just normal people it really helps to put into perspective what we’re doing here and helps me to deal with my low feelings. We are helping a country which is desperate to recover after a gruesome, crippling and very recent conflict.
Last night, after dinner, Jen and I went and chilled out with Sarah and Kirsty in their hotel room and watched a bit of BBC world news. All it had on was the live footage of the Memorial Day in the US for the victims of 9/11. It was strange to think that just as the USA was waking up we were getting ready for bed!
It is 7:30am here (it is impossible to sleep late unless it is drug induced owing to the lady chopping things outside my window at 6:30am and the general massive amount of noise early in the morning!) and I have just looked outside the window. It is another cloudless day, which also means a very hot one! The electricity has also gone off and I am really hoping it comes back on soon as I am using my laptop battery to write this and the fan has gone off! Jean has just informed me that this might be due to some guys arriving in the street with loads of new cables. No nice informative letters here...!
I’m also hoping that a couple of volunteers might be up for staying up late tonight and having a few drinks as we don’t have class tomorrow!!
I think I might even try and do some laundry today, not sure how I’ll hang it but will give it a go!!
Love :o) xx
Weather update: Really very hot! The clouds have cleared and it hasn’t rained for a couple of days so it is boiling. I have forgotten what cold feels like again! It reminds me a lot of Greece but the heat here is a lot more humid at the moment.
So another day in Kampong Cham learning the Khmer language...
It is great here and I love learning the language, however, there has to be a but here...! As I keep being reminded ‘nothing worth doing is easy’ well no, but sat in my office in the UK doing the VSO applications I never imagined it would be this hard either!
The home sickness and culture shock are all encompassing and fairly crushing to deal with. Although I know it is going to get easier every day, it is still really very upsetting right now!
Anyway, enough of my moping! Our language teacher, Dara, is a really nice guy and has been teaching VSO volunteers for nearly 20 years. He really doesn’t like it hot when he is teaching and it is about 30 degrees at the moment and I’m sure it is worse in the classroom. Dara says that every year he has worked for VSO they have provided air conditioning, except this year. From what I understand, this is a result of the recession and the weakness of the pound against the dollar, VSO are getting a lot less spending power from their DFID (Department for International Development) funding. So no air conditioning for the classroom! However, if it continues being this hot the we are thinking of putting some money in every week so we could get it for him. This affects us especially as we are in the afternoon class, when the heat is really starting to sap energy.
During one of the breaks yesterday Jen and I cycled and bought a green coconut with a straw in to drink. We had seen a little shack place selling them and decided it might be quite refreshing, so to get out a bit, we cycled down there and a nice lady cut us a couple with a massive machete. These then when in our baskets (much to the locals amusement) and we cycled back with them to the school.
When we returned we all sat at our desks just chatting and I don’t know how it began but Dara started telling us about his experience of life under the Khmer Rouge. That is one thing you have to remember here, everyone over 30 has some kind of memory of that time and their lives. Dara was working in the fields for exactly 3 years 8 months and 20 days, he remembers the dates exactly. He fought in the civil war before that for 5 years and was 17 when he went to the fields. Dara explained how he and his fellow prisoners (he referred to it as a prison without walls) were set to work at 6am when they would watch the sun all day until 12. They would then get a 1 hour break to eat a spoonful of rice and work again until the sun set about 6 when they would get another spoonful of rice. Everyday he would watch the sun move across the sky and couldn’t wait for another day to be over. His entire family was killed apart from 3 of his brothers, who still live today, all together in Siem Riep.
After the war Dara was moved to a refugee camp in Thailand (he called it ‘the cage’) where he lived for 10 years in the rough conditions of the camp. He remembers when it was cold, putting hay over his body to keep warm. It was also here where a group of Americans taught him English and he was given a certificate showing he could teach English. This was his way out and shortly after this he began work with VSO.
It was a very moving story and I don’t think I moved a muscle the entire time he was speaking; I was so riveted by what he was saying.
When you hear stories like that from just normal people it really helps to put into perspective what we’re doing here and helps me to deal with my low feelings. We are helping a country which is desperate to recover after a gruesome, crippling and very recent conflict.
Last night, after dinner, Jen and I went and chilled out with Sarah and Kirsty in their hotel room and watched a bit of BBC world news. All it had on was the live footage of the Memorial Day in the US for the victims of 9/11. It was strange to think that just as the USA was waking up we were getting ready for bed!
It is 7:30am here (it is impossible to sleep late unless it is drug induced owing to the lady chopping things outside my window at 6:30am and the general massive amount of noise early in the morning!) and I have just looked outside the window. It is another cloudless day, which also means a very hot one! The electricity has also gone off and I am really hoping it comes back on soon as I am using my laptop battery to write this and the fan has gone off! Jean has just informed me that this might be due to some guys arriving in the street with loads of new cables. No nice informative letters here...!
I’m also hoping that a couple of volunteers might be up for staying up late tonight and having a few drinks as we don’t have class tomorrow!!
I think I might even try and do some laundry today, not sure how I’ll hang it but will give it a go!!
Love :o) xx
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
On the Move 09/09/09
So today we moved to Kampong Cham, where we will be living for six weeks whilst we do our intensive Khmer language training.
Anyway, I had a pretty interesting day today so I shall try and describe it for you...
Our first session of the day was entitled ‘Health and Safety’ and I was a little worried as we already had a talk in the UK regarding all the horrid diseases we would be susceptible to! The biggest issue for most volunteers here is malaria and whether to take the prophylactics or not. The advice given by the doctor here is NOT to take them as dealing with the side effects for the entire length of your placement could be hard. Also, if a mosquito bites you whilst you’re taking the drugs it can build up a resistance to the few drugs which are used to treat the disease. You can also still get malaria whilst taking the drugs. However, I DO NOT want to get malaria, it is a deadly and very dangerous disease which is a major problem in the area I am going to be living in. The decision is left up to me as to take them or not and there is an equal number of volunteers who do and don’t. So I shall be mulling that over for the next few weeks (whilst living in a malaria free zone!). I won’t even start on dengue fever as I do not want to scare you lovely readers, but put it this way, my chances of NOT getting it are not good!
So after that uplifting session Kirsty and I headed out to find a pharmacy as she wanted someone to look at her very swollen mosquito bite on her ankle and I needed sleeping tablets (still on UK time grr!).
I also merged this trip with one to a ‘reputable’ dvd shop to stock up for the long evenings in the provinces! I managed to get the entire 3rd season on The Tudors and loads of great films for about $1 each. I don’t usually agree with piracy, but, when in rome!
So we were then going to head back to the programme office but still had over an hour to kill and didn’t fancy just sitting around so we ended up going to the Cambodian National Museum. I mean, we’re not talking the British Museum here, it is pretty small but the building is lovely with a beautiful garden section in the middle. We half of the time sat by the pretty carp ponds on a bench as it was mega hot! It was generally very relaxing and enjoyable and the objects on display were fascinating. So well worth the $3!
For lunch we were joined by the visiting UK MP Sharon Hodgson, who is here to do some advocacy work with a NGO called ‘Disability Action’ and has several high profile meetings with Cambodian ministers. Sharon is also giving a speech on Friday in Siem Reap to all the female MP’s in Cambodia on the role of female MP’s in the UK. Anyway, it all sounds really fascinating and Sharon is a lovely person to speak to.
So we then all headed off to the bus office in a convoy of tuk-tuks to board our bus to the countryside. The bus was alot nicer than I expected and air-conditioned (actually, it was bloody freezing but I dare not complain because I could hardly remember what being cold feels like!). Once we made it out of PP, which took a good 45mins, we headed out into the wild Cambodian countryside. It was at this point that the monsoon started and it was unbelievable! The roads were massively flooded and the driver didn’t seem to want to slow down whilst swerving wildly around massive puddles and pot holes! Crazy times!
On the way we stopped at a little pit stop place where they were selling the token deep fried spiders. They were pretty massive actually and black, which is what concerned me more than the fact that people we eating them! So, goaded on by the (very wimpy) group Simon decided to go for it and we all watched, took photos and decided that if one of the group had done it, it kindda meant we all had! Looked pretty gross actually and he managed quite a bit of leg before he decided enough was enough!
So back on the bus (after a coffee with condensed milk!) and on our way again. We arrived in Kampong Cham about 3hrs after leaving, which isn’t bad considering the state of the roads and the weather.
6 of us, including me, are staying in a house and the other 6 in the Mekong Hotel on the waterfront. This turns out to have been quite jammy on my part (totally unintentional might I add!) as I have my own room with a double bed and wet room. So I’m pretty happy. Apart from the fact that I’ve just realised that my bed is lacking a top sheet for some reason so I will have to sleep under my towel!
The family that have rented us the house live next door and we share a little courtyard area which is nice. We will also be cycling to our language classes, so it is another chance for us to test our biking skills (by skill I mean staying on the 40 year old bike, which I doubt has ever had a service or new brakes in its entire life and veers to the left when you push off!).
Anyway, this evening we had a lovely meal at a place called ‘Smiles’. It has been set up by an NGO and is completely run by ex street children from the local area and gives them training and a job. The food was amazing (I had pasta....YES!! I have never loved the taste so much!) and the staff are great. It was pretty cheap too with breakfast costing $2 and my big dinner and a drink came to $5 with tip! It also has wireless internet so I’m sure it will become a second home for all of us for the next 6 weeks!
I’m about to chill (literally, thanks to lack of sheet and enthusiastic fan) and watch The Tudors.
Lots of love xx
Anyway, I had a pretty interesting day today so I shall try and describe it for you...
Our first session of the day was entitled ‘Health and Safety’ and I was a little worried as we already had a talk in the UK regarding all the horrid diseases we would be susceptible to! The biggest issue for most volunteers here is malaria and whether to take the prophylactics or not. The advice given by the doctor here is NOT to take them as dealing with the side effects for the entire length of your placement could be hard. Also, if a mosquito bites you whilst you’re taking the drugs it can build up a resistance to the few drugs which are used to treat the disease. You can also still get malaria whilst taking the drugs. However, I DO NOT want to get malaria, it is a deadly and very dangerous disease which is a major problem in the area I am going to be living in. The decision is left up to me as to take them or not and there is an equal number of volunteers who do and don’t. So I shall be mulling that over for the next few weeks (whilst living in a malaria free zone!). I won’t even start on dengue fever as I do not want to scare you lovely readers, but put it this way, my chances of NOT getting it are not good!
So after that uplifting session Kirsty and I headed out to find a pharmacy as she wanted someone to look at her very swollen mosquito bite on her ankle and I needed sleeping tablets (still on UK time grr!).
I also merged this trip with one to a ‘reputable’ dvd shop to stock up for the long evenings in the provinces! I managed to get the entire 3rd season on The Tudors and loads of great films for about $1 each. I don’t usually agree with piracy, but, when in rome!
So we were then going to head back to the programme office but still had over an hour to kill and didn’t fancy just sitting around so we ended up going to the Cambodian National Museum. I mean, we’re not talking the British Museum here, it is pretty small but the building is lovely with a beautiful garden section in the middle. We half of the time sat by the pretty carp ponds on a bench as it was mega hot! It was generally very relaxing and enjoyable and the objects on display were fascinating. So well worth the $3!
For lunch we were joined by the visiting UK MP Sharon Hodgson, who is here to do some advocacy work with a NGO called ‘Disability Action’ and has several high profile meetings with Cambodian ministers. Sharon is also giving a speech on Friday in Siem Reap to all the female MP’s in Cambodia on the role of female MP’s in the UK. Anyway, it all sounds really fascinating and Sharon is a lovely person to speak to.
So we then all headed off to the bus office in a convoy of tuk-tuks to board our bus to the countryside. The bus was alot nicer than I expected and air-conditioned (actually, it was bloody freezing but I dare not complain because I could hardly remember what being cold feels like!). Once we made it out of PP, which took a good 45mins, we headed out into the wild Cambodian countryside. It was at this point that the monsoon started and it was unbelievable! The roads were massively flooded and the driver didn’t seem to want to slow down whilst swerving wildly around massive puddles and pot holes! Crazy times!
On the way we stopped at a little pit stop place where they were selling the token deep fried spiders. They were pretty massive actually and black, which is what concerned me more than the fact that people we eating them! So, goaded on by the (very wimpy) group Simon decided to go for it and we all watched, took photos and decided that if one of the group had done it, it kindda meant we all had! Looked pretty gross actually and he managed quite a bit of leg before he decided enough was enough!
So back on the bus (after a coffee with condensed milk!) and on our way again. We arrived in Kampong Cham about 3hrs after leaving, which isn’t bad considering the state of the roads and the weather.
6 of us, including me, are staying in a house and the other 6 in the Mekong Hotel on the waterfront. This turns out to have been quite jammy on my part (totally unintentional might I add!) as I have my own room with a double bed and wet room. So I’m pretty happy. Apart from the fact that I’ve just realised that my bed is lacking a top sheet for some reason so I will have to sleep under my towel!
The family that have rented us the house live next door and we share a little courtyard area which is nice. We will also be cycling to our language classes, so it is another chance for us to test our biking skills (by skill I mean staying on the 40 year old bike, which I doubt has ever had a service or new brakes in its entire life and veers to the left when you push off!).
Anyway, this evening we had a lovely meal at a place called ‘Smiles’. It has been set up by an NGO and is completely run by ex street children from the local area and gives them training and a job. The food was amazing (I had pasta....YES!! I have never loved the taste so much!) and the staff are great. It was pretty cheap too with breakfast costing $2 and my big dinner and a drink came to $5 with tip! It also has wireless internet so I’m sure it will become a second home for all of us for the next 6 weeks!
I’m about to chill (literally, thanks to lack of sheet and enthusiastic fan) and watch The Tudors.
Lots of love xx
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
The Calm Before the Storm
Right so time to update you on what I've been up to for the last couple of days...
We have been having intensive training sessions at the Programme Office on everything from cultural do's and don'ts (watch the soles of your feet!) to corruption (everywhere).
It was really very interesting and I have learnt alot, however, sitting in a warm office whilst still suffering from horrid jet lag is some what of a challenge!
No photo's to update on facebook either I'm afraid as I actually haven't been anywhere really. Well, apart from the crazy bike ride around PP earlier today with Jeltje! However, I was focusing too hard on trying not to hit anything and avoiding some crazy road behaviour. A Khmer dude on a moped actually laughed at me...he was coming towards me on the wrong side of the road!!!!! Was definately a worth while experience though!
I have a free morning from 9am tomorrow so I was planning on walking down the river side to get my last few purchases before we head up to Kompong Cham (on Mekong river north of PP). It looks like a really nice place and I'm staying in a house with a roof terrace with views over the town. However, it is a little more rural than PP so stocking up on some luxuries now!
We are all staying there for 3 weeks doing launguage lessons for 4 hours a day 6 days a week. Then heading up to Placement for a visit and it is a chance to meet my co-workers and the volunteers who are living there. It is also the time when Jeltje and I go househunting...We have decided to live together as it means we have more money for a bigger and nicer place for when all you lovely people visit :)
Kompong Cham is quite small but I hear you can do boat trips up river to Kratie and see the really rare freshwater dolphins, which makes me quite excited. It will also be nice to see some of the countryside which Cambodia is famous for!
So next time you hear from me that is where I will be and don't worry I will take many many pictures on the 2hr bus journey!!
Love xx
We have been having intensive training sessions at the Programme Office on everything from cultural do's and don'ts (watch the soles of your feet!) to corruption (everywhere).
It was really very interesting and I have learnt alot, however, sitting in a warm office whilst still suffering from horrid jet lag is some what of a challenge!
No photo's to update on facebook either I'm afraid as I actually haven't been anywhere really. Well, apart from the crazy bike ride around PP earlier today with Jeltje! However, I was focusing too hard on trying not to hit anything and avoiding some crazy road behaviour. A Khmer dude on a moped actually laughed at me...he was coming towards me on the wrong side of the road!!!!! Was definately a worth while experience though!
I have a free morning from 9am tomorrow so I was planning on walking down the river side to get my last few purchases before we head up to Kompong Cham (on Mekong river north of PP). It looks like a really nice place and I'm staying in a house with a roof terrace with views over the town. However, it is a little more rural than PP so stocking up on some luxuries now!
We are all staying there for 3 weeks doing launguage lessons for 4 hours a day 6 days a week. Then heading up to Placement for a visit and it is a chance to meet my co-workers and the volunteers who are living there. It is also the time when Jeltje and I go househunting...We have decided to live together as it means we have more money for a bigger and nicer place for when all you lovely people visit :)
Kompong Cham is quite small but I hear you can do boat trips up river to Kratie and see the really rare freshwater dolphins, which makes me quite excited. It will also be nice to see some of the countryside which Cambodia is famous for!
So next time you hear from me that is where I will be and don't worry I will take many many pictures on the 2hr bus journey!!
Love xx
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