Shopping in the Monsoon!! 06/09/09

Khmer words of the day: Barang (foreigner)
T’lei pon man? (How much is it?)

Weather update: Bloody boiling this morning as the sun was out making everything ALOT hotter! I’m guessing it was about 30c today. However, this quickly turned into mega heavy rain and it has been spitting ever since (i’m writing this at 22:50!) This does mean that it is alot cooler now though so much better for sleep!

So this afternoon, after spending over 2 hours in the lovely air conditioned internet cafe we decided to venture to the market. So Simon, Kirsty, Sarah and I headed off to the Central Market armed with shopping lists and very limited Khmer! However, pretty much the minute we jumped into the tuk-tuk a major rain storm set in and when it rains here it usually seriously rains! So we were pretty wet when we arrived and had to jump over about 4 ft of puddle to get to the entrance and enter the maze of tunnels of tiny little stalls. The ‘roof’ is made out strips of plastic sheeting which I have no idea quite how it manages to withstand the rain. Put it this way, there are many holes so it is like being in a slightly lighter rain storm! I’m sorry I haven’t got any photo’s of inside the market, it is not a great idea to flaunt wealth as being a foreigner makes you conspicuous enough without looking like a crass tourist too :p
So here we are, making our way through a fairly smelly and very wet rabbit warren on a mission to find the things on our lists...

The first thing on the list for Kirsty and I was definitely HAIR STRAIGHTENERS! We are both seriously suffering from some serious frizz action, probably not helped by the sweat and humidity but still a problem! Anyway, there are absolutely loads of different kinds of straighteners available and we eventually bartered $11 for 2 sets of fairly good (I hope) sets.
I then decided that a pillow and towel were next on the list, so feeling confident I marched (well, sort of did a random leaping dance over yucky puddles) towards a stall I had seen selling bed stuff and towels. After getting some advice from one of the VSO staff, who told me to avoid Cambodian pillows (they smell awful apparently!) I settled on an American pillow which was very plumphy (technical word!) and was also antibacterial and hypoallergenic. I managed to get this god of pillows and a big pink towel for $10 which I was very happy with! The trick with bartering here is to take about $2-4 off and try and try until they put it away in which case you’ve reached the lowest point. Luckily, pretty much the only barangs (see word of the day!) who are in PP this time of the year live here/are volunteers so the market sellers don’t take the mickey too much with prices.

So i’m now armed with a fairly sizeable bag in tunnels designed for people half my size and jumping like a loon over puddles (flip flops ewww)...lord only knows what I must have looked like to the Khmer stall holders!

In the central area of the market it is all amazing jewellery and i’m sure it is very reasonable but on a VSO budget definitely not on my shopping list!

So we proceeded on to try and find bags. Sadly i’m not talking about the lovely silk embroidered ones they sell here but rather the boring, practical kind! When we move to Kampong Cham on Wednesday I do not want to be carrying things such as a potato masher up there and I’m sure I can leave some clothes behind so as to minimise weight. However, this means a new bag! So went up to a lovely lady selling all kinds of bags and after getting out really quite a few I settled on a little north face (yeah right) and Salamon (hmmm) holdall. These will come in useful on my bike and also on my travels to Phnom Penh and hopefully to Thailand and to visit other volunteers in Ho Chi Minh City.

Anyway, so those set me back $20 for the 2 which isn’t too bad really although I probably could’ve knocked it down further if I had better Khmer and could actually understand the numbers. It is a bit embarrassing when you are being all confident and saying ‘hello, how are you’ and ‘how much’ in Khmer to then just stare blankley back at the stall holder when they answer in Khmer and you don’t understand a sodding word!! However, I am muchly reassured by the other volunteers who have been a few months being really quite fluent!
So now I have 2 huge carrier bags to haul around we decide to head out and go guitar shopping for Kirsty and Sarah who have both decided that they are going to use their long lonely evenings in the provinces learning this fairly cool skill! When we emerged back into the street it was to be met by a wall of water which meant we quickly turned back towards the market and the handily placed umbrella shop! This saw Kirsty and I acquire 2 shiny new brightly coloured umbrellas (Sarah had a poncho and Simon was very prepared and already had a brolly!). So we set off again out into the monsoon to be greeted by completely flooded streets, it seems the Cambodian’s haven’t got road drainage or do have it and it is completely overwhelmed. Anyway, after a few more leaps over giant smelly puddles and a few enquires we found a guitar shop!
I must say I was a little dubious and thought we wouldn’t find one but find one we did and it was actually pretty amazing! Had a huge range of guitars and the girls managed to find a couple they loved and they were both made in Phnom Penh which is great. So we then all leged it to a tuk tuk which now contains 4 people, 2 guitars, pillow & towel bag, 2 new bags and sets of hair straighteners!

We were all pretty exhausted when we got back to the VSO PO (Programme Office) and just decided to go around the corner for dinner at a Khmer place Simon had visited the night before. It was really authentic with accompanying Khmer Karaoke! The food here just comes whenever it is ready and beer is cheaper than sodas! So was a pretty cheap night costing us $4 each including loadsa food and beers! So that was good. Bit of a shame that I couldn’t really enjoy it though as I have completely lost my appetite (I think this is the best diet ever as I haven’t felt hungry all day!). Anyway, I’m sure it’ll come back when I get used to the heat. I must admit that I went next door to the nice supermarket and bought actual Coco-pops for breakfast for tomorrow! I know it is stupid as they cost $4 but they will make me feel less home sick and means I will probably eat breakfast. Saying that ‘You’ll never walk alone just came on my ipod and now feeling very home sick! In fact listening to my ipod in general is a bad idea as every song on it reminds me of something from home!

Just a quick thing, the MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne is staying in the room opposite mine as she is doing a couple of weeks volunteering as a government adviser. Feel some serious networking coming on...although she’ll probably be eating with the ambassador at the Cambodiana (best hotel in PP, there is supposed to be an amazing hotel in Shianoukville too, if anyone is interested!) every night, not at the local Khmer place for $4!! Oh well!!
Please keep me up to date with what you’re all doing! I want to know the football scores and if anyone can find a way of recording strictly for me I would love you more than I probably do now! Of course, you’re all welcome to come visit if anyone is in SE Asia and we can live it up in PP!!

Ok, this is a complete essay (It is in fact a lot longer than most of my essays and took me 20mins to write...!). So I’m signing off for today, Mega busy training sessions coming up in the morning.

Love you all xx