Messing About on the River

Sunday 28th October

What better way to spend a Sunday morning than messing about on the river. As I am an incredibly generous and giving person, on the whole, I decided (without too much persuasion) that I could afford to give up some of my precious time, whilst in Phnom Penh, to join the Boat Race Team 2007 during their practice session for the big race at the end of the month.
Every year, Phnom Penh enjoys a water festival to celebrate around the time when the Mekong River changes direction and starts flowing the other way. It is one of the most ancient of the festivals and events in Phnom Penh, also called Bon Om Tuk, meaning Festival of the Reversing Current, the festival marks the beginning of the fishing season. Each province from all over the country competes prior to this festival in order to find the most elite rowers to attempt to win the infamous boat race in Phnom Penh during November. VSO are organised enough this year to have a boat entered into the race of which I am now a team member! So at the end of the month watch out for an update on how successful the ‘team’ has been!

It was a hugely enjoyable morning despite having to display amounts of physical exertion that just shouldn’t be necessary in a climate such as this. We had to travel for about an hour on the back of trucks, rather like cattle being taken to market, till we reached a quiet bit of river and the boat where the more wary of us donned life-jackets and plenty of sun-cream. Then with our partners, we took our oars and boarded the vessel, which surprisingly stayed afloat the whole time! We were supposed to follow the whistle or signal of a more experienced Khmer guy sat at the bow and all row together chanting “Moy, Moy, Moy-Pee, Moy!” (which neatly translates as one, one, one-two, one!). However, being nearer the stern of the vessel, I was in the fortunate position of not being able to be seen by many other rowers. This meant that necessary breaks in rowing could be taken when needed! We also amused ourselves at the back by changing the chant to more comical words, splashing each other and thinking of all the songs with the word ‘River’ in them.

Not that I wish anyone to even dream that this Boat Race practice wasn’t taken seriously! Oxford and Cambridge eat your heart out, this is serious business! It was even suggested by a more experienced VSO veteran that this was the largest number of volunteers working together to move in the same direction for ages!

I am very excited about the actual race! I leave Phnom Penh tomorrow but will be back on 19th November for a week of various Education Team meetings followed by the Boat Race on Friday 23rd! Watch This Space...!

New Shoes!!

Woohoo! I'm back in Phnom Penh and have just enough time to visit a few bars, do some last minute panic buying in preparation for moving into my new home on Tuesday and forget all the language I have learnt over the last 2 months!! You wouldn't believe how many shopping lists I have written and re-written - well, maybe you would!

Today, I had a very productive shopping day and discovered that Retail Therapy works whatever the currency! I bought some lovely pretty things to decorate my new home with, I ordered some clothes to be made at the Russian Market (3 pairs of trousers and 3 tops for less than $30/15 quid!) and picked up 2 pairs of NEW SHOES!! I LOVE spending money!! And a girl can never have too many shoes, even if she is volunteering in a developing country. I am supporting local business after all.

When we were last in Phnom Penh, we discovered this shop called 'Beautiful Shoes' which hand-makes, yes you guessed it, beautiful shoes!! You choose the style, the heel, the toe, the strap, the colour leather, they draw round your foot on some squared paper and hey presto, hand made-to-order shoes are ready within a week! Fantastic!! Even my huge feet can be catered for and in what ever style I wish! It was very tempting to order some more when I picked up my NEW SHOES but I will try to resist for at least a month or so! Wow - this volunteer malarkey is so tough!

And tomorrow, I am practicing my paddling technique with about 30 other volunteers as we enter the VSO boat into Phnom Penh's infamous water festival in a fortnight! I am so excited!!

Last Language Lesson

Today we came one step closer to the end of ICT (In-Country Training) by having our last language lesson. Despite the normal frustrations one faces when learning a new language, lacking confidence and pure inability on my part to do self-study, I am quite impressed with how much I have learnt. I entered the country, able to count to 10 in the Khmer language and now, not even 8 weeks later, I can say so much! I know about 100 verbs, loads more nouns and adjectives, the numbers up to 100 and beyond, how to ask different questions, give directions, describe my family, tell the time and say what colour hat I am wearing! I can speak in the simple present, past and future tense too! How exciting!!

It hasn’t been easy, especially sharing a class with some very intelligent students who like to nit-pick apart every sentence construction we’ve been taught (not my preferred learning style at all unfortunately!) and I’m quite glad it has come to an end as I think my brain is completely full to bursting! The next problem is being understood in my placement when I try all this newly acquired language out on unsuspecting members of the public. Not that I haven’t already been doing that here in Kampong Cham of course! I have regularly spoken Khmer to the internet shop man, the bread sellers and market stall traders and the family who sell me coconuts, but as we are in the third largest city in Cambodia at the moment, all these people are more used to helping out the barangs with their pathetic attempts to use the language. I’m not sure my neighbours and colleagues in Phnom Srok will be as patient!! Fingers crossed!

We have had great fun with our language teacher too and driven him crazy with our weird and whacky sentences such as ‘Please could I buy 2 carrots’ and ‘there are no dragons here’ and ‘it is what it is’ – you probably had to be there – so we presented Mr Khamdy with a selection of goodies which reminded us of him and also created a card/book of all our favourite quotes! He loved it and was really chuffed and told us we were his best class in the 2 years he has taught for VSO. We were chuffed too by his comments as we had heard that in Cambodia you usually have to pay to get comments like that! VSO are very considerate about our needs as language learners and are giving us an allowance to find a language teacher in our placements if we so wish as well as bringing us back together in Kampong Cham in January for another 2 weeks training! Although I’m sure by then I’ll be fluent!

Island Life

Sunday 21st October

Having a day off from language training meant that we could spend the day doing whatever we wanted to. Some of us decided to take our bicycles across the Mekong River to a small island called Koh Paen. During the dry season, access to the island is by a bamboo bridge which gets rebuilt each year when the river is so much narrower. However, during the wet season (which we are still just about in) access is via ferry. Well, when I say ferry, I actually mean two wooden boats nailed together with a raft type affair with dodgy-looking petrol motor and what looked like a 17 year old pilot. Some people in the group declined from the day trip simply because of the state of the ferry but after watching the locals board it with confidence (and motorbikes, sacks of rice, small children and the like), the hardcore adventure seekers (yes, including me!) got aboard! The boat waited until it was full before setting sail which meant we could enjoy watching some eager fishermen catch their supper and chat with the spectators we seem to attract wherever we go.

And what a beautiful island we entered! We cycled down the main road which was as wide as a single lane with beautiful wooden houses on either side, many growing rice in the front garden. We heard shouts of ‘hello’ from all the children we passed – which was many – and high-fived their expectant hands as we rode past. What struck me was the absolute simplicity of life on this island (as I have observed in much of Cambodia so far) and how every face is smiling. When I compare the children I saw here with the children I know in the UK, they appear to be richer here in so many ways! They share their beautiful world with dogs, chickens, cows and each other; they play and share with each other and work really hard because they just have to; they have so much space to enjoy without parameters or health and safety regulations; they swim in the river, ride the backs of water buffalo and play with their neighbours in the streets. And they are so overwhelmingly friendly and happy! It’s hard not to wonder who is better off.

Obviously this is an impression of Cambodia which makes it such a wonderful place to be in. In reality these people face so much hardship. The children have to pay to go to school to subsidise their teachers’ wages because they are so badly paid (or not at all) or are still paying off the fee they had to pay in order to get the job in the first place. There is also a huge (and growing) issue of child prostitution because sometimes it might seem like the only option facing families in financial difficulties and lots of children who are orphaned or abandoned. It makes it all the more amazing that their smiles remain so constant.

Our cycle tour of this island was lovely and we definitely had a mini-adventure! We even took a road slightly more off the beaten track which took us through even more examples of country life in Cambodia. When the not-so-beaten track turned into a field with no track at all we really thought we were being adventurous until someone remembered the warnings about straying from the path in Cambodia’s countryside! Our last day of in-country training (Friday – not that I’m counting the days!) is based at a Landmine training centre in Kampong Chhnam and it would’ve been such a shame to miss it. With this in mind, we headed back to the beaten track and took our chances with dodging cows, dogs and small children rather than dodging imaginary mines (I’m almost positive it wasn’t a landmine but it sounds quite dramatic!).


And then came the ferry back to Kampong Cham and a quick pit-stop for a gin and tonic on the way home to dinner. There are 5 more days of in-country training left – phew! and then it’s back to Phnom Penh for some panic shopping before travelling with all my worldly possessions to the final destination: Phnom Srok, to start work on 1st November. I’m really looking forward to settling for a bit and finally unpacking my bags properly for the first time since the end of July!

Happy Birthday Corine

Sunday 14th October

Today was Corine’s birthday and because she is Dutch and from Holland, she wanted us all to join her on a bicycle ride around the countryside of Kampong Cham. In Holland there are no cars so Dutch people are more than used to getting around on two wheels. We had a very exciting day...

First we cycled from the VSO house around a nearby lake. The scenery was stunning! My good friend Jean is not yet comfortable on a bike so was driven around on the back of John’s moto. Unfortunately, John was carrying his rather large camera in his front basket which served as an open invite to some passing youths on another moto. They snatched the camera from the basket and made off with it. John quickly followed in hot pursuit but Jean’s pleas to stop soon put him off. He stopped, let Jean off the back and carried on following his camera at high speed. At the time he reckoned that he could catch them as he only had one on his moto compared to the three of them on their moto. He was right and before long they wisely decided to drop the camera.

When John returned to us cyclists, with his camera, we all clapped and cheered and so did the villagers – John’s wife gave him a slap round the head!

We carried on our birthday outing to Phnom Bpros Phnom Srei (Man and Woman Hills – see photo above: Man Hill has stupors on top and Woman Hill is covered in trees) where we climbed the hills, saw stupors built to honour thousands killed in the nearby fields by the Khmer Rouge, met some over-protective wild monkeys and enjoyed the cycle down again as we didn’t need to peddle! Legend has it that the hills were made by a group of men and women in a competition to see who could build the tallest hill before the first star appeared in the night’s sky. The women’s team cleverly lit a bonfire which the men thought was the first star appearing in the night’s sky so they stopped making their hill. The women, however, continued building their hill and won the competition. I think we can all learn something from that story.

We meandered our bikes through rice fields and small wooden housed villages and took loads of beautiful photos!! The rice fields are so amazingly green and lush and we saw two young boys riding through them on the back of water buffalo! Everyone, particularly the children, greet us with calls of ‘hello’ and laugh so hard when we attempt the Khmer greetings! We also found a small community who have been encouraged by a French NGO to create handicrafts from the natural resources. They had some silk looms and really pretty lamps and household knickknacks made from coconut shells, bamboo and the like. Gorgeous – and has got me starting to think about how I will decorate my new home. Hardly Shoreham Close, the photos remind me that it feels as if you are in a huge blue bathroom – not too cosy!

P.S. As I get to know my camera and all the crazy functions better, so the photos get bigger, better and more arty-farty. To view even larger, just click on the picture.

Kampong Cham

Today, a small group of us mounted bicycles and decided to ride over the Mekong River via the Japanese-funded bridge which is at least 1km long. The bridge has created great transport links between the east and west as well as north and south of the country which is fantastic although has put the ferries out of business and has made Kampong Cham more of a thoroughfare than a place to pause in one’s journey. As it is still the rainy season (just) the Mekong is very wide and has even broken its banks in several places. It was a pleasant ride and again, we were a huge source of entertainment for the Cambodians we passed. Check out the pictures...

The Motorcycle Diaries (Part 2)

Sunday 7th October

As part of our in-country training programme, the group had the opportunity to un-learn everything we had learnt to pass our CBT in the UK. I was disappointed to find out that our future motorbikes were not going to be real motorbikes after all but Honda Dreams. Oh well – I’m sure I can still manage to be a Cool Rider on a Honda Dream.

We formed a convoy and followed our tutor to a disused airstrip up the road in order to practice and build up our confidence. I have to say, the journey to the airstrip was more than enough to build or break one’s confidence. Instead of the ‘mirror, signal, life-saver, manoeuvre, life-saver' routine ingrained into memory from my UK CBT, it became more important to dodge cows, use the horn at every opportunity and find the safest position on the road (or off it!) to drive, even if it was the wrong side of the road. We also experienced our first encounter with dirt roads which had become slippery muddy puddles of unknown depths! It was interesting to say the least! My Dream didn’t have any mirrors – apparently they’re not too fashionable in Cambodia – and we got some funny looks for even wearing safety helmets.

So, for an hour or so we zipped up and down the airstrip, weaving in and out of potholes and attracting quite an audience! The roads in Cambodia follow an unspoken hierarchy. If you on a bicycle, you are basically ignored so best not to get in anyone’s way! If on a moto, you are slightly more valued, then a car, truck and then the bigger lorries. Over or under taking is common place even when facing on-coming traffic and the horn is used liberally to warn of you presence on the road. It is also amazing to see what is carried on these modes of transport. I have seen up to 6 people on one moto as well as live pigs being taken to market, rolls of carpet and even a wardrobe! I wondered whether our Cambodian training would include tips on carrying people, animals or pieces of furniture on our motos but evidently VSO do not condone anything other than one other passenger being carried. Thankfully, the Dream I will use over my 2 years belonged to a previous volunteer and has a working horn and side mirrors. It will also have a full service before being handed over to me.

Meeting the locals

To say I stuck out like a sore thumb in Phnom Srok would be quite an understatement. Being a white westerner made me a very interesting sight indeed and while walking around the village I had to quickly get used to being stared at, laughed at and pointed at. Sometimes, adults even fetched their children to the front door to see the ‘barang’ walk past! ‘Barang’ actually means ‘French’ in Khmer and was used to describe the French colonists who lived in Cambodia many moons ago. Even with the French long gone, it the term by which they relate to any white person they see and I am definitely the only ‘barang’ in the village! Until the novelty wears off (which I’m sure it will), I have decided to enjoy the attention!

While up in the village, the Deputy Director introduced me to a whole bunch of different people including other District of Education (DOE) staff, the community chief, and some teachers and school directors of some of the local schools. I learnt that their main priorities were to ensure that 16 of the primary schools in the district passed the Ministry’s guidelines for being a Child Friendly School by the end of 2008 – so guess what I’ll be doing for the next 12 months? I visited a few schools and met with staff, each time being expected to make a speech (which was translated by Sokwin) and answer their questions! Daunting or what?! The schools tend to teach in a very Victorian style: children sit in rows, teacher dictates the lesson from text books from the front of the room on a blackboard and if the children don’t pass the test at the end of each year, they have to repeat the year. Many children don’t bother and lots leave as soon as they are 10 or 11 years old to go and work in Thailand to make money for their families.

Meeting the Community chief was another interesting experience. The conversation lasted about 10 minutes and started with us saying hello and thanking each other for coming and spending the time talking to one another, and ended with saying goodbye and thanking each other for coming and spending the time talking to one another, with not a lot in-between! It was very amusing but something tells me this sort of meeting and networking is very important!

My new family

Over the four days in Phnom Srok, I got to know the landlords family very well. He is a teacher at a local high school but also runs the shop with his wife (soon to have their first baby). His wife is one of 8 children of the lady who actually owns the guesthouse. About 4 or 5 of her other children and their small families live behind the guesthouse but often seem to congregate near the shop during the day.

It was obviously hard to communicate with them other than through smiling and nodding and using the few Khmer words I feel confident with but they all seemed very very friendly! One of the sisters have even offered to be my cleaner and cook so for $35 a month, she will clean my house and do washing 3 times a week and also take me to the market on Saturday and give me a cookery lesson so I can learn how to prepare and cook food the Khmer way!!

Home, Sweet Home???

This is a photo of the large landing area. It is very big and spacious and with some furniture and a little imagination will become my sitting room. All the rooms come off this main area. The door you can see in the picture is the bathroom door and to the right are more stairs leading up to the roof and the stairs which lead back down to the first floor.

Each of the four bedrooms looks roughly like this. Big windows and room for 2 good sized beds. One of these rooms will be turned into a kitchen and dining area for me, one will be my bedroom, one will be an office/study/ironing room and the last will be a spare room for visitors.

The bathroom is rather horrid at the moment but the landlord has promised to put in a Western toilet (phew!) and put a cover over the water tank – oh joy! There might be a chance of the landlord installing a running water system into the house so until then I will dream of a flushing toilet and shower!

A small balcony comes off the living area too and overlooks the front of the guesthouse and the street but what I’m most excited about is the roof... The stairs leading up from the living area, lead up onto the roof which is huge, completely private and has amazing views. The landlord said I could do whatever I liked up with the space like use it for exercising (yeah right!) so I might find some friends who can build me a little lean too, set up a hammock, buy some plants and have me a jolly old roof terrace garden! Woohoo!

Apart from the prospective roof garden, the whole idea of living in this guesthouse filled me with dread as it looks very bare and not very cosy at all. However, in true Cambodian style (and with 3 months rent in his pocket!), the landlord was ready to bend over backwards for me and agreed to lots of suggested changes so that when I rock up at the end of the month the place will be unrecognisable!

Welcome to Phnom Srok

Monday 1st October

First 2 photos show the current DOE office where I will start working on 1st November and the NEW DOE office which should be ready for use in December. Spot the difference! The main similarity is the cow outside the front entrance in each picture!

After a 6 hour taxi drive from Phnom Penh to Sisaphon, a night at a guest house and then another 2 ½ bumpy hours in a truck, I finally arrived at Phnom Srok for my placement visit. I officially start living and working here on 1st November so the purpose of this visit was to find a house and meet my future colleagues. I was chaperoned by Carly (current VSO volunteer) and Sokwin (soon to become my translator/assistant).

We dumped our bags at a friendly guesthouse in the village and were taken to the District Education Office round the corner (my future work place! - see pic above) where we met the Director and Deputy Director of Education, Mr. Sophan and Mr Saey (my future employers!). They gave us a quick tour of the office and the NEW office! and then we went out to lunch – a short motorbike journey and a table by the lake – beautiful!! Apparently the lake was one of many dug by forced labour camps during the Khmer Rouge regime and one of the few which was successful. It was weird taking in its beauty while thinking of how it came to be but the locals certainly enjoy it. It is a tourist attraction in the area and has become a bird sanctuary too – home to the almost extinct Sarus Crane. As we ate lunch (fresh fish and rice), some children played near by with a rubber ring and the water did look inviting!

The village is centred around a main crossroads, and by road, I mean dirt road. It has a market (cleaner than some!), a few restaurants serving breakfast and lunch but not an evening meal as we found out, an ice seller (no electricity means no fridges so most people have an icebox and use ice to store or cool things!) a pagoda or two, a few mobile phone shops (and by shop, I mean shack) and a petrol station (and by petrol station, I mean guy selling old Coke bottles of petrol at the side of the road. The guesthouse (which was suggested as the only place suitable for me to rent) is a few buildings down from the crossroads so really feels in the hub of the village. It’s ground floor is a shop run by the landlord, selling canned and packet food (I’ll never run out of instant noodles), toiletries (I’ll also never run out of toilet paper or toothpaste – phew!) and beer (thank goodness that’ll always be close at hand!).

The first and second floor of the guesthouse look exactly the same and comprise of a big open landing space, 4 bedrooms and a bathroom (and by bathroom, I mean tiled room with a squat toilet and a huge rain water tank from which you scoop water in order to wash with – did I mention there was no running water in this village?!