False Start

Wednesday 31st October

Instead of leaving Phnom Penh yesterday as planned, I waved goodbye to the other volunteers and my belongings and stayed another night nursing a swollen ankle. Unfortunately for me, I had inadvertently infected a mosquito bite by scratching it a bit too violently. The infection made my ankle swell up to about three times its normal size, forcing me to seek medical help and consequently stay in Phnom Penh for a course of anti-biotic injections. I was really disappointed at the time and even cried a slight tantrum at the doctor with the French accent after she told me I wouldn’t be starting work as planned. However, being in Phnom Penh an extra 24 hours was really no great hardship and I got to say goodbye and see all the other volunteers off to their placements and do a bit more shopping!

This morning, I had my last injection and set off to Sisaphon in the North-West of Cambodia. Sisaphon is the provincial town of Banteay Meanchey. It is where a handful of VSO volunteers reside and my nearest large(ish) town. I travelled up via taxi with Dave and two young monks who shared the front seat. It was a fairly uneventful journey (Dave slept the whole way) and we made it to Jan’s, a current volunteer’s, house by the afternoon. Jan has worked as a volunteer in Sisaphon for 2 years in the Teacher Training College and has extended her placement by another 2 years as she likes it so much! Her neighbours on one side keep crocodiles in their back garden and on the other side pigs! Her garden is fantastic and has given me some inspiration for my roof terrace! It has a huge Cambodian landscape mural painted on the wall, a fish pond and loads of gorgeous plants and flowers. She put us up in her house and took us out for dinner at a karaoke restaurant with most of the members of the new Banteay Meanchey ‘team’!