Weekend in Phnom Srok

Sunday 4th November

I have discovered that not a lot happens in Phnom Srok, even at the weekend, so I have spent the weekend doing not a lot and really enjoying it! I’m sure the family think I am very bored but I keep reassuring them that I like listening to them speaking as I need to learn more Khmer! It’s also nice to finally have all my belongings in one place and some time to myself after the hectic last two months of In-Country Training. So this weekend I have enjoyed spending more time unpacking and reading through documents and paperwork related to my job. I also had another go at cooking Khmer style with Ree and have tried to practice my Khmer with some of the kids who hang around the shop downstairs.

I am really glad of where my accommodation is situated. I have the second floor of the guesthouse, of which the ground floor is a grocery shop. It is situated on the main road into the village just before the round-about so the shop is quite often a real hub of activity. An older lady actually owns the building and has a rather large number of daughters, one of which helps run the shop and is heavily pregnant and married to Mr Banlie, my landlord, another daughter (Ree, my cleaner/cook) is married to a teacher/mechanic and has 2 children, another is married to a truck-driver and has a couple of kids, and so the list goes on. There is nearly always some of the family congregated around the shop front as well as their customers who often stay for longer than just to pick up their shopping. It’s great as I’m getting to watch and listen to lots of Khmer conversations as well as trying to work out the family and neighbour politics.

I decided to use the weekend to explore the local area so I took my moto (The Dream) to the nearby lake. A damn was built to create this lake during the Khmer Rouge regime and around 10,000 people died making this damn. It is now a bird sanctuary and the reservoir is used to irrigate rice fields. I asked the landlord for directions last night and had a team of men helping to draw a map. It took ages as they argued over the position of the roads and the best route I should take but what a fine map of the area I now have! With the map in my pocket, I drove out to the lake, took some photos and drove a different way home. It was great to practice riding The Dream and also great to see a bit my surroundings! I’m getting used to the stares; even the dogs do a double take as I ride by! It might also be something to do with the fact that I wear a safety helmet which is quite a rare thing in the district.