Kampot

Valentines weekend this year was spent in the sleepy, French colonial town of Kampot about 3 hours south of Phnom Penh with two fellow volunteers, 'Teacher Khai' as the kids call her and Elzanne. I took the bus up from Sihanoukville which, let's face it in Cambodia a bus journey is always an adventure, was an hour too long. The reason being that our bus driver didn't bother to check the tickets of his 'pick-ups' and had to spend an hour sorting out passengers with a rival company. No problem, just amusing. 

I got to Kampot and went straight to Bodhi Villa which is 2km just out of town. I can't say enough about Bodhi Villa, in fact I even wrote a Trip Advisor review for them I liked the place that much. It's an old French Villa right on Kampot river with a deck on the water and the most chilled out common area/restaurant. We met some people there who just kept extending their stay, it's that kind of place. 

The best part of Kampot isn't the town, although nice, it's the access you have to the surrounding countryside and farmland that makes this place a winner. The guys at Bodhi Villa sorted us out with two Motos and after a quick lesson off we went on our travels. We drove up along the river and had a pitstop at some mild rapids where local kids were having a laugh splashing around. We had a quick look and continued on our way to find 'Coconut Mountain'. We drove about 45minutes out the other side of town down dirt roads that wandered through miles and miles of farmland. We stopped for a second and realized that the farms around us were all salt farms. Really amazing to see for ourselves how this salt is harvested, it's extremely laborious work. In the end, we didn't reach 'Coconut Mountain' as we were running out of fuel but spent the evening listening to the sleepy music of a Ukranian Musician performing in Bodhi Villa. 

Salt farms outside of Kampot, below. 

Kampot countryside.

The next day was by far one of the most interesting days I've had in Cambodia so far (away from the school). We went off on our motos in search of the Phnom Chingnok caves. We had a little trouble driving up and over some rail tracks but a local boy came to our rescue. We got chatting and he offered to be our guide for the day, so we took him along. We were so glad we did, there is just no way we would have found the caves ourselves and he showed us so much more. Our tour guide, Seyha was his name, took us down into a little passage in the rocks and we crawled, climbed and slid our way through the dark with thousands of bats sleeping silently in the cracks of the walls. After the caves we took a spin out to some Pepper farms (Kampot Pepper is world famous) and then out to eat some delicious noodles in a little hut on the banks of the 'Secret Lake'. We never found out why it was called that. 

Entrance to Caves:

'Teacher Khai', Elzanne and tour guide Seyha at local pepper farm:

Secret Lake:

That wasn't the end of our adventure for the day. Our tour guide, Seyha, and his younger brother invited us out to a concert in Kampot centre and then on to a Khmer club which was a totally new experience for me. There were 5 of us, so naturally we bought 4 tickets for 3$ each and were given a 'tower' of beer. Seyha asked us if we had ever been to a place like that, and I can honestly say that I have not. The music runs in shifts, that is they play four crazy dance 'chunes' in a row and then four of the mildest, cheesiest ballads in between. I won't be able to describe the whole experience properly but we just surrendered to it and danced our brains out with the locals. Also, Seyhas 14yr old brother took a very keen interest in 'Teacher Khai' which just made my evening altogether. 

In the Khmer club below:

As I write this I'm back sitting in a classroom in the school in Som Ruong. It was a quick decision but one I'm more than happy with. Two weeks ago I left with the full intention of seeing the whole of Cambodia but when I met the other volunteers over the weekend I realized I'd rather spend my remaining time with the volunteers and children I've gotten to know over the last two months. The touristy things will always be here but this group of people won't be. As soon as I got in the door last night I felt like I was back home not to mention the heart melting hug I got from our little resident 2yr old. I don't have my own classes to lead this time round but I'm busy helping out the other volunteers where they need it most.

Side-note: myself and Khai hired a Tuktuk to take us back to the village last night. Believe me when I say you have not known true fear till you've been driven 20km along national road 5 in Cambodia in a Tuktuk in the dark with the driver using his phone for a headlight. 

The itchy and scratchy show.

I am wrecked after another week as a teacher. It's a good feeling. After my crazy week of sightseeing up north, I got back into the swing of things easily and geared up for some intense lesson planning and execution. We actually had another day off on Tuesday, Victory Day here in Cambodia, which slowed the momentum up a bit. I think Cambodia must have the most public holiday days in the world. The other volunteers said that a few months back there was hardly a week where they didn't have a day off. They should give some free days to Holland...

 

Life in the village this week was interesting. I said in my last post that I caught bed bugs while in Siem Reap. I've never been so itchy. Ok, I have a feint recollection of wanting to scratch my skin off at 6 years old with chicken pocks but the bed bugs thing was this week. The worst thing was that I didn't even realize I had them till I got back to the school with a bag full of freshly washed clothes (freshly washed by a launderette) and infected both the bag and my bed with them. So, not only did I have to hand-wash copious amounts of clean clothes, I had to wash my sheets, leave my mattress in the sun for a day and spray the bed frame with some toxic chemical I found in the back of the medical cupboard down in the kitchen. I even cut off my hippie bracelets just in case. I think it did the trick but I've felt paranoid all week. I went for a walk with Cecile the other evening and I had an absolute panic attack when an ant bit my foot. I was also terrified that they had crawled into my hair and were having the time of their lives in there so I bought some head lice shampoo. I was all geared up to wash the (probably non existent) feckers away when we were told there was no water left in the storage tank. No water = no shower = bed bugs building small bed bug towns in my hair. After a couple of hours I couldn't take it anymore and like the arrogant westerner I am I went and bought 12 bottles of drinking water and took a bath in the biggest laundry bowl I could find. The other volunteers called me wasteful and it is but I HAD to do it. I HAD TO. But tomorrow I take a shower with old rain water at a neighbors house so it works out.

My hand washing skills displayed in below pic. 

The below pictures are of my 2-3 ABC class. We've been learning about the body this week, employing the services of Brother Monkey, best known for appearing in 'The Monkey Family'  back in December. My favorite class this week was our creative Friday task where the class could only draw what I told them....e.g. draw two heads, one tummy,  ten legs. We ended up creating a monster and it was the most fun all week getting them to present their creations to the class at the end. 

Between my classes on Thursday I went for a walk around the village. Within 10 seconds of leaving I had a hand in each of my own and was given a walking tour of the village by two of my 8 year old students. I was introduced to every aunt, uncle, cousin and grandparent they could think of and I was made to hold at least three babies. It was amazing and something I'll never forget. 

And an update on the protests I mentioned the last time; 6 people now dead and many more were seriously injured. Factory workers all returned to work with a $5 dollar increase on their existing $60 a month. However, they won't be paid for the next two weeks for the 'damage' they have caused to the garment industry here in Cambodia. The labour unions have been identified as inciting public disorder and will not be taken seriously in worker negotiations again. I also read an article online from a teacher with 21 years experience being paid a paltry $75 dollars a month. And six workers were grabbed off the street in Phnom Penh while trying to deliver a petition, they were detained for 18 hours without charge. My heart bleeds for these people. I can't imagine the hopelessness they feel for their children's future. 

Then, as foreigners, we also have to deal with a certain backlash. My roommate Sophie was in Phnom Penh for a couple days volunteering as a surgical nurse on pro bono operations. She bargained with a moto driver to drive her back to her hostel. For the whole ten minutes of the journey he aggressively told her how selfish she is for bargaining, she is white with a lot of money and Cambodian people have nothing, good Cambodian people are dying for a better life, doesn't she know? She didn't feel it was a dangerous situation but knew the driver had no intention of hearing her story or the fact she assisted in free reconstructive surgery for Cambodians that day, such was his grief. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of weeks and months will pan out.