Sickness and Sihanoukville

So, change of plans. The last time I wrote I was ready to go trekking in the northern wilds of Cambodia in Rattanakiri. Unfortunately, I became a bit ill. I probably panicked just a tiny bit and jumped on a minibus back down to Phnom Penh. Why panic? Well, I had a horrible sore throat and the most unbelievable pain down my left side. I thought I was getting pneumonia.  I was told there was no English speaking doctor in the area nor up further in Rattanakiri. I was so annoyed at myself for going all the way back down again. Anyway, I went to the doctor, got antibiotics for the second time in Cambodia and all is good again. 

The aftermath of my 'health-scare' has been that I decided to forget about the north for the time being. Right now I'm parked up on Otres beach in Sihanoukville updating my fading tan. As per usual the bus journey mysteriously turned into a 5 1/2 journey after being promised it would only take 4. Cambodian bus companies will pick up anyone on the road if they have a spare seat. Scratch that, they'll pick up anyone even without a spare seat and make you sit on tiny plastic chairs in the middle of the aisle. Safety first, you know.

So I booked into a place called 'Footprints'. I arrived and the guy at reception (not Cambodian), clearly having smoked a bit too much weed in his lifetime couldn't find my booking, 'wasn't in the system'. Showed him a screen shot of my confirmation email and TOLD him it was a screenshot, he asks 'I can't see the rest of your email', frantically trying to scroll. So he puts me in an 18 bed dorm and says to wait a minute til he shows me the room. Fine, I'll just get something to eat. He actually laughs at me and says the kitchen is closed between 3-6. Then he tends to other people and their stupid requests for 15 minutes while I'm ready to chew my arm off. When he's finished he asks if he can help me. No joke. I say that I want to go to my room and he looks absolutely mystified. I tell him he just checked me in. He asks me what room and I remind him about the 18 bed dorm. This rings an ever so feint bell in his brain and he takes me there, asking me 'are you enjoying Cambodia so far?' Pretty sure I've been in the country longer than he has by the look of him. Anyway, the room was fine but that guy at reception......grrrr.....

And then, just I make sure I'm at max frustration, the five times I've ordered something here at Otres beach, it's been forgotten and I've had to re-order after a half hour. And each and every single time they give a little giggle and expect me to join in the joke. Maybe I should lighten up but they can all feck off with their stoned heads on them.

But then it's not just the staff that are d*cks. Lying on the beach yesterday a guy next to me calls over a local selling sunglasses, asks him how much the 'Ray-bans' are, not even waiting for an answer he laughs in the locals face and says 'oh just joking, I have originals'. I was so mad and I'm kicking myself for not saying something. That guys original pair of Ray-bans probably cost more than a months income to that local. Does he really think that local wants to be out selling crappy, fake sunglasses to idiot foreigners in the blistering heat? Pretty sure he's doing it to make ends meet. Come on, don't be a dick. In my own way I tried to make up for that fool (as usual I take things nothing to do with me really personally) I bought a pedicure and a massage from the next local to approach me on the beach. I didn't even bother to negotiate and it cost me a whole 7$ for an hour and a half of her time. We chatted the whole way through and learned she's studying at night school in the town and spends her days working on the beach to earn a living. I looked over to my 'companion' to see if he caught on but he was too busy negotiating a 4$ hair removal on his toes down to 2$. I know it's a bit annoying to be harassed at each and every turn because we are tourists and seen to have a bit more money but if you took a minute to talk to people you'd understand why. Anyway, it's great to be perfect. 

It probably sounds like I've had a terrible time here at the beach but that's not the case. Those are just the stories that stick out in my mind. I've had 4 days of relaxing in the sun and catching up on some reading. I'm now staying in a fabulous little dorm room, shaped like a giant mushroom (it's amazing what amuses me sometimes) and my bed is a huge circular mattress on the ground encased a big net. Love it. I managed to hang out with some other fellow travellers and even had my fortune told while sunning myself, I can't help myself, I'm a sucker for those types of things. He told me some interesting bits and pieces, most of it fairly standard but that I might not be good at writing right now but I'll write something worth reading when I'm 35. Great, looking forward to that. 

My plan for after the beach? Well I'm here in Kampot with two fellow volunteers, about 2 hours from the beach and I've booked a two day trip to an elephant rescue centre back up in the north of Cambodia towards the end of my stay in the country. 

I just realized I've 'only' five more weeks left in my Asian adventure....where did the time go?! 

Cracked about Kratie

Ok, so I've met a few obnoxious travellers the last few days...asking me with their condescending snorts 'Three days in Kratie? Eh, why? We just spent 12 hours on a bus here from Laos and we are out of here first thing in the morning to Phnom Penh - where there's some life.' Yup, two solid days on a bus sounds like a great plan, good luck with that. 

I don't know what their problem was because Kratie to me is an absolute no-brainer. I extended my stay by an extra night I loved it so much. Okay, I didn't get off to the best of starts with the bus journey, it took 9 1/2 hours instead of 6. The bus seats weren't even bolted to the floor but we got there in the end. An unexpected highlight of the journey was stopping at a roadside restaurant and realising the locals were buying and eating big, hairy TARANTULAS. I was tempted but I didn't indulge. Sorry to say the below isn't my own picture but I wanted to 'play things cool' being the only non-Cambodian on the bus and all, didn't want them laughing at the funny 'barang' (foreigner) who doesn't like snacking on big, hairy spider legs. 

When I got to Kratie I was fit for nothing. I managed to catch up on a bit of reading and went to bed at 9 like the party animal I am. The next morning I got up and queued for the ferry across to Koh Trong. I sat in the boat for 45 mins, watching the local 'strong men' carry anything and everything up and down the steps to the boat for a couple of riel. Then off we went. But not before changing seats having realized the boats dirty, diesel engine was pouring toxic fumes into my lungs. No one else seemed to mind so much. We got to the island, walked the 1km over the sand bank to the local tourist office to rent a bike for the day. The office was packed full of children practicing traditional dancing, it must have been a lunch-break or something but was nice to watch. Then I got cycling. 9km circuit round the island. There's lots to do here but I just went off by myself. I actually went off the road. No joke, I found myself negotiating marshy meadows with cows staring at me. But I found the track and on I went. The highlights of the island are the following:

•     Possible home-stay with local families.
•     Rice planting
•     Reforestation projects
•     Floating Vietnamese village
•     And then the island itself is just unbelievably beautiful to spend a few hours there. 

I ended the evening with a quick cycle around the town. I managed to get stuck in mud so thick it looked like my sandals were platform shoes and my bike wheels were all jammed. A local couple stopped to help me fix my bike. When they were finished I tried to offer them some money (in fairness I could see the ramshackle house they were living in) but they refused and were embarrassed. I must have looked like such a western d*ckhead. 

My third day in Kratie, I booked a days tour with Sithy, a local the same age as me, who gives tours around the less-explored West Bank of Kratie where he grew up. Sithy is basically everything I want to be; young with a beautiful family, has his own business and bags of potential to grow it. He basically wants to grow from doing small basic tours of the village and surrounding ares into more adventure-type tours, focused more on the experience. He can totally do it. He has a nod from the Lonely Planet, glowing TripAdvisor reviews and a popular Facebook page. I learned more from Sithy in a couple of hours than I could have had from any book. He told me all about ancient Khmer society, the background to the Khmer Rouge and the years following, how Buddhism and Hinduism intertwine and all about how local people make a living. He even went out of his way to show me a local beauty spot where children and the rare Irrawaddy dolphins were splashing around within metres of each other. If you find yourself in Kratie make sure and look Sithy up at www.cambodianpridetours.com 

Sithy showing me a local farming family harvesting crops. 

House for drying tobacco leaves.

Local women making noodles from rice-flour.

So you see my dear, condescending, rat haired, hippie-pants wearing, travelling friends, 3 days in Kratie was very much needed and I think I'll stop here again on my way back down from Ratanakiri next week but we'll see about that in a few days. 

Right now, I'm taking it easy in anticipation of my early bus tomorrow morning and drinking lots of tea since I seem to be slowly but surely losing my voice. 

Volunteering Done and Dusted.

The last week has been a week of celebration, that is one thing for sure. We've had Chinese New Year being celebrated across Cambodia, it was my birthday during the week (I admit I'm a big fan of my own birthday) and then also just celebrating the end of what's been an absolute highlight of my life; volunteering at SCAO for the last two months. 

So what exactly have we done? What haven't we done?! The week started off heavy in my heart, knowing you are leaving behind some of the most wonderful children in the world is a daunting thing. Having Chinese New Year this week meant we had Thursday and Friday free from lessons which actually left me finishing up earlier than I had expected. I had to tell the children on Tuesday that my last day was on Wednesday and I was dreading it. But the funny thing is, the feckers weren't sad at all but were so excited about getting a new teacher. Maybe this speaks volumes about their true feelings for me, but it helped lift the sadness I was feeling knowing the kids are happy and that the new volunteers are just as eager as I am to continue with their progress and that's all that matters. SCAO and SCOOP are really doing a great job in Cambodia. 

Wednesday morning myself and the bold Sophie went with the man of the house, Sovanred, to the market. I really have to admire him. He gets up at 6 every morning to cycle 5 kilometers to the market to pick up food him and his wife will cook for the volunteers. It took us 45 minutes to get there in total. Sophie asked Sovanred if he can do it in less time, he said 'Yes, I can do it twenty' - but he was going slowly for us. Sweet. The market is a very interesting place at 7 in the morning. Firstly, it's crawling with people. At one point I couldn't move but a moto was trying to drive into me. Secondly, it's full of fantasticly weird and wonderful food you won't see at home. There's snake meat, pigs heads, leeches, insects and lots more. It was a bit overwhelming to be honest but amazing to be among Khmer people in such a central part of their lives, cliche as that sounds. 

The below pic is of snake meat. Couldn't confirm if it was from one snake...

The other big thing we did this week was join our student monks on a day trip. We had organized to meet them in Phnom Penh at 10 in the morning. They didn't make an appearance till 12, Cambodian style of course. They wouldn't tell us what their plan was but about 1 or so they hired two tuktuks to take us 40km out the other side of Phnom Penh to a national Buddhist centre. It was amazing. Set among the most beautiful farmland were some incredible Pagodas and woods. We were so busy taking pictures here, there and everywhere that one of the other girls playfully slapped a monk on the arm. She felt so bad, being a woman you aren't allowed to touch a monk. He had to reach into the lake to wash himself 'clean' again. We stayed a little bit too long in the Buddhist centre because at around 4 we felt we needed to leave to get back to the village. This didn't go down too well with our monks. They had planned to take us to their 'home' Pagoda which was close by. In the end we went with them and I'm glad we did because we got to see another side to their life. We saw where they entered the 'monk' life and how they acted with their leader, not to mention the fact they fed us some yummy mangos from their mango tree. We left at around 5.30 and a few of the girls cried knowing just how much effort they had put into the day and that we wouldn't see them again. Absolute sweethearts. 

Other stuff we got up to:

-  slept on the roof of the school. Woke up at 5 freezing. Now understand more easily how people are dying of exposure in the village. 

- our resident two year old hid the moto key of a volunteer in the water pump. 

- Sophie went with one of Khmer teachers to his rice fields. I couldn't go as I was far too busy being sick. 

- watched Lethal Weapon Tuesday night. Watched Bad Grandpa Wednesday night.

- a Dutch lady came to volunteer at the school. I finally got to practice some Dutch. 

- my birthday was Thursday. One of the German volunteers made some typical German food and we had a drink on the roof to celebrate. A birthday I am sure to never forget. 

And then team bonding with the other volunteers just got way out of hand. I did think that I'd settle and have a laugh with the others in the school but nothing could have prepared me for just how close we all became. Every meal was a laugh a minute and we ended up spending close to every evening in the village huddled together in the downstairs classroom, preparing our lessons, watching movies or just talking while swatting thousands of Mosquitos off us. We were all very much open and honest with each other (or tried to be) and managed to laugh when times got tense even when the boys evaded some essential bathroom cleaning.

So, here's to the other volunteers at SCAO School 2, Emilly, Cecile, Nik, Vikram, Khai, Soph, and most importantly the bold Anne-Sophie, because without you guys it just wouldn't have been the same. 

So what's next on the cards? I've got a couple weeks free now until my friend, Katie Finn, arrives for some Indonesian fun. For now I'm going to wind down in Cambodia and see some more of this beautiful country I've fallen head over heels in love with.

Till then, 

Weekend Beach Breather in Kep.

After a long week teaching myself and the bold Sophie left the village Friday evening and hitched a lift into Phnom Penh, ready to catch a bus the next morning to Kep for some beach action. Now, hitchhiking is something I wouldn't ever dare to do back in Europe but yeah, hitchhiking in Cambodia? Oh yeah, that's fine. We actually managed to hitch a ride with some American-Cambodians who told us about their dramatic escape from the country in 1975 away from the Khmer Rouge. The husband lost his entire family and the wife had lost brothers and sisters. The wife was particularly chatty, told us she'd met up with an old friend a few days before, she hadn't seen him since 1969. She whipped out a pack of photos to show us. Guess who her friend was? Only the King of Cambodia. Turned out they were playmates back in the day. Always an adventure travelling around Cambodia. 

After our royal hitchhike, Friday night in Phnom Penh can be summed up in the following way: it was 10PM, then it was 1AM and then it was suddenly 6AM. Queue our mad dash back to the guesthouse to grab a bag before getting the bus at 7AM.

So where were we dashing off to? We were off to Kep, the original seaside resort in Cambodia. Myself and Sophie thought it would be nice to take a few days in a quiet place in the sun. That's exactly what we got. Our first day, as you can imagine when losing a nights sleep, we napped up a storm on Kep beach with a few dips in the sea in between dreams. We had read that the beach was rocky but a French lady informed us that they've been bringing up sand from Sihanoukville for a while now. We actually saw them unload the trucks the next day. 

Sunday we ventured over to Rabbit Island, a 25 minute boat ride from the main land. There isn't much to say really, it's a gorgeous island with some lovely views but I wouldn't spend longer than a day there. We got back from the island at around 4.30 and met a Dutch friend of mine at the bus stop. Her bus had taken two hours longer than expected and she wasn't able to make it over to the island to meet us. Not to worry, we took the loop road by the sea all the way up to the crab market and had a few drinks, snacks and crab dinners to finish the day off. Since Kep pretty much closes down at 11 every night we decided to walk back to our guesthouse which was actually pretty stupid because the street was unlit and it was a 2KM walk. The girls were worried about dogs biting them which, in fairness, is a genuine worry. I was far more concerned about getting robbed. Which is why I picked up a sturdy looking stick, Rambo style, for the walk home. In the end we were fine. 

Next morning we were up bright and early and set off for a small trek in Kep National Park. It's an 8KM circle up some 'mountains'. I didn't make it explicit to the girls but some of the reviews said that snakes and tarantulas had been spotted there. I can't say if I was relieved or disappointed but we didn't see either. I even had my trusty stick with me. The walk was fantastic, some great views over Kep and even Kampot and the whole bay. We didn't make it the whole way round as we went off-road when we saw a sign pointing to 'Jasmine Valley'. About 190m along a dirt track we found the most amazing resort. It's really built into the landscape and if you didn't follow the sign we saw you'd have no idea it was there. We had a coconut drink and let their resident nibbly-fish give us a pedicure. Then, before we sat ourselves back on the bus to Phnom Penh we took a dip in the sea and had the most amazing tuna sandwich. So amazing I'm mentioning it here. 

And that's that. We got back to Phnom Penh at around 7 to our usual guesthouse with a sweet sounding 'oh, it's you' - which we feel we probably earned because of our mad dash from the night club to the bus the previous Saturday morning. Right now, we are back in the school already knee deep in teaching. I'm a bit sad to say that next week is already my last week here. I'm putting together a few thoughts on the direction my classes should take in the coming weeks. It all just went so fast...

P.S. Still no water in the village.  

Water problems.

I can tell you upfront that the theme of this post is going to be water. Or rather, lack of it. I mentioned before that our water was cut off in the school. One of the former volunteers said it happened once last year for two or three days. It's been a week since we were cut off, that's a whole different kettle of fish and brings about a range of problems that we are solving both creatively and strategically. 

Water Problem Number One: Drinking Water.

We have a filter up on the wall in the kitchen where we get our drinking water from. Only now there's no water going into the filter. Not such a big deal as there is bottled water available in the village, we can buy 20 liters for 75c and I'm pretty sure we are still being charged more than the normal villager. Such is the way here. 

Water Problem Number 2: Personal Hygiene.

Gone are the days we wastefully took a shower each and every morning. 7 volunteers, 5 of them girls, that's a lot of water. But we've been creative and managed to clean ourselves in a number of different ways. 

1 - baby wipes. OR as my mother likes to say, 'taking a whores bath'. I've no idea where she got that from.

2 - cleaning up at the neighbors with their stored rainwater, scooping water over ourselves from a bucket in an outhouse. One of the women was joking I owed her 25c for using the shower....we laughed. 

3 - being an arrogant westerner and using bottled water for a bath. Even more arrogant is boiling the water for a warm bath. Bath in this case meaning laundry bowl.

4 - getting water from one random pipe in the village that still has some. This morning I went and filled 8 empty water bottles. I had no idea how to remove the pipe but a few of the village women pulled it apart and filled my bottles for me. I didn't let them, they forced me out of the way. My dad would be ashamed of me, him being a plumber and all. I then took a tiny bath in my favourite laundry bowl again. 

4 - on my way back with my newly filled water bottles I met Cecile who was on her way out to take a shower in one of the Khmer teachers houses. She met his whole family pre-shower.

5 - we haven't yet, but I won't rule it out either, heading out to the small lake to wash up. The locals go out with some shampoo and a sarong and they just go for it. 

6 - going to the city to shower. I'm ashamed to say it but I jumped at the chance to go to Phnom Penh last Saturday just because I knew I could take a shower with an actual shower. I was dirty by the time I got back to the village but it was glorious while it lasted. 

7 - and then finally, embracing our natural odors and trying not to sweat too much which eventually brings us back to baby wipes at option number 1 above. Yum. 

Water Problem Number 3: Toilet Flushing. 

I won't go into too much details here. No water means no toilet flushing. And since we have to drag buckets of water from out in the village to the school we have made some strategic decisions regarding flushing. I'll leave it open to your imagination. 

Water Problem Number 4: Cooking and Cleaning.

Basically the school is getting its day-to-day supply for cooking and cleaning from the random pipe in the village which the school caretaker gets every morning by filling up loads of buckets. We help him out when we can. It's possible we will have to do a good intestinal, parasite clean out in a couple of weeks but since all the water is boiled we don't see a problem with it. There has been a couple of instances however when the day-to-day day was mixed up with the drinking water. Put this with our toilet flushing problem above and we could be in for a seriously rough ride. 

This is all well and good for us. This is a completely new experience and no matter how inconvenient it is we know it's temporary and we will all go home to our tiled bathrooms and over heated showers at some point in the future. For the villagers it's another story. The water has been cut because of construction out on the national road. No warning and no indication of when it comes back. Myself and Sophie were playing with some children the other evening when I spotted infected wounds on a little girls hands. Sophie being a nurse, she cleaned and dressed them. Turns out the little girl has scabies and an aggressive fungal infection. We spoke with her mother who said the whole family has the same problem. Sophie told them the best way to get rid of them is to get a lotion from the pharmacy, wash thoroughly every day and wash all bedding, towels, clothing, etc. Can you imagine what a task that is for a family of 9, never-mind not having a washing machine but not even having a reliable supply of water? It's ridiculous, they are almost doomed to suffer from treatable and unnecessary infections until the water comes back. 

Non Water Related Items for this week:

- Pretty sure one of our preschoolers has a serious learning difficulty. it's a daily struggle to get him to concentrate and he can become distressed very easily. 

- I've been showing our resident 2 year old Barney episodes on YouTube. Much to some resentment, he loves it. 

- We got a tour of the local Buddhist temple by our student monks. Some important Cambodian government minister was there too. He wished us a happy new year. 

- The schools wifi hates iPad minis. #westernproblems. 

And that's it for this week. Only another two teaching weeks and my volunteering stint will be over. Time is flying much too quickly. 

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. 

Holiday week in Northwest Cambodia

I've had a fantastic week since our Christmas shindig last week. I've been up to Battambang and Siem Reap but I'm not going to talk too much about it. I think it comes across as very shallow and disrespectful considering what's happening in Cambodia at the moment. It's true I had an amazing week but it hardly matters that much that I've had the time of my life while the Cambodian people are struggling for a little piece of fairness. On Friday I saw the headlines splashed across the news; five people were shot dead by heavily armed paratroopers outside a garment factory while protesting for a wage increase. The police opened fire on the crowd because 'they had no choice'. I knew there were protests planned by the opposing party for the week and we were told to take care as we headed off for the school holidays over New Years. You know how much money a garment factory worker gets a month? Between 60 to 80 USD A MONTH. Yes, it's cheap to live here but it's not that cheap. I got talking to one man who said he is afraid of what will happen next. He thinks the country will go back to its horrible ways and people will (are) be killed for stupid reasons. He said the people hold the pain in their hearts. They can't speak their pain freely and hold it all in their hearts. At this point he became too emotional and walked away. He was crying. It's a bit cliche but we don't know how lucky we are. We totally take for granted our human rights of fair pay and free speech each and every minute. In the last day alone I saw three girls I know in Ireland post pictures of their new Michael Kors watch or Victoria Secret swimsuit. It's not their fault they can have nice things but it's just heartbreaking to know good people are dying here for a little piece of the kind of life we have in Europe. I don't know what's next for Cambodia. I read that the governing party has banned the opposition from protesting until they can guarantee public safety. Hard to swallow when you see pictures of peaceful monks and ordinary people being beaten by police and army. I don't know how human beings can be so cruel to each other. It's heartbreaking. But let's see how things progress over the coming weeks. 

SIEM REAP HIGHLIGHTS

- a tourist resort town if nothing else, it even has a street called 'pub street' that wouldn't be amiss in Magaluf. 

- bought three day pass for Angkor, went every day. 

- Day two I cycled 30km round the Angkor sites. Was tough and I got saddle arse from it. 

- last day I visited the 'big three', Angkor Wat (the big one) the Bayon (the faces) and Ta Phrom (the trees). 

- got the chance to meet up with some long lost colleagues and friends and eat myself sick in a few amazing restaurants. So nice to see friendly faces from 'my other life'.

- caught bed bugs from the hostel, am currently boiling all my clothes. 

BATTAMBANG HIGHLIGHTS

In short: hipster cafés, temple spotting, acrobatics watching, Bamboo train riding and moped driving. This is also where we rang in the new year, already 6 days ago. I really felt at home there. We also met a man who was returning to Cambodia for the first time since he was 4. His parents fled in 1979 under the Khmer Rouge. He was with his mother and they both had such optimism for the country, it warmed us. But I would also like to be able to ask them now how they feel after the unrest on Friday. 

The below is of Wat Banan outside of Battambang. Old Angkor ruins. 

The pic below is of non other than Mr. Battambang. Legend has it he had a magic stick that controlled all his enemies. I believe it. 

Deep gorge down to Hindu statues outside Battambang. 

PHARE CIRCUS 

Born from a former physical education course for kids originally from the Khmer refugee camps in Thailand. We saw trained acrobats perform for an hour. The best 10$ I spent all week. Two former students have even been accepted into Cirque de Soleil. 

BAMBOO TRAIN

Controversial. Some love it, some hate it. We loved it. A bit scary at times travelling on a bamboo mat with wheels at speeds upwards of 35km per hour. Also the tracks were anything but parallel. Only one track? No problem! Just pick the train up and let the other pass. Simple. We gave 2$ to the best businessman in town. At seven years old we were bamboozled. He took us on a tour of his village, showed us the little factory, the fish farm, his aunts house, his uncles house, his school and his sisters shop (in case we needed a cold drink/t-shirt/bracelet.) Then we climbed back aboard and we zoomed down the tracks again. Oh, but not before we were told to tip the poor driver. No idea what the 5$ ticket fee was for. 

Right now I'm back at the school. I realize this post probably reads a bit all over the place but then I'm also all over the place, both elated after an amazing week and heartbroken for the people I'm getting to know. I'm really hoping for the best for the people of Cambodia, they deserve it. 

Christmas in Cambodia

There is only one day of the whole year where I can accurately say I've been in the same place, with the same people and eaten the same dinner for the last 26 years. That changed this year. Instead of sitting down to a massive turkey and ham dinner on the 25th December and having an argument about what to watch on TV, I had some Khmer food in a tiny Cambodian village and ended the evening drinking beer and rice wine on the roof of our school. I was a bit sad to be away from my family but it will be a Christmas week I'll remember forever even though we worked on Christmas Day. Actually at my most homesick this week, a little girl from my beginner class gave me a present of chocs. It made my heart melt because she said she was sad I wasn't getting any presents from my family this year. Children are so thoughtful sometimes. Below is a pic of her gift to me...after I ate the snacks....

As part of our school year here at SCAO we threw a Christmas Celebration for the students just to treat them and have a bit of fun. The party started at 11.30 on Friday morning and went on until 6.30 the same evening. I have to give ourselves a good pat on the back; it was epic. We had a good schedule of events starting off with the obligatory speeches, giving out some food and snacks, dancing, games, more dancing, a singing competition and then even more dancing. I have no idea where the kids got their energy from. They danced from almost noon to 6.30 and we had to shut the music off, they didn't want to go home. But the best part of the day for the whole school was the singing competition. You couldn't pay an Irish child to get up in front of their whole school to sing a song but these kids signed up with such enthusiasm it made me dizzy. We told them a week in advance about the competition and they had to sign up with their names and a particular song. We then divided them into four different categories, X-Factor style of course, 7-11, 11-14, 14+ and duets and they sang their hearts out. Us as volunteers were given different categories to judge. I had the 11-14 group, much to my relief because the 7-11 group had about 10 different versions of BINGO and Twinkle-Twinkle to go through. It was amazing and the whole contest lasted at least 2 1/2 hours. We also had a little Xmas present for them, we gave each student toothbrushes and toothpaste. And then apart from that we just went crazy dancing. At one point I saw two of our tiny pre school students doing all the actions to the 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' song. I couldn't believe it because they wouldn't do it for us in class. Little feckers. All in all an absolutely fantastic day for everyone. 

The pic below is of the preschoolers before we opened the gates for the Xmas party. Too cute. 

The day before the Christmas celebration we were scheduled to give our students an exam. I had two classes to make tests for and even though it cost me an extra two hours in prep work I made two versions of my exams. I'm such an asshole. I made them appear to look the same but slightly different. I did it to see the panic in their eyes when they couldn't copy from their neighbor. It was brilliant. Overall they went well but there were some surprising observations. There are two girls in my class, one extremely chatty and one quiet. The chatty one I expected to pass with flying colors but her grammar was awful. The quiet one I thought had a pretty low level of English but her grammar exam was graded at 100%. Just goes to show that there isn't one way to gauge intelligence of a language. I will be rethinking my approach for the next round of exams in January..

Other notable items from this week:

- Myself and Sophie went to the next village over to see the Buddhist centre of Cambodia. We ate street food we should have died from. Was a good day. 

- We had an origami class from the monks. Took an hour and a half for me to learn to make a swan. 

- A preschooler peed on the Buddhist altar in the school. 

- Another preschooler peed on the floor. A volunteer walked in it. 

- Our resident 2 year old peed on the bathroom floor. His dad walked in it. 

- We ate another volunteers chocolate that was sent over from his grandad. In fairness, he left it in the fridge with no note on it. 

- I spent an hour hand washing clothes only for them to stink of the local water. Couldn't wear any of them. 

Right now I'm having a really nice coffee in Battambang in the north west of Cambodia. I've a week off due to New Years and myself and another volunteer headed out of the village for a couple days but this will have to written about in a couple of days. But safe to say I'm loving this city a whole lot more than Phnom Penh. 

By the way, rice wine is evil and pretty sure it would be more at home in the tank of motorbike than in a human body. Never again.