Mozzeenet

Good week so far - a bit of socialising, work very quiet before the onslaught of 3 days of workshops I’m holding next week on Computer Skills and Maintenance - pretty much all prepared, instructions, exercises etc. Will be using 2 computers - class number is 4 people at a time.

Tuesday night, we had Mark’s 30th birthday bash. Mark is the sole male member of our youth ambassador contingent, hailing from South Australia.

Nice guy - he recently got engaged to his girlfriend who is in Vietnam on the same program! He went over to Hanoi and proposed. They’ve been together a while.

We went for Indian for dinner - rather upmarket, good food, pricey though - then to this bar called The Factory on one of the “western” streets, Street 240. It was a good atmosphere, had a cocktail. Probably didn’t need it and felt it the next day. But I was just trying to relive my days in Kuletos, Newtown with half price cocktails - I had a Caprinia which I’d sampled last year in Kuletos - sadly, it wasn’t up to scratch.

We played a game of pool - Ana and I fluked a win when the competitors sunk the black. Before that we were in dire straits, both being very un-sporty types (if you can call it a sport).

Wednesday night was language night and we finished learning how to write the 33 consonants (haven’t started on the vowels yet!) It is tough - trying to learn them as we have a test on them on Monday - gaa, kaa, georr, keorr, ngeorr - that’s the first four sounds).

The rainy season is definitely set in. It usually rains every afternoon. Yesterday it was absolutely torrential when I was leaving work. I walked out and right back in again. My poor driver was waiting out there but I didn’t realise.

Anyway, when I thought it had settled down a bit, I ventured out. It was just a temporary lull. I was going to Street 63 to get a massage and the roads were flooded, kids were swimming in the flood water, people wheeling bikes, drenched to the skin. They wear these big capes. I had a raincoat at least but my trousers legs were sopping. Thy (moto driver) did not have any water protection. The bike was going through knee deep water. Incredible.

Had my massage - it was fantastic then met Ana for dinner and a drink up at Tom Irish pub on the same street. The moto couldn’t go back up the street though because of flooding so we had to do a big detour to get there. Ana and I indulged in burgers and beer for dinner.

After that, I met up with Hean and we went for a drink at a Kmai bar - consists of huge room with wooden tables and chairs by the river. Great view.

There was the crooning sounds of karaoke, a mixture of modern Khmer, Traditional Khmer and Western 60s style singing. Hmmmm. The band hotted up and the place began to fill up around 9pm - apparently it’s busy every night. Lots of people were dancing by the end - it alternated between western dancing and Khmer-style which involves a lot of stepping forwards and backwards and arm and hand maneuvres. It looks nice but everyone does the same movement the whole time - it’s the communal culture of course.

Was still raining heavily outside but pretty much stopped by home time.

The only detracting factor was the number of prostitutes, nothing out of the ordinary here - I haven’t seen it much though because I haven’t been to many clubs or night spots, tend to hang out at the more western pubs.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Brilliant weekend!! On Saturday morning, Sonia, Ana, Mark (another youth ambassador), Hean and I headed off down the coast to Kep in Kampot province.

It was superb - a tiny beachside town with lush green forest and hills up to the water and a lovely beach where we swam for a few hours. Very deserted, barely anyone around.

It was so relaxing and the lower temp was so nice as a break from the stifling humidity of PP.

We stayed in this fantastic guest house - we were the only ones staying there. It is very French-influenced down there - the house had a great garden with frangipani trees, hence the name Champey Guesthouse (Champey = frangipani in Francais I believe). The rooms were great with beds and square mosqito nets with cane type fittings. Very open and peaceful.

On Saturday morning, we caught a taxi from PP which took about 3 hours to get to Kampot town. We had lunch there, also a nice French-inspired town with old villas by the water, fairly run down.

From Kampot, we caught motos for about 40 minutes over to Kep.

After our swim, we ordered seafood by the beach and ate it on a mat, fresh squid, prawns and fish. There was a beautiful breeze - such a novelty!

We had a beer up at the cafe by the beach when it started to rain then headed back to the guesthouse as we knew the electricity was going to go off sometime soon! We sat down and talked for a while before heading off to bed, slept fantastically except for a few interruptions - from howling dogs and a baby crying. Such is life in Cambodia!

We arranged for the moto drivers to pick us up at 8am in the morning because we initially thought we would take them up Bokor Mountain which is a national park nearby. After talking about it, we decided we would get a car because we had heard the road was very bumpy.

So, we made our way to Kampot on the motos again - enjoying the lush green scenery, many big and fat pigs running around free, cows and wooden houses built near the road. We saw sugar cane and corn plants as well as cashew trees.

At Kampot, we had breakfast and after a lot of negotiations with the businessmen of the town ie the moto drivers, we decided to take a taxi up Bokor and the driver would then take us back to PP.

So we headed off and it was a good ride up there. The car was actually quite suited to the trip as it had high wheels. A pretty bumpy, rocky road up - lush jungle on either side - the national park is home to tigers, leopards, bears, birds and many plant species - it is also prey to loggers and poachers but conservation groups are working hard to stop that kind of activity.

At the top of the mountain, there is a deserted town like a ghost town - the buildings are made of stone and covered in orange moss. We explored the old French casino which is also abandoned. It is possible to imagine it in its hey day with huge balconies and recpetion areas. Very grand and elite. The view down to the coast was magnificent.

We looked around at some of the other buildings and checked out the remote guest house where you can stay - very basic, only cooking facilities, bring your own food. It’s a fantastic place to get away from it all.

Finally, we went to see some waterfalls nearby. we climbed down the path to the bottom level and took a very refreshing shower under the falls! Very cold - to be cold is currently an unheard of phenomenon for us! We had a lot of fun.

Then for a very long drive back to PP - about another 3 hours - seemed to take ages. We were all pretty exhausted, lots of napping in the car and the odd toilet stop by the side of the road.

Feeling quite tired today but that nice relaxed tired feelings with my batteries recharged.

In other exciting news - Sonia is getting a cat today from someone leaving Cambodia! It’s a cute little black and white cat which I saw at a party on Friday night. Fun! Her name is Tooley - funny, Peter and Morag’s cat is called Tilly!

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Acknowledgements: Photos courtesy of the fabulous Sonia

Mum left on Monday afternoon - it was good to see her over the weekend.

On Monday morning, we went to visit Wat Than and bought some kromas (traditional Khmer checked scarves) at the handicraft shop - the handicrafts are made by disabled people who are taught these skills so they can make a living.

Mum also dropped her CV into the International School here in case there are any positions coming up after she finishes her contract in Thailand in July. Her and Dad are coming over here late June/early July for 2 weeks so should be fun. We’ve planned to go to Siem Reap for about a week where Angkok Wat and the other temples are located.

Yesterday, I did my first training session on virus protection. It was a 1 hour presentation and went well. One of my colleagues translated as I went and it seemed to make sense to the people attending. I did another one today and the last one is tomorrow.

I spoke about what viruses are, how they’re spread, how to prevent them and how to clean up after them. Had a few diagrams stuck up on the wall and did a demo of formatting a floppy disk. It fitted exactly into the time which was good - I thought I might not have enough to say. They had some questions too which was good.

This weekend, we’re off to a beach called Kep down south - has great seafood and near a national park. Should be nice.

Tonnight, we’re going to pick up our clothes from the tailor. I’m a bit dubious about the red silk skirt - don’t know if it is really me - we shall see.

Well signing off here as I am really supposed to be researching stuff for the Women’s Media Centre.

Toodle-oo

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia