Mozzeenet

How silly of me - to write in my diary I was going to Bangkok to surprise Dad. Of course, he read it! Duh!

The weekend was pretty gloomy. Mum was not in a good state when I arrived on Friday. She had been discharged from hospital that day and was in a lot of pain after the trip home.

After she went to bed on Friday, she had an allergic reaction to one of the medications - it made her legs and body shake so that was pretty scary. We rang the hospital and they said it was a side-effect of the drug.

It took about half an hour to subside. It’s very isolating because Bangkok is huge and Mum lives very far out of the city. She was concerned about how we would get her to hospital.

She didn’t sleep very well. On Saturday, I pretty much stayed at home. Mum couldn’t do anything - even getting to the toilet was painful. The only respite was lying flat on her back. Very disappointing for her.

On Sunday, we took her into the hospital (about an hour drive - painful for Mum). The doctor admitted her again and the diagnosis was that she would have to have the operation. It is a slipped disc and it will have to be removed.

I hope it all goes well. It was awful having to come back last night.

The doctor seems positive about the recovery time though. About 2 days before she will be able to walk again and then just recovering from the surgery. It is lucky Dad was there and will be for 2 months. I don’t think Mum will make it back to PP at the end of the month. Dad might, depending on how she is.

So there’s not much to report from Bangkok except it was strange to be in a big city again. I was struck by the huge billboards, dominating the skyline, advertising anything and everything. It really reminded me how much we are bombarded by advertising in the West.

After being out of it for 3 months, it all looked quite ridiculous and so false.

I was actually quite glad to get back to little old PP.

Work hotting up for a busy few weeks. Excel training starting next week - the staff are enrolling at the moment. Writing the documentation is taking a while - taking a while to explain some of the complex concepts and creating the exercises is proving to be time-consuming.

Tomorrow, a photographer is coming to take a photo of me in action while I’m running a workshop, hired by CECI, our in-country manager for promotional material. He is visiting the other youth ambassadors as well.

I bought 4 new mice today to replace some barely working ones.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Yet another week goes by…tooo fast!

Well we didn’t end up going to Sihanoukville this weekend because we weren’t going to have much time there. We’ll go another weekend.

Still had a good weekend though.

On Saturday, we went to Koh Daich again, the island on the Mekong. On the way, we stopped and ate fresh corn at one of the Khmer places over the river. They’re wooden huts built on stilts, open air with a platform going out to them.

The corn is yummy. While we were there, a big rain storm came through. It was exciting being almost out in it but still under cover - the canvas roll-down sides were flapping and blowing about and we could see the rain out over the river and fields. Very exciting!

There was a police man sitting over oppposite us on a mat with his gun laid out beside him. Only in Phnom Penh.

Once the rain cleared, we headed off to the island and had a relaxing few hours swimming in the river. The road in was very muddy - a bit precarious on the bikes but we made it.

Back in PP, Saturday night - we went to a cheap Indian/Sri Lankan restaurant for dinner. Nice food.

We tried a few places after that, a party then two bars, both almost deserted, quite unusual. Then we found out about a pub crawl that was on that night, going from pub to pub - on cyclos, the bike type vehicles which have a driver cycling and a seat to sit on at the front. There were 80 cyclos involved apparently! A pretty amazing sight in Phnom Penh.

We ended up at the Riverhouse lounge, had good music playing which was a real treat.

Sunday was a lazy day - slept very late then went for a massage (as usual).

In the evening, I had a negative experience - it’s an experience that is very common to Phnom Penh and one which you come to expect as almost inevitable.

My bag was snatched while I was on the back of a moto. I was driving with Hean to practice Kmai. Sonia was on another moto with Jim, another driver.

Suddenly, my bag was snatched at of my hand and I saw a moto with 2 guys on it speeding past. I held onto the bag for a minute but had to let go. It happened in a second.

Hean sped up to chase after them but then slowed down - it was too dangerous to try and not much we could have done.

So, I lost my wallet ($40 US), mobile phone and keys. Very inconvenient.

It gave me a shock and made me start being a bit more careful again. I had become complacent. We’ve been warned heaps about this - happens a lot here. You have to hold your bag right in front of you with the straps tucked away. That’s one of the main reasons we were told to get a helmet - because the thieves can grab the strap when you’ve got it over your shoulder and haul you off the bike.

Anyway, I have bought another mobile phone second hand exactly the same as the other one and it works fine. It was $42 US and I have my house keys back.

I bought a new bag today and a wallet from a gift shop near The Russian Market.

Last night, Sonia and I went to check out an Arabic dancing club at a gym at the Mikasa hotel (very flash). It looks like fun so we might try it next week. Good for a laugh anyway. On the way home, we had a foot massage but my masseuse (? female) was brutal. She did not want to be there and it was really painful the whole way though. Not relaxing at all - more like punishment and torture. I think I will stick to Seeing Hands.

Work has been fairly busy - have been installing Norton Anti-virus on the Centre computers, also preparing materials for the Excel workshop happening in a few weeks.

This weekend, I really am going away - off to Bangkok to see Mum and Dad. It’s a surprise for Dad, should be fun though I have just heard Mum has been in hospital with a pinched nerve in her back. Poor thing - I hope she is feeling better.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia