Mozzeenet

Dialling in from Siem Reap this morning.

Has been a great few days with Mum and Dad in Phnom Penh and we flew out this morning for our visit to Angkor Wat.

We ate lots of nice food over the last five days and had a look around town. We went a few kilometres down south on Sunday so they could experience a bit more of a rural setting.

Saw lots of typical Cambodian sights - huge loads on the back of motos, lots of dust, houses built over the water, more dust, road-side stalls and local transportation.

They came into work on Monday afternoon to have a look and went to the museum about the Pol Pot era in the morning. I was still working on Monday and Tuesday.

On Sunday evening, we walked into the river which is always interesting and we really enjoyed seeing the sunset from Wagon Wheels restaurant which we only discovered recently.

On Sat morning, Dad and I went one of the markets and bought some fruit and veges. It was interesting. Then they came to my house for lunch.

We flew the Cambodian airline, President Airways this morning to Siem Reap - at our own peril, I’m sure. I’m sure the accent of the European hostess was Russian. I wonder if she was poached from Aeroflot!

Had to get up at 5:00am to get the flight but in reality, I woke at 3:30am so feeling rather tired now.

Had an excellent view of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap Lake which are huge as well as the land which is very flat and a patchwork of rice fields covered in water.

We were picked up at the airport - we’re staying at Yaklom Angkor Lodge which has cute bungalows and lots of greenery. It is relaxing.

Mum and I walked down to the town area this morning, along the river. It is hot - I think it is more humid than PP here.

The town is very green and quite tranquil except for the moto and tuk tuk drivers - they are more aggressive than PP I have heard and everything is more expensive. A lot of tourists only come to Siem Reap.

We’re sussing out the best way to get around to Angkor Wat and the other temples. They are out of town and cover a huge area.

Mum can’t catch motos at the moment due to her back operation so we are looking into a car and guide. It is expensive. We’ll get a 3-day pass to the temples which is $40 US.

It’s good to have a few days off work. I finished the last PowerPoint workshop on Tuesday so it is a nice time to have a break.

Oh, and last but not least - we have got fleas in our house, kindly passed on from Tooley, the cat. Thanks Cat!

Next entry coming soon: Temple Tales! Should be good.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Not too much of an eventful week.

I started holding the PowerPoint workshops this week. The first one was a bit rough - hard to know what it will be like before hand. I revised some of the content and documentation yesterday and today’s one went heaps better.

There’s another one tomorrow and one next Tuesday.

The staff enjoyed the animation and adding shapes etc to the slides. It’s a lot more fun than Excel!

Had a relatively quiet weekend but that was really good - I felt well rested after that. We went for a drink on Friday night and ended staying put because it bucketed down for a few hours. It was a bit of wet ride home but it had eased a little bit.

Last week, I was heading home after a massage and I could see a storm was brewing. None of the motos stopped - everyone must have been racing home. I decided to get a cyclo - a bit unwise. We were crawling along Monivong and I could see the clouds ahead and I was willing the cyclo to get to my house before it broke. No such luck - the tprrential rain started at the traffic lights. Lucky there is a shell service station there so I hopped out and like about another 100 people, took refuge under cover there.

I thought it would be over quickly but it went on for ages until I finally decided to brave it as I was only 2 mins from home. I had my raincoat luckily but waded through ankle deep water on our street to get to the gate. This month is the real start of the wet season so what has gone before was mild!

Bought a couple of pairs of shoes on the weekend - not happy with them except one pair which is the same as some I had before. The others hurt my feet. I had slip-ons (same as what I had before) re-sewn as soon as I bought them so I didn’t have to come back when they broke in a few days. I also bought a pair of fake Birkenstocks!

Mum and Dad arrive tomorrow. Excited about it - they’re staying in a hotel near where I live. I’m going to take Dad to the market early on Saturday morning and thought we could go for dinner near the river tomorrow night.

We go to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and the other temples next Wednesday.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia

Very busy weekend - was out Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There was a party at FCC on Fri so we went along and met up with Natalie who works in Kompong Thom and Emma. They had a band, lots of expatriates floating around.

Saturday was a good day. Sonia was keen to learn to ride a motor-bike so we hired two dirt bikes and Hean and Jim drove us over to Koh Daich.

They are much bigger and louder which I found a bit scary - it took me until the end of the day to get used to it. Apparently it is more secure on them than the small bikes though.

We had afternoon tea at Sonia’s friends place who she works with and his family who were very nice. Sonia had made pancakes for them and they had fruit.

Then we did the motorbike practice, well not me - I steered well clear. Sonia began to learn - she picked it up quickly.

We did a quick tour across the island - there are some tracks through the fields then went and had a quick dip in the river. It was flowing very quickly with the rain from the wet season.

On Sat night, I went out to dinner with Sonia and some of her Khmer friends. We went to one of the big restaurants over the river, Boeung Meas or Golden Lake.

I can describe it as a more up-market corn place - it has little huts where we sat to eat dinner all joined by a wide. We ate shells (well whatever was inside them), vegetables and steamed fish. Then we went to a Khmer club called Princess Kis. I didn’t find it too interesting - very dark and loud so we couldn’t talk. There was dancing which was fun.

Headed home relatively early before midnight. The next day I was pretty tired so I rested up and went to look at some hotels for Mum and Dad as they’re coming next week. I found a good one nearby, peaceful and relaxed atmosphere but not too expensive.

Hadn’t planned to go out on Sunday night but ended up going out to the Tonle Sap club with Hean - some of his friends were there. I was a bit tired though really enjoy it.

Monday I was pretty exhausted - my eyes kept wanting to close so I went to bed at about 8pm. I felt so good on Tuesday. I did the same last night and it has made a big difference. Feel a lot better. Sometimes miss out on sleep here.

However, woke up yesterday morning to sonia knocking on my door saying all our shoes had been stolen from the balcony overnight!

We couldn’t believe it - stunned, about 12 pairs of shoes. The gate was locked so they must have climbed over the very high fence. It certainly made us think and we have tightened security!

Sonia lost some really expensive shoes - I lost 3 pairs. They left one of my pairs and one of Sonia’s - the old, unappealing ones of course!

We know where the 2nd hand shoes are sold at one of the markets so we are going to head over there and see if we can find them in the next couple of days. It has been done before!

Started language lessons at a school yesterday afternoon - learnt a lot and I think I prefer the more structured approach to learning it.

Ruth e xx
Miss Phnomer in Cambodia