3 White chicks in a tuk tuk.

Sunday afternoon and I am confined to barracks. I am sure there are worse places to be. I spent the morning at the pool, sun baking ( I know incorrect but I love it) and swimming, swimming. Swimming!!! 2 Kms all up today! Poolside is very peaceful. Had to retreat to room as a storm swept over.

As there as so few people here at the moment and the Asian tourists , although a bit noisy around the hotel , rarely use the pool. MY pool.

The past week has been a very interesting one in Siem Reap, the electioneering continued with dressed up tuk tuks, trucks and people wearing the colors of their parties. Mainly white for the Sam Rainsey party and blue for the Cambodian People's party. The CPP will. "win" whether or not they get the votes!!!! Sam Rainsey opposes from beyond the borders and if steps a foot in Cambodia will be arrested for something!!! Many locals have returned to their home towns , some of which are quite a way off and so the project is closed Monday to give them some travel time. I was invited by one of the hotel staff to go with her to her village for the weekend but Bridget suggested not as some of the villages are very political and not adverse to shooting their rivals. Alcohol , politics and guns, the same world wide.

Sam Rainsey party faithful

Hun Sen the Prime Minister of Cambodia sent out an edict saying that from midnight Friday until midnight Sunday there was to be no selling or drinking of alcohol in Cambodia due to the elections. As the week wore on and he either realized how stupid this was and how badly it was going to affect the tourist trade at what is already a very quiet time, the stance softened. Pub Street and the hotels serving foreigners were given dispensation and as it ended it was just the Khmers who were targeted.

This initially had caused uproar here with the expats as they love any opportunity to drink and have a party and as most of them are British or from the Commonwealth , they had plans for the 60th anniversary. I suggested a flotilla down the Siem Reap river forgetting that half of it is blocked off as they continue to widen it and encourage the growth of disgusting algae as the water is just a slimy trickle downstream of the crocodile farm. Sadly kids still play in it and men still try to do some fishing. They will have to open it soon or the town will flood if it rains too heavily.

Look no evil...... 4 wise monkees!!!!

Would you be happy if you had to travel like this? No nor would I!!

There are already quite a few Queens in Siem Reap so the celebrations aren't entirely out of place here!

The volunteers, all 5 of us ( and I know 2 of them won't turn up) are going in to work to do some painting and maintenance work around the place on Monday. We are still very light on for help at the moment but I believe this improves in a few weeks.

The other action around town has included the finding of a body in the compound where one of the teachers live, a woman strangled by her now missing husband. There has been a major house fire and two days ago a massive smash on route 6 which is the main road to the airport and Phnom Penh. An army truck loaded with soldiers and a tourist bus hit head on, 6 dead at the scene, 5 of them tourists. The overtaking here is horrendous, no care, no responsibility, no road rules to speak of and I have found far more aggressive behavior on the roads since I first came. It is every man for himself. There are far too many big vehicles and buses using roads meant for locals and nothing gets done about it. Most mornings I take a big breathe before I set off on my bike!!

The wet season is slowly forcing itself upon us. The days are really hot and then a bit of cloud comes over, the wind whips up and the heavens open, same every time and it is almost every day. It does afford a little bit of cool for a short time though. Then the rain is gone as fast as it arrives and we have to jump puddles for a couple of hours until it evaporates.

Last weekend I headed off with Kate and Annette ( our disability worker). We went to visit another NGO where Kate had worked when she was here last year during the floods. They are loathe to be called an orphanage as this is a dirty word here now!!!!!! It is a "residential" project. Most of the kids aren't orphans and have been picked up as neglected kids on the streets or have been placed there by families who either cant look after them or don't really want them. The kids are encouraged to return home at the weekends if they have one and if anyone wants them there!

We were visiting because they had a couple of kids to be assessed for disability care. The girls picked me up at 8 am and first stop was to pick up 2 kittens from the vet! You don't get addresses here, you get indecipherable instructions! The cats had been taken to Phnom Penh for de sexing. We discovered later on in the piece that there is no vet here, only an Australian veterinary nurse who can fix up the male cats but the girls require surgery! So off we head in our tuk tuk. 30 minutes later and having found ourselves in a very narrow lane way full of pot holes and a driver who says, I am not going any further. I could quite understand as I was with him on this! The locals all gave us differing instructions all of which turned out to be incorrect. So we find what we think is the correct lane, once again driver says I am not going down there, Annette and I look at each other and say, neither are we so off sets Kate. I am watching her disappear in the distance through the zoom of my camera, down a very winding narrow, pot holed, muddy road. We are feeling very guilty!! 30 minutes later along comes Kate on the back of a strangers motor bike!!! Wrong directions!!! Her phone had been ringing while she was wandering off and I eventually fished it out of her bag but missed the call. It was Katie the veterinary nurse. Where are you???? We arrange for Katie the nurse ( who none of us had met before) to come onto the main road to meet us. How will I recognize you she asks. Kate tells her, we are the 3 white chicks in a tuk tuk. She finds us and we get these mangy cats along with a $210 bill to give to the project. Quite frankly, when the staff at the hotel only get $70 per month wages I find this an awful waste of money. Not a cat lover obviously!

Fuel stop!!!

The long and winding road

Kate returns

Eventually we get to the project, it is stinking hot, very little shelter for us, powered by generator which nobody was about to fire up to get the fans going for the 3 white chicks. A lovely area, nice gardens, good accommodation for the kids, nice staff but I am glad that I don't work there. Apart from the 50 minute bike ride from town, starting the work day there at 8am, finish at 5 with a 3 hour break in the middle and nowhere to go as it is so far out. Give me Grace House any day. Still it was an experience to see another project. Annette will try to help them with these 2 kids but it is limited what she can offer due to the distance.

Girls learning Apsara dancing at Honour Village

All this on one Sunday morning!

At mid day I was picked up by Nak and taken to his home for lunch. First time that I have been in a Khmer house hold apart from the village shacks. When a Khmer marries, the male leaves his family to move in with his wife's. So if you have a household of girls you know that numbers are going to multiply eventually! Nak is one of seven, 5 are females. This means that his home is a small community! A central outdoor eating and cooking area with several small houses for the families. He shares a bedroom with his mother and his mother shares her bed with one of the grand children. This is the way it is here, all in together boys!

They had eaten lunch already and it was just Nak and I. It was beautiful home cooked food but it is just food and not a social occasion like when we invite people for lunch. We had hot sour soup, stir fry chicken and veg with rice and some fried fish. I am having dinner with Nak tonight and have to get the recipes from him. The soup was amazing!

The week has been a very busy one, I am teaching 4 classes as we are short handed. They are all pre school but all at different levels. Had been given a folder which had a new curriculum outline written by a long term volunteer who is a very experienced primary school teacher. I followed what to teach, wrote my lesson plans for the 4 classes for the week to discover after class 1 that we weren't even going to get through the first days work in a week!!!! I now write one very simple plan and adapt it as necessary!! The kids are delightful and a joy to be with and teach. After school I am assist teaching a class of young adults. This will be 4 days a week but what else do I have to do?

Friday was international children's day and we celebrated by having an open day at the school. The preschoolers sang 2 songs, heads and shoulders, and if you're happy and you know it..... I am sure you will all be familiar with them. I am now too familiar with them and never want to hear them again!

Other classes sang and the senior students did a shadow puppet show which they wrote, made the scenery and the puppets. It was fantastic and the little ones loved it as did all the parents who turned up. It was a very exciting day for the project to see these families come and show interest in what their children are doing and to look at their school work. We were all so proud.

My other role has been to try to find a couple of up market outlets for some of our weaving products. I wrote to 3 GMs of big hotels, got 2 replies and 2 meetings. 1 is going to give us a 3 month probation selling on commission and the other one was away but the food and beverage manager saw me and asked if we made to order as he needed a sample and a price on new table mats as he preferred to use local product and support NGOs. I had the weaving ladies make a mat, which I was very happy with, I took it to him on Friday, gave him a quote and he has since emailed me back saying they will be in touch with a purchase order. This is very exciting even though it isn't going to make a lot of money but it will be a small profit, it will give these girls something to make that is not just going to sit on the shelves and it gives us confidence to approach other places with a similar offer. Selling skills working in Cambodia!!!!!

Maybe I could sell a few blinds and curtains while I am at it!!!!

This white chick is signing off for another week, good luck for you, good dreams for me.