Hello from Cambodia 1

Hello from Cambodia. Sunday Sept 9th

All settled in and beginning to acclimatise to the jet lag, heat and culture shock. The journey out was fine albeit sleepless, and the temperature (high 30s) and humidity (high 80s) means that we have not yet caught up on the zzzzzzzs.

There are 18 new VSOs here doing the In Country training ( all teachers) and we are all living in the accommodation above the VSO office in central Phnom Penh. There are 8 of us in the over 50s age range, made up of 2 couples and 3 ladies by themselves and an older American man. The others are under 30 and include 4 Dutch, an American couple, and a Spanish girl. As you can imagine it’s a bit like the Big Brother House although everyone is really nice and nothing has kicked off - yet. On Wednesday we are all making our own way out to the VSO training house in the sticks about 90 km away. I wonder how many of us will disappear into the jungle never to be seen again.

We have had a very gentle introduction to Phnom Penh, with a cyclo tour round the sites on Saturday and a free day today. This was spent shopping in the Russia market which is an experience that smacks every sense full in the face. With some vigorous bartering we came away with a wardrobe of loose cotton clothes for tuppence. After that we went for an hour long massage which was amazing. It makes you feel all floppy and mellow. Will be doing that again!!!!

Cambodian bars are cheap and pleasant .We went to Elsewhere which is an ex-pats hangout with reclining cushions set among banana trees and a swimming pool in the middle. It felt like being on an 18-30 holiday in Ibiza. Some of the younger of members of the House went to The Heart of Darkness which is a club that even the Rough Guide is wary of. Too scary for us

This afternoon we experienced a rainstorm that would have washed Gloustershire away. It reduced the roads to foot deep raging torrents, however no one seemed worried and all the water had disappeared within half an hour, no idea where it goes!

We have seen some interesting sites - two full sized mattresses being transported by motorbike, a bag of live pigs in a tuk tuk, and a bike on a bike, to name but a few. We have also been out to dinner twice, been invited to a house party and done lunch at the Foreign Correspondents Club, which is an amazing restaurant /bar that overlooks the Mekong. It’s like stepping back into a Graham Green novel.

To be quite honest it feels like we are on an Easy Jet city break. However the hard work starts tomorrow with the In Country training beginning at 8am.

Post can be sent to us at the VSO Programme Office, PO Box 912, Phnom Penh although we will only be able to pick it up when we are in the city or if they send it on to the Battembang Office which probably won’t happen too often. We were given our pigeon holes today and some people already had post. We felt all sad and neglected, so start writing to us now.

We will probably have access to the internet until the end of October when we are sent to our placement. We were looking for Phnom Preuk on a map in the VSO office, eventually we found it with the help of one of the Cambodian staff who said, “ here it is….. but how do you get there, there are no roads?” A little worrying! Still we will have our phones for emergencies and when we feel really lonely, but it is expensive to send and receive calls so we won’t be using them too often. Our mobile numbers are Chris 0085592149785 and Jon 0085592149790.

Ok so we will now try to send this to you, but does the internet café have the technology? If you receive this obviously it does.

Will write the next instalment from Kampong Cham, if we ever get there.

Much love to all

Jon and Chris