Hello from Cambodia 15

It is exactly 1 year since we arrived in Cambodia. Wow that was quick!

This blog will mainly be “what we did in our summer holidays”. Most of the schools in the area closed by the end of June even though the official end of term was 31st July and the District Office of Education staff have proved even more elusive than usual. So we have been struggling to find anything constructive to do. Fortunately we have had a steady stream of visitors to play with.

Olivia arrived in Phnom Penh on 3rd August and we gave her to the full Cambodian VSO experience of cocktails on the riverfront, sun bathing by the pool at the exclusive Pavilion Hotel and the Bavarian menu at The Edelweiss Café. We did also visit The Sunrise Orphanage where we were treated to a display of traditional dancing by the kids, some of whom we recognized from our visit there four years ago. The place has improved alot since then with many new buildings, including a theatre, and far more qualified staff. It is pleasing to think that some of this was made possible by money raised by Parmiter’s School.

Jumping on the tourist trail we took the bus to Siem Reap and did the tour of the temples. It was interesting to see how the site has altered in the last four years gearing itself to the demands of steadily increasing numbers of tourists. The ancient stone doorways are now protected from the ravages of tramping feet and you can no longer climb the terrifying near vertical eroding steps to the top level of Ankor Wat. The stone faces of Wat Bayon were almost impossible to see due to the faces of hoards of camera wielding Koreans. We feel lucky that when we last visited we had some of the temples to ourselves.

In true de Groot style we could not resist the local pub quiz. Taking on the might of the Siem Reap ex-pat community …… we caned ‘em. Unfortunately the prize was a full roast Sunday lunch but as we would not be there on Sunday we were offered a bottle of wine and a large jug of beer instead which maybe unwisely we felt compelled to stay and drink. Considering we were outsiders we were treated with a great deal of generosity and good will.

In order to avoid the road from hell we decided to travel on to Battambang by boat across the Tonle Sap Lake. (Interesting fact #1. During the wet season the size of the lake increases by about 5 times due to the extra pressure from the very full Mekong which causes the Tonle Sap River to flow backwards and fill the lake) Unfortunately the captain of the boat didn’t seem to know his way through the flooded forest and this resulted in a great deal of debate between the passengers and crew as to which way to go through the trees. Eventually we made it to open water and crossed the lake to enter the Sang Kae River. Here we passed through floating villages where entire communities move about on the river according to the level of the flood. We saw floating schools, floating churches and a floating crocodile farm. Unfortunately at this point the camera battery ran out and we were unable to record some of the most fascinating images that we have seen since coming to Cambodia. The captain did not know this side of the lake either and for some unfathomable (!) reason he decided to steer the boat out of the main stream of the river and into a channel. This became more and more narrow and shallow until we appeared to be chugging up a muddy path (more ploughing than sailing). After about two hours of crashing our way through the undergrowth and disentangling weed from the propeller we finally rejoined the main waterway again. A trip that should have taken five hours had taken nearly nine; Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Boggart never had these problems on the African Queen.

While in Battambang Liv was introduced to the VSO gang and even took part in a team building exercise. This involved her dashing across the town on the back of Salee’s brakeless pushbike collecting clues for a treasure hunt which she did with true VSO intrepidness.

After a few days doing moto tours of the back lanes of Phnom Preuk we crossed the border into Thailand and met up, on Koh Chang, with Linda, Dave, Frances, Georgia and James who had just completed their own SE Asia tours. Later in the week Alice and boyfriend Will took time out of their six month trip to join us. We did a lot of eating, drinking and lying down reminiscent of family holidays we had shared in Spain except that Tony the Tokai took over from Colin the Cockroach (sorry, in joke).

The time spent with these good friends and family seemed a million miles away from our life in Cambodia and we really appreciated that they had traveled across the world to see us. We soon fell into gossiping about home and talked about Parmiter’s like we’d never left the staffroom. The week was full of treats; red wine, Cornettos and the wonderful genuine French cheese board courtesy of Olivia.

Saying goodbye to Liv on the Friday was very hard for Jon but he had some great memories to sustain him through the coming months. The Prices and Reynolds left on Sunday and once more we waved farewell to our old life.

The compensation was that Ali and Will returned with us to Phnom Preuk for a couple of days; their first taste of rural Cambodia. We discovered that Will is an excellent cook when they treated us to a Thai banquet which had involved them courageously buying all the ingredients from the local market. The banana fritters were to die for.

We returned to Battambang to show them the sights which included a trip on the Bamboo train. (Interesting fact #2. There are few railway lines in Cambodia and due to extreme lack of maintenance the trains travel very slowly. The journey from Phnom Penh to Battambang taking between 15 and 20 hours compared to 6 hours by bus.) The enterprising locals have utilized this lack of traffic by constructing simple flat bed railway trucks powered by “lawn mower” engines which trundle through the beautiful countryside scattering cows, chickens and monks (!) before them. The track is single line so when they want to turn round or meet another truck coming in the opposite direction they stop, dismantle the train and then reassemble it to continue their journey.

Alice and Will have now continued their travels, bravely taking the boat to Siem Reap (we did warn them), so now we have to adjust to being all alone again. The visits from friends and family this summer have been a joy, thank you all once again. However it won’t be long before we have more visitors. Alice and Will are back with us for Christmas and Chris’s mum, sister and her family are touring Cambodia in the New Year. This is not to mention the ex-Parmiterians who are threatening to drop in on their travels; you are all welcome any time.

Before our holiday the Director of the DOE asked Jon to explore the “interior” of Phnom Preuk district to try and establish how many children living in remote communities don’t have access schools. Consequently Jon, Sophen and Sophea penetrated the heart of darkest Phnom Preuk. They set off on their expedition like Stanley going in search of Livingstone with feelings of excitement mixed with trepidation. Motoing through acres of head-high corn they looked like three Meercats jumping up and down trying to establish where they were. (The old joke about the Wherethefuckarewe tribe springs to mind) They discovered several remote villages which equates to over three hundred children without schooling and who will have no chance of an education unless the communities build the schools and provide the teachers themselves. This is only a tiny part of the problems of educating Cambodia’s children.

Jon recently returned from Poipet, which is known as the armpit of Cambodia, where he was facilitating a workshop on disability in education. As the main border crossing into Thailand it attracts many unsavory characters and the roads are abysmal. Gambling is illegal in both countries the no-mans land supports several huge casinos with associated hotels. The up-side of this is that you can get the best pizza in Cambodia here.


One bit of excitement in our lives was the result of the tensions which exist between Cambodia and Thailand over the ownership of the Preah Vihear temple. This has been rumbling on for years but came to a head in July when Thai troops crossed the border and occupied the temple. The Cambodians reciprocated producing a stand-off. We assumed that this was a purely local problem in the north until Sophea, who lives in a village on the border near us, said that there were Thai troops all along our bit of the border about a kilometre away and that the locals were all packed up and ready to evacuate. He suggested that we keep the moto full of petrol just in case. Glibly we shrugged this off as pre-election posturing until Sophea phoned us at 8 pm one evening to say that both sides had brought up their heavy guns and things were about to kick off. The idea of evacuating by moto in the middle of the night was not appealing so we tried to contact VSO for advice only to find that the internet was down, our phones had lost server and our passports were in Phnom Penh. After a rather tense night the situation was defused by talks the next day. The impasse has still not been resolved and with the on-going threat of a coup in Thailand anything could happen. Watch this space!

So one year in, with many ups and downs, we’re still here and enjoying it.

Hello from Cambodia 14

It’s been rather a long time since our last blog and we can’t use the excuse that we are rushed off our feet. It’s more that we have settled into a rather mundane existence here and we no longer get the “wow factor” which we desperately need to share with you all. Still here is the continuing story of “2 years in Phnom Preuk”……..

The highlight of the last few months is that Will and Russ came to visit . You cannot believe how wonderful it was to have friends and family from home here and someone else to share the “long summer evenings” (actually they are the same length as the “long winter evenings” cos we’re so close to the equator - Jon) with, playing Canasta while battling swarms of small black beetles out of our hair.
We met the boys at Phnom Penh and spent a few days showing them the city’s sights and introducing them to our VSO friends. Many of them were in town for the Queen’s Birthday embassy “do” which was being held at a very posh hotel. The reception was quite a show with ice sculptures of Tower Bridge and a London bus. The canapés were miniature versions of traditional British cuisine, including roast beef and horseradish sauce on tiny biscuits, mini Cornish pasties and little Scotch eggs. The chamber orchestra and buckets of free Pimms did a lot to add to the convivial ambience. Big screens around the room showed videos of Britain’s Green and Pleasant Land and the promotional video for London’s Olympic bid with celeb’s such as David Beckham, Steve Redgrave and Martine McCuchan (!?) posing by London’s landmarks. By the end of the evening even the most staunch republicans were toasting the dear old Queen with a patriotic tear in their eye. Although that might have been more to do with the free Pimms! The boys wanted to visit the Killing Fields and Toul Sleng (S21) Prison. This was a return visit for us as we had been there 4 years ago when it had made a huge impact, bring home the brutality of the Pol Pot regime. This time however it was not so affecting, maybe because we are no longer so intrigued by Cambodia’s tragic past but more interested in the present and hopes for their future.

Will and Russ made a big hit in Phnom Preuk. They learned how to ride a moto and were soon zipping around. They even managed, in true Khmer style, to transport a small tree in a large pot from the “garden centre” to home. The young teachers, who come to conversation classes with us on Sunday evenings, were particularly taken with them, inviting them to breakfast and then escorting them on a trip round market where they bought the ingredients for the evening meal, this included the slaughter of a live chicken.
The ladies in the market were fascinated by these two fit young barangs and were discussing loudly across the stalls which one they fancied the most. Word of their arrival soon whipped round the town so a visit to the bank was met with the question “how long will your son be staying?” As Will put it, he and Russ were very proud to be the first tourists to visit Phnom Preuk, but they didn’t think that it would be challenging Ankor Wat as the number one Cambodian tourist spot.

Work wise things seem to have taken a more positive turn. Both the Education Office staff and the school headmasters and teachers seem more accepting and trusting of us and are more willing to sit and chat. Alarmingly we have discovered some of them speak quite good English and were not letting on about it. Part of the reason for this break-through is that we took all 7 of the office staff on a 2 day “capacity building” trip to visit another District Office of Education (DOE) based at Phnom Srok in Banteay Meanchey, the neighbouring province, where our friend Anna is a VSO volunteer. Not only did they get some good ideas about how to run an education department (something they rather lack) but they also saw that we volunteers could be fun. We were all taken on a tour of the local domestic silk weaving industry and then on to a picnic by a beautiful lake (which was in fact a reservoir built by slave labour during the Pol Pot regime), this proved to be quite an ice-breaker.
Our work in the last month has been, to misquote the History Boys, “one f*****g observation after another”. However we have found that observing teachers’ lessons and then feeding-back positive criticism to both them and their headmaster is having a marked effect on the standards of teaching and learning. We are seeing a positive change in both the classrooms and lessons which is very heartening. Unfortunately now we are coming to the end of term and all the teachers are moving back to Battambang until October. We were invited to be the guests of honour at the local primary’s Prize Day. In fact the heat, the speeches and the interminable clapping made it not so different from the same event at Parmiters. Officially term ends on 31st July but many schools were closed by the end of June and all shut by 10th July. On top of this our DOE staff has disappeared off the face of the earth as they are all involved in organizing the election which is due on 27th July. So we spend our days sitting in an empty office chatting to Sophen and Sophea…..It’s going to be a long summer.

The election is a big deal and there is a lot of campaigning activity, especially by the ruling CPP (Cambodian Peoples Party). One morning we were greeted by about 20 huge trucks packed full of flag-waving CPP supporters, in matching T shirts and baseball caps, being transported to a local rally. As our office is next to the CPP HQ we are subjected to rousing party propaganda songs being blasted out at full volume all day long. Unfortunately when they go into competition with the Wat (on the other side) broadcasting uplifting religious tracts very, very loudly, lets just say it can be a little wearing (we love Cambodian culture honest). ………….Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhg.
We now have some pets. Firstly Spot the Tok Kai moved in about a month ago and lives under the day bed. He emerges at exactly 7.30 each evening to hunt the many creepy crawlies that inhabit our sitting-room. Although rather nervous of him at first, we are now used to him suddenly scuttling up the wall in pursuit of an unfortunate beastie – though fear of treading on him means that we don’t move out of our chairs without first asking “Where’s Spot?” (a reference only understood by those who were under 5 in the 1980’s or their long suffering parents).
We converted a very large plant pot into a fish pond. At first we had problems finding fish until Sophen turned up one evening with a blue watering can saying “I have Four Fresh Fish For you” which is quite an achievement as Khmers have real difficulty pronouncing the F sound. These 4 little fellows immediately swam into the shadows of the rocks at the bottom of the pond and were never seen again – which was rather boring. So when we were in Thailand we appropriated some beautiful neon tetras and brought them home in a water bottle. They were happily introduced to the pond but they now seem to be disappearing. We fear that the Cambodian monsters are surfacing like Jaws and dragging the pretties away to their lair in the depths.

Here is the latest picture of Touche’s grandson. As you see they believe in starting them young on the moto here. It will be interesting to compare his development with Jessica Rose who was born on the same day. (Photos please M and N)

As an aside, the Monks are building an extension to the Wat. It is a most theatrical spectacle to seen them in their orange underwear posed on bamboo scaffolding silhouetted against the sun. One guy completes this tableau by wearing a yellow towel on his head, dark glasses and a fag hanging out his mouth. It is very surreal.

Will and Russ took off for Ankor Wat and, unable to keep up with the fast life of PPk, then crossed over to Koh Chang in Thailand where we met them for the weekend. Although the weather was a bit grey and the sea a bit choppy we had a perfect time just chillin’ out – and playing Canasta, again. It was very, very hard to leave them there for all sorts of reasons.

On a final note, last night we caught the thrilling Wimbledon Mens’ Final on the telly brought back memories of (real) long summer evenings, chilly BBQ’s, Pimms,
strawberries and cream, salmon and asparagus and Big Brother - enjoy.

Hello from Cambodia 13

Its been a while since the last Blog mainly because we haven’t been at home much in the last 6 weeks. In fact this is being written at Jean’s kitchen table in Battambang. Our absence from Phnom Preuk is due to the fact that Cambodia seems to have been on holiday since March. In theory the schools shut down for 2 weeks over Khmer New Year period and offices and shops close for the 3 days of the New Year, April 14th to 16th, a bit like our Christmas. In practice the schools began to close down at the end of March and were not up and running again properly until May.5th This was followed by 3 days off on 13th to 15th May for the King’s Birthday and the following week Monday and Friday are also holidays for the Royal Ploughing Ceremony and the birth or death of Buddha, still haven’t worked out which. Consequently it has been difficult for us to work in the schools as the teachers are not there. We did make an appointment to meet with one headmaster but after a 40 minute journey into the wilds we arrived to find the school locked up and not a soul about. Sophen’s wife, who teaches at a local school with 18 other teachers, went to work on the Monday after the holidays to find she was the only member of staff to have turned up. As you can see teachers’ motivation is a major problem in Cambodia. It doesn’t help that now is the season for planting tapioca and corn in our district so many teachers are too busy working on their farms to come to school and many of the children are too busy helping their parents harvest the bean crop to have time to come to lessons anyway.

The prospect of being in Phnom Preuk for over a month with even less to do than normal was so daunting that we decided to get the hell out of there for a few days and took our selves off back to Koh Chang (which means Elephant Island – see photo) in Thailand. Five days of lying on a palm fringed beach by a sparkling blue sea or sipping gin and tonics while watching the sun sink through a crimson sky …… this volunteering lark is hell. Unsurprisingly Jon made a stunt kite out of plastic bags and bamboo – it flew!

In Cambodia, Laos and Thailand the New Year is a big deal. It is both a religious and secular celebration, so the Wats go into overdrive with ceremonial chanting, drums and gamelans, (oh goody) while everyone else parties all night with Karaoke music being played at full blast over mega sound systems (hooray). There is a tradition that at New Year you should be cleansed by water, and our first experience of this was when 2 elderly ladies in the Pagoda we were visiting gently poured a trickle of scented water over our heads and marked our faces with a stripe of talcum powder, charming we thought ……then we went outside. The roads of Koh Chang were lined with young people armed with any receptacle they could find, soaking any transport which dared to run the gauntlet. We were touring the island on a moto and were continually soaked by high power hoses and bazooka size super soaker water pistols. It was all extremely good humoured albeit very dangerous. Thinking that New Year celebrations would be over we returned to Phnom Preuk to discover that as usual the Khmers had extend the holiday and the jollity was still in full swing. There is a water throwing tradition in Cambodia as well but typically they fling plastic bags of water at passers by, so every roadside is now lined with thousands and thousands of little plastic bags which no one will ever pick up. Rather stupidly we went on a cycle ride and were accosted by the local youff who soaked us from head to toe and rubbed talc onto our faces, but in a very good natured way. Pleased to say we got our revenge when later they passed our house and we turned the garden hose on them.

Our work in the District was further disrupted when someone in the VSO education office decided that the end of April would be a good time to have a 2 day conference and to hold it in Koh Kong, the Province in the south west which is the furthest away from everyone else in Cambodia. We decided the quickest and cheapest way to get there was to travel via Thailand rather than the 3 days it would take if we had to go via Phnom Penh. So on the way there we popped back to Koh Chang for a couple days for a bit more beach therapy. In fact the conference was fun if not actually useful and it was great to meet up with all the other Volunteers. Koh Kong proved to be very beautiful. One of the few areas of Cambodia that is close to the sea and consequently cooler and more geared for tourists. We took a small speed boat through the river delta to visit some waterfalls, passing mangrove swamps and monkeys on the way. While climbing over the rocks by the waterfall Onno slipped and fell the river taking the Khmer guide with him. Fortunately no one was hurt but a digital camera and 2 mobile phones had an early bath which didn’t do them much good. While in Koh Kong we visited a little school which is situated on an island about 40 minutes boat ride away from the main town. The combination of an inspirational head, committed staff and supportive community had produced a model school where the kids were obviously motivated and eager to learn. The rest of us education volunteers are deeply jealous of Nicky who is based in Koh Kong. Not only does she have the seaside, proper roads, a civilized climate, and beautiful scenery she also has schools who actually want to teach children, its not fair!!!!

We decided to return to Phnom Preuk the long way round as the road takes you through the Cardamom Mountains which is one few remaining areas of unspoilt forest. The scenery was spectacular although very unusually they were showing an English language film on the video on the bus, this proved rather distracting because as Jon pointed out we were here to see Koh Kong not to watch King Kong! Phnom Penh gave us the opportunity to chill out with friends and stock up on necessities, although distressingly Marmite cannot be found, even for ready money. We were introduced to a charming French colonial hotel where you could lounge by the pool all day for the price of a glass of iced coffee. Well everyone needs a little R and R sometimes

Back in Phnom Preuk we arranged to have a planning meeting with all of the District Education staff to clarify exactly what it was they wanted to achieve in the area and what would be our role. As a relationship building exercise we offered to hold the meeting in our house rather than the office and provide a meal afterwards. We asked our cleaner if she would cook the food as we were not convinced the Khmers would be thrilled with spaghetti bolognaise. Our excitement about the event was severely doused when a hour before kick off we were informed that as 3 of the staff, including the director, had been called off for another meeting they would have to cancel. This was a bit of a blow especially as there were 3 freshly slaughtered chickens bleeding gently into our fridge. But that’s Cambodia for you. In fact we were able to re schedule for a couple of days later and it went reasonably successfully although 2 of the staff only managed to arrive just in time for the dinner.

Many Volunteers have taken advantage of the fact that because of the national holidays, if you take 2 days leave you can have 10 days off and have gone travelling to Viet Nam, Laos, or Bangkok. We decided to conserve our money and leave so we can use them when all our visitors arrive over the next few months (Will and Russell are coming in 5 weeks time – wheeeeee). Very kindly Jean has offered to let us house sit her lovely flat in Battambang and we intended to spend a few days exploring the local area. This proved to be a very wise decision as our lap top has been infested with swarm of viruses which has made the poor thing very very sick. Jon has spent the last 2 days desperately trying to salvage all our music and photos, which it would break our hearts to loose but it is a very slow progress. The moral of the story being, “back up as you go”. In fact aside from the hours sweating over a hot disc drive we have had had a very pleasant time cycling to the out lying villages, visiting pre Ankorian ruins and a giant modern Buddha. On the way we stopped to see the local cottage industry of spring roll wrapper making.

The temperature has dropped and the rainy season is just beginning. The last 3 days have seen spectacular thunder storms and diluvium rains although it does mean that it is even less possible to get things done. The usual response to any request being ”I’ll have to wait until the rain stops”. The Khmers seem quite surprised to learn that in Europe people go to work in the rain.

The natural history of Cambodia has now reached Mammals. Cambodia used to have a rich diversity of wildlife. Monkeys, elephants, tigers and rhinos all abounded in the forests which covered the country but in the last half centaury due to war, landmines, logging and deforestation there are very few animals left. Any poor little creature that wanders into an inhabited area is promptly killed and eaten. The only mammals which we have seen in Phnom Preuk are domesticated (with the exception of the rats which we really don’t want to talk about). Cows and pigs are the main source of meat. There is no concept of dairy and it is impossible to get indigenous milk or cheese (which probably accounts for our weight loss, although the absence of red wine might be more of a reason). In the wetter rice growing areas water buffalo are used for ploughing and these huge docile animals are really picturesque wading through the rice paddy with a small boy on their backs. On the Tai border the land is too high and dry for rice so here they use huge white oxen as the beast of burden although round our way it is more likely to see a tractor pulling a plough. There are cows every where, many families seem to have at least one that often lives under the stilted house. They are allowed to graze by the side of the road where they are tethered through the nose on quite long ropes. When passing a cow on your moto you have to careful that it has not wandered across the road trailing its rope behind, because a sudden movement could tighten the line and decapitate you. Considering the amount of pork that is eaten we rarely see pigs, except on the backs of motos. Apparently most families do keep a pig or 2 “out the back” and transport 2 or 3 of them at a time to the slaughter houses in baskets attached to the seat of the moto. A real shock the first time you see it.

Dogs. They infest the place and spend most of their time mating with each other. Sometimes no matter how much you avert your eyes you will see copulating canines. Consequently they appear in very weird shapes and sizes but none of a breed that is recognisable. The bitches are either pregnant or feeding and usually look exhausted. In fact most of the dogs look sick, undernourished and full of mange; many have lost all their hair, not a pretty sight. The puppies, like all baby animals look cute for a month or so then they mysteriously disappear. Never eat meat in the market that is advertised as “special”. We are especially fond of the dogs at 4 am when for no apparent reason every mutt in the district joins in the “twilight barking” .which can last up to half an hour!. The above aside we have never felt threaten by a dog and have been told there is no Rabies in the district. The neighbour’s dog Pom is a lovely lady although she does have a sneaky side. If there is food around she will drop on to her tummy and wriggle closer and closer to the table convinced she has made herself invisible. When you tell her off she looks about her with amazement as if to say, “Gosh how did I get here.”

So we are back to Phnom Preuk on Friday and hope to get down to a continuous period of hard work until our good intentions are interrupted by the forth coming elections, disintegrating roads, floods, planting crops, harvesting crops, weddings, funerals, political rallies, religious ceremonies and all the other stuff that makes Cambodia such a wonderful but infuriating place.

Hello from Cambodia 12

At last we have started to do some proper work. We ran a workshop for 30 people on Effective Teaching and Learning and it went off without a hitch, well almost. The 2 trainers who came out from Battambang were very inspiring and could have taught some of the nerds we’ve seen doing INSET in English schools a thing or two about presentation techniques. Every so often they would break into group singing, which everyone had to take part in, including us. We were amazed when they started to sing, “ My Grandfather has a farm, ei ei o “ to the tune of “Old MacDonald”. Of course we had to sing our English version, which caused some consternation because Cambodian ducks do not go Quack Quack, they speak Khmer. The photo shows a participant over come by the brilliance of the workshop. No actually, one of the teachers had to bring his daughter along and, love her, she slept all the way through it on a table.

Yesterday we drove to a school about an hour away, which is set against the spectacular backdrop of a mountain, to observe the teachers who had attended our workshop cascading the ideas on to their colleagues, who seemed equally enthusiastic. It was quite heartening, Of course we have been to enough INSET ourselves to know that the initial inspiration soon wears off when faced with the actual chalk face and you slip back into the easy old bad habits. It must be even harder to initiate new teaching methods when faced with 50 kids with ages ranging from 6 to 14 and you have been up since 5am tending your fields, but it’s a start.

On the way Jon had to fill up his moto at the local equivalent of BP. The price of petrol has gone up from 3800 Riels (just under $1) a litre to 4600 Riels since we got here, now that is inflation!

Part of our lack of progress so far is due to the fact that we are supposed to be working in partnership with the local District Education Office. Unfortunately this has not really taken off mainly because they are rarely in the office and when they are they claim to be too busy to work with us. This is probably not because we have pissed them off; we get on quite well with them when we see them, but more due to their lack of confidence in their own ability and a fear of showing themselves up. The picture shows us in our office showing the Director of the DOE some pictures we had taken of schools we had visited.

His mode of attire is not unusual for him and the gold you can see is but a small example of that which he has, including in his mouth. The head of Education from the VSO HQ in Phnom Pehn came for a visit earlier in the week and has done a bit of bridge building so hopefully we will get more cooperation from now on. Overall he seemed quite pleased with what we have achieved so far though we got the feeling that he had not realised the full extent of the problems we have to face out here physically, culturally and socially. He has promised us more support, which is encouraging, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

We are still on good terms with the monks who are in the process of building themselves an extension to their pagoda. As we drive past them on our way to work everyday we get muffled shouts of “hello, how are you” from holes in the ground. The pictures are of Onno, one of the Dutch volunteers, at the top of the hill which our Wat is on, the Wat in Kampong Cham and some of our monks, yes some of them are that young! Monks are not always our favourite people though. Last weekend we were staying at Jean’s house in Battambang, which backs onto the main Wat and was consecrating a new temple. This kicks off at 4am with worthy words interspersed with gamalan music broadcast at full volume from the loud speaker situated on the Pagoda roof. As the morning progresses this evolves into chanting and drumming with, what sounds like, a bad stand up comedian thrown in for good measure. In the afternoon the fun fair starts up with dodgems and roundabouts accompanied by the usual Khmer karaoke tunes, although we swear at one point we heard the Carpenter’s “its yesterday once more “. Believe us there is nothing mystical about these monks. After 16 hours of this bloody awful row we all had splitting headaches and were screaming blasphemies, which I’m sure, even the Buddha would have countenanced. To top it all at 8pm the local night club joined in with its “duf, duf, duf”, and we had to resort to Gin and Tonics to deaden the pain. If that’s living in the big city give me the peace quiet and boredom of Phnom Preuk any time.

And now the weather report. HOT HOT HOT. At times the thermometer on our balcony was reading 100 degrees, and it’s in the shade. It is almost impossible to go outside during the main part of the day and we have to keep the fans going all night. To put it politely, we are continually damp and have taken to wearing Khmer dress about the house. For Jon this is a kroma, a short cotton wrap around skirt, and Chris has made 2 loose kaftan style frocks out of kampots. Very fetching but cool in every sense of the word. In the last week there have been thunderstorms rolling around in the mountains that bring the occasional showers of rain, which are cooling but nothing like the deluge we can expect when the rainy season hits with full force next month.

The highlight of the last few weeks is Sophen building his own house. We have been visiting it regularly to inspect the work in progress. He had to get the wood from an old barn that was being pulled down, take out all the nails, plane it and then re use it. It has been quite a saga, and he was really worried that his money would run out. Over all it has cost him about 700 dollars, but he is so proud. Now he and his wife Sophala can start a family. Note that the shed in the background is where he and Sophala are living now, with several other teachers, and he is a deputy head of a high school!

Cambodia is now gearing itself up for the New Year, which in theory lasts 3 days but in practice goes on till May. The schools have already closed and everyone is going back to their home villages for family gatherings. Consequently the Education office is even more empty than usual (ie just us) and as the market will also be shut next week there will be bugger all for us to do out here. We considered taking a city break to Kula Lumpur but guessed it will be even more humid and horrible than here so we are probably going back to Thailand for a couple of days where we can lie in the sea and cool down. Another reason for evacuating Cambodia is that along with the tinsel and shiny decorations that have started appearing in the market stalls, think Woolworth’s before Christmas, there are also a huge number of water pistols going on sale. Apparently it is a New Years tradition to squirt water and throw flour at unsuspecting passers by, so in order to avoid resembling doughboys we think discretion is the better part of valour, and are going to run away.

Its time for the wild life section; Birds. There are surprisingly few wild birds around here but considering that they have cut down most of the trees it’s understandable. There are a few sparrows and swallows about and some blackbirdy type things but nothing exotic. What there are however is chickens, everywhere. The splendid cockerels strut about majestically and are treated as family pets. They are trained for fighting, by showing them their reflection in a mirror, although we have been told they do not fight to the death here. They do not crow “Cock a doodle doo”, but an abbreviated “Cock a doodle d…” which is deeply irritating at 4am. Some of the females have very beautiful plumage and would win a prize in an English country show, but the majority of the poultry are scraggy, featherless little bags of bones. They scurry about pecking and scratching, usually accompanied by a clutch of chicks that are no more than balls of fluff. We have long passed the “oh how sweet stage “ as when you are on the moto you have to continually swerve to miss the little buggers. They also go in for caged birds. One neighbour has a myna bird that follows him around, trotting along beside him chatting away like an irritating child. Next door they had a beautiful collared dove in a tiny cage that didn’t have room for it to spread its wings. Recently the cage has been empty, we are not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.

A little R&R at a swimming pool in a hotel in Battambang. It's regularly topping 100F here and the water was a god send even if a little expensive at $5 for the day.

Finally, bicycles. Although Chris is stupidly pleased with the way she is mastering off-roading on her moto, she has decided to ride her bike more. The main reason for this is exercise. Due to the state of the roads, the heat and the minefields, no one walks any where in this country and, as we have a lovely lady to do our cleaning and washing, the only exercise we get is climbing the stairs. So a short bike ride to work or to the market means that we don’t loose total use of our legs. The photo shows Chris in the traditional sampot, which she had to wear to the training workshop and the obligatory hat to stop your brain being fried. It’s the best one she could find - honest.