Saturday 26 January 2013

Bringing on 2013 Cambodia

Been having problems with loading pics onto the blog site but all seems OK now so back in business.

All went according to plan for the Xmas hols and we had a lovely time in Laos staying on the islands of Don Det and Don Khon. We stayed in lovely but basic bungalows which had a double bed and cement finish bathroom with cold shower and running insects.
Xmas day we managed a full turkey dinner with roast potatoes, gravy etc then lots of dancing. Because we were in a restaurant there were many new people to meet and share the experience with.

 
Xmas Day dinner on the Island of Don Det Laos.
 
When we weren't eating and drinking we were cycling on lovely sandy paths around the islands.
 
 
New Years Eve party at our rented house. Friends of many Nationalities eating, drinking and talking on the balcony.

Paul, Angela's brother, is staying with us for a few weeks having arrived in the New Year.

 
Andrea, Jane and Paul posing with the super efficient bicycle.
 
To show him some of rural Cambodia , I went with him and Andrea on a motorbike ride along the banks of the Mekong.We met Jane Woodman an Australian who is cycling from Beijing (China) to Melbourne (Australia). We had coffee together and exchanged experiences : her cycling stories and our living and working in Stung Treng.She is a very interesting, friendly positive person and if you are interested in her adventures please visit : www.intrepidcycle.com

The holidays over we finally got back to work; I'm working more or less full time at the hospital now helping Angela on the Infection Control Project which we have blogged about before.
The idea was Paul would come and help me on the bigger parts of the project and this has worked out really well.
Together we discovered the worst hand basin in the Hospital to date:

 
This is in the Pharmacy; being the staff toilet. It leads through an open door to the main body of the Pharmacy where the drugs are stored and dispensed.
 Paul has since replaced the tap and put a more functional waste pipe in. We are standing back now to see if the staff clean the wash basin.
A very satisfying job we have just completed is to replace a large length of broken sewage pipe.

 
Broken sewage pipe discharging directly onto hospital path.
 
The problem has come about because the pipe is on the surface and has been ridden over by motorbikes breaking the plastic pipe.

 
Black stinky mess from pipe- worse in the wet season.
 
The pipe has now been replaced with new and a very satisfying job it was.
 
 

Paul mending the pipe whilst the Cambodians stand and watch
 
New pipe with old piece along side.
 
The repair work is now coming to an end and we have to quickly  work with the Cambodian Hospital staff to try and make things sustainable for when we leave in 5 weeks time. At the moment they report blocked sinks to us and expect us to unblock them - why? its not rocket science. Perhaps some training and handing over all our tools will help.
So I'm please the blog site is working again and will try and keep posting on the run up to us leaving and returning to the UK.

 


5 comments:

  1. Yee Haw - you're back!
    Thank you one and all for the uplifting tales and the hard work and the hope that your efforts will be maintained when you are gone.
    I am making prayers that unblocking drains, sinks and toilets is sustainable.
    Looking forward to your next positive posts . . . no pressure!

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  2. You really would have had to work hard since the sewage pipes have been stuck in that condition for a long period of time. But of course, with the help of everyone, you were able to install a new pipe there. It's nice to see how the old pipe was replaced with a new and better one. I just hope that people in that community will do their best to maintain it.

    Darryl Iorio

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  3. The Starck 2 collection revised for Duravit

    Provided by notable furniture in Cambodia construction materials, the 1998 bathroom solutions, Starck 2 collection, has been announced to have a revision by designer Philippe Starck.
    The pieces revised are shower trays, a washbasin and a bath tub. The designer demonstrated that the originality is kept with a new update of interpretation and integrated contemporary designs.
    The update features a previous rounded ceramic washbasins transforming to an oval figure with even bottom of the bowl but no depth alteration, an addition of rectangular bath tub, a new shower tray that has a smooth installation height, which can condenses the rim for all standard shower additions.
    On top of a rectangular shape, the trays are also shaped in a quadrant for worldwide building standards.

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  4. Hall's family Shop in Chorley

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  5. Please get in touch with Walter

    ReplyDelete