Stung Treng.

Stung Treng.

So, we are finally in Stung Treng to begin work as a VSO volunteer, in Angela’s case, and a house sorter (in the short term) in my case. We travelled up from Phnom Penh on Saturday 23^rdApril getting up at 3.30am to meet a mini bus at 4.30 am.VSO arranged our transport which was organised around how much baggage and belongings we had to transport to our placement to begin living there for the next two years.In our case we had numerous large bags, pillows, water filter (‘plant pot’ and plastic bucket) a hammock including supporting metal frame and a bicycle.

When travelling by mini bus in Cambodia you buy a seat or rather half a seat, if you want a full seat it is two tickets, anyway we had 5 seats which was the whole of the back of the vehicle the idea being we would sit alongside our stuff.Once our luggage was loaded our excess was put on another bus that appeared and disappeared into the night with no explanation on when we would see it again,followed by the bicycle being tied on the outside of our bus with string.

It was a pleasant journey up to Stung Treng stopping for breakfast 8am (rice and fried pork) arriving about 11.30am.We stopped briefly to be reunited with our bits off the other bus and then continued to our house in the bus.

The contract not starting until the Monday meant we stayed with another VSO volunteer, Wendy, until then .We got the keys and Angela went off for her first day at the hospital and I started to unpack and arrange things in the house.

We are living out of the town centre about 6 minutes bicycle ride away from the hospital sharing a house with a Cambodian family i.e. Dad ,Mum, son ,daughter,Grandmother and 2 dogs.

By sharing, I mean the house is divided with a communal steel folding door which has numerous gaps and is padlocked, us on one side and the family on the other. Being Cambodia things are not straight forward in this arrangement and it is early days in coming to a happy co-existence.Mrs X keeps walking in uninvited and marches about with a critical eye, her main concerns are;we will block the toilet,then the sink,will blow the house up via cooking gas and the electrics will fuse and burn the house down.Mr X is concerned with security; the perimeter is fenced and topped with razor wire and the gates locked at all times, he does speak some English and said he is concerned people are coming to rob him.The children are really nice and we hope to teach them English, again they wonder in at will. Grand mother is really placid and seems to live in the garage and sometimes stands outside the locked gate unable to get in.It’s early days and it will all fall into place I am sure.

We have two bathrooms and seemingly water needs to be stored in each .In the upstairs one (i.e. the one we have been told not to use ‘as it gets blocked easily’) there are 4 big bins full of water.

Quite what the scenario for urgently wanting 30 gallons of cold water in a small room like that is I have yet to find out. In the downstairs bathroom there is a concrete tank with an open top half full, (but still must be 80 gallons),of water it is big enough to climb in,( maybe later when I have gone crazy with the heat). So why all this stored water? Apparently the main water could go off and this is back up to flush the toilet (for 3 months?). However, it hasn’t been explained to us: why would we need to know?

Plenty of time for more on the house in the future but imagine the following in the UK:

Upstairs on our large landing area there is a large windowwithout curtains, which looks into the Cambodian side of the house. It’sa bit like a divided ‘Big Brother’ house where each group goes about their living but can be observed by the others. We need to buy a curtain as a priority.

On Tuesday we went to the P.Statn.to register as outsiders living in town for 2 years.

The P.Comr. made us very welcome, he was in his office watching the biggest TV I’ve seen in Cambodia, he was interested in The Thai/Cambodia boarder dispute and told me via our Interrupter that they are not frightened of the Thais and showed me a picture of a Cambodian mobile multi rocket launcher.He had numerous weapons in his office and what I imagined to be approx. 400 tins of condensed milk in cardboard boxes.

Today, Wednesday, Angela took over the motorbike from one of the volunteers who is leaving. It is the usual Honda Dream and looks to be ready for a service.

We went to the Volunteer’s house at 7.30 am me giving Angela a ‘backie’ on the bicycle,the locals thought it hilarious,Angela hung on by pinching my skin. Angela bravely rode off on the motorbike to work and I went abicycle ride, which turned into me giving my first English lesson to a local. I rodeout of town along astraight road passing the Stung Treng Catholic church then passed a small stall/café from which a young Cambodia shouted ‘Hello where are you from?’ I stopped and he pressed me an iced sugar cane drink and then we chatted for 45 minutes about whatever he was interested in e.g. Man. Utd, my family, how many countries are in Europe, the Second World War, the seasons in England V Cambodia, where the pretty girls of the world live and which countries I have visited.I explained various things about myself and introduced him to the concept of C.A.D. and what it meant in practical terms.He is called Pich, whichhe explained means diamond and he is in the first year of high school although I guessed he is about 16y.o..He would like to work in China and would like to travel as a Tour Guide,I will go out there again for he liked to practise his English and I tried a little Kamai and all in all it was welcoming.

So things are moving along OK as Angela confronts the realities of being a Volunteer and we both experience living in another culture. Maybe one of the immediate work differences for her has been in the content of the Hospital meetings she attends each day. She had to suppress the giggles when the management discussed that the patient visitors seem determine to break the toilets by standing on them and blocking them with fish bones, not a problem in Morecambe Bay N.H.S.(Mmm… back onto blocked toilets again!).

There are no photos in this blog as I am in an internet shop and want to keep the uploading to a min. If you are wondering about any aspect of our Cambodian adventure and you would like further insight please let us know and I will put it in a future blog.