VSO 20 Years in Cambodia

On Saturday 28^th May we went to Phnom Penh for a boat party to celebrate VSO 20 Years in Cambodia.

For us the day started early as we had to travel from Stung Treng in the North East of Cambodia down to the Capital Phnom Penh. For this journey there are 2 options – the Bus leaving say 7.30 ish and taking 10 hours or a shorter sharper shock to the system i.e. Minivan. We joined with the other Stung Treng Volunteers and went on the Minivan. When you book a seat the driver takes your phone number to call you on the day of travel and tell you he is outside your house. We were called at 3.30am and picked up about 4.00am.

We arrived in Phnom Penh about 11.30am excited at the prospect of a party later in the day but equally excited about………….SHOPPING!!!!!........being able to buy essentials we couldn’t get in Stung Treng e.g., face cream, Gin, chocolate, pasta and savory crackers.Maybe these can be bought in ST but they aren’t really visible in the shops.

4.30pm we set off to a loyally Posh Hotel ,Raffles, as they have a Happy Hour for Cocktails so instead of $8 each drink we paid $4.

Then 5.30pm down to the water front to see the boat and board the good ship.

It was great to see other Volunteers from our starting group again, those who had gone off to other Provinces, and we were soon chatting about Cambodian experiences so far.

We drank the good old staple (for us anyway) Klang beer.

We set off to cruise the river but as it went dark about 6.30 I soon lost sense of where we were in relation to the starting point.

When I looked over the side we seemed to have a similar boat tied to the each side of us so we were in effect 3 boats fastened together I can only think this was for stability to stop us turning over.

We had a fantastic time and caught a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel. This took far longer than it should as I mistakenly gave the driver the address for the Computer shop I’d visited earlier in the afternoon and told him to watch out for the hotel. There had been a traffic accident on the road and we drove around in ever decreasing circles passing through the middle of the carnage each time.

It was nice to go to Phnom Penh for a change of scenery and the long periods travelling is part of the Cambodian adventure.