Tuk tuk adventure part2

The plants and trees were covered in red dust and how the women managed to get their clothes clean I do not know! We got covered in it and this is a picture of our feet(mine in middle) when we took our sandals off to go in a temple.



The temple was one of the few wooden temples left after the Pol Pot regime and Gideon showed us a pillar that had been damaged by his machete or whatever he used. Another one was damaged by termites which was not quite so interesting. Apparantly PP was mad cos he couldn`t stay in the Temple because the spirits were angry ! I don`t blame them!

The outside of the Temple and the inside....

We crossed this bridge and then stopped to give these children some sweets. as you can see they have lovely smiles.

We all got on this ferry to go over to the island where we visited a Muslim village but I did not like to take any photos there.

We came across a school which was completely unsecured and had cows grazing in the grounds. We went into one of the classrooms and this was it. A whiteboard and the oldest desks I`ve ever seen. The biggest classroom we saw had room for 56 children. there was no vandalism and no graffitti. Nothing to steal mind you!
We came back across the Bamboo Bridge which is as its name implies made of bamboo. It is taken down every year when the river floods and rebuilt when it subsides. It is an amazing experience because obviously it" gives" as you cross it and it makes a weird noise.

Anyway that`s the end of my tour. It was quite an experience!

This is a photo of a mango that fell off a tree and nearly hit me on the head while I was fiddling with my bike. However I got my revenge and took it back to the hotel and ate it. It was delicious and so much nicer than the half ripe or over ripe ones you get in the UK.

This is an example of how much a Cambodian can get on a bike!

 

Tuk tuk adventure

Haven`t done much this week except learn, study, eat and drink! But yesterday we went on a trip on a tuk tuk along the Mekong, in fact across the river and visited some of the villages. We left at 8 30 and got back about 2 30. Here are some carts crossing the Kizuna Bridge. (Sorry picture insists on being above text for some reason!)

As you can see the houses are on stilts as the river floods each year.

The people live above and the animals live below.

Transporting tobacco leaves.

Harvesting peanuts-backbreaking work!

These are the peanuts. I must admit I`ve never thought about how peanuts grow.

                                 

                                      Two of our tuk tuks

Another photo of tobacco. You can see how dusty it is. He is wearing a krama, a piece of cotton which is worn by men and women as a scarf or hat. We visited a lady who was actually weaving this cotton.

I am having trouble uploading photos so I will stop now but there is more to come...

 

Kampong Cham

After the hairiest bus ride I have ever been on we arrived in Kampong Cham for our language training. For the people I have not already told I will describe the journey.On the way here I was sittiing in the front seat of the bus which was very scary. I was alarmed by the great big crack in the windscreen and lack of seat belts. The driver was on his phone most of the way when he wasn`t leaning on his horn which seems to be the Cambodian Highway code. It seems to mean" Get out of the way"," I`m coming up behind you", I`m over taking on the wrong side of the road so get out of the way", which  is accompianied by flashing your lights you get the idea!!  He was watching our reaction in his mirror and found it hilarious. The other thing was if there were more people than seats they got plastic chairs out of the luggage hold and they sat the passengers on them in the aisle!!  The drivers mate was sitting on a plastic stool at the top of the stairs, fell off it and down the stairs when we swung a right! Which made us laugh.
We are staying in a hotel while we are here called Mekong Hotel and not surprisingly it is right on the banks of the Mekong about half way between Phnom Penh and Kratie where I will be based.
We get up about 6 30, go and have some breakfast and then cycle about 2 kms to the Western University for Khmai lessons. Our teacher is called Dara and he is very funny but makes you work really hard. We learn lots of vocabulary and then put it into longer and longer sentences, abit like Michel Thomas, Jane.
We are only learning to speak it as the script is beautiful but very difficult. We start at 8 and finish at 12 and are free for the rest of the day to learn our words.
Evenings are spent drinking, eating and doing various "stuff" on our laptops.
Last night, however, we cycled 3.5 kms to Wat Nakor to watch a traditional dance display. It was very beautiful but very different very slow and controlled and told a lot about tradional rural, Cambodian life.
When we had cycled back we went to the night market and had some food. I don`t feel it would pass any Food Safety inspection but I had noodles, vegetables and egg and a hot beer(only hot because it was sitting on the stall in the heat!) here were a lot of children begging but we have been told not to give them anything. It is very hard as the are beautiful children. As we walked away I saw a little girl put our left overs into a bag to take home.
I suddenly came over a bit "off" after that but was told by my medical friends it couldn`t have been that food but to put it down to a change of everything. I went back to the hotel and managed to Skype for the first time and it was lovely to talk to Ellie.
Feel much better this morning , slept in a while and decided to watch Coronation St on i player. Unfortunately you can`t do it here, which is probably a good thing at least I can still listen to the Archers on Podcast!
Anyway you are all up to date now. Here are some photos.

Sunrise on the Mekong

Our Hotel

A Taste of Phnom Penh

 I was in the cyclo behind this.

Wat Phnom

 A monkey at Wat Phnom

 The screen on which we watched the film. To the left and right there were no walls so the film was punctuated by dog fights, alarms horns and general noise!!

 The Royal Palace I think!

Just Chilling!

Sunday
We have a free day today so a couple of us are in the air conditioned coffee shop next door. I think this is better than the well known chains back home!!I am sipping an iced coffee latte and eating a chocolate croissant which is the best I have ever had. It also has free wi fi so what else could I want. The prices are quite high for here about £2 for the coffee and 62p for the croissant. Beer is about 80p for 1/2 litre!!
The food is good here but I am not eating much and was hoping to lose weight but I think the amount I am drinking will make probably prevent that!!
I obviously didn`t read my info properly beacause I thought we were staying in Phnom Penh most of the time but we are going to Kampong Cham further north on the Mekong River on Wednesday for 5 weeks.
Not sure what I am doing for the rest of the day.
I have options!!

First days in Cambodia

Thursday
.I met up with the rest of the volunteers at Heathrow and had a few drinks to calm the nerves. Had a good flight and after a few hours in Bangkok Airport caught the smallest plane I`ve ever been on to Phnom Penh.
Flight was fine and we were met by someone from the VSO office who helped us with our visas.
A short taxi ride later we arrived at the office where we had a short meeting and eventually went to bed. I didn`t actually sleep too badly and we didn`t have to be up until 10!!
Friday
Had a couple of introductory sessions and met the rest of the staff who are all lovely. In the evening we met for a welcome drink and snacks and then went to a bar for a for a drink.
Saturday.
This morning we went for a Cyclo ride to familiarise ourselves with Phnom Penh. A cyclo is a bicycle at the back with a seat like an easy chair on the front where the passenger sits. Well everything I have heard about the Cambodian traffic system or lack of it was true and how none of us got killed I do not know. Motorbikes(and there are A LOT) and cars come at you from both sides and they don`t actually stop at traffic lights!!. It is terryfying!! My driver decided to take me on a different route at one time untill I shouted "No! No!"and pointed where the others had gone!! Quite scary!! We saw most of the sights and went to The Central and the Russian Market. I managed to get a charger for my camera which I had managed to leave at home.Even for someone who likes shopping as much as I do the Russian Market was a nightmare and we couldn`t wait to get out and de stress with an iced coffee.
Tonight we have been to a cinema/media centre and watched two films.One was by a group of school children who did everything but edit the film. They were sitting at the front and were so polite and well behaved. The 2nd was about a Cambodian girl who was HIV who fell in love with a German boy. That was good too and showed Phnom Penh quite well especially the traffic!!
Just having a cup of tea and writing this as most of the others went to watch the Rugby in a bar.
Well as you can see my first few days in Cambodia have been busy and eventful.
I wonder what the next 18 months hold?!