Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei

Sorry haven`t added anything to blog for a while but have been on Placement Week in Kratie.
this is the trip we went on before we left.
The legend about the 2 hills is-There were two teams, one of men and one of women. they were competing to build the tallest mountain before sunrise. The competition happened because the custom was that a man needed to go to the woman`s parents to ask permission to get married and the men were challenging this. The women lit a fire at night, which made the men believe the sun was rising. They stopped working and the women won.

So men still need to ask the woman`s parents for permission to get married and Phnom Srei(woman hill) is higher than Phnom Pros(man hill)



part of the temple on Man Hill







View of woman hill from man hill

We didn`t walk up all the steps to this hill. I don`t do steps-especially not 300+

We gave some of the monkeys bananas.

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Between the 2 hills is a Killing Field and the smooth shiny bit on this statue is where the soldiers used to sharpen their swords before they killed people. There is a small building with a pile of human skulls inside it nearby and people still search through the killing field for valuables!

Buddha teaching his pupils

One of the highly coloured statues

Thats all really about our trip. It was very interesting.

Last week I went to Kratie and sorted out a house and met my colleagues and the rest of the volunteers. They are really friendly and I had a really good time. I am none the wiser about the job really but everyone feels like that. I don`t have an office but they have given me a table (with a rather lovely artificial flower decoration!!) in the office of the Deputy director of the Training College. There is a school in the college`s grounds which I was taken to and the children were asked to say something to me in English. Everyone asked me how old I was! They wouldn`t get away with that in England! I found a house which is not perfect but I think it will be fine. It has 2 bedrooms a large living room, a proper toilet and shower-no hot water though! Unfortunately I didn`t take any photos during the week cos I had so much to focus on and I will have enough opportunities when I finally get there. Kratie has a lovely riverside where we had drinks and a lot of restaurants. It has a market where I think I will be able to buy most things I need everything else I will have to buy in Phnom Penh. Now I am back in Kampong Cham for another couple of days language training and a homestay where we go and stay with a family in one of the villages for a `Cambodian Experience` I am not looking forward to it at all but its got to be done!!

Will tell all about I post the next blog.