I'm back !.....

Blimey ! March 2011 is the last time I wrote anything here, what's happened since then... well I've had a birthday, been on holiday to vietnam and Laos (as well as around Cambodia !), seen irrawaddy dolphins, there's been the mango season and many other wonderfully exotic fruit seasons that have been and gone , rainy season has also been and gone and it's now a cool 27 degrees ...just waiting for it to get hotter and hotter...weekends in Phnom Penh and so much else.... I'll let the photos speak for themselves and try to ensure in the future that I don't leave it so long !

I'm packing at the moment to go to Phnom Penh for the water festival, I can't believe that it's been a year since the last one...! Not participating this time, it was funny enough being in the boat and not getting anyway near the start line, it's going to be hilarious to watch from the promenade !

My First Holiday...........

Off to the North West I go with some fellow intrepid travellers, the idea was to 'do' the train from Phnom Penh to Battambang ( 18 hour journey on a freight train !) but were thwarted at the first hurdle (not running until 2013 so an unlikely achievement......but we did manage to travel for an hour on a bamboo train when we finally got to Battamabang on a bus...reminded of a rather hilarious journey I took when I was last in France....) . Battambang is a very pleasant province near the border with Thailand, its got quite a Parisienne feel to it....river almost made me feel like I was walking along the Seine , coupled with lots of french colonial architecture just added to the overall french feeling about it....visited some Ankorian temples and wats and even had my feet nibbled by a pool full of fish !

After 4 days I was pondering whether to take the boat to Siem Reap as planned as people were telling me it would take 14 hours ! I stuck to my guns and glad I did and it only took 9 hours! Some hairy moments when we got stuck on sandbanks (the river is very low at the moment ) but we made it without having to jump into the water and push! Passed lots of lovely scenery including some floating villages and arrived in Siem Reap (where Ankor Wat is but thats for another time, this was about the boat journey) to find that I'd arrived in what I can only describe as the Costa Del Sol of Cambodia !!

I started my journey home at 5.30am and arrived at 7.30pm but it could have taken 24 hours, it was only having Gideon halt the bus at the half way point that ensured I got home in one day......like they say, its all about knowing the right people !! happy days.....

He's come out !!

It's got to be one of the highlights so far......Tum has come out of the monkhood!! (not sure if that's quite the right term!) It was an incredible celebration of somebody who I admire a great deal. He lost all his family under the Khmer Rouge and became a monk and has been working for the poorest people in North East Cambodia. He set up an NGO which aims to empower people affected by HIV/AIDS amongst other things and feels that he will achieve more by coming out......here are the photos from the celebration and I must say it was an absolute honour to have been there

Stung Treng has been celebrating the life of a monk who died 100 days ago, it sounds eerily quiet now the chanting that's been going on everyday has stopped. The cremation occurred under a very heavy blood-filled full moon and the flames were still going when I went for my run the following morning at 5.30am !......
Just returned from a week in the big city for a week of language training, it ain't getting any easier....I consoled myself with some cocktails at Raffles, very nice, especially the 'Femme Fatale' (this rather pleasant champagne cocktail is dedicated to Jackie Kennedy who had it when she visited in the 1960's). The singapore sling wasn't bad either !
Back home after a 10 hour bus journey. The travelling is okay but I don't think I'll ever not feel slightly nauseous when I'm sitting next to khmer people munching on deep fried tarantulas and grasshoppers! (Definitely some local delacacies I won't be trying !)

The travelling's hideous but it's all worth it in the end!

I never thought I'd say it but the last couple of days have been quite cool, I've been wearing my favourite sweatshirt over my pyjamas (thanks Lorraine!) during the night and this afternoon while reading in my hammock I had a cardigan and a pair of socks on! I'm making the most of it...I know it doesn't last and soon I'll be wishing that I could walk around in my bikini !
Going to the wat on friday evening to teach some english to the orphans who live there with the monks.......so if any of you decide to visit don't be surprised if you hear some south london accents around my home town of Stung Treng!
Some photos of a trip I did over the New Year to Rattanakiri, a province about 3 hours away over a very bumpy, dusty road with Fe, Helen and Evic from Stung Trung and Butz , a group member, who has his placement there. Eco lodges, crystal clear lakes, jungle, elephants and beautiful sunsets reign!

p.s. It's now 5 days later and I'm sweating and it's been raining, it shouldn't be like this but heyho, that's climate change for you.

HAPPY HEALTHY 2010 !

It's the New Year and of course I felt the need to do something new ….turning my life upside down by coming to Cambodia for 2 years, leaving Larry and Lavender with my sister and the comfort of my home is clearly not enough ! So I've started running, I get up at 6am and when I start the sun has not yet risen but by the time I've returned the sky is full of the most beautiful shades of red and the locals are up and about on their motos which I try to dodge which isn't easy as the sweat falling from my forehead blinds me ! Not sure whether I'll manage the 5km run at Ankor Wat but that's my goal and who knows, maybe in 2011 I'll achieve the 10km !

The photos are the place where I work and the rather dusty track I go down to get there !!....I particularly like the view of the cows from my desk chomping away at the grass...