An active weekend in Stung Treng !

Coconuts being cut down in my garden

I was woken with the sound of shouting and laughter and looked out and discovered that some young lads were having a good time cutting down the coconuts from the tree in the garden. The job was done very swiftly and before I knew it they were whisked off on the back of their motorbike to be sold at the riverfront at a whopping 50p each ! I highly recommend them, they're absolutely delicious and apparently full of all sorts of wonderful nutrients. I'd spent the rest of the day trying to think of a dessert that did not contain a can of 'My Boy, My Girl or My Captain'....they're tins of sweetened condensed milk that most of the desserts contain which I must admit I got slightly hooked on, especially with the coffee, until my last visit to the dentist resulted in 4 fillings ! So I consulted Delia on-line and the BBC for ideas for desserts which are chock full of wonderful, delicious recipes but of course, I can't get any of the ingredients here...! Here's where the toiling starts as I now have to be creative! So struggle I did, but finally I presented a puree of mango on a chocolate and cappucino crunch base ! It went down rather well....! The theme of the evening was magic ! This came out of a very casual evening at the vietnamese noodle place (one of my favourite places to eat here in stung treng). When the owners 8 year son started showing Linda and I some tricks he could do with elastic bands, VSO, being all about sharing, resulted in us saying to him that next time we will come with some tricks to show him hence spending a lot of Saturday practicing card tricks .......even though I say so myself I can do a pretty nifty trick without even touching the cards..... You'll be impressed, I guarantee it!...
Excitement all round as there's a massage parlour that's been opened here which isn't a cover for a brothel....I hope, it certainly has signs up saying no sex, no drugs so let's hope they keep it that way. Spent a very pleasant hour sunday afternoon in an air-conditioned room having my head neck and shoulders massaged.....don't think sundays get much better in Stung Treng.......

One of the many beautiful temples at Ankor Wat (Bayon Temple)

So my new year's resolution was to keep this blog updated, it's nearly July and it's about time I put that into practice....!
I'm back from a forum in Siem Reap, that place where a whole heap of extremely old and rather beautiful temples are called Ankor Wat....
I was there for the first 'Preceptor forum'. It's a start, at least it was an event that was put on at a national level which, to me, means that there is an element of interest of the issues and challenges that the preceptors are having at their hospitals. It was interesting to hear that most are having the same problems i.e. not enough staff, too many students, financial incentive not high enough for them to want to do the job...sounding all very familiar to me !
It was quite amusing to be listening to a secretariat from the ministry of health banging on about how important it was for the staff to be committed to their role as a preceptor....I don't know anyone who would be committed to their work if they were paid such little wages as the nurses do here (the equivalent of about £40 per month). It's cheap here...but it ain't that cheap!!
I spent most of the time with my volunteer assistant Channa and a clinical instructor. We ate and drank beer and were having a jolly old time together (you know, like mates do) so you can imagine my shock and utter dismay when, after discussing plans to get back home over lunch, the clinical instructor came back from the afternoon session, picked up his bag and said that he had found a taxi with another colleague and waved bye bye to Channa and I.......I was positively flabbergasted!!!
Channa, my volunteer assistant