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