Nov/Dec 09

All that training was worth it...

On the 5th of December, Holli, Delia, Helen and me made our way from Phnom Penh up to Siem Riep by bus. We stayed in the very familiar Smiley’s guesthouse and were looking forward with great anticipation to the next day of the Ankor Wat marathon.
Meanwhile, three of the new health volunteers travelled to their placement with all their belongings up to the far Banteay Meanchey in the North West of Cambodia after the last ICT day and just about made their way back about 7 pm for their registration.
At that time Helen from Stung Treng was enjoying the best Spaghetti Carbonara in the Temple bar together with a few drinks and fellow volunteers. That night, Holli did a magic recovery from her illness and at 5:30 the next morning on the 6th of December, the Tuk Tuks were waiting outside to bring us in the dark and a rather chilli breeze to Ankor Wat.

Ankor Wat in the sunrise

When we arrived, we saw the sun rising over the Temples.

Yes, we are ready to go

The excitement of the experience took over and the crowd with all those people ready to run or wheel…

warming up for the 10k

Holli and the other runners

Jan Paul, Susan, Vic, James and Helen B. started just after the wheelchairs, and run amazing 21 km.

Helen S. run admirable 5 km. Alison, Delia, Oli, Holli, Roger, Suzanna, Trisha, Pat, Ella, Yanni and me did the 10km and although I wanted to take it easy, I also wanted to give everything.

running with the elephants

On the way I saw Roger taking pictures and he said to me: “This is not a run, this is a photo shooting”. And he was right.

beautiful szenerie during the run

The scenery was stunning and while I was admiring the Bayon Temple, Trisha was passing me, fast as light. No wonder she won the 10 km and got a medal, she did it in 40 min!

Trisha, the proud winner of the 10 km Ankor Wat run

Oli followed her closely and I did it in 56 min, my personal best so far.

cooling down straight after the run

56min, Oli finished after Trisha, and winning 40 min

Our cheerers and photographers Paul, Perry, Emily, Tim, Leoni and Lucky gave us great support.

here comes Alison!

From the VSO team who run the 21 km, James arrived first, closely followed by Helen B. Then JP reached the finishing line after around 2 hours. We were all waiting for Susan and Vic, but eventually they arrived. Vic got bad knee pain during that run and couldn’t carry on. Susan stayed with her to make sure, she was ok.

not only people run with us...

At around 10am it was all over.

streching and relaxing after the run

We thought we deserve a little treat after pushing ourselves so much. So a few of us went to one of those posh hotels in Siem Riep and relaxed at the poolside, with good food and a full body massage. Ahhh, again!!

after the run, nothing could have been better

a full body massage, just what we needed

I don’t know where some of us got the energy from but of course, we had an after party. Susan was desperate for a cocktail and a few Banana daiquiris and Ankor- Wat- sunsets later; we hit the night market, followed by the entertaining Pup Street.

The next day, our travel started early again and 12 hours, a bus-, minivan- and taxi ride later, we made it back from Siem Riep to Stung Treng.

14 barangs in a van with luggage tied tight onto the back

after nearly 12 hours travelling from SR back to ST

For some of us it was the last time of being together in this formation. Tim has left the country by now after finishing his 2 year placement, so has Trisha. Delia will fly back on Friday. You are all greatly missed and it was an honour to know you all.

Marry marry Christmas and a happy New Year 2010! From Katja

Aricle for Nek-Smek-Jet newsletter

Apart from running and partying ( we had our new-volunteer-welcome-party in the name of VolCom on the last day of our ICT before we went to SR, and Oli and me did a bit of DJ-ing and animated the crowd to play musical chairs…), I kept an eye on funding agencies for the new student accommodation building in Stung Treng. The civil engineer from Stung Treng made a great building plan and we have now the sum of the overall cost. The proposal is written, everything is ready to go, but no money found yet…

Being back in Stung Treng after all that time (was away for 2 month) felt like a relief. It feels so familiar now and like home. My lovely house, my own bed, my own space. The girls waited for me at home and they had a big meal for me prepared. They had moved back into the RTC accommodation, but waited for me all day long. It was so lovely to see them again, and they are my good friends now and I miss them when I haven’t seen them for a while. Finally, they are in their 3rd year of nursing, they passed their second exam and are more motivated then ever.
They have now English lessons every morning from 6 to 7, then school. Also they asked me to show them how to type on the computer, they call it: play computer. So I have them around and let them type English texts into my laptop from a nursing book.

Back in the RTC, the teachers and the director were pleased to see me, like old friends. Now that Carol is here as well, it feels less stuck somehow and probably we inspire each other. I really like her and have the feeling we are on the same wavelength, she has such an engaging laugh and positive spirit. We are 4 VSO members now, sitting in our new office together with Mr. Tat Sovann (the chief of the technical office) and Madam. Sophany (Deputy of the technical office). We have internet now at work, finally! That really makes a lot of things easier. The cable is now long enough, but I think I won’t have internet at home, it would be too expensive. Knyom nek-smet-jet, to mean loy charan, as I say in Cambodia (I am a volunteer, don’t have much money).

The dry season has started now, that means it is still very hot during the day, the sun is burning from the sky, the roads are very dusty and there is dust everywhere actually, but at night time it cools down and it is rather chilli in the mornings. Also, I haven’t seen rain for nearly 2 months now. This season will last until around May. Then apparently the rain will start again.
And in all that hot and sunny weather, Christmas time has arrived. It feels weird for me and I wouldn’t mind having Christmas at all, but Carmen is visiting me from England over Christmas, so we will join the vol’s in Kratie, where they do Secret Santa and Christmas party with singing and biscuits and pudding and so on. Also I haven’t really send presents out to friends and family. So I apologize for that. I just don’t feel up for it.
Have seen on the German channel in telly, called ‘Deutsche Welle’, how the Christmas market in Berlin was opened this year. It all looked very lovely and made me feel homesick and blue…

Dry season also means wedding season. I have 3 invitations already for December, but was only able to attend one. It was an invitation from the sister of one of the teachers from the RTC. I’ve never met her. But we all were invited and I put my traditional sompot on. I wasn’t feeling well, caught flu from the cold nights, but it was nice. First we ate, then we drank (usually Beer with ice, but couldn’t drink because of my medications for the flu), then I had some conversations with the very drunk teachers, who also were invited. It is really funny, but it is the second time I witness those drinking orgies now and each time, I talk to Mr. Tat Sovann from the RTC (who was also a guest) and when he is drunk, he gives me proper information. Usually he is so stiff and tight lipped, but then he is all smiley and tells me everything we want to do in future and what to change and who with whom. I try to concentrate then to remember, because when he’s sober, he never tells me those things.

After the drinking, the dancing starts. But this time, the bride and groom started to dance first around the table which was loaded with fruit. It was so funny, because the music that played to that was Happy Birthday. Then they even had a cake they were cutting while posing to the photographers. The bride changed her dresses 4 times that evening. Around 9 pm, Channa gave me and Carol a lift back home. On the way, his back wheel went flat and we had to walk through the clear night with the sky full of stars…

It wasn’t the first time that weekend, that the tyre of a moto gave up. The day before, on Saturday, Maria, Ferdi, Carol and me decided to have a little moto trip around Stung Treng and also to O’Russey Kandall. Ferdi had Maria on his moto and I had Carol on Delia’s Moto.
We first went again to ‘Mekong Blue’, the Silk and Weaving Centre’ from Stung Treng. Makara gave us again a great tour and I was able to give them two of my stained clothes to dye. It was cotton, so they couldn’t use the silk dye. They only had black furniture dye, which was ok.
Then we drove to the old airport and on the way to the main road, the back wheel made: puff and went flat. We managed to get it repaired by a local, whom I picked up from the nearest ‘garage’. The tyre was completely burst.
Then we toured to O’Russey Kandal and had a nice picnic with the feet in the cool water. It is also a Butterfly sanctuary there. It was lovely.

Yesterday we had Delia’s Goodbye dinner at Mr.T’s. She left a lot of her things here and gave me also a few. It felt like my birthday. Oh I will miss her so much. Carol lives now in her house and Maria is taking over her position at work. We are all replaceable in a way.
I hope I stay in touch with her. We want to meet one day in Berlin. She did an awful lot for the nutrition programme and saved many lives because of that. Now she is going back and her ‘husband to be’ is waiting for her. Isn’t that lovely?

written by

katja-horsch on December 16, 2009 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

from the travel blog: Nov/Dec 09

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a travel blog by katja-horsch

Nov/Dec 09

Phnom Penh, Cambodia