first entry from Cambodia/ PP

So,
Here I am now. It’s the late afternoon of my second day in Phnom Penh and I feel alive for the first time since I’m here.
After a really long but smooth flight to Bankok, I nearly missed the next one to PP due to confusion at the gates.
I got picked up before the check out by Suon Soklaing, who gave me my visa (for 3 month), and then we picked up my bags and the helmet. My big blue rucksack was open ( the top bit), because one string broke. I don’t think, anything is missing though. Soklaing is one of the VSO admin staff, middle aged and very quiet. His English is not very good. He picked me up with the car. Only then, on the road with him, reality hit me. So many new impressions and things to see. There are no traffic lights but numbers counting backwards from 70 in red and green. So once your 70 (green) seconds are over , you have to stop. Once your red 70 seconds are over, you can go. And there are different lanes, but that don’t mean anything. Everybody drives as they like. Apperently there is a lack of Vitamin A in the Cambodian diet, so lots of people can’t see very well anymore. Lots of horns are used and of course, cars are allowed anything and motos and cyclists really have to watch out. It s very slow though and it makes an ‘organised chaos’ impression.
The first rule I have learned so far since I’m here is: Don’t stop when you cross the road. Because then you do something unexpected. Vehicles usually drive around you.

the VSO office

I then was shown the room and was offered rest. By then I felt so shattered, that I happily did that. My room is on top of the VSO office and it has two beds with moskito nets and two big fans. Bye then, I was completely soaked in sweat and could take a shower, with warm water! Cold water is only avail. Very early in the morning.

my room, nice and humid

I also met a few other volunteers, one is actually here with Dengue fever, her name is Noel and she is a Health Advisor in Kratie. She felt this aching pain three days ago and couldn’t see properly. So she was advised to come to PP VSO office to have treatment and people around. A few people from different placements from Cambodia were here yesterday because they went today to different places. On Monday starts a puplic holiday so people are using this time to travel using the big airport in PP. Corine is going to Malaysia, Pam and her husband are going to Vietnam, Meghan is going to Laos and Eric is going to Bankok. I would have gone with one of them, but it was too short notice. So I’ll be all on my own with Noel over the weekend.

After I slept yesterday all afternoon ( not very well), I woke up very hungry. There is a supermarket just next to us, so I went there. It’s one of those posh ones, they sell basics there, but no fresh fruit or veg. So I bought a bottle of wine, some crisps, some instant noodles for dinner and some bread and tea and milk. So I had dinner, there is a little kitchen next to my room, and had some wine to help me to get tired. I talked to other volunteers which was very helpful and they said that they all came in a bunch of at least 20 people and they explored the area from day one and could help each other. They gave me really useful insight information and felt sorry for me. I hadn’t thought about that by then and I’m still ok with the situation.

This morning, I had a nice cup of black tea with milk and bread with cambodian marmelade. When I looked closer at the bread I could see, that it was starting to get mouldy. I was hungry and thought, give it a try where it’s not so obvious, and it was tasty. But then, just in the middle about my briefing about security and logistics with my country director Alice, I felt really sick and vomited twice. So I went back to bed for another 2 hours. I woke up feeling hungry and decided to find something else then in this supermarket next door. I must have looked really down, because Jean was still here and asked me what was wrong. I explained to her that I’m really hungry but I don’t know what to eat and where to get it from. She was so kind and said, no problem, I show you around a little bit. So she showed me good places and I had a relly good beetroot salad with walnuts for luch. I also bought some good bread.

After that, we returned to the office and I had a really useful meeting with the programme manager for health, Daniel. He’s origianally from Ethiopia and really nice. I had a good overview about the health programme and my role. I was shocked to hear that women who just gave birth don’t start breastfeeding straight away because they think it’s not good for the baby. They wait for 10 days and give newborns water from a bottle, which is usually not properly cleaned. As an induction method for pregnant women, they press on the belly and start the process pushing it out.
Patients have to pay one ‘over the table’ fee in the hospital to be seen and then another ‘under the table’ fee to the doctor himself. Corruption here is bigger then I thought. But apperently, things are improving a little bit thanks to money donors and dedicated people.

I’ll stay here in PP for another 5 days only, then I’ll travel by bus to Stung Treng with all my belongings. The journey apparently takes around 7 hours. I’m looking forward to that.
Meanwhile I’m supposed to have 3 hours language training per day, but the teacher didn’n know, so he’ll arrive on Monday. So I have now the weekend ahead of me and I’ll try to explore PP a little bit more. It feels a little scary on my own, but apperently it is kind of save. They sometimes do bag-snatching and I’m advised always to wear a helmet on a motorbike.They are lots of european looking people around.

The rain season started shortly before I arrived and it is such a relief, to have the rain around in the afternoon/ evening. There was a thunderstorm yesterday. So I don’t think I have to be too careful with water at the moment. Yesterday I had 3 showeres…
I had a mango earlier on from the mango tree in front of the office. Absolutely delicious. Very sweet and juicy.
I’ll go out now to find a Sim card for my mobile phone to be available and to take some pictures. I might also find something for dinner.

getting filtered drinking water from the office kitchen

written by

katja-horsch on August 5, 2009 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

from the travel blog: first entry from Cambodia/ PP

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first entry from Cambodia/ PP

a travel blog by katja-horsch

first entry

Phnom Penh, Cambodia