After I arrived in ST from PP on Sunday, my landlady came and brought me lunch. Khmei food. That made me really happy. Although we can’t understand each other, she makes me feel welcome.
In the evening, we were saying farewell to Joelle in her house in ST. It was a great party with lots of lively Khmei people there. We even tried to dance like them, until the power was cut off and we had to light candles to carry on partying without music.
Even my little Channa was tipsy, because he brought Rice wine from Laos and I forced him to drink it with me. Then a thunderstorm came and we went home. Wet.

On Monday morning, I started packing and went again to the RTC to get some documents about previous preceptor supervision in Rat. After that I decided, to carry on and cycle to the “Mekong blue”, one kilometre away from the RTC, were they grow the precious silk from silkworms.
There I met a guy named Makara, and he gave me the full tour.
It’s a really big complex, and they have everything you need to produce breathtaking silk material. When I saw the silkworms, I had to think of my sweet niece Tilda, who got silkworms from her father ones and she always wanted to give them more then four leaves per day. Wonder what happened to them, can you tell me John?
I’ll definitely be back there. They even have a kindergarten for the children of the women who work there. It is a lovely place. At the end I bought a little purse made of silk.

When they arrived at 2:30, there was also Tiri in the car, Hor’s wife. I was really happy. She is so lovely. I was starting to joke that in England they recommended to take a sports bra to Cambodia because of bumpy roads. At the beginning it was ok, although only sand road. But then, it just got worse and worse. We probably drove 20 km/h ( our neighbours in England would say 20 is plenty) for an hour or so and then the rain started and we slowed down even more. But finally we arrived in Ratanakiri and were looking for a place to stay. VSO pays $6 per night, so Sytill and me were staying in a guesthouse and Hor and Tiri stayed at Hor’s brother, who lives here with his family.

I was telling Hor and Sytill about the lake and that I really wanted to go swimming there. So in the afternoon, we decided to do so and we headed back to the hotel, got the swim costumes, towels and some drinks and went to the lake.

It was really beautiful. Because it was a cold and cloudy day, the water colour wasn’t nice. Apparently it is crystal blue usually, but never mind. The water was lush.
Sytill was asking if I wanted to go over there to change dresses, and I didn’t quite understand what he meant, so I said yes, because I thought he meant something like a place to change into your swim suit. When we arrived, there was a house and Hor was talking something about “looking like the Ethnics”. We went into that house and Tiri started to undress. I thought I can change now, but then a woman appeared and wrapped a coloured piece of cloth around me and then I started to understand.

Tiri and me, the ethnic girls

I could hold my breath longer then Hor, we had to laugh a lot though

mmhh, beer with straw

no crocodiles, I checked beforehand

Sytill ordered even wine. He is a dodgy man, somehow very difficult to read. I still don’t feel that the ice between us has broken, although we did all those childish things today. Funny p.

We actually wanted to top the evening by going to a karaoke bar, but Tiri had a bad headache so we went back to the hotel. Hope she’ll feel better tomorrow.

On Wednesday, we had breakfast, then 2 more supervisions in the hospital. The plan was, that the others wanted to go home in the afternoon and I wanted to stay until Sunday.
But because it was raining more or less all the time and I did the lake and also the other volunteer from Rat. didn’t have time to see me, I decided to go back home with them. I would have felt left alone, because I had so much fun with Hor and Tiri and Sytill.

On the way back in the afternoon, we visited a waterfall. We passed a bamboo-clad valley and went then to the Ka Chhang falls, just 10m high,

at the waterfalls

Setyll, Hor, Narem and Tiri

Then I decided to go and see my friend Eric, who likes to be called by his african name: Otieno, in Kampong Thom whom I met first when I arrived in PP. KT used to be known as “place of the big snake”, apparently because the locals used to take offerings to a large snake which lived in a cave on the river, though this may be yet another Cambodian myth as no one now has a clue where the cave is. That’s what my book says.
So I had a few days to see another province. It lies in the heart of Cambodia actually.

The bus ride took around 8 hours and when I arrived on Thursday afternoon, we had some of the famous Stung Treng Coffee ( it tastes a little bit of chocolate and every volunteer in ST is crazy about it) and cake, together with his elderly landlady, he lives with. Oti also has a big house like me, with guestroom and veranda. But he hasn’t got the view onto the river.
He works for VSO but with another NGO called ‘Mlup Baitong’. He works in Livelihood sector, has to do with foresting and farming. I admire his braveness to be black and so confident. Because also for Cambodians it is strange to see somebody so black. And also to see somebody so white. And when we walked together, they were staring and laughing at us.
Otieno is lovely. Although he has three sons already at home he kind of adopted a Cambodian girl and supports her when he can. He also gives a contribution to a very poor family near to his house. And he is still able to save up some money each month to support his family at home. He has a very big heart.
On Friday, we went to see “Sambor Prei Kuk” one of the major temple sites. It is the site of a Chenla-era capital that once boasted hundreds of temples, although many to them have now been lost, perhaps smothered by the encroaching forest. Several temple groups have been cleared, and particularly fine brick carvings and decorated sandstone lintels and columns can be seen.

So I had to take the taxi first to Kampong Cham. In the Taxi we were 7 people. Me and three others in the back, one of the women was very pregnant and 3 in the front. That means 2 on the passenger’s seat, squeezed together for 2 and a half hours. I missed the first bus going to Stung Treng so I had to wait for another 2 hours in KC.

The bus broke down of course and I thought from hearing the crackling engine, that was it. The engine is stuck and we can’t carry on. But the amazing thing is that the bus driver again was able to fix it. No idea how. So after 30 minutes, everybody could come in again and off we went.

It was starting to get dark when I arrived and a thunderstorm was coming up. I tried to find a moto driver to bring me home because the rain started already.

Also when I arrived I had a good feeling of being back in my house. It feels familiar and save. And after a quick catch up with Delia and Helen on the phone, I realized that I’m having a great time here so far and that I’m really lucky to have had my placement offer in Cambodia.
It is a great start for volunteering and living and working in a developing country.

Now, I just want to ask or remember, that if you want to do something good, you could do some fundraising anytime. For example at work, if you ask colleagues to donate even only £ 1 or Euro 1 each and collect it and send it to me, it will make a difference. Please consider it. When I come next year for a visit, I’ll bother you with that. In the JR, girls, maybe you want to put your mark onto the RTC by donating for some water filters for example or maybe even we could improve poorly conditions of student nurses by buying a toilet for them or materials/ equipment for teaching. If you have some money, maybe even some watches for nurses would be a great help. Some students are so poor, they can’t even afford to buy a watch.
I am here, so it won’t get lost. Please contact me for your positive answer.