Six Months Already - pram-moie kai howee

Acclimatisation

One of the strangest things about having been here for six months, I think, must be the level of acclimatisation I seem to have achieved.

Walking down the street, things that made me stop and look six months ago now just pass me by as perfectly normal.

* Four Buddhist monks, orange silk robes flapping in the breeze, crowded onto the same 50cc motorbike.

* Five 12 year olds all piled on to the same 50cc motorbike swerving in and out of traffic the wrong way around a roundabout.

* Crossing a road by just walking into the traffic and trusting that people will drive around you

* Taking four hours to have a 30 minute job done

* Eating things that you would normally just stand on and throw out the window [cockroaches, locusts, water-beetles…]

* Eating rice and bacon for breakfast

* Street children, beggars, amputees, et cetera although these do still usually make me stop and reach for my wallet

Of course it has not all been so strange, I can pop round to the local ‘supermarket’ and buy toothpaste and loo roll, even Gordon’s gin or Red wine. But that has to be for special treats, it is far too expensive to shop there every week.

Being able to check my Email everyday at work is another bonus, as is getting messages and news from family and friends back home [hint, hint]

There have of course been some real highlights during the first six months:

* Having friends here on holiday being the top one of them. Including a week at the beach relaxing and also a fair number of shopping trips to the Russian Market - P’sar Tool Tum Pong

* The other volunteers in my outgoing group, fantastic people, friendly, intelligent, all love a gin and tonic !

* Treating myself to the utter luxury of buying a DVD player – not too mention DVD’s (US$3 each for the latest releases – Russian Market)

* Buying a motorbike (Honda KL400) to get myself around, and out of, the city

* Sampling some great Khmer food [not including the items on the list above!]

* Seeing Angkor Wat

* Visiting the National Museum

* Sitting up in a riverside cafe, drinking a coffee and watching the general street theatre that is Phnom Penh unfold before me

* Karaoke

* Only joking about that last one, I could not sing to save my life and go into a panic every time anyone suggests that I do!

Also, my visits out to the provincial projects are usually both entertaining and interesting Spending time with local Khmer families, eating in their homes, getting up at 5am to sit on a fishing boat to catch breakfast…..

- Oh and we do some work as well !!!

Taking language lessons have mastered numbers! Which is actually one of the most important things to know here, all the roads and streets are numbered, plus haggling for your groceries at the local market………

Moving out of VSO accommodation [after 7 weeks] and into my own flat was another milestone, that I think was the point at which I felt ‘yikes, I really am here for 2 years!’ But actually having my own place was a wonderful feeling. I could relax, buy my own food, watch TV in my boxers…

Socially Phnom Penh is quite active, lots of bars and restaurants. But they tend to fall into 2 categories:

1 Ex-pat bars/restaurants full of westerners earning a UK scale salary – with bar/food prices to match…

2 Khmer restaurants/karaoke bars with blue plastic chairs, tin tables, cheap food and drink, but you are ankle deep in chicken bones by the end of the evening and deaf from the full volume ‘singing’

The odd place [e.g. the Peace Cafe falls into a more neutral area, but they are few and far between and tend to be quiet and not very busy

But, all in all, I have had a good six months, know my way around the city fairly well, am starting to make friends with some of my colleagues, have home, cleaner, transport and a small social circle.

All things that will hopefully build and grow during the next six months.

Happy August everyone

Love to all

Darren

SPARK - Nightclubbing in PP the Khmer way

Couple of weeks ago I was dragged to Spark [again] by my dear dear Khmer colleagues, they always go through a similar routine when they take me out -

Park the ministry car right outside the front door, walking up to the doorman say ‘’we have a member of the British government with us, out of the way peasant scum’’ - or something like that in a K’mai equivalent.

After which we were shown to one of those booth-like private tables near the stage, with the requisite 10 members of staff kissing our arses along the way…

When the manager comes over to take our order, there is some debate among my colleagues about Tiger Vs. ABC.

It was at that point I was getting rather bored, so I said, ‘I will have a Johnny Walker, Black label, single piece of ice.’

More debate in K’mai, the manager scurries off, and a few minutes later a waitress arrives with a BOTTLE of JW, an ice bucket and 4 glasses.

So they thought that they could drink and play with the big dog !?!?!!

An hour and a half later I was asking them if we should order another bottle, their bleary, tear-filled, unfocused eyes were suddenly stricken with panic, they was a sudden flurry of activity to attract the waitress and some very very slurry attempts at asking ‘kit loy, kit loy’

They were having to hold each other up as we attempted to negotiate the crowded club. As we get outside, one of them makes a sudden lunge for the large plant pot by the side of the door – lo and behold, re-enter the rice and fish from earlier… one of the others is now sat on the curb holding his head in his hands.

Have not laughed so much in ages !

Traffic Changes in PP

Never mind all this travel around the provinces stuff, what the hell has been going on in PP while I have been away !?!?

Yesterday lunch I headed up to a restaurant near P’sar Thmey as I have no food in the house – yet again.

Only to discover that streets 51 and 63 have now been made into one-way streets, complete with no entry signs and everything.

Of course I was heading in a now illegal direction – along with all the other traffic…

When we hit a police road block. They see 25 Khmers on 50cc Daelim’s and one fat barang on a Honda 400

No prizes for guessing who they stopped …

After much arguing back and forth about the lack of a sign post at the ENTRANCE to the street i.e. before you get on it to drive the wrong way they demanded US$10 !?

I just laughed at them, argued for a while longer and they dropped to US$5

It was at that point that I told them that I was a volunteer, that I had very little money because I was working here with no pay to help
[yes, yes, I know what it sounds like, but hey, I was desperate am skint until payday next week]

The officer looked sceptical about this, and asked if I was sure that I was a volunteer !??! So, I showed him one of my business cards.

‘oh, so sorry’ he said, ‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’

I bit my tongue, shook my head and said that I was sorry, but I was not rich.

‘okay’ he says. ‘but could you buy me a packet of cigarettes ?’

So I hand over a dollars worth of riel with a half smile and head on my way.

I guess you have to admire the man’s honesty

‘I saw the colour of your skin and thought that you were a rich man’