April 2006 in Cambodia

April 2006 in Cambodia

Saturday the 1st
April Fool - and a happy birthday to Paul.

There are several parties being held and organised in Phnom Penh for this evening. I am going to none of them.
By coincidence my Khmer colleagues at the Ministry of Fish have arranged a farewell party for me (despite me still having 2 weeks to go at this point) but they realise that as we approach Khmer New Year, people will start drifting off earlier and earlier; in fact this new year seems to be set to last about 2 weeks

The smoked fish and mango salad – with dried baby prawns, was as good as ever. Unfortunately the boiled pig intestines in semi-fermented fish sauce required only one mouthful for me, before realising that I would be leaving the rest of that dish for my Khmer colleagues to finish off! The whole fried cat-fish was good, the nice thing about fish from the genus panagasius (sp?) is their large bone structure, which means that you can get the flesh off a whole fish quite easily and you are not spitting out bones for the next 10 minutes after taking a mouthful! - okay, no more fish talk, promise! - apart from to mention that the fish, squid, prawn and mushroom soup served at the end of the meal was very, very, good.


Monday the 3rd
Damn Visa !
I received an Email this morning from the VSO office boy reminding me that my Cambodian visa was about to expire, I tried to see if I could get VSO to just renew it for me as they have done over the past couple of years, but as I will no longer be employed through them they are unwilling to do so (fair enough I suppose, grumble, grumble) so this means that I have to get one sorted out myself. Not that it is a complex process, you just hand your passport and a photo over to the proper authorities (or a Visa agent) and pay the fee. How much is the fee? A one year visa is US$250, ouch, guess it will be a lean month after all !


Saturday the 8th
Bye bye Darren
The gang from the Ministry of Fish threw a farewell party for me this evening (see photo above)


Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the 14th 15th 16th
The ‘official’ dates for Khmer New Year…
Also, the official end of my VSO volunteer placement - thank god!


Friday the 14th
Messin’ about on the river
The good ship ‘Hock Sambo’ was hired out for an evening excursion up and down the river by my colleague John, mostly as his sister and her husband are here on holiday.
At 6PM about a dozen of us armed with pizza, spring rolls and cold boxes full of beer set sail round the pointy bit of land which separates the Tonle Sap from the Tonle Mekong and headed north up the mighty Mekong river.
A most enjoyable evening out I must say.

Afterwards we all headed down to the Black and White Bar for a refreshing libation or two and a game of pool – and more of Heng’s homemade spring rolls with sweet chilli dip.

Sunday the 16th Easter Sunday
What do I do with that?
Heng’s mother turned up this evening with a Khmer New Year present for us from Granny up in the provinces. A chicken, not a roast chicken, or a chicken curry or even a ready to bake butterball, but a real live, flapping and squawking chicken – what the hell am I going to do with that ??? Although the cat is eyeing it up in a very funny manner…


Monday the 17th
Chicken Killer?
So after 24 hours I finally asked Heng ‘what the hell are we going to do with that chicken?’

“Eat it” was the obvious reply.

“How?” was my next question.

“You kill it and I will roast it”

I looked at her sideways for a second to see if she was smiling, joking with me.

No, she just had a quizzical look on her face, as if to say ‘why are you even asking such an obvious question?’

Needless to say, the chicken is still roaming free and alive around the place.

The cat now seems scared of it, which leads me to suspect that she tried to take a bite out of it the other night and that the chicken won the fight.

Crazy Khmer kitty.


Wednesday the 19th
Chicken Killer
I get home late from work this evening to the tantalising aroma of roasting chicken.

Peering through the oven door I see a whole chicken roasting in there.

Looking around the kitchen I see no chicken strutting and squawking it stuff, although the cat seems to be hiding under the table as if slightly traumatised?!?

As I wander through to the lounge, I ask
“so where is the chicken?”

“in the oven” comes the answer (in Khmer but I can manage that much)

It seems that Heng’s mum did the deed

Tasty dinner!