A treat day out - Raffles, spa treatment and Phare

In May we finally managed to coordinate diaries with my wonderful friend who had helped out unconditionally with the cats and other life admin things when I was away and we had a lovely breakfast at Raffles, some massages and a night out at Phare acrobatic circus.

Totally delish food and a touch of champers early doors, awesome!

"None of us got to where we are alone. Whether the assistance we received was obvious or subtle, acknowledging someone's help is a big part of understanding the importance of saying thank you." - Harvey Mackay

Double triple somersaults!

 Our students and the Phare team at the end of the show - Pro S'art Nas ;)

A real luxurious day.

"The ultimate of being successful is the luxury of giving yourself the time to do what you want to do." -Leontyne Price

Road Trip! - Battambang

At the start of April we had a work trip to Battambang in order for the team to have a retreat, do some bonding and plan our next strategic plan, have some training and take in some sights. We spent long days training and planning, and some of it was pretty tiring - especially the two days facilitating I did. Around the work days we also managed to see a small national park and waterfall and visit the bamboo train and an old Khmer house.

The team working hard on our plans - all the pictures from the planning days look pretty much like this!

Ever the Brit, I managed to keep the tea flowing...

On the day we drove up we took a trip to a local national park, set in some gardens there were lots of fiberglass and ceramic animals...

There were sharks, zebras, horses, tigers, ellies, rhino and much more, it was kind of cool, but also a bit weird!

From the gardens we headed down to the river and tiny falls....

...we dipped our feet in... and soon enough one of us was in the water....

...shortly followed by most of the girls!

"This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can't see how deep it is." - Dennis Rodman

Just upstream there was a massive family all trying not to float away and get in a huge group photo.

There was also a small family bathing and the dad kept losing his towel and struggling with his dignity, which was hilarious as he flowed downstream trying to keep covered and retain some good towel coverage!

"When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises." - Angela Merkel

Downstream there was also a group of men fishing, one had an electric pack on his back and was stunning the fish so others could catch them, eeek poor fish!

On the final day we headed to the bamboo train. An abandoned train track, turned tourist attraction - you go out about 20 mins on a flat bed train palate with an engine and come back the same way, if two come to meet on the tracks one has to be lifted off. Its great fun as you whizz along, but you really do feel the clack clack clack of the track under you reverberating up to your head. Half way in my back had had enough and we had to stop for the oncoming rain to be taken off the tracks, so I jumped off and decided to spend some time with the ladies who were selling cool drinks out of orange eskies on the side of the tracks. 

"Aaah, summer - that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility. It's a time to hunt for insects, master handstands, practice swimming strokes, conquer trees, explore nooks and crannies, and make new friends." - Darell Hammond

We had a great time. One of the ladies was super keen to improve her English, so she went round pointing at things and saying the Khmer as I said the English. We swapped flower, sun, cow, grass,bike and much more. 

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Gandhi

We pottered off together into the field, picked some flowers, swapped language and made some flower crowns. As is often the way in Cambodia they told me how beautiful I was for being so pale and complained they were dark, I explained how I preferred to be their colour and we joked about swapping - funny how we are never happy with what we have. As a paler person I have been known to use fake tan, and many people in Cambodia use damaging bleach on their skin in moisturizer, deodorant and pastes. Wouldn't it be nice if we were happy with what we have and stopped being sucked in by marketing?!

Soon enough the train came back and I was whizzing at speed back toward Battambang...

The next day we went to see The Ancient Khmer House- the house was rare as its made from wood and is really old n Cambodian terms, its had many uses and has stayed in the same family for generations even after it was occupied and used by the Khmer Rouge as a base. Its now back with the family who use t as a museum and income and also live there.

Later on I had my first KTV experience (kareoke) wow - its a must, a very unique experience!

Most evenings were great fun, eating together, getting to know each other better, shopping and playing games...

Most of the street food in Battambang is amazing - there is a place that serves the best baai set moan (rice and pork breakfast). We ate most meals family style and tried veggie dishes, roasted chicken, duck and fish, noodles, soups, curries and of course lots of rice. 

"Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It's about honesty. It's about identity." Louise Fresco

Unfortunately the only food shot I have is of these skewers - I thought they were pork, but they turned out to be 'chicken islands' to this day I am not sure which spare part of a chicken this is, (it was described as the hamster pouch of a chicken based in its throat, bleurg!). In short its tough and I'm pretty sure its what made me sick for the whole weekend after I ate it! Don't be fooled, some pork skewers are chicken islands!

Without a shadow of a doubt one of the most entertaining and stressful parts of the trip was the travel. 3- 4 hours in a mini bus there and back without enough seats, with constant game playing and singing. Fun and far too much in equal parts! When the singing got too much I handed out the lollipops, all was going well until I realized I had fed singing enthusiasm with more sugar! 

Never heard so much Westlife!!

Soon we were back in Siem Reap and our week of hard work and fun over. I feel we did a great job of taking the organisation forward and also getting to know each other better and having some fun together. 

Back to Cambodia - a trip to Kulen and Pre Rup

Soon enough the end of February rolled round and I was discharged by neurosurgeons, chiropractors and GPs and cleared by the insurance company to get cover and fly back to Cambodia. Being honest it was a bit nerve wracking and I wasn't sure how things would work out, but with life, work and cats  all based out in Cambodia it was time to go back and try to make it work.

The previous 7 months had been really tough, physically and emotionally with some pretty dark and painful days and I remain truly grateful to the family, friends, house and cat sitters, and doctors / admin staff who supported me through that time.

"When you are up in life, your friends get to know who you are. When you are down in life, you get to know who your friends are. There will be many people who will be great to be around when times are easy. Instead take note of the people who remain in your life when times are hard. The friends that are willing to sacrifice their time and resources to help. They are your real friends. A real friend s one who walks in when the rest of the word walks out." - unknown
[And it always seems to be at the times in life when you don't need friendships testing and to find out who is really there that you do find out.]

The flights were about 17 hours, which is pretty good to go all that way, but the jetlag was fairly horrific. I got to the flat to discover one cat had managed to climb out of the window and I promptly fell down the stairs in a panic tying to find him - not a great start, especially with a more than delicate back. It took a few days of feeling all over the place to settle in again but soon things were routine, I got used to working back in the office and caught up with everyone and it was great to see friends and get back into Siem Reap life.

It was nice to settle back in at home and spend some time with the cats again and get more of a social life back.

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." - Sigmund Freud

In the first couple of weeks a few of us arranged a trip to Phnom Kulen to see the big Buddha Lingas and waterfall I love it here.


The big reclining Buddha.


Some smaller Buddhas

Near the Buddha was a small tame monkey running around. To be clear, I am totally against taking wild animals as pets, and often report monkeys that are on chains or being used for tourist attractions to the authorities, several of which have now been rescued. This is the only monkey I've ever seen that was well treated, healthy and as 'well adjusted' as a monkey out of the wild could be. The people with it didn't have it on a chain and weren't using it as an attraction and were really bonded and showed great affection to one another. The monkey came up to two of us out of the group for a little play and a groom and hopped off when he had had enough. In a country where animals can be treated pretty badly sometimes, this monkey was doing ok - though it was still a real shame he was not in the wild - would have been interested to hear his story and see if a better life could be found for him though. The people looking after him were day tourists too, so no point in reporting it. Lets hope he is having a good life and a better situation for him has been found now.



"If you had a million Shakespeares, could they write like a monkey?" - Steven Wright


Reminded me very much of when I lived in Namibia, super nice to have a monkey cuddle.

Next we headed down to the thousand lingas in the riverbed, each bump (like the pavements to help people with sight difficulty by the road in the UK) is a linga, there are also other carvings in the riverbed, which I think are Hindu.


Next we headed on to the waterfall itself. Our driver, also a friend, wasnt too keen on the actual driving at this point as his hammock had gone up, but we managed to get him back to work and down to the waterfalls. The hammock was about to go up again, but somehow I persuaded him into the falls and we had a good swim and got right under the falls itself, great fun!


Upper falls.


Lower falls. 

There are some fish that give you a nibble in here too and its nice and deep for a decent swim, with no mosquitos - I love it here!



There were lots of monks visiting on this day, all having fun too.

"I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less." - Dalai Lama

A few weeks later we headed to one of the smaller red brick temples for sunset- Pre Rup. I had never seen inside this temple before, so it was a good opportunity. After 5pm or 5.30pm its free to get into the temples, so we headed straight up after work.

Its a nice alternate for sunset.

We had some fun looking around and posing...

...and wouldn't leave at kicking out time until the poor (good humored and kind) guard had taken a photo of us with everyone's cameras from a couple of different angles - poor fella.

We headed to town next for diner and a few drinks. Nice to be getting back into life here.

"I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun." - Charles R. Swindoll

Blighty 2015

Early July 2015 I had return flights already booked for the UK. This was great timing as after the moto accident in February I had been really struggling with my back again and was really finding it hard to get around. Sitting and standing were painful and I felt very twisted up all the time.

As soon as I landed I was at the chiropractor who started work on me, I was hopeful that a couple of appointments would do it and I'd be good to go for flights back in early August. After a couple of appointments with her it became clear that was not the case. I went to see the GP for more painkillers and a referral for an MRI. The GP was really hard work and pretty horrible, indicating I should just get on with it and being rather anti chiropractor, eventually he agreed to the MRI and the scan and results were out within a month. Two herniated discs and a trapped nerve later revealed I was stuck in the UK until further notice. I spent the next 7 months in a lot of pain travelling between the GP, chiropractor and neurosurgeon, narrowly escaped spinal surgery and had to have a spinal injection. Movement was limited and I was still working for my job in Cambodia, so my time was occupied, but being in constant pain and fairly immobile was debilitating and pretty depressing. At times I couldn't walk further than 5 mins without being in pain and having to sit or lie down, wasn't allowed to sit for longer than 20 mins and had to stay as mobile as possible despite how much it hurt, I thank painkillers and a tens machine!

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

It was quite important to try and keep my spirits up as the whole experience was pretty rough. So around medical appointments, work and resting / being in pain I did manage to do a few nice things. 

"Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain." - Joseph Campbell

Mum and I had a short trip 'up north' and took in some lovely countryside and called in at Vindelanda archaeological site...

We went to Banburgh castle to have a look around...

...and some stormy sea.

The castle was impressive outside and in...

...and there was a private apartment upstairs - imagine living in a castle!

"A man's house is his castle." - James Otis

Somewhere in the castle there is a well, which is also a tunnel to the village green, apparently sometime in the last 50 years some young school boys climbed into the hatch on the green and climbed up into the castle, the castle owner was too impressed to punish them!

We then headed to Lindesfarne...

...and saw the castle from outside...but could not go in as there was a wedding.

There was also a piper to pipe in the wedding guests...

"These are bagpipes. I understand that the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. The man made sound never rivaled the purity of the sound of the pig." - Alfred Hitchcock

This was such a wonderfully wild and remote feeling place.

Upturned boats turned into small sheds or rooms or dwellings...

Lovely harbour...

...and even an old fashioned telephone box!

The castle had a garden for flowers and herbs...

"A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them." - Liberty Hyde Bailey

[reminds me of Mr McGregors garden in Peter Rabbit]

Whilst on Lindesfarne we also saw the Abbey...

There was a role playing society doing their thing...

Before heading to Bowes Museum in a very old grand house and estate...

During out visit there was Yves St Laurent Collection showing...

"Give me a museum and I'll fill it." - Pablo Picasso

"Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it." - Yves Saint Laurent

One of the main exhibits here is the mechanical swan made of silver with many moving parts that only shows once a day - very beautiful.

We drove back through the English countryside - super green after Cambodia.

On this trip home I was also lucky enough to catch up with family, the girls from school and some friends from London. 

Sadly despite the length of the trip I was pretty held back with the back injury, so there were many people I didn't manage to see, but hope to soon.

"Good friends are like starts. You dont always see them, but you know they're always there" - anon