Khmer New Year - Kampot

We decided not to set off too early as we had been partying the night before, so booked our bus from central Phnom Penh around 1.30pm. As Khmer New Year is such a family time Phnom Penh was totally dead - really eerie for such a extremely busy city. As many people had already set off for home or holidays the roads were easy and we were in Kampot in about 3 hours.

Every town seems to have a roundabout with a statue on it - this one looks like a Hindu goddess to me.

We checked in and got some pool time...

"Give me a sun lounger, a pool and a sea view, and I'm happy." - Miranda Hart

...before a nice chilled evening at Villa Vedichi...

 ...and a cracking sunset...

Next day we hired motos and took a look around town.

This was the old Fishmarket that the company my friend works for (and the works do we had just been to) had done up recently - such an iconic building and such an awesome job - really nice place on the river.

We headed over to the Greenhouse on the other side of the river for lunch and a dip in the river...

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus

...and another cracking sunset...

"Keep looking up! I learn from the past, dream about the future and look up. There's nothing like a beautiful sunset to end a healthy day." - Rachel Boston

I noticed a durian tree on the way out - the smelliest fruit ever, I am still yet to be brave enough to try it!

"You can be the ripest and sweetest durian in the world, but there's still going to be someone who hates it. " - Jhanghiz Syahrivar

We drove back into town and bumped into some friends of my friend, so had dinner with them. Lovely to meet new and interesting people! At the time I was weighing up some of my future options and it was really nice to connect with someone else who was doing the same - but more of future plans in future blogs...

For some reason the guesthouse had a hammond organ and a pool table, both directly by our room and largely enjoyed by children from around 8am, so, after a rude awakening,  soon we were up and enjoying our day. We abandoned the motos and any plans and had a real chill day by the pool. Reading and relaxing, swimming in the pool and the river...

...chatting to people, drinking malibu coconuts and trying out the hottest sauce this side of  'Satans Revenge Ghost' Sauce! 

"I've got this thing for spicy stuff. Now, if you give me hot chocolate with chili pepper, a book and a bubble bath, I'm a happy girl.  - Shiloh Walker

Since moving to Cambodia I've started to really love my chili and the heat and seem to have built up quite a tolerance,  this was the third strength of hot sauce I was given and it wasn't so hot?! - for some reason this scares me a little!

We did try to book a sunset river cruise, but the boat never stopped for us, so we watched it pass and had a beer as the sun went down, to be fair we weren't sorry as it was really over crowded!

Next day we were thankfully not woken by children playing the hammond organ and discovered someone had removed the plug - what a shame! breakfast was somewhat more relaxed, and soon we were off to the next spot via Kampot town...

...on our way to Kep, the coast, seafood and abandoned houses...

...I do love a good old abandoned house!

Khmer New Year - Parties and Phnom Penh

"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective." - Gilbert K. Chesterton

Soon enough it was time for Khmer New Year again and some games and fun out by the Baray.

The water in the Baray was really low compared with last year and it was clear we were heading for a drought.

We got comfortable in the shade, had some speeches and reflection on the year we were leaving and prepared to welcome in the new year. 

It newer ceases to amaze me how much energy the students have, they get up to study about 5.30am/ 6am, go to uni, our learning center, evening class, do assignments and often volunteer on the side and are always up for fun and activities. They rarely look tired and work so hard. To me, they are truly inspiring! They played games all afternoon, danced, organised all the food and some still had energy left to ride out to one of the temples.

"To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you." - Tony Dorsett

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." -John Quincy Adams

Most Khmer games involve some element of inflicting pain or laughing at one another - in the nicest possible way. This game involved picking someone to chase with a rolled up kroma (scarf) and hitting them til they got back to their spot again. 

There is another one where songs are sung in Khmer boys v girls and they try to be offensive, others where you throw something and if the other side doesn't catch it they do a forfeit. We also saw some great eating competitions, like apple bobbing, watermelon eating (hands behind your back) and getting covered in talc competitions.

Its lucky to cover everyone in talc - the more talc the more luck!

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." - Michael Jordan

Lots of dancing!

Some of the guys had a swim in the baray and played a game where they had to carry baray water in their mouths to a container - first to fill it won. I was very hopeful Khmer New Year was not spent on the loo! But there was no curbing the enthusiasm.

At the end of the day we decided to drive out to West Mebon - one of the temples, usually only reachable by boat, but as the baray was so low we drove our motos. I'm not sure how my Honda Step made it there and back through all that sand, but it did. One of those times I would have loved to still drive a LandRover.

 We made it!

West Mebon, under (re)construction.

 On the way back we popped out though Wat Svay (Mango Temple) which was a really pretty little temple.

After the celebrations we were off on public holiday for a week, so it was time for me to take a little break from Siem Reap and I headed was headed to Kampot and Kep with a friend. 

"All holidays can be good times." - John Clayton

Our first stop was in Phnom Penh, for her works Khmer New Year party, which I was kindly invited to. Great fun! Lots of dancing. The company is a construction company and never before have I seen male builders slow dancing with one another. Love how the guys are always the first on the dance floor and love it in Cambodia.

And of course more games (this time a type of ceramic pinata) and more talc!

The company is doing some work on the airport in Siem Reap, now whenever I go to the airport all the builders say hello, which is lovely!

Next day, Phnom Penh was a ghost town as everyone had headed to the provinces or the coast for the holidays. After partying the night before we chose to set off a little later and the roads were clear as we drove down to Kampot...

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