Wed 5th Mar - Woke to the sound from the local buddhist temple that seemed to carry a long way. Early breakfast on the top floor of the hotel as the sun rose. Nice start to the day. Booked on a Capitol bus to Phnom Penh leaving at 7am which turned out to be a nice comfy bus. The route out of town passed through a very squalid part of the town. Despite the poverty that exists here, I wish I could understand how people can live is such dire surroundings and not want to do something about it. A market area where people are dealing with food, spread out over what looked like a rubbish heap. The reality is obvious in that they generate rubbish every day and have nowhere to dump it, so It just gets strewn around...day upon day.
Once out of town the road is good quality tarmac, so able to set a good speed with a few stops along the way. Something else from yesterday. Most of the villages have no elecricity yet. Some entrepreneurs have installed generators and charge for their use on a metered basis. They also charge batteries with the generator and people who live more remote have an exchange arrangement with them.
Got to Phnom Penh a 12:40 after a couple of stops and the bus to Sihanoukville was only a few metres away and due to leave at 13:10. No eating places at all In this bus station so had to hope there would be somewhere later to pick up lunch. As it turned out, the bus spent almost an hour stopping at other places in PP before we finally hit the road out of town.
Arrived in Sihanoukville at about 5:30pm and picked up a tuk-tuk from the bus station to Serendipity beach where I am sharing an apartment with my lovely friend Victoria I met in Laos. It was wonderful to meet up again after only 10 days apart. Straight for dinner and a drink at the 'Cloud 9' restaurant, just below where we are staying. A chilled place with matted bamboo platforms overlooking the sea to sit and eat at. The apartment happens to be the highest place in the area and offers a superb view, although a bit of a climb to get to. We are lucky to have our own open plan rooftop lounge area complete with hammocks. We can genuinely say we are above cloud 9!
Thu 6th Mar - I will be staying here for a while and getting involved in the non-profit NGO project that Victoria is here to manage as a replacement for a dutch lady who is returning to her home in Ibiza soon. Called the 'Cambodian Children's Painting Project' and begun in january 2005 to support children from disadvanaged backgrounds and help them develop their natural talent whilst enjoying themselves. The child's health is looked after (medical and dental) and any issues that affect their lives are dealt with by networking with other NGOs in the area. They also get fed whilst they are there.
I was helping to make some rain screens for an outdoor painting and storage area along with one of the cambodian guys Pip who helps to run the center. Victoria had also managed to bring over a couple of ukeleles from Australia which the kids loved and we soon had some entertainment going. I am going to enjoy my time here as everyone is very welcoming.
Fri 7th Mar - My Birthday (48 boohaah...) and just wanted to chill today as I haven't fully shaken off this illness I have had recently. Victoria had got the day off work, so we could be free to explore. Managed to find a net cafe to talk to my kids in the UK before they went to school, which was special. Times like this that I get a bit homesick.
Celebratory cocktails on the beach In the evening and a lovely dinner of freshly barbecued red snapper...and then the torrential rains started along with fork lightening. Adjourned into one of the bars playing some nice latin music and entertained the locals with some salsa dancing.
Sat 8th Mar - A bit of a treat today as it's 'Women's day' and a national holiday here. To celebrate, one of the guys known by the center manager is taking us all out on his boat today. Joel is a great character and is very much a philanthropist, who is sponsoring a cambodian child through her education. He had recently bought a traditional boat that will be renovated for next season, but is seaworthy enough to make use of now. We set off following the headland and pulled in at a quiet stretch of beach for lunch. We had to swim part way and wade the rest once it got shallow enough.
After a nice seafood curry and wine, we made our way back to the boat, which unfortunately had got stuck in the sand. A major amount of effort to get the boat dislodged. In the process, the long shore drift had tangled the anchor with the anchor from a boat nearby. In the process of sorting it out, the captain managed to partially demolish the housing on the other boat. We were glad to get out of there!
The boatyard we returned to was quite an experience and not as swish as a western upmarket harbour would be. We got moored up at the end of a series of old boats and had to clamber over other boats and planks to get onto dry land, with dogs yapping at us continuously. It was a real shanty town of industrious activity built on stilts. People building and repairing boats in amongst other people doing welding work or machinery repairs, other huts prepairing food and kids running around in amongst the squalor playing games.
Sun 9th Mar - Day spent catching up as haven't stopped for a while.
Mon 10th Mar - Helping out at the center again today, building a display easel and general stuff. The main center manager is ill in hospital in Phnom Penh and the Cambodian assistant is having a day off so it's a bit short of help today. Every day you hear about another scam going on that highlights the amount of corruption in this area, especially amongst the people in power. Cannot go into detail as you never know how information gets spread around.
