Slightly demented thoughts of the PinkFish...

Wednesday 1^ST August Apologies – it’s been ages since I last managed to find time to get a good connection to update the blog – you now have a months activities to catch up on! Are you sitting comfortably?? Then we’ll begin………. I’m now back in Kampong Cham for two weeks for more intense language training. The atmosphere isn’t as highly charged as last time, but still there are other places that I’d prefer to be. Language skills are slowly improving though and I’ve been and ordered more clothes… so things aren’t all that bad! Why do people get so irritated when I feed the dog under the table? Please someone give me a reasonable answer! In restaurants here dogs wander around freely and gobble up whatever scraps are thrown on the floor (and this is a lot, believe me!) – it seems very sensible to me!  Sunday 22nd July 2007  Exhausted….The trip to Rattanakiri went well, though now I feel thoroughly exhausted! All this travelling in a short space of time was not, in hindsight a great idea. What did I make of Rattanakiri? It has similarities to Preah Vihear, in that there are visually more disadvantaged communities close to town. The roads are much wider and dustier than in Stung Treng and the houses spaced further apart. Rattanakiri has many more mountainous areas, with dense forests and a number of lakes and waterfalls – very beautiful in the countryside, but also attracting a lot of mosquitoes! Driving out of the main town, Banlong, was a hugely interesting and sometimes hair-raising adventure! I didn’t get a photo of the roads, but I’m not sure the photo would’ve done them justice anyway! Imagine a newly ploughed field in the UK, then add a season of rain, drive a tank through this to create big furrows in the road – and you’ll get the general idea! I was amused to see a button by the handbrake that read “lift for emergency exit”! I had visions of James Bond-style ejections from the roof of he car if it got stuck in the mud! Didn’t see any parachutes though…. I would like nothing more than just to have some time off, chilling at home with the animals, but there is no rest – on Monday I head off to Siem Riep, to visit one of the best hospitals in the country, next week to Kampong Cham for two weeks language training and then for one week at the VSO conference in Sihanoukville (a whole week filled with large groups of strangers and group activities – oh joy).  Is it possible for cats to have hiccups? Smidge is doing little hiccuppy things! Also is it technically hiccup or hiccough? And why do I have all these strange questions in my head???  Sunday 8^th July 2007

How long it take to acclimatise into a different country? About 4 months for me it seems! This morning I got up at 4am to catch a shared taxi to Skun. With bags packed and ready to go I wait outside for the taxi to arrive…. The impossible happens, I feel chilly. Cold enough to put on a cardigan for the very first time since I arrived. What was the temperature? About 27°C inside. Is it possible I will be able to survive in England again?? Smidge and Littleun are not happy with me now that I’m ‘da-leing’^* round Cambodia. At the beginning of the week I had to go to Kratie for a visit to the hospitals there, visiting the students while they were on placement. I was only away for 3½ days, yet when I returned home I couldn’t find Littleun anywhere. I spoke to the very kind people who had been looking after the animals (the Stung Treng Animal Welfare Officers! Aka Maleen, my housekeeper and Hor, VSO assistant) who assured me she had been at the house that morning. So I pace around the house very much like a lost puppy myself, but no sign or sound of bouncy puppy footsteps on the stairs. The next morning there was still no sign. Nor any sight of her by the evening. Now you might be thinking to yourself what’s all the fuss about? Well, when someone tells you 2-3 of their dogs/puppies have gone AWOL and there just happens to be a restaurant nearby that serves dog I think you’ll understand my impending doom. The following morning I had pretty much given up all hope. Maybe she had run away, got chased off by other dogs, got run over by a moto or thought I was not coming back. HOWEVER…! The cheerful end to this story is that when I returned from breakfast at the market on Saturday, who should be waiting for me! My Littleun! Hoorah!But I bet she is cursing me in doggie language today, for now she has returned I have headed off again (this time for longer, please all cross your fingers and toes that she does not run away again!). The study tour that I have been talking about is now underway and I type this from Preah Vihear, lounging comfortably on a firm mattress with clean cotton sheets, perfectly clean room and wonderful mosaic tiled bathroom. If I had but a square of DairyMilk all would be good in the world! I feel no guilt at this luxury a) because I’ve been travelling for 12½hours to get here and b) it’s only costing $6 (£3). Cheap as chips! The drive to Preah Vihear was truly beautiful. We passed so many rice fields, the whole of the Cambodian countryside seems to be bursting into life now the rains are here. Everything is just so perfectly green and fresh. The rice fields in particular are stunning. I’ve been thinking about how to describe them to you but nothing seems to do them justice. The green of the rice stems is amazing, it’s the most vibrant green I’ve ever seen, standing out from the rest of the landscape and assaulting your eyes with their beauty. There are paddy fields outside peoples houses, or sometimes stretching as far as your eye can see into the horizon – you can truly appreciate that this kind of agriculture is maintaining many peoples way of life here in Cambodia.On the way we stopped for a pee break in natures own toilet… I have no qualms about peeing outside in the open. But seriously when there’s a bus load of people potentially watching your backside as you pee, it puts you off, you know?! I’m squatting there, knowing 2 minutes ago I was busting, but now…nothing. It happened in China too. When I know other people are around and waiting, I just can’t get started if you know what I mean! I’m sitting there willing myself “pee, pee, pee! Just PEE, goddamn it!!!” It also doesn’t help when you remember last time you did this a tick befriended you or that another volunteer quite literally ended up with ants in her pants! But I guess you’ll have to take my word on this!  Preah Vihear is visually poorer than Stung Treng to my eyes. The landscape, with its many trees and mountains, makes the living more difficult, there seem to be many smaller houses built from palm leaves, very often only having 3 walls, the fourth open to the elements. There is no running water and I saw little sign of wells for water. Red dirt tracks form the majority of the roads here, now they remain quite dusty, but in the wet season I can imagine how treacherous they could become a very serious problem for health emergencies that would need to travel to the hospital up to 100km away.  I head back to Stung Treng on Saturday after a flying visit to Phnom Penh to get a long overdue and much needed haircut! My next instalment will be from Rattanakiri, then Siem Riep – home to Ankgor Wat.  Before I go though I would like to say thank you for all those lovely people who have kept in touch while I’ve been here. To my family: Mum and Dad, Lyall and Enid (every time I collect my post I always have something from youJ), Jenny and Grandma. To friends: Scully, Clare, Little Clare, Debbie, Carrie, Sharon, Tina and also to my Irish pal, Dolly for sending me those lovely texts – thank you guys.  ^{* da-leing = visiting, travelling, trip}