Welcome to the Speu

Hi Ya'll
So i am now officially in the speu! Kampong Speu is basically a highway town about 50km from Phomn Penh but it takes like 1.5 hours because of the traffic. Its the Mt Colah of Cambodia its fair to say. Its basically spread along Highway 4 which goes down to the coast Lots of dust ! . My house is about ten minutes from the WFP office which is reasonably sized and comfortable.

There are 3 other 'Barangs' in Kampong Speu and for some bizarre reason they are all Belgians. One works for ICRC and the other two work for an NGO project here. Anyway i went to meet them last night and Thierry (who i have met before- and is moving into the house with me) came and picked me up and we rode over. Problem was that the guy's bike that i was using is like 6 foot so i couldnt even get up on the bike without some considerable trouble. Well my neighbours found it funny at least!

I went on my first food distribution yesterday (thats what it happening at this time of year). Basically the villagers had built a road and we arrived to ensure the food was distributed properly (33 tonnes of it!) Was interesting but i had no idea what was going on but i think that will change over time :)

My house is very nice (kitchen and bathrooms somewhat basic). There is not much action in town, a few local restraunts and the market. There are also a few Karaoke bars which go until about 11 at night which is fun especially when you can hear everything through the wooden walls of your house. That and the giant pig my neighbour has that freaks out every morning at about 5 am. Office hours here are 7:30 to 12 and 1:30 to 5 so i am actually worker longer than with AusAID (what a surprise!)

I am trying to upload some photos of my house but not with a lot of luck. i will try and do it in PPN when i up this w/e for christmas (there is some volunteer christmas thing on which is good). Christmas is also a UN holiday YAAY. I am off to a province called Takeo for an overnight monitoring visit to some distributions of food to tuberculosis patients.

Seeya!