Some of the Fam in the Bodge

Almost immediately after Simon left, I met up with Mum, Dad, Andrew and Tara in Phnom Penh. They had spent the week in Siem Reap looking at temples then down to the coast at Kep (where it rained the whole time). It was great showing them around although not without its stresses J

A highlight was the Mekong cruise out to the silk island which I had not done before. Also the performance at Sovanna Phum was amazing, this time it had a lot of acrobatic stuff in it which was incredible. When I went with Simon it was folk and classical dancing and with Tess it was the story of the Ramakin in shadow puppet and dance.

We also took a day trip out to Kampong Speu which they loved (weird I know) and had dinner at Ampe Phnom (complete with ant soup and mystery meat which turned out to be deer). The river there is gorgeous and it was great lying in the hammocks. The monkey temple is a bit lame though.

Apart from that have been on a few interesting field trips around Kampong Speu especially in Basedth and Oral which have been great. We had a big mission go to Oral to check out some endemic problems we have been having with the maternal and child health program there which seems to have improved since.

In Basedth we passed over a bridge WFP had built many years ago, which Ratha was quite taken with hence many photos of us all over the bridge.

Life in the speu continues to be wet and muddy which I am ok with. The latest drama has been my cleaner who I suspect is stealing my underwear and WFP shirts…creepy I know. I asked her about it but it was clear my Khmer is not really up to such complex tasks. If she is taking them (repeat….creepy) I think she has realized I have cottoned on to it so I am watching her J