Fun in the Sun (well looking out the window at the Sun)

So bright and early (well about 7) we headed off to our annual WFP retreat in Sihanoukville. I made it just in time for last years retreat and the 2008 retreat was held in 2007 for some financial accounting reason and was probably my last one. Its a great opportunity for people from all over the country to see each other once again.

I rode in the rear car with our national logisitics officer (Eng) and the M+R officer (Liu). I wasnt on the bus with everyone else so all my colleagues gave me shit about that. And the convoy system didnt really work cos the first two buses turned one way and the others another way!

Eng is a really interesting character. He talks...a lot. But he told me his life story which was fascinating. He escaped the Khmer Rouge by hopping on a boat with tonnes of other people and sailing over to Malaysia. There their boat sank and the Malaysians rescued them, gave them a new boat and deported them again. Eventually he ended up in a refugee camp in Indonesia. It was there he got a job working for an NGO in the camp and learning english (and Bahasa!).

Sihanoukville is the main tourist beach area so its a bit overcommercialised and i dont really like it that much. But the hote/casinol was nice (although i think a few of my colleagues lost their fair share of $ there) and the food was awesome. I found this sign particularly amusing.

Plus it overlooked this island that was bought by a Russian millionaire to develop then promptly arrested for child sex charges.

Basically the days were spent listening...

and lecturing...

and posing for team photos

and wearing that horrific star trek/ten pin bowling grey team t shirt. I won't bore you with the details of business planning etc. Although we did do one personality test which told me I ""appear withdrawn or holding back", "have an active internal life, not external life", "can be immobilised my external stimulation" and "can become single minded and ignore people".

The first night i went out to dinner with the other Assistant Heads and the Country Director which was good cos i have always had a complex that the country director hates me. but we got on well. Other nights were spent predictably drunk and at karaoke. My team took along the other two assistant heads to karaoke and predictably their minds were blown with my renditions of 'heal the world', 'killing me softly' and my old staple 'Hello'.

The final night was the old mega seafood bbq and free beer night which led to much embarrassment and merriment. The next day I shot home to the Speu and ontoa plane for my holiday in oz.

Beginnings and Ends

So last night was a bit about hellos and farewells. We cycled up to Inge’s house which is by the market to have a farewell dinner. Inge is a Belgian lady who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross at a rehabilitation hospital here (mainly physical therapy and prosthetics). She has been here for about 2 years and for the year I have been here it has pretty much been just me, Thierry and her as the only foreigners. She is a lovely person and we will miss her.

As well as her, Thierry himself is leaving after an unbelievable 3 years in the Speu (surely a record!). He is probably moving on to a job in Vietnam so hopefully I will get a chance to catch up with sometime cos he is a cool dude. His replacement Marie-Helene just arrived and she seems really cool as well and she is bringing her family in tow (2 kids and a partner). So when I arrive back from Oz the foreigner of Kampong Speu will consist of 4 Belgians (two adults, two kids) and me! I have heard there are some fly in fly out foreigners but I have never seen them.

So I think I will move house when I get back. There is no point having this massive house with just me. So I think Marie-Helene and her family can have this place and I will move into the landlady’s house across the road. A few WFP staff board there and it’s living with her family so it might be a bit more of a cultural experience for me. I will have my own space (kitchen, bedroom, bathroom) so it’s probably a good balance. I haven’t actually seen it yet but I will check it out soon.

Its a bit sad seeing people coming and going but I guess that life, the friends I make like Anna and Cristy (although Cristy is working for CARE over here now) who used to work at WFP as well as other random friends like Stephanie and Alexa (hey development is dominated by women don’t you know!) always seem to be packing up and leaving just as we become good friends. But it’s kind of interesting becoming the old hand at things.

Ummm apart from that I am being stalked by Blinky. On Friday he jumped on my head and freaked me out and Thierry said that last night after I went to bed and closed the door that Blinky made his way around the walls and under my door. Creepy.

Last week I was out at Pursat province (a province we are expanding our operations in) which was nice. Mostly focused on assessing the new partner in the Maternal and Child Health Program. They seem competent but we are unsure about their resources to actually achieve it. But as usual field experience always gets ridden over by the policy wonks at the country office. One thing I have learnt is that AusAID was not so peculiar in this way :)

We were out at one site and this mother put her kid in the basket of her bike and it looked so cute (well all the kids over here are so cute!) that Mony insisted that I run to the car and get my camera. Pursat is also famous for stone so I bought a cool Jayavaraman VII head (of Bayon temple fame). I am flirting with the idea of having something unique carved as a good memento.

At the office I have been preparing the business plan for next year and the process was so much easier than last year so that’s an encouraging sign. Also in light of the Algerian bombings where the UN offices were bombed and many people killed (including 1 WFP staff member) we are doing security upgrades at the office.

So the other night I bubble wrapped the hell out of a few presents I have bought so I am geared up to return to Oz but before that from Wednesday to Friday we have our annual retreat which will be fun. Apparently I am riding in the rear security car of the convoy. Not really sure what that means but sounds fun :).

History Repeating

Hi Everyone

These past few weeks have been a bit interesting. For one week I was OIC as Mony was away on holiday so that was fun (although frustrating cos i had to stay in the office for most of it signing things and getting constant phone calls from the Country Office!). The main thing we are doing at the moment is baseline surveying. Our current project concludes this year and will be replaced next year so before that they want to survey the villages we are working in now and survey them after the project to see what impact we might have had.

Luckily the next week I headed up to Kampong Chnang with Ratha, Piseth and Vuthy to do some sampling in the food-for-work villages for next year. One of them is Srae Ouk which is a really interesting village which we have worked in for some years. It is a mixed village meaning it has Cham (Muslim) and Khmer (Buddhist) areas within it. It is a remarkably poor village that suffered a lot in the civil war. Everytime I have been there there is this Cham couple that always invites us in for a snack so this time it was a coconut in the breeze, last time grilled beef but its just so incredible pleasant. Riding around in the back of the pickup (sorry ute) is fun as well.

The surveying was interesting, people are subsiding on remarkably little in the most cases. Although I am sure we didn't pick up all their sources of income some households (5+people) were living on around $100 a year.

So I have now clocked up one year (Dec 8) in Cambodia. Its funny to see things repeating with the seasons. Papayas are now in season, jackfruit tree at my house is flowering again and the weaver ants are licking their nippers whenever i walk by.

People are completing the harvest and drying their rice and the land is turning brown as the rains havent fallen for some weeks now. The mornings are cool but the days are still very hot. And the food-for-work season is beginning so I really feel I can make a good impact in 2008 (having spent most of last year learning).

However I must say I am really fixated on my trip to oz so I am really looking forward to it. But before that we have our annual retreat next year (which for my office means pissup!).

Lost Cities and Escaped Animals by the River

Hi All

On the occasion of the Water Festival Holiday I fled to Kampot Province near the coast. I normally would have braved the Water Festival (where thousands of people from the provinces converge on Phnom Penh to watch boat races) but I was feeling like a relaxing holiday, most of my friends were skipping town and hotels were full so I figure I will go next year. I was meant to go with Kurt from Kampong Cham office but he got stuck in Preah Vihear.

So on the Friday I heard my alarm go off at 6am, got up at 9:30am and was on the highway flagging down a share taxi by 10. I hopped off at Chom Chao just outside Phnom Penh and stood around awkwardly because for the first time no-one came up to hassle me to get into their taxi, in fact i was pretty much ignored! There were so many people hopping into share taxis but after about an hour of enquiring I was off to Kampot with 25 other people in the van. A few hours later I arrived and checked into the lovely Heng guesthouse ( a bit out of town but the people are great and they lend u a bicycle while u are there).

Kampot is a sleepy, French inspired town stretched along the river with big mountains in the background. I think it is well in the running to replace Kampong Chnang as my favourite town. I have been here a few times with work but its always in late and out early so never much time to appreciate it.

The next morning was election day and being the pseph addict I was jittery about the end of the lean years of social policy. So to distract myself I went to the zoo, Tek Chhou Zoo. This was one shitty zoo. In my time I was there I saw maybe two staff members, I think they use statues like these to simulate staff members

plus the demonic moose for effect I guess.

and saw some probably quite unhappy animals (although they seemed more comfortable that those in Ho Chi Minh City Zoo) and none of them were riding bicycles so I guess thats a plus.

Still it doesn't fill you with confidence when you see torn open fences and at least two animals escape from their cage including this fellow

Oh and apparently Barang's like going fishing for crocodiles?

Anyhoo after that I returned to Kampot town and spent the afternoon clicking refresh nervously much to my delight. After getting loaded and filling up on seafood in a celebratory dinner, I returned to the hostel and met some nice English volunteers and played shithead over gin for the rest of the night.

The next day we headed off on a tour of Bokor Mountain (which was the main reason for coming) and met up with some older Australians who evidently didn't share my enthusiasm when I started gushing when they mentioned we had a new Prime Minister - but they were quite cool. Bokor was an old town built by the French high in the mountains as a retreat during colonial times. It now lies abandoned and is situated in a gorgeous national park and was the site of fighting between KR soldies and government/Vietnamese soldiers during the civil war.

But to get there required the most amazing ride. Two hours in the back of the pickup up 1000m on the most appaling road dodging jutting out branches. But the scenery was the most amazing natural scenery I have seen yet, giant trees and such a thick covering. It is said to be home to tigers, elephants and bears but we didnt see any.

The Catholic church was where the KR troops were holed up for several months with the Vietnamese/Government troops 500m away in the casino.

Said Casino. Very cool but lost some of its spookiness because it was such a nice day and Khmer families were picnicing everywhere (its meant to have fog rolling through it).

We then started descending and did a small walk through the jungle which was fun and finally a boat cruise arriving back in Kampot for sunset.

A thoroughly enjoyable break and I have spent this week as OIC at the office as Mony is on leave. Oh and I bought an awesome mozzie net (having finally had enough of the little buggers)