Random Musings

Ok so I am going to share with you some random stories and pictures and videos

Hookers

Ok so I wasn’t going to share this but it happens so often now its actually getting quite annoying. Maybe an explanation is in order. So maybe it’s the guys I work with but when we are on field trips we always go to restaurants where the waitresses are hookers as well. And because I am usually the only foreigner there (or at least the youngest one) their attention turns to me. Nothing is more awkward then having dinner with your colleagues while a waitress is sitting there spilling all kind of sexual innuendo! Prime culprit is the Monorom Restaurant in Kampong Chnang town. Now far be it from me to cast moral judgement on the oldest profession in the world, but I just want to damn eat!

Old Dude

There is this old guy in a wheelchair that lives next to the office that is always parked out front every morning as I ride past so we have a chat. We first met a few months ago when a bus load of Koreans arrived at the Methodist Church across the road (which is pretty much abandoned at all other times) and we all came out to gawk. A few months ago his daughter-in –law passed away from complications from AIDS (his son had died a few years earlier) and he sent me an invitation to the funeral addressed to ‘being kind Matthew’ (unfortunately I couldn’t make it). Anyway so a Fridays back I popped in to have a chat. It turns out he used to be in the army then worked as a teacher, and then worked as chief of police in Phnom Penh and has since retired. It was great sitting in his garden and chatting for a bit and was a total pick me up as I was feeling a widdle bit homesick.

Sihanoukville

I mentioned a few posts back that I spent a weekend in Sihanoukville at the beach with Loiuza and the Frenchies (Alice and Annie). Some pictures have emerged so enjoy! The garden pictures are at the guesthouse and the beach is well…the beach.

I like this photo cos this lady is selling lobsters (well not real lobsters, they are like halfway between a big prawn and a lobster). I had always been curious as to how one actually eats this on the beach so I bit the bullet, ignored the old adage about seafood left in the sun all day and dug in. I was especially happy because I was able to have almost a complete conversation in Khmer with her about a variety of topics so I was totally stoked!

Jrook

A big fat pig wandering around one of our schools. Damn I hate pigs!

Early Morning Visits

A 4:30am video to share my pain J

Rainy Season and Heat

So after the Royal Ploughing Ceremony (the royal oxen are led out and presented with a range of foods to choose from, whatever they choose will signify the success – or failure- of the next crop, I missed what the result was but last year they said it would be a bad crop and it was a bumper one so I don’t read too much into itJ) it is now officially the rainy season…

Which means the beginning of this…

No that’s not explosive diarrhoea it’s the infamous mud stripe… it's gonna be a dirty wet season again! It’s also bloody hot still, with temps reaching at least 35 each day. In on Sunday it was 38.5 in the shade. And the power outs aren’t completely finished yet which compounds the problems but when it gets that hot its useless using fans as they just blow hot air back at you. And although I have a water tank now, it heats up so much that you have to have scalding hot showers!

Well with the rainy season comes the planting season which is always beautiful to watch (although back breaking labour for the people actually doing it).

Ampe Phnom

Kampong Speu's claim to fame is Ampe Phnom, this temple that is overrun by rabid monkeys on one side of the river and a whole bunch of ludicrously priced hammock restaurants on the other. On Sat Louiza and I decided to head down for something different. So it was all very nice enjoying the breeze on a 39.5 degree day by the river (which as you can see is much shrunken over the dry season but no doubt will fill up soon again).

In the next bungalow there was this Khmer family eating and then a fortune teller came by and started reading their palm. I must have been quite obvious in my eaves dropping and they invited us over to have a go (they spoke a little English cos they were day trippers from Phnom Penh).

I had always wanted to get this done and its done it two parts, one using a deck of playing cards and the other measuring your palm and knuckles to tell your future. Apparently I will be rich (I wonder if he tells that to everyone?), have two girls (apparently he meant two girlfriends or wives hmmm, I asked him how many kids and he said thats up to you which was a refreshing answer), that I am happy on the outside and not on the inside, by age 30 I will get what I really want and that people like me wherever I go. Altogether not that illuminating but a fun experience!

Louiza had hers done as well and found it very amusing when they told her she will marry a rich man.


Fairy Lights

In an amazing discovery Louiza was the inspiration behind the activation of fairy lights on my balcony…festive! As it turned out it was only for one night when Louiza moved as Rummany felt that I didn’t need them when I was living alone and only lasted one night as she felt they were lights only for welcoming : )

I guess that leads to another point… for the last few months I have had a housemate, Louiza the Belgian. I think I forgot to mention that? Anyway she returns home in a few weeks anyway.