Farewell WFP

Well

it’s unbelievable but yesterday was my last day at WFP! It doesn't seem real yet, I feel like I am just on a holiday.

But the good news is that I have scheduled a little time to travel around Cambodia to see a few things I haven’t seen yet so I still have time to spend with my friends here.

I have had a set of rolling farewells from the different provinces I have been working in (Kampong Chhnang, Takeo, Kampot) which in effect were just excuses for piss ups.

Last weekend I spent cleaning up my house and attempting to condense all the crap I have into one space before my replacement, Cara, came on Monday. But then my friend and colleague, Ratha, rang me to invite me to the grand opening of a restaurant he had set up in Phnom Penh (he had taken me there a few times to proudly show off the construction). So I said bugger packing and shot off to Phnom Penh. It was a really awesome night, most of the sub-office staff and their families were there so it was a great atmosphere and quite a classy place.

After drinking again way too much, and Ramy going into overdrive trying to get me married to Ratha's sister-in-law, the next day I stayed on in Phnom Penh to have my VIDA exit interview. My other ulterior motive was to buy a cd wallet for all my dvds, but even the giant one I bought wasn't enough!

So I then accompanied Cara (my replacement) and another new staff member (Chenda) to the office. We arrived and the office was a flurry of activity, guards were grilling chicken, field monitors grinding spices and program assistants up to their ears in wires for the sound system. For that day was the farewell to Kampong Speu party for me, and welcome to Kampong Speu for Cara and Chenda. Honestly I have never seen the office put on so much stuff! They even found a karaoke system for the night!

The party was just the most fun I have ever had, great food, kooky Khmer dancing (which I continue to kick ass at), karaoke and drinking! Everyone just had a ball.

I also made the office a collage of pictures I had taken over the two years and presented it and everyone was stoked and took photos posing with it : )

I also had to make a drunken speech : )

The rest of the week was an induction for Cara, including my last visit to breathtaking Kampot and a dinner of prawns, crab and fish : )

On my last day it didn’t seem real and just another day. The last nights at my house and in Kampong Speu again didn’t feel like I was leaving it. I had a last walk around the building and goodbye to my office.

Anyway, there was not enough time to dwell as last night was my real farewell party in Phnom Penh. This also was an awesome night.

Mony was driving me there and in the process told me about what my farewell present was (hmm I always thought presents were meant to be surprises). They got me a wooden carving of an ox cart (which I am apparently not allowed to open because it’s packed for travelling. Mony also got me the infamous Angkor Wat plate – everyone who leaves Cambodia is pretty much given one of these and it’s a joke among expats how unattractive the place is. I thought I had gotten away from it but I have it now! Chanthoeun also have me a present but I forgot to open it but I am sure it’s very nice.

Our office cleaner also came (and I am a bad bad man for not remembering her name) because she had never been to Phnom Penh. I think her mind was pretty much blown by the party : )

There was also this really funny moment where on the dancefloor the ‘we will rock you song’ they all started chanting ‘we will we will miss you’ which was very sweet but I don’t think they realised that that chant goes on like fifteen times so it was a bit awkward after the third or fourth time but they kept on chanting it. Luckily I was drunk.

So today I had brekkie with Vannak and Ratha and am a little worse for wear. But I scoot off to Singapore tonight, so I have no time for reflection cos I is on holidays!

Pu Pliek, Banteay Chhmar and the Highway to Hell

So after enjoying the festivities in Phnom Penh for a week, i wrangled a days leave out of Mony and on the Friday headed up to the distant province of Banteay Meanchey.

So the story behind this is as follows. We have a new driver (Pliek) working here at Kampong Speu who is from Banteay Meanchey. I think he is a really good guy and very good at his job so i lobbied hard over a few months to get his contract turned permanent (as he was temporary and his contract was to expire in November). Anyway i was successful and he was over the moon. Around the same time i saw these posters in Phnom Penh advertising this place called Banteay Chhmar, an Angkorian era temple and my inner anthropologist got very excited. So i looked it up in the lonely planet and it seemed like an adventure and I asked Pliek about the best way to organise.

Next thing i knew he had organised a long weekend for me up there and for his brother-in-law to drive me out there! So on the Friday i boarded the 8:45 am Sorya (Read worst bus company in Cambodia) Bus for what was an 8 hour ride up to Banteay Meanchey. It was uneventful for the most part, except i got a little worried and confused because this town has multiple names; Svay, Sissophon, Svay Sissophon and Banteay Meanchey. But i made to the bus station and called Pliek to pick me up as arranged. He took a little while so i made chit chat with the vendors in Khmer.

That night he had arranged to have dinner at his house with his family which was delicious and his brother-in-law and niece were there as well (who spoke very good english) and after a few beers me and Savis (his brother-in-law) arranged to meet at 7am the next morning. I was actually pretty relieved because originally he had said that his sister-in-law would be motoing
to the temple which i didnt think would be a good idea at all but Khmer language often confuses gender because people are just generally referred to without gender (he and she are usually the same). So Pliek just got a bit confused with gender indicators and i was relieved that i wouldnt be forcing a petite khmer lady to drive big ol me on a motorbike for hours on end.

To cut to the chase, the ride out started at 7:30am and didnt finish until 5:30. And about two hours of that was actually at the temple, the rest riding on the most appaling roads which beat me black and blue! I think i must have spent at least half of it in the air and we went over potholes, stones and other hidden nasties. Poor Savis pulled us from the brink of disaster several times as the bike slipped out or landed too hard. I remember thinking HOW DO I GET MYSELF INTO THESE SITUATIONS!

On the way there we suffered just one punture and had to overcome another flooded road.


As for the temples? Simple stunning. This is the outside of the temple, the sign says it was cleared of mines in 2007. The whole thing is collapsed and was looted heavily in the war. It was so quiet, we literally didnt see anyone the whole time we were in there. The jungle has taken root and you are literally climbing over piles of ancient rocks and collapsed structure to get around. I just simply loved it.

This is the funeral temple of Jayavaraman VII (the guy whose face is all over the Bayon temple and of whom i bought a massive wooden bust) constructed at around 1200AD. As i say, most of the carvings and decorations have been destroyed but it still has an amazing atmosphere. Strap yourself in cos i uploaded a lot of photos cos i just love this stuff: )

There is still a few carvings and statues to be seen

The giant tree roots have become a part of the structure in some places

This temple is one of only a few to have the smiling jayavaraman VII face in the towers, most are destroyed but you can still see some.

Its quite sad to see clearly where there has been a statue hacked out of the temple.

The current inhabitants are now the ants and animals.

And this is an ancient representation of teh female reproductive organ.

So on the way back we stopped at a group of smaller temples called Banteay Top, which was buily around the same time as Banteay Chhmar but as a tribute to the army for a recently won battle. It was incredible how high these crumbling structures were, and the trees growing right up the top! Savis said he hadnt been here before, because its kind of hidden in this hill in the middle of rice paddies.

The way home was just disastrous. We went through another patch, two inner tyres and one outer tyre. It was like a neverending journey and by the end of it we were head to toe covered in dust. We had to stop many times at the village mechanics like this dude.

Savis wanted to take me via his village and we stopped for a bit to meet his parents who were harvesting their rice. I chatted a bit with the next door neighbours but i had real trouble understanding them (maybe a different accent?) and they promptly pissed themselves laughing at my formal hello.

That night i went to dinner with his family again, and Savis said when i come back to cambodia that he will take me to a village where people are randomly married off to eachother by the pagoda in a big festival. I think hes trying to get me hitched here as well!

I swear for the next few days I could hardly move! But i was entering into the last few weeks at work, so i had no time for convalesence! I had parties to go to!