Happy Khmer New Year

Khmer New Year was from the 13th to 15th of April. I decided to go to Koh Thom for a couple days with my work supervisor Borith, his wife Sitha and Lauren, a volunteer from the States. We all piled into Borith’s tiny car, along with Sitha’s aunt and nephew and drove down to Kandal province stopping along the way for breakfast (noodles and animal intestines of some sort) and at the local market. It took us a couple hours to get to the ferry where we crossed the river and walked to Sitha’s grandparents house. Their house was right on the river and it was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. Her family were so great and we were defiantly spoilt with great home cooking and hilarious conversations. We took motos out to Wat Tuol Reachea, a new Wat just opened by Hun Sen in the hopes of bringing tides of new tourists to the area. It’s a real shame because this area is just amazing and I can’t help but think what this new construction and huge mansions going up next door will do. Nevertheless the temple was just amazing, with two huge Buddha’s which were just beautiful. Construction is still going on so I can’t imagine what it will look like when it’s finished. The moto ride was hilarious and I was either crying from laughing so hard or from the pure fear of blasting down these dusty rural roads, down dried up river banks and dodging the numerous cows, all without a helmet. The next day we went to see the local primary school where Sitha’s relative works and checked out the library. This was pretty amazing. Pretty much the only books they had there were ones donated by NGOs on different educational campaigns they were running at the time. I think they were trying to appeal for more funding to get some much needed resources in there. From there we went to the local Wat for a New Year blessing and spent the rest of the time relaxing and hanging out with the family. Heading out to a small village in Mondulkiri province tomorrow for 5 days to do some work out there, much the same as in Kampong Chhnang. Arriving back in Phnom Penh just in time to meet up with mum, can’t wait!!

Koh Thom local market

Crossing the Tonle Sap

Home cooking at Sitha's grandparent's house

Wat Tuol Reachea

Local kids by the river

Village primary school library

Sitha's grandparent's house

Getting into the swing of things

Started work in the office on Monday with an American girl who is also volunteering with KYSD. We are just starting work on an environmental education project with workshops running on both Saturday and Sunday. The focus will be on biodiversity and the effect rapid development is having on the environment. It's already been a busy week. On Monday I got myself a bicycle decked out with random neon stickers...which will be handy for trips to the market where it will undoubtedly be placed amongst hundreds of identical bicycles. So now I'm braving the Phnom Penh traffic and at the same time refusing to be put off by the flat tire on my way to work yesterday. It's also a bonus not to have to rely on motos to get to work everyday. Yesterday we met with East West Management Institute to discuss the workshop plan then later attended a meeting at the World Bank on climate change. The World Bank has put together a commission of 12 people who will visit Cambodia in May for 3 days. They are attempting to see first hand the effect climate change is having on the lives of the people. I just don’t see how it would be possible to meet with the people most affected and in the most dire situations within a 3 day timeframe. And will the outcome just be another report what lots of meaningless facts and figures or will some serious and much needed resources be coming our way? But regardless I guess it’s still a good thing that the environment and global warning are becoming a bigger focus here (even if the PM refuses to believe that Cambodia is in any way a contributor to carbon emissions). Only time will tell…