Home Stay

Home Stay - our home by the Mekong

As we entered our last week of language training following placement week it became apparent that we had all completely forgotten any Khmer in the one week off from Dara. This was very disappointing for him (and us) and sadly really just reiterated the need for daily study and practice-hatt-practice. Learning a new language is just bloody hard work. I'm getting completely useless at goodbyes so the last class was a bit sad, but after the post-placement week dip all was restored by our Home Stay experience.

The philosophy of Home Stay is that all VSO-ers spend a day and night in a village with a family to understand how rural Cambodians live and also fail to make ourselves understood or to understand any khmer after our 24 lessons. It is a really valuable opportunity to see how the majority of the country live, a  very rural existence.

Louise & I were placed together off the main village road in a cul-de-sac by the Mekong river in a great wooden house. We arrived at 9am and became the neighbour's entertainment for the next 24 hours. There was a lot of sitting and drinking tea (which was so weak I initially thought was river water!) and eating home grown mangoes (which were utterly delicious). There was also a new fruit experience (la moat in khmer) no english name as yet. It was a plum shaped with a green skin and a pink flesh with a singular saw shaped pip, a cinnamon pear type fruit - super sweet - dee-licious. Waitrose need to get out here and start importing it for my UK return.

Whilst sitting on a bamboo shelf outside of our house, watching the world go by, I managed to rip an enormous hole in my shorts, right bum cheek. At that very same moment the male youth of the village all descended and it was quite a military operation to get back to the house with my dignity in tact.

We were fed bai (rice) and fish for an 11am lunch with more fruit as they had worked out Lou had discovered the joy of tree ripened mango. Then the Mother of the house sent us straight to bed for a siesta, no negotiation was possible. It was also chance for me to fashion a modesty garment out of my sarong. NEVER travel without a sarong. Katie had questioned the need for one when packing and I was glad to have an opportunity to demonstrate their usefulness.

Washing in the Mekong

Post siesta we went for a wander around the village and checked out other people's home stay families. Calleb and Neil were with a teacher who had a white board ready for english-khmer communications and oddly enough in preparation for them Condom was written up in both english and khmer. One of Pete's family was a seamstress and we were called over to her work shop whilst all out for a mid-afternoon stroll. Not only was I able to have my shorts patched up there but we all purchased yoga trousers, mine are burnt orange - perfect.

Neil & Pete going native
 After a wander to the market and a coca cola we went back to the river for further sitting.

This is apparently just like Cork, according to Lou although without the turkeys

The sitting turned into watching man of house fishing, woman washing clothes, adults and children swimming, washing of children, watering the cattle and filling up of a dubious looking pit that we never established its function but I'm guessing sewage is in there somewhere.

Bucket shower and then more bai for dinner and then a frustrating hour of being talked to and not understanding anything or alternatively trying out your khmer to blank faces of incomprehension. Followed by an hour of khmer TV (whilst it was bombarding my moths & light loving beetles) and an 8 30 pm bedtime.

Bed was a mat on the bamboo flooring and what the floor loses in comfort it more than gains in coolness, it was a great air-con system, the coolest night I have had here since arrival. The night was an 'interesting' one with multiple mosquito bites, unidentified sounds, high winds and the cockerel doing its thing from 4 am. The Mother put her mat right next to ours to stop us I'm sure from slipping out in the night. We had a lie in until 6 am, Pete was up at 5 am feeding the cows.

A girl's beauty routine doesn't stop just because she is on home stay

Then there was some more sitting and being laughed at by the neighbours.

The Bamboo floor - AC

River-side view

Family dog chillaxing - we became part of his pack which was very welcoming

Then super noodles for breakfast.

The middle daughter of the family - she was actually quite smily but obviously this is her sultry photo face

 More sitting and hanging out with the family.

Lovely smily neighbour - didn't understand a word of what she said but I think it was all good!

 Then 9 am pick up back to Kampong Cham.

Louise AKA The Stig

24 hours of sitting, eating, drinking, chatting and watching the Mekong flow by is enough to restore any soul. The pace of life perfectly suits the environment, I am still struggling with the concept of the same pace for acute medicine!

Pete wanted to get Lou and Katie's Moto skills up to a standard appropriate for crazy Cambodian roads so he hired a couple of bikes. Katie and Neil bowed out with excuses of lack of sleep and wanting to wait for formal training. So this is how I found myself post home stay on a waste land on the outskirts of KC with Pete teaching Lou how to ride. Due to Lou's sudden addition to the Cambodian February in-take (1 week warning pre-departure) she had not had her pre-departure motorbike training. But in 30 minutes Pete's excellent teaching and Lou's natural ability and tenaciousness meant that we were all on the way to Wat Hancheay 20 kms away. Pete had suggested Wat Nocor which is only 2 kms away but this was promptly dismissed by Lou because "we've been there before"!

It was a perfect moto day, overcast with a breeze and not too hot. Within 1 km of leaving KC we encountered a wedding that was blocking the entire road. The women were all shooing us back whilst the men were all egging us on. So this is why I found myself, riding pillion, driving through a wedding reception marque. Pete kicking the chairs out the way to make a path and me pushing them further back so Lou with all 30 minutes of experience could follow through the narrow path created behind us, stunned guest staring on. I thought I'd entered a James Bond film!

Wat Hancheay

Wat Hancheay sits by the Mekong with sandy beaches and old and new pagodas. We sat on the banks and chatted to the local shop owner who was very impressed by our khmer, unlike Dara or our home stay families. Which I think has more to do with expectation than competence. So we can buy a bus ticket, food and drink, say what our name is and where we come from and where we will be working but as for after dinner conversation - not so good.

The journey home was equally eventful with a mortally wounded chicken, and near misses (cat, dog, child) and an unexpected speed bump. By this time I had addressed my trust and control issues and was completely relaxed into my role as pillion rider. So when 2 seconds before we made contact with said speed bump Pete shouted "speed-bump!" I hadn't the reaction times to adjust and found myself thrown into the air. No part of my body had contact with the bike and for what felt like 10 seconds I was suspended in space like a cartoon character. Pete knew I was in trouble when after 1 hour of adamantly refusing to hold on to him I practically bear hugged him on re-contact with the bike.

The ubiquitous face mask

One more week of in-country training in Phnom Penh then I can start out on the road I'm here to travel. I just hope that no chickens get killed on the way and that any obstacles along the way wont leave me suspended in mid-air desperately peddling away like the road runner.....

First Impressions

It's placement week time and I find myself in my new home for the next 2 years. So what are my first impressions?
I've been in the safe bubble of Kampong Cham, cycling to class, going out clubbing with the staff of my breakfast cafe and it felt strange to leave all that on Sunday. Cambodia's second city, 250, 000 people live here. It is not as busy and hectic as Phnom Penh yet it is not a tranquil back water town like Kampong Cham and the mighty Mekong does not run through it.
Instead it is greener and has what my VA (volunteers assistant) called a stream running through it. It has beautiful decaying french colonial architecture and there is still aerobics by the river. Its quicker to get to Bangkok than PP from here and Angkor Wat is just a couple of hours away. First impressions of my home city for the next 2 years - all good.
Perhaps I will allow The Rough Guide to Cambodia to review my future work place; "Avoid the provincial hospital near the river, where facilities are basic & conditions none too clean. You'll be better off at a private clinic."
Its a shame the majority of the Cambodian population aren't backpackers who can afford the luxury of a private clinic, for them the government hospital is their only option and they still have to pay for treatment (however basic and unclean). It's poorly resourced and the wards appear to be run by student nurses, the doctors I'll be working with didn't know who I was, why I was there and wanted me to work nights. Gary, the VSO nurse advisor, started in December and seems pleased to have someone now to exchange non-verbal communication eyebrow signals in meetings with.
I've seen my challenge for the next 2 years and it makes learning Khmer to a fluent level look like a walk in the park. Work first impressions? Overwhelming sense of helplessness! Solution - little baby steps........

This is the new outpatient and emergency wing development which in my job description it says I'll be working in. 

The room that they perform gastric lavage for people who have taken weed-killer.

The ITU (this is in name alone but technically where the sickest medical patients go) is where I will actually be based until the new wing is built. These are the only drugs available for the whole ward. NHS workers never again complain about not having enough resources. 

Newly installed sinks in wards to improve infection control. Please note the alcohol gel pump not soap - this one will get Gray's eyebrows twitching in my direction!

The room of pneumonia - in the rainy season apparently it has its own moat.

Area for patient's families to cook for them and wash clothes.  Like most developing countries all basic nursing care is delivered by families. Maybe another time I'll tell you about the 15 year old with no family in ITU.

This eye catching poster is a public health campaign about smoking. Clearly in Cambodia there are health issues that take a higher priority. Basic sanitation and a water supply in one of the country's biggest hospitals (270 beds) for a start.

Sharps disposal

Incinerator, the placentas get buried and I'll leave you to imagine what the local dogs do. 

This could be my potential home, I'm due to pay the deposit on Friday. It is the top floor of a khmer family home, it has 2 rooms so all visitors are more than welcome. BYO mossie net and plenty of goodies for the overwhelmed VSO health volunteer!

 All I need now is a hammock for the veranda and inner peace for the journey ahead.....

Last Saturday in Kampong Cham

To start with our last Saturday in Kampong Cham I really should put it into context. Friday night the 5 afternoon language group and our man Calleb all went to a Khmer night club with lovely Milia from the Mekong Crossing Cafe, 2 of the waiters and the 2 cooks as chaperones and boy did we need them. It was an utterly bizarre experience and unlike the rest of my VSO-ers who had been last weekend to the same club it was a first for me and all our khmer friends. 

The routine goes something like this; live band plays, people walk around dance floor in a anti-clockwise circle slowly whilst doing khmer hand dancing. 40 minutes later band stops, dance music comes on, dance floor turns into mosh pit, chaperones drag you away from any inappropriate gyration, drink jugs of beer watered down with ice....repeat until time to escape.

So the 8am lesson on Saturday morning so that Dara could go to PP to see his family was hampered slightly by us going out on a school night. However rather than bringing an apple for the teacher we brought a couple of Durian fruit (see above). For those uninitiated to dorian fruit they smell like a very ripe camembert or very smelly socks. The fruit sat festering in the classroom during our lesson while certain members of the group struggled to form sentences in english let alone khmer.

The taste of a durian fruit however is a completely different story. At the end of class we divvied it up and it was a perfect creamy, custardy consistency and tasted fabulous and a little bit like a sweet soft cheese.

We spent the afternoon at Man & Woman Hill where today there are two temples with a valley of Buddhas between them and in the 70's the temple was  converted into a prison and mass burial ground for some of Pol Pot's victims. Below is a lion statue guarding the entrance to the temple and if you look closely you can see a worn out area on its back where bad things happened to people, 1000s of men, women and children. 

A little bit of a temple mixed with the rubble of the road, buildings didn't do too well under Pol Pot either.

Louise and her one woman mission to be in everyone of my photos

We walked through the collection of Buddhas and I felt oddly at peace which is probably how I lost my camera case. We somehow managed to walk past and not acknowledge the collection of skulls that were recovered when the mass burial ground was uncovered. Unfortunately in this beautiful country the opportunity to see mass burial grounds and skulls again is disturbingly high.

We walked up the 177 steps to woman hill and the temple on top. From here we watched the sun set over Man Hill, got savaged by giant biting ants, took silly self timer photos and this is when I realised I had transferred all my attachment on to this group of four people and tomorrow we were all going to our separate placement weeks and I was going to miss them all quite a lot (apart from Katie, because she is a fellow Battambanger!).

Pete's ides for the EP cover.

It is just another goodbye, another new beginning.

PJ Fashion

The best thing about being overseas is that everything is the same but different. By that I mean that people will appear to do exactly the same things but for completely different reasons or motives, or things look completely alien but scratch just below the surface and you'll find humanity where ever you are.

So Cambodian women go out in PJs but not in a UK-banned-from-Tesco-kind-of-way but in a genuine-fashion-statement-they're-functional-as-well-as-fashionable-and-fun-kind-of-way. Lets face it, it's way to hot to wear anything in bed. 

The PJ choice is immense!

It is Lou's Birthday next week but it's when we are all on our placement week and although the celebration in planned for after, the gift came before. You may remember I melted last Sunday at the clothes market and for what purpose, to buy Louise the PJs of her dreams. She wanted frills but I think you'll agree my sweat-fest was not in vain and these are indeed the finest PJs a girl could be seen in. 

Monday was one of those days and as Lou slumped in my room with the very last of the wind removed from her sails I knew that now was the time to lift her spirits with some wa-pa-tour K'mai (Cambodian culture).

It worked a treat!

Why this are the perfect pair are as follows;
1) They are Orange
2) They are tartan
3) They have teddy bears on them
4) They have on incomprehensible & bizarrely translated English slogan on them
5) They are Large yet fit petit Lou
6) They bottoms are too short or Lou is too tall

To my life elementary needs Grid Paper

Dangers & Annoyances

When I was at medical school and third year studying microbiology this was my favourite microbe, it just looked so friendly and smiley and I liked the lilac hue. In fact I like it so much I photocopied this very image and had it on my wall, sad I know but 3rd MB was a tough time for me, anything to make it through to the other side!

The Lonely Planet was until this trip my travel bible but secret Santa last Christmas converted me to the Rough Guide for Cambodia. LP always has a section on Dangers and Annoyances and as the honeymoon period is over for me in Cambodia, I thought it might be worth exploring some my own. In fairness there aren't many dangers here and I'm not really that annoyed either, so in no particular order...

1) Lets start with the friendly microbe above Giardia Lamblia, the Queen of traveler's diarrhoea (the King being Amoebic dysentery of course). Now it may be easy to avoid ingesting contaminated water for a short period whilst on holiday but I can't envisage that I'll get through 26 months without succumbing. In fact I've had a pretty ropey 24 hours and I'm secretly hoping the Cambodian weight loss plan will be starting soon in earnest. Sonia informed me that in Canada they call it 'Beaver Fever', I really need to grow up. 

To brush your teeth in tap water or to not brush your teeth in tap water, that is the question, whether it is better to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous toilets or just get a course of ciprofloxacin.

2) There are ants living in my laptop, little, non-biting ones but never the less insects in my computer. I'm no IT expert but surely this can not be a good thing?!

3) The hotel staff are becoming increasingly reluctant to give us toilet roll (cross-reference with point 1). Even when you leave the roll-holder bare and conspicuous it remains naked and then you have to go up to request more from reception whilst being humiliated by the reception staff who refuse to understand ANY of our spoken Khmer. I quote miserable man in reception "I have told you the word for this in Khmer once you should know it now" Louise with a big clenched forced grin, "Lets see how well you'd remember something in Irish if I'd only told you once." The quest for toilet roll continues......

4) If there are rules of the road in Cambodia they are not followed and although a psychic ability to predict every other road users intentions seems to be essential I have found myself severely lacking. Apparently stopping/screaming/throwing oneself off your bicycle and out of the path of on coming vehicle are all unacceptable. Hey I'm an EM doctor, I can handle a bit of chaos just not when I'm on a bicycle.

5) Sweat - This one really is quite annoying. Now I am loving living in the tropics, I like feeling warm ALL the time, not having to wear shoes and building a newly found and deep respect for the humble air fan but the human bodies techniques for thermoregulation need some refinement. It's getting hotter all the time and will continue to do so until we all melt and as Louise would phrase it we are all a little 'dewy'. In the market yesterday buying cotton for appropriate work tops and PJ's for Lou's Birthday I found myself turning into a human river. I had sweat cascading down my back, my hair was so wet I thought I was going to drown. I looked like the before of a before & after antiperspirant advert, I think the stall holders were really quite alarmed.

Jill was reading a book that had the perfect description of our predicament and I'm going to throw it out there then walk away from this particular annoyance..."summer crotch".

Toxicity versus Prophylaxis:

6) That big ball of gas, 90% of our solar systems mass, giving us both vitamin D & huge surges of serotonin - the sun. As I evolved to live under a cloud, sun-block and covering up are both recommended. However my eyebrows are not fulfilling their job description and a combination of sweat (see point 5) and sunblock is blinding me. Also unlike the locals the hotter it gets the less I want to wear or cover up, I do not want to put on long sleeves and trousers and hats which all make me overheat. So how I am currently dealing with the sun is with 'shade', this seems to be working for now. 

The slow progress towards a rich chocolaty brown tan continues hampered only by the inability to buy any body cream/lotion that isn't also a whitening agent.

7) DEET - we are told it is safe but I've seen what it has done to Wendy's glasses. Also it doesn't appear to be that much of a repellant or maybe my animal magnetism is just too great. Of course the other option is covering up and points 5 & 6 have already addressed this.

8)RAID - death to all insects but also a crippling 24 hours of headache and nausea every time I've used it despite adequate ventilation. Neil thinks it smells of Impulse and maybe it would be safer (but probably less effective) if we got a couple of cans of that instead. Even Geoff the Gecko was effected by the RAID attack and took 4 days to come back to my room. I've decided to leave it to Geoff and the spiders to keep the flying, creeping and crawling, disease carrying, insects down to safe levels.

9) This one is Sonia's suggestion, the combination of sunscreen, DEET and particulate matter. This is of course only specific to the dry season and in a few months we will be dealing with mud instead (Mud = particulate matter + a lot of rain). But I'll give it to Sonia that it is rather dusty at the moment and she wears caked on particulate matter cemented with DEET and sunscreen very elegantly. 

10) I've spoken about the mee-dom routine, lovely beef noodle soup from the restaurant near our language class. Well last time I went there was a earwig in my soup, that was a little bit annoying but mainly just disappointing.

11) Wet rooms, slippery when wet. Louise belly slammed her wet room floor yesterday ironically she had been trying to spare her dignity. My biggest fear is to slip whilst showering knocking myself out on the toilet rim and then drowning in the toilet bowl. Not the most dignified may to exit from this mortal coil.

12) Not being fluent in Khmer yet, now that is really very annoying!

It's not a big list and the Joys & Delights of Cambodia list is certainly a lot longer...

Even Volunteers get a day off...

So even volunteers learning a new language get a day off and we took the opportunity to go on a tuk-tuk  ride across the Mekong river to the island for the day. It was great to break the routine and the small habitat I've created for myself which involves a circuit from the hotel (above as viewed from the Kizuna Bridge), various cafes and the cycle ride to University Western. Gideon the tuk-tuk driver had devised a $6 day out to one of only 2 wooden pagodas left in Cambodia.

Every where is very dusty and dry at the moment, the farmers of Cambodia wait for the rains and the island we visited will be mostly submerged by the rising waters of the Mekong. Not sure the Dam above will stop the rising tide though.

Ground nuts get a measly 500 Riel for 1 kg, a lot of hot work for the middle men to make all the money. That's the kind of issues that VSO livelihood projects are here to address. Louise (above) always ready to pop up unexpectedly in anyone's photo.

The plants in the foreground are tapioca and there was plenty of maize, chillies, cucumbers growing but paddy fields are empty for now as they need the rain to start the Bai season. Where my placement is in Battambang is known as the rice bowl of Cambodia, so there will plenty of photo opportunities of paddy fields to follow.

This is the bridge that our 3 tuk-tuk's navigated. We got out and walked over which was a good thing as Gideon nearly skidded off the dirt track on the other side into the river. With the interesting 4 lane system in town, the large volume of 'moto's' on the road and the unsealed/potholed state of the roads I'm quite surprised my skills haven't been required so far.

We arrived at the wooden temple just in time for the monk's lunch. Neil was approached by one (above) who wanted to tell him all about his last 6 months since starting as a monk.
Gideon told us a story about a 'ghost' who lives in the temple that he has seen four times. He is 6 ft 5, black with a goatee and apparently dressed like me! He also told us that the wooden temple was used as a hospital during Pol Pot which is why it had been spared the fate of the rest.

This statue however was less fortunate.

 

Peter from our group has lived in Bali for the last 20 years and instructed us on how to light some incense, find a nook or cranny to wedge it in and then say a prayer.
There were plenty of Buddhas in the temple of all shapes, sizes and colours, but they are always smiling.







The decoration of the wooden ceiling and pillars was spectacular and my little cybershot does not do it justice.

The other big crop in this part of the world is tobacco which is picked, dried and cut by hand. You can be sure that the growers don't get much of a profit.

Another industry is cotton and silk weaving. Some of our group bought a cotton scarf AKA gror-maa from this woman for at least twice if not three times the price at market. When you see all the work and hours spent at the loom it seemed churlish to barter. Plus now I own the ubiquitous gror-maa, all things to all people.

The kids are all exceptionally gorgeous and I had to resist taking hundreds of photos all of which would have been similar to my justgiving page photo. Nannee however was particularly smiley and chatty in English and Khmer and that was even without the sweets some of the group had brought with them.

Diversifying in our modes of transport we got the boat over to the island. Sat on the roof of the boat going across the mighty Mekong cemented our resolve to go on a boat trip for the next rest day.

Our tuk-tuk convoy.....

After driving back to Kampong Cham over the Bamboo bridge AKA Spean Russey (see previous blog) having a long, cold milk shake and washing off the thick layer of dust encrusted everywhere, Lou and I sat out hemming our newly purchased scarfs. This kept us occupied for over an hour while the locals laughed at us and thought to themselves "Crazy barangs, don't they realise in the market there are plenty of tailors that would do that for them in 5 minutes for 75 cents?!"