Lots has happened since the last post

Hi all,

Sorry it has been so long since the last blog but we have been rather busy, visiting Stung Treng for a week, back to Phnom Penh for a couple of days, then back to Kampong Cham and then we have just had a 3 day public holiday to celebrate Khmer New Year!!!!

Firstly - Stung Treng

We headed north to Stung Treng ( 10 hour bus journey listening to hideous karaoke music on bumpy roads) and as soon as the bus pulled into the town we fell in love with it. Rachel went to her new workplace for a couple of days to meet her colleagues and also visited a couple of rural health centres! We had to use all sorts of transport - motorbikes, ferry (a boat really), bicycle and even walking!!!. We stayed at Helen's house (the volunteer that Rachel is replacing) and we loved her house so much we are going to live there. It is a traditional wooden built house (on stilts), 2 bedrooms and a massive veranda that overlooks the river. We can see ourselves spending many nights watching the world go by with a can of beer in hand and feet up!!! We also went to meet the head monk of the local Wat and we helped out with one of the English classes that they hold there. This is going to be a regular thing hopefully. Anthony has managed to sort out some work as well at a local project that requires some business development and marketing expertise!!! We will be heading back to "Trengers" at the end of April ready to start our work at the beginning of May.

Back to Kampong Cham for more language training. Whilst we have been here it has been Khmer New Year so all the restaurants, shops, markets closed for a few days. We had a New Years party at another volunteers house and we managed to stay awake past midnight which is quite a feat as we are normally in bed by 9pm!! We have been to the main Wat in the town to see some of the games they play, egg and spoon race with a difference, whacking a clay pot hanging above you with a piece of bamboo and the best was saved till last - climbing the greasy pole to reach a special prize at the top of sweets, fizzy pop and money... The organisers were eyeing Anthony up for the tug of war but they didn't have time!!!! We have spent time at a local hotel which has the only swimming pool in the town where we shared the pool with 39 other kids!!!
On Khmer New Year we went to the local Wat and the head monk insisted on feeding us all sorts of meat dishes, fruit and bread.. what was left we had take it with us!!! The mangoes were especially good.

This afternoon we are heading out via Tuk Tuk to see an old wooded Wat that was not destroyed by the Khmer Rouge and instead was used as a hospital.

WE HAVE NOW DOWNLOADED SKYPE SO IF YOU WANT TO TALK TO US THEN E-MAIL US AND WE WILL BOOK A TIME (WE ARE 6 HOURS AHEAD OF YOU) TO CHAT.

Speak again soon

The two of us