Alison's Adventures in Cambodia

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Expedition to Prasat Preah Vihear

15 and 16 May were national holidays in Cambodia, giving a 4 day weekend, so 9 VSO volunteers and I hired a minibus with driver and set out on an expedition to Prasat Preah Vihear, an Angkorian hilltop temple resort on the Thai border. The rainy season has just started and the roads were quite tricky in places, but they would be impassable later in the year. We rode on the back of a pick-up for the near-vertical stretch up the mountain. Our visit to the temple complex was well worth the difficult journey. We also managed a side trip to a further important temple site, Koh Ker, on our return home. There are a lot of old temples scattered throughout Cambodia, many of which were ravaged in recent years by the Khmer Rouge.

Internet problems

For the last 2 months, I have been having problems with using the internet in Kompong Thom. I can receive e-mails and other information fine (so please keep writing!!), but I have great difficulty sending e-mails or uploading stuff on to the blog. For the time being, I will only attempt to post text on to my blog but not photos. Hopefully, when the line has been fixed, I will be able to add my photos, as I've taken some great snaps lately!

Visit to fishing village


Last week I went on a 3 day “exposure visit" to another province with a group of fishing people. The trip included an overnight stay in a remote riverside village – a real adventure! We were all put up in the house of one of the villagers, but there was no toilet (find a bush outside; if necessary take a spade with you!!!), no bedrooms (rush mats on the floor of a wooden house with 20 other people, male and female), no shower (go down to the river and sit on a bamboo boat wearing a big elasticated skirt to cover yourself, and scoop muddy water over your head) and no electricity (although car batteries were used to power the lights). There was no road to the village; access was by boat. Against my better judgement, I drank some of the tea, which was made with river water - still brown, although boiled for a long time. Fortunately, it had no adverse effects! We held our meeting the next day in the village school room (mud floor, palm leaf walls and roof), while the children were busy cutting down the tree outside with ferocious looking saws. The tree was being taken down because for some mysterious reason locals believed this would stop fires coming to the village. While my experience was great fun and quite amazing to me, this is how the majority of Cambodian people really live. Makes you think!

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Village Workshops

One of my work roles is to add a bit of western glamour and clout at the many workshops and conferences which CoDeC organises. I’m usually seated at the top table with the local dignitaries and asked to give a closing speech, underlining how successful and important the workshop has been. It is quite ridiculous of course, but the audiences do seem to like to hear from me, particularly when I attempt to speak in Khmer! These photos were taken at an agriculture workshop held in the grounds of a pagoda, where the new law on agriculture communities was explained, and a committee for the local village was elected. In my speech I, of course, gave my hearty and unequivocal support to the proceedings and to the new committee!