What a difference .....a border makes

I'm in culture shock! On leaving Cambodia, I travelled by noisy, filthy bus on a hideous, potholed dirt road to get to the Thai border. I then had to struggle with four pieces of luggage (helmet, laptop, holdall and rucksack) for a kilometre through "no mans land", bizarrely passing a number of big casinos. Dirty, sweaty and exhausted I suddenly emerged into a completely different world. A new and pristine VIP bus awaited to whisk me down a sleek highway to Bangkok. The bus was spotlessly clean and had air con, fabulous reclining seats and even a trolley dolly. We stopped every 2 hours for breaks at the cleanest public toilets I'd seen for a long while. I could scarcely believe the luxury and comfort, while my fellow passengers did not seem to find it at all remarkable.

What a difference 17 years makes as well. I was last in Bangkok in 1990, and it was a very different place then. Now there are gleaming skyscrapers, elevated roadways, a metro and skytrain system, and a strong sense of prosperity from the fashionably dressed commuters. I was so excited by all the transport options that I tried out the new metro, skytrain and the fabulous ferry-bus just because I could.

There's a Dunkin' Donuts and Boots on every corner, and even Tescos has come to town. It's sad to see that some of the more charming, traditional ways of living are changing, but there's no doubt that Thailand is no longer a developing country.

Khao San Road, the famous backpackers street, no longer peddles bootleg cassettes and fake degree certificates to ragged, rucksack-toting youngsters, but is now like Ibiza on speed.

One downside to all this new wealth is long traffic jams of cars and a seeming addiction to fast food, resulting in numbers of alarmingly obese people - definitely not something I saw when I was here last.

Leaving the Thom

I've gone!! Kompong Thom is now no longer my home, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get back there again. My last week was spent packing, throwing out and giving away my things; I had accumulated an amazing amount of "stuff" over the last two years.

Two recent Barang arrivals to Kompong Thom took a lot of my big things by motorbike truck to their house.

I've been round the town saying goodbye to many friends, including the family who run the internet shop where I spent so many (often frustrating ) hours. On my last night, I gave away small possessions to the waiting staff at the Arunras restaurant, where the staff had treated me like one of the family for so long.
My friend Rachel came for the weekend to give a hand, and she helped to keep me sane with all the Cambodian beating of chests going on around me! The CoDeC staff threw a second leaving party for me, and a delegation came to my house to escort me to the bus stop on my last morning.

Now I'm left wondering if the last two years really happened!

My legacy

My time at CoDeC is up!! So, what have I achieved? After a very slow first year, I think I did pretty well, and my final meeting with VSO and CoDeC confirmed this. I'm leaving behind an organisation which is more professional, confident and with better team spirit than when I started. Everyone participates in staff meetings and decisions in a professional way, and some good work practices which I modelled for the staff (punctuality, wearing a crash helmet, greeting/saying goodbye to colleagues when they arrive/leave the office) have been noted and are now the way things are done.

The old Executive Director, a good man, retired a month ago, leaving an opportunity for a new appointee to move CoDeC further forward and for the existing staff to take on more responsibility and to develop their skills. It would have been great if I could have stayed on a bit longer to help them through this management transition, but never mind.

Thanks to my efforts, CoDeC was successful in securing a range of project work during the last two years, to the benefit of the poor rural communities it serves. The office is a more comfortable and efficient place, with fans, chairs, desks, notice boards and now a clock and a picture which my parents and I gave as leaving gifts.
I'm sure I will be remembered most, though, for the five new networked computers and a seminar building which we plan to build on the CoDeC site, funded from money which I arranged through the German Embassy. The photo shows Savann signing the contract with the builder, with a picture of the building on the whiteboard behind. We don't bother with architect drawings here!

My VSO replacement will not be arriving until March next year, but I think that he or she will have a very rewarding time working at CoDeC. I am very sad to leave my CoDeC family, but hope to stay in touch in the future.

Vacation in Vietnam

Yet another Cambodian national holiday last week gave me the opportunity to have a break in north Vietnam with a VSO friend. We started in hectic Hanoi, overrun by motorbikes but nonetheless full of charm and character. We joined the locals for a spot of early morning tai-chi by the central lake – a fine start to the day.
We then travelled on the overnight train to Sapa near to the Chinese border, to trek through stunning scenery. Many colourful ethnic hill-tribe people live in the area, and we were able to visit their homes, find out about their ways of life and watch the women sewing and embroidering all day – they always have a needle in their hand. Our vivacious trek guide, a member of the Hmong tribe, had a superb command of colloquial English learned from tourists; she named me “Diamond Geezer”!
We also hired motorbikes for a day to explore on our own.

We moved on to picture-perfect Halong Bay, where we stayed on a luxurious junk. As well as visiting caves and watching the gorgeous panorama as we went by, we also swam in the bay. The Bay was swarming with tour boats, but this didn’t spoil our time there. All in all, a great trip.

An important historical date

October 13 2005 marked two very important occasions. It was the day I left the UK for Cambodia and also the day my nephew Ben was born. There are a number of parallels that can be drawn between Ben's development and my own during the ensuing two years. In 2005 neither of us could talk or understand anything that was going on. Like Ben, I was the centre of attention and adoration even though I did nothing to deserve this. If I smiled or gurgled, people were enchanted!
Two years on, and Ben is a walking, talking personality, and I've come on a long way too. While far from fluent, I can hold my own with the language and I can understand Cambodian culture to a reasonable degree. I can even join in with what's going on around me. I've also adapted to the environment and can bear the heat and humidity. Life is generally more comfortable and easy. Shame I'll be leaving soon.....