Leaving Mongkul Borei
on So Now It's Cambodia (Cambodia), 30/Aug/2011 08:34, 34 days ago
It’s been along time since the last post which is hardly a surprise since so much has been happening that I haven’t really had time to sit down and write about it!! As there is a lot to write about I’ve split the blog into more easily manageable sections!I last wrote on Alison’s last day working as a volunteer. Since then we finished packing and moved into the local hotel in Sisophon (The Botoum) which was our regular. It was sad to say goodbye to the friendly staff but we are returning on 24th. September as it’s a National Holidayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pchum_Benthen going back to Siem Reap for a few days– it will be interesting to see how we feel about it after living in Phnom Penh!Before we left we enjoyed another very sociable evening courtesy of Dr. Witchup, the hospital director of whom Alison is such an admirer. He’d booked a table in a local restaurant and paid for everything which was very generous of him. Fellow volunteers, some hospital staff and the Cambodian VA’s were there so it was a lovely evening. They presented a lovely picture of Angkor Wat and warm hearted speeches were made so it made a lovely rounding up of the VSO experience.Alison receiving her picture from Dr.Witchup:The picture on a display board in our new house:We came down to earth with a bump then next morning when the“removal truck” arrived at the hotel to take us to our house and collect our things. We’d been confidently told it would be his better truck with air con but it was the usual beaten up old wreck with open windows for air con!! (what a con!!). They’d already got there and moved everything downstairs into the yard ready to put on the truck, which meant it was hard for us to check what went in and what didn’t!The piano boxes were left to last and were piled on top. I watched in horror from upstairs as one of the boxes fell to the ground! Fortunately, it was part of the frame and no harm was done– after that I supervised closely and held things until they were finally secured. Loading the truck: We had a rather cramped journey with stiff knees as the truck seating area was quite small but we made it after a stop for replacing two“fan/cam belts” and picking up a lady with her small child!Fitting the belts:Our things were hoisted up to the front balcony rather than having to go up lots of stairs and the piano was left to last. Our new baclcony:Our new local tuk tuk driver (Mr. Limo!) was a great help, as he helped carry things upstairs and translated and negotiated with the driver to finish the job after he’d asked to be paid before he’d finished!Mr. Limo's Limo!!!:Sadly, when we arrived Alison noticed her camera was missing. She asked if anyone knew where it was and the driver said he’d seen her put it with her money but it’s never been found…..fortunately, my next e mail was from Amazon advertising an identical camera at a greatly reduced price, so Alison replaced it straight away. After our very early start - and not a little stress - we were very glad that we'd booked ourselves in to the Pavilion so we could relax before starting the process of unpacking and turning our house into a home.Breakfast by the pool at The Pavilion:We’ve settled in now after spending the first week unpacking and getting some sense of order. However, some of the fine details had to wait as we were soon to leave for England for a brilliant two week visit to see family and friends…..