IT’S REIGNING CATS AND DOGS! First week in placement.
on So Now It's Cambodia (Cambodia), 01/Jan/2010 10:30, 34 days ago
Those who know me will know how dog phobic I am. I seem to have landed in my worst nightmare here. The dogs are everywhere. Whilst many seem very docile and will run away some will bark and chase after you until you shout at them. This will happen just yards from our front gate.It’s quite hard to work out what’s going on. Many of us had noticed them on our travels and had thought they were wild. Our language teacher – Dara – says they’re pets. Well they have no idea how to control them! Word has it they have them for security - others say they are spooked by ghostsetc………Not only do they roam the streets at will and chase you in groups they also howl several times during the night. One dog starts up then a whole chorus starts up. It’s very eerie though we’re getting used to it. It hadn’t been a problem anywhere else though the occasional dog would yap as you went past in Kampong Cham.Today I was cycling home from“town” along the main road when a dog went for me. I veered away from it and shouted at it. I then turned round to find a big 4x4 trying to avoid hitting me!! Hopefully that was a one off!Alison is very brave and still goes running. She does this in the evening as work starts quite early and I go cycling with her which may or not help ward off the dogs though even Alison walks past some of the dogs if they look too interested!!Our landlady has cats and though they’re quite sweet we started off trying to discourage them but have stopped now – they may keep the rats and mice away – but the less we discourage them the more they seem to want too be on our veranda – though our cook cooked fish (but it wasn’t fish as we know it! – not very nice – looked a bit like tofu) so they may have been attracted to the smell.I was using the internet café this afternoon and the owner seems quite educated and speaks good English and has worked with other NGO’s as IT support. When I mentioned the dogs to him he said I should complain to the authorities. I well try this but you wonder why the locals don’t sort it out for themselves but then maybeeverything just comes down to a continual theme here: their history - don’t stir up or be different plus the lack of an educated older generation to show them what to do.Since writing the above the dog scene has cooled a bit but I did speak to the landlady’s son so maybe he spoke to his mum and maybe money changed hands to get the neighbours to control their dogs – we will never know. I am trying really hard to come to terms with it though - I'm told I'll get used to it and the dogs used to me! Alison thinks my hat scares them!