Rantanakiri Roads...
on Sarah G in Cambodia (Cambodia), 28/Oct/2008 01:12, 34 days ago
The first trip to my new home town felt like journey to the end of the earth. Although we left at the crack of dawn, hours before our arrival the tiny wooden huts dotted along the side of the road had already faded into the darkness, leaving the occasional small bright dot of fire. Tarmac had become a forgotten fantasy, as in the last three hours the crowded bus shook deeper into the jungle, creating a feeling akin to an earthquake.My first impression - its dark and the jungle is loud, really loud...instant conclusions were drawn -“sh*t there are a whole lot of creepy, crawly, slithery, jumpy and scampering things out there!”. Conclusions which were almost as instantly confirmed by the presence of some such wildlife in my hotel room and later that evening by Chris “there are quite a few insects and snakes here, oh and every house has rats”. Great. It made for an unsettled first nights sleep.But as the sun rose over the Laos mountains my new home didn’t seem such a scary place after all. By 10am I had met my lovely new colleagues - Bas, Norman, Chris, George and their Cambodian assistants and found a wonderful new house thanks to Sita, my new assistant. Although Sita's official role is translation, the first week proved he will actually do a million and one things to make sure I can function here and be at least as useful as my right arm! Things were defiantly looking up and a fantastic visit week to my new home town followed.The whole of Rantankiri province resembles a giant motocross track so overnight I became, not too bad at‘off roading’ (Oli you’d be proud!) (and even better at sitting on the back and letting Seta drive!). The roads (not that they deserve that title) are unbelievable, i have no idea how even a four wheel could get along some of the routes we travelled.Although I love the motor biking I am trying to not be overconfident. Apart from‘don’t crash, don’t crash, don’t crash’ other things going through my head include ‘bloody water buffalo/dog/cow/child/pot hole(!) please get out of my way’ and under no circumstances whatsoever do I want a collision with a water buffalo or any of the above. The challenge of serious mud still remains...The small perfect black dot from Google Earth turned out to be one of the best natural swimming pools I have ever seen and evenings were not short of entertainment thanks to a couple of good bars, friendly bar owners, a little NGO community and a steady stream of backpackers.After visiting 7 schools I have absolutely know idea where I am going to start. There are SO many issues - I am really not exaggeration when I say they have no books, pens or teachers. Its going to make school improvement very interesting, but I am not too worried (note sarcasm - im terrified) as I have heard talk of school improvement plans…so (as BCC people know), it should all be just fine!?! Anyways more on that when I get started in my job.Just one more week of language training to go and as last nights home stay proved I have a whole lot to learn in just one more week….better get cracking… This months photos are atwww.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37217&l=b9729&id=509349727