Happy New Year! (Again!)
on Meg's Cambodian Adventures (Cambodia), 01/May/2009 06:59, 34 days ago
Well another month has gone by and yet ANOTHER new year…Khmer new year- this is fab for my new years resolutions sincethey only need to last a month each time, still though, they are not often kept!April has been a month of holidays, with Khmer new year lasting officially a week- schools and the ministry are closed unofficially for a month- which means work is a write off! So I took myself off to Thailand and after 2 weeks of buckets of cocktails, swimming in fishponds, beautiful beaches, massages, kayaking, island hopping and motorbike adventures- it was time to come back to Cambodia. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and that is definitely how I feel about Cambodia. Thailand was beautiful and it was great being on holiday but I realised how much a missed Cambodia- which is a good thing really since Im living here for a fair while longer! I was in TOTAL culture shock in Thailand, despite being next door to Cambodia it is a different world- there are roads and shops and tescos and I cant believe how developed it is in comparison- the difference is immense and it is pretty sad to come back and see how poor Cambodia really is.I came back in time for Khmer New Year and went straight to the beach to meet Claire in Sihanoukville, which was a lot of fun- Khmer New Year brings with it a lot of mayhem- people throw water and talcum powder at you when you’re walking past- it gets pretty messy but so so much fun! It can get pretty sore too though- as my assistant explained to me, its seen as rude to throw open water and this results in throwing bottles or bags of water- which thank god I avoided! Back in Mondulkiri I went to my friend Thon’s wedding which was very exciting- Sandra and I did as the Khmer girls do and went to the hairdressers for 2 hourse prior and got thick layers of make up and big hair- all for a bargain price of $5!Coming back to my quiet little town has been a welcome shock to the system, bed by 8, rice every day, no parties- its nice getting back to normality! I have started playing badminton with the kids that live downstairs which is fun, but I lose pretty badly all the time, badminton is a national past-time here so I’ve got some catching up to do still! Other nights I go and play snooker with the guys I work with ( I lose at that too, theres really no excuse!). Another good way to spend a day is going to Elephant valley and having picnics and swimming and hanging out with the elephants- pretty cool life! Therainy season has started- in Mondulkiri this mean mud slides wherever you go and places being pretty inaccessible. In Phnom Penh it means practically swimming through the streets as the water level rises to mid thigh (but I am short!).We are currently trying to find hobbies for the wet season so that we don’t stay hiding in our houses for 6 months! So far I have been invited to join karaoke at an HIV NGO which will be one of my more unusual hobbies! Our brand new hobby is mountain biking- and when I say mountain, I really mean it! We hired bikes today and headed out to the waterfalls, and itwas so hard! Mondulkiri is the name of the province and it literally means ‘meeting of the hills’, hmmm not sure how long this hobby will last but it was fun for the day!My clothes have reached the height of fashion now- uber trendy wellies teamed with a bright green plastic raincoat, I’m told the ‘drenched cat’ look is very in right now which is handy since I’m in a constant state of drenched-ness, I always finish off the look with a thick layer of mud- so hot right now!At work we are putting libraries into 8 schools in the province and I’m also starting planning holiday clubs since the schools break up (again!) pretty soon! Aside from official work, a few of us volunteers are also arranging Phnom Penh LGBT Pride 2009 to coincide with IDAHO (international day against homophobia)- which started off as a casual idea and snowballed into a huge event with amazing support from within Cambodia and the international community! It is really massive and so exciting, it will be unlike any other Pride I’ve been to since we’re aiming it at the LGBT community in the provinces who due to finance and distance have not previously had support from sexual health/LGBT services. It’s a lot of hard work but hopefully it will all come together and I’m learning so much and meeting hugely inspirational people through it.