Rural Cambodia

We met Juan and Hannah to travel to the school.  With a twinkle in his eye he said we were going to travel ‘Cambodian style’ as we turned up with two large bags and he had a gym mat and a didgeridoo.  ‘What does that mean?’ I was suddenly dreading the next 6 hours.  ‘We travel to the edge of town and try and find a shared car to take us”.  Shared car here means that the driver crams in as  many passengers as he can – even someone shares the driving seat.  

We arrived at the edge of town and there was quite a nice looking 4 x 4.  It is strange just going up to a random driver and ask them if they will drive us for 6 hours.  The guy said yes and did a deal but then there was lots of Khmer discussion and they started to move our cases into another car.   It turned out that he wasn’t actually going there. 

The car journey turned out to be very comfortable and he didn’t stop to try and squeeze another three into the car or someone on his lap.  I wasn’t looking forward to the second part of the journey, which was going to be on motorbikes with our really heavy cases on our laps. There is NO concern for health and safety in this country at all.   There must be so many road accidents.  As we arrived there so late and in the dark we paid the driver an extra $5 to take us door to door.  Relief!

We really were off the beaten track.   About 25 lorries passed us full of tightly packed standing women.   It was end of day at the factories.

Thea our host greeted us and his wife Vesna.  They were extremely friendly and showed us around their house and our room.  The house is two big rooms with a shiny white tiled floor.  Lots of mattresses on the second floor as we expected but we did have a separate room.  Not my ideal level of cleanliness and comfort but I think we will cope.   One bathroom, if you can call it that, with a bucket to wash in.  Thea showed us the school building and told us that this has been his dream for 10 years and then gave us a big hug thanking us for raising so much money (thanks Mum!). 

Vesna then introduced me to her family, who all live in the neighbouring houses and insisted on asking my age every time a new family member appeared.  I think they were quite fascinated by us being double the age of all the other volunteers and with a young son.  We also met the other volunteers: two Spanish, a Polish guy and a French couple, all young backpackers who love it here and take it in turns after building work to teach the kids too. 

We all had food which is cooked by Vesna every night, simple rice and vegetables.   Her sister loves karaoke and could be heard belting out tune after tune from the house next door.  We got inspired and then sang some of the Lion King along with the digeridoo and a ukulele before bedtime.