Going rural

Well, it’s time to leave Phnom Penh and head out to the university campass near the small village of Kamchai Mear in the province of Prey Veng. Near Vietnam.

Tomorrow morning me and a handful of other volunteers will get a bus-taxi the 140km east to our new home. The journey takes about 5-6 hours… and includes a ferry crossing and several hours of “human-breaking” rough road. To quote the Volunteers Guide, “imagine one ton of cargo on a small van doing 30km/h on a BMX track, then put a chicken in your ear, three people on top of you and a sandblaster through the window”. Interesting.

PP has been a good experience, despite the fact that I never got around to seeing the Killing Fields. I’ve spent most of the last few days with the MVU people, sorting out my laptop, strolling along near the Mekong river and relaxing at the guesthouse — reading, playing pool and watching the sunset over the lake. I checked out the National Museum, which was OK — I spent most of my time practicing my chinese with a few chinese people I met there.

My home for the near future will be a bedroom in the “foreign house” on campus. There are shared bathrooms with a squat toilet and a large tank of water that you throw on yourself as substitute for a shower. Following TM practices, only vegetarian food will be served in the foreign house, but local food is available in the village nearby. Electricity runs from 8-11am, 2-5pm and 6-9pm during the week, but only 6-9pm on weekends.

There is no internet access out at Kamchai Mear, and no e-mail except for one e-mail address shared by all staff at the university. If you want to contact me by e-mail remember that everybody can read what you write, don’t send any attachments and put my name in the title. The e-mail address is 012688701@mobitel.com.kh