Holiday Day 1 - 3 (26.-28.10.09)

Long time ago I posted my last blog entry. At least, this lends some truth to its title, as it was partly in expectation of my future preoccupation/laziness that I chose it.
As I promised to give a detailed account of my holidays before and during the water festival (2.-4.11.), I will try to note down at least the most striking points now.

I spent the first day travelling to Phnom Penh, a largely uneventful, long journey (8 instead of 6 hours due to delays at the border of PP - The preparations for the Water Festival were already underway). Luckily, there was not so much karaoke music, however, a Khmer comedy was shown, during which the four somewhat disgusting men behind me continuously erupted into fits of laughter.

Having arrived in Phnom Penh and evaded the TukTuk drivers' ambush - a phenomenon I had quite forgotten during the peaceful months in Battambang - I walked to Moritz's, another weltwaerts-volunteer's place. Here, I was to spent the night in a 'deck chair in the living room in the company of an older Khmer woman, an acquaintance of one of Moritz's  flatmates. Though not the most comfortable lodging avaiable, it was certainly the cheapest and even included free pancakes as breakfast and dinner.

After a somewhat irritating visit to a noble hotel and casino called "Naga World" with Moritz and Matthias from Battambang the first evening, I spent the next day buying an acoustic guitar and sitting in free-wifi caffees, where I completed the last extensive entry on this blog.

The next day I had an early wake-up as my travelling schedule was rather tight. I was due to go to Siem Reap with Saskia on 29th and did not want to miss the opportunity of getting at least a brief impression of Kampong Cham, where she lives.

I therefore took the bus at 7:00 which took me to KC in 5 hours - a journey even less eventful than the first one, which was a good thing with regards to the journeys to follow.

In Kampong Cham, after resolving some confusions at the designated meeting place, I finally managed to arrive at Saskia's and Fabio's abode.
Here, we had a perfectly delicious self-cooked lunch (fortunately I was not involved in the process of its creation) on their idyllic terrace.
Afterwards, I accompanied Saskia to her workplace. We were a bit delayed as the bike we (read "I") were driving, was unwilling to go up a hill with our combined weight on its back and broke its chain.
When we arrived, there was not much work to do. I had a nice encounter with the head-monk of the organization (Buddhism for Society Development Agency: BSDA), whom I knew from a lecture he had given at our preparatory seminary. Saskia showed me around the place, which contained besides the office, a crafts school, a sewing centre, an Apsara school, English classrooms and an old temple beside which a pagoda was established.

In the evening, we had a beer (brand: Angkor) at the river(Mekong)side and tried to play some badminton. We had a phenomenal failure at this but succeed at entertaining the surrounding Khmer profoundly.
We had dinner at the BSDA-run "Smile" restaurant, where I made the acquaintance of a DED-worker in Kampong Cham, who was interesting due to his long experience in the work and his self-critical attitude.