Mel’s Blog

As we finish our in-country orientation, us Provincial AYADs hope that the two weeks here have been enough to toughen up our stomachs in preparation for the cuisine we look forward to taking on in the Provinces.

We’ve all had a wonderful first two weeks in Cambodia, spending some time exploring Phnom Penh city and networking with our Host Organisations, the other AYADs and VIDAs here and getting our tongues around the Khmai language (and local delicacies) and discovering all this wonderful city has to offer.

Next week, we all head out to our respective bases and start our placements with our Host Organisations. I’ll be sad to leave Phnom Penh, as there is just so much to see and do and eat here, but at the same time I’m really excited to be heading out to Battambang and begin my work with SABORAS.

Let me share with you some of the highlights of our Orientation period

Amok: Our first meal in Cambodia. Meet the AYAD crew- from left: Mark, Lorna, Aimee, Patrick, Celeste, Aaron, Sarah, Luke and i’m behind the camera!

Elsewhere: THE PLACE to be if you’re a party hard expat. Cool chilled out resort style bar by day, it turns into Rock-The-Kazbar crazy style party on the first Friday of each month. Oh, the stories I hear about those nights. This is us chilling with some cheeky lunchtime cocktails - haven’t made it to a party night yet…

Mekong River Cruise to visit traditional Khmae villages

Khmer Restaurants on the Mekong: Not only is the food fantastic, but check out the seating!

What a beautiful country Cambodia is! Goodbye Phnom Penh!

Phnom Penh, as there is quite a large number of expats and tourists, there are plenty of restaurants, bars etc set up specifically to cater to this audience.

This is a good idea for if you are only here for a short while, as the food is a little safer, the staff speak a little English and they are likely to have something on the menu that you are used to eating – like eggs for breakfast, for example instead of fried noodles.About a week into our stay here, we were feeling pretty invincible so we decided to brave a local Khmer beer garden for dinner.

With the staff speaking very little English and the menu in Khmai, our plan was to randomly point to dishes to order. Our bravery was somewhat quashed when we discovered the first dish we were pointing to was eel, and the staff seemed somewhat hesitant to take our order in this manner, so we resorted to sign language and making animal noises to get out meanings across.With two vegetarians at the table we ordered “bonlai”, veggies, and Pat imitated pigs and cows for our next two dishes.

At this s stage most of the restaurant was curiously staring at us. When the waitress said “OK, thank you” we 6 back in our chairs triumphantly and waited for our feast to arrive.While we were waiting we partook in the healthy consumption of our first beer rocket, this baby cost $6 and fit 16 cans of Cambodian beer into it. I believe we finished two over dinner. Anyway, our food started to arrive, first the rice, then the veggies… so far so good.

We were somewhat horrified when the waitress plonked down a couple of plates of offal in front of us, (she ended up taking them back, they were for someone else) and even more perplexed when a plate of deep fried frogs arrived.How “moo, moo” and “oink oink” was understood as “ribbet ribbet” we’ll never know.

The frogs turned out to be pretty yummy (just like chicken) but the hilarity of the evening was clearly a highlight in our “Orientation” of Cambodia.

Some of the more adventurous members of the crew took on fried crickets and ants for dessert while others looked on, grimacing.

Well here I am, two feet firmly planted on the ground in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

*nb- friends and family who are planning on coming to visit me, please don’t let this put you off!

The trip was relatively pain free, except for the final leg from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh where we had the luck of getting one crazy pilot in a hurry who liked to imitate a rollercoaster on our ascent and descents. I say descents because on this trip I was lucky enough to experience my first “missed attempt” as the pilot put in when coming into Phnom Penh airport.

My interpretation of that is that (I’m guessing) the pilot was told to hang on for a minute until the airspace was clear but instead decided to put the petal-to-the-metal and attempt to squeeze in before the other guy, which saw us plummeting crazily towards earth with us poor unsuspect innocent passengers white knuckled, gripping the armrests, praying to sweet Jesus. In the end, our guy didn’t get in quick enough and at the last minute we were forced to pull up and retreat to a safe altitude where we hung out an waited our turn like a good little 737. This retreat understandably involved an ascent where we felt like we were being forced through our seats and some sickass banking (turning) as the pilot took out his frustration on the plane as you often witness with road ragers.

We then tried a second and successful time to land in Phnom Penh Airport.

But no problems, all was fine, don’t worry Mum!

The luggage (all 50kgs of it) was all cool and our In Country Manager (Hour) came and met us at the airport and customs and visas and all that jazz was a total breeze, we just walked straight through!

Its not too hot and understandably reminds me a lot of Malaysia, the climate, the smells, the people… I have just taken today to saok it all in, explore a little of Phnom Penh along the river and taken my first tuk tuk ride, which of course we got ripped off on. $3 US for four people still isn’t bad in the scheme of things…

Met with Patty today who has just finished working with SABORAS (www.saboras.org ) and is catching a plane back to Melbourne tomorrow. It was great to meet her and get a bit more of an insight about what it was like to work with that organisation, although our roles will be quite different.

Everyonés stoked to be here, although there’s an air of surreality (is that a word?) around, I think it’s hard to imagine that we’re all going to be here working for a year; it feels a bit more like a holiday at this stage and at any minute we could turn around and catch a Sundy roast at the Folks’ place, or a footy game…

I am dead tired and am sure I will sleep well tonight in my little hotel room up four flights of stairs!