After being back in Singapore for a month, our time in Cambodia had begun to feel like a dream to me. My photos became the family computer’s screensaver and every time I walked past the computer and saw images of our life in Chamcar Bei I couldn’t believe it was really us who’d been there. It was almost like I was looking into someone else’s life or like having been really engrossed in a good book.
I have to admit that I was a bit shell-shocked during the first week back in Singapore. In my week 13 blog I was reflecting on how peaceful it is when the working day is coming to an end at about 5pm throughout the village in Chamcar Bei. When I was back in Singapore I got on the bus to go to my yoga class. It was about 7pm so there were quite a lot of people on their way home from work. Or were they? Behind me there was a group of people still looking through their day’s paperwork and a lady next to me was still wired up to her mobile phone discussing a meeting for the next day. Even after my yoga class, when I was in the changing rooms, there was a lady from my class sitting on the bench, talking down her phone about a business deal. I have nothing against people working hard but there needs to be a time when you stop thinking about it!
Anyway, Tom and I have been back in Cambodia for one week now a
nd have slipped back into our Cambodian life as if we hadn’t left (although we’re still rebuilding our confidence with speaking Khmer). We decided to fly into Siem Reap first to spend 3 days looking around Angkor Wat which we both thought was just incredible. I really don’t know how to put the immensity and unbelievable amount of detail into words. Perhaps that’s why I took so many photos… I’m really glad 
we made the decision to spend some time at Angkor Wat because you can’t really think of Cambodia without thinking about Angkor Wat. It’s no surprise that it’s their national emblem and an icon which Cambodians are especially proud of.
On Friday we took a 6 hour bus ride from Siem Reap down to Phnom Penh where we spent the weekend in the unusually quiet BAB office. Tom and I are the only UWC volunteers to come back to Cambodia again so it was a bit strange arriving at the office without the rest of our “family” the
re. We were planning to stay for the week to help out with the 5-year UWC scholarship selection process but that’s been postponed for a few weeks because there were only 11 applicants – fewer than were expected. So instead we decided to take the 5 hour bus ride to Kep on Monday afternoon and that’s where we are now! And as soon as I’ve uploaded this blog we’ll be off in a tuk tuk to the Red House in Chamcar Bei – home sweet home!
I have to admit that I was a bit shell-shocked during the first week back in Singapore. In my week 13 blog I was reflecting on how peaceful it is when the working day is coming to an end at about 5pm throughout the village in Chamcar Bei. When I was back in Singapore I got on the bus to go to my yoga class. It was about 7pm so there were quite a lot of people on their way home from work. Or were they? Behind me there was a group of people still looking through their day’s paperwork and a lady next to me was still wired up to her mobile phone discussing a meeting for the next day. Even after my yoga class, when I was in the changing rooms, there was a lady from my class sitting on the bench, talking down her phone about a business deal. I have nothing against people working hard but there needs to be a time when you stop thinking about it!
Anyway, Tom and I have been back in Cambodia for one week now a
nd have slipped back into our Cambodian life as if we hadn’t left (although we’re still rebuilding our confidence with speaking Khmer). We decided to fly into Siem Reap first to spend 3 days looking around Angkor Wat which we both thought was just incredible. I really don’t know how to put the immensity and unbelievable amount of detail into words. Perhaps that’s why I took so many photos… I’m really glad 
we made the decision to spend some time at Angkor Wat because you can’t really think of Cambodia without thinking about Angkor Wat. It’s no surprise that it’s their national emblem and an icon which Cambodians are especially proud of.On Friday we took a 6 hour bus ride from Siem Reap down to Phnom Penh where we spent the weekend in the unusually quiet BAB office. Tom and I are the only UWC volunteers to come back to Cambodia again so it was a bit strange arriving at the office without the rest of our “family” the
re. We were planning to stay for the week to help out with the 5-year UWC scholarship selection process but that’s been postponed for a few weeks because there were only 11 applicants – fewer than were expected. So instead we decided to take the 5 hour bus ride to Kep on Monday afternoon and that’s where we are now! And as soon as I’ve uploaded this blog we’ll be off in a tuk tuk to the Red House in Chamcar Bei – home sweet home!
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1 comment:
I totally agree with the comment about people not turning off. In my last job we had to support the use of Blackberries, which are mobile devices which could connect to the work emails.
It wasn't uncommon for people to call us up and say "help, I can't read my email." I'd reply with something like "can you see GPRS on the screen? If not it means you're somewhere without a signal." They'd then reply "oh, that's because I'm sitting on the beach"
I hope you're enjoying your time out there. When you get to London this year (if you can pull yourself away from there) you can tell me all about it. :)
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