This morning I spent 3 hours on the back of Marc on roads varying from good tarmac to bumpy dry mud. We were visiting pre-schools in 3 communes. Let me explain about pre-schools in Cambodia. There are 4 types of provision all of which are funded in a different way. 1. Public - usually attached to a primary school and should have a qualified teacher - funded through the POE 2. Private - paid for by parents 3 Community pre-school - teacher paid for by the commu...

Moved hotel so that I was in the same one as Jan and Chas. I arrived, checked in and asked about Jan & Chas - never heard of them, asked me to look through their bookings, couldn't see them!! I said, "but my sister said the hotel was picking them up from the airport" - they replied, "are you sure it was this hotel!!" Eventually they were found and everyone agreed a taxi had been dispatched to pick them up. To celebrate I trotted off to a local bakery for a m...

I started today with a coffee in Java Cafe over looking Independence Monument. I chose it because I wanted to see the mess left by the chaos last night. This was the road where one of the largest street parties was, it was blocked off but all the roads around it were Moto parks and gridlocked. I was expecting to see rubbish everywhere. Nothing - it was spotless. An army of people must have been working through the small hours to get it to look like this. It is ...

I am now sitting in the Penthouse Bar looking down on chaos. Roads are closed all over the city and everyone is partying. The road is becoming one big Moto park so is becoming narrower for Tuk-Tuks and cars!!! Ian and I started the day by walking down to the FCC and just sitting in the bar watching the day get going. I now realise it was relatively quiet then, as all day it has got louder and busier - but, I am pleased to say, good humoured. I have enjoyed watc...

Next week there is a 2 day holiday to celebrate the Water Festival. It is a very important date in Cambodia and they celebrate- often for far longer than 2 days. Kampong Speu had their festival this weekend and it was fun. All the streets were closed off and the whole river area came alive. The races were frantic rather than efficient and I have to say occasionally I was worried that they were going to end up in the water. The festival marks a reversal of the f...