This morning I was alone in the office. Bunthorn has gone off training and the boys, for some strange reason that I will come to later, failed to turn up for work. I sat there thinking about the last 4 months and came to the conclusion that the good has definitely outweighed the bad and that I will really miss this little town on the edge of the world. As you approach the town from Battambang the first things you see are three very large monuments on the top of ...

Well everyone now knows I am moving placements. I arrived back from doing the evaluations yesterday and as the taxi drove towards Pailin I don't think it could have looked better. The sun was going down behind the hills which made them look blue. The fields and trees were very green due to the late rain. Everything was just lovely. Maybe I am lucky in that I have only seen this area looking good - in April it goes brown like the rest of the country. In the eve...

Last night as I left work the girls asked if I wanted to join them for something to eat. We went to one of the back streets to what just seems like a house with a table outside. I think it is a way alot of woman earn extra money, they just cook more food than their family wants when someone turns up. We sat at one table and whatever we ate the family also had. It was delicious, a real mixture of tastes, mostly deep fried which is unusual here as most of the food ...

Today I visited 4 school with Vannak and another member of staff. Like England you can see huge differences in schools. So first the similarities: 1. No glass in the windows just bars and shutters 2. No display boards so posters and work just stuck to walls 3. Good size classrooms - which is good as the largest class I saw was 65 children, sitting three to a desk designed for 2 4. No adult support for the teachers 5. Play areas that are dirt rather than gras...

Went for another ride through the hills around Pailin. It really is lovely, very quiet and easy on the eyes. Found a woman selling fruit so bought some oranges and had a picnic by the river. As some of you will know Pailin is famous for two things. The Khmer Rouge being one, gems being the other. They say in the past you could just pick them up anywhere near a river. Sadly that is no longer the case but these kids were doing their best to find some.