With the rainy season now behind us and Bon Om Thong archived to the memory banks, it was time to take to the water again this time on a second boat trip. I don't do too many things more than once but I did make an exception on this occasion.
Becky, one of our newer volunteers, and housemates, works for an organisation that upskills girls who have somehow managed to claw themselves out of abusive circumstances, whilst juggling a smile, adolescence (hard at the best of times), and a poor or non-existent extended family. Any adjective I might chose to describe them seems a bit cliched, as words like "amazing" and "fantastic" are bandied around like the f-word and images of graphic war-zone scenes - they used to have impact but now have been dulled by the frequency of their use.
These girls are inspiring in terms of their resolve and strength and yet again I am reminded of just how lucky we are.
Becky, one of our newer volunteers, and housemates, works for an organisation that upskills girls who have somehow managed to claw themselves out of abusive circumstances, whilst juggling a smile, adolescence (hard at the best of times), and a poor or non-existent extended family. Any adjective I might chose to describe them seems a bit cliched, as words like "amazing" and "fantastic" are bandied around like the f-word and images of graphic war-zone scenes - they used to have impact but now have been dulled by the frequency of their use.
These girls are inspiring in terms of their resolve and strength and yet again I am reminded of just how lucky we are.
So I really should just get a grip when I sprain my toe. I thwacked it against a piece of Cambodian concrete, Cambodian because it was sitting, for no reason apparent to me, in the middle of my path, waiting to be walked into by an unsuspecting barang (it had to be, Cambodians don't walk). The freedom of wearing flip flops unfortunately carries with it the perils of stepping on something you shouldn't. So, I now have a purple toe that won't bend. Nara one of my tuk-tuk drivers recommended amputation at the knee. This is Cambodian humour. Thank you Nara, for the laugh, it was much much cheaper than SOS.
I have regarded sunset on the river as the Cambodian version of the Loch Ness Monster, an imaginary creature that tourists look for but fail to capture on film. So it came as a pleasant surprise to be on the river when the sky morphed from the bland to the more spectacular.
So with a pink and orange set, some of the Khmer girls performed their aspara dancing on the top deck to the sounds of booming house music, whilst others took multiple pictures with their mobile phones.
The trip also showed us the new houses of many of those evicted from Phnom Penh's development land which has been seized in a sort of unorthodox compulsory purchase order way, forcing them to relocate. Their new abodes are a series of huts which just about cover their need for shelter. Perched incongruously behind them is a blue church and looking to our right as we drove up Riverside to Chow and Metro (Cambodia is after all a bar culture!), I got a new slant on the city's architecture: the yellow and gold classic Khmer architecture overlaid with something possibly international or new-style Khmer. The juxtaposition of all of these styles makes Cambodia very much a work in progress.
So with a pink and orange set, some of the Khmer girls performed their aspara dancing on the top deck to the sounds of booming house music, whilst others took multiple pictures with their mobile phones.
The trip also showed us the new houses of many of those evicted from Phnom Penh's development land which has been seized in a sort of unorthodox compulsory purchase order way, forcing them to relocate. Their new abodes are a series of huts which just about cover their need for shelter. Perched incongruously behind them is a blue church and looking to our right as we drove up Riverside to Chow and Metro (Cambodia is after all a bar culture!), I got a new slant on the city's architecture: the yellow and gold classic Khmer architecture overlaid with something possibly international or new-style Khmer. The juxtaposition of all of these styles makes Cambodia very much a work in progress.
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