The Beautiful Province of Koh Kong

     Gosh, I really wish I could post some pictures of what I saw this week. But I guess those will just have to wait. Sorry. This is going to be a long post; lots to share! Tuesday I was able to accompany my supervisor and 2 people from United Nations' World Food Program to the province of Koh Kong to see about expanding a program to that province. We all squished into a car, and of course they put the tall American whose legs are twice as long anybody's in this entire country in the middle back seat. We had a driver that drove us the entire time we were gone. This seems a little unnecessary to me to be spending funds on a driver, but I guess at least they're providing jobs? (We also have a full-time maid at our office.) Anyway, I was so excited to get out of the bustling city and see more of the country! We drove for a while and then stopped all of a sudden. No one told me what we were doing, but just got out of the car. So I sat there confused and the driver told me "toilet". Oh okay, so I got out to look for a toilet. Well, no toilet. Just a bunch of Buddhist shrines. Everyone bought some incense and said their prayers to the shrine and then we were back on our way. The drive was about 5 hours long and goodness it was beautiful! Lush green mountains and lotus gardens and rice fields. While driving through a windy jungle-y road, there was a monkey just sitting in the middle of the road. I yelled out "monkey!" The lady next to me said, "Sometimes we have elephants here." My face lit up and with a huge grin I said "really?!" Then she looked at me very sternly and shook her head, "No, afraid." I'm pretty sure if I ever come across an elephant in the wild, I might possibly be the happiest girl in the world.

     When we finally arrived in the main city, we headed to the Provincial Health District to meet with the provincial directors in order to get their support for our expanding the program in this province. Once we got their support, we went to meet with the Operation District leader to additionally get his support. After our success, we were off to explore some new rural villages that demographic data has not yet even been collected for in order to assess their socioeconomic status, the health of the children, and living conditions. My supervisor told me I was very lucky to be able to see this. Well, as we drove through these villages, I was shocked. These people were living in run down huts made of wood scraps with thatched roofs. I have never felt so out of place in my life. We drove through through these tiny roads in the villages in our big SUVs labeled with USAID and World Food Program and everyone just stared. I don't think many cars drive through there. Whenever we'd stop to get out and look around and I had no idea what anyone was saying and realized I was the only white person around, and very likely the only white person these people had ever seen, it was kind of unnerving. I'm pretty sure the kids were scared of me. We drove through a few villages and then we stopped and they told me there was the Thai border 100 feet ahead of me. I was tempted to go see if I could step over the border to say I've been to Thailand, but decided I'd rather actually see the country someday ha.

     That night I asked what we were doing in those villages, and Mory from WFP told me they wanted to see the condition of the new villages that they did not have income data on yet, but that they were disappointed because the villages were very well off. WEll that was news to me! I had thought these villages were in awful shape, some of the poorest living conditions I've seen; what does a poor village look like?! Apparently since the children looked healthy and there were markets set up in front of the homes, they were doing okay. My supervisor Ketsana told me we were going to stay an extra day to look at more villages. Well I only packed for one day, but I was so excited to be able to see more of the villages. That night at dinner Ketsana order fried noodles for me. They handed me chop sticks to eat with, and then quickly realized I didn't know how to use them. Mory to me she would "train" me. I told her good luck. Failed attempt #57 at trying to teach me how to use chop sticks. My entire meal with a coke cost me $1.50. Awesome! I slept so well that night with an air conditioner in the hotel room and a clean bed. It also had a clean shower. I think that was the first time I've felt clean since I've been here.

     The next morning we all went to breakfast. I was nervous because they eat about the same thing for breakfast as they do every other meal. And I have no idea how to order food so ketsana usually orders for me and it's a surprise what I'm going to get. But I had the best meal yet! It was a fried egg with beef almost like fajitas with bell peppers and green beans. Then we were off to see some other new villages about 2 hours away. We drove down some dirt roads and then the road ended at a river. The sketchiest ferry ever pulled up to take us and our 2 SUVs across the river. This thing was literally a bunch of boards laid on top of 3 small fishing boats and 2 boards for the cars to load. Once we were across the river we had another hour drive to the villages. So we took our Land Cruiser and went off roading through the jungle down the red dirt roads. Awesome! Off roading with 4 Cambodians. Hilarious.

     Apparently these new villages had been kicked out of their other villages by the government and forced to move to this new village. I don't quite understand what they were trying to tell me was going on. But these villages were literally out in the middle of the JUNGLE with no water source nearby, no hospital, no school, and no markets. I have no idea how they survive without running water during the dry season. We interviewed a few different households and met with the village leader. We also stopped to buy some charcoal from a family in the village. They were literally in a pit digging up charcoal. These little kids, no older than 10 years old, were completely black, covered in charcoal, working hard digging and bagging up charcoal. It's awful that children are forced to work to help their families survive instead of going to school. The never-ending poverty cycle. We drove through a few more villages and stopped by the coast to take pictures.

     Then we stopped for a beautiful lunch and then everyone began discussing the status of the villages, their access to health centers, and such. It was starting to get late and all of a sudden everyone started freaking out. I asked what was going on and the man from WFP said "elephant on the main road." I was like "Ooh I want to see!" He said, "No, we must hurry back because we still have a long drive and if we wait too long,there will be elephants in the road causing problems with the cars." So the driver drove double the speed limit the entire drive home down a windy jungle road. To everyone else's relief and my great disappointment, there was no elephant sighting. Oh, and a word to the wise: steer clear of seaweed chips. NOT good. When we got back to the city that night it was super crowded and there was a festival going on. They took me to go walk around and see. There was a Cambodian band performing and then tons of people wandering through looking at booths. It was so crowded that we didn't stay very long.

     The next morning we set out to see a couple more villages before heading back to Phnom Penh. We stopped for lunch along the coast and ate in straw hut out over the water. So awesome! After a long drive squished in the back seat with Mory shouting Khmer in a high pitched voice the whole way and my right ear ringing painfully, we made it back to Phnom Penh. Ah, back to horrible traffic and unbearable heat. The driver dropped everyone off at their front doors and Ketsana told him where I lived so he could drop me off at home. Well I guess since he'd already dropped off all the company's big wigs and it was just me, he decided he didn't have a responsibility for me anymore. So he dropped me off on the side of the road and told me he couldn't take me home because of the traffic. So I had to find my way home, while carrying all of my things. Welcome home! At least I had packed light, since I thought we'd only be gone for one day!

     I'm getting used to all the bugs and reptiles constantly around me. Lizards frequently accompany me in the shower, spiders over the sink and all over my room (I just keep telling myself they're eating the mosquitoes), bugs in the toilet, a gecko crawling out of my purse under my desk at work, and cockroaches running across the ground at night when I'm walking back from the shower. But for some reason all the creatures have decided to come out to play tonight. I came home tonight and saw a HUGE rat run along the fence. Just ask Natalie how much I like rats...Then as I was walking up the stairs a mouse ran up the railing next to me. As I was laying on my bed reading, a giant creature flew and landed on my leg, and then proceeded to land on my head and crawl through my hair.

     But just barely as I was sitting on the floor near the outlet to charge my ipad while writing this post, a MOUSE just ran by me and under my bed. Oh. My. Gosh. I've been hearing sounds in the wall by my bed and I told Sasha in an email last night that I thought there was a creature in my room. Turns out I was correct. I panicked, then noticed Thida's light was still on. So I ran over to her room and she and her sister both started freaking out and none of us knew what to do. When we gained some composure and went to look for it, it was gone. Must have gone back into the wall. Thida says to me, "I think it's probably best if you don't sit on the floor. you should sit on the bed." Great.

     To all the little creatures out there, I do not want to play with you and I am determined that you will lose. I just made sure all of my bags are zipped up and I'm hoping I'll be able to get some sleep tonight.