Cambodia, Cancelled Classes and Corona

There's this little thing happening at the moment, dunno if any of you have heard about it...? Corona Virus? 

Anyone who knows me will know how cynical I am of the media, and how much I frankly haven't given a sh*t about this Corona Virus. But now it is what it is, it's impossible to not talk about. So what is the update with me? Not a lot really. My plans haven't changed too much, still avoiding the 40+ heat, still doing yoga and Zumba, still leaving Battambang this weekend and cycling to Phnom Pehn to head to the islands. 

 

My visa is valid until May here, and the border with Laos is still open (for now) so I'll be going there in May. I can get a 90-day extension and bounce between here and there. Hopefully, by then it's all blown over and we can all carry on with our lives and stop stockpiling toilet paper and talking about how awful Boris Johnson is. 

FUNNY THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED RECENTLY: 

• I had my first parent/teacher night. We have a translator because I'm sure I could get by with "you child he good, write good, speak good, but naughty. ABC make me happy" but not sure how much they'd appreciate my Khmer. SO ANYWAY got one parent and I'm like hey, your daughter is amazing, best in class, speaks perfect, keep her on the right track! only for me to give him her paperwork and him to say "this isn't my daughter" and she is actually one of the slowest in the class...oops. 

• Hearing that drawing a tiger on your neck will scare away the mice in your body if you have mumps.

• Having to deescalate a guy who was getting very passionate about the CIA following him. Then explain that an ESL teacher in Cambodia who speaks Khmer is not the perfect cover for a CIA agent (and if I was I ain't gonna be hanging out in a hostel following his boring ass). 

Till next time, spending this tough time in Cambodia isn't the worst place to be. Sending out the posi vibes to all my famalams and friends who care to check here now my life isn't so exciting anymore haha

Bettering myself in Battambang

How are things? 

They're good...if you ignore that I got left in a bomb zone a couple days ago and the apparent apocalypse of Corona that is heading our way... I'm doing great! 
 
I'm still attempting to touch my toes and find mindfulness with yoga classes twice a week...still drinking 2L of water a day (sometimes even infused with cucumber, get me) still working on my Rubix cube solving times. It's a slow life, that I'm not quite ready for just yet- but it's nice.

School is good, although it can be challenging at times, also hella fun especially your kids are calling each other crazy, or that they stink of shit...or they're saying it to me and I get to tell them to shut up and that I understand (all in Khmer, the Cambodian language)..

My adult class is fun, although this is a challenge this week as we start our new topic of "Future Technology" when we're in a country where my housemate asks if my Grandma's hip replacement is "magic" because it sounds so futuristic conversations like this happen:

Chit (my housemate): My sister just told me a lady in my village is having a baby now, so she had to run and get the old lady for her.
 Me: Old Lady?????????
Chit: Yeah, the old lady who helps the baby come out
Me: ????????????? ....... the midwife?
Chit: What's that?? You just get the oldest lady in the village because she's had the most children and seen the most babies so she helps

another conversation we've been having in class about medical advances 

Me: Okay, so what would you have done if you broke your arm 100 years ago?
Class: ????? I don't know, the same as we did 20 years ago? The same as people do in the countryside now??? 
Classmate 1: You rub a baby chicken on it and plants and put it in bamboo? 
Classmate 2: No, it's not a dead baby chicken, I had fried leeches and plants and ginger and then bamboo? But now, I'd just go to the hospital.  

so trying to explain even Dolly the sheep is a little bit mind-blowing for some of my students (who are also Monks...). But hey- if it's not a challenge it's not exciting. Right??

They've been doing some work on excavating the river bank to do some beautification in my town and after the civil war here in the 70's they've been finding dozens of unexploded bombs and grenades. So I'm in class doing some homework and I finish a couple hours late, so I pass through reception and there's nobody there? I go outside and there are no cars?? But there is the Army and bomb disposal squad, so the whole road has been shut off and I'm there like lol what. So yeah, had a front-row view of the detonation.

Only a couple weeks left in this sleepy town now before I'm back to the Rong where I belong, and coming up with my plan B now as China is looking off the table.

My Latest Adventure: Bangkok to Battambang by Bicycle

Just a quick pop-up post whilst I have 5 minutes! I`ve safely arrived in my first destination of Battambang and been reunited with friends from Koh Rong, Caro and Chit! It`s been a whirlwind of peddling, camping, crossing boarders, sleeping in temples and school and strangers houses, avoiding being crushed by elephants, riding to waterfalls with no water and perfecting my non-verbal communication. More details to come, but for now- here are some snaps! 

 

It's Not About The Destination It's About The Journey

Greetings from Koh Chang! 

Sunset from my current coordinates

You can take the girl off the island... but never for too long. Bringing back the beaches, flip-flop-less life, and luxury of lazy and I'm back in heaven. Luckily for me I've met up with the other 1/3 of our Tenerife Basement Trio, Mr Josh Gibbs and my fantastic Ex-In2Action Amigo Messy Massey for some buckets, sunbathing and overindulging in Green Currry.

The journey to get here was one of interest so I'll fill in from the other 1/3  of our Tenerife Basement Trio leaving to being reunited with the other one.

Introducing Gary! After the disastrous news of having to scrap my ex-travel companion, my 2004 Yamaha Nu Barry, a quick trip over to Ho Chi Minh saw me pick up my upgraded (red, rather than blue) 2006 Yamaha Nouvo...Gary. Less than $200 we were on our way for some adventure, leaving Phnom Penh and heading west 300km to Battambang.

Hitting 30km from my start point, Gary popped a tyre (luckily our only mechanical flaw for the whole trip!) but after that we were smooth sailing for all of about 150km when I realised we wouldn't hit our destination and having a personal hatred for driving in the dark I decided to enquire at a guesthouse whilst passing through the EXTREMELY well known village of Krakor how much a guesthouse would be for the night...upon receiving more-than-likely their first Barang (foreigner) in a while offered me the ever-so-reasonable price of $65 for the night. Just stretching out my budget I decided to keep travelling, knowing I had my hammock and mozzie net in my bag I could pitch up between two trees for no more than free.

Also hungry from a long day of driving and attempting not to crash in Phnom Penh, pulled over when I saw some "HELLO HELLO HELLO" kids waving at me and would grab some Mii Char (fried noodles) from their Mum's little food stand. Fast forwards and the young couple and their four children were astounded that I spoke a little Khami and asked where I was sleeping for the evening, and realising I intended on crashing between some trees insisted that I stay with them for the evening,sharing a bed with the Mum whilst the Dad shared with the kids. But being a fan of the outdoors I just requested going between the porch poles, as if any rain hit I'd be able to avoid it. But they fed me, gave me water, and later in the evening the Chief of Police popped by (as you do) and insisted on arr'am (party) and puk sra (drinking alcohol) which later lead to me being handfed the national fruit, Durian, by the drunk Chief Of Police...Cambodia!

The next day Mum took me round the market and I helped bring some things back, did some colouring and friendship bracelets with the kids and helped them with their English. After a few hours I said a hearty goodbye to my new friends (who I've been invited to see next time I'm here!)and after all their kindness refused any money whatsoever! THIS is why Cambodia is  the nicest country in the world (more examples coming up).

Arriving in Battambang, a beautiful town on the west side of Cambodia. Most notable thing I did here was visiting the Batcaves (no sign of the batmobile though) when at dusk thousands of bats escape the cave.

Come YOLO Bar and give me free drinks

Next stop was hitting up Siem Reap again to make the most of the rest of my Angkorwat pass, and reunion drinks with my Island Girl Olivia, where we had a drink or two, represented our hostel on Pub Street in exchange for an evening of free drinks and I won an hour free massage for the gesture of dressing up as a man for the hostels Gender Bender Competition.

After visiting some waterfalls, going to a floating village and successfully losing my purse. I was down to my last $50, and still a sense of adventure so me and Gary heading up to Angkorwat past closing hours, I pitched up my hammock and camped out next too 900AD ruins. A peaceful nights sleep and the only person to catch the pristine sunrise from PreRup temple.

Using my last few dollars, I headed back over to try to sell Gary after a faithful 2000km and for Christmas Before Christmas with my island crew before we all went our separate ways. 

Scrimping down to my last pennies, and I.O.U.Beers for a few friends, crashing with my mate Lex I then had the challenge of being money-less, bike-less and bus-less with a near expiring visa so I decided to hitchhike over to Thailand. 

Three Hundred Kilometres of Kindness

My good friends Bernie and Connor from Koh Rong happened to be getting a taxi down to Sihnoukville so I jumped in and jumped out at the 48 Highway, 161KM away from the Koh Kong border cross. 

After a few scenic KM, I was picked up by this kind gentleman. He was driving to a rural farm to pick up some organic fertaliser brought from Thailand. So we drove there and the family explained that the man who dropped it off from Thailand was going back again so I was more than welcome to join the ride. The catch was, it wasn't until the next day, but the good news was that I was more than welcome to stay with them for the evening and leave at 6am the next day. I explained that I had no money, but they were more than happy to share their food, house, bed and kindness with me. 

Sunrise came, and so did my lift. Me and my Monk friend and the driver headed over to Koh Kong where I hitched the last 10km with a Policeman on a moto, then a pick up truck, then a community bus, till I finally reached into my saved Thai Baht and arrived on Koh Chang!

An adventurous few days, now followed up by some relaxing, scuba diving and scooting about. 

So I said goodbye to Cambodia in the best way possible, until next time. And hello to the holidays!