When it rains it rains....

Although it is technically rainy season here it is actually very dry with heavy rain sporadically. Over the weekend it rained really heavily, we did not go swimming at the waterfalls we had planned to visit as the roads are even more dangerous that usual in the rain. A few of us sat in a bar playing games for the afternoon drinking red wine because at only 25 degrees it was too cold for beer. Its back to mid 30s now!

The gig at Bhodi went really well and we made lots of cash as the owner gave us the beer profits for the night!! Lots of singing and fun but perhaps a little too much beer, I had to go for a long cycle the next day to sweat it out!

The main streets in Kampot are tarmac but all the others are orange dirt. After rain you have to get used to cycling calve deep in water which is filled with god knows what including venomous snakes. A friend had a 3 foot Russells viper in her lounge the other day, IN HER LOUNGE! These guys are responsible for most of the deaths in Asia from bites - thousands...

I am having a strategic away day today to start to develop a 5 year plan with the MD - I hope it's not too hot.....it will be....always is....here I am....in the sun.....etc etc

If music be the food of love...

My time here is getting more musical by the day. A few of us go out to a beautiful spot on the river out of town on Fish Island where there is a Cham fishing community. It is a lovely place and the people are always pleased/amazed to see foreigners. We sat on the riverside and played a few songs with two guitars, a shaker and a harminica and watched the sun go down and fishing boats go out to sea. Most of the village came to sit with us and watch and luckily someone knew a Cambodian folk song so all the sweet little kids sang along - it was great fun!

There is a guy, Joe, from England who is traveling around SE Asia linking up with musicians to play fund raising gigs in local bars. Three of us started practising at the weekend and had our first gig this Tuesday which went well, we had another last night which was better and we raised more money. I sing and play the shaker! They are all to raise cash for Epic. We play with one of the students from Epic too and he sings traditional songs and we try and keep up!

At work this week there is a conference going on at Epic with the ministry of education and lots of other NGOs. They are doing a lot of talking as seems to be the way here but yesterday they spent the afternoon doing workshops in sign, dance and art which was great fun. They also saw a performance from the VTP (vocational training programme) students who make up the main dance company here - they are super talented dancers. Here is a question I was tackling yesterday - how do you teach a deaf person to mix sound? Here no disability is a barrier to anything. We have our biggest gig tonight and going on an adventure this weekend - watch for report!

Getting about

So I have a bit of a hangover. We went to Bodhi Villa last night to see a couple of friends play some live music. It is a great place, out of town on the river with swimming platforms and a bar right on the river. Very chilled out but lots of backpackers who can be annoying but these guys seemed alright, the usual mix of UK, Oz and Dutch - nothing new there then!

My week has seen me meeting with all the managers and teaching them how to do staff reviews and set targets. I have also written them a guide to project management and evaluation - all fun stuff. I am picking up quite a lot of sign now which allows me to communicate with many of the kids.

Today I hired a scooter and went to Kep, a village on the sea. Very beautiful with amazing crab market. I got talking to a Khymer girl sitting by the beach playing a guitar, a rare sight. She gave me her guitar so I played her a couple of tunes which she liked. I did a walk in the hills up to some Buddhas and a temple with a small colony of nuns. It was super hot and I was wet through with sweat - it was quite hard going with some climbing. I got to thinking - I am on my own climbing up an almost sheer hill in a country without good healthcare - a couple of times I thought it was my time but the devil looks after his own and all that! I had a lovely lunch sitting in a wonderful resturant right on the sea - super nice seafood straight out of the sea in front of you.....mmm squids, crabs, prawns...mmm.

Getting to know you...

So it's all go here. I spent the weekend exploring the local area on my boneshaker bike which has 26 less gears than my bike at home would you believe - I miss those gears - and I also miss being able to go faster than fast walking speed but hey. We went out to 'Secret Lake' I would tell you about it but it is secret but safe to say it was very beautiful and deserted, because it is a secret obviously. I explored all around the town and the market which is incredible, a maze of tarpulin with everything you can ever imagine for sale and some things you cannot. I visited a number of beautiful wats and sat with some friends and watched the sunset over the mountains from an amazing little cham village to the south of the town. Today I have just eaten some of the best food I have had so far at the market. You will not find many foreigners in there as too scary for most!! Have been eating at the Khymer cafes and resturants with friends who speak the lingo, food better and very cheap. Weather is nice and sunny and hot but all good.

Settling in

So I have been really busy this week. I have been helping the director to develop a staff appraisal system which is not a thing many Cambodians understand and has many challenges like explaining what integrity and initiative are for example. All the team have really grasped the principle - I hope! As EPiC have a number of new staff this is a priority. I am also reviewing their IT systems, as you can imagine it is a long way behind on the tech stakes. Today I have taken my first Khymer signing class but cannot show you what I learnt but bear in mind I will be using it as my primary form of communication when back in the UK. Just off out to dinner in one of the many amazing little restaurants in town - cheaper to eat out than in - whist enjoying a few 75c beers mmmmm beer mm. Am exploring more over the weekend - watch this space as they do/did have tigers around here and knowing me I will be killed and eaten.

First day

Epic is a truly remarkable organisation. I have had a great day meeting all their fantastic staff and volunteers. The young people on their programmes are amazing too, working hard to train to be workshop facilitators and to lead workshops in local schools. There is an obvious under-representation of disabled people and associated issues in Cambodia and Epic really does go a long way to tackling some of these. There are great classes with learning disabled little kids which they would never get normally. Today a group of deaf/hearing Americans doing a tour of asia visited - they took part in a brilliant workshop led by the trainees, it was hot work and I am sure that those who know me will have a laugh at me doing a dance workshop!

The food here is good too and Kampot is very friendly the only thing I find a little seedy is the number of middle aged men on 'holiday' here picking up young women or worse - filthy pigs. worse in Phenom Pehn but still present here, these generally overweight weirdos are very low indeed.

Arrived!

So I have arrived in Phnom Pehn after a long flight via Singapore. PP seems like a nice city and quite layed back. I arrived at my hotel, The Pavillion - it is really lovely in an old building with a beautiful pool and grounds. I went for an early morning stroll around the city very early and down to the river to see the buddist monks arriving to the buddist university for study. Everyone is up and doing something very early in places like this before it gets too hot. It is sunny and about 34 degrees today. I am now going to head off to Kampot where I will be volunteering for Epic Arts for the next few months. Epic is an organisation who uses dance to work with adults and children with disabilities. I will be working with the director on a number of projects including their tour of China and the UK as well as strategic development and staff mentoring. This is my first ever blog so hopefully I can keep it interesting and fun! If not I will make stuff up.