It was the beginning of our last week! How did it come so quick?! It began with, you guessed it, more walls. We finished the big wall and hung it early Tuesday morning.
We returned from work nice and prompt that afternoon. This week we had some real jobs to get done. First job: get the family some moving in presents. We came up with a great idea; a bike! They don't even have a push bike and this makes it hard to get about in the village. Also the teenager daughter of the house gets visits from her friends on bikes but it seems they always have to come to her. Also, the young boy and mother could use the bike to nip about on if they choose. All round, it was a great, practical present that would really change their lifestyle. So we hassled David, Sally's (the project coordinator) husband, into helping us buy the bike and a few more gifts at the local Khmer market. After a little bit of haggling we got a good price for the bike.
We also picked up a thin fold up mattress that the family will sleep on in the bedroom. We particularly liked this gift because the mother of the house is quite old and I feel sometimes the older people get forgotten about when it comes to gift buying. Everyone always spoils the kids. So, with those two gifts and a couple of volleyballs we headed back to Victory Guesthouse.
That evening we all went out and ate at the $1 stalls. Shamefully, this is first time me and Amy have done this in the whole time we have been here. Our excuse is there's always too much going on! It was good (but bloody hot) in the street and the food was good too.
On Wednesday, we were already beginning to feel the leaving blues. We took some nice pictures of the market on route. This is one of our lovely fish ladies who we buy off. Those fish are alive in that tub. We purchase one or two (about $1 each - and that's foreigner prices!) and then she batters it to death on her slab with a meat cleaver and whilst the fish is reeling from that, she de-scales it. You don't get fresher than that! It's strange what you get used to!
This is our other lovely lady at the veg stall where we stand and point at vegetables and Suun decrees whether they are appropriate for the day's lunch! He thinks he is quite the chef! Always a good laugh.
Once on site, we managed to finished two of the walls we needed to do. Me and Ame have worked just the two of us most of this week. It's been really nice as a lot of the time we have been there together but working separately.
When we came to hang the last 2 windows a sudden crisis appeared! NO MORE WIRE! We weren't having that given that the ceremony was the next day so we threw Suun and Pek some cash and told them to get some more wire (and some celebration beers, of course). They returned and by god those walls were hung. So it was all finished. Woooohoooo! (Sound of beers being opened).
In the afternoon, we had arranged with Sally to have a look around the orphanages and schools. When we got back from work we headed off with Sally (and some random 78 year old dotty old English lady who Sally had befriended that morning) to one of the slums built on a hotel's land. This place is a particular problem because the slum could get leveled at any point so as a charity you can't invest money in building there, which is really sad. The houses were really basic and some pretty shitty.
But the people were still gorgeous and lovely to us. They all know Sally and she speaks quite good Khmer. She has made a real effort to do something for the people there and has put in two wells.
We then drove to Osbourne House, one of the orphanages. It was quite small and had a boys and girls dorm area as well as a kitchen and two class rooms. It was quite charming. Then we drove about 2km outside Siem Reap to one of the schools were Hannah is currently teaching. We interrupted one of her classes.
It was great to see what the other teaching volunteers have got up to whilst we've been building. To add some stark contrast to the day, we visited a 5* hotels pool for about an hour! Sally has negotiated with the eco-hotel that volunteers can use the pool for free and have 30% of drinks. The teachers up an Treak School go virtually every lunch time. It's funny because you really enjoy it but feel a little bit of a hypocrite at the same time. Oh well, we do our best. It was really fun and the pool even had a bar in it.
It's been great spending a little bit of time with David and Sally this week as they are always about but often so busy.
That evening, we went to Central Cafe, which is a nice, slightly pricier restaurant in town (well, $6 for a fantastic blue cheese burger, so let's get some perspective). A few beers at the $0.50 joints and then home for 22:00 for our last day, and of course, the ceremony.
On Thursday, we awoke for the big day. Pek tied the bike to the tuk-tuk and we crammed the mattress in also. We were off for our very last trip in to the village.
It's wedding season at the moment and it's become a bit of an ongoing joke with me and Ame about trying to get a good photo of the wedding as we zoom past in the tuk-tuk. Finally on the last day I get a gooden! The bride and the other woman dress up so smart and every wedding has this bright marquee above it. They even dress the seats up all pretty! There is always such a loud sound of Khmer music being pumped out! It looks incredible.
I was a bit worried at some points as we trundled along nearly knocking a few people off their bikes! But we made it to the water stand and then the house no probs.
On arrival we were greeted by the usual loud music and lots of people. One of the neighbours who we have become friendly with saw the bike and giggled and screamed for the family to come. Next thing you know we have a slightly cringey handover but the teenager daughter was so happy with the bike (I know this because she has barely spoke a word to us and she beamed and said "Aw khun tran" which means Thank you very much!).
Suko said they absolutely loved the mattress as well so it was all worth it. Then we started distributing some little gifts for the kids of the area that have always been around. It was mostly stickers, colouring books, colouring pencils and we gave a volleyball to the boy of Project 8 and the boy of Project 7. So as the festivities we a little way away, we thought best go and have a game of volleyball then! Ghan, Pek and Suun love it too. It's a good game.
Amy and Hannah (who decided to come for the day) sat with the younger kids and helped them colour...
Soon the 3 times around the house parade started to scare off the spirits. We all joined in. The wise old man was there again throwing water over the house, blessing it. Now we had to enter the house. For the daughters and the mother this would be the first time they were allowed in the house. I partnered with the teenage daughter.
Ame partnered with one of the neighbours!
Once up the top, the real main ceremony begun: a bit of shouting at the spirits, selling the house to a couple, and this time me and Ame took the money as the other couple. We all this time got a yellow band put round our wrist which we must wear until it falls off or it will be bad luck for the house. Now if all that wasn't cool enough, 3 monks turned up to bless the house. They came into the bedroom and sat on the mattress we bought.
They then proceed to sing and chant for the next 30 minutes with the lady of the house. We thought we'd better disappear and went for some chats downstairs. It was amazing standing in the jungle with 3 monks chanting in the house we'd spent the past 4 1/2 weeks building! And when they were done they sped off on a moto. Monks are cool.
We were then called for lunch. As the special guests we ate first. We had pork and pumpkin that we brought, fish, frog that Jack brought and pork noodles. Earlier we had seen the frog being killed. It was quite a sight but I though a little gruesome for the blog considering the occasion!
After a few shots of rice wine, our time had come to an end. It was time to go and let them all get on with their lives. We organised one last photo of all of us who built the house, the family and of course some kids. Boooohooooo!
We made Suko make sure they knew we would not be back tomorrow and people did look generally quite sad. One of the kids said "You back tomorrow?" and we said no and they kept winging saying "Tomorrow Tomorrow". That was cute. In the few hours we had left in the village we went to Project 9, played with some of the kids there, went for a lovely little walk with Hannah, Bill and Jack to Gea's house (the apprentice and son of project 4). It was such a wonderful afternoon. And, as they say, an end of an era.
In the afternoon, me and Ame rushed around the market getting some pressies for people. In the evening, we went out to a wicked restaurant that does free pop corn, free fruit and free bottled water! The food their was ace. Then we did the Pub quiz in Funky Munky (all profits to the orphanages). As if to bring us crashing back into the western world after our wonderful Khmer morning, we had what is called a "Globe"of beer. It's basically your own portable beer tap with a ice container in the middle. We loved that novelty.
We went home to bed around midnight. It had been one hell of a day and an emotional one too.
On Friday, we wanted to have everything sorted so that we could really enjoy our last afternoon. We woke up at 08:00 to say goodbye to Sally and David who unexpectedly had to go down to Phnom Penh that day. Sad really. Then I got to writing this bad boy post whilst Ame organised our lives into bags. Then it was off into town for some last jobs and a full body massage! We only did 1/2 a hour but it was quite relaxing. We had it in the same room which was a little wierd as a 5 foot Khmer girl jumped up and down on me for a full 1/2 hour! All a bit strange really but good fun.
Then we chilled in the "posh" pool for the last part of the afternoon with the other chaps who are members.
Tonight we've organised one last hurrah in good old Siem Reap. We're having a drink at Nest, a posh bar of the way into town, 15 of us are having dinner at the Khmer Family restaurant in town and then we're off to drink more "Globes" with Pek, Suun and Ghan! Which is totally unexpected but awesome. We leave tomorrow atround 06:00 - 06:30 and travel to Kampot via Phnom Penh.
So what's left to say. 6 weeks; 42 days; an 1/8 of our year in Siem Reap. Building houses. Socialising. Exploring. Learning. The time has flown by. It's exceeded every expectation we had. We're made some really good friends. We've fell in love with Cambodia and we have made a few people's lives a little bit better. We're certainly better for it. In conclusion, this is one of the best things I've every done in my life and I'm sure Amy concurs. It's a little bit heartbreaking moving on but nothing lasts forever. It's best to leave on the up as they say. So Bon Voyage Siem Reap and Bos village. And a big thanks to Moy and the Victory Guesthouse. It's been wonderful. One day we'll all meet again...
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