Virus

I caught a Khmer virus. I don't know how it is possible. I know viruses - I worked for an antivirus company. I don't open attachments or surf too many dodgy sites and I don't surf Khmer sites at all. I'm demoted to the crappy computer while mine is getting purged. It's a brand new virus so Norton didn't recognise or catch it. I deleted and uninstalled and renamed and did all the stuff I'm supposed to but to no avail. The first techie has given up after a day and her boss is now working on it. I miss my computer. It has music and funny videos and things to pass the time including my favourite song at the moment - "No hiding place".

Bank trippin'

I went to the bank this morning. It was sweltering at 8am. The phrase "rainy season" implies rain but so far we have seen precious little of it. Anyway the bank - again I went to Foreign Exchange to get the legal currency of Cambodia after the bank gave me dollars. When finished I waited in the car for the other girl and saw a weapons exchange in front of the bank. Two security guards had a few guns between them and exchanged two of them. Then an older man slipped a large bribe into hand of the bank guard. It was quite discrete but I had a vantage point. So I witness one former devastating issue - gun sales - and the current largest issue halting the development of Cambodia - corruption. All early in the morning.

Saving face

It's back to being hot with a touch of monsoon here today. It is pleasant basking in the cool air con. Life is better here when you're coming back from the gym at 7.10 am on the back of a motorbike with the wind drying your hair. I have just enought time to go home and have breakfast before heading to work.

I walk to work which is normal as I live two blocks from the office. In Cambodia no one walks because it would imply that they cannot afford a bicycle or motorbike. Saving face is a big deal here which is why you cannot ever lose your temper no matter how provoked you are by extremely ... rude ... people. In fact I was having a chat about global politics with people in the office and one of the girls said that Tony Blair would now resign. When I asked why, she merely said that he was losing face because he was so unpopular. I explained that most politicians will hold onto power with their fingernails despite their rating in the polls. It explains why defamation is such a serious issue here. May you all save face today!

Smells

It's a strange place to live when your neighbour's cooking tempts you into the kitchen and five minutes later you run for the bathroom retching because of the nauseating smell of the second dish. You light anti mosquito coils with lavender and try to breathe through your mouth but even your mouth can smell the odour.

I think it is impossible not to feel uplifted and sickened by the various odours that alternatively caress and assault your senses. In the city there is no fresh air. There is no escape from the smells.

HIV infections

Monogamous married women are one of the biggest group at risk of HIV infection in Cambodia. They represent 40% of new infections. It is culturally acceptable for married men to have affairs. Indeed, in Cambodia MBA does not mean Masters of Business Administration but Married But Available. It is also normal for them to go to sex workers from as young at fifteen, and indeed the majority of Cambodian men lose their virginity in a brothel.

There is a notion here that all the sex workers are Vietnamese because Cambodian girls are pure and would not enter into that profession. Because of intervention programmes, ninety percent of brothel-based sex workers use condoms and former clients are now going to massage parlours, guesthouses, and beer gardens to pay for sex. The women in these places are vunerable and are not in a position to insist on condom use. Indeed many beer girls have been shot merely for delivering a beer seconds late and the shooters go free.

Power dynamics in Cambodian marriages make it difficult for wives to ask their husbands to wear condoms. Poverty leads to spousal abuse and the disclosure of a wife's HIV status often results in same even if she contracted it from him.

There is a serious lack of knowledge regarding HIV infections and how it is contracted. International organisations and NGOs have programme to educate and empower and it makes a difference but cannot reach the entire population. Child rape has increased because of the belief that having sex with a virgin with cure HIV.

We do what we can and my job is communications officer. I have to write about it.

Water

Well the typhoon that killed sixteen in China and twenty fisherfolk in Vietnam has had virtually no effect on Cambodia. On Saturday it rained all day, which is unusual in this country. It was a gentle, soft rain that was a pleasure to walk under. The temperature is tolerable for the first time since I arrived. I did not have to use the air con while sleeping all weekend. We regularly have lightening storms too with little or no rain.

During rainy season which should be upon us soon, I am told that, it rains for a couple of hours, a couple of times a day. Monsoon rain is hard and hurts the skin. The waters raise very quickly - within an hour there often is a foot and a half of water to wade through. Dengue fever and Malaria are rife during the rainy season.

More photos

More photos - the last one is a carving above my friends door. The other three are views of or from my gym. So sleepy ...

Bon weekend

Have a great weekend - I'm off.

Public holidays

In Cambodia there are between 55 and 60 public holidays a year. Of course as UN staff we don't observe these holidays. Still that is a lot of holidays to have. The majority of people have more than one job to supplement their monthly earnings of $20, on which it is not possible to live. Corruption is the single biggest issue in this country. If that got sorted out, the country would boom much like Vietnam.

However, it's not happening.

Skies

So this is one of my balconies and a fierce sky that threatened rain all Saturday afternoon but instead delivered an impressive thunder storm! 

Pics of Del Gusto - may become a favourite cafe of mine

 

So hot

It is so hot - really it is so hot.

Have a fun Friday. Went out to Elsewhere's monthly party where I talked to many and drank much. I met some sort of coudin of mine - my first cousin is his second cousin on the Kerry side which was unique. I also met a pile of people from Cork and even a girl who used to go to my school so adventures all around. Photos to be posted later.

Ended up in the Heart of Darkness - a nightclub that is infamous for have foreigners shot - mor e so in the past but it was weird all the same. Left there around 5am - got a moto home and slept. I heard on Sunday that a girl I had met that night was dragged off a moto and robbed just down the street from my home. Big city blues - she's shaken but ok.

Saturday was a bit of a non starter. I motivated myself enough to go to buy a DVD player. Got one for $50 so was quite happy with myself. Spent $20 on juice, water, and diet coke to rehyrate and watched many DVDs that previously did not work on my computer. I find this extremely strange. According to my computer there was nothing on the disk so why does it work in the player then?

Sunday was market day and sipping Green tea in Del Gusto cafe day. Spent it with E and we had a grand time talking and buying much! I actually have some photos but they're in my camera so I'll post them later.

I'm returning home for two weeks for my brother's wedding so my calendar is now open to pencil people in. I was thinking wouldn't it be fun to all go to Kerry for a weekend ... there's a Ryanair airport near for the european contingent!

Currency matters

Well I just got back from the bank - cashing my monthly check. The riel is the official currency in Cambodia but with 4000 riel to each dollar, dollars are the de facto currency. It was strange to receive a foreign currency in a Cambodian bank and then have to go to the Bureau de Change to get $2 in riel.

Weird

Good versus evil

I just did the "How evil are you quiz" and it turns out that I'm good - YAY!

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, margarita in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ~ WOO HOO what a ride!

Mi fin de semana

Well it was a good weekend for the most part. I went swimming after work on Friday which was lovely. I had my 20 laps done by the time D arrived but continued so she could get hers in. Then jacuzzi and relaxation until I realised that I was late meeting P and we still hadn't eaten. So off to the Khmer Kitchen where I had a spectacular omelette and panicked the whole time about being late to meet P. I showed up about an hour late to Gasolina but P had made himself comfy talking to a couple of American girls so I could have not hurried. Oh well. Gasolina was a laugh and a half. We snagged on the best seats - a bed in the garden with plush red cushions – it’s the kind of place Gasolina is. Almost any bar here required flip flop removal! K and other had a dance off. When it was time to leave (2.30am) I was able to walk home it's two blocks away. The dog was cool.

So obviously slept in on Saturday and read most of the day. E and I went with a friend of hers to Luno d'Autumo - a fancy Italian restaurant when European pricing - actually I'd said more like Irish pricing cos it was so expensive. We had a good time and a good bottle of wine! And then we went for one drink to Pontoon - a boat bar. I really like that place because of the natural air con (wind) and the plethora of comfy lounging chairs. It's lovely to kick off your flip flops and bounce until a bedlike couch where you can almost trail your hand in the water. The water it quite polluted so the image is enough. E didn't stay very long as she had had a long day of meetings but she introduced me to R before she left and R and I had some very interesting conversations about race and slavery. He had heard somewhat bizarre stories on Irish history but I set the record straight!

The aussie crowd turned up rather late and we danced the night away. R introduced me to his friends including the very cute Brazilian that I have noticed around - he plays football and DMD showed his face too. More dancing, drinking, and messing around - fun was had but at 3 am I disembarked and moto ed it home. The dog was cool tonight too. The dog is weird. He'll sometimes freak out when I arrive home and then others he'll ignore me - barely a whimper. I don't know what's up at all with him.

OK Sunday, yesterday, oh my head. Brought all the not working DVDs back to the Russian market and the girl exchanged them showed me that they work - went home and they don't work. I do not understand and the DVD sitch is quite annoying. But I went to the pool to cool down and then walked home from the supermarket in the rain cos I'm a little strapped for cash right now. It was quite pleasant though. Raindrops falling on my head.

Watched a documentary on the Bible of Judas that had some very interesting theories. Tonight there is a programme on the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. National Geographic is doing a "Secret Bible Week" and I'm enthralled.