Wendy's blog from Siem Reap

19 hours and 2 plane rides after leaving home I arrived in Siem Reap. I was met by the Sam Veasna Centre Director who I will be working with over the next few weeks, and we had dinner at The Sugar Cane Restaurant that was featured on Gordon Ramsey’s Escape to Cambodia. The first night I stayed in a room above the office, but the humidity was too much and I didn’t sleep at all. I have moved to the Golden Banana Hotel which is owned the director’s friend, the rooms here are beautiful and air conditioned and we have a pool and I have a private roof terrace with a day bed, sun loungers and a bath and shower.

I have already met some of the local wildlife and apparently there are some snakes in the office garden so I will be keeping my eyes peeled! At my first day in the office, I walked from the hotel and it was already 32 degrees at 8 in the morning! I met the team who are all lovely. There is quite a lot to get done but should be OK in the time I have. Had a bit of a shock when I went into the office kitchen to get a bottle of water and found a monkey sitting on the table helping herself to rice! Apparently it’s the first time she’s ever been in and was very sweet. The next morning I started the day with a trip to the amazing Angkor Wat temple just outside Siem Reap. It is a stunning building and it is huge. I saw a few monks and watched a traditional dance. Was a great way to start the day!

The following morning, off to the temples again. This time I went to Banteay Srey, which took an hour and a quarter on a tuk tuk (or bone shaker as I have affectionately renamed them). It was a beautiful trip out of the town and up through the countryside, where we watched the locals farming and in the paddy fields. Banteay Srey is the smallest temple I have visited but it stunning and so different to the others. There was also small band playing, they were all land mine victims and had various limbs missing. On the way to Bayon we stopped at a couple of smaller temples and saw 2 of the gates that surround the temple complex. Bayon again is very different to all the other temples and is known as the temples of faces.

Back in the office, Tony and I started work on restructuring the accounts in the office and getting a sensible balance sheet together. We worked on some grant reports that needed completing. I was able to explain a few things to him and tweak the reports to make them easier and correct. We also did a lot of work on sorting out their balance sheet, but enough of the boring stuff! After work I went to a local street cafe for dinner, egg fried rice with beef and veg. Met a couple of local tuk tuk drivers, who I joined for a drink.

There was an anniversary party in the hotel last night for all the staff and guests. It was a great night, thumping music, free drinks, lots of dancing and a drag act. The young Khmer men are also very accommodating when you say it is very hot by cooling you off in the pool - dress, shoes and all! Still it was very refreshing...

Today the SVC Director, the accountant and I travelled to Phnom Penh in the office truck. It took just over 5 hours and this is what I learned along the way:

1) Cutting of trees: It is acceptable to cut down trees, let them fall onto the main road, and then announce they will be cleared up when they are ready and traffic will just have to wait!
We managed to do some proper off-roading to go around the obstacle, which added about 1/2 an hour onto our journey - it was actually a pretty cool way of seeing the countryside!

2) Motor cycle loads: I thought that the riders in Siem Reap had some amazing loads on their bikes, but it would seem that the people in the country are a lot more ambitious.

Today I have seen:
- 9, yes 9, people on one motorbike
- 3 live pigs strapped on their backs pillion on the bike
- a long round bamboo cage with 6 piglets in on the back of a bike
- huge bunches of dead ducks strapped like luggage bags on a bike with 2 passengers
- an 8 foot log strapped to the back of the bike and trailing along after it
- a woman sat facing backwards while mixing something in a huge metal bowl

3) Snacks: We made a pit stop about half way and were offered such delights as monkey nuts, pineapple, fried locust, duck foetus and fried tarantulas. I wish I’d taken some photos.

4) Auditors: Our reason for coming to the capital was to meet the potential auditor, who is just as you would expect an auditor to be. I had to keep interrupting to keep him on track otherwise I think we would have been there all night! He was very sweet actually and we will be appointing them.

I thought I’d let you know what a typical day is like for me in Siem Reap...

6.30am alarm goes off and it’s time to drag myself from my very cosy bed
7.15am time to face the humidity of the day and go for breakfast, I open the door and the heat hits me as I leave my cool sanctuary. Breakfast generally consists of fresh fruit, yoghurt, fruit juice and an omelette / scrambled egg / croissant and fresh pineapple jam
7.45am time to leave for work. I walk along the dusty roads, the heat is already stifling, I chat to the locals that I see along the way and in 15 minutes I’m at the office
First things first, I put the fan on, open the windows and grab a bottle of water from the fridge, now I’m ready to start the day.
My day is split into two distinct halves, in the morning I work with Nick, he runs SVC. I help him with budgets, spreadsheets, costings for new trips, explaining the process and restructuring the accounts package to make it more user friendly.
We have a lunch break from 12 until 2 when I go for a walk and grab some lunch, or if it’s really hot, I head back to the hotel for a quick swim, a bite to eat and half an hour to read my book before walking back.

My afternoons are spent with Tony, the accounts guy for Sam Veasna Centre. We are working on building up a balance sheet, sorting out the year to date figures, teaching him about what he needs to do to prepare for the audit, general book keeping queries and completing grant applications. We finish work at 5 and I’m the free to do what I want with my evenings. As you can see from my blog I have been very busy and making the most if every opportunity that comes up.