Svay Rieng

Well, I’m here and settled in now. Slightly surreal afternoon yesterday. Arrived around 3pm and wandered for a while, trying to find my bearings. It took some time but enjoyed smiling and waving at passers-by who seemed amused/bemused by my presence. Haven't seen another Westerner since I've been here so can understand why now.

Anyway, eventually found a guesthouse just as a storm broke. Big relief. Not a great place though. The rain coming in my room, the fan that didn’t work, the old boy’s club on the landing, the kairoke kicking off downstairs....all did not bode well. So with storm abating, I made a swift exit and found another place up the road. And once installed, danced a little Rom Kbach in my dry, airy, quiet room.

A little later I ventured out for food. Got chatting to a lady and asked if she knew of any NGOs in the town. Be good to make some contacts here so thought I’d ask. Next thing I knew, I was on the back of her husband’s moto being whisked off to one called ChildFund, as it turned out.

Being a Saturday afternoon, it was shut, but thankfully a chap called Sok was there doing some over-time, so I had a chat with him. And I now have an appointment to see them tomorrow morning. Yip yip.

Thing is, I don’t want to talk to them about children. I need some help to find a toilet. Which, seeing as my 15 minutes was up a while ago now, I’ll explain more next time. In the meantime, here’s some pics of the town from today’s walkabout (or "Darleng" in Khmer):

Busy streets

The market

Passing monks

Speaks for itself.....

The cinema

Friendly locals

View of the Tonley Waiko (a tributary of the River Mekong) from my room