TRIP to MONDULKIRI and all the BULL

Sunday 3^rd March was the leaving of Phnom Pen, which in turn meant being up before 6 to get sorted and get our luggage to the bus (a Ford transit van). Tuk tuks were organised to get us the short distance to the launch pad and we had quite a bit of luggage as you can see with my two other Mondulkiri Volunteers. The brown boxes contained our water filters

I have already mentioned how erratic Cambodian traffic although you couldn’t call it random as there is a logic to it. Nothing prepared me for this journey where our driver obviously imagined himself as a F1 driver. Passing through a village with its road lined by stalls, people and motorbikes had no discernible affect on his speedometer. Solid white lines and going around corners feel like Russian roulette and I began to believe that my life line was rapidly running out.

Bus/van stopped for a pee stop 

and then 2 hours later for a pit stop

Still it was my first view of the Cambodian country side which was initially very flat and surprisingly treeless. As we approached Mondulkiri it became more hilly and tree populated. However the native forest has in many places been cut, slashed and burned and turned mainly into rubber plantations, despite the well recognised problems associated with monoculture. Also, as I have learned since I arrived, it can affect school attendance as the boys and their families will opt to work on cash crops to earn money.

Anyway just over 5 hours later we arrived in Sen Monorom, the capital of Mondulkiri (place of the hills). The normal big bus would take 8 to 10 hours. We were met by a reception of VSO volunteers. They came from Holland, Canada (2), Kenya and Phillipines. So you see I’m really working with the united nations, without the big salary of course.

My first impression of Sen Monorom was that I had arrived in the Ballymote of Cambodia. This was mainly due to the large hill that leads to the centre of the town and to continue with this unfair (to both places) analogy there were a couple of bulls perched right at the top to the hill. And the sun was shining, the temperature is lower, the air cleaner and the traffic almost non-existent than Phnom Penh. The bulls have it sorted.