Sunday 28^th December

I went to Mass as usual and then Ratana and I left in a tuk-tuk to go to the airport to meet Ava arriving from UK, due in about 9.20. the flight was on time and we did not have to wait very long for Ava to come through. The tuk-tuk brought us back to the Golden Orange Hotel where Ava is staying. This is where I have been teaching and is very convenient for the Church and for my room, she checked in and got settled into her room. I went home and arranged to return around 12.00 so we could go for lunch. We walked along by the river to the city centre and had a meal in Viva Mexicana which was very nice, accompanied by a bottle of wine. We wondered round the market and Pub Street and then eventually found our way to the Angkor Craft Night Market, which does, of course also operate during the day. We did some window shopping and then decided to have a massage, feet, back and neck, very nice. I think I got the more competent masseuse, the one Ava had seemed to be using one hand to hold her phone a lot of the time! Then we walked home and went for a rest. Later in the evening we met up again and walked round to Lucky Mall and wondered in there briefly, neither of us wanted much to eat so in the end we settled on a place near Lucky Mall boasting the best pizza in Siem Reap. It was good, and we were further encouraged to agree when four noisy Italians came in to eat.

Monday 29^th December

After Mass and breakfast we got ourselves ready for the trip to Kompong Chnang, Ratana had some business to attend to so we all met up at the hotel at about 10.30 to go the first part of the journey to Battambang in a taxi. It was actually quite comfortable, Ratana had booked the whole of the back seat for us and there was only one extra person sitting on the driver’s seat, so reasonably safe too! We had a good journey and arrived in Battambang about 1.30 pm we then transferred to the bus station and took the bus to Kompong Tom, which is about another three hours south. We arrived at the Church at about 5.30, the bus dropped us off at the Church which is on the main road.

We met Fr Viney and he made us most welcome, gave us refreshing coconut water and a little time to freshen up before dinner. The church surroundings are lovely, it is a long time since I was there and they have done a lot of building.








Fr Viney is also a keen gardener and so he keeps the whole place looking lovely. There is a church, a new house for the priest and male students who come to live there so they can get to school, then there is a house for the sisters and female students and on the other side of the compound there are buildings for the NGO “New Humanity”, who work with people with learning difficulties and mental illness.

       This is the student house and where Fr Viney lives.



                                   New Humanity NGO caring for people with learning difficulties

                                                                               This is the house for the girls and the sisters





Even though it is next to the main road, it is very peaceful. After dinner with the community, which included some mince pies that Ava had brought and some chocolate, all of which were much appreciated and enjoyed, we chatted for a while and then had an early night.

Tuesday 30^th December

               We got up and went to Mass, it was a lovely morning with the sun rising over the fields, after Mass we had breakfast with Fr Viney and then we left about 8.30 for a tour of the parish. We went by car first to Ponley, up the road towards Battambang, and from there by boat to the first floating village of Chnouk Tru.



Near the lake Fr Viney showed us the site where they will start to build a Church in the next few weeks. The idea is to move the floating church and put it on the land to serve both the floating community and the village of Ponley. Around the church there will be room for houses for some 15 families from the floating community who wish to settle on the land. It seems a very positive step and the families are very happy about this development, there will be a mixture of Cambodian and Vietnamese families, which will be good for integration.





While we waited for the boat we watched the people sorting their fish and getting it ready for market, also preparing to preserve the fish in salt and by drying and smoking, it was very interesting, but the smell was awful. The water here was completely black and looked and smelled dreadful, it is better further out on the lake.













We went on by boat to the present church, St Anthony’s, along with school and clinic, it is all lovely and very well kept. 









We met Sophat and Srey Neang who  look after the Church, Sophat is the head of the school and has worked there for 8 years, his wife is about to have their first baby, they are both from Ta Hen, near Battambang and are looking forward to moving to dry land again. 

We were entertained by Srey Neang’s niece who sang for us, she is about 6 and was a lovely child, her parents are both in Thailand working, so her auntie looks after her and her brother.

They have morning and afternoon sessions in the school, three classes in both sessions, involving a total of 180 children, there are four teachers, 3 Khmer and 1 Vietnamese. They also run catechism classes for baptism, first communion and confirmation. It seemed to be a thriving little community.

After taking the boat back to the inlet where the car was parked we went on to Ponl;ey. The road was like driving through a desert, very flat and covered with rubbish and abandoned places where people have recently been living.






We left there by boat and picked up the car and returned to Ponley where we stopped for lunch, then we drove on, north to Kra Ko where we turned off and got another boat to take us to Kompong Luan, by far the largest floating village I have visited. We arrived in St Peter’s Church and school.

We arrived in St Peter’s Church and school. The school was still in session so we went and had a look and met some of the children, again sessions morning and afternoon with different children about 180 in total with four teachers.

Fr Viney took us by boat to visit an elderly parishioner aged 85 at her home, she was a sweet little lady and was delighted to see us and to pray together. When we returned some of the children were being showered, a quick flip over with water from the lake which had been through their purifier and lots of shampoo.

We watched the school bus (boat) fill up with children and set off for home, I thought of buses outside St Edmund’s, it was a familiar picture, if culturally very different. We returned to the dock area, again black water, and very narrow canals with traffic problems.

 
            Both of these look like Tesco's home delivery

                                                                                  Then what looked like mobile M & S.

We returned to Kompong Chnang about 5.30 and Fr Viney took us on a tour of the town, it is rather nice, well laid out with wide roads and nice gardens, he showed us the Tonle Sap river which has a busy river port, the old church which they have now sold, and the school which is near the river front.

                                       Sunset in Kompong Chnang

Then we returned for dinner and a quiet evening, Fr Viney was tired so he retired early, he is not in the best of health at present.

Wednesday 31^st December

After Mass and breakfast we went to look at the New Humanity NGO work, unfortunately because of holidays they were more or less closed. Their work is with people with learning difficulties and with mental illness, they usually have 17 people in the centre aged from 5 to 50 and they visit many others in the community.



At the centre they welcome people with autism and also with schizophrenia, they have a physiotherapy room and a sensory room and many other teaching activities, it was a pity not to see it in action.

















After visiting there we waited for the bus which arrived about 09.30 to Battambang.




We arrived at the Church at about 1.00 pm and went to have lunch with Bishop[ Kike and the priests there, altogether we were 10 at the table. Bishop Kike’s brother, Nica, had cooked a lovely Spanish dish and we had a chorizo starter, all washed down with wine, lovely lunch and good chat with Kike, Ava had a lovely chat with Fr Totet who  is from the Philippines as well.



After lunch we had a quick visit to the whole compound, again mostly shut because of the holidays, but a chance to see some of their work with the kindergarten, clinic, student centre and the Arrupe centre for land mine victims. Then our taxi arrived to take us to Siem Reap, we arrived home about 5.30 after a good journey.

We went to Mass at 9.00 pm for the closing of the old year, there was a good crowd and the Filipinos did some music and Ava was able to join them.





After Mass 8 of us set off for Pub Street, we watched a bit of the free concert on the river bank, some traditional dancing and then some more modern music and dance on the way. Pub Street was packed when we got there and we found a good spot at the end of the street where we could see and just watched and waited for the New Year.






It was all very good-natured and loud, they did a count down and cheered the new year in, there was a good firework display. We waited for a while and then on the way back we stopped to share a couple of pizzas, lovely evening. Happy New Year to you all.

Thursday 1^st January 2015

Ava had not been able to get a room at the Golden Orange when we returned from Kompong Chnang so she stayed last night at the Church, so about 8.30 she came round for breakfast, we had a little fruit and some bread and then we went out to the supermarket to get a few things for later.




Ratana takes over her new house today and so she is having a lunch party, she came to pick us up about 12.15 and we went to the new house for barbecue. Sadly three people cried off at short notice, but we were 8 people altogether although some had to go early.








She was very pleased to welcome us and I blessed the house. It needs a bit of work and she is not moving in yet, she has rented it back to the owner for three months, but it will be lovely when she can get it improved and how she wants it to be. After a short rest I went to say the 6.30 evening Mass for New Year’s Day. After mass we came home for dinner and ate up some of the scraps from lunch time.

Sorry this was rather late, but I could not get on the internet at all at the weekend and then I have been travelling since then, I hope to get another posting up at the weekend and then I will be home on 13th January, ready to start work in Yarmouth on 20th, with my first Sunday being 25th January, do keep me in your prayers at the beginning of this new ministry.