Friday 2^nd January

Ava is still at the Church so came here for breakfast, we had a little bacon left over, so we had an omelette with bacon, almost an English breakfast. We went for a swim which was lovely as I had not been for some time, then home for a light lunch. Ratana came to take us to see the man who carves the statues of Mary for the church and I bought one from him at a good price, then she dropped us at the church and we went to visit the hospital with a lovely group from Singapore who come at this time every year.



They were very welcoming and inclusive, a lovely group of young people who raise money to bring gifts each year to Cambodia, they gave 200 food parcels around the hospital. We got back in time to move Ava back into the hotel and for evening Mass and then home for dinner. Ratana brought her barbecue frying plate and we cooked outside, it was lovely, Sr Casino joined us.

Saturday 3^rd January
After breakfast I cleaned my house and washed the floor inside and out and then set off in a tuk-tuk to the airport to meet Laura Herlihy, a parishioner from St Edmund’s who has been working in China for 10 months and is visiting here for a few days on her way home. We checked her into the hotel, met Ava and went for lunch in Pub Street and then some market shopping, I left the girls to it and went home for a rest and to write the diary and blog.







In the evening we went to 60th Street for the last time and had barbecued chicken and deep fried crickets as usual and then went playing darts. We took Kimseak and Pharoth as well.

Sunday 4th January
I went to Mass as usual this morning and concelebrated, I only have one more Sunday left now. There were two baptisms during Mass which was lovely and after Mass there was a wedding, the bride looked radiant in her white dress. 




I had decided to go to Poipet with Fr Panus for the dedication of the new church there, Ava decided to come as well, but Laura chose to have a chill out day exploring Siem Reap. We set off about 1.00 pm, we had a light lunch beforehand at the church. It is about two hours to Poipet, but the road is good, we arrived just in time for the beginning of Mass. 






It all began with the clergy procession going three times round the church, at each corner there was a big container of holy water, the first time round Bishop Kike sprinkled the church at each corner, but after that he told the clergy to do it as well. 
The man in the grey suit is the Korean donor who had paid for the whole building of the Church, he refused the jasmine collar and instead put round the statue of Mary.

After that the walls of the church were anointed with chrism and then he Mass started, outside the church, as there too many people to get inside. It was lovely, the usual Khmer dancing and music, very devotional and inspiring to see so many young people involved in the liturgy. 








After Mass I met Soklin and friends from Kompong Tom and many of the priests from around the Diocese. There was a very long and tedious civil ceremony, with nearly an hour of speeches and then dinner, we left to return home at about 8.00 pm, arriving back in Siem Reap just after 10.00 pm






I had a very frustrating weekend with the Internet which did not work at all on Saturday or Sunday, so I could not get any of the blog done, sorry about that.

Monday 5th January
Our tuk-tuk picked us up at 5.40 to go the bus for Ratanakiri, so it was an early start for a very long journey, the bus left on time at 6.00 pm. Is scheduled as a 12 hour journey, so we slept and read and ate snacks, got off the bus for breakfast, lunch and afternoon break, and any other time we could. 




We changed buses in Kompong Cham and shortly after stopped to deliver and collect parcels beside the Mekong river, very wide and beautiful. We finally arrived in Ratanakiri, in the town of Banlung at about 5.30, so good time really. 




Fr John, the priest here, met us and brought to a guesthouse opposite the church and we checked in. 


It is a lovely little Church and Fr John keeps it and the garden in beautiful condition.

The Stations of the Cross are lovely simple pictures in the Cambodian style, and so is the statue of Our Lady, but the Vietnamese people wanted St Joseph to be in the European style, so that is what they have.






We had met some people, Cambodians, now living in the US, who were visiting and we went out to dinner with them, they were staying in the same guesthouse. We had dinner in a restaurant near a very small lake on the edge of the town, it was very nice.

Tuesday 6^th January

We got up and went for breakfast at about 7.15 and then went to join Fr John for Mass at the church just across the road, he was delighted to have some people to join him for Mass. We had decided to hire a pickup taxi along with the people we met last night, so all nine of us set off around 9.00 am for a day tour, four sat inside the truck and five sat in the back.






We went to the first waterfall, the smallest one, just outside the town, it was a lovely spot and we walked down to the falls and it was possible to walk behind the water which was lovely.


















Then back in the truck and on to the next falls, slightly bigger and more beautiful, with a bridge to cross to view the falls.













And again on to the next falls, this was a longer drive and very dusty for those in the back, bumpy too, but they seemed happy enough.















At the third falls we swam and had free massage from the falls, very good fun. We had a picnic lunch there and stayed for a while.
















This area is very different from other areas of Cambodia, it is hilly and very wooded, there are large rubber plantations and areas of fruit and nut trees, it is very attractive. This is some of the rubber being drained from a tree.














Everywhere it was very dusty and everything and most of the people were covered with a thick layer of dust, us included. it must make life very difficult, trying to keep things clean and washing and drying clothes looked well nigh impossible, but somehow the people seem to manage very well.





Later we left and headed for a crater lake nearby which was very beautiful, so blue and peaceful, we swam there too and sat for some snacks, we visited a museum about the indigenous tribal people which was very interesting. About 5.00 pm we set off home and actually this lake is very near the town, so we were quickly back at the hotel and time for a shower and a rest before dinner with our new friends.

Wednesday 7^th January

This is the main street in Banlung, it looked and rather felt like being in Dodge City, it is very near the border with Vietnam and has much passing trade, but not much tourism at present.



















The small guesthouse where we stayed, it was clean and adequate and only cost $11 per night per room, so four of us stayed three nights for $66, a little under £50, not too bad!









Our friends left early in the morning, so we decided to have a slower start to the day and went to Mass first and then out for breakfast, we then had a trip round the market looking for a school friend of Ratana’s. After a little while we split up and Ava and I returned to the hotel and sat and had a drink on the balcony. Ratana found her friend and went off to meet her, we had a tuk-tuk back to the lake with a picnic and spent the rest of the day there. The three of us, Laura, Ava and I enjoyed a lazy afternoon swimming and lying in hammocks and drinking wine and beer, very pleasant. About 5.00 pm we went home, Ratana came with her friend and we had a lift home in their car. Ratana was going with them for dinner so after showers etc, we went to a small café and had a very simple dinner, but very good food and then walked home for a quiet evening on the balcony with a bottle of wine, very enjoyable.

Thursday 8^th January

We had discovered a different bus service back to Siem Reap, taking a different route through Preah Viheer, more direct, taking only 7 hours. We were picked up at 7.00 am and did several tours round the town, picking up people, parcels and fuel and finally set off at about 8.30. but after that the journey was good, new countryside, 21 people in a 17 seater, but the road surface was very good, so we arrived in Siem Reap about 3.30, much better than 12 hours with the others route.





I managed to get my blog finished and posted and then went out for dinner with Sr Denise, Fr Jupp, Elizabeth and Hayley from the Jesuit Refugee Service, they wanted to say goodbye, a lovely treat. We went to an Italian restaurant off Pub Street, I had pork belly Toscana, it was delicious.

Friday 9^th January

We all met at 8.00 am and went for the best roast duck breakfast in Siem Reap and then we set off for a day visit to Angkor. We had the tuk-tuk for the day and Ratana as guide.

We started at Angkor Thom and made our way round the various temples, we stopped for lunch near Tap Prohm and then went into Angkor Wat itself. Laura and Ava climbed everything that could be climbed and took photos, I took a few photos as I have been several times before.

We finished the visit with an elephant ride to the top of the hill to watch the sunset, it was lovely and very awe inspiring. We walked down, met Ratana and the tuk-tuk and went home.








I took Ratana out for dinner for the last time, after this we will have other people with us and I wanted to thank her for all her help, we went to a new part of town and a very Cambodian restaurant, but very good and most enjoyable, I will miss her very much, she is such good company.

Saturday 10^th January

               We had agreed to meet at 10.30 and go for a swim, so I got on with writing a homily and some other work at home and then met the girls and went for a swim. Ratana’s mother has been visiting for a couple of days, so she came and watched and then had to go for her taxi home.






After swimming we went to the Baray for lunch and relax by the water there on hammocks and then we went up in the balloon which is located near the airport.











It is not really a flight, the balloon is anchored to the ground with a steel cable and simply goes up and comes down, but it gives a good view of Angkor, Tonle Sap lake and the city. We got back in time for the evening Mass which I said for the last time, Fr Jupp thanked me for my visit and everyone clapped aand I said goodbye to the regulars at the end of Mass.



We had all been invited to dinner at the Jesuit Service Centre, so we had a very pleasant evening with them, Brother Do had cooked a lovely Vietnamese soup with noodles and Elizabeth had made lovely French chocolate mouse and also a coffee mouse, chnang nah, as they say here, very delicious!

Sunday 11^th January

               As it is my last Sunday I celebrated the Mass in Khmer and English, Fr Jupp interpreted for me. Fr Panus has a bad dose of food poisoning, so he was not there today or last night. After Mass we had many photos and many goodbyes. 

All my English students had come to say goodbye and it was lovely to see them all, they are a lovely group of young people. One of them has now started the formal programme to become a Catholic and two of them have got part time jobs with Cambolac, selling in their shops, if the English I taught did not help, there were other benefits. 

Ava and Laura and I went with Fr Jupp to Chomm Kineis, the floating village, for Mass and for a visit, a chance for Laura to see life in a floating community, she was fascinated and full of questions, most of which we could not answer. 

Final gin and tonic on the terrace of my room

After a restful afternoon, and a final gin and tonic at my room, we all went for dinner at a restaurant with Apsara Dancing, a good tourist event, traditional cultural Khmer dancing, very beautiful. 

We then went to Pub Street for a cocktail in a night club and on to visit Sarin at her job with Cambolac, she was delighted to see us, she is doing very well and happy to have a little money.

The four of us leaving the restaurant after the show.

Monday 12^th January

               Today is Laura’s last day, she flies out this evening at 22.45. After Mass and breakfast this morning I wrote up my diary and tried to get some of the last blog done, the internet was not working over the weekend and was very slow this morning, so I could not upload the photos very easily, but I got some of it done. We all met to go for a final swim at 10.30 and then we went to Ratana’s for lunch. She cooked lovely fresh seafood for us, squid, fish and prawns with some veg, all stir fried on her flat frying pan, it was delicious. We all ate too much and fell asleep in her room. In the afternoon I went home and did my packing ready for departure and tried to tidy my room. I made good progress and then we all met and went for dinner at about 6.00 pm and then we put Laura in a tuk-tuk to go to the airport.





We took Sokrey to dinner with us, she was the only student who was not able to go to the seaside with us and I promised her a treat of some kind too, she was delighted to have dinner in a nice restaurant. Everybody came back to my room and finished off a tub of ice cream that was in the freezer and would otherwise have been wasted.

Tuesday 13^th January

I said Mass at 06.15 as usual and then had breakfast with the sisters and a few others, but it was short as I had to leave for the airport at 08.00, so it was a hurried affair.







I went back to my room, did the final business with the owner of the room and then waited for Fr Panus to arrive to take me to the airport.






We arrived there safely and I said my goodbyes to them all, I think we were all rather sad to part. I checked in very quickly and was invited by Andrea’s wife, who is station manager for BKK Airways to go into their lounge which was lovely. The flight was a little late, but I had enough time to do the change in Bangkok.



All flights were good and I arrived on time in Heathrow, only to discover that my suitcase was lost in Bangkok and would arrive tomorrow. Never mind, I do not need tee shirts and flip flops here. As of posting this on Sunday, I have still not received my suitcase, so the saga continues.

Closing pictures: beautiful palm trees in Cambodia

Three of us on a moto

Thank you for following my blog and the events of my time in Cambodia, I appreciate very much the comments you have made and the emails you sent to me, especially around Christmas, they were a great support. As you know, I had a very good time, with many new experiences and a chance to meet some lovely young people during my teaching, I will always remember them and I hope that I have done them some good. I really enjoyed the time, but I was also ready to come home and see family and friends, and to start work in a parish again, it might have been a different story if I were thirty years younger, but that is not the case and my life is here. Now I look forward to the new challenges of life in St Mary’s, Great Yarmouth, I move there next Tuesday and my first Sunday will be 25^th January, please pray for me that day. I also ask you to pray for the work of the Church in Cambodia and for the people you have met on my blog over the last few months, that the Lord will continue to bless their lives and their work.

May God bless you and your family.  Fr Philip