The end

Our taxi picks us up at 7.30am and takes us to the airport where we fly on to Bangkok. From here we have some leave, visiting Laos and northern Thailand.

If you have read to the end of this blog, well done! Sorry there is no medal, but thank you for sharing our experiences in Cambodia.

Farewell Cambodia

The last day - a blur of finalising reports and leaving things in a suitable state to hand over to my supervisor. At the Sunshine Centre, Jill gets many hugs from the children and staff as she says goodbye to people who have become special in her life.

At 6pm we are picked up from our hotel by one of the CARE staff. We think we are going on a quiet sunset cruise, but it turns out my supervisor has arranged for most of her staff to join us and give Jill and me a send off, including Khmer food and dancing. It's a special finale to a very memorable 5 weeks.

Fried Doodle

I spend the morning in the office writing up my report on the trip to Kampong Trabek. After lunch, Tola and I go over to the offices of our current Internet Service Provider to discuss whether a better rate plan is available - CARE pays a lot each month for excess downloads. They propose an unlimited 512kbps ADSL plan and offer to upgrade our existing 384kbps ADSL service for a day so we can test the speed. Back in the office we reset the DSL modem and then assess (albeit subjectively) the higher speed link - it seems much slower. Someone had warned us that "unlimited" plans have abysmal speed, which seems to be the case. I ring the ISP back and advise that the 512kbps is worse than 384kbps - they offer to look at some other options and get back to me.

At 4pm I meet with the VIDA (Volunteering for International Development from Australia) Regional Manager who has come over from Vietnam to do a monitoring report on me and my placement with CARE. As this is a pilot program, she is keen to know how it worked and whether there are any areas for improvement. Later in the evening, she meets with the CARE Country and Assistant Country Directors at a restaurant, and I join them for the meal after they've had a chance to talk about me. The Country Director wants me to stay on for another 2 years, so I guess my report card is OK.

Over dinner, one of our conversations turns to traffic and the development of sealed roads out to the provinces. Providing a smooth piece of bitumen reduces travel time and increases comfort. Unfortunately the increased speed, and driving habits underpinned by Buddhist fatalism, leads to large numbers of road accidents and fatalities. A rather black observation was that the country could consider itself developed when its road fatalities exceed land mine fatalities.

On a lighter note, the use of English is also associated with development, but there too, there can be some casualties. A shop sign of "Cut the Nails" indicates you've come to the right place for a manicure; "Glue Cracked Glass" for a windscreen repairer. A large sign in front of each seat of the CARE 4WD at Kampong Trabec exhorted us to "Please Seat The Belt". Menus can also be interesting - I haven't yet tried "Filled Mignon", "Mushed Potato" or the wincingly named "Fried Doodle".

Beep beep

The morning starts badly as I leave my room for breakfast, locking the key inside. At the front desk I expect a spare or master key may be available and the attendant comes back upstairs with me. His master key is a plastic card which he endeavours to slide between the door jam and the lock. After 10 minutes the door remains locked, much to the surprise of the attendant and the several other staff who have gathered around to watch - this always works! Plan B is to go into the room next door, open the window, use the airconditioning units as stepping stones (we're on the second floor), and get in through my window (which doesn't have a lock). One unlocked room!

In the office, we have a meeting with the landlord at 9am to discuss the possibility of upgrading the building wiring. Not only is there no earthing, but much of the wiring has been done using thin "figure of eight" speaker cable. He listens to our arguments that such improvements have safety and lightning benefits and would make his building more attractive to a future tennant. He says he might consider a 50:50 split, but would have to get back to us after consulting with his wife.

Tola and I finish off our work, defragmenting hard disks, updating virus definitions and consigning a couple of computers to the scrap-heap. At 2.30pm a taxi arrives to take us back to Phnom Penh. This is even more luxurious than the trip down - the Camry is only 7 years old, doesn't appear to have been rolled and has seat belts, and there are only 3 of us in the vehicle. The driver, however, seems bent on improving his best time for the trip, overtaking everything and using his horn almost constantly. We arrive back in Phnom Penh around 4.30pm safely, but a little tense.

Having spent a bit of time on Cambodian roads, I think I have worked out some of the rules with respect to using the horn.

1. Beep when you are overtaking another vehicle, as they may not have seen you coming up behind.
2. Beep when you are about to collide with the oncoming vehicle as you are overtaking, as they obviously need to give you some more room.
3. Beep when you are about to collide with the oncoming vehicle that is overtaking another, as they obviously didn't leave themselves enough room.
4. Beep when you pass a pedestrian, as they may stray out onto the road.
5. Beep when you pass a roadside shop or restaurant, as a patron may come out onto the road.
6. Beep when you pass a house as one of the occupants may come out onto the road.
7. Beep when you pass a dog / chicken / water buffalo / cow as they may stray onto the road.
8. If in doubt, beep.

Jill arrives home at 6.30pm bearing gifts. She has taught her last group music lessons at Hope International School and a number of the children have written her cards and given her gifts, thanking her for her brief input. She had formed good bonds and they are sad that she won't be back next week. Similarly, her English students at the Phnom Penh Bible College are adamant that she should return and continue helping them with their English. It would be very easy to keep very busy here.

Kampong Trabek

A taxi picks me up at 8am for the two and a half hour trip down to the provincial CARE office at Kampong Trabek (KT), south east of Phnom Penh. My travelling companions are Tola, IT support person, and Ken, the Program Director for KT. Tola and I will assess the computer systems there and provide assistance as required.

The taxi is a 1987 Toyota Camry which shows evidence of having been rolled, with creases in the headlining and rudimentary repairs around the pillars. All seat belts have been removed, but a makeshift one has been affixed to the driver's door, which goes unused. However, we are travelling in luxury as there are only 4 of us in the car. Camry taxis can readily accommodate 10 people - 5 in the back, three on the front passenger seat and two on the driver's seat, with the driver on the inside so he can reach the gear stick. Actually, I've never checked the boot ...

At the office, I discover that the earthing problems I encountered at the Ratanakiri office do not exist here, for the simple reason that there is no earthing whatsoever. Every power outlet has two pins only - there is no building earth. A problem with computers not being able to get IP addresses is quickly diagnosed - a wireless access point has been used instead of a wireless router. Tola and I work through the list of issues and correct or take notes for later resolution, as necessary.

After work, we travel another 30 minutes south east to Svey Rieng, the nearest town with a hotel - around 20km from the Vietnam border. We eat at a nearby restaurant, then head back for an early night, declining the local girls' invitation to join them in the karaoke bar. Fortunately our rooms are at the other end of the hotel and the noise does not carry that far.

Winding up

The start of my last week in the CARE office, so I focus on drawing the various components of my work towards some sort of conclusion or recommendation. We meet again with Angkornet, an alternative internet supplier, to get a better understanding of their offer. I liaise with my supervisor on the draft training manual I've written about accessing the server.

After work, we head over to Beautiful Shoes, where Jill (aka Imelda) picks up another two pairs that have been made for her. We then travel east to the Foreign Correspondents Club where we watch the light fade over the Tonle Sap river - possibly our last visit to what has become a favourite haunt.

Back at the hotel we call our daughter, Sarah, for an update on her 21st birthday dinner that we missed this evening. It seems everyone had a good time, especially the guest of honour - and my credit card was not too damaged.

Dragon fruit

At 7.45am our moto driver picks us up from our hotel and takes us to our Aussie friends out west. They've invited us to attend the Khmer church they go to. We walk from their house around a kilometre in the very warm sun - the rain seems to have disappeared and temperatures have increased again. The church is in a unit in a building that would otherwise have been a shop - relatively narrow and deep, accommodating around 80 people. The front is decorated in Christmas tinsel and Christmas bunting, depicting scenes of snowmen and sleigh - either late to be taken down, or early for next year, we're not sure. Apart from our friends (who have a good grasp of the language), we are the only foreigners.




After church, we walk back via the roadside stalls and buy bread and fresh fruit for lunch. There are many strange and exotic fruit we have never seen before, including the pink "dragon fruit". Jill satisfies a craving at lunch time, having vegemite on toast - something we haven't had since arriving in Cambodia.

Heart of darkness

We set off reasonably early to visit the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda - they close at 11am. The palace complex and grounds are quite magnificent, located near the riverfront. Within the grounds is the Silver Pagoda, so named because the floor is completely tiled in solid silver tiles - 5000 tiles weighing 1kg each. Although much of the contents of the Pagoda were destroyed under the Pol Pot regime, there is still a glittering array of gold and jewelled ornaments. It's good to see this culturally rich side of the Khmer heritage after the horror of Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields. However, there is also a dichotomy with the wealth displayed here and the poverty that exists beyond the palace walls.


From the palace we head to the Sorya Shopping Centre - a multi-level plaza of shops and food outlets. We suffer some culture shock as we find there are escalators operating between the levels - something we haven't see since leaving Australia. For contrast, I then take Jill to the Russian markets, which is a mass of stalls crammed together selling every conceivable item - and on a warm day it can double for a sauna.

In the evening we go out with Francis and my supervisor from CARE for an Italian meal on the riverfront. It's a farewell dinner as Francis heads to Bangkok tomorrow for a week long conference and we will have left Phnom Penh before he returns. After dinner, my superviser suggests we "need" to experience "The Heart of Darkness" before leaving Cambodia. This is a night-club with quite a reputation - not always good. We are frisked before entry to ensure we are not carrying any weapons. Apparently the more influential patrons avoid this check, and at times, alcohol and weapons are not a good mix. However, we survive the experience - maybe there should be a tee-shirt saying as much.

Birthday girl

Our daughter, Sarah, turns 21 today. Sadly we can't be with her to celebrate, but hopefully our pre-arranged gifts will confirm we haven't completely forgotten her, and that she isn't really adopted! She will take a group of friends (and my credit card) to a restaurant on Monday to mark the occasion.

In the office I get into the Country Director's good books first thing in the morning. She has written a book which went to the printers last week. They called yesterday to advise they have had a computer virus and lost all data ... and she can't find a backup of the file on her computer. With a little searching I manage to find a version for her - not the latest, but much better than no version. She is very happy.

Jill spends the day at the Sunshine Centre (a safe haven for street children), helping with musical activities and serving out lunch. The pre-schoolers like the concept of appearing on camera.



In the evening we go out to our Aussie friends' house and babysit their two children so they can go out for a meal together. It's the first time they've been able to go out in 12 months - the lack of grandparents and suitable babysitters makes it hard to get away from the home.

$2,000? You're dreamin'

I spend a good part of the day working on some training material to educate users about storing data onto a server, and about good file naming conventions to make that data easy to retrieve. The Country Director is keen to lock down a folder structure, or hierarchy, so that files are less likely to be lost in a "black hole". This has some merit, but will be difficult (and possibly undesirable) to implement in a rigid fashion.

Francis is looking to purchase a Fixed Asset Management software package, so we head over to the Russian market where there are a number of software shops. Cambodia does not yet have any copyright legislation, so for US$2, a copy of Windows Vista could be mine. Or Office 2007, or pretty much any software you could think of - except a Fixed Asset Management package! I resist the temptation to deny Bill Gates some additional profit, but I do pick up a US$2,000 watch for US$20 - what a discount!

Don't shoot - I'm only the messenger

In the morning I spend some time with the Country Director. She is passionate about the work of CARE (as you might expect) and gives me a good insight into her vision for the work and the emphasis that an NGO (non-government organisation) such as CARE should take within Cambodia. In all things, the work should be focussed on:

• empowerment
• partnership
• accountability and responsibilty
• diversity
• lasting impact
• non-violent resolution to conflict

It is helpful to have this perspective and to note that in a small way, the back office function of IT enables and facilitates some of these outcomes.

I then look with her at some of the challenges she sees with the two servers in the Phnom Penh office. Some training material is required and the judicious use of Google Desktop may also provide some benefits. Eyes light up when I demonstrate how Google Desktop can be used to find information buried on a hard disk - they have been calling one of their servers the "black hole" as no-one can ever find anything on it.

In the afternoon I discover that I have inadvertantly started a war between the IT outsourcing company and the CARE Ratanakiri office. My Ratanakiri trip report noted some shortcomings with building earthing and lightning protection at the CARE office. The IT company latched onto this, claiming it proves they were not responsible for certain equipment failures in the recent past. The Director at CARE Ratanakiri returns fire via email. I decide to resist the temptation to mediate.

$2? You're dreamin'

This morning I meet the Country Director of CARE Cambodia - she has been in Europe the whole time I've been here, so it is good to finally meet her. I spend some time working on folder hierarchy and file naming conventions for the new server recently installed at CARE - this is something the Country Director is passionate about, so I'd better make some progress.

After work, Jill and I head over to the river front. It's still light, so we walk along the promenade a bit, dodging the hundreds of motorcycles using the pavement rather than the road. We drop in at the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) for a drink, then go a few doors down to a Khmer restaurant - the "author's choice" in the Lonely Planet Guide. Maybe we order the wrong dishes, or maybe he needs to choose again - it wasn't one of the better meals we've had here. Still a little peckish, we head back to the FCC and order a couple of entrees to top up.

When going out in the evening, we've been advised (for security reasons) to only take enough cash with you to cover your expected costs. Our additional spend at the FCC means I only have 1,500 Riels (US$0.37) left to get us home on a moto. I suspect this will be inadequate and after some animated negotiations with a couple of moto drivers (one of which starts his price at an outrageous US$2), we fail to secure a ride. It's a pleasant night; many people are out enjoying the public holiday, so we put our helmets under our arms and walk. We pass by the Royal Palace, the Independence Monument and a large park and are home within 30 minutes.

Birthday boy

It was the King's birthday yesterday, so Monday and Tuesday are holidays - and so too is Wednesday, because the birthday fell on the weekend! Consequently the office is very quiet with all local staff away.

I head out to locate a shop I've found on the internet that sells multimeters - I want to get one for Socheat to use at Ratanatkiri. The address of the shop is #59, Street 143. My driver locates Street 142 and 144 but we cannot find 143. After a while we stop and ask someone. He has a walkie talkie with him and seeks advice from someone on the other end. Then he disappears inside and returns with a map. Between us we establish that Street 143 is some miles away. Back in the car we eventually find the elusive Street 143 and make sorties in both directions looking for number 59. We locate 59B, but next to it is number 83, and beyond that is number 67. Defeated by this logic, we get out of the car and walk up and down the street, eventually locating it a few doors back ... and it is closed for the King's birthday! Plan B - we go to a street the driver believes has a number of shops selling electrical products. It's not far from the office and sure enough I find a range of multimeters starting from US$5 ... it was a nice day for a drive.

The Killing Fields

After an unbroken breakfast diet of muesli, we decide to splash out and have a buffet breakfast at Raffles - it is Mother's Day after all. Not dissimilar to Raffles in Singapore, this stately hotel is a haven of impeccable service and fine food. Not always so: during the Pol Pot era it was used as a dried fish store. We detect no fishy smells, but many Australian accents, the breadth of which suggest a contingent of Queenslanders are in town - "Do youse wannanother one a deez?" "Yeah, chuck it over."

From Raffles we go a short distance to Wat Phnom - a Buddhist temple on top of the only hill in Phnom Penh. Walking up the stairs a uniformed guard informs us that foreigners need to pay US$1 to go any further. We argue the point, asking why the dozens of other visitors aren't being asked to pay, but the language barrier prevents a robust discussion! Doubting that our dollars will go any further than his pocket, we decide to move on peacefully.

Our tuk tuk driver cuts across town, exiting the city via a south western road and we pass through semi-rural areas for around 15km. We arrive at Choeung Ek, or the Killing Fields. It was here (a former logan orchard) that many, many truckloads of prisoners were sent from Tuol Sleng, and other detention centres, to be "eliminated" during the Pol Pot regime. Most were bludgeoned to death as it was cheaper than using bullets.

There is a stupa (or monument) in the centre of the field filled with human skulls. These represent a portion of the carnage that went on here, as not all of the mass graves have been exhumed. It is believed that around 17,000 people (men, women and children) were killed at this spot.

As we walk around the site we notice that the recent rains have washed away some of the top soil, exposing fresh bones and clothing.

No such thing as a free lunch

We're invited to lunch at the home of the Principal (an Aussie) of Hope International School. Jill has to earn her lunch, teaching three of his boys piano. She also gives a lesson to the son of our Aussie friends who are also invited to lunch.

While Jill teaches, the rest of us go on a house hunting expedition as our friends are looking to move closer to the school. Two possible properties are located nearby - we bounce down a narrow, unsealed track to get to them. Although there are real estate agents, most people rely on word of mouth and negotiate directly with the owner. Both properties look promising, but one has the advantage that it is surrounded on all sides by relatives of the owner. While this might be considered a disadvantage in Australia, it is a distinct advantage in terms of security here in Phnom Penh - there will be many eyes watching the property whenever you go out. The Principal's home has been broken into many times.

It's wet

I award myself a late start after the lengthy day yesterday and then spend the first couple of hours in the office writing up a report on the trip to Ratanakiri for my supervisor. In the afternoon I revise the Software Maintenance Agreement to reflect the discussions we had with the database consultant on Monday. At the end of the day there is a farewall party for one of the local CARE staff who is going to a new job with another company. Pin the tail on the donkey and bingo generate much hilarity amongst the local staff.

Steady rain sets in for the evening - it looks like the wet season has started. Jill and I stay in with a bread roll for dinner - its not a good night to be heading out to a restaurant.

Shake, rattle and roll

We depart Banlung a little after 8am - 5 of us in the Toyota Hilux 4WD with a full load in the tray behind. First stop is a hill overlooking the town (one of the ones that Emil missed on Tuesday). It is home to a very large reclining Buddha and provides good views of Banlung and beyond to Laos and Vietnam. Next stop is the Kachang waterfall - Socheat is keen for us to enjoy the local attractions before we leave the region.

The roads are all dirt (red dirt) and as we've had some rain, they're reasonably slippery and pot-holed. We probably average around 30 to 40 kph for the first few hours, bouncing around inside the cab.


Mid afternoon we arrive in Kratie, located alongside the Mekong River. Here we take a brief trip out onto the river on a boat to see the Irrawaddy dolphins - a rare freshwater dolphin. Returning to the 4WD we discover the front left tyre is almost flat. Socheat instructs the security guard / carpark attendant to go and find a hand pump, which he dutifully does. By now a small group have assembled to offer advice and take it in turns in pumping up the tyre faster than their mates.

With some air in the tyre, we head off in search of somewhere to fix the leak. Near the town market we find a Bob Jane T-Mart equivalent - a wiry old chap and his son working on a variety of tyres with an eclectic assortment of tools; their shop is the footpath. Their skill and ingenuity however, is truly awesome. The tyre is quickly removed from the rim with no hydraulic aids and the leak readily found in the inner tube. Without any vulcanising patches, a patch is cut from an old tube, roughened with a hacksaw blade and then vulcanised to the tube using an upturned motorcycle piston heated by some unidentified flammable fluid. The charge to repair - US$1.

Back on the road the rain begins to fall, slowing progress on an already rough section of road. As the light fades, our speed drops even further. Without airconditioning, the windscreen constantly fogs and the lights from oncoming vehicles (always on high beam) mean that Socheat slows to a crawl as each one passes.

We arrive back in Phnom Penh at 11pm, weary and sick of sitting. It was a long 15 hour trip (some do it in 9 hours) but we saw a good cross-section of the country today.

Turn it on!

I spend some time looking at the server and firewall. I notice that the backup logs indicate that the backup of the server failed on the previous four days. This is traced to an absence of power to the external hard drive used for backing up - easily rectified by turning the switch back on at the wall. A more robust backup strategy is required, as a fire in the server room will wipe out the server, and the backup hard drive sitting alongside it.

At lunchtime, Socheat is keen to take us to a local attraction, the Yeak Loam lake, 5km out of Banlung. It is a beatiful lake formed in a volcanic crater, around 2.5km is circumference. There are a few people swimming, but mostly it is deserted and peaceful.

In the afternoon we finish off our tasks and confirm that we'll travel back to Phnom Penh tomorrow with Socheat in the CARE 4WD - he needs to take it down to have the airconditioning fixed. This works well, as the next MAF flight is two weeks away and the bus trip is rumoured to be less than comfortable.

Ratanakiri

We're collected from our hotel at 6am by a CARE driver to take us to the airport. Tola (an IT person from the support company) and I are going to the Banlung CARE office in the province of Ratankiri to carry out some work on their IT systems. Jill is coming along to see this remote part of Cambodia. Situated in the far north east of the country, Banlung is around 70km from the Laos border and a similar distance from Vietnam. CARE have a large education program running in the area.

The only flight into Banlung is via a 6-seater Cessna operated by Mission Aviation Fellowship. There was a commercial flight operating at some point in the past, but CARE personnel were banned from using it due to the poor safety record - a crash landing with 7 CARE staff on board may have had something to do with this. MAF, on the other hand, have an impeccable record. Our Swiss pilot, Emil, puts everyone at ease with his meticulous approach to the task at hand, and his obvious love of the work.

We're airborne by 7am and Emil requests an altitude of 3,500 feet to keep us below most of the cloud, ensuring we enjoy an excellent view of the countryside. We fly over many rivers, rice paddies (some with water - the rain is now starting), plantations and jungle.

Approaching Banlung, air traffic control advise that the ceiling is around 500 feet. Emil cheerfully advises that he'd better be careful as there are a few hills around Banlung. Spotting a small gap, he decends through the clouds and gains good visibility of the terrain - no hills in sight. A river and a road he recognises aid his navigation and we are soon on the ground in Ratanakiri, 90 minutes after departure.

We're collected by Socheat, the CARE Banlung Logistics, Adminstrator, Driver, Mechanic, IT Support person - every office needs one. We didn't have to call him - he'd heard the plane approaching (it's not a big town). At the office, Tola and I discuss with Socheat and Thany (who also has some IT skills) the issues that need to be addressed. I'm quickly dealing with lightning protection and earthing issues, drawing from my experiences in Seychelles. Tola is dealing with viruses, hard disk problems and network issues. I move on to looking at their internet connectivity - via an IPSTAR satellite dish (something I'm reasonably familiar with).

Our hotel is the former Governor's residence, a large plantation style building, situated beside a small lake (with plenty of mosquitoes). Aptly named Terres Rouges (meaning red earth), the whole region is dominated by red dust in the dry season and red mud in the wet season.

Everything's negotiatble

Francis and I meet with the technical manager of the company currently handling CARE's IT requirements. We hope to get a better understanding of what they do and don't do and an overview of the CARE systems. Some progress is made, but there are still some gaps and areas that need to be worked on. I table the Standard Operating Environment and Strategic Functions documents which will hopefully provide a clearer framework for what they do for CARE.

In the afternoon we meet with a software consultant who has written and provided a HR database system to CARE. He's keen to execute a Software Maintenance Agreement for ongoing support (for a monthly fee) and today is the first time he's seen the contract I've written to cover this. There are a few things he doesn't like, not least our proposed price, which is one third of his initial request. We agree to meet again in a week - will be interesting to see if he's prepared to negotiate a more realistic price.

Angkor Wat

Another early start, with our guide and driver picking us up at 5.30am from the hotel to take us to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. The weather is overcast, so we don't see the sun, but we have beaten the hordes of tourists and the heat. Angkor means "city" and Wat means "temple" - certainly this is the most impressive and picturesque of the many temples we see in the area.

Later in the day we head out to Banteay Srei, about 45 minutes away, a temple renown for it pink sandstone and intricate carving. We then return to the Angkor Wat area and climb a sizable hill crowned by yet another temple. It makes a perfect vantage point for us, and a large contingent of tourists, to watch the sun set over Siem Reap (had it not been totally overcast).

Our guide and driver deposit us back at the Siem Reap airport in plenty of time to catch our ATR-72 safely back to Phnom Penh. An interesting and enjoyable interlude, but we probably don't need to see another temple for a while.

Siem Reap

The phone rings at 5.15am to tell us the taxi we ordered for 5.30am is already downstairs. We head for the airport to catch the first flight to Siem Reap - a province to the north west of Phnom Penh. We travel in an ATR-72, a twin turbo prop aircraft seating around 80 people. The advice is that the ATR-72 is fine to travel on, but you should avoid the Chinese built aircraft when travelling in this region.

When the Khmer kingdom dominated the region, the capital was at Siem Reap. A large number of temples were built in the area and they record a confusing mix of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. It seems that when a king changed the religion of the kingdom, the temples continued to be used, but under the new belief system - so depictions of Buddha and Hindu gods co-exist in the one temple. The capital later moved to Phnom Penh and the temples fell into disrepair and were reclaimed by the jungle. Over the last century, much work has gone into restoring the temples (with considerable overseas funding) and this now allows tourists to glimpse something of the granduer of this temple area.

We're met at the Siem Reap airport by the driver and the guide I have booked via SMS! They'll be our companions for the next two days, showing us the sites and giving us an insight into the region and its history. Our guide grew up here and played amongst the ruins as a child; during the Pol Pot era, he was in a refugee camp on the Thai border where he learnt English.

I would let the pictures do the talking, but there is a major internet problem in Cambodia today, so I'll have to upload later.

Clique go the shears

After work we head off to the "Akubra Club" - a social gathering of Aussies held at the Australian Embassy on the first Friday afternoon of each month. It looks promising: there's live music (a couple of Aussies with guitars singing Aussie standards) and there's Fosters. We don't know anyone but stand around expecting to make a few acquaintances. And fail miserably! We try to engage one or two in conversation, but they're busy talking in their groups. This is not the place to come if you're new to Phnom Penh and wanting to make some connections - not a soul spoke to us in the hour that we stood amongst them. Worse things have happened to us, but it was a very strange experience.

Big vision, small budget

No great strides of progress today in the world of IT. I spend some time analysing telephone bills as there is a reasonable spend on international calls, particularly to USA and Australia. The alternative internet provider I am considering offers up to 900 minutes of free VoIP calls per month to popular destinations - this could produce significant savings.

Jill heads out to the Sunshine Centre - a safe haven for street kids. It's a refuge from the harsh and hazardous environment they normally exist in. Free meals, some educational classes, sporting and creative activities, interaction with people who care rather than exploit and a few basic supplies to take back to their families at the end of the day. Jill taught guitar today - tomorrow the "Heel Toe Polka". The Centre is run by a fellow Aussie (Bonnie), on a shoe string budget and it is in dire need of extra funding. A basic education and some English language will act as a passport out of poverty for many of these children. The Centre goes some way towards providing this but there is still so much more that could be done. Education is theoretically free in Cambodia, but the reality is that it costs and the very poor are excluded.

I come from a land down under

The bells, the bells! We're awakened by bells, gongs and drumming growing louder and louder outside. A procession passes by at the end of our street and we later learn it is a funeral. More smoke from the cermatorium! Was this another traffic statistic?



After two public holidays (for local staff) the office is humming with a full complement of staff. Francis and I do some more work on IT documents and also evaluate a proposal from an alternative internet supplier. Internet connections are slow and expensive here - one of my tasks is to look at reducing internet costs for the office.

Jill, meanwhile, has been at Hope International School all afternoon. Her music teaching skills have been put to good use with two group keyboard classes (4 boys and 6 girls) plus four private lessons. Many expatriate families are desperate to have music tution for their children - teachers are few and far between.



For a change, we stay in for dinner - cheese and biscuits, a glass of wine and vegemite sandwiches (our first bread since leaving Australia). Delicious! From the balcony we watch the moon rise to the east of us, right over the crematorium chimney.

The other half

I spend most of the day defining the CARE SOE (standard operating environment) for their computer systems and working with Francis to scope the strategic functions of the IT Department. These documents will provide the framework and direction for IT moving forward - whether insourced or outsourced.

My supervisor invites Francis, Martin (a German volunteer), Jill and myself to her house for lunch. It is a large French villa not far from the office and two drivers chauffeur us there in two CARE vehicles. Lunch has been prepared by her maid - a delicious assortment of Cambodian dishes. The house has 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms and 3 kitchens - built for many more occupants than it currently houses; a glimpse into a past era.

After work we catch up with one of the VIDA volunteers who went through training with me in Adelaide in March. She and her partner have been posted to Ratanakiri - a remote province in the north of the country - but she's down in the big smoke for a couple of weeks doing some project work in the main CARE office. Returning to our hotels on Golden street in a tuk tuk, someone on a motorbike attempts to grab her bag - fortunately she has a firm hold on it and they disappear into the night. If they'd been successful, would they have used the proceeds to feed a family or a habit?

An article in today's local paper caught my attention, detailing an adult form of SIDS:

A Chinese judge charged with corruption died in his cell from "Adult Sudden Death Syndrome". Authorities said that cuts on his face and other injuries had been caused by a fall during an escape attempt and that his sudden death conformed with "Adult Sudden Death Syndrome".

Where there's smoke, there's fire

Quiet in the office today as all national staff have a public holiday - international staff generally don't get these holidays as they have a reasonable annual leave provision, whereas the local staff don't.

I'm given somone's workstation to work at and tellingly, I'm able to log in without a password. That doesn't comply with my IT Policy! The computer has a variety of software loaded on it which is not SOE (standard operating environment) - we'll need to look at tightening this up.

At 2.30pm I meet with two of the directors (both expatriates) of the IT company that CARE have outsourced their IT services to. CARE was one of their first customers, and is probably one of their biggest. One of my tasks is to look at outsourcing vs insourcing. I ask my supervisor prior to the meeting whether I would make it out of the country alive if I recommend insourcing and terminating their contract. She suggests that such a decision should probably be made at the end of my time in the country. I'm not sure if she is joking ...

On a similar note, I ask someone about a large white, somewhat ornate, tower near our hotel which occasionally billows smoke from the top and which wafts into a nearby upstairs restaurant we have used a couple of times. I wonder if it might be some sort of Buddhist shrine or something. It turns out it is the local crematorium ...

Good and evil

Late morning we negotiate the services of a tuk tuk driver to take us around town - 3 hours for US$4. Our first destination is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, or S-21. We ring Francis to see if he is free and he joins us for the short trip to what was originally a school, but was turned into a torture and death camp by the Khmer Rouge regime. It records a chillingly evil episode in the country's history - one tourist near us vomits at the horror of what went on here. I won't write more, but the link at the top right of this blog page will provide more information.

From evil to good, we travel to the east side of town to have lunch at the Friends restaurant. This restaurant has been set up to provide training for former street kids, giving them a helping hand into the hospitality industry. A number of the trainees have gone on to work in leading hotels and restaurants around Phnom Pehn. The food and service are excellent and I notice that the tee-shirts the staff wear all have the BHP Billiton logo on them - a worthwhile corporate sponsorship.

Emma Chisset?

Everything is negotiable here, so you are constantly asking, "How much is it?", or if the Australian drawl takes over, "Emma Chisset?" Typically it is at least 50% less than the initial price. We've just bought some mangoes in the street, finally agreeing a price of 1,000 Riel each (US$0.25). We'd previously been in the Supermarket where they were being sold at this price, so we knew we shouldn't pay more, and probably should have paid less. However, the Supermarket is in a more secure financial position than the guy in the street balancing dozens of mangoes on the back of his bike, so I think we both went off happy. That's the essense of a good deal.

Motos cost around 1,500 Riel (US$0.37) per kilometre, or if you are going to several places and having them wait for you, US$1 per hour. Tuk tuks are a little more expensive and taxis (which have to be ordered) cost around US$20 for half a day.

A meal can be had in a sidewalk or market cafe for 5,000 Riel (US$1.25); at a small restaurant you might pay US$4 - 5.

The exchange rate is approximately 4,000 Riel to the US$1 and both currencies are used everywhere. At the Supermarket this afternoon, I paid in US$ and received a mix of US$ and Riel notes as change. You can pay your moto driver in either currency. I have not seen anywhere that takes credit cards, but I'm sure there are some places.

Early afternoon we go to "Beautiful Shoes" - a little shop with a big reputation, particularly amongst the expatriate community. They will tailor make your shoes for you, either from one of their samples / designs, or from a sample you provide. Jill has ordered two pairs of sandals which will be ready in 10 days - US$13 each.

At 5.30pm we take a moto to visit our friends out west again, for dinner and to watch the Cricket World Cup final on their cable TV. There has been heavy rain in the neighbourhood and we wade through their flooded driveway to get into their house. Unfortunately the rain is also falling in Barbados, so we see no play before heading back to the hotel.

IT and art

I now have a regular moto driver to take me to and from the CARE office - he's outside my hotel at 7.50am and is outside the CARE office at 5pm. Each trip costs 1,500 Riels (US$0.37).

My supervisor is in the office when I arrive, but is about to go off sight-seeing with her friend (who is leaving Cambodia this evening). We briefly discuss some of her IT priorities and I clarify a couple of things with her. Apparently I should have a desk on Monday when someone leaves, but for today I have her office, and her computer, so can start being a little productive.

The first task is to polish up the CARE Cambodia IT Policy, mandating what CARE employees can and can't do on the CARE network - ah, such power in IT!

Then I need to write a Terms of Reference document for a database software maintenance agreement they want to put in place.

I spend some time with the two IT guys who support the CARE IT systems, understanding what they do. CARE have outsourced their IT support and one of my key objectives is to assess whether an outsourced or insourced model would be best.

The new Finance Manager drops by my office at lunch time to see what I'm doing for lunch. Francis arrived from Togo (West Africa) the week before me, so we are on similar learning curves. He has been buying lunch from the petrol station next door, but a hot-dog from a Caltex station doesn't sound that attractive to me. I convince him to walk along the road a bit where we come across a road-side restaurant. For US$3 (US$1.50 each) we both have chicken and rice, a coke, complimentary tea and sago dessert. Francis won't be having any more hot-dogs.

The afternoon I spend looking at how the CARE servers are set up and understanding what processes they have for storing projects and files.

In the evening we catch up with Francis, who is also staying in a hotel in Golden street. He has been invited to an art exhibition at a cafe further along the street. The artist is an expatriate who is using the exhibition to raise funds for a project she and her husband are supporting. The project provides rehabilitation and life skilling for children who have been subject to sexual abuse. Many expatriates attend the exhibition and we spend some time exchanging stories about where we're from and why we're here. Seems to be quite a large contingent of Aussies in Phnom Penh.

CARE is not there!

At 8am I select one of the many moto drivers vying for my business in the front of our hotel and negotiate a price of 1,500 Riels (US$0.37) to take me to the CARE Cambodia office a bit over a kilometre away. We locate the address - Street 352, as provided on all documentation I have from CARE - but the CARE office is not there! This street looks nothing like the street I visited on Tuesday morning, but I was taken there by a VIDA person and paid little attention to the route.

Hmmm. I redirect the driver (who has little English) back to the Save the Children office we had just passed and ask there if they know where the CARE office is. The guard offers a brief explanation in Khmer to the driver and we're off again, this time to Mao Tse Toung Boulevard (the larger roads do have names).

The office appears on the corner of Street 63 and we charge straight across the on-coming peak hour traffic (which parts miraculously) into the gate. My driver wants some additional cash for the extra distance so we haggle to 2,000 Riels (US$0.50).

CARE moved into this office earlier in the year - it is a modern three storey building housing about 50 employees. The reception staff do not seem to know who I am, but find someone who does. My supervisor is away from the office today (visiting Angkor Wat at Siem Reap with a friend), but she has left some reading material and a list of issues for me to start thinking about. The office administrator takes me through an induction and security program and then introduces me to all the staff. My retention of their names is close to 0%, but a few key ones stick.

There is no desk available for me, so I am located in the Interview Room - an airconditioned meeting room housing a large quantity of defunct computer equipment. Strangely, as the IT Support Officer, I spend my first day in the office without access to a functioning computer. Office hours are 8am to noon and 1.30pm to 5pm. There are many public holidays (including Monday and Tuesday of next week), but these are for national not international staff.

I ring the office of Angkornet - another internet company offering WiMAX connections - and arrange to meet a representative at my hotel at lunchtime. He arrives on time with a test unit to check signal strength in our room - all good. Two hours later he comes to the CARE office and hands over a WiMAX modem (about the size of a thick novel), completes the paperwork and takes my cash. I return to my hotel after work and within minutes have a 256kbps internet connection running faultlessly. That's challenger service for you!

At 5.30pm, my moto driver arrives to take me to our friend's house for dinner on the western outskirts of town (Jill has gone ahead of me earlier in the day). For longer trips to more remote places, you need a reliable driver - I called this guy on VIDA's recommendation. We bob and weave amongst the peak hour traffic, using petrol station forecourts and footpaths to bypass some of the congestion. He gets lost a couple of times, but we finally make it.

Their home is an old, reasonably modest, French colonial residence, which is rented to them by a Khmer family. They have been in Cambodia 8 years and have a reasonable grasp of Khmer, instructing my driver to return for Jill and me at 9pm. They tell us how a Cambodian lady knocked on their door one day, saying she used to live in this house prior to Pol Pot. She lost all her family, but believed her brother may still be alive - she wanted to leave her current address in case her brother ever returned to what had once been the family home.

In his quest to establish an agrarian society, Pol Pot evacuated the entire city of Phnom Penh to the country-side beyond. Many perished through starvation and lack of infrastructure. When the city was repopulated, ownership of real estate was finally determined by possession being nine tenths of the law (or in this case, ten tenths). All records had been destroyed so there was no way to resolve disputes involving "squatters".

At 9pm our driver, Samnang (meaning "lucky" - may he continue to be whilst we are passengers), returns to take us back to the hotel. The various security advisories we have received during orientation highlight the risks of travelling at night, but we (yes, three of us on a little motor scooter - the best we have seen is five) arrive safely back in Golden street.

Australians all let us ring Joyce

At 8.30am we assemble at the Australian Embassy. Felt quite patriotic seeing the Commonwealth emblem of kangaroo and emu on the gate, then had to negotiate four levels of security to get inside ("I'm an Aussie, just let me in already"). Met with embassy and AusAID staff (AusAID fund the VIDA program) and we received further information and advice on staying safe. Took special note of the Akubra Club that meets on the embassy grounds the first Friday of each month at 4.30pm - wonder if they get Fosters in Phnom Penh?

Next door to the embassy is the "Elsewhere" bar - a little tropical haven in off the street with a swimming pool and (being lunchtime) excellent club sandwiches.

The afternoon tasks of finding Jill a helmet and sourcing an internet connection were somewhat frustrating and tiring. After spending some time at Central Market (which could also be known as Central Sauna) we eventually caught a tuk-tuk (motorcycle drawn buggy thing) to another part of town and found a helmet which vaguely fitted Jill. Sadly it broke the first time she used it, but hey, it only cost US$10.

After a very long walk in the heat, we eventually found an internet company that sells a WiMAX service. Unfortunately it requires the antenna to be installed on the roof and cabling run down into the room, something our hotel is unlikely to be thrilled about. Back to the drawing board.

Hot and thirsty, we headed to the FCC (Foreign Correspondent’s Club) for dinner, which is upstairs looking out over the river. Very pleasant, but still hot enough at 7pm for sweat to be trickling down your back and legs whilst doing nothing more strenuous than sipping a gin and tonic under a ceiling fan.

Early impressions

We have an early morning introduction to our surroundings - the thin curtains are little match for the rising sun and the rising temperature. In the street below there is already plenty of activity as people go about their business. From our balcony we watch the sun rise over temples and monuments a little to our east. Several kilometres beyond them lies the river (Tonle Sap) and the busier part of town.

Our hotel is on Street 278 (all streets are numbered), but it is often referred to as "Golden Street" - many establishments at our end of the street are "Golden" something. Golden Bridge Hotel, Golden Gate Hotel, Golden Star Hotel, Golden Eiffel Tour Hotel. We also have the Zombie Bird House Bar, the Boom Boom Room and the Top Banana Guesthouse. There are many restuarants and eateries, so we will not go hungry.



At 8.30am I have a meeting at the CARE Cambodia office to meet with the VIDA Regional Manager and the AusAID Project Manager. At 9am I'm collected for a tour of the city, seeing where markets and shopping centres are located, and most importantly, to purchase a motorcycle helmet.

The main mode of transport is on the back of motorbikes (“Motos”) and the incidence of serious and fatal accidents is high. The AusAID advisory is to wear a helmet and they are thinking of making this mandatory for volunteers following some fatalities. I purchase a fetching number for US$13.

The traffic could be described as chaos on valium. There appear to be no road rules and the concept of travelling on the correct side of the road (the right hand side; left hand drive cars) is notional at best. However, it all happens at a sedate pace – traffic seems to travel at 25 to 30 kph and somehow they just weave around each other. I think the essence of it is to inch out into oncoming traffic which will veer around you until it is easier to veer around the other side of you, at which point you have crossed to the point you want to be.

At 2pm we meet at the VIDA office to be briefed on support structures (including the strategy for Avian Flu outbreak) and to learn about some cultural sensitivities. The VIDA staff are very thorough and extremely helpful.

For the remainder of the afternoon I apply myself to the problem of no internet connectivity in our hotel room. I investigate the internet cafe next door, but the speed is abysmal - a couple of emails takes around 30 minutes as Internet Explorer grinds through page refreshes. It did only cost me US$0.30, but it's not a good option.

Early to rise, late to bed

Up early Monday morning to get to the airport nearly half a day before the flight departs so someone can inspect your toiletries crammed into a sandwich bag. Good daytime flight on Thai Airways from Sydney to Bangkok, then an early evening flight on to Phnom Penh (sandwich bag inspection not required).

We're travelling with three other VIDA volunteers who will be working in Cambodia – two in Battambong and the other in Phnom Penh.

A local VIDA representative meets us at the airport and takes us in a minibus to the Golden Bridge Apartment Hotel. A shade less than 5 stars, but it does have airconditioning in the bedroom – Phnom Penh is very hot at the moment prior to the rains coming in June. Our room is on the top floor of the hotel (level 5) and there are no lifts - the lad who carried our bags up earned his tip!




Around 2.30am Sydney time when we hit the very firm Phnom Penh mattress.

What about the family?

My gorgeous wife, Jill, will be accompanying me - I couldn't be let off the leash for that long! Our wonderful daughter, Sarah, is in fourth year at Uni and will not be able to join us. She will look after the house and will turn 21 whilst we are away - not ideal, but hopefully it won't come up in counselling sessions down the track.

Jill will probably be busier than me. She has a number of possible involvements, including:

• teaching English at the Phnom Penh Bible College where some friends from Sydney are lecturing
• assisting with music at an International School
• working at the Sunshine Centre for street kids

How did this come about?

Optus, like a number of large corporates, is concerned to be giving something back to the community. Recent initiatives mean that employees can now make pre-tax donations to 9 different charities (with Optus matching $ for $) and there is the option to take a paid day out of the office to work with a charity of your choice.

The company is now evaluating the feasibility of longer term volunteering opportunities in developing countries. Working in partnership with VIDA (Volunteering for International Development from Australia) and CARE Australia, Optus has initiated a pilot program for an employee to work in a CARE office overseas.

Prior to Christmas a number of employees were asked if they would like to be considered for this program. Following a selection process, I was fortunate enough to be chosen and now find myself writing this blog 12 hours prior to my departure to Phnom Penh!

My job title for the role in the CARE Cambodia office is "IT Support Officer", so I expect to be supporting the office systems, in particular the processes associated with storing and retrieving project data. That's what I expect to be doing! It may be very different. I will be there for 5 weeks so will need to be quick to get going and efficient with my time - 5 weeks will go very quickly.