Nearly 2 weeks in Siem Reap

Angkor Hospital for Children

Oh dear, nearly a month later and getting on for 2 weeks in Siem Reap and I haven’t added anything to my blog yet!! So to keep it short I think it will have to be a very brief summary of events so far.
The work that the hospital does with the children and their families is inspirational and it helps to remember that that is what is all about.

The work with the accounting systems is proving to be a challenge. For the 1 ½ weeks I have mostly been getting to know the system and procedures as they are in practice and getting to know the staff, not just in the accounts department but in the other departments. One of the things I have been involved with so far is not so much accounting but trying to help improve information sharing between the different departments.

Pol,the senior accountant here is very kind and friendly and despite some communication problems I think we manage to understand each other most of the time, it just takes a bit longer.

Pol gave me a quick tour of Angkor Wat on my first evening after work and invited me for a meal at his friend's house which was lovely of him. Among other things we had a paste which he called "cheese" which turned out to be a very strong fermented fish paste.

I have spent a lot of time walking around Siem Reap. The place is expanding at a rapid pace. There are the contrasts you would expect between rich and poor with Raffles Hotel at the one end of the scale and people living in all sorts of home made huts at the other end.

It was national Women's day on March 8th and a national holiday here. I think this is a very good idea and we should definitely have this is a holiday in the UK but only for women!
We had a volunteers outing to Tonle Sap Lake and saw the floating villages. There are lots of houses, shops,schools built on floating platforms (I even spotted a police station). The water level changes so much from the dry to the rainy season that the houses are moved as the water level rises.

i am trying to learn some Khmer, the Cambodian language, which is difficult! Using my new found Khmer language skills (which hardly anyone Cambodian seems to understand ?!) got me talking to the (english) people at the next table to me in a restaurant this evening. They asked me what I was doing here and hearing i was an accountant told me that the drummer of the sex pistols was looking for someone to do his VAT in the UK ( I declined the offer!!)