KEP + CAMBODGE CREW LOSE 3 MEMBERS?!!?

Hello people!
I feel really bad not updating this blog and I know all bloggers say this but we've been really busy! Also, I've started writing a diary (to all none of you who are interested) but yes, I have. I'm really proud of it because so far in my life I think all my attempted diaries have finished at around page 2 - this being because ofcourse, there was really nothing particularly interesting to say (how sad). However, there is a silver lining to this rambling and that is that since I've been here I find that I write about 5 pages in my diary about each day.. (mega exaggeration but you get the point!)

Anywho, I visited my next home (4 months or so starting January) ..KEP!!!

The Red House

Yes, exciting times. To be honest it was indeed more rural than I had imagined (which was rather stupid of me seeing as I had plenty of information hinting at its isolation) but also alot more beautiful. I'm not sure if I'm becoming a hippie or a over emotional sappy kind of person but I really can't begin to describe the feeling of being one with nature (cue to throw up from an overdose of corny). Just riding the bicycle down the small path with endless rice paddy fields on either side, the cooling wind all over, and the fresh air swimming in your lungs makes you want to give up all your belongings and live like a caveman. That's why I have decided to stop writing this blog and never touch the "internet" again.....jokes.

Bathing in the pond

In Kep we stayed at the Red House with Inges, Sofie and Michael..three other lovely volunteers who I am very much looking forward to chilling with in the near future. The night we arrived we experienced the electricity switching off at 9pm (having been on for 3 hours) and as a result the darkest night you will ever see..or not see I guess. Nothing quite like looking up to a blanket of stars and wondering if all the light at home in Singapore is really worth covering up the shiny dots that mesmerize you for the longest time. We built a house for a young woman of 20 with 2 children while we were there. We were having loads of fun laying on the concrete floor, fixing the aircon system and finding the best channels on the flat screen tv.....naht. We did however thatch the roof and walls of the small bamboo frame hut much to the delight of the future owners (well so I assume...their expression stayed the same the whole time). We also did some agricultural work outside Red House, planting pumpkin seeds and onion stems.

On a very sad note on Monday Victor and Max left Cambodia! Their presence will really be missed as they are genuinely sweet guys and we all had sooooo much fun together! No paragraph can really show the number of times I have laughed until I cried with the gang, how both Victor and Max provided us with so much entertainment and always added a lightheartedness to the group. To be more specific I had such a great time hanging out with them at Rudi Boa, our crazy times in Sihanoukville, just cracking up on tuk-tuk rides, having someone to annoy in the guys room, hearing them practice their BABY BABY BABY OH renditions, going shopping at Luckies, Russian Market, and that huge 5 storey shopping centre, and a lot more! As they got into our tuk-tuk Ida and I burst into tears, which is rare for me (although no one would have believed it seeing the state I was in) - it was a very emotional time! Yes, I cried like a baby but just thinking how they wouldn't be at the breakfast table the next morning is extremely depressing. You don't really know how close you get with the volunteers on a gap year until you're in one, and whenever one of us says the cheesy 'we're a family', this Cambodge group is telling the truth. I laughed until I cried from the start of this trip and come full circle, I cried until I laughed when the group lost 2 friends.

Tomorrow we are losing another friend, one which we haven't known for very long but is still very much part of the crew and has shared many a good time, Chris 'badass' Kelly! He has brought a great energy to the group and will be missed!

Note: *No one else leave or I will kill you.

*I'm being serious.

Will try to post more often,
Tien :)