Cambodia: Day 43

Monday, June 20th, 2011

Pursat

8:41 PM

This week begins my second round of interviews for my survey. I'm really hoping that it's more efficient than my first week, seeing as how I was only able to get about 35 surveys completed and I have to be back in Phnom Penh Thursday night. Either way, I'm looking forward to being out in the provinces again.

This morning I woke up to Cambodian music blaring from the TV downstairs. You would think I'd be to the point where I can just sleep through it, but unfortunately that's not the case. I typically lay on my side of the bed and stare out the window at the murky grey sky until I fall back asleep.

Tuni and I didn't have to catch our bus to Pursat until 10:30 AM, so I finished packing up while Lauren got ready for her work day at RACHA. I was a very happy girl when I walked downstairs for breakfast to find my favorite Khmer dish sitting on the table. It's called something like "ming howey". I'm definitely going to need to get the recipe.

10 AM rolled around and we got a ride to Apsara Khmer from our friendly neighborhood tuk-tuk driver. He was the same one that was confused the last time he attempted to take us there; I only had to give him directions once this time around. He's really improving!

We were shuttled to the bus station where we got on our tour bus. There were about five buses there and we weren't sure which one to get on, so we asked an employee. He pointed to the bus parked closest to the station.

It was a fairly quick ride. I listened to my music and played sudoku as rice paddies and stilted homes passed outside my window. I've seen this landscape for the last month-and-a-half, yet it still manages to take my breath away. The beauty was only enhanced as I witnessed a storm coming in, the rice stalks swaying in the breeze like waves of a lime green sea. Far away palm trees became obscured by misty rain, giving an ominous yet peaceful feeling to the observant eye.

We stopped at a small restaurant for a quick snack, rain pouring outside. I saw a road sign pointing us to the Pursat city center just after the river. We must be close!

We hopped on the bus. We passed the river. We turned … Nope, we didn't turn. We kept going straight. Oh, it must be further than I thought …

Signs saying "Pursat" passed. I kept hearing people around me saying things about Battambang, a province west of Pursat …

This doesn't feel right …

"Hey Tuni, we should probably ask the driver about where we're supposed to get off." She promptly got up and made her way to the front of the bus. I watched as the bus driver made hand motions, pointing back down the road where we had come from.

Crap.

Tuni turned around and walked back to our seats. "We're getting off."

The bus pulled over and we hopped out into the mud, rain pouring down. A road sign said we were six kilometers from Pursat.

Great.

We made our way back down the road until we took refuge underneath an overhang at a weigh station. It was kind of fun to be walking down a lonely road in the middle of nowhere in Cambodia. Despite the fact that things weren't ideal, I just had a feeling that everything was going to be ok.

A security guard and another man stood underneath, watching us as we walked up to join them under the shelter. I called Sophal, the Child Health officer for Pursat. She wasn't able to understand me, so I handed the phone to one of the men nearby. He explained to her where we were, even offering to use his phone when mine stopped working.

Sophal showed up on a moto, decked out in a USAID poncho. We climbed on the back of the machine and made our way to the RACHA office where we met Jeni and went over our plans for the week...