Day 150 - Farewell... for now!

It's not a bad old life really

Day 150 - 20th November

So, the dreaded day had arrived. Kel and Dave were off back home. It's been so great having them here with me it almost felt at times as if they were with me all the way around.

So our trip together ended in true form of how it had been plodding along in the last two weeks - we overslept our 10am check out time. One of the staff was knocking on the door trying to get us out.

Let's be honest, who'd want to leave this hut?

Eventually we surfaced and went to the restaurant to soak up the previous night with a good olde English fry up. One has never gone down so well.

We had a few hours to kill before our pick up so we finished the trip off with a massage. Dave joked that he was mugged off with his masseur but I felt, as I was told to remove my shirt - Kel and Dave were still fully clothed - that I was getting the raw deal.

Dave looks like he's in a submission hold

Kel's isn't much better

I felt ten years younger, shame the hair didn't reflect it!

My masseur was amazing and at one point I felt like James Bond being taken out by a Bond Villain as she put me in front of her and lifted me up over her body with her knees. Sadly I could get a picture because she was holding my arms behind me but believe me, I was impressed. She was only seven or eight stone.

We left behind Lime and Soda, re-boarded the ferry and had a choppy trip back for 45 minutes. Dave asked for a sick bag, the big tart, and Kel kept her head down.

At the airport, I was impressed with the operation they had for such a small island airport. After checking in, Kel, Dave and I went for a pizza. We were reeling off our best bits and a feeling of poignancy attached itself to our conversation - well for me anyway.

The trip wouldn't have been complete without one final gaffe, and it came as I hug and kissed my sister and Dave goodbye, they began walking away and we realised the gate was nearby where we had a pizza. We just laughed.

As they disappeared, I walked back to the main road and begun a trek towards the beach. I made it twenty minutes before realising that the coast was down a winding road towards Cheweng Beach and I'd be walking an hour and half at least to get there.

I reached a bend in the road and found a little, local restaurant made of bamboo with no more than 4 tables in it. That's how small it was. I asked the guy inside how to get to Cheweng quickly. He told me I was countless kilometres out and offered to take me on his bike for 150 Baht. It was a good deal so I went with him.

My driver, nice chap.

He told me as we drove down that Cheweng was at least 700 Baht a room and when he took me to one place, he was proved right as they asked for 1,300 Baht a night.

He kindly offered to take me back to Lamai Beach where I stayed before going to Koh Tao. I stopped at New Hut Bungalows.

I checked into a hut on the beach for 500 Baht a night (10 quid) and settled into island life. I quite like being by the sea, minus the sand of course!

And as promised - Crittenden's Clangers for you:

- On his first night, he withdrew money from the ATM. He left his card in the machine.
- Dave thought it would be a good idea to go into the Indian Ocean with his phone inside his swim shorts.
- Dave jumped down from a wooden gazebo, smacking his head on a beam overhead and landing on his arse. He cut his hand open.

- He left his swimming trunks at our resort in Kanchanaburi.

- After lifting him up on my shoulders at the Half Moon Party, he threw his glasses into the crowd. They are now lost!
-  Lost his wallet temporarily before realising it was in his bag.
- Pulled a women old enough to be his mother.
- Took control from me on a jet ski. I told him not to hit the corners anything above 30 kph. He hits one at 50 kph, we both fly off and have to swim 200 yards to get back to it.

Day 83 - Week 3 of Volleyball and saying goodbye again!

Listening to Khmer music on the Tuk Tuk journey to work.

Day 83 - 14th September

After a last breakfast with Abigail, we both headed around to the Globalteer Office so that Abigail could say goodbye to DK. It was about as emotional as the day when Gordon Brown finished his term as Prime Minster. I suppose somethings are just not able to be expressed.

Our weekly Monday morning meeting to discuss the week ahead focused on 'Family'. Skip, aka Charlie explained to the coaches and I the importance of teaching the kids about this child right and we struck up a couple of debates about different types of families.

Our new game for the week was to set up five small boxes with cones on the field, each with a task inside for the children to complete e.g. Box one the child would have to do 25 dokks, Box two 25 push ups etc. Each child would have to complete all five boxes individually within 3 minutes, which is virtually impossible. We then let them go in a pair, which could be a possibility before finally putting them in a small team of four or five.

The idea of the exercise was to teach them that on your own, these 'tasks' are so much harder than it is with support from others, or with the theme in mind, in life things are harder alone than it is with a family, who give support, guidance and love. It's subliminal in the games we play but the kids go away with something to think about.

I had a meeting with Charlie to discuss my experience so far. As expected, I gave him nothing bad - this project is amazing and every day is more fun. I also took on some basic admin tasks to help out - keep the skills varying I say.

When I finished the meetings, I came back to Bou Savy to go for lunch with Abigail. We went to a Khmer BBQ place and I took on fried rice with river fish. I'm glad I did, it was belting.

The trip to work.

Then my afternoon began at one of the projects, an hour away from us in the centre of Siem Reap. The kids here are incredible, with such a great attitude to sport and learning. It's always good fun to visit them. 

I had a game of volleyball with some of the kids, a teacher and DK. Normally, I managed to spike the ball backwards but I had my A game on and hit a few shots like a pro.

The first lesson progressed well but we found the kids were finishing the drills alone too quickly. We managed to get the social message across which was good but in our second session, we whittled the time down to a minute and a half and found the kids struggled a lot more on their own, which of course was our intended plan.

Srey Mom's daughter provided the entertainment on the way back. After a milk snack, she nestled between me and DK and started playing on her mom's phone and singing whilst music played. She is adorable and a very strong, little lady. She doesn't mind pulling the hairs out of your leg so you scream just like her - I tell you, it's painful.

Abigail and I went to a restaurant for a final meal. I had a Khmer speciality, Bok Choi which was really good - it's a bit like a herby, fried chicken with morning glory and rice. It could be a new favourite!

Then the tears flowed again. No, not from me, but from Abigail. She didn't want to leave and I couldn't really blame her. It's awesome here. But I did tell her she had been an awesome adversary for me in her three weeks here and that she and Dan would see me again, somewhere, somehow.

Best of luck with the masters and be good to Paul, Abigail.

I settled in for the night, writing a little more. I need to get this TV script finished by the24th so every minute is crucial.

So alone again, a new adventure begins . . . Bring it on Cambodia!

Find out more about Globalteer Sports Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalteerSportsProject

Day 82 - Floating fishing village and saying goodbye to one, one to go!

The floating, fishing village was kinda cool.

Day 82 - 13th September

Mr Barang picked us up and took us 20 minutes or so to the fishing village in the south, on the Tonle Sap river.

Even Dan enjoyed this one!

We were greeted by a local guide who took us out to the village, he told us how they deal with wet season (with a whole load of luck), where they went during dry season (to the main lake), and described how they had a Catholic Church, a graveyard, a mango orchard, an orphanage and school and finally many, many houses on the water. He told us over 5,400 people lived in this floating village which was one of 132 on the Tonle Sap - a couple of interesting statistics.

They are quick for ones so little.

We stopped to get some beers and sat out on the river and drank in the sun, before moving to the crocodile farm. Those little nippers were fascinating.

I'm pretty happy out here.

We headed up on the balcony where Abigail was on the verge of tears after seeing a hornet fly around her. I told her to calm down and it would fly away but she told me she wouldn't in the politest possible way that only Abigail can (she's a good egg really).

It's quite a community here.

We then visited a school where they asked for a donation, which I politely declined. I'll donate it some other way where I can see the changes it can make - like with Globalteer.

Back at Bou Savy, it was time to say goodbye to Dan. Abigail's tears flowed freely again, almost as easily as the rain here as Dan and I did the manly handshake bit with stiff upper lips. Farewell to Dan and a safe trip to him!

A Cambodian shirt and elephant print trousers - almost authentic, right?

To cheer her up, Abigail and I went to Viva Mexican and had nachos, cocktails and a meal. Afterwards, we went to the market to search around for some bargains before heading back to Bou Savy. I picked up a Cambodian shirt, a coconut bowl with gold lining (just so I can say 'you chose wisely' as I drink water from it like Indiana Jones) and a surprise for my niece.

And that's where I stayed for the rest of the night, working on my blog and my script. Another great day with new memories to savour.