Hi, it a beautiful Saturday morning with the sun shining brightly and the flood waters being redirected! On Thurs the waters magically began to recede quite quickly which we got excited about, but as Lindsey and I went out to the Silk Farm we couldn't understand why the water lying on Route 6 was getting deeper. On Thurs we went out to the airport to see Aliki off and were surprised that our water was less but theirs much deeper. Apparently the authorities have put in sluice gates of some description to keep the water out of town to protect the visitors. However, last week they must have been caught out and shocked at how much there was, so after 4 days of chaos they have altered things. The roads left behind are in a dreadful state, deep potholes and very lose surfaces, so everyone has to be very careful.

We felt as though we had cabin fever here, so have tried to go out every day, but riding in a tuk has been a hair raising experience. Three of us were in one on Wed afternoon and were trying to tell the driver he was too close to a very large hole, but no, he knew better and the next minute his bike and the tuk turned to 45 degrees, somehow with someone's help he managed to get his bike up as we jumped out of the tuk into very deep water. Foolishly, (Cambodians cannot lose face) he told us all was well and to get back in, we said no but he insisted so we did, but the same thing happened. Then of course the moto wouldn't start, so we waded through goodness knows what of deep, warm water. He was lucky as his moto did eventually start and we did got in to complete the journey home. Later that day two other girls returned shaking after a similar tuk experience. That morning I had been out to Grace House in Alan's Land Rover, the roads and conditions to there were dreadful, but the classrooms were above water level, my dog was sitting in the dry under a table in one of the classrooms, but I did not have any food for her. Bunlong's gran was there because their home was very badly flooded so she was told she, the family and their two cows could move into GH - hopefully only the family will be inside the safe house! The journey back showed people fishing everywhere and water levels very high, but most people's living areas were above the water level as the stilts are built for such times. However, once we hit town we were driving through metre high flood water which had a strong current. Eventually the LR stopped to go no more, so we were walking through the deep water with its amazingly strong current. On the section from his house to here I managed to trip in a pothole, although I didn't completely fall I managed to sprain my ankle quite badly - it is very swollen, painful and black.

I can't remember whether it was Mon or Tues when we went into town and joined in with hundreds of kids/teenagers who were having the time of their lives playing in the new river parallel to the old one, the atmosphere was great, just like a snow day in the UK, I was very pleased that they respected me when I said that I didn't want to be splashed as I was chief photographer. Unfortunately, Aliki fell in the water and completely destroyed her very expensive Canon camera. Rachel and Vanessa joined in the fun completely and don't seem to have suffered from any serious after effects.

According to bits I have gathered from local news about 14 people have been killed/drowned in the Cambodian floods so far. None of our regular tuk drivers have been working and we have had to pay way over the usual prices to get anyone to come and take us from here.

Some of the GH staff have been living at Alan's as their homes were/are badly flooded. On Sunday Antonia was made to get out of her tuk, unfortunately she went straight into a drainage/sewage type channel, went under water and swallowed some - she has been ok all week!

Yesterday I braved my bike as I needed exercise and something to do, I tried to get as far as the new road, which is on our way to school but the water defeated and I was a coward as I couldn't see what lay beneath. The water was a bath temperature, so goodness knows what is breeding in it and of course everywhere is smelling. Although this picture seems horrific, when you're are here it is not and everyone just gets on with life. It will be interesting to see if illnesses do go up, as the majority of water is heavily polluted and masses of lying rubbish carried along and dumped looks awful too.

Mati and Geoff, Eileen and Colin - do not despair you/your offspring will be fine - just another of life's experiences!

It is Antonia's last full day today as she leaves tomorrow, it will be strange as we arrived at the same time and spent time here together last year. Hopefully from her work she'll have collected enough info for her diisertation. I think there will only be three of us next week, plus a guy from AusAid, but I don't know where he's working. Nov and Dec are nearly fully booked so that is good.

We are on holiday for a week from next Fri for the Pchum Ben Festival (remembering and looking after their ancestors) I think Jen and Ric are coming, so it will be good to see them and show them around as I haven't done any of the touristy things as yet, or been out to the temples other than a trip out to Angkor Wat for sunset on Thurs pm, all we saw was cloud, and not too many tourists as they'd left.

I did meet a beautiful dog the other day which had been taken on by an ex pat, it was a truncated, long haired something, in excellent condition and so friendly, but it did not like walking in the water so the owner was struggling with it.

We may try and go somewhere for a swim this afternoon if this sun continues, I haven't been yet.

I hope we are back at school on Mon, but the journey may be tough.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, keep your messages flowing, take care, love to all, J

PS There are two New Zealanders here, so rugby following is a must!