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Work is going well and is certainly a lot busier now that the owners have returned from Australia and I'm handling the reservations (if anyone would like to visit me I'll make sure you're well looked after!).
I'm finally settling into a routine and working 1200-2030 on Mondays & Wednesdays, 0800-1600 on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays, and 0800-1000 on Saturdays. It certainly makes a nice change to be able to leave my hotel and arrive at work less than 5 minutes later. It's also very strange walking around all day in bare feet (the rule is that everyone takes their shoes off before entering the hotel). My footwear here consists of a pair of slip-on deck shoes (for the motorbike), flipflops, and bare feet . . . I'll probably never be able to wear high heels again! I've also had to invest in a cheap plastic raincoat as there has been a lot of rain this week. I'm not bothered about getting wet & mud splattered at the end of the day, but in the morning it's not ideal. The security guard at my hotel is very sweet and looks after my motorbike every night, locking it away securely and then making sure it is out ready for me in the morning. He even dries the seat!
The rain certainly has made its presence felt - not only is my tan fading due to lack of sunshine, but the roads are now attrocious. The stretch of National Route 6 (which you may recall I voted the No 1 Worst Road in Cambodia) running from Siem Reap to Sisophon (and onward to Poipet on the Thai border) has apparently turned into a mud bath. Yesterday it took one of our guests 8 hours to get from Battambang to Siem Reap by bus; a journey which should take less than 4 hours. The bus he was on had to sit for more than 2 hours in just one place while waiting for other buses to be pulled out of the rice fields after sliding off the road.
Tomorrow night I'm going to join Anthony & Fiona (my bosses) and some of their ex-pat friends for a few glasses of wine. I'm not sure what I'll do on Saturday just yet (depends on the weather) but I'm definitely going to go for an aromatherapy massage (Harriet - I'm finally going to try Frangipani!)
On Sunday I'm hoping to catch the sunrise at Ta Prohm. As I've mentioned before, Ta Prohm is my favourite temple and I've been there at all times of the day except sunrise. So providing I can move my lazy bones early enough I want to be there around 6am, when it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll have the whole temple to myself. It's such a magical place and photos can never do it justice. I love just sitting and watching the butterflies dancing in the rays of sunlight shining through the trees.
Then on Sunday evening I'm going to Meditation Practice (run by one of the senior monks from Wat Bo pagoda) at The Singing Tree Cafe www.singingtreecafe.com. I've always wanted to do a meditation course and I can't think of a better teacher!
PS. The photo above is of my (bath)room mate. He's only a baby and very sweet as he scurries away each time I open the door. I've told him that as long as he doesn't jump on my head when I'm in the shower, he can stay!
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