Sunday 15th November


My phone tells me I visited Thailand on Monday when visiting Preah Vihear Temple on the border (just learnt how to take a screenshot!)

It was very beautiful and a lovely trip with good company but  I was not feeling up to posting photos. Back on form now so will try to do so this week.
Having a very quiet, relaxing weekend,

Friday 13th November

A wet drive in this morning 

Hurray, it's Friday afternoon and as much as I love teaching the children it is great to have reached the end of the week!. The monsoon rains finished at the end of October last year but we had torrential rain again this morning which means it has rained every day since I arrived on the 3rd. It doesn't last for long though and the sun was soon out again

Grace House this morning

Just heard that we have 3 days off on Tuesday 24th to Thursday 26th.  Sadly this holiday does not include a Monday or Friday so maybe I will have to shelve plans to visit Laos

Friday 13th November

Illness and problems with my camera have prevented me from updating this blog with regular photographs.

All is well now and I am very happy here.  Apart from one or two all the children in my class are the same as last year so it has not taken long to get back to a routine, and any photos I might have posted will be much the same as those added this time last year, further down the blog!

I will keeep posting on FBook

Wednesday 11th November.

Being struck down with two viruses in my first week back has been tough, but life is good and I am very happy in spite of feeling rotten.

 It was Independence Day on Monday and the schools were closed so  I visited a beautiful temple on the Thai border on Monday with some good friends from Australia, S. Africa and the UK.  We had a great time and photos will follow if I can get them transferred from my camera.

The Cambodians are very fond of suction cups as a remedy for many ills but I refused the offer and decided to go for the coconut juice cure which has really helped today.

My lunchtime drink

The children are a delight to teach and I am looking forward to being back on better form to teach them tomorrow.



The journey home from school today.  Mine, and the children's

Is that a baby at the front?

My tuk tuk driver

Very dramatic monsoon rains yesterday for my first full day back at work.   It was wonderful to be back with the children at Grace House.   All is going well.  My accommodation is good and hopefully a reasonable price has been negotiated with a tuk tuk driver for my daily commute to school .

Wednesday 4th November

A stressful journey over thanks to Cathay Pacific insisting that it is not possible to renew a 30 day tourist visa in Cambodia.  It is possible but I was not allowed on the plane without evidence of a ticket back out of the country within 30 days. I had to buy a cheap flight to Bangkok, from my phone. Surprisingly, I managed to do so (with a little help from a sympathetic helper).

I have now changed rooms, unpacked, and met up with all at Grace House again and all is well.

Not yet worked out how to download photos to here from my mobile.   Is it worth the effort I wonder?  It would be great to  know who reads this blog!

Wednesday 28th October 2015


Thank you to the staff of St.Martin's Ampleforth for the wonderful box of stationery

and also to my dentist at The Smile Rooms Malton for all the toothbrushes, toothpaste and stickers.

I fly out from Manchester on Monday  to volunteer again in Cambodia.  Your donations  really will make a difference and if I can work out how to download photographs directly from my phone on to this blog I will post a photograph of the children making good use of them.