Coldness...

It has started to get seriously cold here and raining as well!! Well, I exaggerate. It is dropping to about 25 degrees and it rains for on average 2 hours everyday. There is the odd occasion where it rains all night and the morning is wonderfully "cold". Almost like England.

This weekend revolved again around the photo project for the CCH children. We went to a Vietnamese area of the city by the river which I had never been to before which was really interesting. We ended up at a Pagoda just in time because the heavens opened and the rain came down in tropical proportions. We also went to the hideous back packer area that is Lakeside. This is a truly western backpacker scummy area. (Can you tell I hate it?).

That aside, developers, with government approval, have obtained the lake and the immediate surrounds to build on so now the lake is controversially being pumped with sand to get rid of it. This is forcing the locals out of their homes due to flooding and they are being offered $8000 in compensation. Truly crazy when you consider how much property costs in PP these days and how much their land would actually be worth. The residents have issued an injunction against the developers but as the Cambodian Daily stated (in not quite the same words) - when or if and injunction is granted would depend on whether the judge has time or the inclination to hear it... I am thinking that no judge will have the time until the lake is filled in and the houses gone.

Sunday consisted of not much more than a leisurely breakfast and a trip to CCH to play with balloons and face paints. School again today...6 more weeks of teaching to go until the start of my 11 week holiday and a return to unemployment!