Confusion on the Eastern Front

I’m in a mess I’ve got a to have some logical thought here, so I’ve decided to tell the story but do a diary as well, oh and a tangent or two .But I’ll head it for you, lets see how that goes or I’ll have to give in, I’m good at that, like in my former life when in lived in my semi detached in the suburbs of England I’d sit for hours doing my cross stitch( that’s some sort of sewing thing in case you didn’t know) then when I’d nearly finished the picture I’d think

Who really wants a picture of a rose or whatever it was I'd done? I DONT! Can I give it to someone? NO!. So I’d put it in a drawer never to come out , never to hang on some-ones wall,

Thank goodness!

Anyways!

STORY (TRUE...WELL IT ALL IS) Oh God here I go again.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A banging on the door woke me the next morning it was too early to get up but then I heard Em shouting, “Mum Billy’s back”

Don’t even ask how she got back inside the building!’’ Em was really excited. She said,

‘The husband ‘(that’s what we called the man who lives downstairs in the alley, next door to our apartment block and whose wife runs the noodle stall) was chasing Billy up the stairs with a stick so I told him to stop and I would catch the monkey, I couldn’t let on I knew all about Billy

Markie opened his door after hearing all the commotion, so we took Billy into his apartment, they seemed happy to see each other, well, I guess Billy was, I mean he didn’t smile at Markie or give him a hug, or anything but, what do you expect? We stayed awhile then Em and I had to get ready and pack our suitcases for the trip to Sniggers.

After saying goodbye to Markie and Billy, and putting the lead on Pookie we went outside to find a Tuk Tuk to take us to the bus station. I'm sure you know what a Tuk Tuk is but just in case you don't it’s a cabin on wheels usually painted red, with open sides, two bench seats and pulled by a motorcycle. These are taxi’s for short journeys in Cambodia

Arriving at the bus station, it was hectic the noise, the people, the traffic, the most usual form of transport here is a motorcycle and they are everywhere, as soon as we got out of the Tuk Tuk we were approached to,

“ Buy my fruit, newspapers, drinks, food, ”from the street venders, some with their goods balanced on trays on their heads. The newspaper seller asked if I wanted a Cambodian Daily , I said

“No have you got a Phnom Penh ( to be now know as PP I have to keep looking up how to spell it. It’s doing my head in) Post

”So she went off to find one, probably one some-one had left lying around, yes she came back with one, and yes it definitely looked like a second hand newspaper.. No problem!

Right there was a lot of broken down looking coaches, we look around and find which one was ours, finding it we took our cases to be put in the hold. The driver spots Pookie he shakes his head and won’t put our case in,

“A-tee Ski "(Phonetics’ in Khmer) for 'No Dog’

“Why!’’ we asked, ‘We’ve taken the dog on a bus before and there was no problem ‘’

But the driver wasn’t having any of this. No dog on his bus. He wouldn’t let us get on, so we went to find the Bus Company Manager who luckily had a few words of English. He said the driver won't take the dog on the bus, so we must have a refund on out ticket .We asked was he the Manager or was the driver? This conversation went on and on and in the end the manager went off to talk to the driver and it was ok, we won the battle so cases in the hold ,Em ,Pookie and I on the bus, with the rest of the passengers and the grumpy driver scowling at us as he took his seat, we set off for Sniggers..Do you know how good Pookie was, she either lay on the floor or she sat in Em’s rucksack with her little head popping out. Not a whimper. , No problem at all, more than I can say for the baby sitting behind us who screamed periodically and obviously hadn’t been toilet trained as well as Pookie, the stench was terrible, I was gagging

25th July 2008

If you want a laugh I’m just sitting writing this and my chair has, collapsed it’s made of bamboo, anyway I’ve banged it together ,tomorrow I need to go to Bamboo street and buy another one, or diet. A new chair is easier! Actually I been trying this herbal tea called ‘Slimmy” Its says on the box ‘Slimmy Herb is good for people overweight who do not want to control food consumption’.. Well its not saying you will loose weight is it.? And I’m not!

Story

.

Once you get out of PP into the countryside it wonderful, it’s so green and there’s so many trees, you pass paddy fields, areas of water lilies, children happily running around barefooted, there’s water buffalo pulling wooden carts, the wooden houses on stilts are wonderful ,and you see people working in the fields or just lying around in hammocks. . The towns you pass through have rows of stalls and shops the goods on the stalls are varied and are sheltered from the sun with faded sun shades, there’s chickens running around and cows wandering, Its all magic to see.

Half way through the four hour journey we stopped, all the buses do, at a restaurant which basically is a row of cooking pots on the road side with some interesting looking ,stew like dishes. There’s some seating in a building further back and round the side of the building , if we have courage, to use them, the hole in the floor loo’s. Really they’re not that bad, I’ve got used to them now. So we ate some bananas in batter they were delicious. We gave Pookie some water and people were standing around, laughing at her being on a lead. It doesn’t happen here .No street cred for a Pookie!!!! I could see she was embarrassed but needs must. The bus driver asked us for two dollars for taking Pookie on his bus we say no, and we quickly got back on in case he left without us.

TANGNET

The second half oft he journey to Sniggers was very much like the first so I’m going to give you the background on Pookie. Yes I know its another animal story, so gab a coffee if you’re bored, but try and read it.

It was about five months ago, I hadn’t arrived back in Cambodia yet but Em told me the story., She and Markie had found a pet shop in town and discovered this poor dog in a cage almost as big as its self. The dog couldn’t move, not stand or turn round. Image that, poor thing. It looked the usual Cambodia mutt , gingery, brown coloured,smooth skinned, with ears too big for its head a long pointed nose and big yellow eyes. Em apparently whispered to the dog

“I will come and get you out of here, I promise!”

So I arrived, from Amsterdam, we wont go into that right now the journey was all a nightmare...

anyway the dog

It was the day after Khmer New Year the end of April, I had taken the apartment, as you know in the same block as Em , She was settled in Cambodia ( now to be called Cambo, its easier! ) this was her home now, (flipping eck I wish I knew where my home was, Not a clue) So she wanted me to see this dog in the pet shop. Knowing she was definitely having the dog, on the way to fetch it we called in at ‘Lucky Supermarket ‘and bought a collar, a lead, two bowls, dog food, doggy toys, and chewy bones..... as you do. Arriving at the pet shop I was instantly attracted to the tiny fluffy dogs in the cages outside, they where so sweet.

“No Mum” said Em,” People will buy them, no-one will buy this one in the back of the shop please come and see it’’

Well this dog was much bigger and not pretty I knew as Em had said no one would want it. So we asked the shop owner if he’d’ take it out of the cage He yanked it out and we shouted at him to be carful. The dog flopped on the floor. Probable the first time it had been out of the cage in it’s about 4 month life. I said to Em

‘’I don’t think it can walk.”

The shop owner tried to stand it up but no it couldn’t stand. He told us it was a girl. Oh, dear we really wanted a male but that seemed irrelevant with everything else.

“Im taking her Mum ‘’said Em,

So we paid the forty dollars the owner was asking for her and picked up the dog and took her home..

So we had a disabled dog, Great !

I made jokes like I’m just taking her for a drag round the block and we’d laughed. Pookie as Em named her seemed to have a lovely nature and I was determine to sort this dog out. Every hour I would lift her onto her paws just for a few minutes and try and get her to weight bear sometimes she’d whimper but I kept on with the Physio and she was great and after a few days was starting to take a ,few steps

We decided to take her to the vet he was French ((don’t think he lived near me though!) he was supposed to be the best in town. He x-rayed Pookie and we waited

. “Oh” he said looking at the results,’’ its not good news I’m afraid ,all her boned are deformed, she’ll never walk properly, Look Ill give you some calcium tablets bring her back in one month but I feel then I will have to put her to sleep”.

‘Holy Cow,we weren’t expecting this. We were devastated and started to prepare ourselves for the worst, but I carried on daily with the Pysio and it was working, she started to walk, then to run, then to climb ,then she became damn nuance, just like any other puppy. Instead of me dragging her round the block she was dragging me and , investigating everything around her.

The French vet, well we never went back, and we find here in Cambo most of the expat westerners have a story and behind that story there could well be another one. Em and I decide the vet had maybe put tooooo many animals to sleep in France and that’s why he was here! True or not true this is how you start think!

So that’s the Pookie story.

End of

. Well obviously not, as she still around!

. Woof

STORY

We arrived at Sniggers. Oh we upset the driver again as we wanted to get of fthe bus before we got to the actual bus station, so he puffed and blew but we got our way. So after leaving the bus we got in a tuk tuk and headed off to Koh Leas, Guest House, the place we normally stayed at Sniggers I was looking forward to seeing everyone again.