Sen Monorom

I awake at 6am and pack my stuff and head downstairs by 630am. I eat breakfast (a large bowl of noodle soup with veggies, meat, and greens) and at 7am go to the front step to wait for Bunlee. 705am, 710am, 715 and still no Bunlee. At 718am a tuk-tuk (a small vehicle used to travel around town - they sound like they have a lawn mower engine powering them) pulls up with an older man driving. He mumbles something at me and I shrug then he goes to the reception desk. The receptionist points to me and he comes over and says "Sen Monorom?" I nod and he says he will bring me to the bus stop. Where the heck is Bunlee?

About 8 minutes later we arrive along the side of a busy road. The gentleman tells me my guide called him and asked him to bring me to the bus stop. He waits with me, actually has to flag down the van (not a bus as I had hoped - the van is long and can hold many people) This is the Mondulkiri Express (Mondulkiri is the province I will be staying in). He gives me his business card and says he will give me a tour of the city when I return if I want. The van is almost full -  a driver and assistant in the passenger's seat, 3 French girls, an old European guy who looks like a hippie from the 1960's, and 3 Khmers (2 men and the woman who gets on the van with me at this stop). The cost of this express van is $ 10.

We drive for hours on the new, good road. The Cambodians all say that because it is paved but it is the roughest paved road I have ever been on.The road was funded by the Chinese and it goes from Phnom Penh to Sen Monorom and it takes about 5 hours. The main reason they funded it was so there is easier access to the timber, metals, and other natural resources in the province. Before the new good road it took about 12 hours on a dirt road and possibly two days during the rainy season.

I see Bill as we pull in. He is the supervisor of Globalteer's Bunong Project here in Sen Monorom. He is about 65 years old and is originally from Indiana. He has lived in Cambodia for 20 years and the last 7 years here in Sen Monorom. With Bill is Suchea (pronounced Sue-chia , like the famous chia pets on TV), a Bunong man (pronounced Pnong) who is 30 years old and is Bill's head tour guide.

They take me to my guesthouse a few doors down from the bus stop. My guesthouse, the Sovannkiri, has 8 rooms - 4 on the first floor and 4 on the second floor (second floor has hot water). I am located on the second floor! They also have a restaurant that serves both Cambodian food as well as western food, a small bar and a pool table. After I drop off my stuff I go downstairs to meet up with Bill and Suchea.

They give me a quick tour of the town. My guesthouse is close to the center of town and 75% of the way up the large hill the town is build on. We walk around the market and down the main street. The market is filled with booths and stalls selling tools, clothes, household goods, produce, meats, etc - half of the fruits and many vegetables I can't identify. There is also a section that has little counters where people eat at - a person behind the counter cooks up your meal right in front of you.

They then bring me to Bunong Place, the headquarters for my project. It's a 3 minute walk from my guesthouse. It is a 4 room building with the rooms lined up one after the next. Bill lives in the first room. The next room is the office and gift shop. The third room is where Bill's two adopted Cambodian daughters live. MaryKay is 10 years old and Michelle is 5 (she will turn 6 later in the week I arrive). The last room is the kitchen and dining area.

I sit down with Bill and discuss the project and get some background about the area and the classes. Bill introduces me to Sopheap (pronounced So-peep). She is the office manager, she is Bunong and is 28 years old. The Bunong Place is an organization that sells local Bunong crafts: scarves, skirts, blankets, baskets, knives, change purses and small bags, bracelets, necklaces, etc. All of the items are made in local villages by Bunong people. For scarves they buy it from the villagers for $ 4 each and sell them for $ 5. If someone goes on a village visit with our group and wants to buy a scarf in the village then the price is $ 5 and all of the money goes directly to the villager. Bunong Place also offers tours of local villages, trips to local waterfalls, and treks into the jungle to see native plants and animals.

After several hours at Bunong Place (I will often refer to it as BP - please don't confuse with PP which is Phnom Penh, the capital of the country) I head back to the guesthouse and have some dinner of rice with veggies and pork and go to bed around 9pm. Not that early since this town pretty much shuts down around 10pm. I am finally at Sen Monorom, this will be my home base for the next 3 months!