I had a good sleep but, as soon as Boroith started moving at 5am, I was awake. Later I saw a figure in the room and I thought it was Boroith. "Why are you back here?" I asked. It turned out to be Thornin who had been helping Boroith load all the equipment onto the truck; he wanted a shower.
When we have meals at Thornin's wife's restaurant I always end up working rather than sitting and eating. Yesterday I'd taken breakfast orders so I had a good idea who had ordered what dish. There are 65 meals on the restaurant menu but I told the group I'd condensed it to 5. They enjoyed the food and also the coffee which is rich with condensed milk; one or two even wanted more sugar.
It takes well over an hour to get to Kamping Puay but today it took longer as we had to stop for supplies such as drinking water and drinks. We also had to buy masks. For some reason this group is running out of supplies right from the beginning of the programme. It's not their fault but the fault of those who pack the bins in Canada.
We expected to be working in a tent but there were no tables set up there. We eventually found Boroith in one of the small classrooms. He'd done his best to set things up but it was too crowded. It had been decided to work in the classroom because of all the dust and the fact that we'd have to move things in the evening. It was a Saturday morning so children were there and so we started triage and treating them. It was chaotic. One dentist had brought soccer balls for the children so she had them blown up and distributed. It was a lovely idea but the children ran off to play football. At 11am the classes ended so many children got onto their motorbikes and left. I was fretting and panicking that we'd have nothing to do.
We had problems with the generator and compressor so they had to go off for repair. The dentists commented on the fact that there were not many cavities in the children's teeth. When they were asked about it the children said they didn't have any money to buy candy, so being poor can have its benefits.
The group leader decided we didn't have enough for food for lunch so off someone went on a motorbike to get more. Noch, who has looked after our groups for many years at the hotel where she worked, came with her new husband. She's always had her teeth cleaned by our groups. He's from Victoria and a bit bombastic. They now run a bar in Battambang. He said Cambodia is his home now and he's full of praise for the people. On the other hand he suggested that my Cambodian friends might want to cheat me when fixing the machinery. I hope Noch has made a good choice as she's a nice lady.
We treated about 80 people so the group went back to town in a happy mood. We were just in time to see the streams of bats coming out of their cave but one day we'll go early and sit and watch the whole performance.
As usual, I didn't sit to eat with the group as I always have paper work to do at the end of the day. They all went off to have a massage but I decided to go back to the hotel. I was over the moon when I found a plug for the bath and so I filled it up and lay in it and eventually fell asleep. I was flabbergasted when I woke up as I'd been there for nearly 1 1/2 hours. It was lovely though.
