'Un'Packing

So obviously I am posting this two and a half months(!!) after I got back from Cambodia, and I want to reassure you that I unpacked within days of getting home. I am not posting this while I unpack. I had always intended to post about the things I took with me and what was worth taking and what wasn't - so this is that post.
It's so late because we are living in a crazy world just now! But I have a day which hasn't miraculously filled itself with activities of various importance and/or necessity, so I'm going to spend some time on this today.

I am also intending to write a post about VSO and my experience, and an update on that sort of thing, maybe with a bit of reminiscing. We'll see. But for now - the contents of my suitcase.

My plan is to essentially go through the post I made right at the beginning called Packing, if you wanted for whatever reason to compare the two. So here goes.

First, I stated that the dress code is modest. This is definitely true. When we went swimming the boys even had to wear t-shirts, although we did get away with wearing shorts in the pool. Our leaders did pick us up on it if they thought we weren't keeping to it.
That is not to say that everyone did. There were volunteers who wore things that were definitely not appropriate by Khmer standards. It was very interesting as well to get to the airport in Phnom Penh after two months of this dress code and feel scandalised by what some of the Western tourists were wearing. It just goes to show that we ought to research a culture before we visit a country so that we can be respectful to that culture.
I may mention more about the dress code later on when I look at the clothes I took.

Cases

Again, sorry about the photo quality

I was incredibly glad that I took the suitcase. There was a debate before I went out on whether to take a huge, hiking-style rucksack, which would have been 'easier' to carry around, or a suitcase.
The fact is that I really didn't have to lug my luggage around very much, so a rucksack would have been inconvenient because of its size and shape and function. It wouldn't have had enough space for my stuff, and it would have been harder to live out of.

This is how I had it set up in my host home

This photo is a bit messy I know, but because I had a rigid suitcase I was able to fold my clothes into piles and have a drawer of sorts (and keep bugs out of my things). I put all my toiletries to one side and had other odds and ends in the rucksack I used for my hand luggage. 

When I packed I felt quite pleased by the size of the suitcase and the rucksack I brought, but I now think I didn't need the rucksack. Maybe if you were doing travelling where you needed to walk around a lot each day it would be a helpful thing to have, but once I got it into my bedroom I didn't take it out again until I left. I brought a canvas tote bag which was much more useful for day trips and I had a bumbag that I used every day. It would have been better to have had a smaller bag for hand luggage. You might think that I would have then needed a bigger suitcase, but you'll see why that isn't true later on... to my regret!

Clothes

Shirts

I took 15 shirts!!! And 5 long-sleeved!!! Absolute madness. Some of these I never wore. It's a classic case of overpacking. Before I went I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to wash my clothes very often or something - there were probably several reasons why I convinced myself I needed this many shirts. Most of us do this when we go abroad I think. 

The fact is that some of the shirts were a little too tight, or had plastic prints on the front, which made them very uncomfortable at 35 degrees. I think I rotated maybe 6 or 7 of my t-shirts. I never wore a longsleeved shirt during the day time. And VSO gave me a shirt which I wore to most sessions and meetings. What I often did was wore the VSO shirt just for the duration of a meeting or session - up to three hours of a day - so that I didn't have to wash it so much. Especially as we got into March, we just felt sticky all day. I chose the looser, lighter shirts wherever possible. 

I actually wore a couple of my long-sleeved shirts in the night time, because especially in the first month or so it was cold in the nighttime. 

Which brings me to night clothes:

I took PJs ranging from long shorts and t-shirts to full-length sets, and also a short-sleeved jumpsuit thing. All of them were cotton and I wore all of them at different stages. When we stayed in hotels often we had the air-con turned quite low, so it was good to have long clothes. When we first got to community it could get quite cold at night - I even wore my (one) jumper on some nights. As I got used to enjoying 30 degrees as a balmy temperature, the night temperatures of around 22-25 could feel quite chilly. So no regrets here. Also, I wanted to change my nightwear every couple of nights so it was good to have a few things. I did my washing once a week.

Also, another reason why I packed long-sleeved, full-length PJs was to prevent insect bites. I actually found that I rarely got bitten in the night, so I was ok with short things. My mosquito net did its job.

However, some of my team members got bitten a lot in the night. I'm not sure why this is. I did find I was bitten less than some of the team in general, day or night, even though I often wore less DEET. I don't know if they had less effective nets or more enticing blood! 

 Another thing to note is that some of my team were incredibly hot in the night time. I was staying in a traditional wooden house, but those who stayed in host homes 4, 5 and 6 were staying in big, concrete, tiled houses. They would get incredibly hot in the night, even after they started taking the office fans home with them each evening. The air didn't circulate very much.

This is the best photo I could find of host homes 5/6, which you can make out the two blue doorways of, behind the shop front/restaurant that the families ran in front of their homes

 

Trousers etc.

I am very glad about the amount of trousers I took - 6 pairs and a pair of shorts. A couple of my trousers got quite trashed, so I didn't regret taking some that didn't look too nice. Every day involves sitting on various floors, in a lot of dust, and we did a lot of walking and cycling.

It was good to have a couple of plain pairs because when we had our meetings and sessions I looked a bit more presentable. Also the colourful ones were harder to match shirts with! Not a huge issue, I know, but when you haven't washed your clothes in a few days and you are running low on shirts you want to wear whilst staying comfortable, having clashing colours can just be a frustration.

I am very glad I took my shorts. The dress code did not allow me to wear them out and about, which was fine as generally I found my trousers comfortable enough and respecting the culture is very important, but they were nice to relax at my host home in. Obviously, this is kind of a subjective thing - host families may have different opinions on what is ok to wear. But once I had seen my host mum chilling in shorts at home, and asked Channa if she thought I could, it was nice to be able to come home and wear shorts for a bit in the evening. Also, the pair I took are reversible, which gave some false sense of variety for me! 

Coats etc.

I brought the coat in case of the rainy season. It was not necessary. Obviously we left Cambodia early, but I don't believe rainy season would have started before we finished officially either. I did not need it. I didn't use the cardigan at all either. I did use the jumper, as I said, during the night. It was also handy to have close at hand during journeys because the coaches had strong air con. Zaynab and a couple of the Khmer regularly wore jumpers during the day time, so if you can cope with the heat and you like jumpers, then that's up to you, but personally, I only needed the one. The Khmer regularly wear long sleeves because they don't like their skin to get darker.

Shoes

I absolutely didn't need my trainers. We had planned to go walking on a mountain but then we had to leave early. Even so, I probably would have still worn flipflops. You take your shoes off to go inside most places - not restaurants or shops, but any house or the office or a pagoda. Zaynab and a few of the couple of the Khmer sometimes wore closed shoes, but then you have to bring socks as well. It's also so hot. And cycling in flipflops is less of an issue than I had thought! 

Other things 

I am not that much of a hat person. I brought three of them as sun protection but honestly I wore one of them a couple of times to hide hair I hadn't wanted to wash that morning, and that's all. We really didn't go out enough to feel worried about head shade. When you're in that level of heat you don't go looking for the sun. 

I never wore my swimming costume. There was a pool at the hotel that we were allowed to swim in, but we would have had to wear clothes so then a swimming costume might have felt unnecessary. When we went swimming in community it was the same. I wore shorts and a t-shirt and normal clothes, essentially.

Plenty of underwear, cotton, is a great thing to have. I took I think three pairs of socks and I wore some on the way over and that was all. 

This may be TMI for guys reading this, or my friends and family if they read this, but sports bras for me would have been a sweat-fest. Some of the girls I went with wore them regularly and could get away with it, and found it to be the most comfortable option, but its a no from me. So, girls, you know who you are, if that's something you want to do or not.

Other remarks on clothes

Cotton and linen are definitely an excellent material and you should make sure most of your clothes are made out of them, but one of my last-minute purchases were my green and orange trousers made of viscose/rayon. We were told to steer clear of synthetic fibres, but some are specifically made to be breathable and this pair of trousers was excellent. One of my favourite things to wear when I was out there. So sports clothes are an obvious choice.

I would steer clear of leggings though. You might think that your legs are covered by them, so you're adhering to the dress code, but unless you're going to wear a long shirt/dress, don't wear them. And don't wear shorts where it's not going to be appropriate. Just don't do it. The few volunteers that did looked ignorant doing that. (Obviously the rules are different for guys, but even then most Khmer men that wear shorts wear knee-length shorts).

I was told to take a white shirt. In the end I didn't need the one that I found at last minute in a charity shop, and I had a smartish white t-shirt with some lace on it which did the job. But basically, Khmer people wear white shirts to smart events, so when we went to a ceremony as a team, we all wore white. This also comes into why I wish I had brought a skirt. I had a few at home that I wasn't certain would be the right material, comfort-wise, but I wish I'd just brought one. It was really hard to find clothes in my size in Cambodia, and I thought about getting a traditional Khmer skirt made, but in the end it was going to be too difficult and then I ran out of time. Some of the other community teams got invited to weddings, and if that had happened to us I would have been seriously underdressed. 

The team at a Khmer ceremony - we did our best to scrub up well with what we had

Wearing more white clothes than that, or light colours in general is not the best idea. You would be ok to do it if that's what you want, but I had some pale trousers that got permanently stained with orange dust which is everywhere. Because we constantly had to sit on the floor, there is just always dust. I also had a white patterned t-shirt which I accidentally dropped when it was wet after washing, and now it has big streaks of orange dust stain. So there's that. On the subject of clothes getting ruined, a couple of my t-shirts developed holes after a few hand washes. This was partly because they were already old, but bear it in mind. Don't be too precious about your clothes and don't bother bringing nice things for every day. 

Toiletries and washing supplies

Soap, conditioner, shampoo etc

I definitely recommend bringing bar soap. It helped me conserve water, it conserved space and reduced the amount of plastic I brought. There is so much plastic waste everywhere in Cambodia that its good not to produce more. I think I would have used all the soap if I had been out there for the full time.

One of the best things I brought was bar shampoo. It kept my hair cleaner for longer, it saved a lot of weight in my suitcase. I barely used the conditioner I took. I think I used it once or twice. I don't know why but my hair just didn't need it while I was out there. 

We needed to try and use as little water as possible, and especially because my host home had a bucket shower I was glad for soap and stuff that did not need a lot of water. That's the same for my toothpaste and stuff:

Toothcare

The brown tube is tooth soap and the white things are toothpaste tablets that you chew up and use like that. They were really good. The taste is a little different but they weighed less than toothpaste and save plastic and water. I had plenty left when I left but if I had just wanted to use the tablets (which tasted better) I would have needed a lot more.

Skincare, deodorant etc

I didn't use all of the deodorant while I was out there. I think I would have finished two in the time I was out there, because I used to shower twice a day and apply it a few times. 

The green tea facemask wasn't necessary, and the one time I tried to use it the humidity and how hot I was just made it not a fun or helpful thing to use. The other face thing I brought was St Ives scrub, with natural exfoliators, which was great to use at the end of a long sweaty day.

The talcum powder was excellent. It was good for chafing and the one time I managed to get some heat rash. I also used it instead of dry shampoo and it worked very well. And it saved space and money, instead of cans of dry shampoo. I also left it there when I left because my host home would be able to use it for their baby and it gave me more space in my luggage.

Towels and cloths

Microfibre is very good for these things, helps them dry out quicker in that heat. They were really good for the bucket showers to help the water go further. 

To finish off the toiletries stuff - I did use my hair oil whenever I washed my hair, just like I do here, despite the heat and humidity. I did use nail varnish, and Khmer people love nail varnish, so if you're wearing some that they like they'll be very impressed that you put it on yourself! It was handy to have make up when we got taken to the ceremony.

I took a few bottles of sanitizer, but there isn't a lack of water to the extent that you wouldn't usually be able to wash your hands when you go to the bathroom. It is good to have a bottle on you for mealtimes, and the odd time when you need to use an unfamiliar toilet, but the service stations are usually pretty good and will have soap and water. I didn't need as much sanitizer as I took. Maybe two or three bottles, not five or six. 

My pharmacy

I used very little of this. My team could always rely on me to have paracetamol or ibuprofen, and I took vitamins when I remembered, but that was pretty much it. Of course, you need to be prepared for anything, and some of my teammates were much sicker than I ever was, but I think I used one sachet of dioralite, and I gave a few sheets of antihistamines to Zaynab, who got very badly bitten by mosquitos and had bad reactions to those bites. I did not need plasters or bandages, or the various bowel-related things I brought. To be on the safe side I probably would have brought about a third of what I did bring.

I did not need water treatment. If you are going to Cambodia on placement there is plenty of good drinking water.

The bite cream was good, but I think I let my teammates use more of it than I used myself. I definitely did not need two tubes. 

It's a tough one to judge, I know. You don't know how much you might get bitten, how sick the food might make you, what you might catch. You feel like you need to be prepared for anything. 

The fact is that most medical care you might need (at least with VSO) should be taken care of by professionals at a clinic or hospital. And life is normal. How often do you cut yourself? Burn yourself? Let that help you judge if you need a box of ten plasters, or three boxes. 

Essentials: some plasters (not loads), some dioralite, bite cream, pain killers. Antihistamines probably. 

One of the best things I brought was Norwex rescue gel, which is something you can put on your temples and neck. It was excellent to help me feel cooler, and relieve a headache immediately. It's like a herbal aloe roll-on. Really soothing and relieving. 

This one is for girls - Another thing I highly recommend taking is a menstrual cup. They do not have good bins and facilities like that for pads and tampons in Cambodia. They also really don't have good waste disposal systems. The cup is good for the environment in that way, it will save you a lot of space in your suitcase and a lot of money. The cup feels more hygienic and if you know how to use it, it is so good and helpful. There is good access to soap and clean water, so I highly recommend it. I am happy to answer questions on this subject if you have any - I couldn't find much helpful advice about managing a period abroad before I went, so I would like to be able to provide information on this to other people.

Suncream and Insect repellant

Let me just say. Once and for all. 8 bottles of suncream is too much. 4 bottles of suncream is too much. I used maybe one bottle. 

8 BOTTLES IS TOO MUCH! 

Suncream took up so much space in my case. 

The thing is, people in very hot countries generally have the good sense to stay out of the heat and the sun where possible. I mentioned before that Khmer people stay out of the sun to preserve their skin. They will wear clothes from neck to toe, and gloves and wide-brimmed hats to protect themselves. 

I know this is a bad photo, primarily of a dog, but it is the best one I have to demonstrate the ways that Khmer cover their skin

So, all that being said, we stayed out of the sun in general so much that I found that some days I would forget to put suncream on and it would not matter. So if you're going on a three month project, you do not need 8 bottles of suncream.

Insect repellant, on the other hand, is a little more subjective. It depends on how much you get bitten as to how much you might need. I also think this one is more seasonal. We were there in the dry season, at the end of the dry season, so there was less mosquitos around - they breed in stagnant water. I didn't need all of the DEET I took. I did not need to take a bottle of permethrin with me. I used a lot of insect repellant on gassing the mosquitos in the bathroom in the morning before I showered! I think if we had stayed the full time I might have used just over half of what I took. Maybe 4 or 5 bottles. I have heard people say they used one a week. Some of my teammates applied it multiple times a day, some of them got bitten more than me, some of them had more mosquitos in their houses. So I don't really regret how much I had with me. It is pricey though - cheapest I found was in Home Bargains.

 

Other things

Gifts

This is what I was recommended to give my host family. There was some confusion about when to give the gifts, so I ended up giving them right at the end of my time there. Khmer people accept gifts in a different way to UK people, so I'm not sure if they really liked what I gave. However, I know Oun-Sa liked the rugby ball. He played with it in the days before I left, so that's a good sign! I also know that Khmer people generally like coffee, so I hope they will have enjoyed that. I wish I'd brought a couple more welsh things. Even some tea towels with pictures of Wales or something. Because I loved my host grandma and one of host aunts especially and I would have liked to have been able to give them something small.

Pictures and a photo frame

These were good. I didn't get the chance to stick them around my room, but it was really nice to show various of my host home members, and Channa when I first met her. I even gave my host family a few of the photos to keep - they really liked the pictures of landscapes and seascapes from the UK. I also gave Channa a photo of Wales that she had liked in the frame as a counterpart gift when everything was ending. I was really pleased I had brought the frame at the last second, because I didn't have time to get Channa a good enough gift at the end. 

Games

These were amazing. I actually ended up leaving them at the office because we played them almost every day, one or another. They were a good way to spend time with the Khmer volunteers, especially once they understood how to play, which was a good exercise in communication. We played a lot of Dutch blitz and the Mind especially. 

I was very grateful for my journal and my Bible, but I personally found that I did not have much reading time. All of our spare time was spent together, with our host families, or sleeping. I know some of the others found time to read though, so it's worth bringing a couple. I also enjoyed audiobooks and I had a couple of ebooks on my phone which saved luggage space. 

Electricals

My first pair of headphones did break, so the second pair was worth having. 

One of my phones had music and books and sermons and some TV downloaded on it to save space for photos and stuff on my other phone. That was worth doing because I take a lot of pictures. 

The head torch was very handy at my host home. 

I found that I did not use my portable charger at all, because we had good electricity access in the office. I'm not sure what it would be like at other placements. 

The adaptor I took also had space for two USB cables - very handy.

I personally did not bring my laptop because its a little old and I thought the climate wouldn't be very kind to it. However, I definitely recommend bringing one if you can. VSO will provide each subteam with a laptop, but often the amount of work you can do in a day is limited by how many laptops you have. We were lucky on our subteam that Zaynab had brought hers. 

Miscellaneous stuff

Some of this is standard stuff that I won't comment on.

My little pot of lemon tea I did not get to use at all, but Zaynab's family had a kettle and she drank tea. I probably would have used it in that situation, but it went out of my head at my host home, since they never drank anything like that.

I brought $60 dollars of my own money and did not use any - the VSO allowance was plenty to cover my expenses. I could get lunch for about a dollar, maybe a dollar and fifty cents - 4000-6000 riel. Although I would say that it took them a little while to set up our Khmer accounts and get us our first allowances, so it's good to have enough money so that you don't have to worry about running low on funds. If you are careful with what you have, it is very easy to live cheaply in Cambodia.

The neck pillow was excellent (thanks Carys) for all my various bus and plane journeys. 

The sewing kit was great for my clothes that wore through a little. Other team members borrowed it too.

The small canvas bags under the sewing kit were really helpful for keeping washing in, or shower stuff (Thanks Aunty Jan).

The purse was great for my money, it fit well inside my bumbag and held the money that I needed on a day to day basis, and gave me a little reminder of home. 

I think that about covers it for what I didn't need, what I wish I'd taken and what I'm glad I took.

I hope this helps any future VSO Volunteers or travellers in general.