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Published: July 20th 2011
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Incheon Airport
Departure board at Seoul airport I had no problems on the flights and finally arrived in Phnom Penh which is 6 hours ahead of BST. I was very impressed with Incheon airport in Seoul, South Korea, where I had to change flights.
Phnom Penh airport was also much better organised than I had anticipated, well certainly better than Kathmandu and Accra. Getting a visa on arrival was very straight forward, you just need one passport photo and 20 dollars in cash. The currency in Cambodia is the Cambodian Real (currently about 6000 reals for one pound sterling) but US dollars are effectively a second parallel currency here and just about everywhere happily accepts either.
I finally arrived at my hotel in Phnom Penh at about midnight local time, 20 hours after leaving home. I had a short walk outside then went to bed.
On Monday morning I was surprised to wake up in pitch darkness. I rarely use an alarm clock as I normally wake naturally fairly early with daylight but I eventually realised that my room had no window, a fact that I had not realised last night. However breakfast was OK and I had an hour to stroll around outside before
River Mekong
the Tonle Sap river meets the Mekong River, Phnom Penh the transport arrived to take me to Takeo, about 2 hours drive south. There is a wide promenade alongside the river Tonle Sap right outside my hotel, just before that river merges with the major Mekong River which flows through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The journey south was uneventful. The roads were in better condition than I had thought they would be and the driving, although erratic by British standards, was quite sedate compared to say Kathmandu. Arriving in Takeo which is a major provincial town, we went first to the centre where volunteers stay, which is also where the director of the orphanage lives. The orphange is actually known as NFO (New Futures Organisation) as its aim is not just to provide food and shelter but also to give the kids a better start in life - quite a few of the children go on to university when they leave.
At the moment a party of Australian teenagers are staying there so I have to stay my first night in a guest house nearby, but they leave the next day so I now have a room in the main house. At the moment there about adozen other
Phnom Penh
In the centre of the capital city volunteers here, mostly English university students on their summer break or having a gap year after graduating.
I have volunteered to take over the Monks' English class which is a one-hour english lesson each weekday. It is taught ina classroom in a local school and was originally intended for Buddhist monks from the monastery here, but in practice it is now open to any local adults. The class currently has about 12-16 students with 3 or 4 monks in theor traditional saffron robes and bare feet.
After this lesson I then cycle to the actual orphange and spend the rest of the afternoon with the children,either playing games or in theory giving an english lesson (which hasn't happened yet as they don't seem to feel like working at the monent!)
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Dorothy
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Hi Dad!
Lovely to see a blog post from you this morning when I checked my emails! Sounds like an interesting place. I love the fact you've taken over the Monks' class! From the photos it looks quite sedate compared to Accra. Looking forward to see more!xx