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March 11th 2009

Published: March 11th 2009

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Claire Wilky

Truck

Leaving Siem Reap in the back of a truck, heading to Phnom Kulen

On Saturday we had a day trip to Phnom Kulen, a sacred mountain which is a national park and also has some Temples and a waterfall. We got there by truck, a 2.5 hour journey! It was surprisingly comfortable, but then we weren't as packed in as you see the locals when they travel by truck. The drive on the winding road up the mountain was lovely, and it was nice to be in the shade of the forest / jungle.

When we arrived Jaeck arranged for us to have a hut with some hammocks for the day. We went for a swim in the waterfall pool, which was lovely and cool, and it was really fun to stand underneath the falls for a while. It's another place where local people go rather than tourists, so we were stared at quite a lot again! After a picnic lunch, we all had an afternoon nap in our hut (reminded me of my kids at the centre!), and then went for a walk to see some sites.

We saw a Temple on top of a large piece of rock which had a giant golden Buddha in, and great views of the

Truck II

The truck!

national park. Then we walked to the river, where there were some underwater carvings - "River of a thousand Lingas". After another swim in the pool, we set off in the truck back to Siem Reap, with the sun setting in the background.

Sunday was also quite an exciting day - Edi, Laurel and I went to give blood at the children's hospital. I've never given blood before because I'm not great with blood, or as it turns out (after pre-trip jab experience!) needles! But there's a big campaign in Siem Reap, by the guy who has set up and fund raises for several children's hospitals in Cambodia, to get tourists to either donate blood or money. I thought I was going to faint after the nurse had pricked my finger to check my blood type!!! But I was fine, and just made sure I didn't look at what was going on. Edi talked to me the whole time which really helped, and when they told me it was finished I almost cried because I'd been so nervous! Ha ha. The whole experience was fine though, and I'm really glad I did it.

This week things are wrapping

Our hut

The hut we had for the day, complete with hammocks

up at the centre, there are just three kids left today and I think they will all have left by tomorrow. However, there may be some good news in the pipeline but I will be able to say more on that next week... Edi, Laurel and I went to visit the two girls in the village again on Monday. We spent time in a different house in the village. Even though they have so little, they were so hospitable that they made a boy climb a tree and gave us each a coconut to drink the milk (my first coconut!), and some corn. We had conversations with Hak translating, and the Grandma said something really lovely; when we speak it is in different languages, but when we laugh it is the same language. It was a very special afternoon.

This weekend, Hak and I are going to take a trip to Pailin, a village near the Thai border where he used to live. It will be an adventure for me, and a chance to visit somewhere off the beaten track and meet some more locals, and will give Hak opportunity to practice his English. We're getting there by moto;

Temple on large rock

on the way, we're breaking up the approx 6.5 hour journey by stopping in Battambang, but we're going to do it in one go coming back!!! I may be a little sore on Monday...! But I'm very excited about the trip :-)

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