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Published: August 10th 2017
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Today we headed to another temple, called Beng Melea, it was a way out of Siem Reap and it took us about 1hr 30mins to get there. Although it was similar in many ways to Angkor Thom, as it was abandoned and the trees and creepers were taking a firm hold, it didn't feel as calm and welcoming, it had a great sadness to it. It was left during the war to decay. After visiting the temple we went to see the quarry where the stone had been cut to create parts of the structure. It is now a riverbed and we saw a woman washing her clothes there. As we crossed the river both our guide: Lin and Nia fell in... Oops! We had lunch at the New Hope Project today. The New Hope project was set up by one man: Sot Suo who saw a need to provide education for children living in the slums of Siem Reap. The slums have many dysfunctional families with many family members killed in the war or being killed by various diseases. Children often rely on elderly or more distant relatives, or are left to fend for themselves, which means they may fall
victim to the sex trade and experience great poverty. The New Hope project now provides: A health clinic, mosquito nets, bicycles and other essentials, accommodation for those in real need, counselling, food and support for over 300 families and education for hundreds of children. The latest addition is a training restaurant, based in the school complex, where young adults can learn to cook, to serve food and make cocktails so they can get work in bars and restaurants so they can support their own families. The food was stunning! This project really got to me, you could see from the children that were there that they were happy and keen to be there, education was making a real difference to their lives. I am determined to raise money when I get back, so I bought their recipe cards and a t-shirt and am thinking that we can teach the children to cook some traditional Khmer dishes, selling them to parents to raise money to send back to the project. It also struck me how happy the children were without very much. They had linked lots of loom bands together to create elastics that they were jumping over, while another group
of children spent half an hour looking at a snake that was stuck up a drain pipe, then once it had been removed and put in the bin the children took turns to dare each other to hold it up in the air... such a stark contrast to playtime in England! Nia and I stayed for an extra hour to experience teaching in Cambodia. We had mixed experiences. Nia had a wonderful time in a class where they were younger and worked collaboratively to learn. My class was different as it was very formal, the children were in rows and were using text books. It was also tricky as she had 2 classes together as one of the teachers was off sick with dengue fever. What struck me was that there were many similarities, especially for behaviour management strategies. The biggest difference was that there were children aged 8-13, so it was very hard to gauge it so that all children were suitable challenged, therefore some were mucking around and not really listening. After lessons the children had a break and they were fed with rice and vegetable curry, so that they have at least one free meal. We left
at this point, to get back for quad biking. Quad biking was awesome! We were a little concerned at first as we had to sign forms to waver any responsibility for damage or injury, not just for the company but also for G Adventures. We didn't need to worry though as it was very well organised! It was an amazing experience to drive across the paddy fields and through villages during a storm! We went quite slowly at first, but then we got to go faster and more 'off road'... I loved it! A quick shower then we headed out for dinner with Harry and some of the group. Before ending up in the Yolo bar with a free shot and cocktails. We also painted ourselves with bright paints that glowed in the dark, certainly more modern in Pub Street! A slightly squiffy wander home via the night market to get some new sunglasses.
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