Blogs from Phnom Penh, South, Cambodia, Asia - page 227

Early Sunday morning (5.30am) we awoke to the anoying buzzing from the alarm clock (But yey.. we woke up), no mad rush to pack and leave the hotel this time...... We await the bus to pick us up for the pre-arranged trip to Phnom Penh (capital of Cambodia). A ute, yes a ute, pulls up to the side of the road with a bunch of tourists crammed in the back. We jump abord for an hour long trip around Siem Reap, we must of lapped the place 4 times.. no one had a clue what was going on... oh well, patience is a virtue... We headed out on the biggest lake in South East Asia called Tonle Sap, on board what could be best described as a metal coffin. aka long metal boat. but it was ... read more

We decided to look into the very sad history of Cambodia. Soon after the Vietnam war ended and the idea of communism was spreading, a party developed in Cambodia called the Khmer Rouge. In most part, they were a dictatorship run by a man named Pol Pot. In the mid 70's the Khmer Rouge marched into Pnom Penh to overthrow the cambodian government. The khmer rouge had extreeme ideas that Cambodia should be operated without any external influences/evils- having everyone work in farming to feed themselves and live a pure life. This resulted in the persecution of millions of cambodian who had developed western lifestyles or didn't have pure cambodian ancestry. Anyone with a proper education was seen as a threat. Woman, children, doctors, teachers, governemnt workers, and foreigners were marched into camps in the country ... read more

Hi everyone Sorry for the ‘group’ format, I know many of you are waiting for news from me, and this is the most effective way to get in touch with everyone at the moment. As many of you know, and some may not, I arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three weeks ago to commence a 1-year position with Save the Children Australia (SCA) (Rädda Barnen). I will be working on the HIV/AIDS program providing monitoring advice and training. My position is funded by an Australian Government program (AYAD), so I arrived with 20 people all going to work in different organisations. Austraining Youth Ambassador Website AusAID Youth Ambassador Website The past few weeks have been the usual roller coaster of highs and lows, which was somewhat disappointing, as I like to think I have become exp ... read more

Woke up at 8am, which of course was horrible late since the entire household had been up since 5:30am. Really felt like the lazy foreigner who couldn’t get out of bed (an do remember that back in PP I am having trouble getting up at 8am, normally a roll out of bed about 8;30-8:45am, just in time to get to work on time). Since this was the day that we were to visit the Pagoda and do our ritual offerings, the family had already cooked food which should be offered to the monks. Apparently the food that is offered goes through the monks to the ancestors, or it gives them sustenance to pray harder to their ancestors or something. I didn’t really understand the whole food to the monks when it was for the ancestors. Anyway, ... read more

Next day, before work I got a message from Damay asking me to meet her for a drink at my friend's bar later that night. I got very happy, and readily agreed. Of course, here in PP things does not always goes after plans, so after making arrangement to also meet some other friends at my friend's bar, I received another text from her asking me to come to another pub. So, I finished my drink with my friends, and headed off. Which was a little bit of an adventure, seeing that I had no idea where it was. But, I found it at last, and half of the teachers from my school as well. Damay turned up, and decisions were made to go to Butterfly, since she has never been there. Butterfly is at the ... read more