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Published: January 21st 2014
We had an early start to Battambang as we were doing a day trip down there... Armed with 25kg of kids clothes for Cambodian Children's Trust, I was excited to be able to see Kai (the boy I sponsor) even if it was just for a couple of hours! The trip from Siem Reap to Battambang was a leisurely 2-3 hour taxi ride (and it was anything but leisurely!). You are literally taking your life into your own hands on Cambodian roads. We had a driver that had come from Battambang to take us down for the day and it was a hair-raising trip. There is no concept of road rules that exist in Asia! Always makes for a fun time! The airconditioner was cranking and we were freezing, so tried to get the driver to turn down the airconditioner but he didnt really understand.... Later during the trip when the sun came out I was on one side of the car freezing my ass off while Lynn was on the other side sweating... We ended up doing a swap (which raised an interesting look from the driver as we giggled our way around each other in the back seat!
We arrived in Battambang around 9am and were met at
Cambodian Childrens Trust by Daisy, one of the Trust's staff. We were then taken to a couple of their new projects to check it out.. They are just doing such amazing work for the local community and it was heartwarming to see.. They have built an activities centre, with a large vegetable garden for the kids to grow veges in, as well as a big field they can play soccer on... The kids that attend here do half a day of school and then spend half the day here doing sports and other activities... When we arrived they were doing song/dance and so they sang us a few songs! This stuff always brings tears to my eyes!
After leaving the Activity Centre we were shown their childcare facility they are running for the younger children. Basically the school age children from the Slums are left to care for their younger siblings and unable to attend school... CCT is providing a child care facility where the school age children drop their younger siblings in the morning before going to school and then they come back to get them
after school... AMAZING... We were then also shown another part of their centre that had a few classroooms with computers and English lessons taking place and where the kids can come to eat and have showers etc... Honestly this is the best run charity I have ever seen and if you are looking for a place to start donating to, check them out... They are currently looking for sponsors for approximately 80 children from the slums to keep them in these amazing projects and attending school.. The bonus is that it is a tax deductible charity so what are you waiting for???? Check it out here
Youth Centre We then met up with Kai, his sisters and some friends/cousins for lunch at a local restaurant. It was amazing to see how big Kai had grown since my last visit and he is definitely a young man these days... doing well with his Art, dance, soccer and school. His English is getting better every time I see him! After lunch we took Kai to the local Art supplies shop and I bought him a stack of Art supplies which will hopefully keep him going. I guess it must be
so strange for him to have this strange lady from Australia visit him every couple of years for a day and buy him Art supplies etc. I always worry about how he must view it all.. lol
Once we had finished what we had to do with Kai, we headed off to the local markets with Jedtha from the Trust and bought some rice and mosquito nets... My friend Helen Mannes and her husband Roo had kindly donated $100 for us to put to some use while there... We were able to buy a whole stack of mosquito nets for the slum families and a whole stack of rice for the Activity Centre for the kids meals. Thankyou Helen and Roo... you guys are amazing xxxx
We then went to check out the new restaurant that CCT was opening and was lucky to see Mohm (Kai's older sister) who has been training as a Chef and will be the head chef of the new restaurant. The restaurant was still in the process of being built but it has since opened and looks amazing. If you are in Battambang check out
Jaan Bai Jai (Khmer for Rice Bowl)
- you will be eating for an amazing cause!
Tara who founded the charity (and those of you who have followed my blogs know how much I think of her) met up with us for a coffee and then took us to show us their new Art Gallery project called
Sammaki Gallery and Art Space . The Sammaki Art Gallery officially became a CCT project in July 2013 and was founded by Darren Swallow, Soviet Mao, Melina Chan, Justin Lorenzon and David 'Jam' Ramjattan. It first opened its doors in May 2011 and became Battambang’s first Artist-run, not for profit, community art space.
Sammaki has been a host venue for various festivals and events such as The Angkor Art Explo 2011 and Interfilm short film festival. It has presented film screenings, workshops and presentations from international artists, film makers and photographers. (Taken from the CCT website)
Tara was telling us how Battambang has always been the 'cultural' and 'arts' city of Cambodia and how huge the scene was prior to the Khmer Rouge. She is hoping that in time this can be restored. We were lucky enough to be at the gallery when a local artist whose paintings
were featured was there. He gave us a tour of his paintings and told us all about what they meant. What was even more inspiring and amazing that the Artist was deaf and could only show us through sign language. AMAZING! His name is Ot Veassna and he was simply beautiful and extremely talented...
After we had finished we got our driver to take us via a coffee shop to get some coffee and snacks for the journey home and then it became a race against the sun to get back to Siem Reap before dark. You do not want to be on the road after dark! It's dangerous enough during the day! We saw an accident between two trucks on the way home (well didnt see it happen but saw the aftermath!) NO THANKS! lol unfortunately the sun set on the way back so we spent a tense time for about half an hour praying and hoping we made it in one piece!
Once we arrived back into Siem Reap I needed a cocktail or two so we had showers and headed into town and went to Miss Wong's Cocktail Bar for dinner. We ordered
up some food and cocktails and unfortunately the waiter got our order wrong and we ended up with way too much food! The cocktails were so good and the food not too bad! We then headed back to the Angkor Wat bar for more drinks and caught up with Dave again, who was off to Vietnam the next morning... A few blow jobs later (drinks that is) we stumbled home to bed! A very funny moment occured when I went to drink a blow job and gave myself a cream moustache... I turned to Dave trying to make him laugh and he just gave me a blank stare... He hadn't got the joke so I decided to do it more obvious, but as I went to make another moustache with the cream I laughed and literally sprayed all the cream from the top of my drinks everywhere... It was all over my face! So funny and Lynn and I lost the plot... may be a location joke but I will post the photo anyway!
The following day we were a little seedy so hung around the pool drinking mocktails before heading into town for lunch and a
wander around. We ended up at Sister Srey for lunch and then back to the hotel for more lazing by the pool and dinner in the hotel. We had an early night. The following morning we arranged a tuktuk with one of Marom's friends and headed off to do the temples. We wandered around Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom before heading back to town for lunch. We were going to check out the local Peace Cafe but when we got there, we realised the whole menu was vegetarian and nothing was really grabbing us. We ended up eating some deep fried sweet potato chips and had cool drinks.. I had a peanut butter shake which was one of the best things i have ever tasted! It was so good... Afterwards we got our tuk tuk driver to head into town to find a place for lunch. We looked at a couple of menus before giving up and heading for Viva Mexican! Stick with what you know! lol
After lunch we both had decided we were all templed out and so decided an afternoon by the pool would be just what the doctor ordered. We ended our tour
and went to the hotel where we lazed the afternoon away! That night we ended up taking my friends Tekea & Chantou out to dinner. We took them to HAVEN for the night and they bought along their little daughter. Last time I saw her she was about 1 and now she was 4 and such a gorgeous little girl! We had a lovely dinner and I was really touched when they gave me a present which included a little brooch, a small Cambodian Doll and a lovely little silver tea cup. So touching coming from people that are lucky to earn $40 a week between them. I think they really enjoyed dinner at HAVEN. It is obviously a tourist restaurant and not somewhere they would be able to afford. It was so touching to see them dressed up in their best gear and their daughter was SO polite and good! They had even taken time off work to spend it with us! It is moments like this that make travelling to different countries worth a million memories.. After dinner the three of them piled on their motorbike and left to start the half hour journey home to their village.
Lynn and I then went to have a last dessert at Blue Pumpkin before grabbing some takeaway bakery items and other bits and pieces from the convenience store for the trip to Phnom Penh the next day. We were both extremely sad to be leaving Siem Reap. We had only been there 5 days but it felt like two weeks in a great way that we were relaxed and sad to leave ... I can't wait to go back and I know that Lynn has found a new place to revisit!
Next stop PHNOM PENH... see you there!
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krys virgo
non-member comment
Great Stuff
What a thoughtful person you are to sponsor and donate to the orphanage. We have also sold our house and will be living at Bowhill.