This was the first stop of our 3rd tour and all I can say is this was by far the best tour we have done. It was well organised and our tour leader Rod (the gayest man we have ever met!) was simply AMAZING. Our whole group were lovely and all of us got on like a house on fire! And once again Ollie was outnumbered and surrounded by women - the only other guy on the trip was Ryan - a fun loving ozzy guy.
At first sight Siem Reap seems like a quiet, poverty stricken city. With children selling their souvenirs and going through bins to make money for their families, when really they should be at school.
Cambodia's tragic past has scarred the country ever since and they can't seem to get out of poverty thanks to Pol Potts. The dictator that killed over 4 million of the population - especially intellectuals, in less than 4 years. This barbaric act plunged the country into poverty and people have struggled ever since. The poorest families earn just $25 a month which isn't enough to feed them let alone pay for anything else.
On our first day we went to help out at the charity "New Hope" that gives free schooling, counselling and food to the poorest families.
Walking into the classroom with 20 Khmer children was surreal. They range from 13-18. Some adults even attend these classes and everyone that is there want to be there to learn and better their own lives. We got to join in with the class, teaching a bit of English and playing some games, we also got to exchange stories about our families and careers. The amazing thing was that all of the children had bit hopes and dreams and wanted to achieve a lot in their lives by becoming lawyers, doctors and nurses - this was inspiring.
The charity has nearly 1000 students that attend the school and are looking to expand even more. They also have a surgery for people that need it and social workers to make sure the children aren't sent out to work on the streets. The best way to keep the children in school and to give them a goal to work to, is to ignore them and not buy anything from them on the street - which believe me is a lot harder than it seems. When their adorable little faces are looking up and begging to sell their postcards, it is heart wrenching to say no!
The charity is a non profit organisation and relies on people donating and "sponsoring" families. All of this money goes directly to the families for food and other stuff. They also rely on volunteers to help with teaching, in the surgery and with the social work. Check the website out at www.newhopecambodia.com
Helping out at the charity was the best feeling ever and when we are home an earning money we hope to donate to this worth while charity.
On our second day we were up bright and early (4.30am!) to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat the most famous temple in Cambodia. Getting up so early was fully worth the unique and beautiful sight of the sunrise behind this majestic temple. We got to explore a lot of the temple and the surrounding grounds.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat!
I wanted to take these gorgeous Cambodian children home!!!
After a quick breakfast we continued on to the other temples surrounding Angkor Wat including the place where part of the "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" film was set. It is a beautiful and ancient as in the film as this is one of the only temples where the trees have been left to their own devices - growing up and through the temple itself.
Our afternoon was my favourite part of Siem Reap - we went to the Tonie Sap lake to see the floating villages.
All of the houses are either built on very long stilts or actually float along the river and into the lake. Nearly 2000 people live on this lake. They go about their daily business selling goods to each other on their boats, having a wash in the lake and kids jumping in and out of boats and running around semi naked on their floating houses. Every house we passed the children would wave frantically and shout "hello" - so adorable! Our boat was actually driven by a 10 year old boy for most of the trip and he was better than most adults!!
Whilst we were on the boat, it proceeded to rain torrentially but in true British spirits we didn't complain (after all we are used to it) and just laughed our way through. We were rewarded with the most stunning sunset I have ever seen. Pink, blue and orange skies teamed with swirly clouds but also a gigantic rain cloud in the distance.
After the downpour it was so peaceful and picturesque that we all felt a bit overwhelmed and agreed we had never seen anything so beautiful.
Our day was finished off perfectly by having a lovely group meal scouring the markets and getting very drunk in one of the bars in "pub street". Sneakily once we got back to the hotel Ollie, Ryan, Rod (our group leader) Amy, Tash and myself (the last ones standing of the evening) stripped down to our underwear and jumped into the pool - the perfect ending to the perfect day!
Our next stop - the capital of the country Phnom Penh!
Amazing... I must go, that sunset was surreal!
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