Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
so i'm here in siem reap at the moment. have had a very interesting time here in cambodia so far.
since i last wrote, i spent a week volunteering at the scao orphanage in a little village just outside phnom penh. the owners asked me to live there for the week to save me travelling back and forth everyday and so that i would have more time to spend with the children. the orphanage was wonderful. its run by one man and his wife, just a small local project and they have completely dedicated their lives to it. the orphanage is very basic, with little facilities but they are hoping to expand and improve it in the near future with help from donations, of which every penny goes straight into the orphanage and to the children. at the moment the children all have to share sleeping space. theres only one bed for a few of them and the others sleep on the floor or tables downstairs with a mosquito net around it. seeing this made me realise how lucky children back home are, they take for granted that they have their own beds and bedrooms, and that they get toys (there are no toys at the orphanage either). as for the children they were the loveliest children i have ever met. the orphanage currently houses 17 children, most with no or only one parent and all from families with extreme financial troubles. the age range is 5 to 20 and mr and mrs sameth do their best to keep the children healthy, happy and provide a good education for them so they can have a positive future. the orphanage has an ajoining school for the children who live there as well as for children in the village whos parents cant afford to send them to public school. the school is a little hut with some wooden benches and a whiteboard. they also have a sewing room and a small garage so that the children can learn work skills as they get older. my role while there was to teach english for 4-5 hours each day to children of all different levels and it was the most rewarding experience of my life. it was great living there too as i was able to see real cambodian culture and of course have the role of helping with homework and reading bedtime stories! the village the orphanage is in is so different from phnom penh. the people are so friendly and kind, even though the have nothing and struggle just to make ends meet. during my stay there were only 3 volunteers, previous to that they'd had a long spell with no volunteers at all which makes it difficult to teach the children proper english or to give them enough care and attention that they need. the night before i left, they threw me a going away party where we had a feast of fish and the children were allowed fizzy juice as a treat. they also love r&b music and so some cds were put on and the children were dancing about, it was so nice to see them so happy. i was really sad to leave the next day. none of the children wanted me to go and one of the little boys said "please dont go, please just stay here forever". i had such a lump in my throat but im glad i managed to make some sort of difference in the time i was there. the website for the orphanage that another volunteer set up for them is www.savechildreninasia.org if you want to have a look at where i was and to read about the children and owners, or if you want to kindly donate anything as i know it would be very much appreciated and having been there i know this is a genuine cause.
after volunteering i headed to battembang which is a little city on the west coast of cambodia. it was pouring of rain there - very like the scottish weather that i do not miss at all! but i didnt let it stop me and went off exploring. my hotel was across the road from an amazing bakery that sold the best coconut and jam sponge in the world! needless to say i was a regular customer there! i did a tour to take in the surrounding area and ended up just me and three other people from fettercairn, one of which lives in stonehaven now! its such a small world and it was so nice to meet people from back home. we went on a 'bamboo train' which battembang is famous for. its basically just a big piece of wood with wheels and an engine contraption attached and it bumps along the railway line in the most uncomfortable and terrifying way! at least we were lucky a train wasnt coming in the opposite direction, in that case its a mad panic to get off and dismantle the bamboo train! it certainly was an experience, especially in the rain so we got covered in spraying mud, oh and i got whacked in the face by a big bush branch! haha. next we ventured on a tuk tuk on the worst road in the world. it happens to be the road that takes you from cambodia to thailand and its in such bad condition, im really glad thats not the route im taking to thailand! the bumps and potholes are unavoidable so spent about an hour being thrown out my seat, banging my head and holding on for dear life! and then to make the journey even more magical a huge bus came whizzing past from the opposite direction, spraying a huge mud puddle all over us in the process! was not impressed, although all we could do was laugh! haha. at the end of the hellish journey we got to see some lovely temples as well as another sight of the horrific khmer rouge killings.
after my stay in battembang it was time to head to siem reap, a journey i did by boat. it was a lovely journey seeing the nice scenery all the way. the only bad part was going through narrow parts of the river where we then all got whacked by trees and bushes! siem reap is a really nice town. its fairly new, with its main purpose being a base for exploring the temples of angkor. when i arrived the whole town was flooded in knee high water! they'd had a couple of days of heavy rain (when it rains here it pours!) and the streets cant cope with it as there is no drainage system. anyway it made walking about interesting, i think i would have been quicker swimming! on saturday i went to explore the angkor temples. im no temple buff but they really were breathtaking. the detail in them is amazing, especially the angkor wat temple. i managed to see a good few of them including angkor wat, bayon, baphuon, terrace of elephants, terrace of the leper king and ta prohm. ta prohm was my favourite one, they call it 'movie temple'as it was used in tomb raider and indiana jones. its like being on a movie set with trees growing out of the walls and through the structure of it. it really is beautiful.
yesterday i decided to yet again improve my culinery skills with another cooking class. i made pumpkin soup, fish amok and sticky rice and ate the whole lot until i could barely move! at the end i got a certificate and so now i can cook chinese, vietnamese and cambodian dishes - i know my mum and dad cant wait to try them! haha. i then found a local market in which i got a bit carried away buying things and now im not sure it will all fit in my backpack!
so today its another sunny day in siem reap and the streets seem to have dried up which is super! im off to hire a bicycle and explore a bit before doing a yoga class later on. tomorrow i take a 9 hour bus journey to a place called kratie on the east coast. im meeting one of the volunteers i became friendly with at the orphanage there and we are spending a few days in kratie before heading into country number 4 - laos.
will try and get my photos from the orhanage and temples up as soon as possible for you all to have a nosey at. seems like iv been away forever and am missing you all!
erika xxx
- comments