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It was time for our first home stay. We were driven out into the Cambodian countryside to a small village which, following the communist occupation was left in complete poverty. They originally had been farmers but the devastation to their lands along with left over landmines by the Khmer Rouge made this very difficult. The landmines had now largely been removed and they had been logging the surrounding forests. Fortunately it had been pointed out that this was a finite resource that they were rapidly using and they should consider alternative ways to make money. Therefore the villagers decided to become an EcoTourism site. They began replanting the areas they had logged and built education centres after contacting tour companies. Now, they slowly restore their farmland and woodland to allow sustainable farming and logging, they made the majority of the money by hosting groups like ours for a night and hosting students to learn more about the relatively new concept of EcoTourism.
We were first shown to where we would all be sleeping. Our group divided into two homes. These were very basic structures, similar to the ones we'd seen on our cycle tour in Kampong Cham. One large room, with mattresses on the floor and mosquito nets already prepared for us (8 people per room), on stilts with an open area beneath for cooking, eating and living. The toilets were outhouses and the washing facilities were a large basin of river water to throw over yourself. All around the local animals wondered freely. It was hard to tell if they were owned by anyone in particular or if the village owned the cows, chickens, ducks and pigs as a community. Certainly the dogs had their own patches which they guarded with enthusiasm.
We then went to the local education centre which seemed to be more of a place for the villagers to gather. Some of our group went on a short cycle tour of the area while we were shown traditional bracelet making. Claire's was, predictably, better than the real deal. Unfortunately, despite utmost care, attention and even finishing last Greg's still fell apart the next day. Arts and crafts have never been his thing.
Dinner was then served, having been prepared by the local women. Another banquet of delicious local cuisine was presented with no part of any animal going to waste...at one point Greg was frustratingly gnawing on a ducks foot but failing to understand what he was meant to be getting from it. We have since learnt you're just meant to chew the bones and spit them out...whoops! The evening was rounded off by the local children, in traditional dress, putting on a dance show which managed to successfully blend being amazingly impressive and incredibly cute.
That evening there was a local Buddhist festival on with a bit of a fete at the temple. We went down and joined in a couple of games - knocking can towers over with balls and popping balloons with darts before having a look inside the temple. It was getting late and we were all getting ready to head back to our bus when we noticed that Julian (the aforementioned manic UK guy) was sat up on the alter chatting with two very confused looking monks. Upon seeing this our guide leapt into action and raced over to apologise to the monks and explain to Julian what, to the rest of us, had seemed like common sense. Fortunately it was all taken in good humour and the monks then continued to chat with us and explain a little more about Buddhism and the temple.
That night a storm erupted around us. Thunder and lightning, the whole show. This was a welcome relief as, without fans or A/C we'd all settled in for a very hot and sweaty night with little sleep. The storm provided a cooling breeze and we slept surprisingly well, being woken only by the occasional dog fight and mooing cow. The following morning Greg indulged in a traditional Cambodian wash beside the pigs using the river water. He was unsure if he felt cleaner or not but the cold water had definitely woken him up. It was now time to return to relative civilisation.
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