Time to Kick Back

It's been a hectic year so far and a well deserved break was in order. First stop on the list - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Adjusting to the fast pace of the big smoke took a couple days but it was worth it. KL is a fast developing capital and moves at an equal pace. The city is a melting pot of different cultures and religions making for interesting days filled with visits to shrines, temples and mosques, all equally as beautiful. The downtown Petronas towers were amazing and a contrast to the surrounding areas.

Petronas Towers

Do-it-yourself satay

Next stop was Brunei. We arrived in the quiet capital, Bandar Seri Begawan on the 20th. The city was gorgeous and incredibly quiet compared to the often chaotic Phnom Penh. We spent the days relaxing and visiting some of the amazing mosques in town. We also took a trip down to Kampong Ayer, the largest water village in the world and down the river further to see the proboscis monkeys. The city was very chilled and the people were incredibly friendly, as they seem to be in this part of the world. Today it took us four buses and a boat to get to the closest border town, Miri, in Sarawak. Exhausted, we've left the exploring for the coming days. Christmas in Borneo is sounding perfect to me!

Brunei's mosques

Kampong Ayer

Bako National Park, Sarawak

November - The Month of Festivities

Mid November saw an influx of visitors to Phnom Penh for Bon Om Tuk, the annual Water Festival and Independence Day celebrations. The festivities kicked off on the 9th with an impressive parade through town to mark 55 years of independence from the French. It was more of a showcase presented by the Government to highlight their so called 'achievements' over the years. Each Government Ministry was represented and regardless of intent it was still impressive.

From the 11th - 13th Phnom Penh was buzzing with some 2 million visitors from provincial areas coming to celebrate the Water Festival and changing of the tides. This is perhaps the biggest celebration in the Khmer calender and one that shouldn't be missed. There were impressive long boat races running continually for 3 days down the Tonle Sap. The riverbanks were packed with people. Once evening came it was time to relax and check out the illuminated floating barges, complete with fireworks.

Yet another overdue update…

A lot has happened over the past month or so. I’ve moved on from KYSD and am now working with a great organisation, Bridges of Hope. BoH focuses on sustainable socio-economic reintegration programs for people living with HIV/AIDS. At the moment we are developing a new project aimed at providing vocational training for our clients. We’re also working on some health education and prevention programs for young people, along with group therapy and art therapy sessions for children. The work is great, I'm learning a lot and the staff are absolutely lovely. There’s never a dull moment and everyday is entertaining, usually at my expense. We've been conducting some home visits and also some field trips to neighbouring provinces visiting projects which has been another eye opener. I’ve also had the opportunity to do some more traveling lately thanks the clusters of public holidays. The latest trip was up to Sisophon and Battambang. It was great to get out of the city and experience a little more of the beautiful countryside. Not long after my Dad came to visit which was a great excuse to see a bit more of what Phnom Penh has to offer and I finally learnt how to ride a motorbike. Quite a feat considering the traffic in Phnom Penh. All in all life is great here, making the most of this great experience and living it up.

Downtown Sisophon

Visiting a Wat in Sisophon for P'chum Ben

Exploring the countryside in Battambang

Having A Bad Day?

Think again...
A few weeks ago we took a small group of students from KYSD to visit Stung Mean Chey, Phnom Penh’s municipal dump. Around 10,000 people live in the adjoining slums and most, including children, seek a meagre income picking through trash at the dump. With empty rice sacks and metal hooks in hand, most are searching for tin cans, plastic bottles and other recyclable goods which can be sold for around 10 cents per kilo. Garbage trucks constantly roll through dumping trash while people swarm around looking for goods they can sell before the bulldozer quickly shovels everything over the edge. There were countless children, few people wearing shoes let alone masks or gloves and houses constructed right on top of the smoking mountains of trash. Everything ends up here, including dangerous medical waste and poisonous chemicals. This place is the closest thing to hell on earth.

21st Birthday Festivities

It was indeed a very memorable birthday this year and what a place to celebrate! The festivities kicked off with a cocktail party at my place which was a lot of fun. This was followed by a piñata with the kids at the orphanage the following day. The piñata is somewhat a long lost birthday tradition and we thought this would be the perfect place to bring it back. I spent the big day relaxing, something I’d been dreaming to do since arriving here, and of course had to live the high life if only briefly at Raffles for Happy Hour.


The rooftop cocktail party

Add one giant fish piñata, one extravagant Khmer birthday cake and 27 screaming kids, it was a recipe for a fantastic day.

Happy Hour at Raffles

Back from Paradise - Kep, Kampot and Sihanoukville

Last week was officially the most relaxing week ever. Mum and I drove down to Kep and stayed in a gorgeous house in the mountains. Kep is a beautiful little town down south where the mountains meet the sea, it's quiet and there are very few tourists. We stayed there for 5 nights and made trips in the Jeep regularly to Kampot about 25km from Kep. The Jeep was a must as the road to town was pretty bad but made for good entertainment. Kampot is another small town on the river that is just as laid back with some great cafes. We managed to make a trip up to Bokor which is still open even though it has officially been sold off to developers who are just beginning to redevelop the area to build a 5 star resort. We took a pick up truck from town up to the hill station. It was a long trip which was made even longer when everyone had to get out and push the truck through knee deep mud. But we made it all the same and it was well worth it. The atmosphere was incredibly eerie this time of year with clouds rolling across the mountain and through the ruins. The peak was full of scattered ruins from the French colonial period. The most impressive was the Bokor casino and church. During the war the Vietnamese were stationed in the old casino and the Khmer Rouge in the church where they battled back and forth which would explain the bullet holes in all the buildings and the landmines in the surrounding areas. So far everything has pretty much remained untouched, but unfortunately not for too much longer. On the way back we stopped off at a waterfall before taking a boat trip along the river and back to town. The next day the weather cleared up enough so we decided to chance it and drive to Sihanoukville. It was well worth it with a day of beautiful beach weather. There was nothing more relaxing than sitting back in the sand and soaking up the sun. We drove back to Phnom Penh on Sunday which was easy enough until you reach the city limits and the traffic is insane. Welcome home.

Kep


Kampot







Bokor Hill Station