Feb 21, 2007 - Siem Reap - Angkor

The bus ride from Phnom Penh was pleasant enough. We traveled with the same company that we used from Ho Chi Minh, The Mekong Express. We were served breakfast. Bread and ? sandwich and water. There was also a toilet on the bus, maybe placed there for relinquishing the breakfast, should the need arise. We stayed at the Saphir Hotel, a very plain place with towels that looked as though they had been washed in the muddy Siem River (without rinsing) located two steps to the west of the hotel. With the usual resident gecko in the bathroom to...

May 15, 2006 - Pursat III

We were in Pursat the second time around just over 3 weeks. It was amazing how quickly the time passed in those few weeks. We continued with our projects and also teaching our classes. We were joined by Amelia from New Zealand and Paul and Marika from the US. The 5 of us were invited to the wedding of Phalla, who is the Educational Manager at SC. The girls and I decided to get traditional Khmer dresses made for the wedding. We had a tailor in the market make our dresses and it costs only $17 for the fabric and to sew it. The first day of...

Apr 24, 2005 - Cambodian roads are crazy

In Siam Reap now, and are hiring a Tuk-tuk tomorrow to see the Temples of Angkor. Was a major adventure and struggle to get here tho, apart from the 'interesting' people we met - a guy from Bradford who thought he was Rambo, but just looked like he had a sarong on his head, and his young Thai 'girlfriend',another western guy and his pretty Thai 'girlfriend' and a friendly Ozzie couple. The travelling involved a bus ride, a long wait at the border for disorganised people to get their visas - not us surprisingly, we had ours sorted, then a...

Oct 25, 2004 - The village of Pursat

Pursat is a rural village, a five hour drive from Phnom Penh. It does not attract many tourists and only the odd NGO worker. It is quite an experience to walk along its streets and be greeted from all sides by choruses of Hello and Goodbye. There is a real fascination with foreigners and there is NO western food! It was here that Sakkany was raised and so it was here that herself and Bruce established Suistainable Cambodia (SC), an organisation dedicated to education, skills acquisitions and agricultural independence. In exchange for rice,...