After the city tour, we were taken for a welcome dinner. The food served was delicious! They just kept bringing out bowls of different foods for us to try. At the end of the dinner though, they brought out some local delicacies which consisted of frogs legs, crickets, beetles, snake, and other disgusting looking things! I did try a frogs leg and a cricket though! It actually wasn’t bad!

We left at 10am for a City Tour. We started at the Olympic stadium where the swimming pool was nice, but the rest just looked a bit unkept. From there they took us to see some of the temples around the city and the Palace.

We had lunch at Central Market, and then headed to the killing fields in the afternoon which was quite an intense experience! Over 1 million people were killed there during the reign of the Khmer Rouge and it was horrifying reading about what took place there. It’s crazy to think that so many of the people I meet here lived through this period!

We were picked up from the house at 8.30am and taken to the company office for our orientation. There were around 20 of us new volunteers there. We started by doing introductions and a warm up game, and then we were taught about the history of Cambodia and about the organisation. It was really interesting learning about the history of Cambodia. I knew a bit about the genocides that had taken place here, but not to the extent that they told us. They explained that when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975, they forced everyone to leave the city and forced them to become farmers. All of the hospitals, schools, and banks were closed and all of the educated people – doctors, teachers etc were killed. Over 25% of the population were murdered and a lot of people died as a result of being forced to work long hours in the farm with very little food – just a bit of rice and water. And there were no doctors to help when they got sick as the doctors had all been killed. All religions were banned and anyone seen practising their religion was killed. It sounds horrible! And it was so recent! Its hard to imagine.
They then taught us some basic words and phrases in Khmer which is the language spoken here. We went for lunch in a place called Russian Market which was really cool. I think I need a day back there just to shop! After lunch, we went through some role play exercises showing some of the scenarios we might experience while volunteering. We were also taught about the culture here and the dos and don’ts, some of which were quite interesting! For example, don’t touch a Cambodian on the head as the head is considered to be sacred, don’t point your feet at anyone when sitting on the ground, and always give or receive something with both hands. We were also taught about the widespread corruption here, from the police to the judges to the school teachers. We were told that the teachers salaries are very low here so they demand extra money from students for attending classes, and for good grades in exams! So even the public schools that are technically free, are not really free! After our orientation, we went back to the house and I went for a walk along the river with a couple of the other volunteers. Its really nice there. You see people out exercising in the outdoor gym and doing outdoor aerobics!

My flight left Delhi airport at 11pm. The flight was 5.5 hours to Kuala Lumpur, then a 3 hour stopover, then 1.5 hours to Phnom Penh. I arrived in Phnom Penh at 10am. I got the visa on arrival at the airport, collected my bags, and left. I saw a lady at the exit holding a sign with my name on it and she took me on a tuk tuk to the volunteer house. It was such a change coming from India to here! It feels so relaxed here in comparison. And the streets look so clean! And its so much quieter! In India, you could pretty much always hear car horns blaring. It was a 30 minute journey to the volunteer house. It was a Guest House called Tattoo. I sat downstairs waiting for my room to be ready. There is a covered section outside which is the dining/communal area, and there is a kitchen at the end where a couple of ladies cook the meals. It took a few hours for my room to be ready which was annoying. After the flight, I just wanted to get into my room and shower and get changed and relax a bit. I ordered a drink and was somewhat baffled by the currency system here. They use Cambodian Riel, but also US Dollars. There are 4000 Riel to every US Dollar. The drink I bought cost 2000 Riel, I paid with a $10 note, and was given $9 and 2000 Riel change. It must be confusing for them using 2 currencies!
While waiting for my room, a girl came and joined me at the table where I was sitting and we got chatting. She was from Indonesia but was studying at LSE in London so we had quite a lot to talk about. She had arrived just a day before me and mentioned that she had just got back from church that morning so I was asking her more about it as I’ve missed church while I’ve been away. It turned out that she actually goes to my church back in London which was really cool. I finally got into my room after a few hours and it was quite nice! Below is a picture. It’s nice having a queen size bed all to myself compared to bunk beds at the last 2 places!

I settled in and then went to the evening service at the church the girl I met went to here. It was really cool, very different. A lot quieter than I’m used to, but I still liked it. A lot of the people there were volunteers or worked for NGOs so it was interesting to chat to people and see what they do. I headed back to the house afterwards and had dinner and met some more of the volunteers at the house including my 2 roommates who seem really nice. One is from Denmark and the other is from Albania but lives in Italy. I went to sleep early as I was pretty exhausted and we had to be up early for our orientation the next morning.