My last day at work was quite stressful, struggling to get everything finished before I leave. The electricity here is normally pretty bad with regular power cuts and there is a weird problem with the computers here where they give you static shocks everytime you touch them. It makes it very hard to work. Today was especially bad though. There were some guys doing some construction outside the school and they were plugged into our electricity and were overloading it so the server wouldn’t stay on for more than a couple of minutes before the power would go! So it was hard to make progress. It got to 3pm and I was stressing out because my driver comes at 4.30 and I still had so much to do! I managed to get everything finished though, with just 4 minutes to spare! How amazing! I said bye to everyone. John the guy in charge here told me how impressed he was with what I have managed to achieve here. It felt great! Here are a few photos of the school where I was working:

In the evening, I went out with my friends here for a farewell meal. We went to a restaurant called Romdeng which is run by an organisation called Friends International. They train up people from the street and employ them to work in the restaurant. The waiters have a badge on saying student or teacher depending on whether they are in training or training others. We had a teacher with a student serving us. The student was a young boy. The teacher helped him to take down our order and repeat it back to us. He explained later that the student was quite new, he had been found on a rubbish dump at 15 years old where he was trying to find food and anything he could sell to make some money for his family. He had to look after his mum and young sister as his dad was an abusive alcoholic. He had never been to school in his life! He explained that the organisation had cleaned him up and were sending him to school and had given him a job. They were trying to teach him the skills he would need to be able to run his own restaurant in the future. He also explained that he had a similar story to the young boy and was begging on the streets when the organisation took him in. It was great to hear the story about how their lives had been changed and to know that by eating in the restaurant, we were helping to support the organisation.

During the evening, we had the opportunity to hold some live tarantulas! I was a bit scared initially, but it was pretty cool. It felt really weird! We then ordered some to try as they serve crispy tarantulas here! I just tried a leg and it wasn’t bad!

Its funny, of all the places I had planned to go to, Cambodia was the place with the big question mark! I didn’t really know much about it at all! Living in London, I think I’ve met people from practically all the countries in Asia but I’ve never met a Cambodian! Or met anyone who has been here. Or even seen pictures of Cambodia so I had no idea what to expect from the month here. I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly though! It has definitely captured my heart. It has been so interesting learning about the history here and what has made the country what it is now. Given everything that has happened, you would expect the people here to be cold and withdrawn, but they are the complete opposite! From the tuk tuk drivers to my colleagues at work, everyone has just been so warm and friendly! Cambodia really is such a great country! From the craziness of Phnom Penh to the beautiful beaches of Koh Rong to the ancient temples of Siem Reap, there is so much diversity here. But also incredible need as the country works to restore itself back to where it should be. I’m glad to have been able to play a small part in that and hope to be able to return here.

We get told out here not to give any money to children begging because it doesn’t help them and stops their parents from sending them to school as they will continue to think that the children are more useful out begging. You quickly get used to saying ‘No sorry’ as a default response to anyone asking for anything.

On the Saturday night when we were at the night market, we had finished eating and were just about to get into the tuk tuk when a little girl grabbed me. She was no more than 10 years old and was holding a baby. She was saying I don’t want money, just some food. I said no sorry as per usual. She wouldn’t let go of me and kept asking and I just told her sorry again and got in the tuk tuk where my friends were waiting. She looked so upset and shouted ‘sorry is not food’ at me! I felt horrible at that point! It would have taken a few minutes for me to buy her something to eat and I could have asked my friends to wait. It would only have cost a few dollars. I couldn’t stop thinking about her the whole way home. You see quite a lot of young children here wandering around alone going through bins for food. The 1st time I saw it, I was pretty shocked! Just that evening at dinner, a young girl has asked one of my friends to pass her the bin from under our table. We weren’t sure what she wanted, but as soon as she got it, she started searching through it looking for food. Its heartbreaking! The next day, I was still thinking about the girl and wishing I could go back in time and buy her something. We were planning to go back to the night market for dinner that night so I was hoping I would bump into her again.

We went back, and after dinner, we were walking back to the main road when a young boy stopped me and said please miss I don’t want money, just some food. I knew I couldn’t say no after the events the night before so I asked him what food he would like and he said he would take me to the mini mart and he could get something from there. I agreed to go with him and he was holding on tightly to me, maybe scared I would change my mind.

We went into the shop and he pointed to a tub of baby milk and said he needs it for his little sister. It was $25! I told him sorry that is too much! I was expecting to buy him some crisps or biscuits for a few dollars, not to spend $25! That’s a lot of money here. I have no idea how much baby milk normally costs but it seemed very expensive. There was a smaller tub for $7 so I asked him if that was ok and he said yes so I agreed to buy it.

Meanwhile my roommate came in. She had been stopped by another young boy carrying a baby and he also needed food for the baby so she had come in with him. He was also asking for the big expensive tub, but the brand he wanted didn’t come in a smaller size and he was insisting that was the one he needed as the others were different although his English wasn’t good enough to explain why. The shopkeeper came over to help my friend and she was also explaining that he one he was pointing to was of different quality. She told him sorry though, it was too expensive. But she agreed to buy the smaller one. I thought it was strange that the children were asking for such expensive items, I was hoping they weren’t getting it just to resell it but I felt like I had to give them the benefit of the doubt. I went to pay and was sure that the shop keeper would warn me if the children didn’t genuinely need the milk but she didn’t say anything so I thought it must be ok. We left the shop, and I saw even more children outside and an older lady holding a baby all asking people for food. I decided to do some research when I got home.

I got home and checked online and it turns out that it was all a scam! And the shop are actually involved in the scam. They over inflate the price of the baby milk, and then the children try to get tourists to feel sorry for them and buy it. As soon as you buy it and leave, the children return the milk to the shop and they split the difference between what it should be worth and what they made you pay for it. I was quite angry when I found out it was a scam! I felt like an idiot for falling for it. At least I only lost $7 and not $25! There must have been a reason the girl was so upset the night before though. Maybe they’re doing this scam out of sheer desperation. Or working for someone who will beat them if they don’t bring back enough money. I wish I knew their story. On the website where people were talking about it, there were people saying they’ll never give to anyone again! I guess that’s how it makes people feel. When you get stung from showing some concern for someone, its easy to feel like you need to be tougher and not let yourself feel compassion for the next person you see suffering so it doesn’t happen again. I hope I never get like that though. Maybe I’ll question them more next time, but I hope I can continue to let my heart break for the people I see here hungry or suffering and give whenever I’m able to.

We went to Siem Reap for the weekend. Siem Reap is very famous for Angkor Wat which is the largest religious monument in the world! It used to be a Hindu Temple and was then changed to a Buddhist Temple. It was built in the 12th Century. There is actually a picture of Angkor Wat on the Cambodian flag so that shows how big a deal it is here! Cambodians are incredible proud of it and people travel to Cambodia just to see the ruins of the temples. We got the bus leaving Phnom Penh at 8pm and we arrived at Siem Reap at 3am. We were hoping to sleep on the bus but the ride was too bumpy. We dropped our bags at the Guest House, and then headed out at 4.30am to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. That’s what people do here! There was a crowd of people there all waiting to get the perfect photographs of the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was too cloudy so we didn’t really see much sun but it was still very impressive. Here are some pictures:

We went back to the Guest House afterwards to catch a few hours of sleep and then had breakfast and headed out for the tour. Some of my friends were doing the 3 day tour, but I was just doing 1 day. There is only so much looking at temples that I can take. Especially with the hot weather. It makes you get exhausted so much quicker! We hired a tour guide and driver for the day and set off. The 1st stop was back to Angkor Wat. It really is huge, you can get lost in there so easily! The detail everywhere is very impressive. It took around an hour and half just to walk around it. Here are some pictures.

After that, we went to see a few more of the temples – Bayon, Ta Prohm where Tomb Raider was filmed, Ta Keo, and Banteay Kdey.

After the tour, we were exhausted! We went back to the Guest House to relax and then went out to the Night Market for some shopping and then dinner.

On the Sunday, we went to see the floating villages which were quite cool. We went on a boat tour for a couple of hours. There are 4,000 people who live in the village, most of them work in fishing. They have a floating secondary school, and even floating restaurants! I couldn’t help but think how simple life must be there! So cut off from the rest of the world! No internet or electricity, just fishing, swimming, eating, and relaxing!

The 4 weeks here have definitely gone quickly! This has been the longest I’ve spent in 1 place so far this trip but its gone so quick and I definitely wouldn’t have minded a few more weeks here. I feel quite at home here! Maybe its because of the nice people I’ve met here and because I really like it at the place I’m working here. Last week at work went very well. At the start of the week, I was very worried because I was really struggling with the work I’m doing. I was stuck on the same problem for 5 days and was trying everything I could think of with no joy. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it working before I leave and if I can’t finish the work, then it means my time here has been wasted as they can’t use the work I’ve done until it is all finished and set up and they don’t have anyone who can pick up from where I left it. I’ve struggled with setting up the Linux server as I’ve never really used Linux before. For anyone not familiar with Linux, it has a similar function to Windows but is free, and it is command based so you just type commands into the computer and it does stuff! You have to know what commands you need to type for the action you want and the commands are very powerful so you can really wreak havoc if you don’t know what you’re doing…which I don’t…! I’ve also been very distracted with other issues. I seem to just be the general IT person at the school. People bring me laptops with all sorts of issues and just ask me to fix it! I feel like telling them I’m actually not a tech support person and have no idea but instead I just try and in most cases, I’ve been able to help them which is good. I made lots of progress last week Thursday though and finally cracked the problem I had been struggling with so I have been able to set up the Linux server for them with logins and shared folders for the students. All I have to do this week now is to set up all the laptops they have to be able to connect to the server, create logins for all 300 students, set up a backup system for them, and then document everything and I’ll be done and happy! My parents will be coming to see me for a week from Saturday so I’m pretty excited. It will be really nice to see them after 10 weeks and it will be their 1st time in Asia so I’m really looking forward to showing them around and showing them why I love it out here! The food is definitely a big part of the reason and I’m already planning where and what we’ll be eating! We’ll be spending 3 nights in Singapore and 2 nights in Bangkok before I fly out to Chiang Mai to start my next project.

The weekend wasn’t all sad, we managed to explore Phnom Penh a lot. On Friday night, we went to the night market here. We had some food there, did some shopping and watched some singers and dancers who performed there. One of the volunteers with us works at an orphanage here and the children she works with were performing there so we wanted to come and watch them.

On Saturday, we went to the National Museum, and then went to the Daughters of Cambodia visitor centre. Daughters of Cambodia (http://daughtersofcambodia.org) is an NGO here who work with girls who have been trafficked and give them the opportunity to start a new life. At the visitor centre, they have a boutique downstairs where they sell clothes, jewellery and household items which the girls have made. At the back, there is a spa, and then upstairs, there is a cafe. They train the girls who have been rescued and give them jobs here either in the sewing room, at the spa, or in the cafe. The place was great! We spent hours there shopping, getting manicures, and then eating at the cafe. From there we went to the Royal Palace. In the evening, we went to watch a shadow puppet show and then went to the Riverside for food and drinks.

On the Sunday, after the Genocide museum, we went back to the Riverside for lunch, then went for massages! Followed by a boat cruise on the river! Here are a few photos from the weekend:

National Museum:

Royal Palace:

Manicure!

Shadow puppet show:

Enjoying Cambodia:

On Sunday, we went to Tuol Sleng Genocide museum which is just 10 minutes walk from our guesthouse. It used to be a high school, but the Khmer Rouge turned it into a prison called Security Prison 21 (S21) during their reign. We got a guide to take us around and explain what happened there. The prison was used to hold people while they were tortured and interrogated before they were taken to the killing fields to be killed. They were not allowed to talk to each other while they were there, and were kept chained constantly, only released for torture and interrogation. Below are the rules they had to abide by:

We were shown the cells where the high ranking prisoners were kept. You can see the chain there which was used to chain the prisoner to the bed.

And then these were the cells for the normal people. The only thing in the cells was a container for the prisoners to use as a toilet.

We were shown pictures of the people on the day the Khmer Rouge took charge of the country. They were all celebrating! They thought that they would bring an end to the huge gap between the rich and the poor and all the corruption. The Khmer Rouge then announced that the USA was going to bomb the city within 3 hours which forced the mass evacuation of the people out of the city to the rural areas. They told them that the evacuation was just for a few days, but once they were out, they then forced them all to work as farmers. The people who they imprisoned were anyone who was educated, or anyone they thought was opposing them. Towards the end of their reign, even the high-ranking party leaders were imprisoned as Pol Pot the leader of the Khmer Rouge, suspected everyone of being traitors, even his close friends! We were told that he gave himself the name Pol Pot and it stood for Political Potential!

We were shown the torture instruments they used at the prison. The picture below shows the gallows where they would hang people upside down before lowering their heads into the containers which were full of human excrement!

Pol Pot never visited the prison himself, so his soldiers there were told to send him reports on everything that took place there. All over the museum, there are pictures of the people who were imprisoned here and subsequently tortured and killed at the killing fields. From men to women to children. We were told that entire families would be captured together and killed, even babies!

There were also pictures taken of the prisoners after they had been killed in order for the soldiers to prove that they were carrying out their instructions and not secretly releasing any prisoners. I don’t want to publish those pictures though as I think they are too graphic and disturbing.

At the end of the tour, there is the opportunity to meet Chum Mey, 1 of the 7 survivors from the prison out of 20,000 prisoners. He is 83 years old now, and sells his book there to make a living. Unfortunately he had fallen asleep on the chair at the time we were there so we were not able to talk to him.

The experience of visiting the museum was pretty horrible. I felt sick walking around reading about the atrocities that were committed there. There is an eerie feel around the place. It raises all sorts of emotions though. You can’t help but question how human beings can actually do this to one another. It is unbelievable, yet it actually happened.

A few of us were chatting to one of the local guys about Cambodia and how he finds life here. He was telling us about how much the country has changed. He said that in the 60s, Cambodia was one of the most developed countries in Asia. People would come from Malaysia and Thailand to learn about how they’re doing things here. It used to be known as the pearl of Asia and the Paris of the east. But then the Khmer Rouge came and destroyed everything and now its one of the poorest. It must be horrible to see the country you love destroyed like that. He was telling us about life here now and how hard it is for them. The minimum wage here is just $80/month and yet the cost of living is so high! There are no public buses here so people rely on tuk tuks or riding on the back on a motorcycle. I go to work by tuk tuk, it is a 20 minute journey and costs $3 each way. If I’m lucky, I can find someone to share it with me but it isn’t always possible due to varying start times. A can of coke here costs 50c and a meal out costs $3 – $10 depending on the quality of the restaurant. So while it is definitely cheaper than London prices, it is extremely hard to imagine living here on just $80/month. He was saying that a lot of the young people here dream of moving to nearby countries such as Thailand to have a better life. He hopes that things will change here, but in reality, it is hard to see things changing in the next 10 years. There is currently an election going on here so there is a lot of unrest here as a result of it. The reigning party here – Cambodian People Party, have been in power since 1979 and a lot of the people here want change and they think the votes are being rigged to keep the same party in power. You can just imagine how the future must seem pretty hopeless to people here.

On our 1st weekend here, a group of 9 of us went away for the weekend to a place called Sihanoukville. We got a bus after work on Friday and the journey took 5 hours so we arrived at 11pm. We went to a guest house to check if they have space for us to stay for the night and they did luckily. The guest house was called Sunset Garden. The owner was described in the guide book as being eccentric and she certainly was! She told us all about how the doctors told her she was going to die years ago and she started making her own medicine to treat herself and she is still alive so she calls herself Mama medicine! She was very helpful though. We wanted to take the boat out at 8am the next morning to an island called Koh Rong and she organised it all for us.
The boat ride to the island took 2 hours. The approach to the island was beautiful though! I couldn’t wait to get there and explore it. We got there and were briefed on the information we needed to know about the island, and we went on a search for accommodation. We took a boat to Treehouse Bungalows, but they were full. We headed back and asked a few other guest houses, but they were all also full. We stopped for breakfast as we were all getting very tired and hungry, and then we managed to find a place after breakfast which had enough room. We settled in and then spent the day just relaxing at the beach. It was amazing! And the weather was great. It was nice to just spend the day eating, drinking, reading, writing, and just relaxing! We got the 10am boat back the next morning followed by the 2pm bus back to Phnom Penh so we got back to the Guesthouse at 8pm on Sunday evening. Here are a few pictures from the weekend: