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thetravellingredhead · 7 years

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Cambodia

Yet another absolutely stunning country, holy frigging crap. My time spent in Cambodia was a little different than the others so far because I spent a good chunk of my time here volunteering, which was absolutely amazing (I’ll talk for ages about it below don’t you fret) but the trade off with that was that I didn’t have as much time to see this beautiful country. I did get to see the main highlights though and I am sure I will be back so there’s no reason to be upset on any account :)

NEW HOPE FOR CAMBODIAN CHILDREN

Words cannot describe what an absolutely phenomenal place this organization is. I spent 2 amazing weeks volunteering at New Hope for Cambodian Children. It is an orphanage/school complex about an hour outside of Phnom Penh for children who are suffering from HIV. The majority of them have already lost their parents to the disease, or were abandoned by family members who didn’t want them after finding out they were HIV+. All that aside they are honestly some of the most amazing children I have ever met. The first day I showed up the first thing I got was a giant hug and 3 high fives from the kids. The set up of this place is insane, they have everything. There is a giant playground area for the kids, classrooms on one side and a big auditorium where they have assemblies. There are cluster dorms for the kids where they all have “Nannys” who look after then when they aren’t in class. There is a medical centre with nurses and a doctor where they get their meds and go whenever they have any issues. There is a volunteer centre where volunteers stay while they’re there and there are houses for the teachers. It is such a great atmosphere and fun place, even though it’s so hot you literally spend your whole day sweating hahaha. When I was leaving Vietnam I decided that it would be good for me to be in one place for a couple weeks just so I could give my body a rest and a chance to actually heal up, so I thought volunteering would be perfect. I had always wanted to fit in volunteering at some point in my trip and I am so frigging lucky with the way things worked out. I honestly just found NHCC while googling different places, and holy hell am I glad I found it. I spent most of my days helping out the teachers in different classes. My first week I was in a grade 3 class, a frigging ADORABLE grade 2 class, and spent a little bit of time in a grade 5 class. My second week I spent the whole time in a different grade 2 class as one of the teachers is having some health issues and needed more help than the others. It was so great being able to meet so many of the kids and actually spend a decent amount of time with them. It is insane how far along some of them are in English or math, but they vary soooo much. I can’t imagine how much work the teachers put in to create these comprehensive lesson plans while accommodating language barriers and kids with completely different knowledge levels. It was also so nice being with children who were so keen to learn. They all had certain routines with the teachers, but one of the school wide ones was how they greeted and thanked teachers at the beginning and end of every class. It melted my heart (along with literally every other thing they did). When I wasn’t in class or helping out teachers I spent my time playing with the kids on the playground. After dinner every night all of the teachers and volunteers hangout with the kids until bedtime/the sun goes down. That was one of my favourite times of day. So many times I would just stand back and look around and appreciate what a beautiful place it is. Adults from all over the world and all of these beautiful children just playing and hanging out, watching a beautiful sunset over the Cambodian landscape. I’m a huge baby but writing this part of the post is honestly making me teary! On top of all of the wonderful children, the teachers and other volunteers I met are honestly some of the best people I’ve had the privilege to meet. The teachers have dedicated their entire lives to helping these children, it is basically a 24/7 job for 10 months out of the year. I have no idea how they do it but I have such an insane amount of respect for them. Obviously getting in my bike accident wasn’t planned or ideal, but I don’t think I would have found this place if things hasn’t worked out the way they did, and I really believe it was meant to be. Every day was absolutely exhausting but so rewarding and even though I was only there for a short period of time I know I’ll be back and those kids have definitely impacted me. If anyone is ever in that part of the world and would like to volunteer there I know they would be so happy to have any of you beautiful people, or donations are always welcomed. I need to cut myself off here because otherwise this part of the post would be 4 million words long because I can talk about it for DAYS but I’ll just say I am so so so so so happy I got to spend time at this amazing place.

PHNOM PENH

Phnom Penh is a pretty crazy city. It’s absolutely ginormous and there’s lots going on. It’s nice having the Mekong River nearby, and there are soooo many western fast food place it was crazy! First time I’ve seen a Krispy Kreme in Asia! I travelled there after leaving the orphanage with my friend Sara from California that I had met at NHCC and spent a lot of time with. We stayed at this super nice hostel that gives people from NHCC discounts on rooms. I was definitely really sad leaving all those beautiful children, but let me tell you it is soooo nice having a real shower/toilet after having one-armed bucket showers and bucket toilets for 2 weeks!!! At the time it seemed like the nicest bathroom I had ever seen hahaha I was in heaven!!!! The main thing Sara and I did in Phnom Penh was go to The Killing Fields and S21 Museum. It’s hard to describe them because there are no words to describe them, but it was an extremely enlightening day. It is so sad all of the atrocities that happened there and seeing how badly people can treat other people. Before I went to Cambodia I read the book “First They Killed My Father” ( at the suggestion of my beautiful half-sister Vicki) and I’m so glad I did. It was a real story of a family’s experience during the Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia and I learned so much. I could not believe how everything was handled and the fact that the majority of the world knew so little. It is so sad but it does make you appreciate and respect the Cambodian people so much with how they have moved on and seem to be really enjoying life! They are such beautiful and lovely people, it is so sad that they had to experience horror the way they did. For the 1000th time on this trip I really understood how lucky I am to be where I’m from and to have access to the kind of life I do. I am so blessed it is ridiculous. After that emotionally draining day Sara and I took the nightbus to Siem Reap!

SIEM REAP

I had the best start in a city that I’ve had so far on my trip in this wonderful city. I left NHCC with my friend Sara who had been volunteering there for a couple weeks. We were still a little emotional about leaving NHCC when we got on our night bus to go to Siem Reap, but it was honestly the best night bus experience I’ve ever had! I’d taken soooo many buses in Vietnam so by this point I thought I was a pro, meaning I’m aware of the psycho drivers, the way they always show up early and just walk down the isles and hit you to wake you up. Not this time!!! We showed up at around 5:30am and were slowly woken up and actually informed BEFORE we showed up that we were almost in Siem Reap and that we had to get our stuff together. We were then given face towels as we got off the bus and were allowed to take our sweet ass time getting off (I’m used to being yelled at if I’m not off in .03 seconds). We had arranged a pick up through our hostel but had told them 6am, so we assumed that we would just be waiting in the bus station for a little while. I grabbed my bag and went to sit down, when I turned and saw a guy standing with the large queue of tuktuk drivers and he had a sign with my name on it, spelled CORRECTLY!!!!!!!! Guys I have never felt and will never again feel more like a celebrity than I did in that moment. We then spent the tuktuk drive to our hostel saying good morning to everyone we saw on the road along the way. I know I sound like a complete loser but it was just so fun and such a great way to start travelling again. Thankfully our tuktuk driver was a saint and enjoyed us being loopy from lack of sleep and yelling good morning at everyone. He actually was saying it with us! The only thing I regret from that morning is not keeping the sign with my name on it. Other than that amazing start I frigging loved my time in Siem Reap. Stayed in a great hostel and made some great friends, by the end of our stay we had a big misfit group of friends from America, Canada, Brazil, Holland and France. Went to Angkorr Wat to see the sunrise which was AMAZING and then spent the rest of the day and half of another one exploring the beautiful temples. It is insane how much time and effort has been put into creating all of those ginormous temples, I could not believe how big some of them were and how many are in that one area! Siem Reap is also such a fun place to walk around and hang out in. I honestly did not want to leave! I became really close with Sara (the other NHCC volunteer from California) so it was so nice spending time with her. Actually spent more time with her than originally planned due to a missed flight on her part after a wee bit too much alcohol one night hahaha but eventually she went back home and I went on my way to the beautiful islands of Cambodia - to Sihanoukville I went.

SIHANOUKVILLE

My time in Sihanoukville was verrrrrry short, mostly on the recommendation of everyone I spoke to before my travels. I’d heard it was a busy, scuzzy place with annoying tourists and from what I saw it seemed pretty accurate. I spent one night on Otres beach, which is the farthest one from the city. It was a beautiful beach and a nice relaxing place to have a night. The highlight of my stay there would have to be this BOMB salad I ate at the recommendation of my two British friends who were there a few weeks before me. It had roasted vegetables, cashews and other wonderful things and it was frigging HEAVENLY. You all know how I feel about salads so I get a lil emotional thinking about salads too much just because of the huge empty whole I have in my life without them. Needless to say it made the trip to Sihanoukville all worth it! After my one night there I was on a ferry to Koh Ta Kiev!

KOH TA KIEV

Because of my time spent at the orphanage I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked travelling the rest of Cambodia. I only really had enough time to see one of the beautiful Cambodian islands so picking was hard. The main two are Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samleon, which I had heard are both stunning. Koh Rong is the bigger one of them all so the most built up and pretty busy. After my time in Siem Reap and being on my own again made me really feel like I needed some alone time. Not in a bad way at all but I’ve definitely come to realize how tiring travelling can be (and now I sound like a huge asshole because I’m so lucky to be able to do this trip) and especially with all of my stupid health situations I was in a bit of a weird mindset. With all that being said I host Koh Ta Kiev, the smallest of island of them all that’s really quiet, secluded and basically a little paradise. It was actually suggested to me by my beautiful mama before I even came to Cambodia! I knew it was her and Dugalds favourite find and I’m so glad I picked it!!! There’s no internet on the island so it was nice to get away from technology and just hang out. The place was absolutely STUNNING. The boat dropped us off on the beautiful white private beach, with not a soul in sight. The place I stayed at had adorable little bamboo treehouse/bungalows all around with a main restaurant/hangout treehouse. It was honestly a little oasis! The people who worked there were so frigging lovely and same with the other guests. I spent 2 days just hanging out and eating the best food I’d eaten in soooo long. The sunsets were immaculate, I did not want to leave! One day some friends and I went on a hike across the island to see the floating fishing village on the other side. There had been quite a bit of rain before I got there so what was meant to be a leisurely hike turned into quite an adventurous trek! At that point I still had a wound on my foot that hadn’t healed from my accident, and I was on strict instructions from my future doctor best friend to keep it covered and to not put it in any water. With that in mind it put my friends and I in a little bit of a bind when we reached parts of the path that were swamps…… After unsuccessfully attempting to find a route around the swamps we said screw it and just went through, safely! I tied a plastic bag around my foot and ended up hopping onefooted for a large portion of the day, with some assistance in parts that were too deep. Definitely not expected but it was hilarious and made the day pretty fun. In the end we made it to the village and my foot was dry and intact!!!!! Mission frigging accomplished. After my two beautiful, quiet days on the island I was fresh, rejuvenated and READAYYYY for the next part of my trip. I actually had quite a few epiphanies about my trip and my life while on the island which I am so grateful for. After my lil emotional time I remembered how god damn lucky I am to be on this trip, experiencing all the things I am and to have the frigging phenomenal, supportive family I have. I literally have the best parents in the world. Like holy crap you two, even from across the frigging world you can make me feel better about everyone in one single conversation. I also realized that even though I’m having the most amazing time, I love Canada so FRIGGING MUCH and I am so proud to be from there. So yeah! Sorry for getting too deep there, I’ve calmed down now I promise. After all that a super fun guy I met on the island from Montreal (wahoo another Canadian!! Ps he’s gay so don’t get too carried away everyone) and I moved on to Kampot.

KAMPOT

The last stop on my Cambodia tour and it was a perfect place to finish. Kampot is a beautiful little river town, full of cute little shops, cafes and restaurants. I spent the first day just walking around the city and hanging out which was lovely. At night we went to this adorable little cinema just down the street from our hostel that shows certain films ever night in the cutest cinema you’ve ever seen. It has tiered lounges/beanbags/comfy chairs and we watched two episodes of the new Planet Earth 2 !!!!!!!!! Such a good night. Our last day we went on this action packed tour that showed pretty much everything there is to see around Kampot. The morning was spent up Bokor Mountain, which was absolutely stunning and full of all of these abandoned buildings, palace and church from the civil war in Cambodia. They were cool to see but definitely very eerie…. But on the bright side the views from the top were breathtaking. Is there anything better than standing on top of a mountain, looking down onto the ocean coastline???? The answer is probably not. I won’t say 100% but I’m pretty frigging sure. After that we had lunch at a beautiful waterfall and then dropped off the majority of the tour group and continued the rest just the two of us. The second half included us in our private tuktuk driving around the beautiful country side going to different sites. We went to the salt fields which were really cool! In dry season they take sea water and literally just dry it out and collect the salt. After that we went to Phnom Chhngok Cave, which I thought would be a short little look around but ended with us pretty much spelunking through the entire thing which was so fun. From there we drove by Secret Lake, which is a beautiful fresh water lake in the middle of the mountains. I felt so at home seeing that stunner. Then we went to my personal sanctuary, a pepper plantation!!!!!!!!!!! We toured around and got to see how it’s grown (which is on vines, mind blowing!!!!), harvested and then sampled the different types. As most of you probably know pepper is my SHIT and I put it on literally everything. It isn’t exactly a staple most places in Asia so I was in heaven seeing that place. From the plantation we went to Kep and saw the crab markets! After that whirlwind of a day we headed back into town. We were very, very tired after all of that but definitely satisfied with my last full day in Cambodia. That night we treated ourselves and went to a cute little cafe and ate such good western food. My friend had poutine and I had an amazing chicken burger. It was a frigging good day. The next day I took a bus to Phnom Penh, unfortunately had to say goodbye to my friend as he was staying in Cambodia and went to the airport to catch my flight to Bali!!! I was sad to leave Cambodia but I was so excited to go to Indonesia and be reunited with my two British friends I met in Thailand for Christmas!

I'm now in Indonesia and absolutely loving it. I definitely do not have enough time here to do all of the things I want to do here, but that's alright. Just another place I'll come back to! Another post with the updates from here will come shortly (hopefully)! I hope everyone had an absolutely amazing Christmas and New Years. It was so weird not being there, definitely missing home more and more! Excited for what's to come but also can't wait to see all of you beautiful people again. Love you more than I can say!

Your redhead

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