By Elisa Glangeaud, Deputy Director of Projects Abroad’s French Office

At my arrival at Phnom Penh, I was welcomed by the smile of Petro, our director for Cambodia and by the incredible heat, which I appreciated a lot after the last snow falls in Grenoble, France!!

We immediately dived in the heart of Phnom Penh on the way to my hotel, among the famous Tuk-tuk (taxi motorcycles) and a myriad of motorcycles driving in front of us and in all directions.

And the day after my arrival, I also crossed an elephant which was slowly going home among the cars…

Fortunately, the delicious Cambodian food enabled me to recover from my jet lag and culture shock! And after a few days, I could ride on a motorcycle without any problem, according to the Cambodian style. I was even able to smile at the little babies in their mother’s arms, who were quietly sharing the motorcycle together with their father, sisters and brothers.

Life is always different elsewhere and our state of mind tends to adapt quickly to local habits, which is one of the charms of travelling…

I met some very nice volunteers who were very involved with the children at their placements and were always looking for new ideas to make their life better. I had a dinner with them on the roof of their apartment in Phnom Penh. We ate with candles due to a power cut and it was a great shared moment.

Elisa with our Cambodian office

The Cambodian team is also very active. They all work hard and try to develop the placements, which is not always easy.

Cambodia is a fascinating country and it is difficult to get bored there. Everywhere you go you can admire gorgeous pagodas with impressive Buddha’s statues, decorated with orange scarves, necklaces and incense presents. You can also cross paths with many Buddhist monks who survive on the generosity of the local population.

And when you get out of Phnom Penh, you can immediately appreciate the quiet landscapes of the countryside, with nice coloured stilt houses with children playing on the stairs. I particularly like the peaceful vision of the buffaloes drinking in the river at the sunset.

And if you have the chance to go to Angkor Wat, you can then discover one of the most fabulous archaeological sites in the world. I would have loved to spend days there, to get lost in the exuberant vegetation and to change myself in a kind of Indiana Jones and find new temples or lost cities…

My only disappointment during my trip in Cambodia was not being able to eat spiders. I haven’t crossed any spider to eat on my way as I had read in my tourist guidebook.

I will certainly have to come back!!

Volunteers with kids in Phnom Penh

n true Projects Abroad fashion my trip to Cambodiawas quite last minute! Before I knew it I was sat on the floor of Bangkok airport waiting for my connecting flight to Phnom Penh (and judging by Ian’s blog comments regarding airport preferences, I would totally agree that it is in fact the cleanest airport I have ever been in).

Now, throughout my time at Projects Abroad I have heard numerous stories about the ’Kingdom of Cambodia’ from our ex-volunteer’s and my colleagues, but not once did anyone hasten to add that my main form of transport would be via moto-taxi (baring in mind I am one of those people that refuses to go anywhere near a motorbike!! I might be a speed demon on four wheels but put me on two and you are asking for trouble!).

Moto-bikes in Phnom Penh

The bustling metropolis that is Phnom Penh was just as I expected – loud, busy and full of adventure. Despite my initial fear of the traffic, I very quickly took to Phnom Penh and the Cambodian people. The main purpose of my visit was to work with our staff team, to further develop our Khmer Project and a new staff role. Khmer cultural traditions are an integral part of Cambodian history and still very prevalent in today’s Cambodian society. Of the 10 million people, 90%of them are ethnic Khmers. Our Khmer project volunteer’s have the chance to learn the language (I think I managed about one word!!!), take part in local puppetry, Khmer painting, silk weaving as well as time spent working at the many ancient temples in Siem Reap.

Petro, the Country Director and I, managed to fit in a trip to Siem Reap during the latter part of my trip. After all, it would be a travesty to go to Cambodia and not witness the architectural masterpiece that is Angkor Wat. As a Khmer project volunteer you would spend time at a number of the Khmer temples in the region, as well as working directly with the APSARA authority, (in charge of all Cambodian heritage sites) to conserve and restore many of the ancient statues and ruins. Siem Reap offers a light relief from time to time for our volunteer’s who wish to escape the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh. The air feels cleaner, the temperature cooler and I was extremely pleased to see….far fewer moto -taxis!!!

Petro at Angkor Wat

Fayes tells us after the jump about one of the most unique things she has ever eaten

Unfortunately, my time in Siem Reap was short lived. There is only one road back to Phnom Penh and not that long ago it was still dirt road. However, I was pretty thankful for the invention of tarmac, when Petro started overtaking on corners at 90mph (I think we call them blind corners for a reason!!). I don’t know about you, but in England a traditional car journey treat might be a bag of sweets to share, so you can imagine my shock when we stopped on the side of the road to buy two cans of coke and a bag of spiders!!!! I think I can officially add that to my list of bizarre foods (and funnily enough, I differed with the opinion that ‘it just tastes like chicken!!).

Faye eating a you-know-what

The majority of Cambodian families all sleep in the one bed (I hope that’s King size!), so if you choose to volunteer with us in Cambodia then you will be living in one of our volunteer apartment’s right in the centre of Phnom Penh. Sophan, our Assistant Country Manager and Nareth, our Desk Officer are frequent house guests and along with the other staff members in the team work incredibly hard to make sure our volunteer’s enjoy their time in Cambodia. I managed to squeeze in visiting as many of our volunteer’s as possible on our Care, Teaching and Medical programmes.

Volunteers at Apartment 1

I have to admit of all the countries I’ve been to; I instantly warmed to Cambodia. The countries recovery from the effects of war, genocide and the virtual elimination of its skilled workforce has been slow, but steady, and you cannot help but be humbled by the kindness of the Khmer people.

-Faye Stickings

Our man in Australia, Will Pashley, just returned from a trip to Thailand and Cambodia and from speaking to him it sounds like he had an amazing time and rightfully so! From my travels in Southeast Asia, these are two spectacular countries and I feel in love with them just as my counterpart Will did. Read about Will’s time in Cambodia and his passion for scoters!

Phnom Penh is a fascinating and challenging place, the city of the scooter and hugely photogenic. I spent my short stay wishing I was just a half decent photographer as the crazy sights on every corner flashed by.

It is a desperately poor country but one that is changing; I reckon the irony is that the more it changes the less interesting it will become. But on the other hand, the more it changes, the more likely it is that some of the awful poverty might be a thing of the past. I’m glad I visited when I did, this place has a soul.

During my trip I was humbled by the smiles on the faces of handicapped children, horrified by the truth of the Khmer Rouge genocide, blown away by the commitment of the volunteers and disappointed that I saw so little of the country.

But most of all I got hooked on riding around the city on the back of a scooter, the best adrenalin rush you can imagine.

Pretty much everyone rides around on a scooter and the roads are a total free for all. There are no lanes on the roads, the mass of scooters resemble a swarm of bees where four people on a moped is nothing to comment on and very few people wear a helmet (Ed. Although we recommend all volunteers wear one, safety first!).

I know it’s reckless but it was a real treat to have the wind in my hair and to grin like an idiot at every rider we so nearly crashed into. They always grin back. There is no road rage, commuting is just a daredevil game in which everyone is welcome. The more the merrier.

But it’s a game that I cannot fathom the rules to. Take the example of the crossroads. Four, or more swarms of scooters accelerate from different directions at the intersection where a red light is merely an opening for negotiation

I think that from a helicopter, the crossroads of Phnom Penh would look like a carefully choreographed ballet. At ground level it is pandemonium but good natured and a shared white knuckle experience.

Cambodia is a bit like that, despite a terrifying recent history, third world poverty and social issues which desperately need addressing, it is an optimistic and very friendly place which deserves a lot of luck and a big leg up.

Projects Abroad volunteers do some remarkable work in what is a remarkable city. I am so glad I visited the place when I did and saw what I saw. Personally I would love to go back and reckon that as a volunteer destination, it is hard to beat.

What a fantastic trip that was! One month, 5 countries, 13 flights and 12 time zones ahead of home. The Plan was to document the amazing work of our volunteers in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. Breathtaking, inspiring and heartbreaking sometimes but mostly, very rewarding.

I think I met an average of 10 people a day every day who offered me tea. I can now count to ten in Thai, Khmer, Sinhala and Tamil, also I can very politely ask “Can I take a picture of you?” in Thai and Khmer.

Meeting new people, visiting a new placement and taking new pictures everyday, driving every weekday and flying to a different country every weekend, that was my routine for a month.

The most remarkable thing is definitely the work of our volunteers - we behind the scenes don’t normally see their work as we’re too busy organizing their placements behind our desks, but I must say they do an amazing job and I have the best example here with me; Rotanak is an orphan boy who lives in the Lighthouse orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Please notice how good his English is. The reason is very simple: Volunteers.

Click this link to see the video:
http://www.teaching-abroad.co.uk/expes/rotanak-cambodia.html

The photos show the volunteers in Action, I really wonder how many did I photograph? Teaching English to Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, taking care of physically and mentally disordered kids in Thailand, taking active part in operations on our medical placements in India, supporting local physiotherapists in Nepal or Teaching English to kids at the Tsunami camp in Sri Lanka. So many places and so many examples of how the volunteers can make a real difference.

I took nearly 5 thousand pictures, I needed a week to classify them all, a selection is already in the UK and shortly you’ll be able to see them at the global Projects Abroad online Gallery, Posters, Brochures, Leaflets and of course our website.

I want to thank all the colleagues and now new friends I met over all the destinations I visited, I really hope to see you all again!

I also managed to take general pictures of the actual destinations, here’s an online gallery, have a look and feel free to criticise them.

Link to photogallery
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60409115@N00/

Thanks very much, Kap kun kap, hapkun, Istuti, Nanri, Danyevat !!!

Claudio