Cambodia.... Here we come!

Morning Folks!

So yesterday was a long and tiring day! We left Ban Lung at 7am and had an 8hr drive to the Capitol, Pnom Penh.

For the return journey, we opted not to cram into a 12 seater minibus with 20 other people, but had a 4x4 with just us! Breakfast was a traditional Cambodian affair, we stopped at the services and I had ginger-chicken curry and sticky rice, Nicky and Beef curry and Rice - a little hard to swallow at 9am! But we were hungry!!!

We opted for as western a meal as we could find in the evening to make up for it! Pizza and Fish and Chips! Yum!

This morning, we going to spend a couple of hours wondering the market before heading to the airport!

Hope you folks in the UK have the sun shining and ready to welcome us back!
Sorry, no pics on this one, all we saw yesterday were dusty mud-tracks and pot-holed roads!

See you soon!

Sheena

Regards,

Sheena Pabari
Demand/Project Manager
07834 893 531

Hi All,

So today has been our last day in Ban Lung...

We went back to the village of Ol' Tuch for our final day of teaching. Again over 60 children were waiting for us eager to start their lessons.

Today I was introducing them to Play Doh! The delight on their faces when I showed them how to make things with it. The boys inevitably made Buffalo's, Snakes and Motos (mopeds) while the girls made things like cooking pots, drinking vessels and makeshift tables to put their plates on. However I'm not sure who had the most fun them or me.....

After school we headed to another waterfall for a quick dip and grabbed some lunch.. It's now early evening and we are heading to the crater lake for another swim before dinner.

All in all this has been an amazing experience and one I shall certainly treasure.. It astounding what this country and villages have gone through and how they are building their communities from scratch beginning with education. Yet there is still so much more to do, such as building wells so the villagers have clean water....

So ANMedia we are the first Corporate company to build a school here. Which even though it isn't finished yet the way it has changed the community is invaluable and we should all be proud to be supporting such a worth while cause...

So signing off for the last time in Cambodia

Nicky

So as Nicky said in her blog, we visited 2 schools yesterday(I only saw the inside of one of the two schools, but I'll come back to that!), which were on the North side of the River.

This meant, we took the trusty 4x4 to Vensai with two moto's (Motorbikes) tied to the back. We loaded the bikes onto the Rafts and crossed the river. We were then met by the Village Chief of Rock (I've nickedname him Speedy Gonzales!), as he was my chauffeur.

He knows the mudtracks and routes through the village like the back of his hand, so there were a few times I had to close my eyes (like when we crossed a bridge where the planks were lose or missing!)

Speedy decided not to stop at Kong Nork, so we whizzed past, straight onto Rock (he's a little bit biased as that's the school in his village!) A fantastic school, drawing in nearly 200 students each day.

We then cooled down in the Namgham waterfall on the River Ol Lai before heading back - my chauffuer on the way back was full of pride at having a foreigner on the back!

Finally, when we got back across the river, we saw a a very innovative way of hammering in a post (to be used for the rafts, so they can tie up their vehicles).

They used the digger to hammer in the post, but as it wasn't effective, they then added more weight by putting some large cans of Resin on the front and tried again - Innovation at its best!

Courtesy of Chris, there's also a picture of Nicky having a snooze on the way back! (Surprise Nicky!)
Regards,

Sheena Pabari
Demand/Project Manager
07834 893 531

Hi all,

Not to much to report today!

So today we went to Rock and KongKork via the raft across the river then mopeds through the jungle.... Gripping on for dear life thinking I'm going to go bouncing off the back of the bike on every bump we hit...

The school at Rock has over 200 children attending which is very impressive. Next to the school is a lovely river which we all had a dip in to cool off then back Ban Lung.

Tomorrow is our last day in Ban Lung before the long travel home so we are heading back to Ol' Tuch to do some teaching..

Saw one of the most surreal things today. Two monks taking a canoe across the river!!!
Thanks

Nicky

Hi All,

This is actually day 10 rather than yesterday...

So yet another early start for us as we were scheduled to visit 3 schools today Chia Thon, Kak and the most remote Jong...

It started by taking a river trip with the 4x4 North on nothing more than a raft!!

We went into the deepest jungle to visit the schools with Jong being the furthest only 5 kilometres from the Vietnam border surrounded by jungle...

All the villagers are not used to seeing Western people and the children were very shy around us... But a few songs brought them round... Clearly they don't know my nickname is Nicky no tone!!!

It's been a very long day with lots of driving on very rough terrain so a cocktail at the tree top hotel was just the remedy!!!

Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for tomorrows update...

Nicky