Digital Freaks Become Reality

For the past eighteen months I’ve been working online for a digital marketing agency. I suppose you could say I’m a static digital nomad. While my newfound profession allows me to work from anywhere in the world, my love for Cambodia and my little furry friend has resulted in my setting up residence in sleepy Kampot and getting the fastest internet connection the country has to offer installed in my house.

I knew relatively little (read none) about the world I was stepping into when I got a job as an SEO blog writer through an online platform in September 2016. But like most things I turn my hand (fingers) to, I picked it up soon enough. I’ve always loved writing (this blog is exhibit A) and it wasn’t long before my boss began to offer me a diverse range of writing tasks.

But who is this boss? Karyn started Digital Freak a few months before bringing me on board and is based in Melbourne (along with almost all of our clients). Over time, as I began to do more work, we started to get to know one another. Time passed, I took on more responsibility and our Skype message conversation began to be so long that trying to find a password or task shared just a few days before resulted in my entire computer becoming overwhelmed and crashing.

Before long we were talking about more than just work, growing closer in both our professional and personal lives. We learned about one another, talked outside of working hours (which is saying something considering we’re both workaholics and have been known to be at our respective computers into the small hours of the morning), and eventually began to call one another friends. When I knew I was coming to Perth to see my sister, therefore, I knew it was time to hop over to Melbourne. This is the tale of how Digital Freaks became reality.

There’s a difference between knowing someone in messenger form, commenting on one another’s Facebook posts and the (very) occasional work phone call. I won’t deny that I was a little nervous of meeting Karyn. I had joked several times that if we met and didn’t get on, the business would implode. I maintain that statement is true. Luckily for both of us, Digital Freak stands strong. After over a year of talking to each other every day, sharing stories, thoughts, hopes and dreams, I was standing outside her apartment building, pressing the intercom and about to come face to face with the individual who set my life on an unpredicted, yet wonderfully enjoyable trajectory.

At 7am, after only an hour’s sleep and suffering from jetlag aren’t the best circumstances under which to meet someone for the first time but considering that, I think we did pretty well. Karyn was kind enough to open her home to me for the week, share her evenings and time with her son and allow us the opportunity to get to know each other on a deeper level. And yes, I know what you’re thinking. We don’t have a typical employer-employee relationship but it works for us and it works for the business. I trust her implicitly and I hope she feels the same about me.

The unorthodox nature of our friendship continues. Only a few hours after I landed, I found myself in my first ever public yoga class; a three hour ‘urban retreat’ alongside Karyn followed by lunch. Feeling refreshed, relaxed and in touch with my inner zen, we returned to her apartment and continued to find our footing with one another in the same room, city, country and time-zone.

After a visit to Melbourne’s annual Moomba festival and a good night’s sleep, Karyn and I were back to doing what we do best: working. Except this time, I was able to interrupt her with a knock on her office door rather than the ping of a Skype message. I fell seamlessly into the routine of working at her dining room table, shouting questions down the corridor and discussing clients, strategies and the future of the business during our regular coffee breaks. The evenings involved more getting to know one another and various wines I’d brought from Margaret River, a memento of my roadtrip the week before.

Attending Karyn’s BNI meeting on Thursday was a definite trip highlight as it allowed me to show my face to about half of the company’s clients. I also got to meet one of our partners whom I’ve been exchanging emails with for the past six months. Another first-time experience was attending a book launch of client, coincidentally scheduled during my trip. The week was rounded off by a four-hour photoshoot with yet another client. This was somewhat sprung on me (Karyn, I’ll get you back for this) and while I accept that my LinkedIn profile was in desperate need of being updated, I was a little nervous, never having felt at home in front of the camera lens. The girls at Blush Creative were fantastic, however, and managed to make me feel relaxed and comfortable as they snapped away.

That evening I also had some time to spare so I popped into the city to meet up with a friend from Cambodia. Mel lived in Kampot for six months and it was great to catch up with her in one of Melbourne’s countless bars, reminisce over our time in the kingdom together, talk about our friends and update one another on our lives.

The weekend was downtime. Karyn and I aren’t known for taking time for ourselves but we managed to drag ourselves away from our screens, bundle her son, Corbin, into the car and hit the road. To the Twelve Apostles, to be precise. Majestic, iconic and thoroughly worth the 3-hour drive.

We then set off weaving our way back up Great Ocean Road, talking about our hopes and dreams for the future, life plans steadily mapped out in front of us and growing more defined the closer we got to the city.

I’ve never been a planner. Unlike Karyn, who has a ten-year plan. After my time in the city, however, I think I can see my future. For those of you in England reading this, I’m afraid it looks like I’m moving further away. Melbourne was an amazing city but more than that, this job and this company is presenting a great opportunity to me. I’ve always been lucky in my ability to do jobs I love but I have never enjoyed my work as much as I do with Digital Freak. It’s interesting, challenging and a constant learning curve, one I am yearning to travel further along. There’s no set time frame for this next step but I think it’s safe to say, at some point, it’s happening.

And on that note, for those of you who want to visit me in Cambodia, start booking your tickets (Karyn, that includes you!)

Here are some pics of my time in Melbourne and if you’re on Instagram, search #DigitalFreaksBecomeReality to see a few more.

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Calamity Ruth

In the spirit of my New Year’s Resolution to update this blog more frequently, I am now posting about even the most mundane events in my life. Feel free to duck out now …

 

This week saw my first moto crash, after riding for six months. To be fair, the word crash is a massive exaggeration. It was a bump, an incident, pathetically anticlimactic and barely worth the 700 words I’ve managed to pull from a few seconds of drama. I’ll first of all say that I am 100% completely ok and that there is no need to worry. Now I’ll go on to set the scene.

 

I was driving along, as I do every day, through the ‘centre’ of Kampot. Full face helmet on, as always. I was even wearing long yoga pants (a skin-saver, it turns out). I indicated to turn into a junction and slowed down to wait for some passing traffic. I was almost in the centre of the road, pootling along at about 2mph. Once the way was clear, I turned, as my indicator suggested was my next planned manoeuvre. At that exact same moment, two young local lads zoomed by, catching my front tire as they overtook me. There was really nothing I could do to stop the inevitable. Hello road!

 

It didn’t even hurt. I was moving so slowly that the impact was negligible. As I looked up from my new position (horizontal on a warm and dusty road), I saw the two guys looking over their shoulder before speeding off. The next sight was my friend’s partner running across the road towards me. I don’t know many people in Kampot but I happened to have toppled over outside his place of work, for which I am grateful. He lifted the bike off me and walked me and it to the side of the road. By this time, the policemen in their newly erected police station (a shipping container painted white and blue), had noticed the ‘foreigner in trouble’ and decided to get involved. You never know when you’re going to receive a cash ‘thank you’, after all.

 

Holding my broken wing mirror and the end of my brake handle, I had to then explain to the overly concerned cops that the scratch on my leg had come not from the accident they had just witnessed but from the day before when I had somehow walked into my own desk. It’s a wonder I am still alive, to be fair.

 

Reassuring a few bystanders that I was ok, Erwan and I got my bike running again (apparently the poor machine was more shocked by the collision than I was and had temporarily stopped working). The cops faded away, realising there was no money to be made from this particular barang (white person) mishap. The reckless driver who hit me was long gone and, frankly, there was no reason to chase after him. In the grand scheme of things, it was a non-event.

 

As a side note, the only reason for my trip into town on that not-so-fateful day was to buy salad. Eating healthy almost killed me! Except I didn’t nearly die: that was just a statement for dramatic effect. Seriously, Mum and Dad, I’m fine.

 

The next morning, I dropped by my mechanic who reattached my wing mirror free of charge. I’ve decided to live with my snapped brake handle for a little longer as it still works perfectly well. My blue kneecap will be covered by long trousers or leggings for a few days.

 

That’s it. That is the story of my rite of passage: becoming a moto crash victim in Cambodia. Considering I’ve been here for three and a half years, the fact that I’ve never been robbed and, until this week, hadn’t been involved in any traffic collisions was something which made me rather unusual. Perhaps now I can truly be considered a local. When, in fact, I think I could more accurately be described as a careless barang who forgot to check her mirrors before turning. I should have known that indicating wasn’t enough!

 

Lesson learned, I’m back on the road. Getting back in the saddle wasn’t even a psychological hurdle. After all, I had salad ingredients to buy. And the cover image for this blog was taken after a 30km moto ride with my former flatmate, Fanny, to meet some climbing friends of hers. Confidence unaffected, I drive onwards.

Nugget’s a wannabe biker kitty!

The Sun Sets On Another Year

After the year we’ve had, I think most people are looking forward to waving a firm goodbye to 2016 and welcoming 2017 with open arms. I mean, it can’t get any worse can it? Brexit and Trump, the war in Syria, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, the loss of Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Prince, Victoria Wood, Muhammad Ali, Elie Wiesel, Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen, and then in the final few days a flurry of George Michael, Richard Adams, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds. I don’t usually swear on my blog but I think at this point it’s fair to say “2016, fuck off!”

And yet … it’s not been all bad. Ok, it’s been pretty terrible but a few good things did happen in 2016. They may have passed you by, buried beneath headlines about Brexit and the American election and nuclear weapons and Syria and the refugee crisis but they’ve been there. So I’m returning to my usual happy self and reminding you of ten happy events of 2016 to restore some faith in our planet and humankind.

10. Ebola was cleared from West Africa.

9. 200 strangers went to the funeral of a homeless World War II veteran with no family.

8. Humpback whales, grizzly bears, manatees, and giant pandas all moved (positively) up the endangered list.

7. 800 of the Boko Harem hostages were rescued and returned to their families.

6. The hole in the ozone layer has shrunk by 3.9 million square kilometres in the past ten years

5. Volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in 24 hours.

4. Scientific breakthroughs in chemotherapy are increasing survival rates.

3. The Paris climate change agreement became international law in November.

2. The worldwide charitable drive for ALS in 2014 has led to scientists isolating the gene responsible and they have begun to work on a therapy.

1. Charitable giving and acts saw a significant increase worldwide.

Of course, the last one is a subject particularly close to my heart. I doubt I can claim my own charity, SKOPE, had much to do with the increase in charity across the globe but I’m proud to have been part of it. Both in my role as SKOPE coordinator and as a happiness ambassador to More Good Deeds, I read a lot about giving to charity, philanthropy, and how to involve people in charitable works. But it seems I needn’t bother, because everywhere you look there are signs of generosity, both financial and in other ways. Giving your time, your energy, your commitment, and your money all help charities. With politics in turmoil across the globe, it is down to us, the little people, to do that work on the ground. Whether in refugee camps ladling out soup each morning, or in medical tents outside obliterated cities like Aleppo, or even my own charity, handing out library books or stationary in a school in Cambodia, it all matters. It all makes a difference. And every one of us can get involved.

So let’s end 2016 on a positive note and look forward to 2017 with hope in our hearts. After all, it can only go up from here! I hope every one of you has a great time celebrating New Year’s Eve tonight and I’ll see you on the other side.

Supermoon – super fun

The previous weekend was the Water Festival in Cambodia, an annual event which celebrates the moment when the Tonle Sap lake, swollen with monsoon rains, forces the flow of the Tonle River back the other way, reversing its direction. As people flooded from the provinces to celebrate this remarkable natural occurrence along the riverbank in Phnom Penh, myself and a group of friends sped the other way, towards the sea.

Friends + sea = yay! Me, Jordan, Ruth, Phaline, Meabh, and Elske

To avoid traffic, we left the city at 3am and, using indefatigable logic, decided not to go to bed and just party on through until the minivan arrived. My friend visiting from Ireland, Ruth, and her friend Meabh, decided to actually sleep. In hindsight, this may have been the better idea. Anyway, we arrived at the beach where we, unsurprisingly slept.

Whilst napping the waiters appeared to be overly concerned our white skin would be damaged by 8am sunshine …

After lunch headed off to the island of Koh Rong. I’d recommended the place where we stayed, Palm Beach Bungalows, as I’d had an amazing time there over two years ago. Private beach, amazing food, beautiful waters. And nothing had changed.

Some of the group – Jordan, Ruth, Phaline, Meabh, and Elske

Our days were spent sunbathing, reading, and playing games. The Sunday was Jordan’s birthday and our group expanded in size as the Ngin sisters, their partners and Thy’s son Jimmy joined us for the celebrations. Tash had come prepared for the evening with a barbecue, coals, a rice-cooker (literally), and food, ready for a cook-up on the beach. The walk to the local fishing village in the afternoon had failed to drum up any fish so we were left with vegetables. Fun as it was to build the mini-BBQ and grill courgettes and potato, I think the highlight dish was an amazing coleslaw Tash had prepared. Yes, she brought mayonnaise.

Dinner 

Getting a cake to a desert island is a three person job, apparently.

 

Because we’re cheapskates, we’d brought along our own alcohol and wiled away the warm evenings drinking on the sands. Sadly we didn’t get to swim with the phosphorescent plankton but the reason for this, the supermoon, more than made up for it.

Jimmy in the forefront of the moonrise – no filter on this or the cover photo

Now we’re back in the city. My friends are back in London and Dublin and I’m back at work. Not that I’m complaining, I’m heading back to the UK in two weeks! Happy Water Festival one and all.

Here are people photos:

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And here are scenery photos:

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Motor Up Bokor

I’ve always loved Kampot, as regular readers of my blog will know, so when I was invited to join a motorbike trip down to the province for the Buddhist festival, Pchum Ben, I could hardly say no, much to my parents’ horror (sorry parentals!) The roads in Cambodia aren’t exactly known for their impeccable safety record but I was riding with a Khmer friend who’s been driving motorbikes for half his life so I knew I was in safe hands.

There was a group of ten of us in total, riding down on six bikes: myself, Vanny, Emily, Veasna, Jacinta, Ehud, Jenna, Pov, Serai, and Yuri. The ride took about four hours, including a relaxed breakfast stop and the occasional break to ease our aching butts. We arrived completely unharmed, despite a slightly close call between my kneecap and a white van. But we made it: look!

And because the whole point of this holiday was motorbiking, after we settled into our accommodation we rode up to Ta Da Waterfall (yes, that is actually its name). A new attraction for tourists in Kampot, I’m sure this would have been an incredible site if half of Phnom Penh hadn’t decided to visit at the same time. We still had fun and the scenery was stunning but it was rather overcrowded. And the water was freezing cold!

The next day was the focal point of our trip: a drive up Bokor Mountain. This national park is one of Cambodia’s treasures and significant (Chinese) investment means the road up to the top is in great condition. We visited a second waterfall which was much quieter than the one from the previous day, thank goodness! And then, after literally driving through a cloud and getting rather wet, we arrived at the old casino, one of my favourite places in Cambodia. This old building was built by the French colonists but later used as a Khmer Rouge stronghold and stripped of its former glory. The result is an eery yet beautiful building, succumbing to the elements and perched on a cliff edge overlooking the sea. At least, it would be overlooking the sea if there hadn’t been a cloud there …

After meandering safely down Bokor’s jungle-covered sides, we headed to Kep, the small seaside town/province just half an hour from Kampot. Once again the beach was heaving with holidaying Khmers so our swim in the sea was undertaken semi-clothed (bikinis would have been wildly inappropriate). We then sat on the sand, played frisbee, and ate copious amounts of delicious squid. Kep is well known for its seafood so that evening saw feasts of crab, shrimp, and fish at one of the seafront restaurants. Crab is more hassle than it’s worth, in my opinion.

The following day it was back to Kampot for sunbathing, reading, and drinking coffee. Vanny and I went for a ride through the country and took in a little of the local lifestyle in the area, as well as visiting a pagoda. It was Pchum Ben, after all. The green of the paddy fields during the rainy season is just out of this world: it’s my favourite ever colour.

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Amazing as it was to be riding around for the entire weekend, Vanny and I decided against slogging back up the inevitably busy road on the final day of Pchum Ben. So we took the train. Yes, Cambodia now has a fully functioning railway. Ok, not fully functioning … it runs from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville via Takeo and Kampot. And it was over an hour later arriving. But strangely it got to Phnom Penh bang on time, passing completely stationary traffic jams, much to the amusement of the train passengers! The journey itself was fine: very Khmer (karaoke videos, loud music, children wandering up and down the aisle talking to strangers, people snacking on baby birds etc) but it was cheap and hassle-free. Oh yeah and for an extra five bucks we got the moto back too …

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All in all I had an awesome Pchum Ben, spending time with a great new group of people and seeing more of Cambodia than ever before from the saddle of a bike.

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Two NGOs and a Rainbow House

Last week I went on a two day trip to SKOPE’s newest partner school. Located in the heart of Kampong Speu Province, nestled amongst the trees, is Karuna Youth Cambodia. Founded in 2011 by their young director, Phearith, KYC is an NGO which focuses on community-based education projects. The village of Chherteal Chrum is unassuming and from the outside looks like any other rural Cambodian community. But the children here are luckier than most and six days a week 250 of them are able to attend free English and Computer Studies lessons at KYC.

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The school is small; just one classroom and a narrow corridor which acts as a computer lab. There’s also a small meeting room and performance area (Phearith is looking to begin a traditional arts education programme soon). The playground and surrounding greenery is beautiful and at the far end of the property stands the solar-powered Rainbow House, built to accommodate future volunteers, complete with bathroom, living area, television and mezzanine bedroom.

Look how cute it is! And I slept like a baby to boot.

My trip out to the village took three hours in a local bus-taxi. Usually there are upwards of twenty people crammed into a twelve-seater van but I was lucky. Just me and four Cambodian men. Oh, and a huge bag of alive crickets. The countryside in Cambodia is beautiful, especially in Kampong Speu which is home to the Aural mountain range, the largest in the country, so the drive was delightful. When I arrived at the edge of the village, a man took me by moto to the school where I met Phearith and got the tour of the complex. It is a little haven of comparative luxury; electricity, running water (sort of), English-speakers, and delicious Khmer food.

I was waited on hand and foot by the family whose property borders the school. The women cooked incredible dishes for me throughout my time there and I was very impressed by their skills and hospitality despite them not speaking a word of English. The school ran until four in the afternoon at which point Phearith and I went for stroll around the village. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves here … Basically, it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

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That evening the villagers were all invited to join us at the school as a celebration. Whether it was because Phearith was taking his monthly visit to the site (he is based in Phnom Penh where KYC also operates) or because I was there remains unclear. But I’d like to think it was the latter. Of course dinner wasn’t on time so we wiled away the wait by singing karaoke (not me, don’t worry) and watching a zombie movie which had all the women who had already arrived screaming and the kids hiding behind their hands. Due to the fact that I was sleeping in a wooden house on my own at the end of a school garden in an unknown village, I opted to read on my phone rather than watch …

The following day I spent time with the school children who had come to study. The centre is open all the time and many came hours before their lessons to play with friends and hang out in a safe, clean space. I wandered around, chatted to a couple of them, and then settled down to read a Dr Seuss book to a group of students who were waiting for their class to begin. They were so engaged in it, despite not understanding a lot of the text and I suddenly remembered how much I enjoyed teaching.

The teachers at the school are past students who have studied in Phnom Penh on scholarships from KYC. Whilst their English is good, there is no substitute for native teaching and this is what KYC and SKOPE are partnering on. As of October 2016 we are launching a volunteer program. These volunteers will live on-site in the Rainbow House, be provided with free meals and teaching supplies, and get an incredible experience of life in Cambodian countryside. The program is free although if volunteers want to make a donation towards the school or to cover the costs of the food/housing, they may do so at their discretion. Transport to the site will be organised either by me or Phearith and I may even come with volunteers to settle them in (plus I loved in there and would happily go back any time).

Some of the children in Pre-School

Here I must point out that there has been a lot of press recently about the negative impacts of ‘volunteerism’. KYC and SKOPE are working together to ensure that any and all of the issues raised regarding volunteerism are addressed and eliminated. Both organisations believe in sustainable, community-based practices and we endeavour to do our best for the children we are working with. I will be writing a blog some time over the next few days on volunteerism, SKOPE, Cambodia, and my thoughts more generally.

If you’re interested in volunteering for KYC, please fill out the form below. Alternatively you may contact me (SKOPE@sovannkomar.org) or Phearith (kyclub.info@gmail.com).

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“Burn it to a crisp or leave it raw”: Cambodian Proverbs

I’ve always been interested in cultures, specifically the differences between them. Anthropology was one of my favourite subjects at university and I continued this interest by focusing my masters’ research on Cambodia. Oh, and living in Cambodia. The culture here is unique, special, and fascinating. Recently I’ve been doing some research work which brought me into contact with some traditional Khmer proverbs. I thought I’d share some with you today as a way to offer an insight into this amazing country in which I live. And then comment on them in humorous ways, naturally.

• “Negotiate a river by following its bends, enter a country by following its customs.”

This is important everywhere and recently Cambodia has had some problems with tourists. Naked selfies at Angkor Wat, for example. I mean, what? Who in their right mind would do that? Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. You wouldn’t walk into St. Paul’s Cathedral and strip down so why is it ok to do so at Angkor? It isn’t, they got deported.

• “Don’t let an angry man wash dishes; don’t let a hungry man guard rice.”

Well, yeah, that makes sense. Although in Cambodia men rarely do the washing up so I’m not entirely sure where this came from. It’s logical though, I’ll admit.

• “A bunch of sticks cannot be broken.”

I take this to mean alone one person can be weak/vulnerable but together we can be strong. Agreed; teamwork is the way forwards. Although, let’s be honest, a chainsaw would get through a bunch of sticks … *cough* CPP *cough*.

• “If you know a lot, know enough to make them respect you. If you are stupid, be
  stupid enough so they can pity you.”

So basically don’t get Cs in your exams …

• “The tiger depends on the forest; the forest depends on the tiger.”

I’ll amend this to the tiger depended on the forest … Cambodia no longer has any tigers left in the wild since they were hunted into extinction. So I suppose whoever was making their living from selling the skins didn’t hear this proverb. But more broadly, everything is interconnected; everything is important.

• “The immature rice stalk stands erect, while the mature stalk, heavy with grain, bends over.”

Respect your (hunchbacked) elders. True, and Cambodia does this more than most western countries.

• “Active hands, full bellies.”

Tend your crops and reap the rewards. Makes sense, right? The more rice you plant, the more you grow to eat/sell. That can be expanded out though; work harder to earn more money.

• “For news of the heart, ask the face.”

I like this one. Emotions show on our faces even without our knowledge. You can always tell when a friend is upset or happy or confused or in love. And they can’t hide it from those who know them best.

• “Catch a fish without muddying the water.”

AKA be discrete. True; if you catch one fish and the water is still clear, you’ll be able to catch another. Two fish – yummy.

• “If you are doing wrong, make sure you don’t get fat from it.”

I have no idea what this means, but I like it. Does it mean, don’t eat pizza?

• “You don’t have to cut a tree down to get at the fruit.”

This is important in Cambodia because most people favour immediate gratification over long-term gains. So yes, you could cut down a tree to get every piece of fruit from the highest branches but then what happens next year? Make a ladder, climb up, be patient and work hard and you will receive more in the long term.

• “Burn it to a crisp or leave it raw.”

If you’re going to do something, commit to it! Obviously this doesn’t apply to food. You can cook without taking this proverb seriously …

• “Love is blind.”

Awwww, how cute! My Khmer friend told me this one and clearly it’s a worldwide belief. It’s true; sometimes who we’re attracted to has nothing to do with physical attributes. And why should it? It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

• “Physical death is better than the death of your reputation.”

Is it? To be honest, I disagree but it highlights just how much importance Cambodians put on how they are viewed by others.

• “If there is water, there is fish.”

My friend told me this one … he was rather upset when I told him I was drinking a glass of fish-less water at the time.

• “Men are like gold, women are like white cloth.”

This sums up Khmer traditions perfectly. Scandals stick to women but the men can walk away from the mess without any repercussions. It’s accepted that men visit prostitutes before they are married but women are expected to be virgins. If a man cheats on his wife, oh well. If a woman cheats on her husband, all hell breaks loose. Different expectations for different genders are increasingly archaic as a concept and I hope to see Cambodia moving on from this soon.

So there you have it; a few of my favourite proverbs from Cambodia. There are many more but some of them don’t make sense, some of them I don’t understand and some are just plain weird! But I hope they’ve entertained you and contributed to your understanding of this amazing country.

2006 – 2016: My Cambodian Decade

Ten years ago today, my feet first touched Cambodian soil. I had no idea that a decade later I would be living and working in that very same country with no plans to leave any time soon. I came to Cambodia as part of a one month expedition, which also included Thailand, with a company called World Challenge. We were doing their ‘Team Challenge’ expedition and I was part of a twelve-strong group of sixteen and seventeen year olds from my secondary school. We’d spent close to two years raising the £3,000+ each to go on the trip and it all boiled down to four weeks in South East Asia. At the time, it wasn’t one of the best experiences of my life, predominantly because of our incredibly unpleasant team leader whom we later got fired from World Challenge. I think our troubles in Thailand left a sour taste at the end of our travels but when I was planning my gap year two years later, there was only one country I wanted to go to: Cambodia. Since then, I’ve never looked back. In between finishing high school, getting my undergraduate degree and then my masters, I have spent a combined total of three years in Cambodia so far. Over the past ten years I’ve worked for numerous NGOs, taught hundreds of children, lived with lots of different people, and made some of the very best friends in the world.

In honour of this milestone, I’ve been re-reading the diary I kept when I was travelling. Some of it could have been written by me yesterday. Some of it was clearly written by a sixteen year old with no understanding of the possessive apostrophe (I’ve had to correct them grammatically to publish here because it’s just embarrassing). Anyway, here are some extracts for your enjoyment.

Saturday 15th July 2006 – Arriving in Cambodia

It’s beautiful and outside the city it reminds me of Spain/Mallorca but the hustle and bustle of the centre is amazingly different to anything I’ve ever experienced. There are thousands and thousands of motorbikes, many of which have two or more people on. The current record is 5! I saw a mother feeding a baby on one and very few riders wear a helmet … We passed the Royal Palace and saw lots of children begging. It was really sad as they were all so beautiful. We also saw a man who had been crippled, probably by a mine set down during the wars in Cambodia.

Sunday 16th July 2006 – Phnom Penh

I didn’t sleep too well as our window was open and Phnom Penh is the new city that never sleeps! … The killing fields, when we finally arrived, was a very sad place … The mass graves and the signs stating the numbers of the dead that were buried there was a horrible thought but I had no personal experience of it so it did not mean as much to me as other massacres … At dinner we all sampled some delicious Khmer food. It’s very similar to Chinese.

Monday 17th July 2006 – Orphanage Day 1

I was crammed into the minibus and it got called over by police but we don’t know why. The tuk-tuks in front had to swerve across a steady stream of traffic to stop and wait for us. The driving here is crazy! [At the orphanage] we were enthusiastically greeted by beautiful kids … It’s lovely to play with them as they’re all so friendly. I wish I could take some home with me.

Wednesday 19th July 2006 – Orphanage Day 3

Some people went to the market today to get sheets, a kettle and underwear as the kids here only have one pair each! Now, thanks to us, they have two … I ate crushed beetles which were actually delicious. In the restaurant we were served an un-gutted fish. It was great fun pulling it apart! 

Thursday 20th July 2006 – Orphanage Day 4

It monsooned again today … When it was time to leave we had to wade up to the tuk-tuks. Sometimes the water was over my knees. It was great fun though despite the fact that the water was sewage water and Jo and I saw a syringe and a drip bag which made us really worried about stepping on a needle or anything else. It made us realise what environment these people live in.

Saturday 22nd July 2006 – Orphanage Day 6 (Now known as SOS Day)

A nurse came in to read my blood pressure and heart rate and to take a blood sample … When the doctor came in an examined my ankle he said it was probably a spider bite … and that the spider had left poison in my ankle. He gave me some pills to take every 6 hours and I was put on an IV drip … It was our last day at the orphanage too and the goodbyes were so upsetting as we’re never going to see those kids again.

Sunday 23rd July 2006 – Travelling to Siem Reap

The bus was going at a good speed but I have no idea what that speed was as all the dials had broken. There were loads of cows that seemed to be tied up but we still almost hit some. There were stray dogs and straggly chickens too … Siem Reap is really beautiful and I prefer it to Phnom Penh.

Tuesday 25th July 2006 – Angkor Wat

There is a terrific set of extremely steep steps, very worn and uneven. Adam, Kate and I climbed up them … This sort of climbing would never be allowed in England because of all the healthy and safety procedures! The views were so spectacular that we sat at the top in a window for about an hour … Before leaving Angkor Wat, we all decided to investigate the source of some exotic music. We found a current Buddhist temple. I felt that looking at them was a bit intrusive but I wandered up quickly. I also saw a line of red ants.

Wednesday 26th July 2006 – We say ‘lear-en-haoey’ to Cambodia and ‘sa-wat-dee’ to Thailand

The bus was absolutely tiny! … the road we were on was ridiculously bumpy. At one point I left my seat by 15cm and the sweets on my lap flew down the bus … Kate and Louise were passing the time by counting pigs! … We managed to cross the border without being blown up by a mine which is also very good.

Ok so I wasn’t the most eloquent of writers. But a few of these sentences could have been written in one of my current blogs! Some of them, of course, could not. I mean, was I really that insensitive at the Killing Fields? Possibly, I can’t really remember and I was a self-absorbed teenager at the time. But did I really think the genocide I was learning about didn’t mean much because my grandfather wasn’t involved? And just to clarify, Cambodian cuisine has very little in common with the Chinese take-aways I was referring to. Presumably it was because I’d eaten noodles and rice … And the way I talked about the orphanage kids like we were their saviours! It actually sounds like this orphanage was one of the ones the media now warns against. Clearly there was a regular influx of tourists and white money, each group believing they were helping these poor kids who were really just smiling and playing with them because they knew they’d get things bought for them. As for Angkor Wat, health and safety has encroached sadly and you can no longer climb like monkeys over ancient ruins. Although perhaps in terms of preservation, this is a good thing. I also don’t tend to write about seeing a line of ants … Oh and no one says that Khmer I used as a title of the final entry. I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to sound like.

But what is the same? The crazy roads, ridiculous driving, and lack of helmets. The beggars and cripples near tourist attractions. The noise of the city. Monsoon floods with discarded medical supplies floating in them. Saying goodbye to the kids I work with makes me cry. Buses with speedometers that never work. Cows, dogs and chickens regularly meet their fate on the roads. I still visit that little working temple near Angkor Wat every time I go. The border crossing in Poi Pet is one of the worst in the world.

Ten years has passed and Cambodia has certainly changed. I have too, thank goodness. Some changes have been good, others less so. Some of the Cambodia I wrote about ten years ago is recognisable today, other areas have faded away. But one thing remains the same; my unrelenting, deep, and enduring commitment and love to this country and its people. Here’s to the next ten years.

July 2006 – Me with some of the children from the orphanage in Stung Mean Chey

February 2009 – Me with Loung and Veronique at Sovann Komar

July 2010 – Me with Laura, Marissa, and Orlando at Ta Mao wildlife reserve

December 2012 – Me and Mandy with Cheng and two children at Aziza’s Place

August 2014 – Me with Lucy, Aria, Andrew, and Marcus at Sovann Komar

March 2015 – Me with my Grade 5 class

15th July 2016 – Me with my Grade 4 class

 

Playgrounds! Millbrook School and Sovann Komar build happiness with SKOPE

Sovann Komar and SKOPE recently played host to some students from Millbrook School, New York, who came over as part of an educational trip to get involved in our outreach programme. Which, naturally, meant I was running most of the weekend. There were eleven students and three teachers visiting to organise activities for and I think everything went smoothly. At least, by Cambodian standards. The theme for the overall weekend was: playgrounds!

My willing band of helpers on the first day

On Saturday the American students and some of our own kids worked really hard to recondition the existing playground in Sovann Komar Children’s Village. After eight years of enthusiastic playtimes, it was looking a little dilapidated. So we replaced the sandpit, painted the climbing frame, swing set, and seesaws, hung a new rope swing, and replaced the jumping tyres.

Have you ever tried to remove a tyre filled with concrete and anchored with an iron rod? No? It’s hard!

We put a fresh coat of paint on the climbing frame

It was all hands on deck for the new sand pit

We got new horse heads and seats for the seesaws and painted them

Everyone got stuck in and we were all covered in paint, sweat, sand, and mud by the end of it. But that doesn’t matter in Cambodia in July because there’s always a monsoon around the corner to wash it away. And what better way to experience the rainstorm than by playing a game of football (or soccer, for my American readers)! Those of us who preferred to stay dry (ish), helped with the construction of a giant banana boat.

Sunday was SKOPE’s latest project in Prey Veng province. It was much more ambitious than all of our previous ones combined. And by that, I mean we were doing multiple things, most of which required manual labour. Here was the schedule:

• Hand out stationary to every child (equipment donated by a very generous supporter from China and supplemented by the headteacher at Sovann Komar School)
• Plant trees
• Hand out water filters to each family
• Create a cement base for the new water well
• Build a playground

I was most involved in the first and last point as SKOPE fundraised to support those two endeavours. The trees and water well were supported by Sovann Komar itself, Panasasatra University of Cambodia, and donors from the United States. The water filters were donated by Millbrook School.

The new well looks great! Plus it provides safe drinking water for the students and surrounding community.

Now the children and their families can drink clean, safe water at home

The playground was an idea I had had a few months previously. It was a somewhat daunting task but with so much help from various men at Sovann Komar and the children themselves, it soon became viable. I held a design competition for the playground layout for the children at Sovann Komar, involving them in the structure from the start. The frame itself was built by me and my manly helpers and erected a couple of weeks before the official donation day. On the day itself, we had painted tyres to nail up for monkey bars, ropes to thread for a climbing ceiling, more tyres to tie together to make a climbing wall, and an amazing spiderweb design.

This aspect of the day took the most co-ordinator, the greatest number of people, and the most brain power. Seriously, knots are confusing. Luckily, one of the girls from Millbrook School was a former rock-climber and with her advice, several other students were able to create sturdy, safe connections. We also hung two tyre swings from trees which were inundated with children as soon as our workers were out of the trees above them.

Monkey Jack!

Complex spiderweb making

I’ve never seen so many children climbing on a structure before. As soon as we stepped away, they ran for it, scaling up to the top with ease, swinging on the ropes and clambering through tyres. It was one of the happiest sights of my life and one I will never forget. Also, the playground stayed standing so that was a win!

The completed structure!

Amazingly this held up fine!

Monkey bars or a place to nap? You decide!

Trying out the spider’s web

Monkeying around

In the evening of that night we sailed the banana boats we had made the night before and then had a feast of home-cooked Khmer food, slaved over all day by several of Sovann Komar’s mothers and employees. Then it was time for singing and dancing and generally having a great time. I was so impressed with the way the Sovann Komar children interacted with the Millbrook students. They were confident, friendly, and helpful and I hope they have formed long-lasting friendships. The goodbyes were tearful, let’s put it that way.

Monday morning was the end of Millbrook School’s trip but they had time to eat breakfast with my unusually shy Grade 5 class before teaching English. From origami to reading time, singing songs to conversation classes, Grades 1, 3, and 5 loved learning from our young volunteers.

Origami with Grade 1

After breakfast with Grade 5

And then they were off, continuing on their adventure through Cambodia before returning to New York later in the week. It was amazing to host these bright, funny, caring young people and I hope they had as good a time as we all did here. It was fantastic to meet every one of them (you, if you’re reading) and everyone hopes you come back to visit us again soon. Sovann Komar and SKOPE are very grateful for your time and energy and look forward to continuing our relationship in the future.

Oh and just in case you missed it, here’s the link to a video of our amazing weekend.

Farewell sunset of the Phnom Penh skyline

A Puppy, Plankton, and Peace

It’s public holiday season in Cambodia and last weekend saw a group of a baker’s dozen heading off to Koh Rong. This is an island off the coast of Sihanoukville which I’ve not visited since 2014 and it was high time I returned!

Leaving at 3:30am, we’ve discovered, cuts the usual five hour road trip almost in half and we sped into a bleary-eyed Sihanoukville at 6:30 on Friday morning. Then we had a leisurely two and a half hours to wait before boarding out catamaran and speeding off to Koh Rong. Once we landed on the built-up, touristy beach, we grabbed a sugar cane juice before clambering ungainly into a far less stable, gaudily painted green and orange, water taxi. We were whisked, rocking and pitching, away to a quieter, more peaceful, and infinitely more beautiful Coconut Beach. Yes, there were lots of coconuts. Between us we had three bungalows perched right on the sandy shore.

I spent most of the rest of the time in the sea and on the beach. The water was crystal clear. So clear in fact that when I jumped off the pier and then lost my sunglasses, I could simply dive under, eyes stinging from the salty water and retrieve them with relatively little trouble. As a side note, I wouldn’t advise jumping from that pier when the tide is out. My second jump resulted in my shin colliding with a concrete girder I had failed to spot. But I’m fine!

After hours of swimming, frisbee and food, some of us walked over the hill to the small fishing village nestled in the cove on the other side. It was an adorable place and I briefly wondered whether I could justify setting up a SKOPE project there. For now, however, it seems a bit too remote!

We were accompanied on our trip by the young dog (for the purpose of the alliterative blog title, I’m considering her a puppy) who lives at our accommodation and she became a constant companion from that evening onwards. In fact, most of my photos of the holiday are of her! When we returned we were invited by some villagers to drink with them. Some spoke limited English but as the whiskey flowed, my Khmer improved remarkably and we all had a great time laughing together even if there was a language barrier.

Saturday saw a lazy morning after a somewhat inebriated night of games, chatting, midnight swimming and carrying various friends to bed (no names mentioned). There were two other accommodation sites on the beach: a pretentious, soulless hotel and another bungalow place, built into the cliff face. Rachel and I walked down to explore the latter on Saturday afternoon, particularly as we’d discovered our place was expecting a large group of Khmers and were going to be unable to cook for us. We were accompanied by the dog, naturally. This dog, whom we never actually named, also joined us in the sea. She swam out to us but then wanted to be held. She wasn’t small but she was so cute so I handed her off to Jordan and went to get my camera. Literal couple’s photoshoot!

There was some fishing action too. Whatever we caught (and by we I don’t mean me), the chef would grill for us. I think Nary had the most success. The crab in particular was delicious!

Sunsets are always hit or miss but we struck gold (purple and red) with the one we watched from the top of the hill. A group of us sat in complete silence, watching as the daylight slid from view and the sky was filled with the most beautiful colours.

That evening we mostly ate burgers which made a change from the delicious but sporadically served fried rice at our accommodation. I also got thrashed at chess by Eli before we all wandered back and the cards and booze came out again.

Time disappeared from us and the group gradually got smaller. Just after midnight, the owner of our place came over and asked those that remained if we wanted to see the phosphorescent plankton. Ok, he didn’t say that, he said “see plonkton?” The night before we had seen glimmers of light as we splashed in the water but knew the later it got, the brighter they shined. We were not disappointed.

As we waded out, clouds of light bloomed around our feet, tiny sparks of life glittering in the inky black water. Trailing your fingers through it made you feel magical, power emanating from a simple touch before fading once again into the darkness. They clung momentarily to our skin as we splashed each other with water, tiny pinpricks of light in the dark night. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I wish I could have taken a photo. The images will have to remain in my head, however, but I urge every one of you reading my blog to add this to your bucket list. You won’t regret it.

Sadly our phosphorescent fun was cut short by some loud, drunken Vietnamese boys returning from a night out on the main beach. Their boat beamed a neon green light over the whole area and the plankton faded from existence. They returned, of course, as the boat headed back out to sea but somehow the magic had gone.

On Sunday we returned the way we came. The swaying, unnerving little boat, a huge, steady catamaran (once everyone had finally located their return ticket – no names mentioned again), and then our Speedy Gonzales bus driver. We pulled into a dusky Phnom Penh, tired, sandy, sweaty, salty, but wonderfully relaxed and even a little bit tanned.

Cambodian long weekends are simply the best and I’m already looking forward to the next one … this coming weekend!

And finally, this blog is dedicated to Mrs Sheila Yale, a regular reader of Lemon in Cambodia and someone who has supported my adventures for many years. When I briefly connected to the Internet on Saturday evening, the sun setting steadily in front of me, I received a text from my mother informing me of her passing. Sheila loved to hear about my trips and we regularly wrote letters to one another. Whenever I was home, I’d visit to catch her up on my life and she’d do the same. It was an honour and a privilege to call such a loving, caring, and genuinely kind woman a friend. I will miss her greatly and sincerely hope she has found peace now she is reunited with her loving husband, Henry.

Left to Right: Vanny, Me, Tony, Varsha, Rachel, Eli, Phaline, Sophorn, Jordan

Goodbyes are always hard

Swimming puppy with Marion, Rachel, Jordan, and Varsha

Rachel and Puppy

Swinging fun

Sophorn and Puppy

One of Rachel’s own bucket list item I just helped to cross off her list!