Takeo

On June 15th we caught a bus to Kampot and then a taxi to the town of Takeo. We found our way to the volunteer house of the orphanage (New Futures Orphanage). The house was full of volunteers so we made our way and settled into a guesthouse nearby that was almost full with U.S. soldiers on an assignment to build wells in Takeo. We got a $5 room (split 3 ways) and then we made our way to the orphanage.

We got there early while most of the kids were still in school, but we were still greeted warmly and all of the kids waved and said hello and asked for our names. One of the kids came right up to me and grabbed my hand, wanting to show me around. He took me to a fenced off area where they are raising and then eating 300 chickens. Then he demanded that I play soccer with him. After realizing that it was the middle of the day and far too hot to play soccer, we went to some shade and played checkers. The rest of the day was spent playing soccer or checkers.

The next 3 days were spent helping out at the orphanage. I can't express how awesome all of the kids are!! They were all incredibly friendly and always super happy. The boys were amazingly good at soccer and we spent many hours trying to keep up with them. I will never forget playing barefoot football with them... so much fun!! All of the kids are very good at speaking English and have a keen desire to learn more. In their free time they love to sit in front of a chalkboard as we struggle to teach them something that they don't already know. Hangman is one of their favourite games (other than checkers, soccer and volleyball).

The kids are doing so well for themselves and have an almost unfair advantage over the rest of the population (not staying at NFO). They are learning so much English and meeting so many people (due to the steady flux of volunteers). Many of them have a strong desire to go to University, get a good job or go travelling. I am sure that all of these kids will go a long way in life.

The nights were spent eating food at the volunteer house and playing drinking games with the volunteers. All of the volunteers that we met were so friendly and I enjoyed spending time with them!! The mornings were spent trying to ignore the booming music (that was surely blowing the speakers) from the multi-day wedding that was taking place down the street.

All in all, it was a great experience at NFO, and I would recommend volunteering there to anyone travelling through Cambodia.


Yesterday we caught a bus to Phnom Penh. We stayed there for a few hours and visited S21, a security camp used by the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Communists) during the genocide in 1975 to 1979. Many innocent Cambodians perished all throughout the country as the Khmer Rouge imposed harsh living conditions as they attempted to farm an impossible amount of rice. Despite large productions of rice, it was insufficient in the Khmer Rouge's eyes and was not distributed among the Cambodians who were growing it. Mass starvation resulted. Any enemies of the Khmer Rouge (and they believe many people were their enemies, namely innocent Cambodians) were sent to security camps where they were tortured and killed. During the genocide, 1/5 of the population of Cambodia was lost.

We then caught a 6 hour bus to Siem Reap. We got here last night and found our way to a decent guest house with good western food (which I have been craving... I am having a hard time stomaching rice or noodles for 3 meals a day). Today we visited the templese of Angkor Wat! The temple complex is massive and the temples themselves are impressive. I have been trying to limit the number of photos I have been taking to save space on my card, but I went trigger happy today. Unfortunately I can't show you any pictures because I forgot my cable for uploading! I am going to try and find a card reader here. If not, Paul will just have to bring my cable when he comes in August!! I hope my words will suffice.

We have two more days at the temples here in Siem Reap and then Emily heads home. Dave and I are trying to figure out what to do next. There is a cool crater-lake in north eastern Cambodia that we will likely check out before heading up into Laos. We also might stay with some... elephant people (I forget the name of them, but they basically live with and train elephants).