Friday, May 24 - Chambok

Today we started our day with our classic yet amazing breakfast of fried rice and pork and egg. Our way of the day was “right effort." We got straight into our hike up the Krah Charng Mountain. It was challenging, steep, and hot, but we persevered to the top. When we arrived at our destination, we were greeted by a breathtaking series of waterfalls. Immediately we made our way to the basin of the waterfall where we found relief from the heat in the cool refreshing water. We trekked up and down the scene, left to our own adventure. We love the sounds and sights of Chanbok, which were especially enhanced with today’s experience. We LOVE riding in the “iron cow” that we use to transport our group between locations throughout the day. When we got back we got to take part in a series of orientation activities. We learned how to be a responsible tourist, about our comfort zones, and about different perspectives. We also got to play a local game “sva don derm ti,” which is where two fluid teams compete to gain players by grabbing a leaf. The winner must tag their competitor or make it back to their safe zone without getting tagged. Lastly, we had the fortunate opportunity to talk to the community chief to learn about his role. We had an informative Q&A between both parties. Our group is very curious to learn about the culture and was very respectful. Our day was very fun overall and our group bond is getting stronger. 

-Isla and Scarlett






Popular posts from this blog

Friday, June 7 Last day

Image
We officially made it to our final day in Cambodia! We met up a little later   after our very long and activity-filled day with the temples and the circus. We got back to morning meditation, health check-in, and the way of the day. Today was a big transference day. We mainly reflected on all of the places we have been and everything we have experienced and learned, bringing significance to the trip as a whole. We got into groups of four, each group creating a poster of one of the places we have traveled to. We covered everything in Chambok National Park, Phnom Penh, Koh Pdao, and Siem Reap. After sharing, we grouped up in a circle and passed a big ball of crumpled papers around while Mony simultaneously is telling us a story of tourists (our group) traveling through Cambodia, and every time he mentioned one of the four cities we visited, the person holding the paper ball would take one piece of paper off the ball. Each paper had a question on it and helped prompt reflections of the...
Read more

Tuesday, May 28 to Koh Pdao

Image
Today we finished the second half of our journey to Koh Pdao, the community we would be calling home for the next seven days. The morning started off with a popular western breakfast: star shaped pancakes, fried eggs, bacon, butter, and toast. Menlo students are usually grateful but you’ve never seen gratitude until you keep boys away from their bacon. In the hotel, we reviewed our Khmer (pronounced k-mai) language for the homestays as the families who would be hosting us did not speak English. Pum taught us the words for family members (mother = “madai,” sister = “srai”) so we could affectionately greet our new families. Then, we embarked for Koh Pdao. After an hour bus ride, we stepped foot into the ‘Hundred Pillar Wat.’ The complex was beautiful with gorgeous gardens     marvelous murals (detailing the stories of Buddhism), and amazing architecture. Then we set sail for the highly anticipated boat ride. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all it was hyped up to be. The nausea was palp...
Read more

Sunday, May 26 Phnom Penh day 2

Image
  Even though we have been living a lavish lifestyle in the Phnom Penh hotel, today, we embarked on the difficult aspect of Cambodian history. We went to S-21 or the Khmer Rouge prison system. We will spare you the gruesome details of how the Cambodia people were treated, but we each individually experienced the place where Cambodians were brutally tortured and killed. We each had the opportunity to listen to an audio tour of the museum and walk around on our own for a couple of hours while we processed the difficult information. Once we were done with the museum tour, we ate a delectable lunch, followed by an opportunity to meet a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. The survivors name was Arun and he was merely a child when he was forced to play propaganda music for the Khmer Rouge. After four long years of seeing his friends and teachers brutally murdered, he was sent on the front lines to fight against the Vietnamese. One day, Arun got injured in combat and he went close to the Thailan...
Read more