For the past 2 weeks James Mukheibir has been exploring Cambodia during his service year.
For the past two weeks, Mitch and I have been travelling throughout Cambodia, exploring its diverse landscapes and incredible things this unique country has to offer, during the school holidays for Khmer New Year. We started our trip less than ideally as I had my phone stolen within the first 10 minutes of our trip on the night bus from Sisophon to Phnom Penh. This also led us to have our first encounter with the incredibly efficient bureaucratic powers of this country as the police point blank refused to submit a report, even for insurance purposes. But nevertheless we continued on, suitably more cautious with our possessions. I don’t think I have ever had two weeks of more varied experiences and as I sit on the bus back to Sisophon, I feel refreshed and ready to through myself back into the thick of things at the school. From days of blissful nothing on a tropical island to the unapologetically touristy and party central that is Sihanoukville to the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh; where we gained some insight into the depth and extent of the scars left on this country through our visits to the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek and the S-21 prison. However, no matter where we were, our small grasp of Khmer language and culture always guaranteed a smile, as they were clearly very happy to engage with someone who respects them enough to learn their language and even though they found our mangled pronunciations hilarious, you could see they really appreciated the effort.