Angkor Wat

The temples were built around 1100AC and they cover an area of about 50 square kilometres. This is in the main temple of Angkor Wat where we spent the first 2 hours.  We were abel to climb to the top of the stairs in the centre part of the temple where we had great views of the entire complex.  Couldn't believe how high and steep the stairs were....some of us didn't get there.  Boys being boys, they had to run up and down the stairs in an attermpt to play hide and seek!!  Failing that, they decided to share the love with the temple.  We probably walked about 5km in the heat so we were exhausted when we got back to the bus.

We met up wth the other team at the end of the day for a meal and a swim.

Football anyone??

Following a day of hard labour at Grace House, we participated in a game of soccer with the local lads.  The average age of their team was about 15 and the average age of our team was a little bit more than that!!  The pitch was made of sand and we had to play with our shoes off.  Final score..........a cultural draw (which means we got our butts almost kicked...8-6).

Phnom Penh

A view from the Foreign Correspondant's Club towards the grand stage which was the primary focus of entertainment throughout the Water Festival. This site is about 1km from where the tragedy unfolded on Monday night.  Ironically, there was a tragedy in a similar place many years ago resulting in the deaths of many Cambodians.

Week 1 in cambodia

In week one one group A helped a group of monks build 2 different houses it was hard but the end result of making a family happy was well worth the effort that we put into making the houses even though one house was still incomplete at the end of the second day. The next day we went to repair the soccer field at one of the schools here in Siem Reap, Repairing the field was hard but the kids at the school were happy that they could now play soccer. During the first week here i have met several new people and become friends with them, The leaders are great and all the different experiences such as building, riding in tuk tuks and riding on the back of the car have all been fun.
Tristan Wallace

House Building

Early start again today, the bus driver forgot to stop for us to buy our lunch, welcome to Cambodia, Have a nice day! Got to work for our second day at the house buiding, stripping the bamboo and nailing the wall frames together. The monks are very happy and friendly people and were fun to work with. There were a lot of injuries including hammers on thumbs and toes, next the wall fell on the monk from bad karma as he had previously accidently hammered Zoe's foot and cracked up laughing. We experienced fun and laughter with the little Cambodian kids, many of which were running around with no clothes on! We took lots of photos and videos as we taught them "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" and "G'day Mate" and 'thumbs up' and 'high fives.' We had the privelidge to sit in and listen to the Monks prayers as they mourned the terrible loss of the many Cambodian's in the stampede. Then the dierector of the 'Life and Hope Association' talked to us and informed us of the philosophy of Buddhism and the values and ideas of this way of life. This included the belief of karma and reincarnation. After lunch it was back to work in the humid and hot weather, trying to get finished before tonight. When we finished we presented the houses to the chosen families, along with rice, pillows and mats. They were very thankful and so greatful of the gift of life that had been given to them. It was very rewarding and heart warming to be able to change the lives of these families who were once very unfortunate. These people had life, we gave them hope and now they have change.
Zoe T, Ashlee T, Justin R, Squid (Dylan M)

Adventures of Day 4

Yesterday was an interesting day, with the group splitting up for the morning. The Northern Territory team went to the Killing fields, due to having a delayed flight, with the rest of us having a relaxing morning and a good sleep.  The sleep in was not as long as 11 or 12 :(!

The Kerang-Cohuna group walked to the bridge up near the Australian embassy. We went there to pay our respect to the People of Cambodia, who unfortunately lost their lives in the tragedy on the bridge. It was interesting to see the way the Cambodia people payed their respect, it was emotional for some. The walk back was very hot and humid, with Mason and Wooly (Joel) stopping and geting a tuk tuk back.
The group learnt how to cross the busy road, with traffic going and individuals darting through, the key – don’t stop!
We then went to the RUPP, to meet student who were taking English language, to be able to further their education. Nancy introduced herself as a teacher and told the students who we were and why we come to Cambodia. We then had one on one talks with the students to interact with each other and even Wooly took his sunnies off to show his interest. After interacting with students we moved outside for a group photo. The students then took us to the library, and their farm – the large pet pythons were interesting, they are fed “one large chicken” every fifteen days. We said our good byes to the students and got on the bus and headed back to the hotel to have tea and go to bed early for a early rise at 5:00.

Kishere, Justine, Katy and Nancy took the spare time after the uni visit to visit a shop a block up from our hotel for a Dr. Fish Massage! Little fish in a pool ate the dead skin from their feet, it caused uncontrolled laughter for the first ten minutes of the twenty minute “massage.” Nancy has a small bite mark now in her shin from one of the larger fish in the pool. Their feet are amazingly smooth now though!

The Journey North and House Building

Yesterday team A made the journey north to Siem Reap via bus.  We left Phnom Penh at about 9am and looked forward to the day ahead (!!!!????).  After 7 hours on the bus, we finally arrived in Siem Reap.  Time for a chill out and then in to town for dinner.  Mixed fruit shake and noodles and chicken for $2!!!  The humidity was high today and a few of us from down south are begining to struggle.  Couple of sickies but nothing major at this stage (thank goodness).
After a good night sleep (for most of us), we headed off to the building site at 8:30.  Off to Life and Hope Association and to meet Venerable Somnieng (the monk who heads Life and Hope).  He is an amazing man who has recently completed his business degree in the US, living in a dorm at a Catholic University!! He has the most amazing sense of humour and he made us all feel very welcome.  Most of us were eager to get to the building site so after a brief introduction and a tour of their sewing program, we headed off.

Split into 2 teams we tackled the projects.  Learning to use a machete to trim bamboo and smotth the edges, building the frames and starting to make the wall frames for thatching.  To say we were proud of the team is an understatement.  They all worked hard and followed instructions so well and only a few blisters and knicks!!!  Venerable Chaan reported about how pleased the community was with the work that was completed today.  This is great acknowledgement.  We have been unable to wipe the smiles off everyone's faces, even as we head to bed.  Tomorrow may be another day and I can guarantee we are looking forward to it and can hardly wait.