So my last week in Cambodia was very different to the rest
of my time there, and as such I thought it would be an interesting story to
share.
My last week in Cambodia just happened to fall on a week-long
public holiday. This isn’t that out of the ordinary… the Khmer love a good
public holiday or two and some months it feels like the days off outnumber the
working days! However, it was ideal timing and a break very much welcomed by
myself and the other fieldworkers after a hectic few weeks of teaching.
The holiday was for the Buddhist festival ‘Pchum Ben’, or
Ancestors Day, a festival during which all the Khmer go back to their provinces
to spend time with their families. This meant that all of us fieldworkers had
to come up with a plan of our own as there would be no students, BEC staff or
dormers left in Phnom Pehn to keep us entertained for a week.
I personally had two options- go to the province with my
students or go spend a week at the beach with the other fieldworkers. It was an
incredibly hard decision to make- I was the only fieldworker able to go the
province, and whilst I was excited at the prospect of getting to experience the
real Cambodia, I was also a little intimidated at the idea of roughing it in
the middle of nowhere, completely out of my comfort zone, with no one that fluently
spoke my language. Then there was the beach option- a guaranteed, easy,
enjoyable week with people I’m comfortable with doing things I’m familiar with-
I knew I would have a great time but it was my last week in Cambodia and I was
a little turned off by the idea of spending it having such a normal, western
holiday. So, being the indecisive,
non-committal person I am, I compromised… and did both! And what a week it was…
The trip to the
province began with a three-hour moto ride, which is far from ideal from a
comfort point of view but definitely a cool way to watch the city turn to
green, green countryside. Finally, when Sam On (the dormer who was driving the
moto that I was on the back of) started pointing out things like “this is the
road to my primary school- it floods during the rainy season and my brother and
I would have to take a boat to school”, I knew we were almost there. And so
began three days of authentic rural Khmer adventure. I met relatives of my
students. I attempted communication with said relatives using my limited Khmer
(much to their amusement). I danced at traditional parties. I drove a motorbike
for the first time (and by motorbike I mean a bicycle with a motor…but hey, it
counts for something!). I walked through
ricefields. I waded through ricefields. I drove a giant tractor. I cruised
around in a boat. I got bogged in weeds in a boat. I shared a bed with my student’s
grandmother. I got eaten alive by mosquito. I got saturated by rain. I was
unknowingly presumed to be the barang (foreigner) wife of my student. I ate
dog. I watched the gentlest student I knew slaughter a duck for our
dinner. I wrote letters in Khmer. I
visited three pagodas. I was stopped from crossing the Vietnam border by angry
policeman. I injured my head attempting to wash myself using a bucket. I hand
washed my clothes.I slept on the floor. I rode on the back of a moto with a
live chicken attached to the front. And I loved every second.
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(Above: Driving around
in the tractor with my students)
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I am well aware that when the highlights are summarised in
writing they hardly sound like highlights. However, those few days were
genuinely some of the best times I had in Cambodia. It was truly incredible to
get away from the city, away from other foreigners and normal creature comforts
and truly experience what it was like for my students growing up in the
province. I learned so much, my students took such good care of me and I felt
like my some of my last few days in Cambodia were spent making memories I
couldn’t have made anywhere else. If
anyone reading this ever gets an invite to join a student at their province, do
it. It can be intimidating and really chuck you out of your comfort zone but it
truly is an unforgettable and super valuable experience.
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(Right: In the back of
the tractor and Left: hanging out in a rice field)
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(Above: Being bogged
in the weeds in our boat)
After I farewelled my adopted province families I rode the three-hour
moto ride back to Phnom Pehn, followed by a five-hour bus trip out to the beach
town Sihanoukville, after which I took a 40 minute ferry out to an island off
the coast called Koh Rong Island. And so began the second part of my adventurous
final week.
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| (Above: Kohrong Island beach front)
This part of my trip was remarkably different to my time in
the province, and whilst both parts were equally enjoyable this one more
closely fit with the stereotype of an incredible holiday abroad. For three days
I relaxed in the most beautiful paradise I have ever experienced. Each morning
was spent sleeping in (an absolute luxury for a fieldworker!), walking to the
local beach-side café hut for a delicious breakfast and then laying in the
sunshine or swimming in the ocean for the rest of the day. Our nights were
spent in hammocks and restaurants, chatting to locals and watching the
fairylights reflect on the calm ocean. One evening we decided to go for a night
swim and chemical reactions in the water caused it to sparkle and glow as we
moved around in it, it was absolutely incredible.While it rained on the
mainland the skies were blue and empty on the island. The water was warm and
ridiculously crystal clear. All the accommodation and eateries were right on
the beach and surrounded by lush rainforest. Everyone who worked on or visited
the island had the same chilled, friendly islander attitude, so we easily made
lots of new friends. It was so refreshing to get away from the hectic city
lifestyle and spend time relaxing in such a breathtaking environment… plus I
was happy to be working on my tan so that I could arrive back in Australia
looking like I actually did just spend 6 months living in South East Asia!
   
(Kohrong Island:
Beautiful Beaches and Baben Buddies)
It was hard to leave but eventually we made the journey back
to Phnom Pehn, shortly after which I began the longer journey back to
Australia. I was so grateful that I was able to finish my six-month Cambodian
adventure with such an incredible week of new experiences. I know that I am so
lucky to have been able to do so much, from seeing what it is really like to
grow up and live in the Cambodian countryside to living it up on a luxurious
tropical island, I really got an ideal snapshot of all the excitement Cambodia
has to offer and was able to leave with the satisfaction of know I really had
just lived through a once-in-a-lifetime experience. From the bustling, hectic,
dirty city, to the green, picturesque, simple countryside, to the breataking, dream-like,
paradise of tropical islands, Cambodia has a ridiculous range of things to do,
see and learn. I insisted to all my students that I was too tough to cry when I
left, yet I have to admit I didn’t stay true to my word. Such an incredible
place is difficult to leave, a fact I had been told by many people but didn’t
truly understand until I experienced it for myself. However, there’s always
next time- and there definitely will be a next time- and I hope that many
others people take the opportunity to go experience it for themselves too… it
is an adventure you can never forget!
Sis Ash
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