On Friday Fern, Anne and I had booked to do a Khmer cooking class but unfortunately I was sick so I couldn't do it, so I am definitely going to have to reschedule and do it before I leave. I spent most of the day in bed and still wasn't feeling great on Saturday but we decided to go and have our hair and make-up done Cambodian style! In Cambodia this is not done at a beauty salon but at a photo shop, and generally speaking it is not something most tourists do. W...

I never completely liked my placement at HERO school mainlydue to its lack of organisation. I found this very difficult to deal with, as it made planning ahead for lessons almost impossible and also resulted in several wasted days through their not informing us we would not be needed. The school is a nice idea, but the director is so focused on the future of the school that he does not bother about the present situation, and that is teaching the children English....

This was my first Christmas away from home and family, and I certainly had a different experience! Our volunteer house is made up of British, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Australian volunteers, and we are all used to such different traditions that compromising on them was rather hard. The mainland Europeans mostly celebrated on Christmas Eve whilst the rest of us are used to a big dinner and presents on Christmas Day. There is also such a wide price variation he...

Yesterday a fellow volunteer, Anne and I decided to treat ourselves for Christmas and go to the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor for afternoon tea. We knew that Raffles was a very upmarket hotel, but it was still something else to walk in past the plaque with 5 gold stars and into the luxurious lobby area. We were guided into 'The Conservatory' by some porters dressed in typical Khmer costume (imagine an oompa lumpas costume made of silk) and seated in a lovely table...

Today 11 of us volunteers loaded into the back of a pick-up truck and went to Phnom Kulen National Park to see the waterfalls. It was about a 2 hour drive, mostly on good road except for the last few miles which were particularly bumpy, enhanced by the fact that we were sitting on the side of the trunk and constantly felt like we were going to fall off. However we did eventually get there, numb bums and all, and walked to the side of the river where we lay in ham...