Last week was a week of goodbyes with four volunteers leaving, including one of my closest friends Fern. On Friday I went to Fern's school with her for her leaving party which was so much fun. She definitely got dealt the short straw when she came out here as her placement, Helping Hands, is a 45 minute moto ride along a very bumpy dirt track, but the upside being that she got to drive past Angkor Wat everyday. When we arrived at her school she planted a tree and...

Yesterday Fern and I took a tuk-tuk to the Cambodia Landmine Museum (www.cambodialandminemuseum.org) by Banteay Srey about 30km outside Siem Reap town. The drive took about 45 minutes and was through varied countryside making it an interesting ride. On the way our driver stopped at a silk workshop so we could take a peek inside, and although it was really interesting, we discovered that it is run by the Artisan's Silk Farm which we visited in our first week, and ...

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...