brusselschap

Hello all,
back from our trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Caught up in work and jetlag so haven't got round to a trip report but it will ocme, I promise, as I know the penalties...

Our two days in Phnom Penh and four days in Siem Reap were just fantastic. Angkor and the temples are of course amazing. I just wanted to say a few words about some side activities we did whilst in Siem Reap. In a shop we picked up a brochure calles "Stay another day" which aims to to promote "destination friendly" tourism, by connecting travellers with organisations that are in some way helping to conserve local culture and heritage, support community projects benefitting local people or initiatives to lessen negative environmental impacts of tourism. http://www.stay-another-day.org/

We visited two of the suggested organisations. One was Sala Bai Hotel and Restaurant School http://www.salabai.com/ which every year selects approximately 100 disadvantaged young Cambodians to be trained in the hotel and restaurant business. We went to the school and had lunch at the restaurant (entriely staffed by students). It is fun, endearing, cheap and by paying your $7 for a three course meal you are contributing to the upkeep of the school. The school is quite central and our driver knew where it was.

Another, in a completely different field, was a physical rehabilitation centre run by "Handicap International". They provide treatment such as fitting prosthetic and orthotic devices, physiotherapy sessions and follow-up visits in the patient’s village, all free of charge, to more than 5,000 disabled people per year. As in Cambodia they still have at least two persons stepping onto a landmine every single day of the year, this is a much needed project. The centre is a referral centre for all hospitals in the region. The work they do is superb. It is now entirely staffed by Cambodians (doctors, physios and social workers). They also work with families of children affected by cerebral palsy. The centre has a rehab area, a dorm and a very small "visitor centre" with an interesting photo display. Of course the aim it collect donations (which we did) but it is a place that reminds you of what kinds of really helpful work is/can be done. Again this is in the centre of Siem Reap, near the Provincial Hospital in Siem Reap(next to the Central Market).
The day we went to Bateas Srey we also visited the tiny landmine museum www.cambodialandminemuseum.org

Finally we stopped by at the Sangkheum Center for Children which supports orphaned, abused or neglected children either at the centre itself or within their communities. At present they have 48 orphans staying in the Center, while they support another 58 children who still live in their communities and over 160 children in education and training. This is a little outside Siem Reap but well worth the short ride http://www.sangkheum.org/

These added to the temples made for a somewhat fuller picture of Cambodian life....

So there... a "trip report" will follow!

brusselschap

i just add a link to the "Handicap International" rehabilitation centre http://en.handicapinternational.be/O...261.html#tag_1

bmttokyo

bc,

"Another, in a completely different field, was a physical rehabilitation centre run by "Handicap International". They provide treatment such as fitting prosthetic and orthotic devices, physiotherapy sessions and follow-up visits in the patient’s village, all free of charge, to more than 5,000 disabled people per year."

Thanks so much for your tip , Definitely interested in this project. Will connect with the people in charge when we finally get to SR. Have been wanting to be able to do volunteer PT work during our trips. Looks like a great lead.
Many thanks.
bmt2

brusselschap

bmtt, if you want to call ahead, the contats are here, the manager is a young Cambodian fellow who speaks excellent english

http://www.stay-another-day.org/proj...gium/contactus

Kristina

bc-thanks for the post. I wish I'd known about Sala Bai when I was there last year. I work in the restaurant industry and that would have been a nice organization to check out and support. I could not get the English version of their website to work. Do you have a link? Next time I go I will have to check it out.

bmttokyo

bc,

Thanks for the link which I've already bookmarked. We're off to the US- LAX< SF< AK this summer & will be back in SE Asia for our summer vacation 09 at the earliest.
Kids don't want to go anywhere else except BKK since Tong is there- am trying to sell them Beijing & SR. We'll see how it goes. Regardless, this is something that I am really interested in.

brusselschap

Kristina,
the english page of the Sala Bai website doesn't seem to work.. but check here http://www.stayanotherday.org/projec...l/introduction

i think we might consider staying at the school hotel (4 rooms) next time we go...

bmttokyo "kids will only go to BKK because Tong is there"...

bmttokyo

bmttokyo "kids will only go to BKK because Tong is there"...

Must have been all the food she fed them through out our travels??????