Day 12

Hi again,
Today we packed all our stuff into Sky's tuck tuck and started our long trip home. We hung out in the lounge while we were waiting for our flight, then flew to Hong Kong, and after spending a couple hours in the lounge there, we started the final leg of our journey home.

Well thats about all, thanks for reading!
-Chloe :)

Day 11

Today we didn't do too much, we just sort of relaxed and enjoyed our last day. After breakfast we phoned Sky and asked her to drive us to the Russian market, but since its new years its mostly closed until sunday. We managed to by a few more tourist nik naks though before returning to the Billabong. We sat by the pool and I did some homework for a few hours until I needed a break. We took a walked down to the "mall" and enjoyed comparing prices on things here with things back home. We got some more ice cream (how can you tell I like ice cream?), some snacks and went back so I could continue my homework and mum could work on her tan.

For dinner we ate at the Billabong and then ventured around the block in search of sleep.


-Chloe :)

Day 10

Happy Chinese New Year!
We woke up early and said by to Carrie and Rosie who were of to the airport to go home. After we sent them off we hung out at the Billabong for a while and then called Sky and asked her to take us to the Royal palace. We wandered through the gardens, ran through the sprinklers, went into the throne room and then jamed with the palace band. After we had finished with the palace we went and had ice cream with Sky. Turns out mum and Sky had secretly booked me a hair cut at her hairdresser and they didn't really give me any choice on the matter. My mum got her hair clipped too but the hairdresser didn't speak english so she cut it a little too short.

We still had a couple of hours left till dinner so we asked Sky if she new of any cool places to visit. She took us to a bridge by the river where during the water festival in november 2010 thousands of people had crowded on the bridge and then when it bounced under the weight, fearing it was about to collapse the people started to stampede. Over 350 people died that day from either being crushed or drowning in the water below. Sky said that the disaster hadn't appeared on the news though so she wasn't supposed to say anything else.

Once we had taken some pictures we followed the river to the main strip where we got out and took more pictures of people releasing birds and preforming other new year rituals. We hung out there and took pictures of the boats going up and down the river, the sunset and just the general crowd. Then we went back to the Billabong for a bit and asked Sky if she new of any good restaurants. We took her out for dinner to a thai restaurant where she tried wine for the first time and told her a bit more about herself. After dinner we Sky drove us back to the hotel, We said goodnight and then went to bed.

-Chloe :)

Day 9

This morning it was time we went our seperate ways, so we said our goodbyes and then half of us loaded into a van going back to Phnom Penh and half of us loaded into a van going to Batdambang. The drive back to Phnom Penh was about four hours long and we amused ourselves by looking at each others pictures and listening to the kareoke recordings.

When we arrived in Phnom Penh we said by to Collin, who was staying with a friend, and then the rest of us checked into the New York. We unpacked and then walked around the block to the Billabong (we were going to go there but it was full) to go say hi.

Then Carrie, Rosie, mum and I jumped in a tuck tuck and drove to the Russian market though we didn't get a lot of time for shopping because they closed at five. After we did all the shopping we could we went to the Watt monkey temple.

We fed the elephant out front and then climbed the steps to the temple at the top. Without a guide we were a little lost but we wandered around anyway taking pictures and watching people preform new year rituals. When we were done with that we walked back down to the bottom spotting monkeys along the way. We watched them give the elephant, who Carrie decided was named Steve, a bath and then realised the tuck tuck driver that had driven us there had waited for us. So we asked him to drive us to Ocean for dinner. He seemed a little confused by said he knew where it was and told us to get in, but of course he didn't.

It was going fine until he started stopping at every other tuck tuck driver and asking for directions. At the third stop Carrie and Rosie got out to go get mojitos. We had stopped for so long that Steve passed us and soon the police were yelling at us to move so we had to go. Carrie and Rosie came out with a map with directions so we gave it to him and started driving again. Then he stopped again, and again, and after six more stops we realised he couldn't read. After Carrie and Rosie had finished their mojitos and split my mums we arrived at Ocean having toured around most of the city for three dollars. Allan, Anitra and Dan were already there so we grabbed another table and had dinner. Allan soon went off to do his own thing and then after dinner the rest of us squeezed into Sky's tuck tuck and went back to the hotel for the night.

-Chloe :)

Day 8

Ok so today was the second build day, we did our usual morning routine and then drove to the build site. We bandaged up and although a little slower then the day before, started building. By noon we had built finished eight more houses to add to yesterday's fifteen and a half. We gave the families their blankets and then breaked for lunch. While we were eating we spotted a mother hen with her baby chicks. She let us hold her little ones for a while and they were so cute though we didn't want to push our luck so we returned them after a couple of pictures.

After lunch we packed up and moved to where the last one and a half houses were on the opposite side of the village. We soon realised why the one house had been left half done, it was because it had the floorboards from hell. They were so hard that in one spot it took us seventeen tries to finally get a nail in without bending it. Not to mention the fact that one of our hammers actually snapped clean in half while we were hammering there. The floors weren't our best work but by the end of it the home owner seemed pretty happy with it. We met up with the other group that had been working on the other house and I guess their house had been pretty bad too because they had broken three hammers while working on it.

Once we were all done we gave the two remaining houses their blankets but had to avert our eyes because one of them had a new born baby that none of us wanted to bring home. We left soon after that wanting to let them get setup and enjoy their new homes.

For dinner we went to the restaurant next door (this one had less bugs) were people toasted again and again about how great the build was and good cheer was enjoyee by all. When we returned to the hotel where someone bought a box full of beer and started passing bottles around until everyone was ready for kareoke. The kareoke actually didn't sound half bad, and it wouls have probably continued long into the night if it weren't for the fact that the internet turned of at 9:00. So that kind of ended the party. After that the majority of us went off the bed but there were still a few stragglers that were left to finish the beer. But it's a small town after all, whats the worst that could happen?

-Chloe :)

Day 7

Today was the first build day, we woke up and were on the road at 7:00. The drive to the build site took half an hour and when we arrived a bunch of the villagers welcomed us giving us a chance to try out our new words. We then separated into to two groups of six and a group of five.

Each group picked a house and started working on it, some people doing floors while others did walls. Each house took about an hour to build and by lunch we had build a total of nine houses. For lunch we all had fresh baguettes from one of the local bakers in town which, since Cambodia was a french colony for a while were great. While we were eating someone took out a frisbee and we started to play. After a while a little boy joined in and soon enough the whole village was running around diving for the frisbee and having a great time.

After lunch we got back to work and finished the remaining houses. At one of the last houses there was a brand new litter of puppies,

and a one day old water buffalo,

 both of which we petted and mum photographed like there was no tomorrow. Once the houses were finished all of the new home owners gathered around and were each given a blanket as a sort of house warming gift.

We ended the day with fifteen and a half houses done and returned satisfied and a little sore back to the hotel. For dinner we all went to the Magic Fish, which the reviews had promised was the best restaurant in town. We spent the whole night being bombarded by bugs and some of us (including me) didn't get our food till about half an hour after everybody else. Whatever though the food was good when it did arrive and it made for a good story!

-Chloe :)

Day 6

Moving day!
Today we loaded up into two nine person vans and were on the road by 11:30. The drive wasn't bad, we made a pit stop about halfway for ice cream and beer before continuing on down the road. It took about four hours and a ten dollar car crash before we arrived in the town we'd being staying in, Pursat.
Pursat is not too big, though with only four official roads on google maps it somehow manages to have thirteen things to do.

 We settled into our rooms and then met up downstairs to try to get an idea of the town setup. Mum, Mark (one of the other builders, not my dad), Rosie and I decided to explore so we set off. Our first stop of the evening was the market which unfortunately by the time we arrived was starting to close up. So we kept walking and met up with Paula who had gone on a run. The town is on a river so we followed that for a while till we came across one of the thirteen things to do here, visit the giant boat in the river. The boat had long since run aground and it was far too big to have any hope of moving it so instead the town converted it into a sort of boardwalk with stages and even a kids place area.

 One of the first things we noticed when we came aboard the boat was the people where line dancing. So of course I recorded while everyone else started dancing. Paula continued on her run but mum, Mark and Rosie amused ourselves by following along and even in some cases throwing in freestyle moves to impress the townsfolk. Once they had finished dancing up a storm we walked down to the end of the boat and then walked back to the hotel. There we found some people in the restaurant and joined them for dinner before heading off to the room to do our own thing.

-Chloe :)

Day 5

Today we all met up at breakfast again and then all seventeen of us set off to our orientation. The orientation was at the Tabitha "headquarters" where they have their store and such and was about half an hour away by tuck tuck. When we arrived we all went upstairs, sat down and were given silk scarves as welcome gifts. Jan (the top dog for Tabitha) welcomed us and gave a detailed explanation on what would be happening and the rules we were to follow. Since the village followed old traditions and customs some of the rules were a bit strange: "Don't tap people on the head" or "You can only touch the a member of the opposite gender if they are married to you and you, being a girl, are carrying their child." Then one of the other heads, Nadi, told us about her personal experience, being present during the rule of the Khmer Rouge (if you don't know who they are you've obviously skipped the last post so go back and read it!). After she had told her story we were taught a few words to be able to communicate with the villagers, hello, goodbye, sorry and thank you. After that the orientation concluded and we were allowed to go shop in the store below.

Once we had finished shopping we split up, some going back to the hotel, some going for lunch.... Though mum and I decided to jump back in a tuck tuck and go to the genocide museum. The genocide museum was originally a school that was then converted into a prison and torture facility by the Khmer Rouge. The prison had been left unchanged since 1978 when the Vietnamese discovered the place and shut it it down. Though before that the it was where the Khmer Rouge interrogated people before sending them off to the Killing Fields. As we walked through the rooms we saw that there was still dried blood on the floor in the cells and several torture devices lying around. The place painted a gloomy picture and so I was keen to get out of there was soon as possible.

After we finished with the museum we went back to the hotel and had lunch by the pool. Later we walked down the street and checked out the neighborhood market with some ice cream. Which was a nice end to the day. Before going to bed mum had had enough of the hard beds so she went out and grabbed one of the pool chair mats. Apparently it made the bed a lot softer so I guess it was worth it. 

-Chloe :)

Day 4

Hi everyone,
I'm so annoyed because I already wrote this out but it completely erased it for some reason. Anyway I will try to remember what I wrote to the best of my abilities.

We met up with everyone over breakfast and then set off with a bunch of the other builders for the Killing Fields. The Killing Fields were about forty minutes away and seeing how each tuck tuck can take four people, Carrie and Rosie came with us. When we arrived bought our tickets and the first thing I saw was a giant monument though at the time I didn't know what it was for. We walked over to the museum and looked at some of the big panels and maps on the walls but weren't really able to get a good look at them because we were quickly ushered into a theatre playing a documentary explaining what the Killing Fields were about.

During the war of Vietnam the Americans were fighting against the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese had many trade routes through their surrounding countries, one of which was Cambodia. So during the war the Americans bombed villages in Cambodia in a desperate attempt to drive the Vietnamese back to their own country. When the war ended in 1975, the Americans having lost badly, quickly pulled out of all the countries they had been posted in and returned home. An air of peace settled over Cambodia and for the moment the people were happy. The Khmer Rouge, a rebel group led by Pol Pot that had loosely attached itself to the king at the time out of convenience, marched into the city streets of Phnom Penh and were welcomed back as heros because the people at the time thought that that was what they were, their saviors. Though the the peace soon came to an end and the cheering soon stopped as the Khmer Rouge ordered the people of Phnom Penh to leave for a few days while they cleansed the city. Though in truth as soon as everyone had been driven out they burned all the money in the banks, making the currency usless, and using the seperated people to their advantage slowly rounded up the children and brought them to labor camps where they either worked or died. The adults on the other hand were brought to consentration camps where they were interogated, tortured and then disposed of after in places such as the Killing Fields. The king fled and Pol Pot took over power.
This continued on until 1978 when the Vietnamese invaded, discovered the Killing Fields, their purpose, and then shut them down taking Pol Pot down with it. Pol Pot went to court for his crimes but died under house arrest in 1998 before he could be sentenced.

At the Killing Fields the people killed would be placed in mass graves, some of which have now been excavated which each of their bones organized by age, gender and cause of death in the giant monument that we had seen when we first entered.

Once we had finished with the Killing Fields we jumped back in our tuck tucks and returned to the hotel. It was really hot so we mostly sat by the pool for the rest of the day until dinner time where everyone kind of split up and did their own thing.

The beds are REALLY hard here so at this point we are considering taking the poolchair matteresses and sleeping on those!
-Chloe :)

Day 3

Ok so today we woke up early, had some crepes for breakfast and then jumped in a tuck tuck with Allan to go do some shopping. Our tuck tuck drivers name was Sky and she is the only female tuck tuck driver in Cambodia. Her goal in life is to become the first female taxi driver there too. Our first stop of the day was a little store called peace where handicapped people were given a job making either silk bags (they have some of the best silk in the world here) or bags made out of recycled fishing nets and rice bags. I thought they were pretty cool and my mum must have agreed because she bought them out of most of their store. After that we strolled down to the Russian market which is basically a huge maze of little twisting passage ways set up with stores. We bought more stuff in there but soon the heat started to get to us so jumped back in Sky's tuck tuck and Allan took us to a restaurant called Ocean where Sky's sister works. The food there was awesome and this being dollar store country the whole thing was only 20$.

After eating we decided to retire poolside and hung out there welcoming the rest of the build team as they slowly arrived one by one. Then at dinner Paula, one of the board members, gave us a welcome speech and gave us a brief explanation of the rules and what was going to happen over the next few days.

Tomorrow as one of the mandatory things we have to visit before going to build we are going to the Killing Field where they tortured and killed most of the population of Cambodia, but I'll go into more detail about that tomorrow.

-Chloe :)

Day 2

Welcome back!
Ok so today we started off the day with a breakfast buffet and then realizing that for some reason nothing actually opens in Hong Kong until 11:00 went and waited in the lounge. Then at 11:00 we took a cab down to the waterfront where we took the ferry across the harbor, but seeing that there was nothing really there in walking distance we got back on the ferry and went back to the other side. The waterfront had lots of high end shopping which we weren't actually too keen on at the time. So instead we just wandered around browsing, and thats when we came across these

We are pretty sure they are condoms but why they were dancing around the street on a photoshoot, we have no idea. For what it's worth mum had a lot of fun with them:




Though by the time she was done playing around with them it was time to go pack our stuff up and go to the airport. Along the way we passed by Disney Land and Victoria peak, named after Queen Victoria, the queen at the time when the British colonized Hong Kong. Victoria peak is a mountain top lookout, accessible by cable car, where you can get stunning views of the city and really appreciate it's size. Since our plane was delayed we were going to go there but wanting to play it safe we went to the lounge instead, where we enjoyed multiple bowls of noodles served by a lady who didn't speak english and struggled with the poor internet conection.

At about 5:00 we flew two hours from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh.

While we waited for our luggage to arrive we watched two people who had probably never flown before taking pictures of themselves taking their luggage off the belts. Then we realized that it wasn't even their luggage, they were just taking pictures with other people's for some reason. After we had collected our bags we went outside and found someone waiting for us who took us to our hotel, the Billabong.

When we arrived, Allan, one of the other builders had stayed up to welcome us and after saying hello we all went off to bed.
-Chloe :)

Day 1 (continued)

Hi again,
Ok so sice I've left you we have arrived in Hong Kong and are hanging out in the lounge at the hotel trying to stay awake. Oh and by the way it's 10:51 pm here for those you who are wondering.

The plane was two hours late leaving Vancouver because I think there was an oil leak but they werent very clear on the matter so I'm not quite sure. At first the pilot announced we would be fifteen minutes late, then another half an hour, then another hour.... You get the idea. Anyway while we were waiting to takeoff we noticed a repetitive clipping noise coming from behind us. Turns out some guy had decided that this would be a good time to start clipping his nails. And then when he had finally finished with his hands he took his socks off and started to clip his toes. Once we had taken off mum actually befriended the toe clipper who insisted we come visit him so he could teach us how to fly. We did make other friends on the plane ride too though they weren't as strange as our toe clipping friend.

We had lunch on the plane and then tried to sleep for as long as possible, though this being one of the longest flights I had ever been on (18 hours) this didn't seem to get us anywhere so we soon gave up. Also either I need to fly less often or the planes need to upload newer movies more frequently because I have run out of things to watch while on the plane.

We finally descended into Hong Kong and getting off the aircraft im pretty sure the first thing I heard was "Yes.....Yes ok now please take the fourtune cookie

Trip to Cambodia - day 1

Hi everyone!
So here we are driving to the airport about to leave on yet another crazy trip, this time to the "Kingdom of Cambodia" as it's officially known. There we will be building twenty five houses (Hooray for charity work!) Allow me to go into a little more detail on the subject for those of you who don't feel like google-ing it:


Cambodia is a country in south-east Asia that is bordered by Thailand, the Gulf of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The official language there is Khmer and the population sits just under fifteen million.


We are going to be going to Phnom Pen, which is both Cambodia's capital and largest city.


We are going to be flying to Hong Kong, staying overnight, and then continuing on to Phnom Pen.... Well that's a basic summary of what's going on I guess I'll talk to you all later!


-Chloe :)