Tuesday, May 07, 2013 1:39 AM

Well, this trip was special to me for many reasons. It was the first time I went overseas without my family, the first time I spent my birthday out of Singapore, and my very first trip as a volunteer.

Visiting a country as a tourist only lets you see one side of it. Staying in one for an extended period of time however--especially in "non-touristy areas"--really gives you the chance to embrace their culture and their lifestyle.

My journey in Cambodia is therefore likely to differ greatly from what most tourists usually experience. If you intend to visit as a tourist, stay tuned for my posts on my R&R experiences. The posts leading up to it however, are meant to shed light on:
(1) my experiences as a volunteer living in another country, and
(2) my experiences with friends as part of an school / organizational trip


Part I: Arrival in Phnom Penh and Departure for Prey Veng



 Part of the allure to travelling for me comes in the actual journey itself. Especially plane flights. I find overland train journeys extremely exciting as well... hopefully in the future I'll get to live that experience :)



Hilarity ensued when we realized that our logistic boxes were all broken on arrival. Basically we packed a lot of food and other items for our stay in the rural outskirts of Prey Veng. I was a part of the logistics team that put these boxes together and we spent ages trying to tape / seal / cushion all our items into our boxes. But they still came out like this?

Miraculously, nothing seemed to be missing... or maybe we just didn't even know whether a few cans of food fell out without us noticing.






We had a quick stopover at a supermarket for some groceries that we were going to miss out in rural Prev Veng... such as a nice cold bottle of milk.

Labels: cambodia, dispense-a-dream, phnom penh, travel