World Challenge 2025 - Cambodia

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙾𝙽𝙴 - 𝚆𝙴𝙳𝙽𝙴𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟸𝟽𝚝𝚑 𝙽𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Despite the plane being delayed at the beginning of our journey the group surprisingly found ways to to occupy our time. Such as the girls, including Ms Allen picking up books whilst the boys stuck to their phones, not to mention the uno. Then after getting through the 9-hour flight to Hanoi, the boys decided to almost miss the connecting flight to Laos! Lastly, after what seemed like days struggling to get through customs we came to the highlight of the day arriving outside in Phnom Penh! We met our tour guide and he took us to our hotel. We learnt about the different buildings and he even recommended different restaurants and dishes such as Beef Lok Lak and Amok. Although the most challenging thing throughout our day was adapting to the different customs and surroundings in Phnom Penh (such as being outdone by a three year old local boy while walking the streets home from school!!) and not mention trying to stay awake through it all. Some of the group headed to the Central Market to investigate some bargains, while some chose to the rest from the massive day. 

signing out for the 27/28th of November!!!

លាហើយ (bye)

Eleanor and Chloe

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚃𝚆𝙾 - 𝚃𝙷𝚄𝚁𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟸𝟾𝚝𝚑 𝙽𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Today we had an early start of 7.00am heading to the hotel restaurant to get some breakfast then at 8.00am hopped on the bus to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre also known as the killing fields where we learned about the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge and the aftermath of the regime. When then hopped back on the bus to go to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum formerly a secondary school but transformed into a security prison also known as S21, where we learned about where many civilians were arrested, interrogated and ultimately killed. We hopped back on the bus to return to the hotel where we discussed what we would like for lunch where we appeared to have gotten lost and had to improvise by finding a small local restaurant where the food was cheap but filling and delicious. On the way back from our lunch we stopped by the market where many of us tried our bargaining skills and failed, apart from Matt who seemed to be able to crack down the pricing and got some steals. After a short rest at the hotel, we headed off to find dinner which was a small Thai restaurant full of filling and wonderful food. After leaving, Sam bought a coconut before walking back to our hotel and relaxing after a long day of walking and learning.

លាហើយ (bye)

Ewan

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴 - 𝙵𝚁𝙸𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟸𝟿𝚝𝚑 𝙽𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Today's adventures we went and visited Free The Bears. Once we got to the zoo we got put straight to work with help cleaning, feeding and maintaining the Sun & Moon bear enclosures. After we finished cleaning we were grateful to be served a lovely traditional Cambodian style lunch. We then helped weigh the food for each different enclosure and create some enrichment treats for the bears. Hiding food (such as guava, sweet potato, turnip and cucumber) in bamboo and plastic balls, which the bears thoroughly enjoyed.  After finishing with the bears we got the chance to see the other animals they look after. This included two lions, a tiger, macaque monkeys and elephants. We even got to feed the elephants some leaves and sugar cane. When we got back from the zoo, we had about an hour of free time. Finding dinner to suit the 15 of us was quite difficult and took us about half an hour but we eventually settled on a noodle restaurant that was found on TikTok.

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁 - 𝚂𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟹𝟶𝚝𝚑 𝙽𝙾𝚅𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Today was a travel day, from Phnom Penh to Sen Moronom. It was an 8-hour trip including a break for lunch in Snuol. On the bus to keep us entertained, UNO was a popular choice as well as taking in the views from the countryside and for some people taking a much-needed nap across the seats of the bus. When we arrived at the Hostel we found a place for dinner and ate a scrumptious meal with some great conversations. Once we finished Dinner Mr Sanders thought it would be a fun idea to take a stroll to the local supermarket and see what new drinks and fruits he could try. We then made it back to the Hostel ready for tomorrow's adventures at the elephant initiative for the next three days.

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 - 𝚂𝚄𝙽𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟷𝚜𝚝 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

The day started with catching a short 2 minute bus ride to The Hangout. This is where we met our leader for the next couple of days at the Elephant Valley Project. Once we got to the mountains we went straight to the jungle to meet the elephants. We got to see what the elephants do in their natural habitat and see how their mahouts (the cares and owners of their elephants) take care of them. One of the cooler things we saw was the mahouts bathing the elephants, this is to make sure they have no cuts and make sure their skin is squeaky clean. Once we got back for some lunch we got put to work finding some ---- seeds, which are an endangered species all around the world. After we were done for the day, we all took some time out either reading, playing cards, sitting in the hammocks, playing music and watching the sunset.

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚂𝙸𝚇 - 𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟸𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

The day's adventures led us to watch the only male bull elephant, Hen. We learnt about all of his medical issues such as his permanently dislocated hip, fungal infection on his forehead and an abscess under his right eye that was caused by a thorn. After lunch, we were able to help the local community out by doing a big rubbish clean up to encourage the younger generation to pick up their rubbish after them and to keep their space clean. The boys from our group were very popular among the little kids chanting words in Khmer (MOI MOI!!) and running around in big groups while picking up rubbish. We then got back and had a relaxing night playing UNO once again.

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚂𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽 - 𝚃𝚄𝙴𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Today started with a long off-roading adventure into the elephant wildlife area and a trek to see elephants Ruby, Pearl and Ningwan. Ruby starts the story off as a logging elephant that was exploited into the usage of a rubber plantation to harvest trees and rubber, these situations ended up damaging her eyes and leaving her with the right fully blind while the left eye still has 10-20% of vision. Pearl is the youngest elephant at the EVP (Elephant Valley Project) with her story starting similar to her fellow elephants, formally being a logging elephant whose owners did not care about her. Pearl was also injured, in 2020, a male led her away with her chain still on around the back right leg as they needed to know at nighttime the location of the elephant if disasters happened. This ended up scarring her leg damaging her movement when the male elephant took her away with the chain still on. Unfortunately, on top of these poor circumstances, Pearl lost her child from 2022-2024 when she contracted a virus known as the EHV (Elephant Herpes Virus). Ningwan the oldest elephant of the project in her mid-sixties, was similar to the others, as a logging elephant owned by 11 owners across her years, resulting in the ageing of the muscles when her ownership was passed on to others. As Ningwan is reasonably old, she ran out of her last set of teeth, resulting in Ningwan being fed rice and probiotics as she couldn't crush them up in her mouth. 

After a brief stop and a well-deserved lunch break, the team got back to work with the Tenong tree seeds we opened on the first day and got straight to digging soil as the trees had low germination and we set to find the best way to replant and create an environment where they can grow without a 10% chance and hopefully a 60-80% chance instead. 

Dinner was a changed menu tonight, so we came to the conclusion to have Western food, having dishes such as burgers and pizza baguettes on our plate to have enough energy ahead of the tiring 10+ hour drive to Siem Reap.

Lewis

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙴𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃 - 𝚆𝙴𝙳𝙽𝙴𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟺𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Today we woke up in Sen Monorom packed and ready to board the bus at 7.15 and start the 10-hour drive to Siem Reap. During our bus ride, we stopped at a local restaurant recommended by our great driver. As we finished up with our food Grace, Riley and Matilda paid for our food, and once again we were off on the road ready to explore the journey ahead of us. Once we arrived at the Twizt hostel we got ourselves accompanied with our rooms and roommates. After we were settled in Gabe guided us towards the Thy Phalla which was brilliant cuisine with amazing food with most of us having coconuts and smoothies for drinks. After we ate and paid half of us went down towards the night market in which had some amazing and pretty trinkets, toys and plushies. On the way back towards the hotel we walked around the block checking everything out contemplating on what we will spend our free time tomorrow doing.

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙴 - 𝚃𝙷𝚄𝚁𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟻𝚝𝚑 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Through the decisions upon what we were going to choose yesterday, the group came to the conclusion to visit Tonle Sap Boat Tour and The Phare Carnival, to develop an understanding of the communities nearby, and the roles they play in Cambodia. Tonle Sap (freshwater lake in Cambodian) is the biggest freshwater lake in South East Asia. Nearly 250 km long and 150 wide with over 200 fish species as well as birds, mammals and reptiles. It is considered the fishbowl of Cambodia. The local people live on the lake year-round with houses on stilts and being supported by the fishing and tourism industry. Afterwards, we decided as a team to split up for lunch half of us going to the market and buying gifts for our families and friends, while the other half went to a local restaurant for lunch. Furthermore, concluding our day at the hotel pool and making our trip to the Phare Carnival in a Tuk Tuk from dinner. Viewing high-flying acrobatics and impressive displays of flips, balancing and trickery. We head to Kulen Mountain tomorrow for our 3-day hike, giving a chance to get away from the city and technology for 2 nights. 

Jordan

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚃𝙴𝙽 - 𝙵𝚁𝙸𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟼𝚃𝙷 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Our day started off with a bus ride for a 1 and a 1/2-hour drive to the nearby village at the bottom of the Kulen Mountain. Kulen Mountain is a sandstone mountain range stretching 40km, known locally as the 'Mountain of Lychees'. Then we started the trek walking 2 kilometres from Svay Leu Pagoda to the base of Kulen Mountain. From there a tour guide, Lach Lot and rangers from the local community used a jungle machete to hack a path up the mountain. It was a long and treacherous uphill, stopping to take photos of a golden orb weaver spider, finding little pink and purple flowers and enjoying a wonderful view after each stop. Soon, we arrived at a lunch spot where a Buddhist temple was under construction and some monks lived nearby as keepers of the temple. We took some tourist photos with them and enjoyed a well needed break. After a tasty coconut, we headed off for an 8km flat walk meeting children and schools on the way. We joined in and had some fun with soccer until Sam misjudged a kick and fell over. With the school in hysterics, we continued further along the mountain arriving at our camping spot, where some locals had already set up tents, a dinner shelter and a toilet for us. It was a great spot on the side of a river where we enjoyed a great swim. To finish today off we had a delicious dinner, which was biked in by some local cooks, and a night of UNO next to a fire with a great view of stars above the mountain.

Lewis

The night photographer

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙴𝙻𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽 - 𝚂𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟽𝚃𝙷 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

The beginning of day 2 arrives, everyone wakes up nice and early at 6.00am ready for an 8.00am departure. But before that, everyone had to feast on a scrumptious breakfast of bread, omelettes, honey and condensed milk. We headed further along the mountain with an easy 5km walk along a rocky road to find a big village, Anglung Thom, where we learnt about the community volunteer organisation who do a number of things to look after the mountain, including replanting native trees after a big deforestation period in 2020. Cashews are the main economy of the mountain, as well as lychee trees. They spoke to us about how lychee trees named the mountain of 'Kulen' and discovered the background of the local wildlife. Departing, we travelled into a sandy 6km walk into another break of a Buddhist community, learning more about the Buddhist flag/philosophy and discovered a cave going 50 meters deep that was home to bats and more religious symbols. Going away from this area, we stopped at a little wood shack at the 'Elephant Pond' with huge sandstone carvings of animals to have lunch filled with chicken and rice (what a surprise), but all was good as it was tasty. We proceeded to the final destination of night 2, a hard and rocky surface for a 5 kilometre trek. The campsite was situated on a small shallow rocky river with and waterfall area. Everyone loved and enjoyed the area as in my opinion the deep rock pools (2-3 metres deep in sections) with views that were 10 out of 10. Finishing off the night, we sat near another fire with fire ants and bugs loving our food bowls and they got filled by small grasshoppers. Nevertheless, it wasn't a problem and everyone enjoyed it with a late night game of Uno.

Lewis

The Amazing View Taker

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙻𝚅𝙴 - 𝚂𝚄𝙽𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟾𝚃𝙷 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

To commence the final day, everyone woke up, most sleepy, after a very hard mattress (the ground). We got ready for an exciting day of visiting the Reclining Buddha and seeing the Phnom Kulen Waterfalls. All this awaits while we have a later breakfast at 7.20am before quickly establishing a consistent walking pace to a 5km walk to the Reclining Buddha, appraised by locals and other groups. The Reclining Buddha is a statue above a rock carved 8 metres long showing a Buddha lying down and covered in many gifts showing a blessing. After the Buddha, everyone had their adventure hitting the gong and showing appreciation to the relic built in the 16th century. We then set off in search of the Phnom Kulen Waterfalls for lunch and an opportunity of a nice swim beneath the 20 metre waterfall. We followed a trail for a 1 kilometre walk through rough slopes to a very populated destination of the waterfalls, as it was a Sunday afternoon. Relaxing after some sore feet with all the walking in the past couple of days, we finished the hike with a lunch with even more coconuts and yet another bonus of chicken and rice, it never stops delivering greatness. Everyone disagreed with a 4.5km walk down the mountain, so we finished this wonderful adventure with a bus ride back to our hotel. Dinner was later decided to be an all great menu with foods that suited everyone’s need...of burgers, pasta and chips. This was all needed for a rest to wake up the following day at the Angkor Wat temple at 4am to hopefully an amazing sunrise photo.

Lewis

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽 - 𝙼𝙾𝙽𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟿𝚃𝙷 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

An early adventure awaits as everyone wakes up to their 4.00am alarm, all prepared for the adventurous day at the temples. After receiving our tickets and all having a laugh at the photos, our tour guide Lot takes us to Angkor Wat for the beautiful sunrise in the morning, an experience that we all won't forget. After sunrise we explored Angkor Wat walking through the carved stones and unique architecture. After we travelled to another temple close by, called Bayon. This temple was primarily built for Buddhist deities and was created by King Jayavarman VII. This temple was hard to manoeuvre due to its broken landscape and lots of corridors leading to multiple different rooms. Our morning comes to an end by finishing at our last temple at Ta Prohm, this temple was a bit of a secret hiding in the forest off from the rest of the temples. After arriving, we got to see that trees have grown out of the temple creating a sort of structure for it. This is a favoured destination out of the temples as it clearly takes your breath away. As we walked through, we thought it would never end as the temple just kept on getting bigger and bigger, with more trees coming out of different parts of the temple. Later after dinner some of us travelled by foot to the night markets where most of us were able to snag some good deals and use our bargaining skills one last time. To close the night off we packed all our bags ready for the morning.

Will

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽 - 𝚃𝚄𝙴𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟷𝟶𝚃𝙷 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

Today was a mostly unventful day as we were preparing to go to the airport to depart back home. As we did not have much planned, we were able to wake up much later than usual, enjoying our last breakfast in Cambodia. After breakfast, we went to our rooms and packed our bags, double checking our luggage to ensure it was all there. As it was our last day in Cambodia, we decided to go to the market for 1 last time and spend the remainder of our money as well as see our friends in the market. We were able to bargain a few good deals, such as a nice tie for $3 and as a gift, Matt, Gabriel and Jordan bought the seller an iced coffee. We then stopped by the supermarket to pick up some last minute snacks for the plane ride. After the market, we met together to reflect on the trip and discuss what we enjoyed about our stay and all the fun activities and experiences, and later Riley  expressed our gratitude to the teachers as well as our world challenge guide Pete.  Finally, we checked out of the hotel and went out to a local restaurant for lunch, enjoying meals such as soup, Lok Lak and fried rice. Then we boarded our coach to the airport and to finish off the day, checked our bags before waiting 4 hours for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City, where we will then transfer to a different flight to go back home. We all agreed in our reflection that the entirety of the trip was an amazing experience, and one we look forward to sharing when we get back. 

Unfortunately, as you can see  in the photos, the airline delayed our first flight and caused us to miss our connection. We will be staying in Veitnam for 1 day to board the same flight tomorrow. We are staying at the Park Royal, which is pretty nice, and hopefully go into Saigon tomorrow.

Matt and Gabe

𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 - 𝙲𝙰𝙼𝙱𝙾𝙳𝙸𝙰 (𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝙰𝙸𝙶𝙾𝙽) - 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝙵𝙸𝙵𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽 - 𝚆𝙴𝙳𝙽𝙴𝚂𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟷𝟷𝚃𝙷 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁

What a night! The airline delayed our first flight and caused us to miss our connection flight. We arrived at our hotel at midnight and ordered some late night Cheeseburgers after some negotiation with the hotel staff. The morning was great, as we had a full buffet breakfast available at the hotel. All students filled up on gourmet omelettes for the day. We gathered in the lobby to head off for a short visit to some of the sights of Ho Chi Minh with a Ms Allen walking tour. 

We headed to Ben Thanh Market first, for our final look at some souvenirs. The market was bustling and a hive of activity, a couple of bargains were found but it was all very similar to Siem Reap. 

Once asking for help, Ms Allen guided us to the Opera House and the City Hall. We discussed the impact of the man that was Ho Chi Minh and the war that took place here. Behind the City Hall, was the building that was the last landing place of US helicopters, this was used to evacuate US troops when they only had a couple of hours to get out of the city at the end of the war. We continued our walk past the Notre Dame Cathedral, unfortunately, this was under renovation and had scaffolding all around it. Ms Allen's tour finished up at 'Turtle Pond', which was also being renovated and cleaned but still had some large fish in it. Mr Sanders organised some taxis back to the hotel, which was perfect timing for our buffet lunch. 

Some of the group finished off the day with a dip in the pool whilst others relaxed in the nice rooms. The hotel organised a transfer to the airport at 6 and we boarded our flight without a hitch...except for Sam and Mr Sanders having to go back through security for having something in their bags. We are all looking forward to getting home and seeing our loved ones after such as massive trip but one we won't forget.

World Challenge - 2024 - Cambodia + Saigon