Cambodia - Insight and Impact Expedition

Meet as a group at the International Airport.  Please ensure you meet at the Vietnam Airlines check-in area.   GLE will assist with the group’s check-in.

Depart Australia mid-morning and arrive in Hoh Chi Minh City, in Vietnam, late afternoon. Here we transfer to our short flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Upon arrival, our local GLE Expedition leader will meet us and assist with clearing customs and the transfer to our hotel in Siem Reap. Dinner will be at the hotel tonight.

Overnight: Siem Reap

Today we visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World!! Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the Angkor Wat Temple is one of the largest religious monuments in the world. Over 1000 years old!  It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple before gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century.  Today, it has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on the country’s national flag and it is now the prime tourist attraction for visitors.

There are over 300 Temples in the Angkor complex, way too many for us to visit, so we have selected the most famous and best preserved for our 2 days at the complex. We have a guide with us to explain the history of the temples and the Khmer empire.

Ta Prohm is a temple with photogenic and an atmospheric combination of giant trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings. A remarkable site to see. Ta Prohm was also used in the filming of 2001’s action film ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ staring Angelina Jolie.

Lunch will be at a nearby local restaurant.

After a late lunch, it’s time to return to the hotel for some down time to relax and maybe take a swim in the hotel’s roof top pool.

Before dinner we all get to enjoy a Tuk Tuk ride. A Tuk Tuk is an open air two wheeled carriage powered by a motorbike and is the most popular form of transport in Siem Reap. On our ride, we get to explore the food and souvenir markets together with the ‘Pub Street’ section of town before dinner.

Overnight: Siem Reap

After breakfast travel back to the Angkor Kingdom to visit Ankor Thom and Bayon Temples.

Angkor Thom was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire, built in the 12th Century. Its moat lake and surrounding grounds cover 9 square km. Like all the Temples in the Angkor kingdom, they are all built of stone and are covered in intricate carvings.

Bayon Temple is located within the ‘grounds’ of the Angkor Thom temple complex. It is known as the temple with many faces, all hand caved from enormous stone blocks.

The Temples are an engineering marvel considering when they were built.

After lunch, we return to Siem Reap and spend the afternoon walking through the local markets to shop for souvenirs or some of the local made in Cambodia products.

Dinner at a local restaurant tonight.

Overnight: Siem Reap

After breakfast, travel by coach to our selected Community Impact Project.  Your GLE Escort will arrange a full project and site orientation and explanation of the Project.  After everyone fully understands the work, the safety rules, and requirements of the project, we can commence the work.

Projects are many and varied, all based around primary schools, education, social enterprises, and the most important needs of the community.

The Global Learning Foundation works with several organisations (NGOs) in Siem Reap in Cambodia.

Some of the projects may be:

• Building a small stilt house (6m by 6m) for a family
• Building a new classroom to an existing primary school
• Painting a primary school
• Supplying bicycles to children that live a long distance from school
• Building vegetable gardens or mushroom farms for a village
• Assembling playground equipment at a school
• Assisting primary school students with their reading and writing skills
• Teeth brushing stations and teaching the kids the proper way to brush
• Teaching about health and hygiene to young children
• Planting fruit trees to supply the young children with food at school

And many more.

GLF will discuss with you, once the group is formed, which options would work well for the group.  (Professional contractors assist with the construction work projects.)

Return to our hotel at the end of the day.  Dinner is at a local restaurant.

Overnight: Siem Rea

After breakfast, transfer to the Project location for the day’s work.  Continue with the Community Impact Project, there may be time for a game of volleyball or soccer with the local children. After some time to freshen up back at the hotel, head out for dinner.

Overnight: Siem Reap

Today we complete the Project and celebrate the completion of the Community Impact Project with the children, the local community, and the respective NGO Management Team.

Similarly, they will show their appreciation by thanking all the GLE students for their wonderful work! Finally, say goodbye to your new and grateful friends and return to Siem Reap for lunch.

After lunch we get to explore the markets where the ‘locals’ shop. Here we can see a diversity of fruits, vegetables and other goods which we probably have never seen before!  After the market tour, we return to the hotel.  Time to relax or swim in the rooftop pool before departing for our Project Celebration Dinner!

Overnight: Siem Reap

After breakfast, depart our hotel and travel to the Landmine Museum, followed by a private guided tour of the museum.

In the early days, tourists began hearing stories about a young Khmer man, Aki Ra, who cleared landmines with a stick and had a house full of defused ordnance.  Aki-Ra began charging a dollar to see his collection and used these funds to help further his activities - thus began the Cambodia Landmine Museum.  The museum shows some of the recent war-torn history of Cambodia and the devastation the country has suffered from the use of land mines during 30 years of war.  Some 6 million land mines remain today in the countryside and, unfortunately, are regularly detonated by farmers and children, causing loss of limbs and death.

The Cambodia Landmine Museum exists for two reasons:

• To tell Aki Ra’s story. As a boy soldier, after the war, he began clearing landmines by using a stick.  This program has now grown into several professional de-mining teams.
• To tell the world about the horrors of landmines and explain that war is only half the problem.  The aftermath of war continues long after the battle ends.

After lunch we have a short tour of the Angkor National Museum, followed by a walking tour in the multitude of street markets in the city centre.  See the local food and shopping markets as well as some of the ‘strange’ street foods on display. Spiders, scorpions, crickets etc.

After dinner tonight, enjoy an amazing blend of traditional and modern theatre, music, acrobatics, juggling and contortion at a the Phare Circus Show.

Overnight: Siem Rea

After breakfast, we take a road trip to the base of Kulen Mountain.  Considered by Khmers to be the most sacred mountain in Cambodia, Phnom Kulen is a popular place of pilgrimage during festivals.  It played a significant role in the history of the Khmer empire, as it was from here in AD 802 that Jayavarman II proclaimed himself a Devaraja (God-King), giving birth to the Cambodian Kingdom.  Kulen features a giant reclining Buddha, hundreds of Lingas carved in the riverbed, and an impressive waterfall featured in the movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

On arrival, take a hiking tour, walking from the base of the mountain, through beautiful green rolling hills to a unique local village.  After a rest stop, we continue our trek to the summit of Kulen Mountain, finishing at the breath-taking waterfalls for a picnic lunch.  At the top, we also visit the River of a Thousand Lingas.  The lingas, lying at the bottom of the riverbed are clearly visible through the crystal-clear water as it flows from Kulen Mountain to Siem Reap.

Continue a short distance to visit the Grand Reclining Buddha, a 16th century Buddhist pagoda.  It is a sacred site for pilgrims from all over Cambodia to come to worship.  Off with our shoes and up the stairs leading to honour the eight metre Buddha statue!  Enjoy the spectacular view over the surrounding forest and countryside.

Return to our hotel to freshen up, have a swim or just relax before dinner. Tonight, we again ride in the Tuk Tuks to dinner.

Overnight: Siem Reap

Check out of our hotel this morning and travel to Ton Lé Sap Lake, another UNESCO World heritage site.  Here we take a private boat cruise to see the vibrant and bustling floating fishing villages!

Many people here spend their entire life living on the lake, never going ashore to dry land.  A fascinating insight into a very different way of life to what we know, with floating homes, shops, and markets.

Return to the hotel for lunch prior to transferring to the airport for our return flight to Australia.

Overnight: In transit