Cambodia

East Meets West

Siem Reap is a town rich in history, where east fuses with west in spectacular style, situated at the foot of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Temple complex. This old French colonial capital echoes European influences, with shuttered windows and delicate ironwork, but now interspersed with a buzzing nightlife, street food on tap, night markets and cafes.

Your first 3 days will be a gentle introduction to the hustle and bustle of Asian life, whilst we show you some of the city’s highlights, such as Angkor Wat - get ready for an early start to see sunrise at the temple, the world’s largest religious building. Spend the whole day tuk tuking your way around the incredible complex.

Phnom Kulen – the Mountain of the Lychees, which is about 2 hours outside Siem Reap. The main attraction being the waterfalls cascading down the mountain.

The rest of your time will be spent exploring the markets, pub street or sampling a relaxing Cambodian massage.

Accommodation

Local, centrally located hostel, single sexed dorms.

Food

3 meals a day are provided.

Expect: authentic Cambodian food with rice and noodle dishes forming the basis of most meals.

Close to the Vietnam Border

From Siem Reap, you’ll journey east towards Vietnam, past fields of swaying sugar palms, rice paddies and up into densely forested hill country interspersed with thundering waterfalls. Welcome to Mondulkiri, one of Cambodia’s last great wildernesses, a vital wildlife corridor and home to the indigenous Bunong tribe for whom a bond with elephants is at the very heart of their culture

While you are here you will spend your whole first day with the elephants, learning about the forest, community, conservation and the elephants themselves. Here at the sanctuary there are no rides, no tricks, just elephants being elephants in their natural environment.

You will then spend the next morning on an observation hike with the elephants, following them through the forest before helping with the reserve projects - joining locals, staff and other volunteers on the many jobs required to keep the sanctuary running (note these activities are not with the elephants). Past volunteer projects have included reforestation efforts, invasive species removal, trail maintenance, farming elephant food, building water towers, and helping with small construction projects.

Accommodation

Here you will stay in a simple bungalow on the slopes of the Elephant Valley Project, giving you stunning views over the surrounding forest. Sunsets can be spent unwinding here, enjoying the amazing sounds of the nocturnal forest creatures and the gibbons calling as they prepare to sleep. Bliss.

Food

3 meals a day provided.

Museum Tours

Arriving in Phnom Penh, the city will assault your senses and that’s a guarantee. Traffic everywhere, tuk tuks and motos whizzing around with no regard for anything or anyone. The city is big and bustling, with markets selling everything from chickens to microwaves! Rising from the ashes of the war and the Khmer Rouge it has plenty to offer with a great selection of bars, restaurants and cafes. You will be able to visit some of the top attractions, some not all joyous, but none to be missed. For example:

Royal Palace and National Museum
Near the riverfront of the Mekong River is the Royal Palace which once dominated the skyline of Phnom Penh. The palace is the official residence of King Sihamoni, so only parts are open to the public, but you can also visit the adjacent Silver Pagoda.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
In 1975 Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot’s security forces and turned into a prison, known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). A visit here is extremely depressing but provides an insight into the country's history.

Killing Fields of Choeung Ek
About 20,000 defenceless men, women, children and infants from S-21 were taken to the extermination camp of Choeung Ek between 1975 to 1978 where they were mercilessly killed. More than 8000 skulls can be viewed behind a glass screen at the Memorial Stupa which was erected in 1988.

Accommodation

Local hostel, single sexed dorms.

Food

All meals included.

Red Road Foundation

This is the meaty phase of the program and we are really excited to have teamed up with the Red Road Foundation who focus on village-led social enterprises while addressing critical global issues, such as waste and education.

For the next 3 weeks you’ll be working on ECO building projects and sustainable development. You’ll help and learn about organic farming, harvesting and learning to craft handmade products to help sustain the school. Building projects include plastic bottle brick-making and working with the plastic bricks machine, using these for ongoing building projects.

Other activities you can join in with are yoga, meditation and personal wellbeing activities, Khmer cooking classes, swimming in the local spring and trekking to the waterfall with a picnic, paddle board through the mangrove forest and help run field trips with the local children to the river or waterfall.

Honestly - this is an exciting and dynamic NGO run by the gorgeous Rachel who will be leading the whole program.

Accommodation

Here you‘ll be staying in a house owned by our project close to the beach.

Food

3 meals provided of local fresh food.

Time to kick back

After all your hard work you’ll be ready for some R&R. You’ll transfer from Red Road to Kep Beach where you’ll have a night in a hotel with a pool and then make the short crossing to Rabbit Island.

A 20-minute boat crossing from Kep Beach is the island of Ko Tonsay (named Rabbit Island as locals say it is the shape of a rabbit). You’ll spend 3 nights here where you can relax, kayak, trek and hire a boat for the day to see other islands around and snorkel.

Think white sand, tropical - need we say any more?

Accommodation

Hostel on the beach.

Food

3 meals included.