Oudong

Oudong was royal residence and Cambodia’s capital for more than 250 years until 1866. In 1866, it was abandoned by King Norodom, taking his royal court along with him to the current capital, Phnom Penh. It was extensively damaged by the Khmer Rouge in 1977, along with the other temples, monuments, and religious structures there. We drove to a…

Cambridge Cambodia School

http://cambcamb.org We traveled to the Cambridge Cambodian School in the village of Kauk Rovieng, Kampong Cham province, 65 km from Phnom Penh, a 1.5 hour drive. It is a middle school that was built with the funds raised by students in Cambridge, MA..  They also  built a library there.  While we were there, we presented…

Tree Alliance

    http://tree-alliance.org/index.php TREE | Training Restaurants for Employment and Entrepreneurship This is a global alliance of training restaurants working to build futures for former street youth, marginalized young people and adults. They train them in the restaurant business so they can gain skills that will help keep them off the streets and allow them to have good jobs. There are…

ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS

The Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) is an art university in Phnom Penh. Its origins date to the establishment of the École des arts cambodgiens in Phnom Penh in 1918. The school was closed in 1975 after the Khmer Rouge stepped in. It was re-opened in 1980 and has been operating ever since.  It is an art college that is…

Kampong Chhnang

Campong Chhnang means “port of pottery”.  You see this big beautiful vessel as you enter into this providence and drive around  a round-about. This is the birthplace of pottery in Cambodia.  Remnants of pottery can be found on the ground in places that date back as far as the 6th century.  It was one of my favorite places we…

FOOD

  I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty the Cambodian Cuisine is. Usually, I don’t eat much fish but I quickly found out the average meal typically consists of rice, fish and plants cooked in many different ways, (even for breakfast) Many of the fish eaten in Cambodia are freshwater fish from the Tonlé Sap…

Moto’s, moto’s everywhere!

  Moto’s are the main source of transportation in Cambodia.  These multipurpose vehicles are affordable, compact and can be ridden by most anyone.  There are no laws on how old you have to be to drive them and I never saw any speed limit signs.  There are very few traffic lights and when we did see…

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh was our home base while we were in Cambodia.  We stayed at the Queen Grand Hotel on a quiet little side street off of the main strip.  There were day markets, night markets and the Russian market where you could buy souvenirs, clothes, jewelry, food, and just about anything else you could ever…

The Royal Palace

The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh,is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1860s, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge. It…