I went up to Ankgor Wat again early on and then walked the few kilometres to the Angkor Thom area, visiting more sites along the way.
Rong Lmung
Phnom Bakheng
Phnom Bakheng
Baksei Chamkrong
Road to South gate
View from bridge near South gate
South gate of Angkor Thom
The walk was fine apart from a downpour of rain where I had to take shelter under some trees. When the weather improved I carried on to Bayon where I met Angela and the kids who arrived later on. (Angela says: We recognised that perhaps our enthusiasm for the temples was slightly more than Sam and Martha’s so I stayed and played with them and we got a tuktuk later on to meet Mike at Bayon. Bayon turned out to be my absolute favourite of all the temples, just love those faces).
Bayon was built in the 12th century and contains many towers decorated with faces. This was to be our last temple in the Angkor area so the plan was to stay for sunset and get some nice photos.
Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy but we still got some great shots.
Banteay Kdei – good hide and seek spot and big trees
Sras Srang – it was a calm lake
Ta Prohm – ancient trees around ancient temples
Ta Keo – very steep steps, lovely views
Terrace of the Elephants – beautiful carvings
Phimeanakas – small but great
Baphuon – narrow bridge leading to massive temple
We did a lot of walking and running around. It was very very very hot. We played hide and seek a lot. There were some steep bits that we went up and down on our bums.
We had a tuk tuk for the whole day and the driver took us to all the temples. The last few temples were in the Angkor Thom area.
It was the Water Festival today and we walked along the river and saw lots of boats. They were having a race and went really fast.
We also saw a dunk tank and a boxing over water game.
In the evening we saw fireworks and then went to ‘Jungle Burger’ for pizza and delicious burgers!
(Note from parents: After having lunch in Siem Reap today we went down to the river as we were lucky enough to be there for the Cambodian Water Festival. The festival, also known as Bon Om Touk, is one of the largest and most celebrated in the country. It usually occurs in October/November over 3 days and marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap River and the end of the rainy season.)
The Angkor region in northern Cambodia is an archeological, UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering more than 400 square kilometres. It contains the remnants of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century.
One of the most famous and important capitals is Angkor Wat, a temple complex that was built in the early 12th century.
It was originally built as a Hindu temple during the reign of Suryavarman II (1112 – 1152) and was dedicated to the god Vishnu. It became a Buddhist temple by the end of the 12th century.
It is the world’s largest religious structure – and it’s pretty spectacular!
Martha’s day
Today we went to Angkor Wat. It is a temple over a thousand years old.
First we went on a floating bridge over the moat. Then we saw massive temple walls. Me and Sam played hide and seek.
We then had to walk to the inner temple. There were lots of pillars, statues and pictures on the walls. Inside there was a temple but me and Sam couldn’t go in.
Sam’s day
Today we went to Angkor Wat. There were lots of ancient temples which we looked at and climbed over. It was very hot.
Martha and I ran around and played hide and seek.
It was very big and on the inside there were steps that were really steep. Me and Martha weren’t allowed up so mummy and daddy went up separately.
There were lots of passageways everywhere so it was perfect for hide and seek.
Today we left our apartment in Phnom Penh and travelled to Siem Reap. We went by car with a driver as an alternative to taking a boat or a bus this time. The road used to wash away in the wet season but in recent years has been improved.
We stopped just over halfway (140km) at a nice restaurant next to the Prey Pros River to have lunch.
This is a typical morning looking down on the streets from our apartment in Phnom Penh. There seems to be no rules regarding traffic – it’s a free for all!
Also note the interesting wiring between the buildings.
When we first realised that we were actually going to do this trip I decided that I’d really like to visit some overseas Speech & Language Therapist (SLT) departments or volunteer my services somewhere along the way.
If you don’t know me then my ‘day job’ is as an Adult SLT working with people with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) and other progressive neurological conditions, as a clinical educator for SLT students and as Adult SLT Team Lead in my local hospital trust.
I knew it was important to think carefully about the reasons for volunteering, the impact and the sustainability of the volunteer person/project. Will volunteering give me a warm glow but actually have little impact on the people for whom I’m volunteering? Will there be sustainability in my involvement that will lead to long term change well after I’ve finished? If not then really I shouldn’t do it.
I had followed with interest on Twitter a Specialist SLT from Manchester who volunteered for an American Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) working in Cambodia called Speech Therapy Cambodia (STC). She and her colleagues had carried out some training there and the focus of the NGO’s work was adult dysphagia (swallowing difficulties) – just my area of expertise.
I contacted STC, explained I was planning a trip and I would be in their area in about October or November 2019 and offered to do anything (within reason!) that would make an impact. I was really pleased that we were able to come up with a plan for a two week period involving giving lectures on ‘MND and Dysphagia’ as part of the hospital’s continuing professional development (CPD) and contributing to clinical education/competency development.
I wrote my presentation whilst we were in Vancouver and Hong Kong, and skyped with Annie and Paula, the overseas SLTs employed by STC, for revisions to ensure it was pitched at the right level and culturally sensitive. I only did a four day week for the two weeks so I didn’t feel too guilty about leaving the kids and Mike to their own devices.
It was really interesting to learn about the aims of the charity – to train Cambodian healthcare professionals (at present Doctors, Nurses and Physiotherapists) in dysphagia management at the three public hospitals in Phnom Penh, with the ultimate aims of developing a University level Speech & Language Therapy course in Cambodia to train local staff and to develop the job structures within the health system.
I shadowed Annie and Paula in the hospitals, observing supervision of their dysphagia practitioners, had many interesting discussions on the topics of clinical education and competencies, and presented on MND and Dysphagia management at all three hospitals.
The STC Assistant Veasna provided the logistics for the sessions (challenging!) and I also worked with their amazing Cambodian translator Sophy (and had some lovely lunches with her too). She translated all my slides into Cambodian and provided on the spot translation during the lectures.
I really enjoyed my two weeks there. I was really nervous on my first day and before my first presentation – which I think was a good thing. I was out of my comfort zone but it all worked out well in the end! The warm glow is certainly there.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do it for myself as well as part of taking a career break was to do things that I’ve been wanting to do but never usually have the time. I also benefited with some unanticipated CPD of my own as I got some practise in interpreting some specialist assessments (FEES) that we don’t have at my hospital.
Being able to contribute to professional CPD in the three public hospitals was my main impact focus before I went and that was successful with great engagement from a range of professionals. 85 attendees in total which logistically was a good number to reach there!
Equally important though turned out to be learning enough about the STC service to be able to contribute to planning ahead for clinical education and supervision, focusing priorities and really looking at practical ideas of sustainability and promoting the Cambodian service development.
I’m going to keep involved as part of a professional network being an ongoing resource for clinical or service queries and help develop competencies appropriate to the setting and level of skills being developed.
Many thanks to Speech Therapy Cambodia for the opportunity!
