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Cambodia

Living an expat life

Living an expat life

As I sip Chinese tea sitting in my balcony, I try to look back at the time spent in this country.

I live in an urbanized village of Siem Reap, Cambodia. There is no electricity in the area for last 3 hours and I am told that around 6 years back they had electricity for only 3-4 hours a day. It’s quite an improvement, they say. The morning is not very hot … a cloudy day again.

Living an expat life in cambodia @lemonicks.com

Awesome Sun emerging, overpowering the dark night.

The tea is prepared on a small gas camp stove; the only stove I have for cooking. I gaze into my cup. The tea is almost colorless and tasteless without milk or sugar… does it remind me of something? Is it like my life here in Cambodia?

Negotiating

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Street food of Cambodia

Picture of the moment: Street food in Siem Reap
Picture of the moment is a weekly series exhibiting pictures, through which I show you a bit of my world.

While strolling on the roads of Siem Reap, it is a common sight to see beef and other animals being barbecued for your dinner. You can eat there itself or get it packed for home.

street food in cambodia @lemonicks.com

Would you like to have some ? 😀

I suggest, you

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Kralan, Cambodian bamboo rice cake

Kralan, Cambodian bamboo rice cake.

Three days back I had asked on Facebook about the photo shown below.
The responses were quite interesting. Ranging from a smoking pipe, cow poo to a spider, they made me laugh and of course worried. For a moment I wanted to stab myself for asking our driver to stop midway to buy these. Come on, I had eaten bambooful of this dish!
I am pretty sure some people referred to Google as well because they answered correctly. 😀

kralan ข้าวหลาม @lemonicks.com

Packed food, ready to eat.

Okay, here is the answer. It is a traditional Cambodian rice dish

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First day at school

I was going to a school !
I was both excited and nervous. What’s in store for me in this town of a new country where lack of a common language is a big problem for us. Last four days, I had difficulty in explaining what I wanted to eat or where I wanted to go. Then how am I going to communicate with teachers and students of the school?

So what if I am a volunteer teacher, I was feeling like a kid going to a new school.
All these emotions bothered me constantly as I took the transport to the school that is around 3 KM away from my place of stay.

It took a while to find the place. This tuk-tuk driver, like any one of his brotherhood, would know the way to all the tourist spots and even smallest hotels in nooks & corners of Siem Reap, Cambodia but not know even the best educational institutions let alone this small little government school that was on the way to the airport in the outskirts!
siem reap school @lemonicks.com

One of the classes.

My contact at the school was

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Cambodian Riels

Cambodian Riels @lemonicks.com

100 Australian dollars were exchanged for 3,69,626 Riels !

Cambodian currency or Cambodian Riels is very poor and one spends lakhs of them everyday on food, transport etc. One litre of mineral water of may cost you around 10,000 Riels. When compared to India,

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Off to some VolunTourism

Starting tomorrow morning I am off to South east Asia for over 3 months. Cambodia, Malaysia and probably Thailand or Singapore. Not yet decided, not yet planned.

Mumbai from above @lemonicks.com

That’s aerial view of Mumbai

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.. — Winston Churchill

As a responsible traveller, I strongly believe in giving back something to the society.
I have done this before and will do so in future also. This time I will be engaged in volunteer work with an NGO in Cambodia for about 3 months.

If you are raising your eyebrows with a “What’s in it for you?” … then no, I won’t get any monetary benefits. I will have to pay for my accommodation, food, insurances and transport, visa etc. And I am not sure what kind of accommodation is in store for me… whether it is a dorm or a hotel room, I do not know. I have requested them to look for a place with wi-fi and cooking facility; yet to hear from them.

This work will give me a chance to experience and learn about the people and culture of Cambodia. More than anything, this will give

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