Driving to Monkgol Borey

I gave up and started the ZPack I brought with me this morning. I can’t take it any longer! This is for everyone’s safety.

After a steaming hot bow of soup for breakfast which opened up my sinus’ thru the miracle of Thai peppers, we repacked our suitcases for the journey to The Cambodia Academy at Monkgol Borey and afterward to Cambodia’s second largest city, Battambang. 

We are sharing a taxi with Hank, a photographer who is associated with the school and who is here to take pictures for the website and create a 3 -5-minute video about the school and the children who attend. Hank is from Fort Lauderdale and has spent a lot of time in Asia.

There are 2 buildings on campus and a canteen

Hank has secured Sout, who owns his own car, to drive us. Sout has been driving Hank around for years when he visits Siem Reap. As Hank says, “I tell him to take me places that the tourists don’t go. It’s always wonderful.”  

 Contact Sout here

Hank and Sout sitting outside a classroom at Cambodia Academy

Sout speaks very good English. His hometown is actually Siem Reap. Like any boom town, there are not many natives of the city there. His family have a farm right outside of the gates of Angkor Wat. Hank relayed to us, that one of the pleasures when traveling with Sout, is that he can answer so many questions about the people and the land, etc.

Many of the schools needs are met by Rotary Clubs, around the world

For instance; Sout likes crunchy, fried spiders – like we see Andrew Zimmer or Anthony Bordain tasting on TV. We found out that there are actually spider farms, because it’s much easier to raise them to eat, than hunt for them in the rice fields. The sign with the German Shepard’s stating “Explosive Dog Show” is actually about the training of dogs who search out the IED’s thruout the countryside. (Cambodia still has 1 IED per person in the country, left over from the “American Conflict.”)

Street scene, Battambang