Today we began our journey from Angkor to Phnom Penh by bus at 9:30. The drive was eight hours long in total, but we took a few breaks. The first stop was at Kampuchea House. This is an orphanage that was set up seven years ago by a group of volunteers from Melbourne. It’s for children fro
m school age onwards who are not safe in their homes or have lost their family. Some orphans have experienced violence at home from alcoholic parents, some abandonment usually by the dad if the mother dies at child birth and others where both parents are sick or have passed away. We had a 30 minute tour around the orphanage from Belinda Lightfoot who helps fund the orphanage. From her we learnt about sponsors, house mothers and the children’s daily routine. There is room for 25 children, all of whom go to the local school, which runs from 7-11am or 1-5pm. They live in a house arrangement at the orphanage, to make it more homely rather than dormitories. There are four beds in the room which sleeps eight children and the mother nurse is in the room next door.
We also met an Australian teacher called Shaun who is living locally and volunteering his time to provide English and computer classes to the kids at the orphanage. It’s amazing how someone would give up their time, a few years of their life to live out here and educate the children.
After that we spent time playing with the children who had just come back from school. We played volleyball, hackey sack, soccer, badminton and did some puzzles with them too. 
We then had a packed lunch and freshly prepared fruits. After lunch we gave the orphans their gifts and a donation of $500 from the money we raised from our walkathon.
The time went so quickly and soon it was time to get back on the bus and continue the rest of our eight hour drive. The ride was very bumpy with the road barely surfaced and so dusty. There were beaten down shacks, houses and little market shops all along the way with malnourished cattle in some fields and people everywhere. Right at the end of the journey we had the opportunity to eat fried tarantulas!!! 
They are a high source of protein and a common component of a meal with rice in the dry season when fish is in limited supply. They also had deep fried crickets and we heard of the villagers eating red ants when they couldn’t source fish. Most people weren’t keen to try the local delicacy, but those that did ate a leg, not the whole thing. The legs didn’t have much taste, and were very crunchy. Apparently if you eat the body it ‘pops’ in your mouth and is full of juice!! Where we ate the spiders we took a bathroom break and the toilets were ground level and challenging to use. They were similar to the old Chinese toilets. When we arrived at Phnom Penh we were surprised at how quickly it went. It’s a big, bustling city that was ridden with traffic and people walking the streets. Once we had arrived we went to a Khmer restaurant. To our surprise, during our meal the power cut out and remained out for a couple of minutes. Their torch lights were used, but weren’t very effective, but luckily the power came back on shortly. We have now checked into our hotel that we will stay at for the next two nights and are in need of a good night’s sleep ready for a full day tomorrow.
By Robyn Chapman & Brooke Robson