On Wednesday 11th July 2024, 11 students from both Tormead and RGS met at Gatwick Airport to begin their 18-day trip to Cambodia. After an attack alarm going off in bag drop-off, a lost and then found passport, and two layovers in Singapore and Dubai, we made it into the country jetlagged and began to explore the beautiful city of Phnom Penh. Our first meal at the hostel, we decided to fully embrace the culture, with many helping themselves to burgers, chips and pasta with their assigned budget of $3. 

Nevertheless, as the days went on, we found ourselves drawn more and more to the food and drink of Cambodia, with Pad Thai as a popular group meal, and adding a purifier into our water and other bottled drinks. One of the most common meals we were served in the rural communities was rice, which is of course a lovely meal, but as we discovered around day 6, when one has it at every meal for 5 days in a row, it is quite easy to grow tired of it, with many claiming to experience withdrawal symptoms when we travelled back to the city.

As the trip continued, travelling on bus to bus (with various levels of air conditioning), we explored both urban and rural areas, from Siem Reap, the tourist city with a designated street for restaurants, to a 3-hour boat journey from Chi Phat to the jungle where we trekked. Each place we travelled to had its own culture to learn from, visiting beautiful sites like the Temples of Angkor Wat, as well as learning about the moving history at S2, the Toul Sleng museum, where we were able to look around a prisoner’s camp and see how they were treated by the Khmer Rouge. One of the most rewarding parts of the trip was near the end, when we visited a small village close to Siem Reap and spent some time teaching the children at the local school English and sports. It was heart-warming to walk to the school every day with children running up to us and holding our hands to walk with us, even learning our names. 

While we all had our moments, and all stepped out of our comfort zones in one way or another, one thing we were never short of were jokes and laughs. While it seemed difficult to crack a smile at 4am in a power cut, as we prepared to trek for 13km, there was always something to joke about, with quips that left us laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. The connection that was forged between everyone goes deeper than just a friendship, and it’s safe to say getting to make memories of this brilliant experience together made the whole trip even more unforgettable.

Bethany, Upper Sixth