Day 148 - Koh Tao, now!

Private boating and snorkelling

Day 148 - 18th November

Another early start left me wondering why I even bother booking hostels. I might as well just stay awake all night instead of getting a few hours kip.

Anyhow, Matt saw us off at 6am and we jumped in another mini van and headed for the pier. The ferry ride was less than a couple of hours, bypassing Koh Phangan where we would be going for the Half Moon Party - in one day!

We were transported away from the hustle and bustle on the dock just five minutes down to a resort I'd looked up on HostelBookers. The Sairee Hut Resort was perfect. Sitting right on the beach and another nice sized room for three of us.

Out of their depth?

We booked up snorkelling and within half an hour, we were out on our own private Long Boat with our skipper and cruising across the waters to our snorkelling sites. I couldn't resist a rendition of 'Robin Hood' as Del-Boy did in To Hull and Back.

We kitted up and dived in at the first spot. The fish were great but sparse. I enjoyed watching the coral more, moving slowly underwater. I floated there for a good twenty minutes, popping up now and again to readjust my snorkel. Kel and Dave seemed to enjoy their first experience too.

We moved around the bay a little more to our second destination and armed with bread, dived in again. This time I took off my life jacket and found it easier to move around. I even swam further out and saw some species of fish I'd never seen before on previous snorkels.

Loving the private beach life

For lunch we paid 100 Baht to go to Koh Nangyuan Island to see the narrow strip of beach that is famous for being a mini paradise on Koh Tao. Lunch was nice, with a pork noodle soup filling me half way up and my old pal, the banana pancake finishing the job.

By early afternoon, we were back on the beach and settling in to our place for a swim in the sea. We invested in a volleyball and Dave and I had a round of head tennis before the sunset. We were aiming for a record of 50 and after countless attempts, we finally reached 57, with sore heads I might add.

We sat around the beach side bar of our hostel and had discussions about family and life in general - only the sort of chat you can have over a Chang in a tropical climate. It when you have time on your hands that you really do get to know people - even people you've know all your life and are your family. The details of course stay between us - sorry!

We had dinner at the bar before readying and going just next door to The Sunset Bar. There, we enjoyed beers, were entertained with a fire show and relaxed as the waves crashed against the shore and the stars were out overhead in abundance - quite the mental image, huh?

All in all, it had been a brief but fantastic stop over in Koh Tao. It was a real shame we were running out of time. Only two days left until Kel and Dave were leaving :-( 

Day 97 - New week, new missions

I'm rolling around Siem Reap on this new baby. She's a smooth ride.

Day 97 - 28th September

A change, I'm back on the banana pancakes for breakfast. I've missed those round waffles of magic. The side of pineapple also makes me feel better for having a portion of fruit with it (the banana inside the pancakes doesn't count because it's dowsed in syrup).

Our weekly sports for social impact meeting saw us continue with the sport of volleyball but move on to a new child right - freedom. Such an important right as well for so many kids in Cambodia.

We were given the new game by Charlie to set up a giant square with one attacker in the middle. The attacker had to spike a ball waist height or below into the other kids trying to escape. When they were hit, the kids would have to cover their mouths so they couldn't call for help. This effectively takes away their freedom to move and seek assistance when needed.

We would then introduce a person who could 'untag' them by high fiving them when they called out for help. giving them back their freedom to play. We would follow this up with a question to see if they understood the message.

More warm ups.

So in the afternoon, Project A were our test run. They handled it well and seemed to pick up the message fairly quickly in the first session. The second session was full of smaller children so we played a bib game I came up with that needed the kids to put bibs over the tops of cones as quickly as they could in 15 seconds whilst two attackers tried to prevent them doing so by throwing the bibs off.

This went down well with the kids who loved the power of throwing stuff around whilst laughing out loud. Mission success!

Love those $1.25 nachos and the 50¢ Angkor draft.

In the evening, I went out for another swim (it's part of the routine now) before I headed to a Mexican for nachos and relaxed ready for a full day at Project B on Tuesday. Please, please, let it be overcast or colder. I don't mind which, as long as the heat doesn't rise!

Find out more about Globalteer Sports Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalteerSportsProject

Day 72 - Morning lessons, English teaching sessions and debut for Big Willy F.C

This is how I roll to my volunteer work these days - on a Tuk Tuk.

Day 72 - 03rd September

So I started my day off right with a banana pancake. I ate rapidly as I headed closer to my project and when we pulled up, the kids swamped us, trying to get the balls and cones. 

The new project was busy with children of all ages but soon DK and I had them all in lines, running our drills and having fun. Volleyball is actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

I'm finding that the kids are giving us a good range of child rights, with each NGO providing its own unique feedback to us. Whilst some opt for the mainstream rights like education, food, health etc, others are finding new answers like improvement to the community, respecting culture and gaining sponsorship for a better life. It's quite interesting to be a part of.

The unprepared shot.

L-R: Srey Mom, DK, Sitha and Vith.

After the morning sessions, we headed back to Globalteer where I took an afternoon English lesson with DK again to review his evening assignment. This time, we had new participants, in the form of Srey Mom, Sitha and Vith. I was happy to oblige. 

We went through connecting words and tenses. They all grasped the idea quickly and it was actually great fun to teach adults so English. DK's assignment was really good, a few grammatical errors as expected, but on the whole, he's on good form to learn the bits of English he will need to help him progress.

They even gave me my lucky number!

Later that night, I had my debut for Big Willy F.C. - my boss, Charlie's team. We lost narrowly 3-1, having had many chances but I did managed to get on the score sheet to add a consolation so it was a good start with my new team. A few more games together and I'm sure we'll be picking up points.

Well, what a day. Again, but I'm seriously loving Cambodia at the moment! I don't want it to end.

Find out more about Globalteer Sports Project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalteerSportsProject