Journey out

Right now it is 12.20am, Cambodian time, and I am in my guesthouse bedroom with Olivia, one of my Srae Thmei teammates. 
We made it! I am safe and ready to sleep.


The 26th began with family breakfast, and then my last service at church, where I got to say goodbye to lots of friends. 
Then we had lunch - Mum made my special requested meals, fajitas and then apple crumble. 
Promptly after that we drove to Heathrow, where I met up with the other 38 Cambodian volunteers and a VSO representative who helped us during the pre placement stage, and who gave us some documents we needed and made sure we went to the right place. Then it was a case of dropping bags off and going through security, and then getting on the plane. 
I had one last iced coffee in departures. Ice is very unsafe and unsanitary in Cambodia so it was my farewell to ice.

On the plane I was blessed with a window seat, but not the ability to sleep, unfortunately. They also fed us well on the flight. Here's some pictures I took:
^This was lentil salad, chicken curry and then some kind of berry mousse. Emirates is fancy.

We got into Dubai at around 4.45am GMT.
So that had been a long night! We had about 1.5 hours till the next flight - just enough time to freshen up and change into lighter clothes, and find the gate - and then we were off to Phnom Penh.

Much smaller plane, a bit less fancy, but still good food and not much more sleep. We stopped in Bangkok for fuel and to change passengers, and then it's only about 50 mins from there to PP.

When we arrived we sorted out our visas, got through customs and met our team leaders, UK and Cambodian. At this point I had been mostly awake for almost 36 hours! It was around 10pm Cambodian time (7hours ahead of the UK). Walking out of the airport into the Cambodian air you could feel the change in the air density already! It is so humid here! It was 27° when we arrived. We all stood swatting the mosquitos.

Then we got bussed over to guesthouses to stay the night, and tomorrow morning we are heading to Kampong Chnang for In Country Orientation - training. And we will get to meet our counterparts. Exciting stuff ahead.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for a safe journey for me.



Comments

  1. Unknown28 January 2020 at 09:09

    So glad you have arrived safely moli I have loved reading and looking at your pictures best of luck cara may x

    ReplyDelete

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