After months of planning and preparation the wait is finally over! Please make your way to Melbourne airport for your flight to Siem Reap. On arrival you will be met by your experienced World Expeditions guide and driver and transferred to your hotel. After check in we will have a full group pre-trip and safety briefing and language lesson where your guide will run through a number a basic Cambodian phrases and words for you to use during your journey. A little effort goes a long way with the local people we meet on our travels. Tonight we head out for our first taste of Cambodian cuisine at a welcome dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner we head to the famous Phare Cambodian circus. Despite being known around town as the Cambodian circus, it is anything but a traditional big top. A non-profit school for the arts, Phare is a demonstration of the graduate students’ acrobatic abilities. Exceptionally talented players act out everything from Cambodian folklore to the very real history of the Khmer Rouge; a must see for anyone visiting Siem Reap. After the performance we will get the opportunity to meet the performers. Overnight hotel Siem Reap

Meals:  D

Today we make our way out to the magnificent temples of Angkor where we will explore the surroundings from handle bar level! We will have a full safety briefing with our guide as well as being sized up for our bike. Cycling is a wonderful way to explore the temple complex as it is relatively flat and we can travel along small shaded streets and avoid the queues as we enter the temples. Our cycling is fully supported, anyone needing a rest or not comfortable can ride in the support vehicle. The largest and most impressive of all the temples in Angkor is Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was built between 1112 and 1152 by King Suryavarman II and dedicated to Vishnu, the Hindu god of preservation. It is the best preserved of all the temples. Its layout and its scale are simply breathtaking: the wall surrounding the enclosure measures 1,000 by 800 meters in length and the moat, said to represent the oceans of the world is 200 meters wide. We explore Ta Prohm, known as the temple filmed for the movie Tomb Raider which is still overgrown by jungle, trees and vines. We will have lunch near the complex and continue our exploration until we return to our hotel later that afternoon. Tonight we will enjoy dinner at a local restaurant and prepare for our service program starting tomorrow morning. Fully supported cycling up to 30km **Appropriate attire must be work when visiting the temples of Angkor. Long pants (covering the knee) and shirts that cover the shoulders must be worn. Skirts, shorts above the knee, tank tops or other revealing clothing are not allowed to be worn within the temple grounds. Visitors are frequently turned away from the temples when wearing revealing clothing

Meals:  B,L,D

Over the next 4 days we join the local "Volunteer Building Cambodia" team. This is a real opportunity for us to hands on give something back to a remote community in need and to bring long term benefits to the community. Our work here will be a mixture of labour and construction duties as we build a house for members of the surrounding village. "Volunteer Building" is a small, Cambodian-run non-government organisation that facilitates building sturdy, wooden houses for Khmer people living without safe and secure shelter. The Organisation is fully funded by volunteer fees. At the project site the students will be divided into sub groups to work on different components of the project. We will stay in the local community and take the time to immerse ourselves in the surrounding community whilst here gaining a better understanding of the people and their way of life. We will meet the students from the local school and engage in a range of games and cultural connections with them each afternoon. You should wear clothing you don't mind getting dirty. In addition to the friendships which will form, we will foster closer relationships between your two countries and schools. We work each day until 3pm and have time to enjoy a range of activities each afternoon including a cooking class with the local village. The project is set up alongside our Travel, Give, Grow concept offering unique experiences to help foster respect for the natural world as well as the diverse peoples and cultures that live in it. This style of travel helps develop confidence, resilience, tolerance, problem solving abilities, team work, fitness and key life skills. The work also targets several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We strongly suggest students visit the website for more information https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ On the last night we return to Siem Reap and visit the night markets as we prepare for our journey to Phnom Penh tomorrow.

Meals:  B,L,D

This morning we leave Phnom Penh for Siem Reap. A short distance outside of Phnom Penh we will stop in the town of Skuon to see their most famous speciality: deep-fried tarantula! A stop off on the Hamish and Andy gap year Asia program, this town is home to the favourite snack of many Cambodians. Many local buses stop here at the market to buy a bag of the “ch’ngain” (tasty) eight-legged creatures. The spiders are caught in the soft ground of the surrounding countryside. We continue to Phnom Penh. On arrival we check in ad have some time to relax before we head out on a river cruise along the Mekong River. We can witness the change occurring in Phnom Penh as well as watching the people go about their afternoon rituals along the river followed by dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight Phnom Penh Hotel

Meals:  B,L,D

The first stop on our program is a very sobering one as we visit Cambodia's bloody past. Whilst this is a very confronting visit, it is important if we are to understand the country's recent history and how the people are looking positively towards the future. First stop is Tuol Sleng Museum. Originally, this building was a high school until it became the Khmer Rouge’s main interrogation centre. During this period it was known as ‘S-21’. We then stop for de-briefing and lunch at a local restaurant (lunch is at your own expense) before proceeding to the Killing Fields, a stretch of countryside where over 10,000 people were executed. The remains of some of the people are stored in a memorial to remind people of the atrocities the Khmer Rouge inflicted on other Khmers. We will then head back into town and visit the National Museum, housing the world's foremost collection of ancient Khmer artefacts. Late this evening we have time to reflect on the day and debrief. Tonight we have dinner at the Friends or Romdeng restaurant, training restaurants for disadvantaged youth. The restaurant provides education and job training to street children. The visit helps support the training of these kids by being their guest. Depending on availability we hope to have the manager of the restaurant and some of the workers speak with our group about their experience. Overnight hotel Phnom Penh

Meals:  B,L,D

This morning we rise early for breakfast at our hotel as we will head out at 7:30am for a very special day to start our service learning program. We drive to Phnom Tamao to the Free the Bears wildlife sanctuary to join their "Keeper for a Day" program. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to get behind the scenes at one of the best wildlife centres in South East Asia. The facility, set up by Perth lady Mary Hutton, now houses over 100 sun bears and over a 7 hectare area. We will go behind the scenes at the sanctuary and help with the bear enrichment program. Late this afternoon we will return to Phnom Penh and enjoy a farewell dinner at a local restaurant.

Meals:  B,L,D

This morning we will have our last breakfast in Cambodia before we can pack our bags and debrief. Depending on time we may stop at the Old Market for some last minute shopping before lunch. We will be met at the hotel after lunch for our transfer to the airport for check in for our flight back to Melbourne

Meals:  B,L

Arrive Melbourne

Meals:  Nil