Our 2nd visit to Cambodia: Job Shadowing in Chi Phat, Chambok and Siem Reap

We had the chance to visit Cambodia for the second time as part of the Journeys of Sustainability project, a capacity building programme whose goal is to empower youth and youth workers through a better understanding of sustainable and responsible tourism in South East Asia.

Chi Phat

Firstly, we visited the Chi Phat Community-based Ecotourism Project (CBET), which the Lonely Planet guide presents as follows:

Visitors centre in Chi Phat

A number of tours and tourism products have been developed and are successfully marketed to the tourists, that thanks to the mentions of Chi Phat in different guides and websites, continuously arrive to this village. The most important achievement has been to radically stop the deforestation and change the mindset of the impoverished local population towards an appreciation of the nature’s wealth of the Cardamomo Mountains.

We visited the village of Chambok for second time.

An environmental organization, Mlup Baitong, has been working on the Chambok Community-Based Ecotourism (CBET) project. This CBET project has had substantial success as recognised by the 2014 award, which after recognising its achievements, states however that:

«With regard to its sustainability, its economic profitability and its cost-benefit-ratio, the Chambok Community Based Ecotourism Project is a positive example for a successful community based ecotourism project»

«Despite all the success of the project as mentioned above, and despite the increase in revenues from ecotourism activities, some areas remain in which improvements can and partly must be made.»

As it was our second visist just 9 months after, we observed some changes, like more mobile phones and a connection to the electric grid at 65 volts, which is a leaves the car batteries obsolete. Now, fans will alleaviate the heat and the road is paved to accelerate the process of modernization.

We held several interviews with the local community leader Mr. Morn and Mr. Sophana and shared our views and experience in Chi Phat, project that they knew but not in depth. We aimed to discuss possible room for improvement within the Chambok tourism.

We discussed possibilities to send volunteers from Spain, that look for a opportunity to help the local community in Cambodia. We are still developing our strategy regarding sending volunteers but we will for sure take Chambok into account when we are ready.

Srey Touch, Ibán Villazala and Carlos Buj

Getting Srey’s passport «the Cambodian way»

Our second goal was to open the way for Mrs. Srey Touch, a tourist guide, to visit Zaragoza with the same job shadowing scheme we are using then.  We met Srey, her family, the community leader and also visited her new company in order to make possible that she comes.

We also helped her get an ID and a passport. Unfortunately, she changed her opinion and told us she would prefer to establish herself in her new internship in vKirirom, a Japanese educative-tourist project in the nearby.

References about Chambok:

Good Practice in the Chambok Community-Based Ecotourism Project in Cambodia

Award Winner CHAMBOK COMMUNITY BASED ECOTOURISM PROJECT

Siem Reap

Finally, we accepted the invitation to visit Siem Reap by Ms. Nguon Rothsophal from  the Paññāsāstra University to offer a workshop to the students on the impacts on tourism in Siem Reap. It was good to enjoy direct contact with the Cambodian students and listen to their concerned regarding tourism in Siem Reap and Angkor. You can read more about this experience in the post published in the university website.

The objective of this workshop is to raise awareness on impact of tourism to their city economics, environment, and social culture.