Kim's Cambodia Cycle Challenge 6-17 Feb 2014

15th Feb - LAST LEG: 104 km to Sihanoukville

kimkirsten — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 10:28:00 GMT

If yesterday was tough, today was even tougher, and boy oh boy were we all nervous in the morning. We left Kampot on our bikes by 7am to try and get as much riding done by the am before it got too hot. The day was broken into relatively manageable bite sized chunks of 10-15 kms, depending on hills in that leg. This was the longest cycling distance of the tour, a massive 104km today to reach our final destination, the busy port city of Sihanoukville. On one of our snack fruit and water break stops, a poor monkey was chained outside a local police station, not too friendly as you can imagine. That loo/dunny ( always a local squat loo) was possibly the worst so far, the door was a separate loose fixture, just leaning against the doorway, with holes, and when the wind blew it blew open! Tori dropped her sunglasses IN the loo aaaarrrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!!! Her face was priceless!

Much of the day was hilly and by far the most physically and mentally demanding of all the days, we had to keep our wits about us as we were on tar roads much of the way, with a few gaps of gravel dirt road in between, with large trucks all over the show, as well as the usual cars, motorbikes, bicycles, people, oxwagons, cows, dogs, chickens, even buffalo today. The hills were hectic (for us at any rate), not too steep, but really long slow inclines, which felt like they went on forever with rewards occasionally of cool downhills to whizz down. With the sun beating down and facing head winds much of today, we soon saw the sea and felt pumped. Almost there! About 1km in we waited for everyone to catch up, so we could do the last km together. The last km did have some hills and we were beyond bugged, but eventually we reached the hotel, and all did a victory lap around the front entrance, round and round with the hotel staff having a good laugh at us crazy people! We got there at about 2.30 pm. Champagne popped, everyone was so happy to finally be there, we thought this day would never end! But we made it, no major injuries, accidents, not even a puncture the whole way. Our 2 bike mechanics who cycle with us and help us along the way if there's any issues, our coach and mini bus drivers who followed us daily and met us for snack and lunch breaks, and our main guides Cham from Cambodia and Alan from Oz:Cham at the front of the cycle pack leading us and setting the pace, and Alan the head tour leader who brought up the rear ensuring we were all there and in front of him all the way, they were all brilliant! Amazing bunch of guys.

The Independence Hotel is 4 star and we were LOVING the luxury!!!! Jackie Kennedy stayed here in 1967. On arrival everyone scattered to explore, it has it's own private beach, a unique lift to access the beach if you don't want to take 4 stories worth of flights up or down to the beach, an inviting big pool and..... a BAR and SPA! First up was cocktails and a swim to cool off, then I booked lots of treatments at the stunning spa and enjoyed a 1.5 hr fully body ylang ylnag massage and felt like a new person after that!! Tomorrow am I have a foot scrub/massage and facial booked, can't wait! I totally deserve it....;)

We then met for dinner in the lobby at 7 and got our bus into the town to enjoy our final dinner, a delicious chicken and seafood barbecue on the beach, with chips! baked potato, salad, garlic bread, our first whole western meal on the trip! If anyone's been to Bali before, it felt just like the long beach at Jimbaran Bay, where restaurants are all along the beach on the sand. Kids selling fireworks and some market shops too. A stunning evening to wrap up a HUGE day. Some went off to find cheap massages, shop or continue drinking at the beach restaurants. With my body now feeling battered and broken, and heading for shut down mode after operating in overdrive these last 2 days, i hit the sack.

Tomorrow we leave at 10.30 on the coach for a 4 hour journey back to Phnom Phen to catch our flight to Singapore, and then we all disperse to our various australian destinations, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney. will try post some final pics of the hotel, beach and surrounds from Singapore airport. We have had free wi if at every town/hotel along the way which has been amazing, so didn't have to buy SIM cards or anything.

PS don't forget to check out all today's photos from the Photo link, most recent photos always pop up first.

14th Feb - OMG we did almost 90kms!!!!

kimkirsten — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 00:42:00 GMT

We left the capital city Phnom Phen before 7 this am by bus for a few hours, our guides Alan and Cham surprised all the ladies with a rose for valentines day on the bus which was so sweet of them and we all went aaahhhhhh about. we met the support van with our bikes all ready to go at a temple area, where the locals were completely fascinated by us, our gear and even some of our skins!!!! The older local ladies were curious about some of our skins and were stroking our arms, seeing if we felt different to them! They worried about the sun on our skins, being out in the sun all day on our bikes (No English of course but lots of pointing to the sun and our arms so we understood) one of the girls showed them the miracle of sunscreen, they were amazed.

We cycled all day, taking short breaks approx every 20 kms or so, and arrived in Kampot town around 5pm, super dirty like a really bad orange fake tan job! And super sweaty and completely buggered. it was a very tough day today, but we made it! almost 90kms, our longest cycle of the tour so far. tomorrow is over 100 km and we are very nervous, it's our last cycling day tomorrow :( tough to do 2 long days back to back, but it is what it is! And this is, after all, a challenge!

The Kampot area is world renowned for its pepper corn produce (red, white and black pepper corns), and thanks to Cambodia being a French colony at one time, kampong peppercorns were used by all the best chefs in France. We have all bought some to take back with as gifts and for home, to try with our newly acquired Best of Friends restaurant recipe book (where we ate last night). At dinner tonight we had the local specialty, Kampot Pepper Crab which everyone else said was delicious, I personally don't suck on legs so gave it a skip!!!!

Relatively early to bed tonight, by 9pm as we have really really hard and long day in the saddle tomorrow.

13th Feb - SM foundation and AFESIP visit, Tomdy centre visit and Killing Fields tour

kimkirsten — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 02:03:00 GMT

Today was another jam packed day, apent in and around the capital city Phnom Penh. After a hearty hotel rooftop breakfast with 360 views around the city, we headed off to visit the offices of AFESIP and the Somaly Mam foundation, Somaly is behind both organisations, but AFESIP is locally registered NGO which supports the rescuing, rehabilitation and reintegration of the girls. The SM Foundation is the fundraising vehicle and is registered in the US. The office visit helped us understand how funds are put to work, supporting the clinic, counselling, training and operational aspects of the 2 entities. This was really great insight for us.

we then visited our 2nd shelter, the phnom Pemh Tomdy centre , which houses women primarily, and haas small daycare facility for the women with small children, thee are currently 9 kids int he daycare facility onsite. The women stay there for several months to a few years if required, depending on how long they need to upskill them NAND prepare them for reintegration either back into their communities (if possible) or into jobs in the city. skills such as hairdressingm make up artistry, sewing and weaving are taught, with programmes from 4-8 months, depending on which skill they have elected to learn. Some of the women have gone on to work in factories, work in small businesses and even get scholarships to attend university and study things like physiology,so they can come back to the centres and work as a counsellor and give back to the places that gave them a new lease on life and a chance at feeling hope again.

After a quick lunch(where a bit of shopping was snuck in) we went on a bus tour with a guide to see the Genocide Museum and the infamous Killing Fields. Brief history recap, Pol Pot the lunatic leader of the Khmer rouge in the late 70's ordered all educated people to be literally wiped out, exterminated. He felt that educated people, lawyers, doctors, teacher. Etc were tainted and corrupted by western society and thinking and were a threat to his regime, he ordered his army to kill all who they though were educated. Those with pale skins and soft hands were considered not labourers so therefore must be esucated, they were killed, same with those who wore glasses or sunglasses, must have western influence, they were killed. The entire family of someone educated was also killed, including babies and children, simply because later one ehen they grew up they might seek revenge, so they were all killed. It was a horrendous mass genocide and in total nearly 3 million of his own people were killed. he ordered a school to be converted into prison cells, turning classrooms into several small brick cells, torture chambers, and the children's outdoors exercise beams were turned into gaols for hanging prisoners. It was in use from 1975-1979.

at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum aka S21, we walked around, saw the cells, the gaols, the shackles and rows of photos of guards and prisoners. In the very very last prisoner executions at S21 a row of 20 or so prisoners were lined up to be shot by the guards. Prisoners 1-14 were shot one by one, when it came to prisoner 15 there were no more bullets and so they were spared death. Graves have since been built for the 14 last prisoners, the white tonbstones in today's' photos, and the prison has been turned into a museum. Only 2 prisoners from 15-20 are alive still today, one of which we had the privilege of meeting. He works at the museum, selling books, signing copies of his story, called Survivor, Mr Chum Mey is his name, he is 83 years old and he is prisoner 15.

We then returned to the tour bus and drover out of town, to visit one of the largest killing Fields. These fields are where the dead prisoners from S21 were taken to be thrown into mass graves, sometimes 100's of bodies in a single grave, with the fields filled with multiple graves all over. The one we visited today, the largest, was initially a Chinese burial ground, and Chinese graves were exhumed to make way for large pits for the prisoners dead bodies. After the prison started getting too full, they took prisoners/ the educated, straight to the fields, bound their hands from behind, killed them slowly and shoved them into the pits, en masse. All in all between the prison and the killing fields, all very movingand hard to stomach.

we finished off the day at a gorgeous restaurant called Friends, which supports street children initiatives. The highlight oft he'd inner was having some of the Somaly mam foundation, AFESIP and Voices for Change girls come an d join us for dinner, we'll got on brilliantly and it was warming to hear their success stories, eauh of them had either been at one of the 3 centres, some for a few years, some had been at the children's centre for 10 years (so would have arrived at a very young age) as most were in their 20s. They have all gone on to use their skills learnt at the centres (weaving, seeing etc) to work wit the foundations in some way, with some on university scholarships, which is just wonderful to see. a really wonderful end to a gut wrenching day! Tomorrow we ride 80kms and 100 the next day. feeling extremely nervous for both days, gonna be TOUGH!!!!!! We do stop for short breaks every 20 kms, but stil!!!!!!

12th Feb - next cycle leg to capital city Phnom Phen

kimkirsten — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 10:03:00 GMT

Last night we had a surprise for dinner - we were invited into the home of a local Cambodian family, a tour guide friend of our tour leader. His wife cooked the most amazing array of loyal dishes, some of which we had not yet tried in previous dinners, this was a rare treat to experience life inside a Cambodian home. the local houses here (other than city western style houses) are all built of wood, bamboo, and are on high stilts, to avoid the floods during the rainy season. We met mr Thoms family, they have 4 boys from 3 to 16 Whom we met, the littlest one showed off around us, just too cute. Being a school night and given we were in their family home (and living/sleeping quarters) it was not a late night at all, but a very special experience nonetheless. I had booked a massage for after dinner. The lady came to my room and she was amazing doing things with her elbows, legs an even feet!!, $6 for an hour, back in oz it would be 80-130 for the same thing.

Today we set off early on the big bus about 2.5 hours before we got on our bikes. How the tour works is you need to get from A to B and to get to towns or cities with accomodation for us,we sometimes need to bus It a few km and ride the rest, or ride, then bus the rest. Today we did 43.8 km in total, but only started riding just before lunch. On the morning bus ride we stopped off for a loo break at one of the local towns Stone I think it was,a more mountainous area, famous for its TARANTULAS!!!!!!! Yes!!!! Some didn't want to go to the loo there!!! We explored the food market briefly and were fascinated by the array of local delicacies to eat, embryo eggs, crispy tarantulas (some ate these said it tasted like prawns), huge bowls of crispy cockroaches, crickets, etc. a legacy from the Khmer Rouge days where people ate anything that moved in desperation! but these are now a delicacy. We had a fear factor session, and I held a live tarantula (fangs removed!!!) and I even ate crispy crickets (they tasted like nutty chips, not for me, but some love them!!!!) . After that excitement we stopped off near a beautiful hillside set of temples from various centuries, and climbed 630 or so steps (and down) as a pre bike warm up and to see the vistas from the top. We then hopped on our bikes and rode half way, stopped for lunch near a village temple. Sometimes our support vehicle provides lunch for us, they always provide snacks, cold cloths, and water for us at our various stops. Today our local guide had organised lunch for us prepared by a local village, they prepared rice, chicken, bean like veggies, and deliicious onion omelets. The chickens here are very skinny, with long necks and legs compared to large fat oz chooks!! A very old lady came up to us, from that village, very curious and probably very hungry, we invited her to have the rest of the food, she eagerly took lots of chicken pieces in a bag, which she said she'd share with her grand daughters. She's was very sweet, no English at all, but chatting enthusiastically to us, wishing us a long life. At 83 years old she must have some stories to tell, having lived through all the regimes, French, Vietnamese, american, Khmer Rouge, etc. Definitely not an easy life to have survived it all, that's for sure.

we cycled the next half towards the capital city Phnom Phen, and a few km outside the city, we jumped in the bus, hot, dusty and worn out esp as we had cycled in the hottest part of the day. Those last few km into the city would be quite hectic on the very busy city roads, so best avoided by bike our guide thought. as we entered the big and bustling city, we had to agree!!!! Late afternoon we had some free time, so a few went off for massages, some of us found the central markets and shopped ( just like singapore and Bangkok markets), we met at the infamous Foreign Corresponence club for cocktails (2 for $5 in happy hour) with stunning views over the river, a real buzzing area, with lots of foreigners all soaking up Cambodian City life. we went to a beautiful river side restaurant, titanic! walked back to our hotel, tired and well fed(as usual), some of us snuck in a quick half hour foot massage not the way back. Some of these places are open till 2am. very sad to see LOTS of street kids all just sleeping on mats on the pavement, tugging at your clothes. this place is known for pickpocketing so we had to be vigilant here.

All in all another really interesting day, filled with lots more than envisaged, and one tries hard to remember all the little things we've seen and done each day!!

11th Feb - first Shelter visit

kimkirsten — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:00:00 GMT

Today was our first Shelter visit, we left early (as usual!) 7-am, we jumped into 4 very nice land cruisers to transport us through the bush/jungle/countryside to visit one of the 3 shelters set up by Somaly and AFESIP. it was a bumpy 3 hour ride into rural Cambodia! not too different from bouncing along potholed roads in Mozambique. In fact thee are so many socioeconomic comparisons to make with Mozambique generally and bits of Zim, which for me is interesting.

On arrival we met Somaly mam and met all the girls (aged between 3 and 16 or so), were taken for a tour around the shelter to see the various activities they do, they learn Weaving, do dance, have a children's library, attend the local school, some even have gone on to attend university. They put on a wonderful dance show for us, and then we all introduced ourselves, and some stood up and said a few heartfelt worst to us too, our visit was quite a highlight for them. it was a heartbreaking, emotional visit and my heart just broke leaving them all, you just want to take them all with you, but you can't. All of them have been molested, abused, raped, either sold for slavery (usually by people they know, not always their family) or given to brothels to pay off family debts. With some as young as 3 it's just too terrible to contemplate. Our fundraising (approx $96 000 so far from our group) is going straight into these 3 centres and we will still visit another of the shelters in 2 days time. Some of the young ones had only arrived a week ago. And yet all seemed so warm, friendly and loving towards us., holding our hands, giving us hugs all the time, they are craving genuine motherly affection and normal love so much, it was a very moving visit and I sobbed on the way home. It was heartbreaking and yet hopeful and happy at the same time, as these girls are the lucky ones, they have escaped that life, come to a shelte which will help them rehabilitate back into normal life in time. Some are not so lucky.

After our sad goodbyes we hopped back in the 4x4s and drove 1 hr into our next stop over town, kampong Cham, along the beautiful kampong river, we went to explore the local markets and walked across the most amazing bamboo bridge! which holds cars up to 1 tonne. It felt bouncy yet strong and motorbikes whiz zed past us on the bridge. Quite a feat as they take the bridge down in rainy season when it floods and rebuild it in low season!!!

10th Feb - cycle across countryside 70kms

kimkirsten — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:29:00 GMT

Today we cycled 70 kms, a personal best EVER (anything over 25 kms would beat my previous best!) we all felt sooooo good with ourselves. It was a tough day though, hot, dirty, sticky. Early start at 7am we hit the busy roads out of Siem Reap and made our way through various tar and bumpy dirt roads till lunchtime, stopping every 20 kms or so for fruit and snack and water breaks with the support vehicle. What a godsend!

After lunch we explored the magnificent ruined temple of Beng Melea, which is older than Angkor Wat, built by the same king #2. initially thinking we were just too buggered to do another temple, this one was actually the best of the lot for me. It's completely ruined and overgrown by the strangler fig trees, and we climbed our way over and across the various ruins of the layout,which is quite expansive, centuries ago the huge individual cut boulders were brought 10 kms away from the stone quarry, and one marvels at how they built this in the 11th century, just amazing. The large step climb up and down and around the ruins was a great cool down for us after our rather epic 70km cycle today.

From there we hopped in our wonderfully cool air con tour bus and bussed 90kms out the next large town of Kampong Thom. Everyone crashed in the bus ride! 30 000 people live in this city. It's almost 9pm now and am about to hit that brick wall so it's over and out for today.

PS check out today's cycling countryside and ruins pics.

PPS chased by a wild nasty dogt okay, first scary dog so far, I pedalled hard to outrun it and shouted big grrrs at it to try scare it, I think it was more scared of my surgical (dust) mask with my water back pack pipe coming out of it. A real sight!!!!

9th Feb - Angkor Temple circuit 35kms

kimkirsten — Sun, 9 Feb 2014 20:35:00 GMT

Up early for a safety briefing and got on our bikes. Did our first ride today, 35kms only, they're breaking us in gently!!!!!! Super hot, loads of sunscreen and insect spray! We visited 3 templates over the course of the day. Exiting and coming back into town was a little daunting on the bikes (bikes are last on the pecking order on the roads here so it's a bit scary!), but the roads are flat and in Palme parts beautifully shaded. At every temple we stopped, explored with our guide and then moved into the next one, stopping for lunch along the way (at a market restaurant that I would not have dared to venture to eat at normally but we trust our guides and your leader. am loving the food, the Fish Amok, a Cambodian favourite, is to die for!

Today we took in the Angkor Wat temple is a UNESCO world heritage site, Angkor Thom and the world famous ruins where Angelina Jolie filmed TombRaider, where the trees have destroyed the temple, with roots growing through the temple ruins. Incredible to explore. Needless to say we are quite bugged, our first cycle was a short one, but spaced out over the whole day, with lots of walking around the 3 temple sites, we were outside in the sun all day. Our guide has been sharing some of the fascinating history of Cambodia, the Khmer Empire, etc. some of the temples we saw date back to the 12th century And alternated over the centuries between being Buddhist or Hindu dominated, depending on who was in charge at the time, so many of the temples have both religions artefacts (Buddha, krishnaa etc) throughout them which is just fascinating!

If you're invested here is some info that Raw Travel shared with us about this area. The Khmer Empire was one of the most prosperous empires in South east Asia and dominated much of what is now Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The Cambodian Kingdom Drew it's religious and political inspiration from India. The literary language was Sanscrit and the spoken language was Khmer. Massive temples from this period, including Angkor Wat and the Bayon at Angkor Thom testify to the power of Angkor and the grandeur of its architecture and decorative art. The unparalleled achievements in art, architecture, music and dance during this period served as models for later cultural development in cambodia. Angkor faded into obscurity after the capital moved South to Phnom Penh in the 15th century, probably due in part to frequent invasions by the neighbouring Thais. The jungle rapidly grew over the monuments, in the centuries that followed, frequen wars reduced the territory, wealth and power of Cambodian monarchs. However an independent state with its capital near Phnom Penh survived until the 19th century.

So now you have a bit of the history!!! theres new pics from today's temple circuit in the Photos section.

8th Feb - a day in the life of a Cambodian villager

kimkirsten — Sat, 8 Feb 2014 20:51:00 GMT

Today we got a fascinating opportunity to have a glimpse into the everyday life of a Cambodian villager. We joined a local family and spent a day walking in their shoes. Situated just outside Siam Reap, we arrived by bus in one of the local villages. From there we were transported by ox carts, "cow yota corolla" as our guide referred to them, we hopped onto oz droven carts whihc transported us into the heart of the rice fields. We spend a hot sweaty morning out in the fields, helping with the harvest, all donning sharp sickles. New respect for when we next put a spoon of rice into our mouths, how hard it is to grow and reap it!!!

We then walked through the village, helped plant mango and lime trees in one family's plot. On every tour one family hosts and welcomes the group into their home and lives for the day, these families receive a small payment for being the host and a larger contribution is made to a village fund. The village fund is used for special community projects like water wells and water filters. We visited the village ladies who earn an income from making soft toys. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of sandwiches and the most amazing array of local seasonal fruit, including hairy things that inside look and taste like lychees, the amazing pink and white spotted fleshy dragon fruit, tiny finger sized sweet bananas, heavenly mangoes. The people here are 95% Buddist. The temples and local architecture are beautiful and ornate, even in the poorest villages.

This afternoon we rested (after our genuine hard labour in the rice fields this am) and this evening we have dinner followed by a local circus show (no animals!). A wonderful day spent on the ground with local villagers, a very humbling and fulfilling day.

PS check out all today's Village life experience photos in the Photos section of this blog. The newest pics will always come up first.

7th Feb - we've arrived in Cambodia!

kimkirsten — Fri, 7 Feb 2014 22:39:00 GMT

A full days travel to get here, but we have arrived! Some of us went from sydney to Singapore, about 8 hours, then a 5 hour stopover in Singapore and then 2 hours to Cambodia. Our group is quite large, 16 all up from all over Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, there's a mom and daughter team and a husband and wife team, All Business Chicks members. We arrived in Siem Reap this evening, walk and balmy, slightly chaotic airport. We're staying the next 3 nites at the lovely City River Hotel, had a group intro from our tour guides Alan and Cham from Raw Travel, and then off for a late dinner round the corner which was delish. can't wait for bed!

3rd Feb - Somaly Mam's book review

kimkirsten — Mon, 3 Feb 2014 13:00:00 GMT

The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Childhood

Somaly Mam was abandoned as a baby and looked after by her grandmother until she disappeared. She was then taken into the care of a man she called 'grandfather', but was treated no better than an unpaid servant. sold. Raped at twelve, Somaly was forced to marry at fifteen and then sold to a brothel. She endured years of abuse before managing to escape. The Road of Lost Innocence is a moving account of a traumatic childhood and also the inspirational story of a determined and courageous woman devoted to helping other girls caught up in the illegal sex trade and violent underworld in Cambodia.In 1997 Somaly Mam co-founded AFESIP to combat trafficking in women and children for sexual slavery.

This is a great read, a must for anyone interested in learning more about the cause behind my charity cycle. Girls, recommend this one to your book club.

31st Jan - Somaly Mam's life

kimkirsten — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 16:04:00 GMT

Here's a link to a you tube clip, to learn more about Somaly Mams life. Her book is just amazing and inspiring too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOxhntQxisY

28th Jan - intro video about Project Futures

kimkirsten — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 14:14:00 GMT

Heres a video link to learn more about Project Futures, the amazing charity organisation supporting this cycle, and who do so much for support the anti trafficking and human slavery cause, their goal is to help end sex trafficking particularly in South East Asia, they are based in Sydney, Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upmzQ1F7pA0

20th Jan - where we'll be going in Cambodia

kimkirsten — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 15:54:00 GMT

As shared by Raw Travel:

This ride through Cambodia, taking in all the famous sights but also venturing off the beaten track to experience the vibrant village life that is the true soul of the country will truly be an amazing experience.

You will experience the huge ancient city of Angkor Wat, a well traveled attraction in Cambodia, where we've planned the pedaling to make sure you see each of the main temples at the right time of day, where the sunlight is at its most magical and the crowds are at their smallest. Next stop are the atmospheric and as yet uncommercialized ruins at Beng Melea, a magical spot. Put your feet up at the sleepy riverside city of Kampong Cham. Kampong Cham is also where you will experience your first shelter visit, which never fails to be a life changing experience.

Itinerary Overview

Day 1 Arrive Siem Reap

Day 2 Day in the life of Cambodian Village / lake visit

Day 3 Angkor Temple circuit / Banteay Srei 70km

Day 4 Cycle to Beng Melea & Kampong Thom 75km

Day 5 Transfer to Kampong Cham & shelter visit

Day 6 Kampong Cham - Phnom Penh 65km

Day 7 Phnom Penh - shelter visit & rest day.

Day 8 Cycle to Kep / Kampot 100km

Day 9 Cycle to Sihanoukville 104km

Day 10 Depart Sihanoukville and evening flight home

16th Jan - How the "2014 Business Chicks Cycle Challenge" came about

kimkirsten — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 09:43:00 GMT

How the “2014 Business Chicks Cycle Challenge” came about and how I first got to hear about this

Article from Business Chicks newsletter, July 2013:

We fell in love with Somaly Mam last year so we've teamed up with PROJECT FUTURES to get behind her incredible work.

Somaly was the guest speaker at Business Chicks breakfasts in Melbourne and Sydney and she won our hearts forever.

Born into a tribal minority in the Mondulkiri province of Cambodia, Somaly began life at the bottom. She has endured horrors most cannot begin to imagine. Forced to work in a brothel with other children, Somaly was raped and tortured on a daily basis. One night, Somaly was made to watch as her best friend was savagely murdered. On another occasion she was punished by being locked in a cellar with snakes and scorpions. Despite the life to which Somaly was subjected, she never gave in and, incredibly, escaped with the help of a French aid worker in 1993.

Somaly could never forget the other girls left behind and in 1996 Somaly founded AFESIP – Acting for Women in Distressing Situations – a charity to fund a proper centre to help prostitutes in Cambodia. AFESIP is now an organisation that ensures victims not only escape their slavery, but have the emotional and economic strength to face the future with hope. AFESIP has now changed the lives of thousands of women and girls.

In 2007, the US-based Somaly Mam Foundation was born, founded by Somaly and two American friends, Jared Greenberg and Nicholas Lumpp. The foundation is a funding vehicle to support anti-trafficking organisations and to provide victims and survivors with a platform from which their voices can be heard around the world.

After meeting Somaly and hearing her story we wanted to get behind her work – that’s why we’ve teamed up with PROJECT FUTURES for the 2014 Business Chicks Cycle Challenge.

The 12 day challenge in February next year will see you cycle across Cambodia – visiting local villages and temples. You’ll also get to see Somaly’s life changing work first hand when you visit two of Somaly’s centres and meet the very brave girls who are the survivors of sex trafficking. You’ll also share a special dinner with Somaly herself, an experience you’ll never forget.

The cycle challenge will be physical, but you’ll also need to take on the challenge of raising a minimum of $7000 in the lead up to the trip. By registering, you will be committed to raising funds and awareness for Somaly Mam and her work in Cambodia with AFESIP. AFESIP run three Cambodian centres that rescue, rehabilitate, reintegrate and educate women and children who have been forced into commercial sexual exploitation.

PROJECT FUTURES was started in June 2000 by Premium member Stephanie Lorenzo. They are a non-profit organisation that raises awareness and funding for programs dedicated to combating human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Australia and South-East Asia. To date they have raised over 1.1 million dollars through a passionate network of young professionals committed to innovating the way our society contributes to charity.

PROJECT FUTURES has a long standing partnership with The Somaly Mam Foundation and AFESIP. They have run seven international challenges donating over $530,000 directly to her work.

15th jan, testing technology and image uploads, iPad connectors, global sims all sorted

kimkirsten — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 09:31:00 GMT

So this is the card I had made up to hand out, list and distribute to interested parties. Postcard size definitely helped to make the cause and cycle more legitimate and above board esp when asking for corporate donations of raffle prizes for retailers and providers,

Photos: Kim's Cambodia Cycle photos

kimkirsten — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 11:45:00 GMT

Pre planning - setting up blog, 14th jan, canberra, australia

kimkirsten — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 11:42:00 GMT

Hi, I'm Kim Kirsten and I'm about to embark on an epic adventure of A Lifetime. I'll shortly be cycling with several other ladies from the awesome Business Chicks network, to raise funds and awareness for human trafficking and sexual exploitation. We wilt cycling 415kms across Cambodia in feb over 12 days, in a professionally organised cycle tour by Raw Travel, with fundraising all organised through Project Futures. I'm setting up this blog now to start documenting my thoughts, feelings before I leave, I promise to keep you updated along the way, And share this amazing experience with you all.

a bit about me, if you don't already know me, I grew up in Zimbabwe! went to university in Cape Town South Africa. I married a South African chap Andrew, and have 2 boys dylan and cameron aged 9 and 6. We moved to canberra Australia in dec 2011 and have settled into life in Australia pretty well! all things considered. I work in the financial services superannuation industry, in a senior HR executive role, although my work background is iargely organisational development, people management and change management.

I plan to update this blog daily, and provide photos and updates and will link it to my linked in and Facebook social media profiles.

for me, this will be a personal challenge send adventure! having come from quite a privileged and fortunate background most of us don't have a clue what goes on in the real world (myself included) though we can't change and fix everything we can make a difference in small ways around us, if everyone did a little bit of something it would be a better place. Ghandi once said "be the change you want to see" I apply this in my corporate work space and in my personal life. It starts with us, it starts with me.

now, today, as at 14 January 2014 my fundraising has been going particularly well. I have exceeded my target(yesterday,) and have moved my own personal target from $7k to $10k now. i will do it!!! It's gone Far better than I ever imagined, I knows it's because I have put a lot of effort and erergy into planning and setting this thing thing up, since I registered for the cycle in August 2013. Nothing comes easily, you have to plan, plan, plan. 90% planning, then the rest can happen. So I set up the fundraising site, asked for donations from friends. Family, professional contacts, here and around the world, I have organised various fundraisers in my own community, bootcamp sessions, Zumba session, cooking demo, babysitting, movie night event, I have tapped into my global network shamelessly, I have learnt if you don't ask, you don't get- saw ith everything in life!!!! If only my training was as spectacular!!!! But I am fit from bootcamp, I have been cycling, but I need to ramp it up a gear, with 3 weeks to go. I will cycle more frequently, every 2nd day now, and attempt a 50km plus ride.

What im excited about- seeing Cambodia on the ground! as real as it can be. Having loved Thailand and Bali! this will be like no other! not from a luxe resort with cocktails in hand, but on the road, in the villages, with families. I'm also excited about meeting the other cyclists, we will all meet for the first time at the airport as we are all over Australia.

What I'm nervous about - cycling 100kms on some days. its not quite the 415 km over 10 days = 40 kms a day like I initially assumed. Some days we won't be cycling at all, other days it's 100 kms. Shoo!!!! Fortunately there is a support vehicle for those times when you have dead legs and can't move any more, Im also very nervous about the emotions guaranteed to be experienced when we meet the women and children at the rehab centres we will be visiting and who will be receiving the funds from our fundraising directly. Also really nervous about tummy bugs and the like as that will not be fun.

Lastly, apologies in advance for any grammatical errors in this and future blog posts, it's not going to be perfect but I will try make it readable, enjoyable, and REAL. So hope you follow me along my travels!!!! Xxxx