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Rainy days make for muddy work

Posted by Andrea on  |  5 Comments

The rainy season has been in full swing lately, and it has made for some very muddy construction workers! The other day it was so rainy that a lot of the crew did not show up, so our staff stepped up! They are such troopers, and everyone from the front desk to the gardeners rolled up their pants and started moving dirt before guests arrived. They are such amazingly hard workers and they were happy to help us out. We had a massive pile of dirt and sand in the driveway, and they moved way more than half of it to the back where it needed to be! It was very messy, and I was constantly afraid someone would slip in the mud pit/driveway, but they were laughing and smiling the entire time.

Pehn, who works at the front desk, covered in mud with his dirt carrying tool, and still as smiley as ever!
Srey Leak and Rath still happy even though they have been moving dirt all day
These were the piles towards the end of the day. This is less than half of what was delivered...it was a long day!

And now that we are in day 2 of no rain (!!!) we have a lot of construction workers back in action! Brick walls are appearing left and right, roofs are looking more complete, and rooms are actually taking shape. Hopefully the rain can hold off during the day so we can continue with this progress!

This is the field directly behind the existing rooms. It rained quite a bit last week.
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Its good to be back!

Posted by Andrea on  |  1 Comment

By: Kate Rose

After a very long, but uneventful flight from San Francisco to Bangkok, via Tokyo, I have made it home to Siem Reap. And I was so excited to get back to Journeys Within and find so much progress being made on the new bungalows! Even with the updates from Sutter and Ilana, I was shocked at how much had been accomplished in the 3 weeks I was gone. There are now multiple walls, part of a roof, and windows and doors!

Walls, windows and doors...oh my!
Such a great sight to see - a roof!

Its so great to be back, and seeing the happy workers and the Cambodian way of life. For lunch they have someone that stops work a bit earlier and starts cooking them all a meal. I can not imagine a Western construction crew setting up a make-shift kitchen on site to feed the entire group. I love being back!

Lunch time on the work site

Sorry my photos are not as beautiful as Sutter and Ilana had put up, but I will work on my skills with my tiny little camera next time!… Read more »

Sutter and Ilana have been busy!

Posted by Andrea on  |  2 Comments

We are sad to be ending our time here in a few days as we have had a blast. We have seen the temples, experienced a home stay in Kompong Phhluk Village, gone to every exhibit/gallery/museum, been to the night market more than ten times, have eaten at almost every restaurant on Pub Street and beyond, made great friends with the staff, have done exciting work, watched the construction developments, and have even had some time to just sit by the pool. We cannot believe almost three weeks have gone by!

A beautiful day at the temples

The construction is still under way. The cement mixer has arrived for the bungalows and the workers are still making trips back and forth moving gravel. They have even been creative lately, having wheelbarrow races on the way back to the gravel mound with the boys pushing all the girls in the wheelbarrows. It is quite fun to watch and listen to the giggles throughout the day. Tuna, the dog, is helping too, sleeping on the sand and gravel in the sun.

The hardest working construction crew in town

Students from West Point have just arrived and are busy working over at JWOC. We also have new guests coming this afternoon that we are excited to meet.

These chocolate crepes will be missed!

We will have one more update before we leave!

Best wishes,

Sutter and Ilana… Read more »

Another update from Sutter and Ilana

Posted by Andrea on  |  2 Comments

By: Sutter and Ilana

Part of a roof!

First walls and now a roof…almost! Now that the July guests have begun to arrive, we have a few walls and the makings of a roof on the massage room. The construction workers seem to be content with the kitchen and massage room building for now, as they have switched their focus to the bungalows. Currently, they are working on the second story. If you are wondering about their 11-1 lunch/nap break, do not fret… even with these new developments, the crew still manages to set up hammocks throughout the construction site and devote some quality time to napping. Brandon has been working hard with the staff on planning the kitchen/restaurant area and the plans look great!

One of the many hard workers on the crew

We have also been enjoying our time here at the lovely B&B talking to the staff and playing with their children. They feel as if family now and it is so great to see all of their smiling faces in the morning at breakfast!

Rath, Kai-O and Malen in the front lobby with Sutter and Ilana

JWOC has been extremely busy as well! Yesterday for art class there were over 50 children gluing together tissue paper flowers, cars, and stars. Many English classes have been going on as well and the micro-finance loans have been distributed!

Looking forward to more exciting updates soon!

 … Read more »

Construction update!

Posted by Andrea on  |  3 Comments
That's a big hole

There is a very large hole in the ground near our pool, and we are happy to see it! It means they are moving all of the pipes from the old pump room across the pool to the new pump room! The new pump room will be behind room 5, and that building is almost complete. Hooray for huge, ugly trenches! (That better be filled back in within the next 3 days!)

The trench for the new pipes

Once all of the pumps are moved, we can tear down the old pump room and start work on the new bungalows. So yes, the pool area looks ugly right now, but it is just a sign that things are moving along well here. As long as the holes are filled back in and the path is re-done by the time guests get here, all is good at Journeys Within!

The new pump room, close to completion
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