The Journeys Within team knows how important our guides are to making the tours we plan a one-of-a-kind experience for our guests. In honour of the hard work they do we are unrolling a weekly blog segment, Guiding Light. Here we introducing Sothy, a village tour guide in Cambodia.
Name: Sothy Phoy – Village Tour Guide
Age: 35
Married with 1 daughter and 3 sons.
How did you become a guide?
I met Brandon when I was a tuk-tuk driver and he said my English was good. He made a job offer to be a village tour guide. That was 4 years ago.
What do you like about being a guide?
I really like to [take people to the village], to show them what is in the villages too. They get to see how they grow their rice and what their lives are like. I want to show people how Cambodians live and how it is different from their country.
What is the most challenging part about being a guide?
Some people want to see the village but then don’t enjoy. This is hard for me, when they think it is the same as a village in Laos.
I would like to be a village guide and a temple guide but there is a test to be temple guide, so I have to do this.
What is your favorite thing to show guests?
The first thing is West Baray – the man-made lake. It is big and dug by hand. It is really nice out there. The second is the rice fields and the old equipment used years ago. There are rice mills, hand-weaved baskets and they make rice noodles. It is very interesting.
What kind of things do guests want to talk about with you?
They ask me about what people are doing here for income. What farmers do after they plant rice and what they do after they collect the rice. They also like to know about what happened after the war and landmines in the villages and how people build their houses. I love to tell them whatever I know about real life. 1980 on is what I know.
What food / restaurants should guests try?
Normally when I take guests to tour the village they don’t try the food – I don’t know how safe it is. But everyone loves to try fresh coconut so I give this to the guests. I cut it myself.
What should guests know before going out into the villages?
Normally they ask me about insects and mosquitoes in the village – they should know to protect themselves with clothing and repellant.
Most memorable JW guest?
I had some Australian guests that went on a short tour but it was good. It was raining that day but they loved going under the house to get away from the rain. They had four kids and the villagers loved to help them and pick them up. It was a fun day.