Siem Reap day 1

I maxed out my first proper full day in Siem Reap today. I joined my two new roommates for a morning walk to the Botanical gardens. We got coffees in a lovely relaxing cafe in the middle of the gardens, then wandered around. It was so hot out but the gardens were beautiful! Plus in some areas where they also had animals, including a couple monkeys going through rehabilitation, emus, peacocks amongst others!
We found lunch, then split up. One of the activities on top of my list here was visiting landmine sniffing rats... which did not appeal to the other two 🤣
I had a tour around APOPO humanitarian centre, which looks after 53 trained rats. Rats are known for being very intelligent and having a good sense of smell. Some guy thought to train them to detect the smell of TNT to find unexploded landmines, and found a specific species of rat that lives for 8-9 years (African giant pouched rats to be specific hehe). These rats can detect as little as a 0.001g of TNT!
The rats undergo a year of training in Tanzania, then take a test. If they pass they get a lil passport and fly to Cambodia or other countries APOPO is working in. (After two failed tests, rats get to have an early retirement!). They then work til 6, and then get to live the rest of their life in luxury at the centre. The rats can also be trained to smell Tuberculosis!
On the tour we were given a talk on what the organisation does, why there's so many landmines in Cambodia (Khmer Rouge, US bombing & conflict with Vietnam & Thailand), and how the rats are trained. We were shown four types of landmines used, and how they work. When landmines were laid, no maps were used so it's hard to estimate how many there are left, but it's approxrimated to be as many as 6 million! Over 65,000 casualties from explosives have been recorded since 1979, resulting with 18,800 people being killed. Cambodia also has the highest number of amputees per capita as a result.

Veronica the rat was then brought out in a little red harness. She gave us an excellent demonstration of how she's been trained, before being whisked away back to the five star rat hotel.
We then washed our arms and hands, and Ratana the rat was brought out for us to hold. He was so cute! I thought he was nibbling my bracelets, but was just licking my arm haha.
After that high, we were shown into a room and watched video on the day to day life of a rat and their handler. They work early in the morning before it gets too hot, and even get suncream put on their lil ears and tails! After the tour finished, there were some information posters in the centre we could read, and I got very close to buying a hero rat t-shirt in the gift shop!
I then paid a visit to a nearby killing field which was encompassed in a monastery. Quite sobering after having such fun seeing the rats, but learnt some new info and feels important to see.
Wandering back towards the school, I popped into an art house called Theam's Gallery. It was a collection of work curated by an artist called Theam Lim of his own work, and also that of his students. The layout of the gallery was so beautiful, it was a huge house with hidden rooms and big wide open windows peaking into a gorgeous green garden. There were a range of paintings, sculptures and furniture, and the cherry on top was 10+ cats running about. I could've sat in the gardens for hours, it was so calming and some of the artwork was really amazing.
After a jam packed day, I was so happy to be tucked in bed in my new mosquito free room.Read more