Funds from this year’s event were donated to various projects including the Zoological Parks Organisation of Thailand which supports veterinary and educational projects to improve the year-round lives of elephants and mahouts in the Surin Province where ex-street elephants face ongoing hardship.

The donations have also funded South East Asia’s first ever workshop to teach mahouts and vets the benefits of Environmental Enrichment to keep elephants happy as well as the construction of a watch tower in a village whose crops are raided by elephants, allowing villagers to watch and warn other villagers of approaching elephants in a safe manner for both people and elephants.

Donations also funded a conservation education trip to a National Park for the children and next generation of hereditary mahouts to learn the importance of elephants in the wild; the transport of Thai elephant vets to international conferences; funding Thai Government aid to teach mahouts to act as veterinary assistants and provide basic first aid and other medical care to their elephants; as well as community based Human Elephant Conflict mitigation projects in two Thai and one Tanzanian National Parks and the purchase of equipment for anti-poaching rangers in a Cambodian National Park.

Other significant benefits from the money raised by the tournament include: the ongoing Thai Elephant Therapy Project which has been underway since 2009 in conjunction with Chiang Mai University’s Department of Occupational Therapy, with future clinics to include children with Down’s Syndrome and other conditions now committed until the end of 2018 as well as the funding of Asia’s first workshop to show traditional elephant trainers and camp owners the benefits of Positive Reinforcement Training for captive elephants with additional workshops this year in Myanmar reaching teams responsible for over 200 elephants.

To plan your Thailand trip to coincide with this great annual event, contact Symbiosis Custom Travel and start planning now.

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Teams from Australia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Thailand and around the Asia Pacific region will enjoy four days of cricket, with the action starting at 9am this morning.

The tournament will be played at the new Kata Group Sports Ground (KGSG) being used for the tournament for the first time this year.

Sixes is a shortened, highly entertaining, all action version of cricket in which matches take just half an hour to complete.

In a precursor tournament, the Southern Stars team from Australia won the final of the Karon Sea Sands Beach Cricket tournament against the Thailand Rugby League in fantastic sunny weather on the beach at Karon, Phuket on Tuesday.

Always an entertaining afternoon with some special fun rules, including players having to field with one hand holding a beer, the beach cricket tournament was a big hit with the teams and supporters and attracted quite a crowd.

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Created in 2005, the Angkor Photo Festival is the first photography festival to be held in Southeast Asia. Each year the weeklong event features exhibitions and outdoor slideshows by celebrated and emerging photographers in Siem Reap.

The strong educational goals of the Angkor Photo Festival sets it apart from other photography events. At the free Angkor Photo Workshops, renowned photographers tutor emerging Asian photographers, while the festival operates its own outreach program, the Anjali Children’s Photo Workshops.

More about the festival here.

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The event, organised by Village Focus International, will take place on Saturday 3rd December, and allows travellers to experience Siem Reap’s magical temple complex at a unique time when the Angkor roads are closed off to traffic.

The Bike Race & Ride encourages participants of all ages and fitness levels to cycle through the beautiful temples of the UNESCO World Heritage Angkor Wat temple complex to help raise funds for Village Focus International’s life changing work supporting vulnerable children and sex trafficked victims.

Since the event began in 2006, it has grown each year and raised a total of US$100,000 towards empowering young people and communities break out of poverty.

Village Focus International and CIMB Bank are hoping to raise over US$50,000 (net proceeds) this year and beat previous participation figures.

The Angkor Wat Bike Race & Ride is entering its sixth year this year. Last year 400 participants took part and organisers are expecting 600 this year. In 2010 participants from over 25 different nationalities took part.

For more information on how to plan a visit to Cambodia timed to participate in this fun event, contact us now at Symbiosis Custom Travel.

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By THOMAS FULLER

Published in The New York Times: January 18, 2010

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — Bullet by bullet, workers removed the detritus of Cambodia’s past. They pulled 300 land mines and 30,000 rounds of ammunition from the red dirt and then laid down a thick layer of asphalt. Today, what would pass for a very ordinary road in wealthier parts of the world is precious pavement for a country motoring toward prosperity and trying to leave its bloody past behind.

Read on…

This was the original route for Symbiosis Expedition Planning’s Bangkok to Saigon Cycle Challenge which first took place in 2000.  Each year we have to resurvey to find new trails that keep us away from the main roads which, even if they are not busy, are hot and dull to cycle.

This year’s Bangkok to Saigon Cycle Challenge will be the 10th and last – fortunately there are still a few routes that show you the rural beauty of Cambodia. Dates: 6-23 November 2010.

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