AYN Internship Program Day 2

The Second day of the AYN Internship Program focus on site seeing and visiting some important places in Phnom Penh. The said activity is very important for the interns to understand how to go around the city and understand the lifestyle and way of life there.

Phnom Penh is indeed a crowded city where motorcycle or "TukTuk" or Habal-Habal in the Philippines is one of the means of transportation. The volume of Tuktuk is unbelievable because they are literally everywhere. Due to the huge volume of Tuktuk traffic is everywhere and traffic laws are not properly implemented because most of the Tuktuk just cross and appear everywhere in all directions. Hence based on our guide helmet law were passed but you can only see very few people who are wearing helmets and at the same time the police just ignore the people who don't even wear a helmets even those Tuktuk passed them by.

Phnom Penh is an amazing city in various ways because of the mixtures of French Influences, Chinese and authentic Cambodian Culture. The said mixture are very visible to various places, although Cambodian has some difficulty in speaking English the warm smile and hospitality of the people can make you feel that you are in your own country.

Culture and Traditions play a very significant role in developing policies, since the policy must reflect the real needs of the people and at the same time in line with the culture and traditions of the people. The Youth Policy for example must reflect this aspects, where preservation of ones culture for future generation are realized, this is very important to make sure that their identity are intact in spite of the influence of the modern world.

Rior Santos (Mr)
Asian Youth Network Coordinator for 2008
Networking and Advocacy Coordinator
Youth for Sustainable Development Assembly Philippines