South Africa or Cambodia?

[Danielle]

Well it's been quite awhile since I've been on these boards, but since I've started planning a 4 month European backpacking trip for next spring I've started looking up some topics again.

ANYWAY, this is incredibly off-topic, but since everyone here is interested in travel (and not necessarily just to Europe) I thought I'd come here for some input. I'm graduating from college in May (ahhh!) and am planning to take the next year off before Law School. I was investigating BUNAC for working-abroad opportunities and saw that they had 2 very interesting volunteer programs as well: 1 to South Africa and 1 to Cambodia. I have a bit of money saved up, and both sound interesting, but I only have the time to do 1 of them. (http://www.bunac.org/)

SO - here's my question. If you had the choice between 3 months South Africa or Cambodia, which would you choose and why?

[jennifer]

South Africa, we hear less about it, and i think it might be more of a culture shock than a lot of asia, as Asia seems to be becoming more and more like the rest of the world... sadly!
But then again, the parts you would be in will be really different I guess...
Hum... Hard choice!

[madamtrashheap]

I guess I'd be looking at where in SA - I have a lot of friends from SA and all give different information on each region. The townships on the edge of Cape Town are amazing places to experience and really open your eyes to the issues facing all of Africa.

Cambodia is still pretty "untouched" in terms of tourism (yes I know a lot of people go there now, but it's still not full of hoards like, say Europe.) and you have a whole other language to deal with, which is always part of the travel. Yes, SA has 11 official languages, but English is widely spoken.

I guess it also depends on the programmes offered and which appeals to you more in terms of helping out.

Congrats on (almost) graduating - hoorah! ;D

[Danielle]

Thanks so much for your opinions! I think I'm leaning towards going to South Africa. The program is based out of Cape Town, which I've heard amazing things about. Also, coming from the east coast, flights will probably be ever so slightly cheaper and definitely shorter. I think I'm going to check out the Lonely Planet books on each first though, just to get a better feel for what I might be getting myself in for... ;D

[Jules80]

i beleive even from the east coast they are quite far. my friend has been there twice in the last year for work and i think the flying time was 15-20 hours or so... Montreal - Paris, Paris - SA.... although from new york there may be more direct means.