About the Indochineex Team
Nick Butler
“Every adventure is different, a discovery of beauty and culture. A juxtaposition of wild and wonderful places with the experiences we create there.
My love of the country built up over the 11 years I have lived here. Running a bird watching adventure enterprise gave me the chance to explore its lakes, forests and incredible cultural heritage. There is an excitement, a mystery, a feeling of discovery in Cambodia.”
Nick has a commercial background with an MBA from Durham University in England, working as an international marketing manager before running a business. His first degree was in zoology and his passion has always been the countryside and its conservation so when the company he was running was sold he had the opportunity to fulfill this dream in Cambodia.
Buntha
Buntha was born in a Khmer Rouge Refugee Camp in Thailand. His family moved back to Siem Reap after the civil war in 1992.
He studied for 4 years at The Royal University of Phnom Penh living in a pagoda with the monks. His first job was in the floating village of PrekToal, where he met his wife Veasna. He was responsible for developing and strengthening The Water Hyacinth Handicraft and Community-Based Tourism Project. “It made me very proud of myself.”
“I’ve been working as an adventure guide for Smiling Albino Cambodia since 2013; I’m really passionate about adventure trips that we offer to our guests. I’m very pleased that I have opportunity to talk and share my experience as well as Cambodia history, culture and its beauty.”
Lors
Lors was born in a small village North of Siem Reap. He left his parents in 2005 to go to high school then found a job as a Sky Ranger for a Zip line company in the Angkor Park for three years.
“From that time I started to love adventure and out-door activities. My daily favorite thing to do is working out in the gym and this is where I have been making a lot of friends especially it is where I first met my boss of my job. In my free time I love cycling and trekking in the countryside.”
Ra
Ra completed the tour guide training in 2007 and worked as a freelance guide. It wasn’t easy, he had to start as a driver and now is one of the few guides who have a license to take guests throughout Cambodia and he taught himself to speak German.
“Time flies so fast. It took me over 10 years, but I still love what I am doing. Of course, I would always like to best serve my clients and make sure that everything is alright but in between time I’m getting married and look forward to having a family.
“My ambition is to take guests away from Siem Reap to the countryside and introduce them to local people. Explain their daily life and develop other places so they too can benefit from tourism.
My hobbies are football and the gym. I like reading about Cambodian history also novels like Oliver Twist written by Charles Dickens.
Jin
Jin 22, was studying at a local tourism training school when he approached Indochine Exploration. “I wanted to understand how a tour company works. To get broad experience.”
After 6 months with us what he likes best; “Being an Adventure Guide, show people how my country is different and give them a unique experience. I love exploring with The Team, finding new places to take out guests.”
Jin’s family are from the countryside, they moved to Siem Reap when it became too difficult to make a living from their small farm. Now he lives with his mother, older sister and grandmother.
From the blog
A few of Nick and The Team’s adventures.
A Kulen Mountain Bike Odessy
A Kulen Mountain Bike Temple Odyssey Phnom Kulen lit Kulen Mountain or Mountain of The Lychees is our mountain bike playground, bisected by the Kulen super highway (in fact a red earth road), which climbs the mountain at the Western end. Runs to the central tourist...
The Road to Nowhere
The Race to the Middle of Nowhere – The Scramble for Kulen About a thousand years too late but then it wasn’t for the first time, the Angkorians had been here before. And anyway the British, French, Germans and Italians took it in turns to claim large chunks of...
A Family Get Together
An Audience with a Northern Buff Cheeked Crested Gibbon Etiquette is important in the ape world, or are they monkeys? It all depends on how long the arms are – long, so apes like us, which makes us relatives and our meeting a family call. We invited the Northern …....
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