Holidays

So you have been to school for a year or two and you think you know it all.

Hey kids, gap years are great, so when your mates suggest south-east Asia and Cambodia remember respect the culture, understand the history, feel the soul of the place.

See the film the Killing Fields, think of the terror of the Khmer Rouge regime, what life was like in Cambodia under Pol Pot. You will never fully understand unless you were there and lived through it, but at least stretch the mind and try and appreciate the true horror of events that unfolded in the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Think hard and long until it hurts. So when you return and think about moaning and whinging about everyday little upsets in life, remember you would work harder with a gun in your back for a bowl of rice a day.

Don't come back bragging that you know how the natives feel the cold, and the slums have got so much soul - you have merely sampled history, be grateful for all you have now. There are plenty of people who have been everywhere but seen nothing don't become one of them.

All things are relative - never forget.