THE HISTORY OF BABEL GUESTHOUSE

THE HISTORY OF BABEL GUESTHOUSE
Travellers from France, Italy and Spain opened Babel Guesthouse in 2008. In addition to
their own languages, they also spoke Portuguese, German and English. Together with the
staff, who speak Khmer (the Cambodian language) and guests from the whole world, there
was a whole lot of languages in the Guesthouse. Here comes the idea of the name Babel
(the tower of Babel, and the confusion of languages - from the Bible).

In the beginning of 2011 Katrine Solhaug and Simen Julner from Norway took over 50% of
the ownership of Babel, and added another language to the Guesthouse – Norwegian!

Katrine and Simen have been running another Guesthouse in Siem Reap, and have been
back and forth to Cambodia since 2007. They have a strong passion for Responsible Tourism
– giving back to the local society.

Babel Guesthouse has always been run with an active focus on Responsible Tourism. We
constantly seek to provide benefits from the tourism industry to the local community in
Siem Reap, and we are doing our best to cause as little damage as possible to the area in
which we operate. We only hire local staff, drivers and guides. They all receive plenty of
training, good working conditions, fair salaries and flexible working hours to enable the
staff to continue their education. We buy our food for the restaurant at the local market,
and we support good projects in town that actively focus on Responsible Tourism.

Even though Babel Guesthouse always have had a strong focus on Responsible Tourism,
Katrine and Simen brought the sustainable approach one step further – and started Babel
Educational Program – a program set up to empower the local staff at Babel. We strongly
believe that knowledge is the key!

- the key to get out of poverty, the key to a better life!

Babel Educational Program
Trough this program, half of our all our staff and some of our Tuk Tuk drivers now work on
their Bachelor degrees at Build Bright University (BBU) and The University of South East Asia.
The rest of our staff and some Tuk Tuk drivers study English at ACE school and we also give
English lessons here at Babel. We have also sponsored the staff with Spanish- French- and
German lessons. Check out our Blog with updates on all our work with the Program:
www.babeleducationalprogram.wordpress.org.

For a Cambodian, it’s rare to finish even Primary school. There are many reasons for that.
For example, Cambodian teachers get very low salaries (40 usd a month is normal), so
teachers often require extra money from the pupils in connection with tests and exams.
Many families can’t afford to send their children to school, as they simply cannot pay these
fees. One year at BBU for one person is around 450 usd, a sum that most Cambodians
cannot pay. To be able to support the staff with higher education, we are dependent on
donations from guests, friends and family to our Fund – Solhaugfond!

Solhaugfond
The fund started with the 60-year birthday of Katrine Solhaugs father, John-Daniel
Solhaug. He didn’t need any presents, so he decided to wish for money for his birthday –
money to support Education for young Cambodians. And then Solhaugfond was set up.

Solhaugfond has sponsored six young Cambodians from the Young Adults program in the
Sangkheum Center for Children. All six of them now completed their higher education in
Battambang, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, and have good jobs and a bright future.
Solhaugfond also gives support to Babel Educational Program.

Solhaugfonds webpage: www.solhaugfond.wordpress.com

For three months every year, Babel Guesthouse is the home to Norwegian Tourism
students. The company, Globalstudies, is a Norwegian registered shareholder company,
founded by Katrine Solhaug and Simen Julner. In cooperation with the Norwegian School
of Hotel Management, we offer our students the chance to take part of their Bachelor
degree in Siem Reap, and specialize in Responsible Tourism. By taking a part of their
studies in Siem Reap, a city with many well-established Responsible Tourism operators,
they will get a wider understanding of their studies. By visiting such operators, and by
contributing to the local society themselves, the students will learn by doing - not just
learn by reading. Our Globalstudies students actively support our Babel Educational
Program, and one day every year they walk around the streets of Siem Reap picking
garbage. Their friends and family back in Norway sponsor the garbage picking, and this
gives great support that enables us to continue giving our staff higher education.

The class of 2012:

Globalstudies web page: www.globalstudies.no

Babel Educational Staff Trip
Every year we do Educational Staff trips to other provinces in Cambodia for the local staff
to learn more about their own country and what it has to offer. While we are gone, the
Norwegian Globalstudies students are running Babel Guesthouse, doing everything from
the Check in procedure to cleaning the rooms.

Educational Trip to Battambang, 2011:      Globalstudies students running Babel in 2011:

Educational Trip to Phnom Penh, 2012:      Globalstudies students running Babel in 2012:

Educational Trip to Sihanoukville, 2013    Globalstudies students running Babel in 2013

These trips also give the staff the experience in how it is like to be a tourist. And what’s
very important – teambuilding! We had great fun! These trips make us closer together, and
give us motivation to do an even better job with the guests in Babel when we come back.

                                             	
  

THE STORY OF THE DREAM CATCHERS IN BABEL!
Dream catchers have their origin in Latin America. The traditional dream catcher was
intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, while letting positive
dreams through. The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center of the
dream catcher, and glide down the feathers to the sleeping person below. The negative
dreams would get caught up in the web, and expire when the first rays of the sun struck
them.

Katrine´s story: Dream catchers have always fascinated me. I bought my first dream catcher-
earrings in Mexico, on my first romantic trip with Simen. Since then we travelled many years,
trying to find new dream catchers in every country we travelled to. In 2008, on a trip to The
Philippines, we got to know a Pilipino “tribe”. One of the men was wearing a dream catcher
around his ankle. I told him I though that was really cool. He told me: “I wear it on my foot
because I always follow my dreams”. Ever since then, for me the dream catcher has been
symbolizing “FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS”.

In 2009 I stayed a couple of years in Norway to work and save up enough money to start
“Globalstudies”. I am a social worker, and I work with troubled youth. The job can sometimes be
very tough. I had to go through a lot of fights, both physically and mentally. After one of the
toughest evenings I ever had at work, fighting with two youths at the same time, I went for a
drive. It was a very rainy and windy evening. Everything was grey outside, just like I felt inside. I
had not yet any co-operationship with a University to actually start Globalstudies, I was
questioning if it would ever work and I felt very lost. I cried and cried. All of the sudden I saw this
little “boho, gypsy, hippie” kind of shop. In the window this big, very beautiful dream catcher
was hanging. I immediately stopped the car, walked right in and bought this dream catcher. I
said to myself, this is a reminder – I have to keep following my dreams. One day, I will have a
guesthouse where this dream catcher will be hanging, and it will be surrounded by guests and
Globalstudies students. - This dream catcher is now hanging inside the bar of Babel. I tell this
story every time we have Globalstudies students or other big groups here - to encourage them
to follow their dreams.

Many of the dream catchers in the garden are from the Philippines. I went back to the
Philippines and bought them. We also got dream catchers as gifts from guests. But most of the
dream catchers you see in Babel, we made ourselves.

On Babel Guesthouse´s staff trip to Sihanoukville in 2013, we had teambuilding; all the staff
had to make one dream catcher each. This was to symbolize that, by having the opportunity to
study; they can also follow their dreams. We collected shell from the beach, and everyone made
his or her own dream catcher with what we found. We also made a big dream catcher, and
then we sew all the small ones that all the staff made into the net of the big one. This is now
hanging over the reception of Babel!

         Hope you like our story of the dream catchers in Babel! And remember:

                          FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!

In 2012, Hilde Marie Kvaløsæter became part owner of Babel Guesthouse. She was
one of the first students of Globalstudies in 2011.

From Trondheim, Norway’s third biggest city, she is well known as a skilful singer-
songwriter, and after having her first concert in Babel Guesthouse 2011, the Hotels
and Restaurants around town lined up to have her singing in their place. She plays
regularly in Babel Guesthouse, together with many different guest artists. Babel is
now known in Phnom Penh Post as “an up-and-coming venue welcoming a unique
cast of musicians you won´t find anywhere else in Temple Town”.

This year, 2012, she made her first music video ”Coastline Journey” on an Island in
the south of Cambodia. Find it on Youtube, and let yourself be inspired to travel to
the south and visit the wonderful islands outside the coast. You will find hidden
pearls with endless white sand beaches, crystal clear water, colourful fish and
jungle!

After being known as one of the town’s best music venues, we got the idea to
decorate every room with different artists and bands. We have rooms with: Elvis,
the Beatles, Guns n roses, Rolling Stones, The Doors, Madcon, Cambojam, The Ark,
Abba, Depeche Mode, Mishka, Bob Marley, Manu Chao, Morcheeba, Hanne Sørvaag,
Hilde Marie Kvaløsæter, Aha, Alpha Blondie and Luciano Pavarotti.

One of our Danish guests is an artist, and made the wall in our AHA room: