Life's really different now that I'm back. Everything here's so much more fast paced, efficient that I'm having a little difficulty adjusting back to reality and feeling a tad angsty trying to catch up with what I've missed out on ahaha. Nevertheless, I thank God for his blessings and I must that I'm really fortunate to be born and breed here. Alright, here's my resolution and a change I must make: to stop being an emo-Nemo and to appreciate all the little things in life. I've learnt that life's really too short to be wasted feeling unhappy and grouchy. =) Haha, I hereby hope for a better age!
Sooo... Here, presenting to you...*drum rolls* my visit to Cambodia in 2 parts- Eusoff Expedition and the Recce Trip! I spent a good whole 3 weeks there, from 20th May to 8th June, enduring insect bites, unbearable heat midst the good stuff like nice people, good food, slow pace of life and so on. Shan't divulge any further, read on to find out more! =)
Eusoff Expedition
Day 0, Phnom Penh
We touched down in Phnom Penh at around 8pm, had dinner and checked into a guesthouse for the night.
There're certainly some signs of development in the city, with new building springing up at every corner, KFC, Swensens, a new mega shopping mall amongst some to name. In a way, it's good that Cambodia's developing but it's rather sad that it's slowly losing its original flavour to commercialisation. It's inevitable I guess, I hope the development'll be for the betterment of the Cambodians.
Day 1 to 5, Village Slang in Prey Veng Province
Village Slang's some 15 mins' ride away from Kampong Cham, the village we visited the previous year, and is a "new" village, in the sense that it hasn't received any help from YEP before. Hence, my group's the "pioneer" batch. This time round, we were there to build toilets and dig wells for the family.
We spent day 1 to 3 learning to build toilets and dig well and I had my first time experience mixing cement, laying bricks, digging soil, operating the power generator for digging the well, connecting/changing drilling bits.. Definitely hard core labouring and not as simple as it seems. Though we did provide some assistance in these construction, I think we were more of a hindrance than a help, but we sure did provide the villagers with entertainment while struggling and fumbling with the equipment. =)
Of course, our time wasn't just spent on construction, we also had some free time to wander around the village, visiting the vast paddy fields, admiring the blue skies with fluffy clouds and the best of it- playing with the kids. It's pretty amazing, like how we couldn't understand the Khmer language but still were able to communicate with them, inevitably with laughter and some embarrassment. One of their favourite activities, I realised, is scaring us- the city dwellers- with living creatures that they can dig out from nowhere, crabs ah, frogs ah, dragonflies ah. They love throwing/sticking these stuff on your skin and watch you scream! I wasn't a bit traumatised but played along with them still. Haha.
In between, I went to the market too, when my group was on duty, and never once got bored. The trip out was always refreshing. On one, we even stopped by to play a game of Chaol Chhoung (don't know if it's the correct name)- a popular Khmer ball game.
Day 6 & 7, Phnom Penh
We decided to take a break from village life and set off for Phnom Penh really early in the morning at 8am. Phnom Penh's some 3 hours away from the village but we arrived in the afternoon as we pitstopped for breakfast and snacks.
After checking into the guesthouse, a newly built one with lots of dust though, we had lunch at a nearby chinese restaurant and then made our way to Tuol Sleang genocide musuem. As some of us have been there before and agreed that one disturbing experience's enough, we decided to roam around Phnom Penh instead and headed down to the Olympic Market- a wholesale market. The walk there was exhilarating, having to beat the sun, the cars, the crowd and everything else to get there. As we were pretty exhausted, from the heat, we took a tuk-tuk back to meet up with the team.
And so it started. The passing around of gastric flu. Many of us fell sick later in the day, having diarrhea and fever. Nonetheless, we were still hyped up for dinner at Friends' Cafe and some chilling out at night. But frankly speaking, I felt that the city life, with the pollution, was making me sicker. I couldn't wish for more to be back in the village.
Anyway, despite our illness, we visited the Killing Fields and Russian Market the next day before heading back to Village Slang. Surprisingly, most of us were looking forward to going back to the village.
(P.S. As my batteries died on me, I couldn't take anymore photos! =( )
Day 8 to 12, Village Slang
I was really happy to be back in the village. The air there was much fresher, the host family took really good care of us. Their hospitality really touched me. Here's the story, knowing that most of us were down, they cooked porridge for the team the next day, washed the toilets when dirtied.
Anyway, while the team was away in Phnom Penh, the workers continued toiling under the hot sun and finished digging all the wells and building all the toilets scheduled to be completed in just 2 days!! Haha. This only proved that we were more of a hindrance than help to them. =P Hence, with no more construction, we carried out some activities with the kids as planned. We taught them nursery rhymes with actions(- it was pure fun as the kids would just follow all the actions and it was really funny to see everyone fumbling and trying to keep up with the song at the same time), had Food Festival where I cooked sweet and sour pork(- which was superb, according to my friends hurhurhur), Sports Day, Origami session and a short English lesson.
In between, my spirits were slightly dampened by the release of results but I decided not to brood over spilt milk and got over it pretty quickly. =P The last few days were rather slack and that was when we felt that time was creeping.. literally.. but I kind of enjoyed that pace of life, not having to rush, to think of what to do next.
The trip climaxed on the last day when the villagers prepared a sumptuous meal for us! =) They cooked an entire duck in curry, served with rice noodles and bread. I bet I ate lots of duck innards, very delicious no doubt. Glutinous rice cake, banana cooked in sago and glutinous rice balls in sago soup were then served as desserts. After dinner, they set up a dance floor, blasted music from a stereo and taught us Khmer dance- their very own disco, right at our doorsteps. Haha. We were rather exhausted by then, but we relented and continued dancing as we felt obligated to join them. It was fun and one kind of an experience no doubt. The night ended with the entire team joining in for a last dance.
We left the village for Siem Reap very early the next morning. Some of us were teary-eyed and the hosts cried when we departed. The villagers, the place have certainly left an indelible mark in my mind.
My all-time favourite, the host's daughter, super cute!
A close-up Day 13 to 16, Siem Reap
The days at Siem Reap were spent chilling out as I've been to many places the last time. While others were at Angkor Wat, beating the sun and scaling the temples, I was having a great time chilling out at the various cafes and restaurants, shopping at the markets, massaging. Nothing exciting happened, just lots of time to spare there and take things slow. I'ld say Siem Reap's a much nicer place to hang out compared to Phnom Penh, the place is relatively cleaner.
However, something kind of disappointed me on the day of departure. My friend left his digicam at the guesthouse that we stayed in and was pretty certain that he last saw it on the bed. However, the staff who checked the rooms before we paid for our accommodation denied that he saw the digicam and was adamant that the digicam was not in the room. He refused to let us check the room, claiming that they've searched the place thoroughly, despite getting a local, our driver cum tour guide- Tola, to speak to them. Tola was pretty sure that they've kept the digicam. Well, a lesson learnt from this episode- never to be careless and forgetful. As for my friend, he was rather sad that he had lost.. not his digicam, but rather, beautiful memories of the trip.
And so while the trip ended for some.. it's the beginning of a whole new experience for me as I waited for Lao Lao to arrive.. Hehe
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