Cambodia Pt 3

As promised,the third episode of our Cambodia Adventure...

We started the day by having breakfast as usual. Azmi and I were the first to go to the restaurant for the second time in a row! Doesn't anyone wake up early these days? Anyway, we started the day's tour by taking the bus to the orphanage where we were supposed to do handicrafts and cook for the children. (I won't say orphans as it's damn hurting)

The children from the orphanage

But first,it was Contribution Time as we gave sweets and stuff to the children and like what people say,yes you do feel a sense of goodness when you do something like this. Then we were off to the market. (well,except for Azmi and Jia Hao as they stayed with the rest to do the handicrafts first) During the bus ride,Brennan did a stupid chicken imitation in front of my video camera while I was using it for no reason. We also decided what to buy at the market.

The market. It was HELL. The place was wet,cramped and the placed smelled of guts and other dead animals' meat. I almost became a vegetarian when I saw the people ripping the guts out of the dead,"de-feathered" chicken. I heaved a sigh of relief when we left.

Back at the orphanage,we gave the ingredients to Azmi and Jia Hao and basically said "Good Luck cooking,bye!" and went to do the handicrafts. I tell you the children are SKILLED. If this is not "pro-ness" then I don't know what is.

After doing the handicrafts we left the orphanage and went for lunch. After that,we went to...

A secondary school where we had to teach them English. The main teachers...Azmi and Adam!!! Yay!!! The rest of us mainly slacked. Then we went to look around the school and came across this...

In case you are wondering what the students were doing,they were playing a game in which the rules were something like this:

1. Form two teams.
2. Make a whip like thingy out of used cloth and tie them together with rubber bands.
3. One team throws the whip to the other team and whoever catches it can whip one person from the opposing team.
4. No winners. Just for fun.

No,the whip does not hurt. ONLY if you hear a cracking sound. If not,it's going to be a little painful..

We then went for dinner and of course,had more pillow fights and HALO. It's kinda like some ritual we go through...

Cambodia pt 4 coming up in about a month or so...

Photos in this post were taken from Jia Hao's blog with permission.

Cambodia Pt 2

Ok. Back to the trip that I had...



Day 2- Tonle Sap

Azmi and I woke up at 4.00 am that day. Maybe it was because we were afraid of oversleeping,or it could have been the extra loud alarm that I had set to sound at 4. Anyway,we woke up and THEN went back to sleep. An hour later,we woke again and went back to sleep AGAIN. We finally woke up and stayed that way at 5.30. BTW,I have no idea how Azmi can wake up at so early. I mean,he said that he slept at about 2am!

When we arrived at the restaurant for breakfast,we were surprised to find that there was NO ONE there. We had expected the place to have a few other Victorians who came down earlier than us. Even the staff was not fully prepared as some of the food had not arrived. That's really early.

Due to the long distance between Phnom Penh (where we were) and Siem Reap (our destination),the trip took 5.5 hrs long!!! Has anyone of travelled this long on land? In that amount of time,we did a whole list of things. Here's what we did:

1. 
   
   Try to do some parts of the worksheet in the bus. I said try becos the bus was driving on a bumpy road. Every few seconds,the bus would hit a bump and everyone would levitate for a short moment.


2. 
   
   Play Melvin's GBA.


3. 
   
   Take more random pictures of a pissed off Brennan.


4. 
   
   Sleep. ZZZZZ.......


5. 
   
   Talk. Actually,it was more of a debate actually. We (Brennan,Melvin,Brennan's friend Dexter and I) debated with Azmi abt who we should vote in the next Singapore elections. Azmi was the only one supporting the PAP. All of us supported the opposition.

Upon reaching Siem Reap,we had lunch before heading to Tonle Sap in a new bus with a new tour guide. Tonle Sap is home to many people. Unfortunately,they are extremely poor and have to grow crops or fish to make a living. We got into the motorboat that would take us to one of the floating houses. Along the way,we saw many other floating houses and even a floating basketball court! Our tour guide explained that the Cambodian government wanted the children to be engaged in sports. But what if the ball accidentally rolled off the court and into the river?

Anyway,we arrived at the floating house,which was very large. I think it was also used as a tourist attarction and a mini zoo. First,we saw two crocodile pits. Next to the pits was a pond which seemed to be empty. Until our tour guide threw some frozen worms into the pond. Suddenly,fishes began to leap out of the water to fight for the food.

The main attraction,however,was a python. At first,no one dared to go near it,until Amirul bravely touched the reptile. Brennan and Jia Hao were persuaded (aka forced) to carry the python so that others could take photos. Some students used "flash" on the snake,which is really asking for trouble. We then climbed up the steep stairs to take in the scenery.

On the way down,I spotted Melvin's cousin. (Ahem) I told him abt it and he threatened to throw me into the crocodile pits if I continued.

We checked in at the Prum Bayon Hotel where we would be staying for the rest of the trip. After slacking for abt 2hrs,we went for dinner and watched a Cambodian traditional Apsara Dance.

In the hotel: MORE HALO AND THE INTRODUCTION OF PILLOW FIGHTS!!! Let's just say that I am a noob at pillow fights. Got owned by everyone.

Watch out 4 Part 3...

CAMBODIA pt 1

Hi! Just got back from Cambodia yesterday. The trip was quite good although it could have been better. The next few posts will be about my trip. So here goes....

First day in Cambodia

We met at Changi Airport at abt 6.40am. Then got a scolding from my parents becos they saw everyone (actually it wasn't everyone,they saw wrongly) wearing jeans and they thought that I did not listen to my teacher. Sigh. Then,after checking in our luggage,we took a group photo and entered the departure hall. Everyone waved goodbye to their parents. We then boarded the plane. Since it was a Silkair flight,there were no games. So maybe it was a good thing that the flight was only 2hrs long.

Waiting for the plane...

Amirul taking a nap due to the boredom of the flight.

We arrived and met our tour guide,who then brought us to the Toul Sleng Museum,which was once a high school in Cambodia until Pol Pot used it as a torture room and prison. About 20,000 people died there. You think Hitler is cruel,look at Pol Pot. Ryan,maybe you should take some ideas from the guy and use them in your book. The guy is damn sadistic.

After lunch,we proceded to the Killing Fields. Let's just say that we were shocked at the place. In front of our faces was a Buddhist Stupa with countless HUMAN SKULLS inside!!! They belonged to the people who were killed.

The stupa




The skulls of those who were tortured...

We then proceeded to the Royal Palace and the Independence Monument. Sry that I could not take any photos.


Finally,we went to our hotel. Due to some unforseen circumstances (LOL),I ended up bunking in with Azmi. About 2hrs later,we went down for dinner before returning to the hotel to rest. 2E,on the other hand,ended up partying in room 213 aka my room. Azmi brought his laptop and installed Halo on it. Out of pure randomness,we tried to think of 101 ways you can kill urself with a Warthog in Halo. Also,becos we realised that we had taken so many random photos of Brennan,we started the 100 random photos of Brennan project.



*drumroll* And here are some of the photos. Brennan,if u see this do NOT kill me the next day.









Watch out for Day 2...