Wednesday, June 06, 2007 . 11:56 AM

Chiam reap su... (hello in khmer(pronounced ke mai, not ke mere))
finally, after 8 days of traveling... i am back from the land of Cambodia... but before that, i must surely update from the day of 26th may till now...

26 may
we had speakers from the EQUIP network (headed by John C Maxwell) Tim Elmore and Doug Carter to speak on "The Power Of Team Leadership". was a wonderful learning experience, especially the session on youths... the 4 type of damaging parenting styles... how to change the methods yet keep the message. ask me bout the four parenting styles, i will tell you, quite funny, i am sure some of you can identify with it.

27 may
Workshop sessions started. i was at duh, the youth workshop. Tim Elmore really shared his heart when it comes to youth and of course, i learnt a lot about habitudes, the habits and attitudes of a leader.

28 may
continued with session and workshops. Pr Foo asked me to do Ice Breaker. so i did one on youth lingos... see how well the youth workers actually know us mileenial generation. so they were tested on stuff like swt, wtv, rotfl, brb, gtg etc. at the end of it all, pr Foo crowned me SVL.... SO VERY LAME... ( i can see kp and chiox clapping and laughing)*grumbles*

29 may
too tired to go for the last session. so i slept at home and packed my stuff. at approx 11.30am, we departed for the LCCT to go to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
upon arrivalin Phnom Penh(pronounced punom pen), 24 of us comprising of 6 families, were greeted by our missionary in Cambodia, Aunty Esther. we were taken to our hotel, mekong palace hotel, overlooking the mekong river. one thing i must say, because electricity and petrol is so expensive in Cambodia, they really jimat electric. like when u leave the air con on so that your room will be cold when u come back, they go to your room and switch it off... anyways, the cable tv there is so much better than ASTRO. as they have all sorts of channels, cambodian, thai, malaysian, australian, and british. anyways, our first meal was at Khmer corner, a small restaurant opened by aunty esther to train locals to earn money. the foos there was heavily influenced by the vietnamese. the food was really good except for the beef satay. it was like eating rubber.

30 may
had breakfast at this vietnamese restaurant. my, the food was so delicious that my friend and i single handedly sapu all the food on the table meant for 6. i was like, man i am gonna gain weight again(true enough, i gain 2 kilos in 8 days) haihs...
then we went to the Toul Sleng Museum, also known as the Genocide Museum, where 3 million Khmers were killed during the Khmer Rouge reign in 1975 to 1979. we saw the rooms they used for interrogation and torture, pictures of how they were tortured and also all the pictures of the victims. it was saddening that those things had to happen, even small kids and babies. apparently, those that were killed first were the educated and bespectacled(because they say wear specs means very smart). the living conditions were horrible. of the millions captured, only 7 survived.
after that, we had lunch. we had this really delicious treat of French loaf stuffed with minced meat(or so we thought, it turned out to be minced liver) ham, meat and papaya salad. to top it off, we had ice cream in coconut with atap chee. next, we went to the Central Market to shop. ladies, this place is for you, if you liked jewelry. as for me, I had nothing to do, so i walked around aimlessly for an hour or so. finally decided to try my bargaining skills. i could have bought a watch for 4 USD, a reduction of 6 USD from the original. not bad eh, my skills. anyway, after that, we rushed to the Rusian market, which is like literally, an oven filled with items for sale to lure people in so that it can cook and digest people in it. it was so hot and stuffy by the time we came out from the other end, everyone was sweating like a mad dog. my mum, as usual, managed to find a bargain in that short period. didn't buy tho as she was coming back to that place tomolo.
at night, we had dinner on a boat as we cruised around in the mekong river. tonights special guest were another missionary family, Yew Onn and Chern Chern, dental lecturers in one of the Uni. we had fun as we were eating and playing on the biat, while cruising down the river. it was raining at that time, so we couldn't reslly see the sunset. but oh well, the cruise itself was good. how many ppl can say they went to the mekong river before?
after the trip, and sending them off. we went to the casino, just for a look see. and man, the security is loose. as long as you do not wear slippers, you can enter as long as you look old enough. i am legal to enter his place, but 2 other friends of mine, aged 16 and 17 walked in and out with ease. oh btw, we went there in a cyclo (trishaw) and it was quite fun and scary. we took 12 cyclos because each one can only accomodate 2. as it was the city, cars were everywhere. so this cyclist was zooming in and out of traffic to avoid cars. and they drive on the right side, so it is weird for me to see them turn right in a round about. and when 12 cyclos traveled together, suddenly i felt like i was in the amazing race, racing towards the next clue. one more thing about cambodia, the rich is very rich and the poor is very poor. so in phnom penh, all the cars we see were like lexus and 4WD, toyota and nissan and honda, which would cost a bomb in Malaysia thanks to the tax they charge.
cambodian also deal in USD, which is approx 4100 rials.
anyway, after that, we went to the fun fair, which honestly wasn't much fun. then we went back in a tuk tuk.(cart with seats driven by a motorcylist)

31 may
had breakfast in Khmer corner. visited Khmer life, an income generating project started by the church to help locals earn income through arts and crafts. went back to hotel to babysit kids as the adults went shopping. after lunch at this chinese restaurant, where i got a visit from my long long long faraway related cousin, sieu keong, we met with another missionary fmaily from our church, Pr Kenneth and Pr Yin Meng, placed in Kampot. they were in Phnom Penh to greet the mission team from the church. we boarded the bus and went to Baray, a 2 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh, where we would have our home stay, to experience how the poor lived.
we arrived at CMS, the place where missions works were carried out. behind that place is where houses were built to accomodate home stay people. we stayed in this kampung house which had no fan, 2 lights, mosquito net covering a 1 inch matress. note that electricity is very expensive, so the generator will be switched off by 10pm. oh, the time diff is 1 hour behind ours. that night had nothing much to do, except get over the shock of the amount of bugs that were above the nets.

--end of part 1--

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