Cambodia, Siem Reap

Cambodia, Siem Reap 30/03/2015 – 09/04/2015

Day 1: Everyone gather at airport to for the takeoff. I was really touched that Family and friends came to send me off. I thank God for really great People who are in my life. It shows how important I am in their life. And the blessing I got from those who wish me or gave me a red packet. Super Grateful for all this. I am really excited for the trip because this is my last trip as a student. We didn’t do much for the first day except exploring the area. There were dogs and cows everywhere. And bikes were moving in every direction. Some of them even had 3 or 4 person on the motorbike. Surprisingly, they manage to balance it. There were spiders and insect in the bathroom which it disturbing because when we bath we had to look at it to make sure that it is not moving at all. And we can’t use toilet paper if we were to shit as it might choke the pipe. Had to use water instead. Night off at 11.

 Day 2: We couldn't sleep because of the Dogs, cats and the rooster whom made so much noise during the night and the morning. Woke up at 5 in the morning and got ready for the trip to school. The journey to the school had some pretty interesting things to view such as cows, rice field etc. Some of them are having the store at the roadside selling oil for vehicles. We finally arrive at the school. The first impression I had with the kids who are studying there is that they are very very active and rowdy. They were running here and there, kicking one another with their legs. But most of them were interested in what we were doing such as teaching them to give us Hi five and also fist bum. I manage to carry some of them. Every time when I take my phone out to take a photo. The kids will run and overwhelm me to take the photos together. I am really happy to see everyone is rushing to take photo together. I am glad that I took this Learning journey because I step out of my comfort zone and also I manage to learn that I am really a fortunate Boy who have a proper education, proper uniforms and proper shoes to wear etc. the slippers that some of them are wearing was about to break. It hit me hard on how I have been living in comfort all my life and yet I have been complaining about this and that. The kids here were super excited and extremely glad to receive something as small as an eraser. Then Visited lucky mall which didn't had much shops to shop and I had time eating the gelato there cause the weather was super-duper warm. Bought some drinks, head back to the bus, back to the home stay, dinner then talk for a little while with the guys who are sleeping beside or around me and lights out. I remember that night we didn't had enough sleep again because of the stupid rooster whom decided to crow. Everyone wanted to Slater the chicken and fry it. Stupid Rooster.

 Day 3: Gear cars and little bits. Night market. We start the workshop with the kids. Teaching them to build a gear Car. The Kids got really excited. Everyone wanted their car to work so they can race with each other. I was in charge of this bunch of students and I took quite a while to fix the car for them. Gotten pretty irritated with gear and the motor which didn't work when we follow the steps of what we are supposed to do. Finally after multiple times, I manage to get it to move. I thought I did a good job with the cars. Then that was all for the morning sessions. Next would be the afternoon session where we did an engineering lesson with the kids. There is equipment that we used called “little bits”. Again, was in charge of a bunch of students. Did a few demos and the kids already start experimenting the bits. I was amaze to see how they were pretty smart to use the bits and form items such as making the bits to move around and making a light out of it. As usual, HI fives were thrown everywhere. Then we end the day with night market. The place is something like bugis street but much cheaper. I bought 3 bags which could be cheaper if I went to the other stall. OH well, I really like the bag so i decided to buy some for my siblings too. Walk around the entire market and back to the home stay after 9.30pm. Then we had to practice the mass dance that we are conducting which is interesting. I believe that everyone had a great time learning the dance and imagine having many kids to dance together. The feeling would be really amazing. I was pretty excited myself. Took a bath and nights off.

Day 4: mass dance,Poetry,poker,lucky mall. Wake up in the morning with the rooster waking us up again. Wash up and off to school. We went to school for mass dance and the children we're actively learning from us which is a joy to see because we did take the effort and time to plan this out. While they were learning the steps, I walked around giving hi fives and teaching them the steps that they are confused about. I realize something in Cambodia is that when you take your phone out you will be surrounded by many kids who want to take photo with you. Enjoyed the process and everyone had fun. Since we are in charge of the morning session, we left in the afternoon to do pottery while the other team takes over. Pottery was fun. We made the clay with the pot. After that, we head back to lucky mall for a short while. I got a slice of durian cake then we went back. Head back to the Home stay, played the cards with my roommates and dinner. Had a cup of noodle before carry on playing card games with my group members

Day 5: On Thursday, we taught them to brush their own teeth and wash their own hands cleanly. Hopefully they will remember the routine. I saw many familiar faces and am happy to see them attending class as some of them don't get the chance to attend class. Some have to help their parents for harvesting and hence they cannot attend school. Pretty sad as most of them I feel are smart. Take the gear Car for an instance, they manage to get the gear to work together even before I manage to do it. was glad that I had a proper education. The group also fixed the solar panel today for the light in the library so that the kids will be able to study even during the night. Climb up and down to hammer the wires to the wall using a clam. Was pretty amaze at myself for being able to do all this. I think it's from my dad's genes. After a while, we went to night market for massage and bought 4 monk bag for 3USD each. So damn cheap. Had avocado juice and it taste so damn delicious. Manage to meet some of the people from SP6 and went around walking with them. Extremely grateful for this Cambodia exchange program student as she helped some. Of us bargain to a very low price for the items we wanted. Head back home and that was the end of day 5.

Day 6: wake up at 6 to wash up and get breakfast. I remember I was so tired that morning that I almost couldn't wake up. I was asleep the whole journey from home stay to the school. So tired and sleepy.  Been having only 6 hours of sleep every day. Some of us even fall sick because there wasn't enough rest. Though I was exhausted, whenever I see the smile of the kids I felt really happy and energized. Today we did a workshop which is to teach the kids about shapes. I can say that it went quite well. Everyone was learning enthusiastically. Also manage to give out the Oreo that Auntie got for the kids. Hopefully they liked our pens and Oreo. We believe they did learn something out of the workshop and hopefully the children's will remember what we taught them. Meanwhile, during breaks everyone was resting, the kids were so naughty that they put leaves into out shirt and It was really annoying. And they like to wacky people so it was pretty irritating. I did the same back to them and they got even more rowdy. But still, did had a good time teaching them. Yesterday, I met this guy called "ah wit”. He got this bad ass look on him. He never smile when we took photo with them on day 5 but he did smile today when we took photo again. I carried and lift him up and down which he really enjoyed as we can see from his smile. Went to night market again for nights out with SP6 and We had pizza for dinner. But before dinner, we walked around buying bags and shirts etc. I think everyone had a good day today. I had fun at the night market with the group. Bought 4 bags and 2 pants. And finally, end of day number 6.

 Day 7: It’s a Saturday so it means that there is no school for the kids. Its finally time for some rest and relax time for us. So today we went to floating village, silk farm, war museum and lucky mall. First part of the RNR time was to the floating village. We had to take the boat to the village as it is in the middle of the sea. Went to the riverbank so we can take the boat there. I was pretty excited because of the boats has two different level. Went to the top level as it's windy and the view is much better. Along the way, we pass by the field which was breath taking. After that we head back to the Home stay for lunch and next would be to the silk farm. we went to silk farm to see the silk worms. We were given a tour around the farm. I was given the chance to eat worm which tasted like red bean. But it was super disgusting that I felt like vomiting after that. Finally got the chance to eat blue pumpkin. Blue pumpkin is a shop that sells amazing ice cream which The Cambodian exchange student been saying. I had the coconut ice cream and wow it was so so so good. Head to the war museum right after the silk farm and met the legendary Rambo who survived after meeting death for 10 times. He is injured and had many operations on him. His amazing story that shock all of us who were listening to him. He even had the ball that will explode in a grenade that is in his body. He showed us around the place and told us story on the way. The day pretty much ended after the war museum. Went to lucky mall to get breakfast for the next day which is Sunday. Have to get up early to see the sun rise at Angkor Wat. End of day 7.

Day 8: wake up early at 3.30 to get ready for Angkor wat. Then board the bus to the area there. I must say the wait was really long because when we reach the area it was still quite early but the view was magnificent. Praise the Lord for it. Manage to record the sunrise and it felt amazing to get the chance to see it. It's one of the seven wonders of the world. Posy our tour guide, showed us around Angkor wat and told us the story of the place. Around 11,we had breakfast at a nearby place which is expensive as I pay 3USD for a slice of pancake. After that we went to the different kinds of temple. Had lunch at a restaurant which the food isn’t to our liking. Then visit a different temple again then went back to the Home stay. Surprising at how the people in the past manage to build the temples without any machines. Even got a bee sting before the night end which is unlucky as shit. Well, on the bright side the Cambodian students handle the situation pretty well and It didnt hurt much. End the day off at night with a good sleep because of the rain which is super rare to have during summer period of Cambodia. One of the best sleeps here ever.

Day 9: sandwich making. I remember that day everyone moral was really down because of some stuff but thanks to the moral boasting talk that the facilitator gave. Everyone decided to give everything they got to the kids because the main motive of this trip was to help the kids and teach them so they may learn. It was my group to take charge as this workshop is conducted by us.  Since this is a food workshop we had to make sure everyone had clean hands before touching any food. Got them to wash their hands while doing the hand wash steps that we taught them last week. Finally, everyone got their hands clean and next up would be the mixing of eggs, cucumbers and mayonnaise. Pass the bread to them to spread the ingredient on it.  Eventually, everyone had a complete egg sandwich.  On the count of One, two, three and nyom(eat in Khmer language).The kid finish everything and the smile on their beautiful face.  Head back to the home stay since there is only a morning workshop. Went around talking to the shop owners nearby with the entire SP6 and 7. Everyone was complaining how warm the weather was and kept buying drink to drink.  Pretty much how this Monday was spent.

Day 10: dance, massage. We head down to school in the morning for one last workshop.  Since it’s the holiday for the students there, there would only be a morning class for us to teach the kids.  Teach the kids the remaining steps of the dance so that they can join us in doing it for the closing ceremony. Time somehow keeps moving fast like a rocket. The last workshop ended. Before leaving school, we did the army style of marching to celebrate all the hard work we put in to the entire workshop we taught to the kids there. Our facilitators also gave us a thank you speech for all of us. Group photo and we head back to the homestay before going to massage. First time doing oil massage and since there can only be two person in a room, Rikeesh and I decided to take the same room. It was so awkward when they ask us to take off what we were wearing. We were like are we supposed to take off our underwear too or??? Super awkward…Then next, they asked us to lie down and starts to fold our underwear to the butt line. We were looking at each other and laughing. We went full retard after that talking rubbish and laugh at anything we say because of the awkwardness. But, it felt really good at the end process because it was a full body massage. Went to lucky mall to get cup noodles for supper but didn’t get to eat till the last night. Slept with a comfortable smile on the face as the cooling rain approached.

Day 11: closing ceremony, paintball and cultural dinner. Second last day for the trip and head to the school for the last time to do the closing ceremony with the donation. All the student, teachers and parents were already waiting for us. The closing ceremony started off with them singing their national anthem and after theirs was ours. Next up the dance, we got the students who learn with us the previous day to dance with us. After that, we got the kids to queue up to take all the clothes and toys that were donated by us. Final goodbyes were said to the kids. We all left with a heavy heart while saying goodbye. It was gloomy. Finally, TIME FOR PAINTBALL. I always wanted to shoot like a mafia boss and I got the chance to do it. I walked around like a boss, only one hand up with the gun and start shooting like Chow Ren Fat. Got some bruise near my balls and my hands which hurts like hell. Head to lucky mall before going for the cultural dinner. I had a great blast during the cultural dinner because while the dancers were dancing, Rikeesh and I were doing stupid faces at them which they did laugh. We went crazy after that, laughing and laughing nonstop. Although it is kind of rude but it was really funny. The groups from Sp6 were laughing at it too. Head back to home stay to celebrate Ronald’s birthday which was awesome because everyone had their party spray with them to spray at Ronald and then the smashing of cake on his face. Had to clear up the place after the mess and since it was the last night of the trip, everyone was at the dining area having supper and talking. How fast time passes by.  It was already day 11 in a blink of an eye. Had a final chat with some of them before going off to bed.

Day 12: End of the trip. Morning came and everyone was saying how fast 12 days was. Had the last breakfast cooked by the people there and off we go to the airport. Check in all the stuff and the plane arrive. Did a transit from Siem reap to Phom Pheng then to Singapore.  Before leaving, said goodbye to everyone and gave one final handshake to Alex who has been my amazing brother in action for the 12 days. And this pretty much the summary of the whole trip of Cambodia, Siem Reap.