The Colourful Life of PIXUS: January 2008

This entry is long overdue.... but I've been too busy with partying, work and DS Lite these couple of months. To ensure that my blog doesn't die a horrible death, I finally dumped my DS Lite aside and do what I have to do.

Alright, so I went to Cambodia on 27 Nov 2007 (exactly 2 months ago) with Weiling and Randy. Randy was our tour guide for the Cambodia part of our trip. We basically are going to leech on Randy coz we're gonna stay at his place in Phnom Penh.

DAY ONE: 27 Nov 2007

On the plane...

We've arrived!!! We took our luggages and walked out of the custom area. To our surprise, once we walked out, it was the streets!!! The airport is super duper small!!! Arrival and Departure Halls are just next to each other.

Judy (Randy's niece) came to pick us with her sister Jenny. Btw.... Judy is only 15 years old. Yes, she is 15 and driving in Cambodia!!!

We got to Randy's place and there was already a feast waiting for us. Boy was I hungry and the food was delicious! I put on like 3 kg after the trip.

After dinner, we went up to the room that we're supposed to sleep in for the next 5 days. It was really an eye-opener.... see for yourself...

I suddenly feel so tall coz I can touch the ceiling!!!

Randy had to bend down in this room which used to be his when he was shorter...

DAY TWO: 28 Nov 2007

The next morning.... Randy brought us to eat Cambodian style Bah Chor Mee with his mummy. I must say the pork is very tender... so much so that it gets stuck in between my teeth! At first taste, it was too satly to our Singaporean tastebuds but I soon grew to rank it my favourite brekky in Cambodia.

After a hearty meal, we went to check out Randy's new house. People..... it's huge... no i meant HUGE... haha. It's actually a shop house so they need loads of space to store their goods as well.

Exterior of the house...

Did I tell you I put on 3 kg after my trip to Cambodia and Bangkok?? Well, after you finish going through this entry, you would understand why.

After visiting the new place, we went to the largest market in Phnom Penh (stone's throw from Randy's place).

We tried green soya bean. (I must state here that I normally don't try food from stalls that doesn't look too clean but.... when in Cambodia, do what the Cambodians do)

This is Ms Chin's "long lost sister"... don't they look alike???

No lah.... she's actually Randy's niece. That's Judy (ex-AMKsian) and her sister Jenny. It's funny that Jenny looks more like Ms Chin than her real sister.

Lunch Time (yes... right after the filling green soya bean)

Yupzz... Ms chin is eating a lobster-like-prawn. It's a super huge prawn and it's delicious. As I am allergic to prawn (my throat will itch badly if I over consume and my skin will itch when I touch prawn), I asked Ms Chin to de-shell for me... hehe

I sacrificed by not being in the pics...

Fruits after meals...

The way Cambodians eat orange is very different. Even their orange is different in colour... green, not orange.

Eat as a whole...

Cut into half...

Randy drove us around for sight-seeing and we drove along the Mei Kong River. After that... we went to eat again!!!

Dessert... This road-side stall is famous for their USD$1 dessert.It's a little like chendol but much tastier. Apparently, this little stall earned the owner a super huge house nearby. Wonder how much do they sell a day!?!?!

The ancient ice-shaving machine

We went back for dinner after dessert. Urmm... was I eating the whole day?

DAY 3: 29 Nov 2007

Today's the day for our roadtrip to Siem Riep.

We woke up real early to take our rented mini bus to Siem Riep, 4 hours car journey away from Phnom Penh. We're off to see Angkor Wat.

Some research from the internet....
Angkor is the most important monument of the south-east Asian Khmer Empire and the world’s largest sacred temple. Built during the reign of King Suryavaman, at the beginning of the 12th century, Angkor is noted for its intricate ornamentation and striking beauty. With its water moats, concentric walls and magnificent temple mountain in the center, Angkor Wat symbolizes the Hindu cosmos, with its oceans at the periphery and the Meru mountain at the center of its universe.

The ride was very bumpy and we either slept, played PSP Lite or gossiped during the journey. Stop overs for toilet break are torturous coz the toilets are.... urmm... very unhygenic. I am glad i brought along wet tissues (best item in my bag).

After 4 hours and a satisfying lunch, we arrive at one of the strong contenders for the New7Wonders of the world.

It's really an amazing experience to come here... hard to describe... so enjoy the pics since a picture tells a thousand words...

Hmm... who is this???

The best place to capture the beauty of Angkor Wat... see the reflection in the pond?

Time to go in.... up the steps...

Levi's model

Dare to go down from here??? Nah.... so STEEP!!!

We touched the walls of Angkor Wat...

Close up of wall carvings...

One last shot before we leave this area...

We went to another area where the roots of the trees are bigger than us... many times... see for yourself...

We're in frames...

Angkor Wat is one of the best places in the world to catch sunset or sunrise and we were lucky enough to catch the sunset. It was not easy to climb up the hill and the super steep steps. Thinking of it now makes my palm sweat again...

It's really worth it...see how beautiful the sunset is...

Like salted egg...

Day 4: 30 Nov 2007
We stayed one night in Siem Riep and headed back to Phnom Penh the next morning. Rested a lot but went to another fav dessert store at night.

This dish contains all sorts of fruits like Jackfruit, Soursop, Honeydew, etc plus an egg and condensed milk... delicious!

The drink beside also contain all sorts of fruits including durian... super nice and fattening....

Randy ordered this disgusting looking egg where the foetus of the chick can be seen... yucks...

And he's making us eat it!!!!

It tastes wierd...

Ms Chin eating too...

I think she ate the head!!!!

Rinse her mouth with the drink...

Day 5: 1 Dec 2007
It's our last full day in Phnom Penh so we planned to visit the infamous Killing Fields and the palace.

We started our day with our fav Cambodia Bah Chor Mee...

Wonder if Ms Chin likes it.... hmm

I love it!

After breakfast, we visited Toul Sleng... the place where Pol Pot kept and tortoured his prisoners. We wanted to visit the Killing Fields but it was too far so we decided to visit the museum only.

Extraced from www.tuolsleng.com
The 114 photographs on this site are from Pol Pot's secret prison, codenamed "S-21" during his genocidal rule (1975-79). Between 1-2 million Cambodians (and many thousands of foreigners) were starved to death, tortured, or killed, during his brutal reign of terror.

When the Vietnamese Army invaded in 1979 the S-21 prison staff fled, leaving thousands of written and photographic records. Altogether more than 6,000 photographs were left; the majority, however, have been lost or destroyed.

Former prison staff say as many as 30,000 prisoners were held at S-21 before the Khmer Rouge leadership was forced to flee, in the first days of 1979. This website contains most of the photographs that were printed for the book Killing Fields (Twin Palms Press) and for a traveling exhibition, which was on display at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), as well as many other locations.

Currently the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide, which is located within the former prison grounds, has the original negatives and a catalog of all 6,000 remaining negatives. Cornell University also has one of the catalogs, and the DCCam Project has also incorporated scanned versions of the images into their database, as well as Yale University.

In 1997 an American photographer/researcher identified and located the prison photographer, Nhem Ein, who had been living in a Khmer Rouge stronghold since 1979. Since meeting Nhem Ein, many other former prison staff have been identified and interviewed, adding to our knowledge of this piece of awful history.

It was quite an experience visiting the museum but it was painful to imagine what the prisoners went through inside the prison. We were so upset that we didn't want to take any pictures but we decided to take just one to remember that we went there before.