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joshuatj@twitter
Due to the OT up till 2:30am, I refuse to wake up in the morning, until 15mins before 8am. Quickly have some breakfast and just in time to hop onto Uncle Yin Tong’s car.
First stop is Psar Thmey, which the locals called it Russian Market. Things are considered cheap (in terms of USD). Have we bought anything? If you know who is Jia Yi, you may know the answer. But too bad, there’s no ladies Levi’s Jeans. Charis Ng might be a little disappointed. There are other unknown brands but then "No Point!!" (:Þ). As for other orders, don’t let you all know and let you all "heart string string (sum xi xi)".
Lunch we went to a local Khmer Restaurant. Good food! The french loaf here is better than the one we bought during the ship trip from Siem Reap.
Second stop we went to Psar Tom Pong. This is the Central Market. Everything from food to your house Toilet Bowl brush is sold here. Things are often more expensive than other places. But, you can always bargain. During the few days in Cambodia, I’ve learned that we must act "cruel" when we bargain. Local people always tag prices about 200% or 300% higher. Jia Yi managed to obtain a bargain of USD2 for 3, but the initial price is USD1 for one. One must really know how to bargain to get really good prices.
Today is Liberation Day and Public holiday for Cambodia. Hun Sen’s (the current prime minister of Cambodia) son had a wedding today. Uncle Yin Tong’s was invited. But no worries, we were invited by Mr. Fong to Tai Ban for Seafood Steamboat. He owns Tai Ban. Now he is one of the important man behind the developements of Cambodia. He invest in all kinds of businesses, from Civil Contruction to Massage Parlour. Truly a patriotic Cambodian, he had done a lot, just to help his own people.
We had some chatting with Mr. Fong after the steamboat. He told me about the opportunities of Civil Engineering in Cambodia. At the same time, my father share his experience about his choice of Civil Engineering 20 years ago. Almost everyone discourages him to take on Civil Engineering, Computer was the "IN" thing back in the seventies. But by God’s will, he went into Civil Engineering and it really helps in his ministry now. Churches need to be built and the contruction are done by Civil Engineers. Although my father is no longer an engineer, at least he knows enough to help out. Hence, this situation gave me some insight. Now, there’s another choice to consider……………..
After dinner, foot massage again. This time we had extra back massage.
Today’s an interesting day. Tomorrow (or should I say today) I will fly back to KL. I’m still considering the possibilities of staying in KL until Shakira’s departure. Where should I stay? How about clothes (pakpai’s plan is to donate all my T-shirts to the local church, that was planned before we came)? I want to join the school of discipleship!!!! I’ve already missed a week’s lesson. Haih~ so many thing to consider. I better let ‘Sou Gor" handle it and I will just "see step walk step".
joshuatj reporting out………
The Hotel in Siem Reap has no computer access and it is situated outside the town area. I feel so sorry for my FANS out there!! (:Þ) Hey I know you all are reading. I don’t mind, just leave some comment after you read. Might it be my stupid gramatical errors OR you feel that I could have put the sentence in a much more better and clear way OR that I am so long-winded OR ……………. aiya~ no need to OR liao~ Just throw in any comments. All are welcomed!!
The Trip to Siem Reap
Rise and Shine!!! Our bus "Mekong Express Bus" en-route Siem Reap was scheduled at 8am. Therefore all of us got up about 7am and took our breakfast at the in-house "Lan Zhou Restaurant". You know… Hotel breakfast mar~ sure buffet eat-all-you-can style. Too bad Uncle Yin Tong’s driver came early. That’s why I ate only 4 toasts, an Omelette, 1 bowl of porridge and 1 bowl of vegetable soup. FREE BREAKFAST wor~ must eat more to replace the lost breakfast the first day.
The journey was 6 hours from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. Most of the journey I slept. But according to pakpai, the whole country side is like the ones in Medan, Indonesia. With bullcarts, super-over-crowded motor vehicles (some on the car top), poor people with no clothes, no shoes and some reckless motorcyclist who likes to drive on the wrong side of the road. For me, I noticed that all the houses have their front lawn dugged. Therefore, most of them kept rain water and became a small pond. To enter the house, one must walk down the narrow mud path they left over as entrance. The fact that why they need a pond in front of their house remain a question to me until the Angkor Wat tour guide explained to me. It seems that a small pond brings luck to the house. Even kings had their tomb surrounded by small ponds.
On the way, we stopped by Kampong Thom for 30 minutes. We got down to the toilet and had some drinks. That’s the place where I saw the fried "Xi xuai"(what do they call it in English? hmmm?). It is sold at R200 per piece. The bus attendant, who looks quite pretty and speaks fluent english, actually tried one. At first she pluck one leg to try the taste. After she felt that it tasted good, she threw the whole thing into her mouth and started crunching. In the poor country side, the "xi xuai" might be the BEST protein supply they can get, you’ll never know.
After 6 hours of tiring journey, we arrived at Siem Reap. The moment we step out of the bus, we were surrounded by locals. These locals are "Tuk Tuk" drivers and they are trying to get us to take their Tuk Tuk. FYI, Tuk Tuk are a kind of transport vehicle, like trishaws in Malaysia but twice as large. After we said "No, we had friends waiting for us" a few times, they leave us alone. But that is not the case for the foreigners. The drivers kept on pestering the foreigners even though they have already said NO the millionth times. Well, after all the foreigners are richer than we are. The locals are smart people!!!
We waited for 5 minutes and still no sign of Uncle Maly (pronounce ma_lee). He is supposed to be our host in Siem Reap. He is the branch manager of the Public Bank Branch in Siem Reap and he is under Uncle Yin Tong, so to speak.
The Princess Hotel. 4 stories high, fully equipped with a swimming pool, a restaurant, a fitness centre(what we called Gym)and a Club House. That’s where we stay. We checked in at about 3pm. Everyone was given a special cambodian-style scarf and a glass of green lime water. An afternoon, 2 nights and an early morning will be the duration we stayed in Siem Reap.
to be continued…..
)FEELINGS = With all the weird stories and odd beliefs, I wondered how would someone belief in such thing. Hmm…Maybe they does not have other choices. The Khmer Kings always change their religion, but always either Hindu or Buddism. Whenever the Hindu took over, all buddha statues and carvings are either destroyed or replaced by Lingga(which is the man-resemblance in the Hindu religion). Traces are so obvious. Many statues of the Buddha are either beheaded or hands chopped off. But still, Buddism and Hinduism is still the main religions of Cambodia. They are the strongholds. I believe many have yet to hear the Gospel. Churches in Cambodia are working very hard. As Cambodia have been peaceful for quite some time and many people are getting richer (although they are many who are getting poorer). The basic necessity will be met very soon and the next thing they are in shortage will be the spiritual eagerness. Let us all pray for Cambodia, for the people and for the ruling government. Pray that missionaries and pastors in Cambodia may act in God’s will and God’s timing.
Joshua reporting out………………..
