We are picking up the professional photos today!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Khmer Prince and Princesses
We are picking up the professional photos today!
Water Festival Stampede
345 dead at Water Festival stampede as panic on the bridge to Diamond Island caused many to be suffocated, trampled, electrocuted (by wires they climbed on to) and drowned. An extremely devastating event to Cambodia, described as the worst tragedy since the Pol Pot Regime.
We were on the bridge two days before walking across to Diamond Island (where there is a fair ground). At one point in the night we were trapped in the crowd, felt somewhat like a moshpit with people pushing and only after awhile did we realize small children next to us (and decided to turn around) - so we can only imagine the chaos yesterday night must have been.
We consider ourselves extremely lucky and last night we were thinking about going to Diamond Island after the Tiny Toones performance but decided not to.
We were on the bridge two days before walking across to Diamond Island (where there is a fair ground). At one point in the night we were trapped in the crowd, felt somewhat like a moshpit with people pushing and only after awhile did we realize small children next to us (and decided to turn around) - so we can only imagine the chaos yesterday night must have been.
We consider ourselves extremely lucky and last night we were thinking about going to Diamond Island after the Tiny Toones performance but decided not to.
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| Gap Year group on the bridge on Saturday night |
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| Bridge yesterday after stampede |
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
kids kids kids!
Being a volunteer teacher, you can expect to be jumped on, tugged, hugged, squeezed by small minions so full of energy it's as if they chug a case of redbull every morning! That being said, I'm going to miss them so much!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
KEP + CAMBODGE CREW LOSE 3 MEMBERS?!!?
Hello people!
I feel really bad not updating this blog and I know all bloggers say this but we've been really busy! Also, I've started writing a diary (to all none of you who are interested) but yes, I have. I'm really proud of it because so far in my life I think all my attempted diaries have finished at around page 2 - this being because ofcourse, there was really nothing particularly interesting to say (how sad). However, there is a silver lining to this rambling and that is that since I've been here I find that I write about 5 pages in my diary about each day.. (mega exaggeration but you get the point!)
Anywho, I visited my next home (4 months or so starting January) ..KEP!!!
Yes, exciting times. To be honest it was indeed more rural than I had imagined (which was rather stupid of me seeing as I had plenty of information hinting at its isolation) but also alot more beautiful. I'm not sure if I'm becoming a hippie or a over emotional sappy kind of person but I really can't begin to describe the feeling of being one with nature (cue to throw up from an overdose of corny). Just riding the bicycle down the small path with endless rice paddy fields on either side, the cooling wind all over, and the fresh air swimming in your lungs makes you want to give up all your belongings and live like a caveman. That's why I have decided to stop writing this blog and never touch the "internet" again.....jokes.
In Kep we stayed at the Red House with Inges, Sofie and Michael..three other lovely volunteers who I am very much looking forward to chilling with in the near future. The night we arrived we experienced the electricity switching off at 9pm (having been on for 3 hours) and as a result the darkest night you will ever see..or not see I guess. Nothing quite like looking up to a blanket of stars and wondering if all the light at home in Singapore is really worth covering up the shiny dots that mesmerize you for the longest time. We built a house for a young woman of 20 with 2 children while we were there. We were having loads of fun laying on the concrete floor, fixing the aircon system and finding the best channels on the flat screen tv.....naht. We did however thatch the roof and walls of the small bamboo frame hut much to the delight of the future owners (well so I assume...their expression stayed the same the whole time). We also did some agricultural work outside Red House, planting pumpkin seeds and onion stems.
On a very sad note on Monday Victor and Max left Cambodia! Their presence will really be missed as they are genuinely sweet guys and we all had sooooo much fun together! No paragraph can really show the number of times I have laughed until I cried with the gang, how both Victor and Max provided us with so much entertainment and always added a lightheartedness to the group. To be more specific I had such a great time hanging out with them at Rudi Boa, our crazy times in Sihanoukville, just cracking up on tuk-tuk rides, having someone to annoy in the guys room, hearing them practice their BABY BABY BABY OH renditions, going shopping at Luckies, Russian Market, and that huge 5 storey shopping centre, and a lot more! As they got into our tuk-tuk Ida and I burst into tears, which is rare for me (although no one would have believed it seeing the state I was in) - it was a very emotional time! Yes, I cried like a baby but just thinking how they wouldn't be at the breakfast table the next morning is extremely depressing. You don't really know how close you get with the volunteers on a gap year until you're in one, and whenever one of us says the cheesy 'we're a family', this Cambodge group is telling the truth. I laughed until I cried from the start of this trip and come full circle, I cried until I laughed when the group lost 2 friends.
Tomorrow we are losing another friend, one which we haven't known for very long but is still very much part of the crew and has shared many a good time, Chris 'badass' Kelly! He has brought a great energy to the group and will be missed!
Note: *No one else leave or I will kill you.
*I'm being serious.
Will try to post more often,
Tien :)
I feel really bad not updating this blog and I know all bloggers say this but we've been really busy! Also, I've started writing a diary (to all none of you who are interested) but yes, I have. I'm really proud of it because so far in my life I think all my attempted diaries have finished at around page 2 - this being because ofcourse, there was really nothing particularly interesting to say (how sad). However, there is a silver lining to this rambling and that is that since I've been here I find that I write about 5 pages in my diary about each day.. (mega exaggeration but you get the point!)
Anywho, I visited my next home (4 months or so starting January) ..KEP!!!
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| The Red House |
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| Bathing in the pond |
On a very sad note on Monday Victor and Max left Cambodia! Their presence will really be missed as they are genuinely sweet guys and we all had sooooo much fun together! No paragraph can really show the number of times I have laughed until I cried with the gang, how both Victor and Max provided us with so much entertainment and always added a lightheartedness to the group. To be more specific I had such a great time hanging out with them at Rudi Boa, our crazy times in Sihanoukville, just cracking up on tuk-tuk rides, having someone to annoy in the guys room, hearing them practice their BABY BABY BABY OH renditions, going shopping at Luckies, Russian Market, and that huge 5 storey shopping centre, and a lot more! As they got into our tuk-tuk Ida and I burst into tears, which is rare for me (although no one would have believed it seeing the state I was in) - it was a very emotional time! Yes, I cried like a baby but just thinking how they wouldn't be at the breakfast table the next morning is extremely depressing. You don't really know how close you get with the volunteers on a gap year until you're in one, and whenever one of us says the cheesy 'we're a family', this Cambodge group is telling the truth. I laughed until I cried from the start of this trip and come full circle, I cried until I laughed when the group lost 2 friends.
Tomorrow we are losing another friend, one which we haven't known for very long but is still very much part of the crew and has shared many a good time, Chris 'badass' Kelly! He has brought a great energy to the group and will be missed!
Note: *No one else leave or I will kill you.
*I'm being serious.
Will try to post more often,
Tien :)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Sihanoukville
Erica, Ida, Max, Victor and I went to Sihanoukville for the weekend and had the best time! The beach was surprisingly stunning and there were really fun beach parties to go to. I would recommend going to Sihanoukville if you are traveling in Cambodia because it really feels like a mini paradise :)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Killing Fields
This morning we took a 45 minute tuk-tuk ride to the killing fields. The killing fields is an eerily calm piece of land where the Khmer Rouge took many victims and innocent families to be killed. There is a commemorative memorial holding hundreds of skulls, bones, and clothes of the many people murdered. It is really a very strange place, as the scenic ponds and greenery make it hard to believe so many terrible things occurred on the very ground your walking on. However, the you are reminded of the truth as you see numerous mass burials and step on clothes of the victims in the ground beneath your feet (the rain has washed and uncovered many remains, most have been collected and put on display)
There are many frightening spots in the killing fields such as the tree where executioners smashed babies and young children against, the "magic tree' where they blasted music from loud speakers to block out the screams of pain, and the burial sites of 'bodies without heads' and 'women and children without clothes'.
There are many frightening spots in the killing fields such as the tree where executioners smashed babies and young children against, the "magic tree' where they blasted music from loud speakers to block out the screams of pain, and the burial sites of 'bodies without heads' and 'women and children without clothes'.
Flooding
Sunday, October 3, 2010
More Siem Reap Eye Candy
Here are some photos I took in Siem Reap, click on the photo to enlarge!
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| Bayon |
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| Bayon |
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| Angkor Wat |
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| Angkor Wat |
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| Angkor Wat |
Angkor Wat Siem Reap
Hey all 2 of you that read this... apologies for not updating in awhile (especially sorry to you mum, since you claim see if I've posted every morning - much appreciated). We like to keep ourselves busy so I often forget that I have a duty to blog!
Anywhooligans, we went to Siem Reap last weekend and visited the almighty Angkor Wat. The temples we visited were worth of their World Wonder titles as their serenity and architectural elegance leave you somewhat breathless.
So this is how it went...
It's a friday night and we are looking forward to some hours of sleep before our 4am wake up call to see the Angkor Wat sunrise. We finish dinner early and head back to our inexpensive hotel room. All seems well until we lay in bed. The night was restless as the lack of aircon power left us sweaty and the buzzing mosquitos created the horrible dilemma of taking off the blankets to cool us down or protecting ourselves from unbearable mozzie bites. Might I add we were all pleased to find a cockcroach inhabiting our dodgy bathroom. That aside, waking up at 4am was easy and well worth it.
The sunrise was perfect. We ran past other tourists, racing against time to catch the sky's warm reds and purples. Finally we found a nice spot (quite dangerous though) on a ledge of the structure facing the three peaks of Angkor Wat set against a spectrum of colours. Erica and I fiddled with our dslr cameras and managed to take some nice photos.
We had hired a tuk tuk for the whole day, visiting Bayon (temple of faces) as well as the temple with huge trees (seen in Tomb Raider). We had a great time taking jumping photos, sitting on a donkey (Erica), practicing the catwalk down the long hallways and stone paths, pretending to be on a tomb raider mission, breakdancing at the picture spots (victor), getting lost and separated from the group, wearing headscarves to shield the sun, finding out we had the worst shirt tans possible, feeling tired and realising it was only 10am, taking turns listening to the extremely detailed tour guide, fearing for my life as I climbed the ominous steps up to the higher platforms, arriving back at our hotel rooms and having a relaxing ciesta.
We went out later that night hoping on the promising travel guide descriptions of Siem Reap night life. What we found was somewhat disappointing, however, the group is always determined to have a great night - and some of us decided to bring the party to Siem Reap by taking over the dancefloor at a club called The Temple. That included Ida Knutsen, the star of the night - who displayed some never before seen dancemoves. The group got a little too excited when Justin Bieber's 'Baby' song started playing (to which the lyrics have been massacred by Will and Max), as it has been one of the songs of the trip. Along with other quality hits such as the Cambodian 'I'm So Sorryyy', Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. The bus ride home included hitting a goat, speeding, pitstopping at a restaurant with boiled turtles and listening to repetitive Khmer music...everyday things really.
Siem Reap was a fantastic experience and visiting Angkor Wat has made appreciate Cambodia even more - and it's keen eye for tranquil beauty.
On a random note..
The Cambodge group has become CS-obsessed. CS (counter strike) has taken over our lives and some of us even skip teaching just to lan somemore....just kidding! But we do like to have to occasional lanning session..and even indulged in a real life CS game this weekend - all in a day's hard work. The weekend has been very relaxing, apart from a fun night out on Friday. Many of the peeps have university applications to do so we spent a few nights in ordering burritos and whatnot. Mr. Morley came to visit and we all went out for two lovely dinners in the last few days.
Tiny Toones is currently moving locations to a new and improved school with a much bigger dancefloor. It's the end of September and every start of the month the timetables in Cambodian schools change. This is quite frustrating as a teacher as the children who had class in the morning suddenly switch to the afternoon and vice versa. Ah well, being teachers here we have learnt to adapt to their school systems!
On Wednesday I'll be flying back to Singapore to eat some sushi, go shopping, bathe in hot water, watch tv, maybe see my family..maybe not...joking! - I miss them all very much and am looking forward to spending time with them before another two months of Phnom Penh. I hope this uber long post is enough compensation for my lack of posting and I promise not to do it again!
Thanks to anyone else who reads my blog too, all 1 of you!
Anywhooligans, we went to Siem Reap last weekend and visited the almighty Angkor Wat. The temples we visited were worth of their World Wonder titles as their serenity and architectural elegance leave you somewhat breathless.
So this is how it went...
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| Erica and Angkor |
The sunrise was perfect. We ran past other tourists, racing against time to catch the sky's warm reds and purples. Finally we found a nice spot (quite dangerous though) on a ledge of the structure facing the three peaks of Angkor Wat set against a spectrum of colours. Erica and I fiddled with our dslr cameras and managed to take some nice photos.
We had hired a tuk tuk for the whole day, visiting Bayon (temple of faces) as well as the temple with huge trees (seen in Tomb Raider). We had a great time taking jumping photos, sitting on a donkey (Erica), practicing the catwalk down the long hallways and stone paths, pretending to be on a tomb raider mission, breakdancing at the picture spots (victor), getting lost and separated from the group, wearing headscarves to shield the sun, finding out we had the worst shirt tans possible, feeling tired and realising it was only 10am, taking turns listening to the extremely detailed tour guide, fearing for my life as I climbed the ominous steps up to the higher platforms, arriving back at our hotel rooms and having a relaxing ciesta.
We went out later that night hoping on the promising travel guide descriptions of Siem Reap night life. What we found was somewhat disappointing, however, the group is always determined to have a great night - and some of us decided to bring the party to Siem Reap by taking over the dancefloor at a club called The Temple. That included Ida Knutsen, the star of the night - who displayed some never before seen dancemoves. The group got a little too excited when Justin Bieber's 'Baby' song started playing (to which the lyrics have been massacred by Will and Max), as it has been one of the songs of the trip. Along with other quality hits such as the Cambodian 'I'm So Sorryyy', Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. The bus ride home included hitting a goat, speeding, pitstopping at a restaurant with boiled turtles and listening to repetitive Khmer music...everyday things really.
Siem Reap was a fantastic experience and visiting Angkor Wat has made appreciate Cambodia even more - and it's keen eye for tranquil beauty.
On a random note..
The Cambodge group has become CS-obsessed. CS (counter strike) has taken over our lives and some of us even skip teaching just to lan somemore....just kidding! But we do like to have to occasional lanning session..and even indulged in a real life CS game this weekend - all in a day's hard work. The weekend has been very relaxing, apart from a fun night out on Friday. Many of the peeps have university applications to do so we spent a few nights in ordering burritos and whatnot. Mr. Morley came to visit and we all went out for two lovely dinners in the last few days.
Tiny Toones is currently moving locations to a new and improved school with a much bigger dancefloor. It's the end of September and every start of the month the timetables in Cambodian schools change. This is quite frustrating as a teacher as the children who had class in the morning suddenly switch to the afternoon and vice versa. Ah well, being teachers here we have learnt to adapt to their school systems!
On Wednesday I'll be flying back to Singapore to eat some sushi, go shopping, bathe in hot water, watch tv, maybe see my family..maybe not...joking! - I miss them all very much and am looking forward to spending time with them before another two months of Phnom Penh. I hope this uber long post is enough compensation for my lack of posting and I promise not to do it again!
Thanks to anyone else who reads my blog too, all 1 of you!
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| Something you have to see sometime in your life! Paradise, is that you? |
Sunday, September 19, 2010
A month and a week in Cambodia!
This friday + weekend we:
- Made a presentation on Cutting Edge Tests we created
- Bought face masks (Ida and I have yet to see the results :)
-Went out for drinks at Corner 33
-Went swimming at Eureka Villas and played some pool volleyball
-Had some uber nomlicious dinner at a French restaurant La Croisette for Victor's 18th
- Went to HEART OF DARKNESS
-Had pastries and sandwiches at The Shop (yummy!!)
-Went shopping at Lucky Supermarket for some supplies
-Threw Victor a surprise birthday cake party with champagne woo woo 18!! (presents included mine and Ida's TOP SECRET package, full of advice and goodies ;) )
-Planned somewhat for our trip to Siem Reap next weekend...so excited.
HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY VICTOR TRISNA a.k.a. hunky monkey.
- Made a presentation on Cutting Edge Tests we created
- Bought face masks (Ida and I have yet to see the results :)
-Went out for drinks at Corner 33
-Went swimming at Eureka Villas and played some pool volleyball
-Had some uber nomlicious dinner at a French restaurant La Croisette for Victor's 18th
- Went to HEART OF DARKNESS
-Had pastries and sandwiches at The Shop (yummy!!)
-Went shopping at Lucky Supermarket for some supplies
-Threw Victor a surprise birthday cake party with champagne woo woo 18!! (presents included mine and Ida's TOP SECRET package, full of advice and goodies ;) )
-Planned somewhat for our trip to Siem Reap next weekend...so excited.
HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY VICTOR TRISNA a.k.a. hunky monkey.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
$4 Massage
Hanging Out At Tiny Toones
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Pontoon with Tiny Toones!
We met the Tiny Toones breakdancers at a club called Pontoon as they performed with rappers and breakdancers! Great night :)
Community Outreach Tiny Toones
Tiny Toones runs a community outreach program that Nick and I were fortunate enough to participate in today! Everyday a few volunteers from Tiny Toones take a tuk-tuk to rural villages, they bring along educational materials and inform the youth about issues such as HIV/Aids, daily hygiene, drug taking and the volunteers also bring medical aid to clean any wounds the children may have. It was a great experience but I wish I could of understood more (as they were speaking Khmer)! The kids are also given notebooks and pens to encourage learning.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Flashback!
Bit of a blast from the past today when I saw a student at Tiny Toones wearing a Canadian International School shirt! I went to CIS from grades 3 - 8 and seeing the uniform was kind of surprising. It's nice to know that the donations people/schools make actually get used and really comforting to see the end result. It's just a shirt but it was a "full circle" kind of feeling - I began at that school (every so often we donated items) and now at the end of my education I've followed with the shirt and other donations to Cambodia - where it has been put to good use! :)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
A Day At Rudi Boa
Last thursday I went with Victor to the furthest school, Rudi Boa. I had a really great time there filming, taking pictures, watching the football, making pin cushions and talking to the students and teachers!
There is a great community feel at Rudi Boa, all the kids speak great english and engage in conversation but what I love the most is seeing them play together in the breaks - something which I don't quite get to see at Boeng Kok Youth School as they leave after class.
Elsewhere Bar
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| Alex, Ida, Me, Erica! |
I had a great time on Friday night, the group and Alex went to went to a bar/restaurant called Elsewhere for cocktails. Despite a long and tiresome week of teaching and office work we all are eager to go out on Friday nights for a deserved break :)
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| The Girls (Juliet, Me, Ida, Erica) |
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| The Gang! |
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