Journey To Cambodia

Hello everyone! It's a boring and relaxing Friday night and so I've decided to start a new weblog to document my upcoming trip to the motherland. It'll be my first time visiting. I'm VERY anxious, excited and nervous all at the same time for what awaits me. I cannot wait to experience this land... Cambodia.

Okay, I'm leaving in a couple of minutes. I've been meaning to write an entry before I go, but I got caught up with last minute stuff. As I told Seung and on an email I sent out to friends, I'm actually quite nervous right now. *worried face* <--- Haha, sorry there's no emoticon feature on this blogging tool.

I just found out about half an hour ago that my grandma and uncle (mom's side) lives in the capital city (Phnom Penh). I'm so glad to know that. That's where I'll be staying the majority of the time. This is how out of touch I am with my relatives. I have no clue what city or part of the country any of my relatives are from. I hope there are maps of Cambodia for tourists at the airport when I get there. I feel so bad not knowing the geography or just where anything is! Alright, well I heard there are Internet cafes everywhere in the city so hopefully I'll get to update again soon. Good night!

It is 1:42pm on Monday, December 5th. I'm at an Internet cafe around the corner from where I'm staying. My relatives' house in Phnom Penh is about five minutes from Pochentong airport. I was hoping to give a detailed update whenever I can, but my mom and aunts made my cousin walk me here and I don't want to have him wait too long. The plane ride here was very unpleasant. It seriously took FOREVER!!! It took about 13 hours from Seattle to Tai Pei and another 3 hours from Tai Pei to Phnom Penh. We were assigned seats facing a wall and placed on the same row as passengers with babies. That was not pleasant at all. I was annoyed by the flight attendants the moment I got on the plane. I was trying to put our carry-on luggages into the overhead compartment and one of the flight attendants gave me a hard time saying I'm holding up the line when I'm taking as much time as everyone else. The compartment spaces over our seats (which was right at the mid entrance of the plane) were filled. I swear I wanted to slap that bitch. She was the one holding up the line when she pulled my luggages back down and pulled me aside to let others through. Couldn't she not help me instead of standing there looking all pretty? Shoot, I'm trying to put my things away and walk back to front to get seated too. I finally put my stuff away and one or two of them gave me attitude for the next 13 hours. The flight was horrible. I couldn't sleep at all. I was constantly awaken by the crying babies and the flight attendants doing snack/drink calls. I found it very annoying. I guess it wouldn't be as bad without the babies and rude and unfriendly flight attendants. When we transferred plane in Tai Pei my mom was watching the airport workers load the luggages into the plane. She mentioned to me that she saw them drive away with luggages still in the luggage carts. I told her maybe they belong to another flight going elsewhere. When we finally got to Phnom Penh I was able to talk to the immigration folks about giving me a permanent entry Visa to Cambodia and I got it! It helps that you speak Khmer. When I went to the baggage claim to pick up my stuff we realize two of our luggages were missing! The same guy who helped me with my Visa helped me file a missing report. Fortunately, the two luggages were still in Tai Pei and I got it the next day. One of them had ALL my clothes! Anyway, enough about that.

It's HOT over here! I showered twice already today. My dad called and said it snowed a lot back home. I would do anything for some snow right now. It's been fun so far. My first day wasn't very good. As soon as I got here I was homesick. I also miss my baby. My cousin drove me around the city the first night. It's pretty cool here. I heard many people my age who have come to Cambodia say they don't fit in. I don't have that problem at all. I totally don't feel like a foreigner, but maybe it's because I'm in the city. The next morning I went out for ka-tiew. They're about a dollar a bowl here. Not too big, just the right size. Afterwards we went shopping at "psar-thmei" (new market), which is like a farmer's market/bazaar. I was able to pick up some silk purses and souvenirs for friends. My mom and I also bought houl and phamoung (silk fabric) to be tailored into dresses. We also checked out Soriya Mall. I should've listened to people who told me not to pack too much clothes. I could've bought a lot of cheap and cute clothes here. In the evening I met two more cousins and we all went out to Heng Lay for dinner. It's a big riverfront outdoor restaurant with an entertainment stage. The set looks like one of those in Khmer karaoke videos. Oh yea, along with people singing there was also a comedy show. A famous Cambodian actor/comedian was there. We just know him as Ah-Khrom (sp?). On Sunday we spent the day in Kampot. The drive was long and rough. We stopped by a small fishing/crabbing village to buy fresh shrimp, fish and live crabs. Then we drove to another location along a river to eat. Along the way we stopped by a durian stand and bought a few of them. We got our food cooked and served to us. I've been eating good these last few days. Everything is fresh. The crabs, fish, tropical fruits... durian have never smelled so good! This morning we went out for more ka-tiew and then to another shopping center to buy more fabric for the houl and phamoung. I'm actually going to a tailor shop in about 20 minutes to get outfits made for me so I have to wrap up this entry soon. I left out a lot of details. I've been keeping a written journal, but I forgot to bring it here with me. I will be going to Battambang in two days for the a few days. We're going to visit my dad's side of the family. We're having a bonn (ceremoney) for over 100 of my dad's relatives, who are coming from all over. I'm not sure what kind of vigil/ceremony we're doing, but I heard we're going to have 40 tables set up. My mom and I don't have to worry about anything because the locals are cooking and arranging everything. We just have to pay up for the expenses though. Alright, I have to go now. I miss home and I miss everyone!

12/13/05 - I can't believe blogger ate my last entry! The computer I'm using is very slow so I wasn't sure if I was able to publish it the last time. I don't know how my long entry got erased and replaced with that audio thing *cries* .

I'm not in the mood to think back to what I wrote in the orignal entry. I just did more shopping for souvenirs (tank tops, t-shirts, baby t's and carved wooden apsara statues for Grace). I think I'm done with souvenir shopping for now. Now that I'm done shopping for things there isn't much to do during the day in Phnom Penh. My uncle took me to a Japanese restaurant call Kobe last week. A chef prepares the food in front of you. I thought the food was okay. We had steak, fish, scallops, fried rice, miso soup, prawns and ice cream. The restaurant was very nice and clean compared to many other places in the city. The bill was also expensive compared to a home cooked meal, which probably cost less than $10. I also mentioned in my original entry about how cute my 78 year old grandma is (my mom's mother). I'm surprised at how mobile she still is. She does everything on her own. I wish I could bring her back with me!

I'm back in Phnom Penh. Actually, since yesterday. It's about 2:30pm here on Tuesday, December 13th. Last Friday, we left early in the morning to go to Battambang. The drive took about five hours. The roads weren't too bad either. I noticed there were less palm trees to Battambang than Kampot, but there seems to be more rice fields. When we got to Battambang we stopped by my sister-in-law's parents house for lunch. Then it was about another 30 minute drive to the countryside to an area call Tmaw-Koh or at least that's what I think it's call. If I have it right the translation is something like "cow rock". The road was horrible. It was dirt and full of dips and potholes. We were lucky it wasn't raining because the car would've definitely gotten stuck. We went to my aunt's (dad's older sister) house for a pre-bonn ceremony. I met many of dad's cousins, aunts and uncles. I also met my dad's remaing siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. My dad have a total of seven brothers and sisters. Three past away and as of last Friday I've met all but two of the ones whom passed away. Meeting my dad's family was very overwhelming. I got teary-eyed meeting some of them. I wish my dad was able to come. His family misses him a lot and want more than anything to see him again. It's been over 25 years and maybe even more for some of them since they've last seen him. I forgot to mention that I have many, many first cousins here. I spent Friday night in Battambang mainly for two reasons. I didn't want to bother with the out-house or showering outside. Plus my sister-in-law's mother really wanted me to sleep over at their place. I wasn't sure at that time if I had made a bad choice since I have family whom I just met at Tmaw-koh. That night in Battambang there was some sort of festival going on. It happens once a year for a duration of one week. It was like a carnival with booths, food vendors and even a concert stage. I didn't really have a good time. It was hot and crowded and I wore a long sleeve jacket to keep getting bitten by bugs, which I had a lot from my stay in Battambang and Tmaw-koh.

Saturday was the final day of the bonn. I was busy sitting in on the bonn that I didn't really get to take much pictures or videos, which I really regret. After the bonn my in-laws tried to drag me back to Battambang again, but I knew I had to spend time with my relatives. My mom told me that everyone asked for me the first night. I was caught in a delimma because I wanted to stay, but all of my clothes were back in Battambang. One of my cousins decided to ride his motorcycle to pick up my backpack and small carry-on luggage. I have to say he was one of my favorite male cousins there. He was the only one to keep me company and actually made me want to stay in the countryside longer. He even slept with me at my great aunt's villa, which has an indoor bathroom/shower. He told my mom that he would watch after me. He slept in a hammock and I slept on the ground with two of his sisters with the misquito net around us. Several times throughout the night rats were in the kitchen making a lot of noise with the pots and pans. He got up to scare them away. I was glad he was there to do that, haha. My dad's younger brother have eight children ranging from 12 to 30 something years of age. My younger cousins are all so cute and adorable. I just felt like they were admiring me. They would follow me around and smile at me whenever they catch me looking at them. They made me feel really welcomed. I miss them all terribly.

My impression of my dad's side of the family on the second day was a complete 180 from the first day. As I said before the experience was a very overwhelming. I forgot to mention that the second reason why I didn't want to stay in Tmaw-koh the first night was because I was kind of fearful of my relatives. There were just so many of them, both young and old. Remember how I said I didn't feel like a foreigner in Phnom Penh? It was a totally different sotry in Tmaw-koh. I felt scrutinized and judged, but not too much in a negative way. None of them has seen me before or even knew of my existence, except for those who have seen pictures of me that my mom have sent. I didn't get too comfortable or grow close with my dad's older sister's kids. I think there are seven of them. Many of them were much older and married. My dad's younger brother have younger children and they were easier to like because I didn't feel judged by them. For example, I overhead one of my older married cousins asking one of my dad's older cousins if I spoke Khmer clearly and fluently (just within feet from me). Later on I got the chance to have a conversation with him and I'm sure he was quite surprised. He's my brother's age, married and have such a cute little boy! He also looks a lot like my older brother.

So, in one day I got to know my cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and yeays. Yeay means grandma, but also include great aunts and elder folks in general. I regret not spending the first night with my relatives because my mom wanted to leave after the bonn. I wish I would've tried to convince her to stay at least one more night. I mean I totally forgot about the inconveniences of the out-houseses, cold showers and no electricity, which was only available from about 6:00 to 9:00pm. That night it went out around 10:00pm. I just wanted to spend more time with my cousins. The cousin who kept me company wanted to take me fishing. Not fish pole fishing, but fishing with our hands and nets. He also wanted to show me more of the countryside (rice fields and orchards). I really wanted to see it too, but couldn't because of the time constraint. However, I did get to tour my uncle's mini farmland. He has a small rice field, sugar cane field, egg plants, variou pepper plants, various tropical fruit trees and chickens and pigs. All of my relatives live within walking distance from one another. It's really nice to know that I have so many blood relatives as oppose to distance relatives or in-laws. I'm really looking forward to visiting my dad's homeland longer. Maybe for a week or so and this time with my dad. I really wish he was there and I would really love to be there when he finally get to go. I can't begin to explain how much I miss everyone already. For the first time during this trip I forgot about missing home.

It's Thursday morning on December 15th. I'm at a different Internet Cafe about the same walking distance from the other one. The Internet connection here is a little faster. It also offers Internet phones. Yesterday my mom called my dad and it was less than a dollar for 18 minutes. Cheap! I wish I knew of this place sooner then I could call Seung. Keep your phone with you at all times, Seung =).

Yesterday evening we went to the Royal Palace. The temples were very beautiful and the artifacts on display looked very old and fragile. Afterwards we went to Wat Phnom where bunches of monkeys and cats roam. One of the monkeys tried to snatch my camera. That was scary. We went too late in the evening so the elephant wasn't there, but I did get the chance to see it when we drove past the Wat on the way to Battambang.

The weather here have cooled down a lot. It's cloudy and very windy. It sucks because I can't take good pictures. My hair always fly into my face. Plus, my mom isn't a very good photographer. I know now to travel with at least one other person that can take good photographs. My uncle is pretty technology saavy, but he's too busy with work to take us places on the weekdays.

Well, my time here is wrapping up. I still have several weeks, but it seems to be passing by quicker. I've yet to see Angkor Wat. We're waiting for my relatives to get here on the 17th from Washington before going to Siem Reap. I can't wait!

It is about 2:30pm on a Friday, December 16th. Ack, the misquitos here LOVE me. I HATE them. I get like five new bites a day and I'm out of malaria pills. No one else gets bitten like I do. Boo.

I'm extremely bored. A part of me really want to go back home. I miss my bed, my car, the bathroom back home, my niece, my friends and my Seung! I've yet to see the Angkor Wat. I definitely can't leave without going there. Siem Reap is saved for the last weekend I'm here. This weekend we're going to Kompong Som, a beach resort. I can't wait! My relatives are arriving tomorrow with my swimsuit, hehe. I can't wait to visit Angkor Wat and I'm glad it's saved for the end of my trip. I really wanted to visit other Wats as well, but I don't know if I'll get to. Anyway, my relatives are probably wondering where I am. People here come home for lunch and then nap and leave back to work at around 2:00pm. I think that's pretty neat!

It's 8:30pm on Wednesday, December 21st. I'm at Golden Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap and the Internet connection is pretty quick here, hehe. It's cost about three times more though, but still cheap! We had just checked into our rooms after having dinner at Bopha Angkor II. We spent just a little under $50 on dinner for 13 people (including our rental driver). The food was actually pretty good. The restaurant was recommended by my relatives' relatives on our way here. Well, the drive up here to Siem Reap wasn't bad at all. Much of the major roads are asphalt now. We were originally going to stay for only three days or something, but we had to make a lot stops visiting relatives (grandma's side) and it was quite emotional to see the reunions between my yeays and their relatives. They haven't seen each other in over 30 years! That basically took the half the day so we decided to stay for five days instead since it'll take several days to check out some of the 200-something prasats/temples/wats around here. I don't know if that 200 is just in this region or in all of Cambodia.

Anyway, as I mentioned my relatives from back home joined us on Saturday. On Sunday morning we left to Kompong Som (aka Sihanoukville). We had a rental driver in a Mercedeez van, which was interesting. The drive was about four hours. I didn't know my mom lived in Kompong Som for one or two years while she was attending school for something. The beach we went to was called Nature Beach. There were umbrellas and little tiki huts all along the beach. We rented a spot and ordered food to eat. The beach was reaaaally nice and it wasn't too crowded either. It was very salty though. I didn't believe my cousin when he told me that. I swear I turned into chruek, haha. It's like a pickle, but doesn't have to be cucumber. There were a lot of tourists, but I'm not sure if any were Americans. They were most likely Europeans. Little kids roamed the beach and huts selling beach attire, beaded jewelry and food. There were also young women offering massage services. After the beach we went to a hilltop over-looking the coast. Kompong Som is Cambodia's only port. After that we went back to our hotel to shower. We stayed at the Princess Hotel for one night. That night we had dinner at a nice waterfront restaurant/hotel. I forgot the name of it. The food was pretty good. The view would've been nice if we had been there during the day time.

On Monday morning we decided to drive south down to Kampot again since we already drove all the way out there, but first we went further south to the fishing/crabbing shore that we went to last time to buy fresh crabs and shrimps. We had the crabs and shrimps cooked for us again and had lunch at the beach down there, which wasn't as nice as Kompong Som. After that we made a quick stop at the suspension bridge in Kampot again. We took pictures, drank fresh sugar cane juice and ate some sweets that were our favorite from the last time we went. It's like a rice cake rolled up with sweet sticky rice and coconut nut filling. Even watching it get made was interesting. On the drive back we drove through Ta-Kmow. We got there just when all the garment workers were getting off work. There were many, many of them. I think the workers makea about $50 a month. That night my two cousins (they're really my aunt but I just refer to them as cousins) from home spent a night at my uncle's house. The next morning we had noodles for breakfast and then went out to Psar-Thmei to so some shopping. My aunts picked out some huol and phamoung to get outfits made as well. While they did that I picked out some minature paintings in the adjacent booth. I also buoght more souvenir t-shirts and mini silk pouches. I found myself an Angkor Beer tank top and a new bag to carry my camera, camcorder and everything else for Siem Reap. After we went shopping we stopped by the tailor shop again. About half of my outfits were done and I was able to try them on. They're really simple designs, but pretty! They came out just how I imagined them to be so I'm happy, hehe.

Well, I better get back up to my room and shower. We have to wake up early tomorrow morning. We're starting with the farther temples and saving the closer ones near the end of our stay here. Ahhh, my trip is almost over! It's going to be crazy when I get back to Phnom Penh. I hope we have enough room to take everything back. Some of my relatives and in-laws from Battambang said they would try to go to Phnom Penh before we leave or on the day we leave to escort us to the airport. I'm also trying to arrange a meeting with two people on Monday. *sigh*

It's about 11:00am on Monday the 26th. Merry Xmas to everyone back home! I'm back in Phnom Penh now. We got back last night around 8:00pm. I've been sick for the last two days, but I'm feeling somewhat better now. My throat is still kind of dry and irritated. I'm glad I was able to see Angkor Wat first and then get sick. Otherwise I would've been grumpy and would not have taken too many pictures.

Today is my last full day here. I can't wait to go back home. I feel like I've been here forever. When I get back I'll write a more detailed entry about my trip to Siem Reap. Yes Michael, I'm very PROUD of what our ancestors have built! Can you imagine if we didn't have the ancient temples here? Cambodia would not even be on the map to the world.

Well, I need to get back to my uncle's place now. I will be meeting Phatry and Navy for lunch at noon. I wasn't sure if I would be able to squeeze in some time to meet with anyone here, but everything's working out now. Have a good day everyone!

Oh yea, the crabbing/fishing village near Kampot that I mentioned in my earlier entries is call Kep. I just didn't know how to spell it before. I finally decided to buy the Lonely Planet Cambodia edition when I was in Siem Reap. I wish I bought it before the trip then I would know where everything is. There is still so much to see and do! Oh well, maybe next time in two or three more years =).

I've been back from Cambodia for a week and a half now. It feels much longer though. That goes to show that I'm back to MY reality again. The time difference didn't affect me as much as when I went to Cambodia. In fact, it posed no difficulty for me at all. It was when I came back that it really affected me. For about a week I slept at around three or four in the morning! I still sleep at around two or three, which totally sucks!! On the day I flew back home I got sick. I guess the dessert I ate the night before got me sick. I was thinking the flight home was a lot better than the flight to Cambodia until half way through it. I woke up about two thirds way through the flight with wierd movements in my stomach. It didn't ache or anything. It was more like crazy stomach growling without the growling noise. Then when we were getting served breakfast the smell of the food made me nauseous and gave me a headache. I thought it was from lack of sleep on the plane since I stayed up to watch movies while everyone else were sleeping. Well, I ended up throwing up twice on the plane. I made it to the bathroom the first time, but I didn't the second time. I didn't have anything in my stomach so only stomach acid came out. When we got to the airport I threw up again after we passed through the first phase of customs. Luckily I took an extra barf bag from the plane. I also threw up in the car on the way home and several more times at home. The first thing I did when I got home was hop into my bed. I couldn't eat or sit and stand upright without wanting to throw up. That was just the first day though. The following day and for about week I had diarrhea. I was also out of it because I couldn't eat. It made me weak and light-headed. I knew after the first day of throwing up that it wasn't from motion sickness. I'm better now though and no more diarrhea!

I've been meaning to update on my last segment of the trip. I didn't keep a written journal so I'll try to remember what I can. We spent four days and three nights in Siem Reap. On the first day we just visited a bunch of my grand-aunt's relatives in Dom Dek, a district/village on the way to Siem Reap. My grand-aunt and grandma reunited with an aunt of their's after 30 years.

Well, our first full day in Siem Reap was spent at Phnom Kulen and a brief stop at the Banteay Srei temple. The temple was a lot smaller than I thought. It is said to have the most intricate and beautiful carvings, but I think all the temples have amazing stone carvings. That evening the sky was too cloudy to go up Phnom Bakheng to witness the sunset over Angkor. On the third day we started at Banteay Kdei, then to Ta Prohm where I was really excited about. This is one of the temples featured in the movie Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie. Of course the other temple being the Angkor Wat. What I like about Ta Prohm is its clash with mother nature. Abandoned for many, many years the jungle engulfed part of the stone temple. It is said that the trees may even be supporting the ancient stone structures together. It is just an amazing site to see. Our next stop was at Ta Keo, a temple that was never finished during it's time as apparent from it's lack of any carvings. It actually looked like a minature Angkor Wat to me. From there we did a brief stop at a section of Angkor Thom where we were led to another popular temple, the Bayon. This temple is one of the more interesting one because of the 216 smiling Bayon faces. The faces aren't as obvious outside the temple walls, but as you step inside and go up the stone steps the faces suddenly appear from all directions. I loved it there. We took a lunch break between this and the next temple, which was the long awaited Angkor Wat. You couldn't really see the towers of the Angkor Wat from outside the moat that surrounds it until you get to the front. After a tiring half a day touring the other temples I initially wasn't as excited as we approached the Angkor Wat, but as soon as those five central towers popped into view, something awoke me from inside and I was in awe. It was smaller than I had imagined, but it's still huge. I took a lot of pictures there. I wanted to keep the memories and emotions I felt in those pictures. However, because I invested so much time into taking pictures I never really got to soak in everything that was around me. That is the one thing I regretted. I wish we didn't rush through all the temples just to get pictures. That evening we missed the chance to go up Phnom Bakheng again to see the sunset. It was still cloudy, but there was a hole in the sky where you could see the sun piercing through. We ended up watching the sun set from our car as we left the temples. On the the fourth day we stopped by the Bayon again for the experience of riding an elephant. Then we briefly checked out Preah Khan and Neak Pean temples. We took another lunch break near a reservoir and then headed to the Siem Reap Cambodian Cultural Village in the evening to watch robams (traditional classical and folk dancing). Boy there were a lot of misquitoes that night. I was glad I had a long sleeve coat, but my capri pants didn't save my legs too well. On our last day we head back towards Dom Dek for a bonn my grand-aunt had for her aunt at a wat her father helped fund and built. That took up much of the day before we headed back to Phnom Penh where I was to fly home in a day and half.

Here it is! Most of the 900+ pictures I took during my three and a half weeks in Cambodia.

Photo Gallery: Cambodia Trip 2005

ENJOY!