Horoscope: “You get a pride today.”

“Get up, Boran! You gotta work,” called my mom in the morning. “Erm…. Yes, I hear you,” I answered with a yawn. I prepared things, put in my books to the bag and brought it down, and took a shower. “Horoscope for the dog sign for December 21, 2007. You are lucky. It says you get a pride today,” spoke the radio while I was in the bathroom. “A pride?” I asked myself, “Are you saying my boss is going to give me a bonus, Mr. radio? Oh, increasing salary?”

I left radio to talk alone and started the motorbike. When I got very close to the workplace I saw the watchman was powering the generator machine. “Damn, you’re an economic government, you really are! So good at saving,” I talked to myself. Then, I prepared my two-year-out-of-date Dream in place. “Oh, we have no electric in the early morning today, hahha,” I said and laughed with the watchman. He answered, “Yeah, may be because we had it cut off yesterday in the afternoon.” I was not sure if he just wanted to support or tease me more.

I went upstairs to the office. Opening the door, I greeted colleague and turned on my beloved brand Dell. While I was waiting for him to start, I stood with my hands on the hip looking at the running fan and the sleeping LG air-con. “A friend in deed is a friend in need,” I spoke to myself, this time looking at the fan only, and nodded to him as if he could accept my appreciation. Then Mr. Dell allowed me to go on my work. A little while, I felt I need my morning coffee. I paused my work and went down for a cup of coffee. “Oh Sophea, am I late for the coffee?” I asked the former office assistant. “No, you are not.” “Oh, great! Could I have one?” “Yes, of course,” she replied with warm smiling. “A bit heavy please. Thank you, sister.”

I got back and went on my work, waiting for my coffee. “Oh, coffee! Orkun Thom Thom” said Clare. Trying to pronounce in Khmer, the TA picked one cup for herself. “Thanks, thanks,” I said to Sophea, picking another one for myself. Having sipped some drops, I felt good now.

[Phone ring] Clare picked up and spoke. Seconds later she called me, “Boran, your call.” “Oh, thanks.” “Hallo?” “Hallo Boran, do you have a date with somebody?” asked Sophea. “Date? Erm… No, I don’t. Oh perhaps he comes to meet Mony.” “No, he said he is coming to meet you. He comes from OMF, Siem Reap.” At this time I was more familiar. I knew that must be something about Where There Is No Doctor. “Ok, I am going down to meet him. Thanks.”

“Hi, are you Mr. Bora?” Asked the postman. He pronounced ‘Bora’, but I knew that meant to be me because many people called me so. “Oh, yes I am,” I answered him. “I was asked to bring you this letter. It is from OMF Siem Reap,” he said handing me the letter, “Please open it and write on my paper to notify that you have received it.” I read the envelop, and it read David Narita, the sender. I tried to look through first before opening, and I could see something like a postcard inside. Then, I unstuck the sticker and saw what was inside. I saw a postcard with a green paper. I did not check how much the cash was yet. I took out the letter first and it read:

“Dear Bora

Thank you for all your hard work on the WTIND project. You’re doing an excellent job!

Please accept this small token of my appreciation. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

David Narita MD.”

“This must not be written by David himself. He had to have somebody working at OMF Siem Reap written for him because David would not spell my name ‘Bora’. Also, he is most probably in the U.S. these days,” I thought while reading. When I finished, I started to see how much I have got. “Oh, there are two zeros,” I felt the cash. Then I felt to see how many sheet, “Um, one sheet.”

I went up to the office. “Hey Clare, have you got any gift for the Christmas yet?” “Yes, I got some.” “Hey, look at this! I got a gift. I got a big pride….!”

One-Night Adventure – part 4

15 minutes in a living hell

The seller must have worried about the bill. Not long after people reformed, she came and got her money. And we felt like walking more. We supposed to see Sear and expected him to join us. We were at the area where companies were promoting their products. They used different styles to attract walkers. There was a booth using style of transsexual people. There was also one of the famous comedies in another booth. On the front line, there was a booth of a wine company. They made a mini-concert which on the time we were passing a young girl was singing and dancing. “Oh god, os steah! So sexy,” we exclaimed, “Look at her skirt!” Sonthara was not expressing his feeling, but bending his head backward and tapping his forehead, telling that he was trying to stop nose bleeding.

“Sear is on the left aisle. But we can walk on the right aisle first and circle to him,” Dy suggested. I noticed that there were more people coming than going, unlike the left aisle; but I ignored and followed them. There was once I was detached by a big wave of the opposing people and got lost from the three men, but somehow I reached them again. I looked down and saw few shoes which seemed to have been lost rather than that people had left. I looked to the left and saw a girl crying; she looked pale which seemed to have been using all of her energy. My feeling told me that I had to reverse the direction before something bad happen. I ignored the warning and went on. I noticed another girl whose condition was the same to one I had just passed. I felt persuaded by my feeling and considered reversing, but it was late.

The street could not bear any more room and that we could not move any longer. I suddenly called out, “Reverse, reverse!” We grabbed each other and turned back. “Oh no, the people are also coming,” I cried out. Now we were completely stuck in the crowd. We could hardly make a step. What worst was that people were pushing from every direction. We were all trying to hold up ourselves not to fail down. “Mother, please forgive me for what I’ve done wrong to you,” Thoeun cried out, sounded like it was his last day. After hearing this, I started to lose a big part of energy. I could feel that there was no air for me to breathe. I tried to turn my head up higher to get some air. I doubled my stimulation by telling myself that I could not faint at this time or I could not see my mom again. And I struggled to make more steps.

It was the most frightened situation I had ever had. It took me about 15 minutes, but I was absolutely in hell. It was like drowning in the river, calling for rescue, and I felt as if I was reborn. Right after I escaped the gate of the hell, I saluted up over my head, “Thanks, Buddha. Thanks, mom; I know you helped me.”

One-Night Adventure – part 3

Unexpected running competition

We were going on to our way. It was still difficult to move; every direction had just been jammed like us. There were so many networks of people. We, too, had to link one another for not being missed by other networks. Then somehow there was a car come breaking people to the sides, but we managed to occupy the room right behind the car, and now that we were able to run. A little sooner we reached the Himawari and everyone was able to walk freely.

“I am hungry!” said Thoeun, “Would like to eat fried instant noodle.” “Yes, I like that, too,” agreed Dy. We skipped several carts and finally Thoeun suggested, “What about this place? But seemed so full of people already. We can go next.” “But only this cart is most suitable. The rest of next sellers are male. I came here yesterday and noticed some,” said Sonthara. “So what about you, Boran?” they asked me. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I would be pleased to get anywhere you like,” I replied, looking around for fried lort¹. We were now almost at the end of the line of carts. “Ok then, take this one. See, the next is male and there is no fried noodle any further,” said Sonthara.

“What would you like?” asked the seller. Sitting on the grass forming a circle, Theoun answered, “I’d like fried noodle, please.” Dy said, “I’d like fried lort.” “Oh, me too,” I said. “Then two fried noodle and two fried lort,” Sonthara ended, “please put it in plastic plates.” We were waiting while chatting and looking around at the other circles which consisted of men, women, young and old; unlike us ones. “Here’s your fried noodle.” “No, I said put it in plastic plate. Please make another and put it in plastic plates for us. And don’t recharge this to the plates. You have to make a new one,” said Sonthara.

Attracted by the nearby groups, we kept sitting even though we had finished the meal. Suddenly several people was running out of the street. It looked like something frightening was happening. I turned to see the other three people. I saw Dy was picking up his shoes while Sonthara was already running. Surprisingly, I could not see Thoeun, except his shoes.

Nothing was happening; it was only few youngsters fooling, running to catch each other. Now everyone started to return to their previous seats, and I could see Thoeun standing near with his bare feet. “Oh Thoeun, you are the fastest runner, man!” I said. “Not strange. I used to tell you that if anything ever happens, you won’t see me.” “That’s just because you ignored your shoes,” Dy objected. “Sonthara, you are number two,” I said. “And you are the last one – number four.” he replied. Trying to save a little face for me, Dy said, “But Boran is so brave. He didn’t run, no matter what.” Having been big-headed, I added another quality, “Also that was because we had not paid the meal. How can I leave without paying?” “Then why are you rubbing your right ankle, Boran?” Sonthara asked. “Oh, it’s OK. The sprain got back while I was about to run. I sprained my ankle months ago.”

1: kind of dessert consisting of small rice grain-shaped pieces of dough about one inch long. They are dipped in a solution of sugar and coconut cream before eating.

One-Night Adventure – part 2

Energy vs. power

It was about 6 pm. Now we were at Phsar Kandal. After having failed to enter several streets, we finally found a street that we were allowed to enter by donating R500 for each motorbike to the officers. “Hmm, I feel so sorry looking at those officers’ life,” said Thoeun. “We would not have entered if he had not taken our money. It is a good deal,” Dy added. We spent approximately half an hour strolling in the market aisle to the parking lot next to Wat Onalaom.

We were now able to walk a bit freely after leaving the motorbikes. There were so many people walking, mostly Cambodian and few foreigners, but that was not crowded in this stage. Now we could see lanterns floating slowly on the rivers. It looked so nice with the light, and that was the lanterns of Preah Singha. Wanting to remember this picture, I took out my phone with built-in VGA camera and shot. “Oh my ghost, looks like a noodle cart burning,” I said handing picture to Thoeun, “so nice Preah Singha lantern.”

Bang! There was a beautiful light in the sky. “Oh, beautiful! Beautiful!” people chanted. Bang, Bang! “This one is beautiful,” said Dy, looking at a pretty girl standing watching fireworks, too. Bang! “This one is not so beautiful,” said Dy again, this time looking at a lady holding her son’s hand, watching. Now I got to understand what he was saying. “I see on the TV; the Chinese’s firework is wonderful. They can even show the text and image,” said Sonthara. “Oh yes, I saw it too. But I don’t expect for that. Just this is fantastic for Cambodia. And this year there have been so many fireworks lit, comparing to the previous years,” I answered. “May be we produce it ourselves, at Prek Eng?” Thoeun asked. “No idea. I hope so. And I wish to.”

“Oh no, why do the people stop walking? Why are there so many people?” We could not move forward. Then even backward, left and right. Now we could see people started to move to the sides of the road. “Something must be happening,” I thought. We, too, had to move to the right-hand side of the road. A moment later we could see several police officers were trying to make way for cars. It seemed to them that it was still not enough for room. Then, the strong men wildly push the people to the side. “Enough?” we whispered. No, not yet for them. The dominant guy pushed again, “idiot, you want me to push or to break your lower legs?” he said to an inferior man standing at the front most, sounded like he was defending people from protesting against something. In a minute, we were completely jammed. We could not move and even hardly sit down. What we could do was to stand still and wait for several highest-honored people to pass.

“Who’s gonna pass this way? Are they treating us as animals? At least they should rush to pass the way when people are jammed like this,” I muttered. “Just a few of you make thousands of people so suffering. Nonsense,” Thoeun added to support. Standing next to two girls, Dy did not give me such a support. Even though Dy and Sonthara did not show any remarkable expression, they might feel the same way. Or perhaps Dy tried to save his energy. For me, thanks to two packages of 3-in-1 morning coffee, I was able to keep my self conscious for over half an hour, deadly pausing in the crowd.

A group of people were running to lead the way, followed by several cars and motorbikes. We were not able to see who was who in the cars. Some people were cheering at the passing people, but I and Thoeun did not care about them. What we were expecting was just to have the street freed for people to walk, not just for a few of people.

One-Night Adventure – part 1

“You have two missed calls. Caller: Sonthara. Date: Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 5 pm.” “Amphou Sontharo, I’m going to your house. [off] Alo, Dy we meet at Sontharo’s. [off] Alo Theun, where are you?” “Oh Boran? I am now near the Independent monument.” “Where should we meet?” “Meet at Pet Chenh Caltex station and park at my house which is opposite to the former BBWorld.”

Now I was at Sonthara’s. “Hey Boran you know what, I walked with two pretty girls yesterday.” “Oh, really? Then the chief of the monastery will have to find another priest to replace you.” “But there were also her parents.” “Onh, still phhik phheak.” “Now I love the song ‘ជាប់បន្ទប់ភ្ជាប់បេះដូង​​ A next door love’ by Midada” “Oh, then you have lots of chances.” “She rents my house. Look! That is she, the younger sister! How is she?” “Yeah, good. And what about inviting her to join us?” “I don’t know. But that is her dog,” he pointed to a ferocious-looking dog, “It has bitten many people already.” “Oh, I think walking with girl may be not fun,” I immediately cut him and started motorbike, “Come on, Thoeun is waiting.”

Managing to have my motorbike refueled, I saw Thoeun was waving to me. “Oh ho, Dy is also coming!” Smiling from distance, Dy waved his left hand to us at another side of the separated Monivong boulevard. “Is that all? What about Rooney?” I suggested. “Let me call him,” replied Sonthara, “He said he would call us back when he is free.” “Hoy, the last two days I was like in prison,” complained Thoeun. “You didn’t bring Nita anywhere? You must secretly have enjoyed the day with Riyan, I know” “No, you are wrong, Boran. Nita must have banned him from going outside home,” added Dy, “See, he escaped with just a short trouser.” “Oh come on, boys. Or you want me to go back home now? Ok, my house is there,” Thoeun pointed to a house nearby, “Kalina is waiting for us to park the motorbike.” “Oh, Pisey said that Kalina’s brother had just successfully passed a shooting test,” interrupted Dy. “Hey, we’d better head for Phsar Kandal and park there because the street to Kalina’s is jam-packed now,” suggested Thoeun.