The Same But Different

What is that again? Kampong Som!

That was August 29, 2009 and it was another trip with my classmates. Apparently, this was the last occasion for us because we have just finished the final exam; however, we will try to keep in touch and would arrange for other trip someday again. As I have been very busy recently, I cannot get a time to write the full journal for this trip. I would like to list only the points that I didn’t like and like during the trip.

A list of things that I didn’t like during the trip:

• I like sleeping and even 30mn of sleeping is delicious for me. But I had to get up at 5am (day 1).
• I had to wait for the bus for nearly an hour.
• My camera (borrowed ke) had just 20% of battery life.
• I had car sick, so i had taken pill and it made me so sleepy but i had to try to open my eyes as wide as i could, otherwise i would be fined
• I underestimated our friends, expecting there would be some num pao left… but no
• At lunch time at Thmor Rong, I asked for the rice with chicken meat, but they gave me pork :’(
• I had sprained my toe the week before and it was still hurt… very difficult to walk. when I walked at the slippery rock at Thmor Rong nobody would hold my hand, unlike the lucky pretty Bophana
• I should not have played the song  ‘when i close my eyes…’ by san phanit because the bus closed it eyes too, and stopped running
• No microphone on the second van; air conditioner was turned off.
• Teuk Trey Koh Kong was merely a mixture of 99.9% of chili. Fortunately, beef was just as elastic as rubber, and i was wise enough to deal with it – swallowed it all.
• I had expected to sing Karaoke at night, but hell no, just playing card, looking at the boring Mark (a controversial teacher).
• DJ sear only played the unheard songs which nobody could understand what they were singing; it really affected the feeling of the card players, both masters and learners.
• The boss of the card game blamed me that I didn’t talk anything, just laughing. Keeping mum is also considered a mistake?? :’(
• I didn’t realize the van was at the beach. When preparing things back to guesthouse, I carried a full box of cans and walked pass the van. No one would call me back, being happy when seeing me carrying heavy thing.
• No flip-flop at guesthouse
• Although I had a good sleep, there was no pillow for me
• I usually get up at 7. But I was frustrated at dawn when somebody knocked the door again and again. When the door was open, it was Bophana; and Vannak said, ‘the noise just sound as sweet as Samuth’s song.’
• We had to pay individually for the breakfast. I spent on my rice and coffee for 10500R while the rest spent about 5000-6000R :’(
• The swim vests were reserved for women only. Gender inequity! I was frighten when the boat started to hit big waves, but Rotha used the swim vest as a barrier to protect from the splashing water vinh
• On the boat to the island, i was inteligent enough to get the correct answer to Bophana’s tricky question, ‘what’s the oldest island’. i got it well, saying it is Koh Kong. As for the prize, Huot called the psyco hospital, reporting that a patient now sucessfuly recovered from mental disorder… poor me euy poor me
• I had not been able to get a time to buy sun block and nobody would share me… so i dared not play in the attractive sea under the boiling sun where Vannak, Rith, and Huot played. still i got home with burned skin
• On the boat back, i was floating in the air when Rasmey invited me to sit next to her. then she revealed that she needed something to cover her from the splashing water…
• When I was working in the night, i felt my chair was tilting left and right, forward and backward, just as the boat and bus tilting…

Now come the things like during the trip:

• It was my first time that I was on trip with many females which accounted for 50% of the total members!
• I still don’t know why people left the front row for me as if they had known I have car sick.
• Singing is always my favorite. although I was very shy, people made it possible by singing all together, regardless of the inability to remember any single lyric.
• The second van was fast. we did not wait so long – the card players can confirm this.
• The daughter of the guesthouse owner is very beautiful. it compensated for the lack of flip-flop.
• There were many many things to eat at night.
• I was shy very much indeed that I dared not ask anybody to take a photo with. Fortunately, Rasmey and Vanrath offered me honors.
• Now I know how to play Pok Kdaing clearly.
• I had a great chance to get to know Thmor Roung and the Bamboo island, and even more interesting, with a big family!
• The view of the island was fantastic. I wouldn’t have appreciated such view, if Rasmey hadn’t shot such landscape on the beach where troops were basing – the one with the coconut trees on the right-hand side. What’s more, the golden sand, the green sea, and the blue sky made me completely idle in front of the monitor.
• What about playing ‘Alo’ again as if we were kids in the old days, but this time playing in the sea? Oh, my! How could I say no? Haven’t played it for fifty years.
• Thanks to Sear and Vanrath for threatening my life when I first withdrew myself from the trip; otherwise I wouldn’t have had such an everlasting memory.
• There were a lot of beautiful girls, which made the fee seemed like $5, made people want to see the portraits, made the chilli and rubber just sweet, the long-distanced walking seemed like a few steps, made us resisted the boiling sun, and made the memory seemed like yesterday.

Finally, may Buddha bless Huot’s father on his further traveling.

AND NEVER FORGET TO SAY ‘I LOVE YOU ALL’

CJCC, Phnom Penh. This view compensated my lengthy waiting for the van.

Another view taken while waiting for the second van.

This was taken when we arrived at the Bamboo island.

This view was taken by Rasmei. To get here, we had to walk across a jungle on the Bamboo island. The beach here was much more clean and beautiful. Not so many people got here – may be they didn’t realize about this. So, thanks to Vannak for knowing about this secrete.

And this is how the beach looks. The first place we arrived on the island, and where many people were playing, is behind this mountain. There was no route along the beach to get here, but walking across a jungle. Photo by Rasmei.