Christmas in Phnom Penh

So… Christmas is coming to town, I think I’ve spent all my Christmas so far, pretty well. Going to Hong Kong has been my best Christmas so far, the fact that I got to travel and see the world, and the fact that I get to feel the weather which I’ve always liked. The decorations and all probably are put up a month earlier, malls are putting up their best on Sale, everything from head to toe are all Christmas-themed. It was fun, exploring and eating and riding buses and subways, frozen and still enjoying the city, it was a great Christmas.

Christmas in Phnom Penh has been great as well, the city has already been filled with the Christmas feel as I’m writing this article, that shows how we’re very open towards accepting cultures from elsewhere in the world. The locals and the government seems to be very niiice about accepting cultures, we do only take the good ones though and make it as fun as it is meant to be. Personally, I think the expats do like it here, when it’s a Khmer celebration or festival, they enjoy it with the locals, when it’s their culture’s celebration and festival, it’s the locals’ turn to enjoy and celebrate it with the expats, it’s a great connection.

We’ve got the International New Year's celebration, the Khmer, Chinese, Vietnamese, our nation is wide open towards cultures, so do we, each and every celebration has always been very very exciting, we have the privilege to celebrate all of them. We get to understand and experience more about their cultures, we befriended their people, we accept and eat their cuisine, I can say that we’re very international.

Whether we believe in Buddha or Jesus or any other Gods there is to believe in, we all connect and unite as one, The Chinese or Khmer or Vietnamese New Year all have one same purpose behind, that is to celebrate the beginning of a new year. The date differences do not matter that much in the end, as long as we all have one same purpose, no matter what region or country you’re in, a new year celebration will always keep its one and only meaning.

If you see it through my angle, I would look a bit like Santa, why so? hehehhehe, even though I’m 15, I do have a bit of tummy just like Santa; I do wear glasses just like him; he has grey hair, so do I; he is old and people say I look like a grandpa; I guess this much of similarity would be enough to say I’m a identical twin of his, hehehehe…

We all love Santa and Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Orussey Market

Orussey has been on my mind for quite some time, I feel like writing an article a bit more on the local side, instead of focussing on it too much as a tourist destination.

I went to Orussey Market twice, the first visit was obviously on a Sunday, I was lucky that there was a holiday just right after that Sunday, the second day of the Water Festival was the second visit. The whole day was very interesting, that’s why I’ve decided to make this article a bit more detailed, and more familiar to the blog name, HongyyDiary, a diary.

Markets have always been those few specific places which contains parts of my childhood memories, and Orussey Market has been one of them as well. Despite being half Khmer and half Chinese, Orussey Market has always been a first choice market for us all, it is prefered by more because it’s not just a market which just have a price tag on a subject, but it’s more of a lively neighborhood where you trade stuffs; the atmosphere is very simple, it’s a market.

There were so many frames, just like what they say, “A market changes itself every single moment.”, and I believe so. Man… it was a photo heaven, a subject plus a subject makes a good photos, chicken+lights=very good photo.

I delayed my breakfast to take these amazeball fotos, it’s as simple as that.

Everything was there the moment we stepped in, people were busy as usual making a living and napping at the same time, the trolley guys were around in every single corner, making Orussey Market looking like a small world with lots of countries trading and exporting and importing to the neighbour shops (small countries). It might sound weird, but it felt like we are the outsiders from another planet trying to do a trade with the small world of Orussey Market.

Before I had my Long Time No See friend “The one and only Vietnamese Banh Cuon”, I roamed around the market again and again, trying to get lost in the awesomeee fotos paradise and the amazeball-to-be Orussey Market Album.

The detective/photographer/Gordon Ramsay has started his journey to explore everything he sees.

There were the seafood section, which is probably my most loved part of the market, for some reasons, I like how those piles of ice that are covering the seafood have made the entire sector refriger-actory, too much ice that it feels like I’m getting in a supermarket. It’s obvious that Orussey Market isn’t the kind of market where people shop for their meals, I mean some do, but most buyers are here to hunt for the best goods they can find for their restaurants and shops, to simplify it, it’s more of a distributor.

I’ve been to all the markets in Phnom Penh, literally, it only keeps getting better and better, it seems like the LIFE-ness I see in each market has been over the mountain, the quantity has been increasing every time, and I love it. Orussey Market seems to have a bit more of LIFE-ness stuck to it long time back, from us Khmers to Chinese to Vietnamese to Islams (is it necessary), we seem to all unite in this place. The hallways are tight, some shops are as small as 3mX3m, with all their goods and themselves, it’s a hard time in there. But,  somehow…somehow, I see connections, no religion related stuffs involved, they are all working together, a wonderful community I can say. Some have their hammocks on point, some with a bendable beach chairs, taking their time eating, chatting, laughing and enjoying these few not-so-busy timeframe they have.

It’s sad to see some of them living to work, but I do respect them for that, ask me why? because all they have in mind is that to let their kids have a life that is as normal as it can be, ask me why, again? I’m pretty sure most of them had suffered a lot throughout those wars, and not just the wars that mattered but there were those struggles they had to go through after having gotten out of them and the time they have sacrifice to put together everything they have now. They have not won any award, never have they ever done anything amazeball, but I’m sure they have the hearts of a lion, very strong, never easy to beat. I honestly saw more working women than men, but I think it doesn’t really matter that much, they all work very hard to support their family, it’s not an easy task. They have stayed and lived in the market for so long that everyone of them is able to see each other’s kids grow, and even grandkids. I’m pretty sure that all the vendors here know each other, they have seen each other growing old, all the good and bad times they’ve all gone through, they have seen everything.

There were a lot to see in such a short period, but I wanted to see more, so I came again to check how Orussey has changed, on my regular Sunday.

It was a great start to the second visit of Orussey Market, I felt like I was experiencing a PTA meeting, I started off with some great breakfast in Tuol Tom Poung Market, I was observing what menu the Bay-Sach-Jruk/Moeurn-(Rice with Pork/Chicken)-lady had when I saw dad and my younger brother walking right towards me. We ended up eating together and talking and eating and talking again, we departed after a great glass of orange juice.

Later on, I headed to Orussey Market as it was today’s main agenda, then suddenly, mom appeared to be parking her bike right in front of me, at first, I had to double check if it was actually her. I was like, :”HEY MOOOOOOOOOOOM…! WHat dAy IS ToDAAy??? I just saw dad at ttp and now YOU?”, we laughed a bit about it and I was already on my way to the paradise of fotos, again. You know when people say market is a place that changes every single moment, to my experience, it’s very very true. Let’s say that there’s a coconut guy or a fruit lady at one specific spot, the next hour you come back and check, they’re all replaced by someone else with something else.

I first had to finish my foto session with Orussey Market, they were too many good fotos I had to choose from, it was hard to do so, so I sort of put everything into the article. I had to say again and again, life in Orussey Market seems so busy and complicated, but yet so so simple, I do respect that. I’m not saying that I dislike people with makeups on or people who are trying so hard to look kool and luxury, I respect them as well, but I pay more tribute to people with a very simple life, a life which has no luxury in it, a life where you just go and do your job and nothing else, I do slightly like them better. The vendors there was all looking very happy, whether their business is doing good or bad we don’t know, but they were all okay whenever I asked for the permission to take fotos.  

Orussey Market, so far, has been filling the needs of people in all the angles, they have snacks and foods, the seafood and meat, the jewelry shops, everything that is needed will be nearby to you. People say it’s not just the market itself, it’s the whole block, it’s not just the vendors inside, it’s the people in the block that are making Orussey Market as LIFE-ly as it has always been, and will always be like this. It’s like a storage, like a fridge, like a house, like a trading place, any word you can think of… In my opinion, I shall say Orussey Market has been the most resourceful market I’ve ever seen.

Food lovers come here hunting for foods, their shops might not all be the most famous, but what makes people love them is that there's a big fat menu of food to choose from. In addition, the shops are located nearly in every corner of the market, each floor has many shops dedicated to it, to find a shop will probably cost you a roll of your eyeballs, then you’ll find one, it’s as convenient as it can ever be. The shops won’t not just settle themselves in it, they are scattered all over the complex, what’s the reason, you ask? Probably they want to share the taste of their foods to more people, maybe? Probably because there are too many shops and the vendors just do not want to leave, very possible? I think so.

There are products and accessories freshly made out of the factory and being sold here right away, you don’t have to go to a warehouse, you can just come to Orussey Market and they’ll provide you more than you asked for.

The ground floor is basically where you’ll find food, any kind of food, whether it’s dried or canned or raw or cooked, whatever form you want the food in, it is there. Then it moves on to the second floor where all the clothes live, Orussey Market’s ground floor was the first impression, and it made me keep thinking about food all the time. The first story made a difference, I now see the market more as Orussey Market where more is available, not just a food market/paradise.

The first floor is where crowds of resellers of clothes come and cramp in, people would have to wait to pre-order their products, it has a Black Friday or Cyber Monday taste to it. From baby clothes to teens to adults to elders to any trend of fashion we could really think of, it will definitely be available; people don’t really care whether it’s from China or Vietnam or Thailand or if it was just made here, as long as it’s good enough to satisfy the buyers, that’s all is needed actually.

The vendors on the stairs, it doesn’t really amaze me, I just find it very kool that people are finding their ways to do their businesses, in this case, the location does not really matter much.

I wonder why there’s so many people?

The Water Festival, Cambodia

The excitement I have for boat racing has somehow stayed high and stable. Water Festival, to me, is one of the very few festivals we have that I really put heart into and celebrate. Fortunately, I have the ability and guts to write an article on it, the festival has been waiting for me to prove that it’s actually true, now I got a chance to do so. So, I am watching the last year’s boat race on youtube and am writing this article with all the excitement I have got.

The festival contains some of my most favorable memories, from the very photo that showed of me sitting on gramps neck just to see what’s going on to me staring at gramps shouting at the racers after a loss.

I also feel glad to know that the festival is actually a healing time for those hard working farmers. I feel good when the city is all lit up with colorful strings of lights and all the festive decorations. I feel a whole lot amount of satisfaction.

There’s a slogan alongside the official name of the festival, Bon Om Touk: Ak Ambok, Sampeah Preah Khae, Bandaet Pratip.

Bon Om Touk basically means The Water Festival, and there is one thing to it which took me by surprise, it is that The Water Festival is celebrated whenever a reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap River happens, which is always around the third week of November ever since.

Ak Ambok, Ak is to pound on something, and Ambok is according to me, a weird-looking rice with a better smell to it. Overall, it means to pound on The Rice, and of all the three days of the festival, you can literally find it everywhere; I like to have it with our traditional palm sugar syrup. As how it is mentioned, we now know that the Ambok dish represents the festival.

Sampeah Preah Khae, this whole phrase means to salute the moon. People gather at pagodas at midnight to offer the Ambok dish to the moon as a prayer and as a salutation, it’s when we have late night snacks with Gods.

Bandaet Pratip, these are those small boats covered with many lightings, each displays either a  government ministry or a state institution. Scheduled at 7pm, they are taken to the water on the last day of the festival.

I normally attend all these events, I have not missed any except the 2010 Major Stampede. May God bless those who went away, it should not have happened and it should never ever happen again.

Boat racing is the main event of the festival, people from all the provinces from across the country gather here to see if their respective boats get some KO-s or get KO-ed, the pride is on the line. But here comes the Royal Boat Racers, I call it “The Unbeatable”, not because it the king’s so you mustn’t beat them, but it’s because they really are the real deal. They are loud, tough, and athletic, they do win most of the games every year, and the reason why I like them is because every game they raced, it’s always an epic thriller, a big big big one; killer competitive, that’s how I like it.

Cambodia isn’t that big, but that doesn’t mean we got little amount of boats, how do I know that? Well, my grandpa works for one of the ministries here, so we get the list of all the races that will be held, and I see more than 200. Gramps owns several of them as well, he enjoys it as once-a-year kind of hobby and he pretty much is very sucked in by the race. He shouts and smiles and gets mad and jumps and punches people during the three days of the race, as much as he loves, I do too. We prefer getting into the crowd rather than having a VIP seat near the King and drinking tea and watching everything through the binoculars; we stand by the stairs at the river bank.

I’m going to get into details about the boats and the event itself, in bits, since I have been there with gramps, I can say that I know about it slightly more than my friends.

The event lasts for three days back to back, and it starts with the King taking his sit, his throne. National Anthem is played, then the King gets greetings from everyone, and the Prime Minister’s speech.

More than 250 races are being held, each with unique purposes and decorations and names, either trying to keep their pride safe or redeem it back from last year’s lost.

The Decoration, designs are all religiously based, means that each boat are from different areas of the country, and most of them have different Gods to worship. As for my gramps’ boat, it is painted in black with flowers and unique ancient signs I do not know of, why black? because the God we worship in our hometown in called “The Black God”, most Cambodians are buddhist, we do worship Buddha who is the head of Buddhism, but most of us would also worship the locals Gods depending on the area we live in.

The Name, names normally are decided according to this formula,

“The Holy Of or The Mighty”+Your Name+The God’s Name,

so example, if I’ll have my own boat, then it’ll be, “The Holy Of Hongyy and The Black God”.

The Icebreakers, they are the ones who makes boat racing a bit more intense and calm at the same time. Either a female or male, either dressed as an Apsara or a certain God or just the captain himself, they normally stand or sit on the tip of the head of the boat, shouting and leading and sometimes even plays drum and sometimes holding a megaphone, making the racers’ hearts race as well as their bodies.

Placements and Positions, starting from the beginning comes the The Icebreakers or the captains, then the rowers (minimum of 6 and maximum of 75 rowers, depending on the boat sizes and regulations), and there’s a guy standing at the end of the boat; rowing till the end.

Betting, as I’ve now understood the purpose of it and how it’s done, I can say that it was involved in the event, what are the regulations? the rules are that it is only legal for the owner of each boat, and it will only happen if both sides agree to take on the bet; public betting is illegal, but I think it is done most of the time.

At the end, it’s a festival and we, the people deserve the fun and joy in any scale we wish to.

Sadly, due to the shallowness of water Tonle Sap River has given us this year, the government couldn’t risk the chance, so it was cancelled. 

Hopefully, it will be grand next year.

Angkor Wat

Second day of the trip was fully dedicated to Angkor Wat, the destination of wonder or what some other like to call it as, "The destination that made our Kingdom, 'Kingdom of Wonder'".  

Second day of the trip was dedicated to Angkor Wat, the destination of wonder or what some other like to call it as, "The destination that made our Kingdom, 'Kingdom of Wonder'". A place where structures tell stories, a place where the exciting present Khmer meets the glorious Khmer of the past.

Angkor Wat, to me, is a very kool site. And it’s as simple as that.

Let me introduce Angkor Wat. This is my second time visiting it. It had not been awarded No. 1 when I visited last time. I was 10 then.

I am 14 now and so, it definitely had to be refurbished. The increasing love and care from both the locals and expats have made Angkor Wat great again, that has taken Angkor Wat to the position of the best world heritage site.

It was built as the home of Gods. Most of it was made of sandstones. It's surrounded by a lake full of crocodiles. If you can see it like I see it, it looks like a picture frame and the temple is right in the middle surrounded by another layer of bush of tall trees. The Gods who used to live there moved to the Guimet Museum in France. They are still there now. I wonder if they miss this place, if they miss us.

To my surprise, I was happy while in there. Angkor gave me happiness.

One of the best moments in Angkor Wat was to sit down in the middle of what used to be a pond inside the temple. I think I like real and simple things, that’s how I judge things whether they are kool and amazeball or not. The sun was shining at me just like the spotlight you see on those magic shows, the pillars and walls around me were all molded, and it was just me daring to sit there with my fishing hat on, the crowd was staring and eyebrowing me while my fellow comrade took my photos, but there were no time to waste, I had to enjoy what was there, and I did it. The crowd were tempted too as some of them came down in the pond, as well. What a whistleblower I was!

We had more Gods in there but most of them had moved to France. One had stayed back; as it looks like and so, I went to him. He stood in there mighty tall. People were lining up to offer their prayers and many were receiving the Kalava (a red blessed string) as blessings. I got an awkward story there. According to Hinduism which inspired the idea of Angkor in some angles, and Prof. Wikipedia, it is said that only married women would get it tied on their left wrist and the rest of us were to use our right wrist and I got mine tied on my left wrist. I am switching it to my right wrist as I am writing about it. Being blessed by a God in the biggest religious site in the world was a big honour, I guess I’m very blessed right now.

There were kids running around the temples, jumping of the small cliffs, it looked like they were playing hide-and-seek, as if the Angkor Wat was their house; there is nothing special about the kids, I felt so good seeing them enjoying the temple even if they might not actually know what it is, young, wild, and free. The reason why I think people like Angkor Wat is that the moment you get in, some might assumed that it’s a holy place and is restricting them from touching, but here in Angkor Wat, you simply can feel the place as if it’s yours, not just standing in front of a line which says “DO NOT TOUCH OR CROSS”. When you go to a historical site, everyone wants to feel it, look at the foto below or above, I was literally laying down on one of the blocks of stones, and sunbathed as well. I layed down on the stairways, and I was even pretending as one of the knights of the round table, with my fishing hat and the selfie stick.

I see these moments through my own eyes, make it as a foto, and convey it with words. If the words did not impress, the following fotos should get the job done.

Hongyy’s Business/Imagination Mode: ON

I’m feeling so excited as I reach this part, because my imaginations are pretty well structured, not just a fantasy that won’t be possible but something that can be achieved if want or need to. Imagine a ticket that will allow everyone to get access to at night, a tent would be niiice, the tourists can have traditional Khmer foods serve right in Angkor Wat, and there will be Apsaras dancing with Angkor Wat as their stage and the lights that will keep Angkor Wat alive and kicking like never before. A sleepless night that is very priceless and very worth it, traditional Khmer games will keep the ‘historical’ atmosphere and even make it better. Of course there will be guards nearly everywhere, surveillance system and all will be expected, since it’s one of the most visited world heritage in the world, it has to be protected, but I personally think that the annoyance that will obvious trigger our anger iOS actually beyond acceptable, we get to stay in Angkor Wat (please sarcastically say it.), who cares about the annoyance?

The simple-looking restaurants right in front of Angkor Wat might just be the koolest spot ever to just sit and eat and enjoy the view; the view of what? the view of the Angkor Wat, it is indeed out of the universe. I had my curry.

I had to confirm with my mom if ‘Ta Prohm’ was actually ‘Ta Prohm’, I did not remember the name of the place, but my memory described the site as a very bushy, slimy, rocky, and moss-occupied.