Koh Rong Samloem: Revisited

I'll take you through track by track, folks, welcome to this crazy amazing world we live in. Gonna start off with the sleepover night at my fellow teacher’s lil dwelling with no kitchen but a “how-nice-to-have-a-verandah-the-size-of-a-kitchen” verandah; we dug the night deep until 3, worked the KFC out of it and published my Cheng Meng Article, the Coffee Goat Gods made sure I was up like a meerkat.

Gave an unusual high five to the 5 am alarm and cut the red ribbon to the grand opening of "The Second Non-Parents-Hongyy Trip", no disrespect to mom and dad though; I was really thankful.

A job well planned is a job half done, that’s what legend said and that’s what we did. We had it all planned and spent and packed, from the number of eggs we needed to the alcohol for cuts to the plastic bags for throw-ups. The team was going to run the show on sheer pocket money and so, we had to tie every cent to a nail. TukTuk-ed to the minivan stop, no appetite for a regular BF and so drained off a boxed pineapple juice. VIP Minivan my BASS, couldn't even drool more than I did. We drove off on time and reached the famous spot midway where the Sincere-s offer prayers to almighty and so I did, unlike last time. 

I've been here with my family the day before yesterday, and now again, either I'm lucky or it's just my love for the ocean, being tanned and untanned in a small period of time, I told you long time back that I have an.alien immune system, right? hehehe, just follow me a bit and you folks might find me as a visual friend, HOPE-FULLY. Not all 100% about the beach quality, the accommodation, the foods, I have never thought so; family and friends, just talking about the fat old lady that sells MI CHA would make mom's day, no offense to her and a big respect both to her and her awesome noodles.

Felt like the rush hour and I didn't like it, but we didn't run, so it's okayy; the van made it to the traveling agency, where they announced the super light-speed speedboat will depart in like 50 mins, which was spotted on hot noon. 50 mins of unbelievable marathon running and motordub riding (motorbike taxi), I didn't want to get into details, but later realized I should, this part is too hilarious to not be mentioned.

No eggs and bread means no breakfast, and it's never good to starve someone like me, especially on a trip, we have to split ways, some went to find food, Big Easy, recommended by TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, it must be niiice, but who knows, let's see in the later parts; three of the guys went with me on a quest to find the ultimate eggs, which was extremely rare in Sihanouk Ville, where there's no farm at all, and bread too, I didn’t see no bakery on the way, but fortunately, we saw bread, sort of emptied the section as well. "Glory Glory Manchester United, Glory Glory Manchester United", the line that kept repeating in my mind the moment I saw Fergy’s picture on the cover, treasure found, Sir Alex Ferguson, my glorious old mate, grey messy hair, chew gums, this book I swear to god I'll finish it in one day, and of course, will be included in My Books. We can't still deny the fact that egg was missing, I and my fellow teacher has to go to the Oceania Lucky Supermarket, and with the luck of the supermarket, we got the three stacks of eggs we needed, breakfast to be well served.

Time's up, on board please, on board please, aye aye captain; gotta tuktuk down the steep hill towards the dock, but the super light-speed speedboat didn't look good at all, it was tiny, no more AMAZEBALL compass, no more sitting next to the cross legged captain that was funny, but oh well, fun is on the way. Half way to the island, luckily got called to come up and sit with the captain, with the awesome view plus the niiice refreshing air, I was already feeling the paradise-ness, I knew it was nearby, you folks waitoooo.

We got docked, I thought of something like a golf cart would come pick us up and our heavyweight champions (the packages and luggage), but it turned out to be an old rusty hand-pulled trolley which coconut-vendors here in Cambodia use, but that's very understandable, we're on an island. The journey to the bungalows took us around 20 minute walk, Leng Meng Bungalow, the moment I saw the bungalows, few words popped up in comic-book dialogue balloons, oh myyyy!... this is AMAZEBALL, whaaaadaaa!....there were two beds covered with white bed sheets, got four big guys to fit in, good luck! Right then, we unleashed our humongous backpacks, spreading all the accessories that were needed for the time.

My first Amazing-Race kinda job was to hang-up my banner, hongyydiary.guru banner, who knows if the cats on the beach drag in a blogger or a writer to stop by and check and inquire or suggest, that will be highly appreciated.

I, oh wait, I meant we, we all had forgotten out of the salty-water spell that we hadn't had lunch by then; well, we came to our senses when our tummies growled and howled with slogans: bay cha (fried rice), mi cha (fried noodle, but not as good as the ones from the old lady downtown), there were curry too; these were later served to utmost maximum satisfaction to all the taste buds, bravoo! *claps*. 

Chop Chop, girls hurried and cleaned, we all chameleoned (changed) into our color-FULL beachwear, shouted YOLO (not literally) and dashed towards the water as fast as possible. This is my kind of beach, it surely is un-tapped, tiny crab holes of tiny crabs all over the beach and lil fish swimming around, some looked like slithering on the sand, literally. It was proven with no sweat, I was paradise-ness zoned, get-real-mission started. After having gone through all the debate to bring over a GoPro, now, here, today, I had it there, in my hand, had to give it a run, so we swam to one fishing boat docked close by; I've gained some weight since the last trip, I know that, that's why I had an incredibly hard time climbing on to the boat by the ladder itself, but I just had to force myself a bit more until I got scratched. And it's been 15 minutes since we had been here (imagine what'll happen the next day, only the Island God knows!) you gotta try canon-balling off a boat, just the perfect height for everyone, anyone could have made a movie out of that, in my case, I call it the very-worth-it-canon-balling.

Later, my friends and all went for a walk by the beach while I was enjoying my I'm-so-tired microsleep. To be honest with you folks, if I drool, it's been proven by many scientists including myself and my parents that the sleep, with no doubts, was PERFECTOO. They came back and woke me up with a cup of hot marshmallow-choco drink, Grand! And, grand-er than that was the fact that I smelled food. If there's food, I feel it, and there surely was, bungalow-cooked by my mates; noodle soup with potatoes plus carrots plus mushrooms; not to neglect the fire we all started, all hail the lord of fire, we prayed so he will grant us enough heat to burn those nice-looking potatoes, and he really was generous, I got to eat my first charcoal-roasted-potato-on-the-sand, it was extremely niice that I had to ask for one more.

Since not having a walk with friends kept on bugging me all the time, I decided to have a walk after the fire. It surely was dark, got to grab one of my fellow teachers to trail with me. Sincerely, it was the quest to find more food that motivated the walk, since I am literally hungry all the time. The first knock didn’t open up with any signs of food; you would have pitied hongyy if you were there; I was in my under vest and shorts with a scarf tied on my forehead like Tupac but the other way around. The motivation was high and so we kept knocking every table we passed by and lottery! Almost half way back towards the bungalow, oasis of the night, found;  they made special consideration because first, we looked hungry, and we were, and second, my fellow teacher pulled off his “you-are-the-best-give-us-what-I-want- technique”. And, Captain Sparrow agreed to serve us bycha, the fried rice accompanied by lime soda, my tonic.

Another long walk from the bed to the action zone, looking towards a killer day. The Island does drain a bit of energy, they cut power off by midnight as a must-protocol, luckily I got knocked out at 11:56, pretty sure about the time, I remember nothing afterwards. Yesterday evening’s nap had "waking up with marshmallow-choco drink" while last nite’s sleep had “waking up with mosquito bites”, I have been literally raped, by what? Mosquitoes!

The eggs and the bread fed us well, the rush for the action was in the air and everyone felt it to the hair on the skin, it's National Hongyy Snorkeling Day, let’s kiss our mother-fun and explode.

The sea, the beach, anything that is describable, to be precise, I am giving them lesser space in this article, I want to try and make you folks feel the real-ness of this article.

If you remember the boat we cannon-balled off, yesterday, what a coincidence, we are riding the same for the day. He did red-flag us for the intrusion, last evening; we boarded the pearl after the captain untagged us, we have rented it for the day. Without the need of The Compass, he chose a spectacular spot brought us to a crazy combination of longitude and latitude.

James Bond-ed myself, jumped off the boat, pulled the trigger, the bullet bounced back off a sea urchin and hit me. Yes M, I stepped on a sea urchin (“dhan dhadhan dhadhhannn dhadhhannnn…” aka James Bond Theme in the background).

Sea urchin my bass! A sea urchin shouldn’t sink my YOLO spirit and so, I continued (for a bit…. what! it did sting like crazy, just don’t wanna detail that part). I came in peace, that’s what I wanted to say but who poked who, I aint sure; hope the urchin shares my YOLO spirit.

Coral reefs, Khmers pronounce it as Rock-Flower, which really does fit; this amazing Koh Rorng Samloem, home to color-FULL coral reefs, it was a pleasant and AMAZEBALL view, excitement and amazement hitting me in turns. 

Later on, we started canon-balling and it helped keep the "stepped-on-sea-urchin" thought at bay, it really took off. I struggled moving around, but sacrifices must be invented; deal or be dealt.

I lead the team down under for one more time, veteran I am, since I wore the been-here done-that badge, it’s most-def-wonder underneath this thin piece of glass, fish wandering around, Nemo was there too, it’s like visiting an old fren’s house, they have been in our so called aquariums since time immemorial. 

We were to have two sessions and the first session was taken over by a grand lunch. The table served me with baguette and fried fish caught from the deeper sector of the pool, we had it in our snorkeling trip contract, a free lunch; and indeed our trip planner nailed this part.

There is a way if there is will; for my lime tonic, willpower comes up anytime! All hail the King of Refreshments and the King of Drooling, I woke up so rejuvenated as if Mr. IceCube ran me through the Bible. The bell rang and so the next bout began.

The Sun did heat up high but our captain sailed and docked at the right spot at the right time; the heat was nowhere to be felt, humidity neither, big credits to him, if not, a week after the trip, we would be peeling our skins off like snakes.

A boulder-full micro-beach, we stopped by, but what was weird was that there were monkeys; I was like, "How on earth are monkeys living on an island in the middle of the sea; like how…. someone explain to me something please?", I had to ask this because I'd never thought monkeys would live on an island, bravooo! They sort of were shouting at us, what do we do? We shouted back at them, I meant by making the "KAK...KAK" sound, this place is sure weird, and we added on by shouting back at them monkeys.

Sea Urchin Alert!

I see more of them this time than in the morning; life jacket on so I stay afloat and away from the spiky colony; they might be sarcastically laughing at me though!

MAGNIFICENTOO is how I'll describe this spot, much bigger corals means many more fish means more colors, it's obvious, it's bigger home-sweet-bigger home, using the sea urchins as their "Great Wall of China", very effective indeed, couldn't dare crossover, the sea urchins must have seen me running away in Usian Bolt mode; I would put my tail up, signal SOS, turn and Bolt towards another black spot which I learned is the classic sign of corals.

I did get demoted to co-leader after being attacked by our mighty enemies, and I did feel safer, and we continued to eye for more black spots, I call this sector, Downtown Coral Reef, plenty of spots here.

I swam to the shore parked with big boulders, since they call it (Koh Rorng Samloem) untouched, I guess no one could; it really felt like climbing a micro Mt. Everest, FYI, I've never climbed a real mountain before, will of course try someday.

I sort of felt it coming, I swear to God, I knew something was on its way, yeah right... the crook-y and slimy-y and steep-y boulders gave me a “five-stitches-to-be” cut; I took it as a farewell gift from Downtown. It did look as if I had a small lake on my right foot sole. Two days after is my Soccer Sunday, gotta tape it up with some passion.

Took a kangaroo-walk, inspired by the captain (in jeans) and his deckhand (the kid), I managed to spot some whelks, the captain had a bucket tied to his wrist with a string, dragging behind him, all I saw was him picking and throwing, again and again, he said it takes two days to clean it up and so, I gave up the thought of eating it right away. I followed and fooled around until he was satisfied with his bucket and we swam back to the boat. The others were enjoying a chat/photo session on the boat.

A long/urchin/snorkeling/monkey/whelks day has passed by, and a bit of beach volleyball before our grand supper won't have hurt nobody, it was my first time, did impress myself. Lovely supper awaits me, fried seafood curry, it was too much, too good to not eat it all, plus lime soda, as usual, it was classic fine dining.

Lord of Pain bobbed up right on my right foot sole, the lake-like cut and the three urchin-spikes forming an illuminati-like shape, these injuries are insanely weird; I had no choice but to try and take it off, it was the bloody-hell kind of a pain, yes folks, I cried, we humans don't cry when bullets strike; instead, we tend to cry for stupid reasons, like I did. The supper AKA dinner earlier was too early to have had, we realized we shouldn't have done that, now what? We’re hungry again; chef hongyy to the rescue after the wear and tear with the injuries, been waiting for this opportunity for ages, now it has arrived; I got the leftover ingredients list in my hand: salt, corn, butter, eggs. Two summer breaks ago I learnt to cook proper, mom said I got some niiice cooking skills, it shall be revealed tonite.

"Chef Hongyy Cooking Class" starts. 

Step1: Boil the corn (please do uproot the silk), Step2: get corn off the cob, Step3: Add on two priceless unused eggs, Step4: Put in a teaspoonful of salt (we ain't got no sugar or seasonings), Step5: Stir it as if you're the Tornado God stirring the entire earth surface, Step6: Shout out "It's ready".

All of us cramped around the campfire, started tearing up the marshmallow packets humming along with the marshmallows, "Tsk Tsk Tsk Tsk", we all knew what's inside, a classic all-time Bonfire fun-remedy , but no proper sticks were to be found except the fishing spear used by the locals there, we got three of them, aha! we were that serious about making the night with them marshmallows; the puffiness, the sweetness, and the smell of the burn we got after roasting it in the fast and furious fire annexed it with PERFECTO-ness, no wonder it all got extinct in like 5 minutes.

The most predicted fatigue hit me off the park right after I got back to the bungalow; fortunately, the only work left for me to do was to pick some superbly niiice photos and enjoy the videos I took, ahhhh... *thumbs up*. 

I've agreed with myself to not get molested by them mosquitoes again, so, net widely spread, lit up the strong jasmine repellent; shouted out loud: you ain't getting anywhere around me tonite; I'll call it a day, lights will be off in 2 minutes, see ya folks tomorrow. 

A part of my crew had to head back home, I guess their parents aren't just like mine, my parents are still on their business trips, had no choice but to holiday until then, my two teachers stayed back though, they must be enjoying it; my fellow teacher and I were late-birders; besides, waking up late is very understandable when you're on a trip, no rush hour, gotta chillax. 

Joining them for their last repast as a farewell party, we, including me were to stroll to the dock and see them off, well, only if I didn't have the three spines here and there, plus the mighty gash; what I ended doing were to play soccer on phone on the bed and did read a bit.

The Room got cleaned, got rid of all the sand, it was everywhere; it was time for the what-to-do-today discussion; who wants to kayak for three hours in the afternoon in the middle of the sea, tanned-ness has its limits, we have had enough of it, so I voted for fishing; the fish we get will be served with dinner as the prize, I could test my patience too.

Most uncensored fishing ever! I got to see crazy species of fish and yes, slimy piece of rock which I have no idea how it was caught, but my fellow teacher did catch one of that, hands of applause please, how profitable, it wasn't that expensive, you get to experience this much.

I was aiming to catch bigger fish than I did the last time, and so the demand for the pro-fishing rods, my teacher was generous enough to walk the entire beach, approximately 3km back and forth to ask each and every restaurant and every agency for fishing trip with professional fishing rods, but came back empty-handed, it was either doing nothing or fishing with bottle, so, well, let's catch some Nemo and deep-fry them.

God, you planned this for me? Why is this boat trolling us everywhere, from the canon-balling-without-permission-intellectual property-theft case to "Sea Urchin Attacked" snorkeling and now fishing; and it's the same guy again, OMCG, Oh My Coincidence God. So here we go again, to the fishing spot, sailor made a huge mistake taking us to where humongous waves were, no good to us sea-sickers. After checking two more spots, we landed on one which was just right beside the rocks lined-off the shore, had acceptable waves. Strings rolled up on soda bottles were quite funny and simple and creative to us, and we have got varieties; Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, please select one, as if each one has got different superpowers, hehehe; Fishing Lord Hongyy selected his Sprite fishing bottle.

The race has just started, there is only one way to finish this race, win it; but I will only end up losing big time to the boater. While I was figuring out how to hook the bait and cast it into the water and guide the line, he pulled up two, freakin’ two (very silly) fish in like 5 minutes. This pirate has got skills.

I salute the rodman.

It feels like the sixth sense is activated at this crack of time; feel the line echoing in between the fingers? Go for it, chances are either the bait is spent or the prize has been hooked, 50/50, not too bad to say it's a tug of war of patience worth playing.

The Boater raised the score bar and my jaws dropped straight on the deck, a Lion fish appeared out of blue, I couldn't take the embarrassment, I was like, how, Jack? How? And he was not done nailing me and clamped a crab, a very mysterious one, with claws like wings; probably it's called Angel Crab, maybe. On the other hand, there was my fellow teacher showing his D Grade skills, making me proud in front of the boater, great catch, dude, really…really! A job well done, he caught a slimy weird shaped rock, which anyone on the boat had no idea how he hooked it, he won’t get any fish whatsoever though, he had that face of having bribed the sea for a good catch but didn't fill the pockets. Final result, I caught three and the boater got more.

Chopping off the head of a big plastic water bottle, the Angel Crab fitted in well, but looked lonesome, so I went to the shore and grabbed one, more casual crab; I told you folks earlier, everything here is untouched, which means you if you go to the shore for a crab, you get one.

  

As it was mentioned earlier, the fish we caught, honestly, the boater did the most, would be served with local salad and which later would all be consumed improperly by my fellow teacher, so much that the cat there would be confused where to start, , he said as he messed them up, "now that's real fish"…didn’t ask for clarification.

The Great Lion Fish was omitted from the menu for the fact that it was a super duper expensive collectable, and I bet he sold it to a local aquarium nearby, good for him.

Chopping off the head of a big plastic water bottle in the name of recycling, the Angel Crab fit in nice but looked tired and lonesome, so I went to the shore and grabbed one, a more casual crab. The selfishness of my age made the Angel Crab live little shorter than expected, if cooked and served, would have been fine, but it was unintentionally and unknowingly wasted, I could've spared him. It died rite after the supper.

 “Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, I was reading as I was on it, the trip. 

Let more casual crabs be the blue jays, and the Angel Crab shall be the mockingbird; lesson learnt.

As it was mentioned earlier, the fish we caught, honestly, the boater did the most, would be served with local salad and which later would all be consumed improperly by my fellow teacher, so much that the cat there would be confused where to start, , he said as he messed them up, "now that's real fish"…didn’t ask for clarification.

I did imagine hongyy using his drastically proud cooking skills against these innocent looking fish, if I had the chance, their sizes wouldn’t have been a worry, let's say I would make a bowl of Tom Yum out of them or just have served casually by grilling them all with big grains of salt all over, how wonder-FULL would that have been.

The result of precious time you've given towards fishing, multiplied by the patience you burn equals to the fish I'll be eating, that I've caught, with the fishing line moored to a plastic Sprite bottle,  now, how kool is that? My fellow teacher told me fishing is an art, I guess, I'll be agreeing on that perhaps in the next twenty years or so but the note here is the scenes that had happened one after another, interlinked, all made in just a short period of time during an evening, these scenes made this flick very worth watching even from the front row. And these will be kept as long as they last; Koh Rorng Samloem surely has the recipe towards realness and how to meet the nature, one of the best ways we could have to escape from whatever we call a busy life and actually breathe and feel the skin.

I had to take a foto with him, the captain who took us, three idiots along that knows not even a comma about fishing, the chef that barbecued the fish, of course, except the Almighty, expensive, Lion Fish, the man that seems very happy and complete with just his kid and the boat; tagging along life seems so simple for him, to me; hanging out with nature, living the life which most city folks pay and plan for every holiday. I wonder how he would be looking at us, I don't know, perhaps, he might be wishing of living our lifestyle in exchange of his; the grass is greener on the other side, I guess, this thought gets on almost everyone.

Every jiffy of this holiday, I have dug, but never that much as this piece; the calmness and pureness, God setting the Sun, fish getting outta their  Great-Wall-of-China shelter to grab supper for the day; this particular piece of spirit gave me Goosebumps, I would not have ever even thought this part of the trip would hit platinum but I was outtauniversed; not a pinch of luxury, ain't got a bit of crowd, this jiffy has been skimmed to the best. It is taking me right into the cover of The Alchemist; you gotta be here only at this wink and you will be jaw-dropped and mouth-watered, none the less a satisfaction with no expiry date guaranteed.

I sort of felt a bit of homesick, it was too perfect for me, any human would fit in; coming off the boat, I was already missing the boater, coming off the shore, I was already missing the sea; my respected lad, da Vinci said, "Every now and then, go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work, your judgment will be surer", so what do you say folks? Shall we or shall we not holiday?

A survival must mosquito repellent coil lit up the last night on the island, re-scotch taped the deep-blue cut, it looked uglier and more sarcastic; I mario-browsed through the fotos and vids and made a billboard playlist out of it, had a board meeting with my fellow teacher about the next project and Siem Reap won the lottery.

And we came to the expectations, what we thought and what had happened until that night. Sea urchin and the deep-blue cut weren't on the itinerary on paper. The itinerary on paper had beach soccer and trekking but they got rubbed off by the sand and the water on the island. But in so many ways, the bag we got to fill in with excitement and fun was getting full; that was tremendously satisfactory.

Oprah had to go sooner as I started to snooze and drool my eyeballs out, lights off, SOS-M (Save Our Soul from Mosquitoes)Net down, a declaration to end the night, the last night on the island.

We humans can't just wake up and shout out ALOHA feeling all psyched and hyped in the morning, that's the whitest lie ever, but of course, no mosquito bites and a healthy plate full of good looking meal to Break the Fast would do, now that defines refreshing.

The feelzZ typhooned in without notice, I wasn't ready to leave yet, the love for Koh Rohng shall be eternalized in my BIG FAT BRAIN, it has given more than anyone could've expected, pricelessly unchangeable time. The farewell, we took off our banner from the front porch of the bungalow, but got reposted up at the restaurant, I felt very grateful, the acknowledgement that the banner will be there as long as the caterer likes it, and not deciding to use it to fix a leaking rooftop; the fact that it was possible to keep the poster of my website up there in my absence is awesomeeee. Koh Rong Samloem definitely is home.

"I want to bestow upon you a gift, kiddo," I said, I entitled him "The Owner of the Ball", his wish granted I guess. Due to the encounter with the Master Sea Urchin, beach soccer plan got washed away, I couldn't even walk proper.  Both the ball and me were very disappointed. But we made it up by letting the kid have the ball so he could make the beach soccer plan a reality. It felt definite good giving the kid the soccer ball.

We also respectfully gave away our leftover eggs and potatoes and taken humbly by the caterer, indeed a niiice guy, along the days we've somehow become friends, they later helped with our baggages up until to the dock, departure time is coming close; it was a highly appreciated farewell.

Choice of seat, open back row, the light-speed speedboat was even smaller this time, but it had nothing to do with me dozing off right away after getting on it; the whole ride got blanked.

Getting off the dock, running back and forth just like the first day, Big Easy served us niiice food again, simple yet classic Chili Chicken, with the association with potato wedges, I was sucked in; it was the D-day, Chelsea versus Manchester United, my fellow teacher versus me, game on.

Is it the sound of the Doom? Is it Dracula who's calling out for me? (Please read it sarcastically) We, my fellow teacher and I was pronounced as The Hunter of The Almighty Dracula, right after finishing the supper, cold breeze already blowing, he must be near.

A disappointment right ON DA FACEEE, we treasure-hunted three different isolated book stores in a matter of just one hour before barging into the VIP my Bass, we came empty-handed.

Time sure flies, with its price tag and meaning, it leaves people AMAZEBALL memories. We got home, I was indeed too tired to sit on the proper dining table to eat, so I ate beside the sofa while watching tv; The Big Game was on the way, another fellow teacher was called up for the match, he had the transportation, we were going to go to a sports bar, which technically is legal according to dad.

*Disclaimer: This only foto is not taken by me but downloaded from the MANU fb page.

So, I shall be your commentator for this heated classico, let's start with De Gea's embarrassing celebration from Rooney's near miss goal, it looked like it went in, I was on my feet, and nearly hit my lemon soda glass I had, whoshh, it sure is heating up; Hazard the Harzardous scored a De-Gea-could-keep-it-away-goal at the 44th minutes, which unfortunately was successful due to De gea messing-up-in-big-game-ness, we lost. I knew right after halftime, BRO MOURINHO had parked the Chelsea bus, even Drogba was defending, we ain't got nowhere to go; game bet void, else I would had to put up the Chelsea logo for six months on my fb profile, unbelievable.

The night after the game seemed too tired to hold any more fun and excitement and so it closed its lids down fast. The morning came up early too but we did burn it and woke up late deservingly. The team I went with, on the trip barged in for something which looked like a debriefing and spent the whole day talking, looking, talking again, watching, and talking again about the trip until my uncle honked for me.

How do I end this, I honestly wanna keep it on for this holds time worth an honest happy smile right from the heart. Can you feel it?

The Cheng Meng Festival, the Heavenly Spirits and Me

The early bird did wake up wide and sharp from the bed, and so, I thought of using the transition phrase, “A long ride to go” but, unfortunately, was malificented by the soothing air-con and the radio in the car and so, I ended up using the transition phrase, “A long nap to go”.

To gramp’s hometown, Prek Leap, that little town from the Pchum Ben article I wrote earlier in August, last year. This time, we're going there for Cheng Meng, a Chinese version of Pchum Ben.

The bloodline, that has created me, the ancestors, my great grandparents; well, I was 7 months old, mom said, when my great grandma passed away, I was too young to remember it, but at least, she got to see me; great grandpa passed away long time back, during the Khmer Rouge, is what binds us all for eternity.

 

Exactly like in Pchum Ben, we invited some locals, gramp’s childhood friends, the mayor and his colleague, a policeman; we offered food to our ancestors, as usual, we have the grand master of all time, Mr Chinese Barbecued Pig, fruits from ttp (Toul Tom Poung Market), some beverages and seafood.

I heard from gramps that our great grandparents liked seafood the most. Spraying water on the mountain-like graves, which we only do, once a year, with long stripes of papers in all colors that we stuck everywhere around the graves, that’s when I saw “The Kid of The Day”, a little boy with great sense of humor, gramps gave him credits for that, with some food and drinks and I hope he enjoyed it. I wished him all the best.

Lots of people I know deserve to live forever, especially gramps, but the fact that we humans cannot fight the Mother Nature, sadly, she made us with an expiration tag, we have no choice, but to accept it and deal with it with an open heart. One day, someday, sooner or later, gramps, mom and dad will leave me, no matter how much I want to deny that time and place, humans perish and that is what makes me want to sacrifice and do anything for them, create memories, the sads and happys, and then, I will eventually pass away too. Cheng Meng will be where we meet; the heavenly souls and spirits will come back down to earth and reunite as family, again. I always believe that everyone has a place in Heaven. To the family, to the bloodline, Cheng Meng stays at the top spot, we cannot deny even if we want to, it’s what makes our souls and spirits stay with together generation by generation, it’s what gives us eternity.

To Family.

The National Museum of Cambodia

So...here it is, I have been writing for my blog, saving them for this website and now, I am finally writing straight up for the website. Excitement for this is my first dream-come-true and some heat for I got to raise it up; I can feel. And the audience, not because I have plenty but I know them and how much they care; I told myself that I can only get better. Thank you.

Been thinking about museums around the world including ours, we got lots of them, and, I decided to pick the coolest of them all, according to Hongyy.

Let's start with The Louvre, since it was the first one to pop up, thanks to The Da Vinci Code, the book, I recognized most of the artworks there, my sweetheart, Mona Lisa, as mystically beautiful as always, and a round of applause for Leonardo as well.

Another one from France, The Musée d'Orsay, the world admits, the French got the skills, they have got my type of buildings, architectonic formations, good-looking, as always; there got to be a reason why 3 million visitors go visit every year and that is that the museum hosts the self-portraits of and by Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh wrote to his sister about him making self-portraits: "I am looking for a deeper likeness than that obtained by a photographer." And later to his brother: "People say and I am willing to believe it, that it is hard to know yourself.”

Next up, Emperor Qinshihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum, China's first and most powerful king, the Terracotta Army, 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, built in 210–209 BCE, wait... let me calculate a bit, wohh folks! That’s like 2200 years ago; well that's a long ride ago.

This insane-sized ship, known as Vasa, sucked me in right away, I've never in my life seen this humongous ship before, and it's made out of wood, looking great, and literally made a museum out of itself, The Vasa Museum.

Since the making of THE Impression, by Neil Armstrong, of humankind, on the surface of the moon, National Air and Space Museum, storage of tons of aircrafts and space crafts; it’s been recording history in the highest possible HD format, not bad.

As I say, there are a lot more awesome museums around the world, where millions visit, where some remarkable paintings and inventions live: Art Institute of Chicago, The Rijksmuseum, Museo Nacional del Prado, Hermitage Museum, National Museum of Anthropology, these places are worth a visit someday; sooner or later.

The National Museum of Cambodia

History, written or told by those who lived to tell the tales, is the good and the bad; but only told by those who lived to tell the tales. I wonder if you would agree if I say that history is never complete. The death never told their share. Books, music, stories, traditions, celebrations, living ancestors with any kind of history in their bloodlines; all of these have worked together pretty well to maintain it until the Present.

So, I wonder where my bloodline actually originated. A good question indeed! 

As to Us, teenagers, nowadays, History is just another one-of-the-hard-to-digest subjects in our school bags; the dates, hilariously-mind-freaking names of people and places and events which sound so serious like those of Nobel Prize winners and The Lord of the Ring characters and video game names, war madness, the evolved generations and their riots, and all the of it that history has; it never seem to end and it never seem to be complete. It is good to know the history but the question is how much I am going to use it in my future.

Crazy obstacles, twists and turns, wars, disagreements; well, peace was there but not all the time and not everywhere. I can literally picture how prosperous our Kingdom would have been with all that we had; the people, the wealth, the culture, the tradition, the scholars with BIG FAT BRAINS that had built us the Angkor Wat and many more; I have to admit, we Cambodians were better in the past and are better today and will be only better tomorrow. 

Here it is, the day, Hongyy going to the museum to gather what he needs for his article on the Museum for his website and the blog. Friday, here, it's Khmer New Year, no school, kool! Mom being chauffeur of the day, thank you mom!

Starting off, 500 Riel for the ticket, that’s for a national but you folks might need to pay a bit more; The majestic red, it had me, I was satisfied with the looks, but wait... never judge by its look, we'll see what's inside in a moment.

Something unwanted, I saw, the "NO CAMERA" sign. It made me “what the what!” the mission was to take as many photos as possible and give them to you folks with solid descriptions to read, but the plot has been twisted, I guess. There were patrols put up in every sector, mostly elderly people though! I was lucky, I approached one with utmost care and respect and she understood the reason why I needed the photos, "4-5 photos, okayy?" she called out, "okey dokey, thank you very very very muchhhhh!", I replied.

Who knew, the Resting area was sharing the Entrance, with counters selling maps and souvenirs on both sides of it! To make it easier for you folks to understand, I sort of made a map out of the museum, besides that, allow me to be your tour guide, and let's start up the time machine.

One more step and I had a dilemma burst open right in front of me; left or right? I had no choice but to do the "eeny meeny miny moe" thingy I always do whenever I am sandwiched, and I got left.

First of all, It's a museum, no disrespect to all the museum pieces I won't be mentioning in a minute here, they are all stupendous, I really mean it, but some were way more outstanding than the others and I'll be talking only about the latter.

It was my first time taking notes and doodling a blueprint of a site I was visiting; I guess hongyy is getting more professional. I came up with my own tags for each section and blueprinted my own map of the museum, here is the final copy.

Take Left.

The Upper Left Sector 1 (ULS1), sounds cool, right? well... more sectors lined up, but first let's dig in a bit into this sector.

Teeny-tiny sculptures of the Buddha, the Ganesha, the Hevajra, all dated around the 7th-10th century B.C., well that's a long and a long time ago. Up right in front of my eyes was the Indochinese Peninsula in the Pre-Angkorian Era Map, our Khmer empire frontier was up until China, and I see no Thailand or Vietnam around, Champa, the ancient Indochinese kingdom was there, but just a bit on the edge.

Note: Strict Guard let no fotos.

Moving on to ULS-2, it got the YOLO outta me, the Vishnu couch, Vishnu in a sleeping position, half the body been cut off, aging back to the 11th century, a giant-sized bronze statue. I got to see ancient Khmer words, it freaked my brain out, I have no idea how it developed into today's words, it was just too divergent, but how kool it was was because of the fact that it was written on wooden and stone slabs, nicely patterned Shiva's baby footprints.

Note: Strict Guard let no fotos.

Sandstone-made statues of ancient people showed up right away as I head on towards, to the Mid Left Sector 1 (MLS1); some faces were wiped off, from the 6th century, that's like those from King Suryavarman II Era, those people, probably, were all a part of building the AMAZEBALL Angkor Wat; adding Bodhisattva, looks very KOOL to me, they call it Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara, but I saw about ten arms only, let's call it ten-armed Avalokiteśvara. Wikipedia sure helped me quite a lot in this part. The MLS1 suddenly stamped a warning on my forehead reading, "KOOL STUFFS ALERT", Vishnu taking the center with Rama and Balarama guarding the sides, powerful!

Note: Strict Guard let no fotos. Cameras allowed at the garden at the center of the campus though.

As if MLS1 was not enough, MLS2 was excitementing (my version of something more than exciting), the moment I looked up, photos that were probably taken in the 30s popped out of the sector and played ping pong with my eyeballs meaning amazeballed meaning super nice, Bayon, Angkor, Banteay Srey, they are classified B&Ws, by black and white (s), I mean classics; these photos were.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

Genesha, the elephant-like god, I recognized it right away, thanks to my Indian friend that gave me one tiny sculpture of him, he told me to tell him what I need, with a sincere prayer, if it's right for him to help, he will and I have given him a lodge in my wooden locker in my room.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

We are now at the Back Drop Sector 1 (BDS1), right away, we'll see stone plates (which probably were used as mounts on the external walls) with Vishnu on it, there's also this rectangular sandstone thingy with lots of tiny-sized Vishnu's face on it, no doubt he was or is one of the supreme leaders.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

Next to it came my all-time favorite history piece, Naga sheltering Buddha, the seven-headed snake, the big CEO. 

Another amazing piece coming up, it's the Brahmanic Traid, having the presence of Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, and I call them the executives. 

Courtesy: Nice Guards

Going through BDS1 to BDS2, there's this statue consisting Garuda, the bird-like god, and Naga again, the cobra king, giving the statue itself a very tough look. I got to see what a giant looked like as well, they're like us humans, but of course, sturdy and tremendous. Later on, the Fragment of pediments with ascetics and dancers, which is a very obvious piece of history we have here, revealing that our supreme gods liked them so much. The tales we learnt in our elementary school, Hanuman and Suvannamaccha, the love story of a monkey king and a mermaid.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

You gotta breathe deep in this sector, I had to; it’s the best sector to me.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

I found something really funny here, the name of this museum piece, Mythical Animal Bearing Reclining Vishnu, why I found this funny is that, at one point, I see no Vishnu being carried away, and this animal must have had a proper name, but it's just that they might not have had any idea what it was. Of course, everything here is very very old, no wonder some of them do not have heads, body parts, some with just the chest, I saw one, Varuna, the water god, on the Naga, he had no head, and it really amazed me by the fact that the historians could verify the most, which god is which. Many statues of Buddha and some other gods were at the center, but I didn't want to write about it because most of the statues were the same as the previous ones, it's only the time they were built that has changed.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

In BDS-3, Garuda appeared again, but this time, Naga wasn't there, I got to see the true self of Garuda; a beautiful bird. As I walk through the valley of the greatest recorded events, I felt the generation-changes, Eras kept ticking as I  walked from one sector to another; from the Suryavarman II Era to the Khmer Rouge, from the 6th century to the 80s, this bit of walking path and this bit of museum pieces held those years.

Courtesy: Nice Guards

Hongyy's mind had just been blown away. Blunderbuss 1688 appeared right in front of my eyes, folks, when you see it, you'll know you can't and won’t mess with him, he's the boss; here is the weapons section, weapons from many generations, used in wars, who knows if some had blood stains on it; spears, daggers, swords, arrows, even canons.

Up next came the Boat Cabin made of Rattan from the 19th century, it was probably used as a mode of royal transportation, and just in front of it was placed the Loom, it is a huge machinery, which you make clothes out of, push it front and pull it back, and again, and again and repeat until you get one. 

Moving on, the next piece, connected to the Loom were Ornaments, theatrical costumes, silk-works with gold linings making them as if made out of golden silkworms, patiently polished jewelries: rings, necklaces, bracelets, belts, crowns, and many more super shiny gold stuffs, the royals kind of stuffs, niiice!

Courtesy: Nice Guards

Coming up, MRS2 exposes King Norodom's time capsule, it's probably buried by his Majesty himself, for us the ones who were born afterwards, to see, to get a peek of what was in the past, the era he went through; many accessories from the nearby years, 19-20th century, nut cutters, containers, cooking pots, teapots, bowls, smoking sets and trays, of course! King smokes as well. The center of the Middle Section is sure big, I meant this in a very positive way, random stuffs mixed up, but I don't know I just love everything here; no disrespect, but there were rainbow color patterned Buddhas in their meditation positions, and I liked it very much, some came with reddish, yellowish, a full set of awesomeness; supporting it were the Preah Vihear models, these are temple designs, the standards, the classics. But wait, folks, as I mentioned, each and every section has its own speciality that barbequed the chicken out of me.

 Courtesy: Nice Guards

This section introduced Garuda, again, folks, this Garuda thingy just nailed it, it literally killed me, I meant by it's SHUPA SHUPA KOOL, wooden it is, the sharpness of Garuda, solid piece. 

MRS-1 holds records of the royal ballet, the Now-and-Then Gallery, trying to prove that our tradition and culture haven't changed a bit for the best, not even a nibble, and that, my friends, is a good sign, a success, we've succeeded in keeping it, safe.

Buddhas, with all his forms lined up, URS-2 is taken. I'm going to give a silly excuse for not writing about this part as much as the others is the fact that Buddha hadn't changed a bit of his personality, all his forms stayed the same, everything is neat and clean, Buddha stays Buddha untouched by the history.

Note: Strict Guard let no fotos.

Same as URS-1, small sculptures surrounding the path, making the ending a simple farewell to the visitors.

Museum was created by time, history literally means time itself, "EVERYTHING" as always, has TIME on its side, as an alliance, because without time, there will be nothing, without time, human won't be able to think, we need time to think, as there's no time for us to think, everything wouldn't have been accomplished, Thomas Alva Edison wouldn't have discovered electricity, and if there were no electricity, how would Joseph Swan have bothered to think about creating a light bulb, and if light bulbs didn't exist, would we have been able to see what we've seen, what we're seeing, what we'll see? 

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