Bangkok has Pratunam has Food has Hongyy.

This Khmer New Year was taken over by my friends and teachers and Koh Rong Samloem, so, here's a chance for mom and dad to make it up; Thailand was a very niiice choice, what a lucky bastard, I am.

Pratunam, Bangkok,  an area filled with khmer-ity, I mean you could hear people speaking Khmer everywhere around there, Sok Sabay!

With every corner of every street waiting to entertain Mr. Timmy (my one and only tummy of all time), it had already sensed the options available and started to juggle and rumble and mumble the Pharrell William track, HAPPY;  all hail the food vendors, all hail Pratunam, all hail Bangkok, the Bangkok Food Carnival has begun.

I have to say "NO!"  if you folks thought that it's a holiday where I could literally browse around anywhere I want, eat any kinds of foods. Dad got called up for a health check-up; drinks too much, no exercise, very great business for the hospital, so is the carnival the side effect.

Time in pocket after the check-ups wasn’t going  to get me the eagles eye view of  Pratunam; this place is humongous, sorry folks, I'll do it proper next time;  surely gotta have to keep this one sweet yet short.

Bus ride for 12 hours, 12 friiikiiin hours, it killed the Welcome-to-Thailand vibe, gonna cry for a flight next time; reading the never-looking-to-finish  Mockingbird, literally ate the whole 7-Elevens every time we stopped by one; cool pop, chicken nuggets, sausages, sticky rice, everything they had had me; I then did release several Deadly Toxic Flatulence Air Bomb, which means "fart" according to Skyrex from Yahoo Answers, bravooo...! Sleeping wasn't illegal for me on holiday, but otherwise very illegal during workdays, so I slept and slept until I heard “Swadi Khaap”, and we checked in.

Folks, different but together, it is all in here, I get to see and meet and greet Muslim uncles and aunts for the first time, I mean we have many of them there in Pratunam and was very excited to get to know them. Running all forms of business there including my soft spot, the banana pancake on wheels; Pratunam seems to be all set for my this trip.

Creativity sure creates crazy stuffs, foods inclusive.

Namaste, they greeted and we are seated at an Indian restaurant, dad kicked off and randomly ordered some incredibly AMZEBALL items from the menu that smelled like Indian spices. Just to make sure dad looks good, I called India (not literally), I mean my dearest teacher, who is an Indian, and he Wikipedia-ed me about what we were just about to experience – Mela, Indian word for a color-full carnival.

Dads wish list from the IndianMenu:

Papdi Chaat, an Indian F1 aka fast food, with curd as the gravy with tacos alike wafers crunched all over, chopped cucumber and tomato fighting for the dominant taste against the sourness of the curd, definitely skyrocketed my appetite, chopped or mashed potatoes fill the gaps between the wafers with chick peas, always served sprayed with chili powder and tamarind pickle paste; dad got this one right.

Masala Papad, very thin, crispy, salted, peppered, moon shaped and moon-surface like, golden brown colored Indian starter, definitely a solid contender for my list of all-time favorites, sweet and sour, the best of the two souls collide, bringing in the I'd-like-one-more-plate feeling, the main course would have to wait for now.

Chilli Chicken, an old timer with a classic look and taste, it has since been listed in my all-time favorites rite after the arrival of my Indian teacher, with spices that stays hot-damn on the tongue making it reach out for some air every time I welcome one of the pieces and so the eruption begins and the fight between the spices and the toungue while my tummy awaits with his heart wide open.

Biryani, to a Khmer, it could only be just another Baycha.

The only differences would be that Biryani comes with a lot more variety of ingredients such as nutmeg, mace, pepper, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, coriander, mint leaves, ginger, saffron, onions and garlic (I wiki-ed, there was no way I would have dissected the dish and taken notes.). It is usually cooked in butter and a typical Indian restaurant would use home- made clarified butter. The smell is addictive as the color is. It comes in dark mean yellow color with spices lurking you to test how much heat your taste buds could take. The main ingredient that sparkles the spices is the meat which in most cases, are either chicken or mutton (the lamb).

Biryani, to a Khmer, it could/should not be just another Baycha.

Last but not the least, please welcome, the heavyweight champion, Gulaaaaaaaab Jaaaaaamun; the golf- ball sized but sometimes smaller, dark red, melts with sweetest syrup filled in as lava which leaks out when bitten as happily as I get whenever I see them, a definite reason to finish the main course as soon as possible.

Namaste!

All spiced up, we checked our to-do-list and dads check-up was up.

So, dad raised his hand and a taxi drove in. I heard from my bad friend, google that the taxis here often turn their if-you-see-a-cambodian-please-do-not-turn-on-the-meter-and-just-ask-for-any-price-you-like mode every time they see one; dad’s “Swadi Khaap” exposed us big time.

With some luck, we reached the Ramkhamhaeng Hospital, I would like to pay tribute to the one who named it, should have abbreviated the name into RKHH or something like that, I mean I just managed to learnt to pronounce my Indian teacher’s family name. Hongyy sounds so kool, rite!

Mom and Dad talked their way in for an appointment for tomoro just like Jimmy Fallon and Ellen Degenerous; my little brother, Bob and I, in the meantime sneaked into the mart at the hospital and robbed the food bar. I went for kimbab with a cold pop and my bob went for a hot dog with lemon juice. And dad wanted to call it a day with a  fine dining at a place called, The Fuji.

Shall we or shall not have supper? I guess we shall. It's been a long way getting down there but the beloved Japs were waiting to make up for it with a table well set for us. Nothing from them looks harmful but full of love and care and joy and happiness; from the dried to deep-fried to the fried to the boiled to the steamed to the roasted to the grilled to the smoked to the last but not the least, the signature, the RAWs, OMFG! Oh My Foodie God, lets tabemasu!

The ever elegant, Shoyu Ramen!

A toothsome dish, it is. It is definitely worth staring at the bowl of Ramen and asking how it does what it does.  The collision of finely chopped garlic and ginger that I felt while slurping in everything, the undeniable taste of simplicity at its best, perfect way to start a Konbanwa (Good Evening in Japanese) and I thought I heard the chefs shout out, “Tanoshimimasu!” (Enjoy in Japanese).

The Fuji Sashimi Bento Set arrives next. It literally takes up quite a space on the table.  A thoughtfully designed lunchbox, it is, made especially for the foodies and the foodiest, God bless them Japs who came up with this divine set. I wish if I could go to my school with this set and shout out, “I am 14 and my lunchbox has California Rolls, Takoyaki  & Tamagoyaki along with Fried Salmon and tuna and the Deep-fryers: crab sticks, sausages and chicken breasts.”

Note: For this menu, if you guys want to know in details, please wiki. I was well done and honestly just attacked all of it without Masterchefing it like Gordon.

I slowed myself down after the Bento and looked around while trying to unplug the food that got stuck in my mouth among my teeth and the jaws with my tongue. 

My digestive system works either just fine or more than it should be, I saw Fresh Sashimi taxing and I found myself putting on my seatbelt, all set to take off again.

This is the big boss, Respect!  It came in on its transporter, the wooden ship, tagging along are not only the Tuna and the Salmon but the Octopus and the Scallops too. This dish is as colorful as always as the Rio Carnival. And Crab Sticks are deliberately scattered just like the crew members at the Carnival for one of the same reasons, to take care of the kids.  If there were anything missing, them would be the fireworks and the drums and the trumpets. 

To me, how to eat is/should be as important as what to eat.

Step 1. Learn how to use chopsticks; the Japs will get pissed off if they see you with a folk

Step 2. Ask for the Wasabi, a must and other sauces as you wish

Step 4. Dip every bite in them sauce and Wasabi the way you put your feet in a cold swimming pool on a hot sunny day

Step 5. Please chew proper and if possible, smile as you chew as this could not be a bad day in anyways

Warning: Wasabi, looks peaceful with its green color and form, traditionally grated using a shark-skin grater (how cool is that!), is as aggressive as a hot mustard. Respect!

Happy Salmon Day, indeed!

Almost every dish had it, there came next, the Steak Version of Salmon. To many, it is a dish for the rich plates. To me, it is something that holds the best of the strings of my childhood memories. Otherwise, I don’t see it with an expensive price tag; I would always see from the fishermen’s side and tag it with life itself. Gramps used to buy me some and cook for me and those days would always end up filling me up with all the love and care that I needed.

Miso Soup arrived thick and strong with his pal, Dashi. Tofu and Wakame came tagged along, Tofu, as usual, spreading its scent while Wakame stayed quiet and sweet. I, as usual, showed my impatient-ness and attacked the Donburi, too soon too desperate only to end up gasping for air as Dashi literally burnt my taste buds, I had to call for SOS, gulped water as hurriedly as if I had found the oasis after days in the desert. So much for faking a tea specialist!

It was around 08:30 pm when we arrived at Fuji and there were crowds lined up then and there were crowds lined up when we left as if an iPhone was going to be launched. This place is another proof that customers come where quality is, not that the quality comes where the customers are. There aint no class division at this place and everyone with a heart is served as well as anyone else.  Fuji rocks, definitely a place to be deja-vu-ed!

Good Night!

Good Morning!

Needed to digest all the food that I have gulped in so far; headed to DreamWorld!

It is an amusement park in Bangkok that everyone in Bangkok and everyone who has been to Bangkok are aware of, and so it has all the rides one could expect at an internationally acceptable amusement park.

However, the only feature that it had that day that no other amusement park in the world would have had that made me understand the value of one of those moments that make us realize how priceless our families are;  to put my arm around dad’s shoulders and walk along and talk as informally as we could like a friend.

Headed for second phase of Checkup for dad since he took the full-body-health-check-up option, and what we did were same as usual as well, I went for Kimbab and cold pop, Bob went for hotdog and lemon juice, again, we call this Calori-fied Drugs, pretty addictive I guess.

We taxi-ed out of the hospital, google-translated myself and managed to pass on to the driver, the coordinates of a Cantonese restaurant at the Chinatown that a fren of my dad’s suggested.

The way in to the Chinatown was as crowded as I expected, people in lines waiting to grab seats and eats, both Farangs and locals (including other Asians). Noisy, smoky, humid, colorful, bright, crowded, festive kind of environment it had.

By the feel and the fragrance of the entrance, I was in no ways, not excited. And, dad seemed more so and went ahead with the menu and ordered and we ended up eating a Half-Cantonese-Half-Thai meal. It wasn’t that bad and it wasn’t that good either, I aint eating that again, dad.

On the contrary to how I felt on the way in, after the meal we had, I could imagine a poor chicken hit by a bicycle and why so it was crowded.

Taxi-ed back to the hotel, the driver wanted to show off and so we took the highway and so we got stuck in a great traffic and it was ten at night and so my brother and I made a wish for flying pigs to come pick us out of it.

Her Majesty demanded that she should have me get some water from the fountains of the 7Eleven and that should call the night. And, so I got her Majesty the water and was kind enough to get some Kimbab for the guard, Mr. Timmy, as he stays up the whole night.

I slept on the floor, Bangkok was overcrowded as always. That brought me back to reality, her Majesty became my mom and the floor became the bed.  The day had me all and the pillow had me all too, I drooled all over it. Mom joked, “It rained pretty hard last nite, poor pillow!”.

Good Morning!

All came back to senses late; Dad, to my surprise, let the Sun win for once.

We woke up to the classic Thai breakfast with the star, Thai noodles in thick broth, deep-flavored hand-made noodles. 

I typed, “We need to get a bus to the Aquarium.” in the google translator. 

Bob has been nagging his best for it and so he shall get it and so we spent the most of the daytime at the aquarium. I have been to few of the best of the aquariums the South East Asia holds and so, this aquarium didn’t excite me as it did to Bob. I would rate it 5 out of 10 plus 2 for seeing Bob that excited was worth standing by and keeping up with him.

The following evening was going to make my trip, only God knew.

Good Evening!

The Banana Pancake Guy (BPG) and (H) hongyy's conversation:

The moment when he caught me staring at his pancake.

BPG: hey hey hey... Shupa Di-li-shoes (super delicious) pancake, 40 baht, 40 baht...

H: hellooo, can you please gimme three banana pancakes?.. (*whispering to myself, one for mom, two for me), okayokay, gimme three please.

BPG: okokok, three? okokok, pi-lise weight (please wait)...

H: *smiles like an idiot, probably was too excited to see Mr. Pancake again, soooo emotional, heheh.

BPG: *ignored me and CONCENTRATION MODE ACTIVATED

H: *waiting eagerly like a dog with its tail swinging 360 degrees,  staring at its food being cooked right in front of him

BPG: ohh... no more banana, wait here ok? I go to 7Eleven and buy, ok?

H: no noo nooo neeeed, just get me what you have left, hehehe.

BPG: sorry ahh Sir! I'll add one extra piece of dough to the pancake to make it fair, 40 baht sir, I dun want take much money from tourist.

H: *thinking real hard, this guy is actually very niiice, kool kool; alright ….alright, that's khooo (cool in british accent).

He took around 3-4 minutes flapping and whirling the dough, 2-3 times more of banging the eggs and spreading them all over the pancakes.

BPG: extra eggs for you too, hehehe, you ah (are) my last customer, thank you.

H: thinking real hard again, woh this guy is no doubt a kool guy for a street vendor, hmm... (sign of hardcore appreciation); oh oh, niiice, niiice, thank you too for the eggs and all, Thailand has some classic late-night snacks, *thumbing up for him.

Can I take a picture of you?

BPG: why not? sure…sure you can.

So I took his photos and decided to put it as a cover for this article in the website, he deserves it.

Certain times bring together certain people at the same place though a certain thing. Banana pancake has been an amusement to me since my first KPS trip with my teacher and it has followed me here to Pratunam too.

Deja vu; things, in some ways, seem as if they happen as if they have been planned from years ago. And simple kind acts make these things worth talking about.

I haven't met him before and he hasn't either and we bumped into each other over a banana pancake. The greeting, the simple conversation over what I wanted and what he wanted to offer and what I got which was more than the money i paid for, i wondered if he does that to all or i was the customer he chose to impress; in both the cases, i am the one being served and i couldn't have thanked him enough for what he got me that day, one more reason to believe in humanity.

This is the last night in Bangkok.

The latter half of the evening went as simple as it could be, simple dinner and early to bed. Our bus back to Phnom Penh was scheduled at 02:00 am and mom had her Mommy-Alarm set. Waking up to the midnight alarm was another story, I could almost use tooth picks to keep my eye lids up and open.

Checked out of the hotel and got on the bus only to find out that the bus was super nice with very stiff seats, nice not-working-ac set in “lukewarm” mode and we had almost 12 hours to burn in it.

I stayed focus somehow and continued my deep meditation and closed my eyes. 

Everest climbers wake up to Mt. Everest while hongyy woke up to the boarder of Thailand and Cambodia, Poi Pet; see you soon Cambodia. The bus from Poi Pet to Phnom Penh was the best ever 7-hours-bus ride I've ever got on to, three stops as precisely as I would have wanted, breakfast with Bay Sach Jruk (pork chop rice), lunch with tons of various Khmer dishes with some I could not even pronounce their names, and a snack station selling coffee, good lord, one of those and I was up and running, I mean I ended my meditation mode and woke up wide open and read a bit.

We arrived home around 05:00 pm due to the halts we made, to be precise, we tuktuk-ed back home safe and sound, but the worn-out-ness struck the moment we got home. Dinner followed with beef noodle soup with extra meatballs from a nearby food vendor; no more hustling!

I got into my room with mixed feelings, yet another trip has ended and so, where to next?

Good show, Jolly good show.

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.