Siem Reap | Epic!

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in an almost-real kind of coffee-shop, just drank a "watermelon and lime together in a shake", not sure what's gonna happen to Mr. Timmy.

It was a 'not-okay' ride on another not so VI (Very Important) kind of VIP bus, my neck hurts, my legs feel like they have been tied up for a long time and I was packed in a smaller than me space.

After checking in early in the morning, I napped a big bit in my three bed room in the guesthouse up until the almost - noon. I came along with two genuinely patient people. We came out for food, ended up eating wherever we wandered to. It started to rain and we could not wander around any longer and so I ended up eating more, we were now seated at the almost-real kind of coffee-shop I mentioned earlier.

The Siem Reap trip that I have been waiting for a whole year finally came true and it went EPIC as grand can be. I ate everything, every time, and everywhere.

The Pub Street was a nightly routine, I would go there right after the long unusual afternoon naps, either was a nap out of exhaustion or was just a nap out of freedom to do so. Happy Pchum Ben Holidays to everyone.

The muddy soccer field, the sound of lizards and geckos chitchatting at midnight, the live music concerts of the sleepless toads, the dormitory with the bunk beds, the un-lockable door, the rob-probable windows, the unkind stingy shower hose; that is only how I could describe the guesthouse I stayed at. It was great. That guesthouse named, Garden Village, about a half a mile away from the Pub Street, has been tagged by Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor.

On the way out of the guesthouse to the Pub Street, right by the main road-side, rite in front of a mart, there is this Pho Yong, a street food vendor with so much people eating and waiting for just a simple bowl of Pho, the Vietnamese noodle dish. The site was, still is unbelievable. It posed as if that was it.

To make things worse, I was denied thrice by this Pho Yong. First shot, they had run out of meatballs. Second shot, they would not give take-aways. Third shot, there weren’t any seat for me. Everyone was there; farangs, locals, other asians, Khmers from other provinces and I was not counted for. “Get a life”, I motivated myself.

I never gave up, and got my share of bowl and that was when the rain decided to rain a bit. No one moved though! People there seemed to care enough for their seats and the Pho that none took cover and showed respect to the sweet rain. Not to forget, there are many interesting places to eat almost anything just rite across the street into the Pub Street. We all so patriotically stuck with the Pho. And, I was so lost with the Pho that I did not even take a foto of it or the corner. 

Foto Courtesy: google

There was one signature thing that I didn’t do, and I still do not consider doing it any time soon; FEED OUR FISH WITH YOUR DEAD SKIN.

It’s not that I did not or do not have the soccer balls to do it, it’s just that I really did not want the fish masseurs to touch me at all. Just like one of my fellows that hates most of the reptiles, it’s not like lizards can scare him, it’s just that there will always be something in everyone’s life that we all dislike, it’s between the “scared of it” zone and the “I don’t like it” zone. I was lost in this case as well, I did not take any fotos of the fish masseurs. 

Foto Courtesy: google

It’s not my first time here in Siem Reap, my last visit was five years ago, I was too young to enjoy whatever fun that Siem Reap had to offer to me back then. I would still consider myself as a first-timer in Siem Reap, and as always, first-timers visit the best of the best, Siem Reap has to offer to us.

I tagged Angkor Wat with my second day in Siem Reap.

Angkor Wat gave me goosebumps. It is the real deal.

I woke up as late as routinely, “the sunrise of Angkor Wat” plan got absolutely denied, I just felt like Angkor Wat could not be running away, and so, I took my time.  

I tuktuk-ed all the way to Angkor Wat, and on the way was a ticket counter, but I did not get off, obviously because I am a Khmer. Just right when we were done there, there was a lady who we had to pass through with the entry tickets for my fellow expat compadres, so they showed the tickets, I didn’t have any as I did not need one and then the lady looked at me, “Ticket please”, she asked in a very practiced accent, “Nhom Khmer Ta (I’m a Khmer)”, I answered and she hit me on my right shoulder out of shock. I had my fishing hat on.

We reached the Angkor Wat, with the Angkor Wat style, taking fotos straight up, that’s how we did it! I’m not gonna say anything further, please check the fotos I took and see if you could see what I saw and felt there.

                   

Same applies for Ta Prohm.

I’m too young to talk about LIFE; but somehow, I’ve become friends with LIFE. Let’s just say that I see the Pub Street as something more than just a public street filled with colored lights. In Pub Street, I found life, I found the Banana Pancake.

Me eating and me describing the food are different, the last happens the least and I gotta say that the Banana Pancake has made its way to “HONGYY ALL-TIME FAVORITE FOOD”.

Saying that its taste is indescribable might be too much, it’s just a pancake, many would say. There are certain food in the world that I would want to learn to cook, and to be honest, it is one of them, that’s how much I liked it and liking it.

There must be a reason behind this best-selling snack in the Pub Street, the simplicity of both its look and its taste, making the wait very much worth it. The only thing that’s making them not relevant, is that they would appear only at night, but if you see it like I see it, then appearing only at night had made all the banana pancake vendors become slightly more special. It’s a fun mix as well, just like eating chinese buns and drinking coffee, the mixture of simplicity and koolness is indeed very hard to find these days, but there’s no doubt you’ll find it in the Pub Street.

I might sound like I’m exaggerating the whole thing just for the sake of the article, but it’s never like that, believe me, it was an extraordinarily crazy. There is something about simple things that catches the heart and soul.

I have willingly chosen not to upload any foto of the banana pancake. I would want you to find it by yourselves as and when you get a chance. Fotos say thousand words but banana pancake in the pub street speaks more….try it!....not just the banana pancake but the whole street, it is for the public.

Phnom Penh Tuktuks

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the TukTuk!

It is the most ridden ride in Khmertown.

How TukTuks in Cambodia came to be called as TukTuk?

The Internet just won’t spit it out as it usually does with my homework and all where it would give me all the answers straight up, not up in here as I try to research a bit about how TukTuks in Cambodia came to be called as TukTuk. The name “TukTuk” might have originated from Thailand, that is what I reckon after having read a bit on Wikipedia.

Bottomline, Word of mouth of the tourists, must be.

The Technical Part Of It.

Our tuktuk is different from others everywhere or other tuktuks everywhere else are different from our tuktuk. Wikipedia calls ours an “exception”, but I think it’s just one extra wheel, that is all. Also, others all around the world are usually factory-made, but ours is more of a locally customized and a by-product. A motorbike and a “Romork” (a Khmer term of a carriage), hooked up into one and we ride on that and that’s about it.

Value

To the locals. it’s more of a breadwinner. I mean we rarely take our own tuktuks. It is only when we have like a family of more than what a motorbike can carry and we also do not have  car that we call for a tuktuk.

Whereas, to the expats, our tuktuk is, most of the time,  the first Khmer experience. Tourists’ journey are always affected or influenced by the our tuktuk. From the airport to the city, from the market to the guest house, throughout their trip here in Cambodia, our tuktuk give the tourists its all. The first impression that our tuktuk (driver) makes will be the first impression of us to the tourists and I overheard elders say that first impression lasts long.

It could be cheating or helpful, well-humored or disrespectful, friendly or irritating, understanding or cunning; our tuktuk says it all how we all are. Most of the time, most of the tourists would not see it like I see it, but our tuktuk makes their journey complete; without it, there is no way tourists will be traveling as conveniently like they usually do.

The fact that our tuktuk would learn to speak English language is an obvious sign of how tourists also influence us, an exchange of what I would call culture and experience. In the end, there is only one thing the tourists and our tutuk care or should care to gain; Trust, nothing else besides it, and it’s priceless.

More than anything else, we need each other’s trust. If trust was Just A Thing, then, it wouldn’t have been taught again and again from generations to generations. Trust has been sewed into our hearts by nature itself. It’s just that most of us won’t open it up and use it. Even if we open up and use it, some of us tend to break it carelessly without knowing that without trust, World War III could have been a part of our history too. I would say that Trust makes the world works as it is today.

Our tuktuk would or may sometimes, hype up the fare a bit, maybe trick the tourists  a bit and do all the other things that might or will make us look bad but deep down there, I know and believe that we are good people because my mom tells me that i am a good person with a good heart and that everyone is good too and that I should have faith in all and more in myself.

I’m not saying all of it because I’m a Khmer and I’m on their side, nooo! it’s never like that. The fact that I’m Khmer makes me want to expose how it actually is like, our tuktuk have no intention of doing any harm, and I will blame it to something called Lust that we all somehow have.

I would like to take this article to apologize on behalf of our tutktuk out there for any inconvenience we might have caused to any tourist.

I would also like to request the respective people or organisations to work harder in making the lives of our tuktuk better.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the TukTuk!

The Phnom Penh Wat Ounalom

As I researched, Wat Ounalom is known to be the most important pagoda, the center of Cambodian Buddhism rather here in Phnom Penh, and also one of the few oldies in Cambodia. 

Wat Ounalom, built in 1422, rests in the great Phnom Penh Riverside, its neighbors comprises of The Royal Palace, The National Museum, and not so far away from our Independence Monument. 

Famous monks from across the country, prayers said through decades, they all started in Wat Ounalom. For instance, Samdech Chuon Nath who created the first ever Khmer language dictionary and wrote and composed our National Anthem started from here. Wat Ounalom is home to what people believe is an eyebrow hair of Buddha and a letter written in Pali.

As I reached there, from just across the street of the pagoda, the view I saw through my camera was neat, as in the positive kind of “too much”. 

The main gate was wide open, I walked in, no restrictions whatsoever and that gave me a good vibe about this whole article. First of all, I wasn’t feeling intimidated by the serenity of a pagoda of this status. Second, I felt like home, it was welcoming me. 

 For the first time, I was seeing the monks from a different angle. I saw them just like us, a bit more of silence involved though; else, they are just us.

As I switched on my Imagination mode, there seemed to be two different dimensions divided by a thin wall of glass, just like the ocean. The moment you step out of the pagoda’s gate, it’s an entire different world: loud, vehicles honking, Tuk-Tuk drivers interrogating if we need a ride, and somehow, even the weather is different. I roamed around the area taking photos and all, it was quiet and peaceful. There was a fraction of a crowd in there, but they did not sound like one, as if the pagoda can make everyone calm and mute the moment they get in. And I liked it a lot. 

I dare to say that I would love to live there, the calmness, the monks, the simplicity, the environment, literally no disturbing noise were made. To live with the Gods, sending prayers everyday, live like the monks; one day… why not?

As I got inside one of the halls, I did take permission, it was a big hall, not very big but would have easily fitted at least a hundred prayers. It was a wide open hall, doors and windows wide open and that felt great. As expected, a stage set up with numerous variety of Lord Buddha statues caught my eye. I bowed and showed my share of believe on him. There was an old nun who was making the blessed red color bracelets, she smiled as I walked in. She watched me GoPro the statues, and giggled solemnly. I wondered how her life would be like. 

I felt free and it looked like I was allowed to do what I came to do there. I sat down, looked around, took my fotos, took few more and few more, I felt no authority in there. None came to me and asked what I was up to. That really made me feel great. 

It was as if God was happy to see me and so, told all his monks to let me do my job. I was so close to the Gods that I could whisper my prayers to his ears and he would have gotten it all.

I also felt as if he was whispering to my ears, “hongyy, do your job nice and calm, take your time”. And, so I did; took this nice big frame. I took more, even took a panorama. How could one take a panorama shot of the inside of a prayer hall in a pagoda on a regular day? I did, it was a nice day to go see the God. I sat down again, looked around, took more fotos of him, didn’t take a selfy with him though, out of respect. There were a lot of boxes, it was hard to choose which one to go for,  so I randomly chose one and hoped that it will reach its purpose, the fastest. So I walked out of the hall, and I came across where the monks live, it was very decent, real, calm, and all the other things I would want in my place. I came out furiously hungry, looking for a place to settle down, and I ended up in a simple porridge vendor which served one of the most amazeball porridge I have ever had. I later checked the photos, and I gave the “not bad at all” face to myself, and I was glad I visited Wat Ounalom. 

A GOOD PLACE TO BE ON A SUNDAY MORNING.

Phnom Penh Delicacies

Why would we eat insects? But they taste damn good, how could we not eat it? Crickets, tarantula, water bug, ant, silkworm, frog, and et cetera. We human sure like eating. Of course it was because of the wars that made it all happened, the lack of food, and blah blah blah. Nowadays, human tend to want to make everything better, whether it’s good or bad, we will do it.  I ate some of them, and they taste incredibly good, but why would they only bring them out in the evening? The vendor told me that we gotta let them eat their three meals first, so they will taste great.

(KON-TES-LORNG), the water bugs, black and classic. Unique and rare, how to catch it involves critical mathematic thinking. They live underground, we need some very power attraction. We need a bucket fill with water under a light bulb, the illumination will attract the bug to climb on the bulb, and when it gets really hot, the bug will fall into the water bucket that will of course weaken their wings, and be trapped.

How to eat it? It looks too scary even to me, mom told me you gotta twist the head and the wing off first, which will taste very irritating if you happened to be brave enough to eat it. Then there’s this needle in the middle of the bug’s body which might literally choke you if you don’t remove it, according to mom.

(JEONG-RET), crickets; (JEONG-RET CHEMOLE), male crickets; (JEONG-RET DAIK), metal crickets. Crickets live underground as well, but it’s everywhere compared to the water bug. Why we eat it, is because of the smell, somehow, I dunno how too, but it smells good, I’ve never thought bugs would smell this good; plus the well seasonings, YUMMY! How to eat it is very simple, take off its head if you wish, if not, eat it whole; crunchy, crispy, like a dark Dorritos. 

(DOK-DEUR), silkworms, you know the worm which gives us silk to make clothes, that’s what we’re eating! I dun wanna talk about the price, but this thing costs. Silkworms have to be farmed, you won’t find them anywhere else. They’re the actual silkworms, but the second stage of being one. It smells like soil, the inside of it looks like a silk factory on the making, and taste like dumplings dough. It’s actually good in taste and better in looks. 

(AH-PING), tarantulas, they look like spider to be precise. Just all the other insect, it is attracted to light, and can be caught within a water bucket. It lives deep down the ground, drilling like an armadillo. It is weird to say this, but the best part in a tarantula is the eggs, just like a crab eggs, it taste buttery and nutritious, despite the fact that it looks the scariest among all.

 

(KRO-LON-TORN), the long-legged frogs. They live in the field, mostly the rice ones, they loooove (please read it as how it looks like) eating. And we loooove (please read it as how it looks like) eating them. In the rainy season, you’ll be seeing them a lot, in your backyard, the fountain, the garden, they’re everywhere; not jumping, but being ran over. The texture and smell is the same with the crickets, very tasty, you will feel buggy when eating IF you don’t look at it.

(PONG-KRUUCH), sparrow’ eggs; (PREAP), pigeons. The small birds you’ll get to see when you visit The Phnom Penh Royal Palace, a big flock of them literally live there. I dunno how to describe the eggs, like it tastes just like a chicken or a duck egg, it’s just that it’s shupa tiny. It applies the same for the pigeons, they taste like a miniature chicken or duck.

             CATCHING MORE...

We make Trash.

We make what we like from them. 

Call me crazy if I happen to find the trash as the origin of what we have in our hands. Call me unreal if I believe that we have failed to understand what is to trash and what is to preserve.

There is no age limit in making trash, everyone makes trash, starting from babies and the diapers they wear. We, teenagers are probably the ones who make the most trash out of everything, everywhere, some get two smartphones instead of one because he or she will look rich and kool, go shopping every week, changes clothes in the wardrobe because wearing it once makes it so old, can’t be worn again; all these unnecessary stuffs that some of the teens do are irritating in a way and also contains so much stupidity. The moment they bought it, it’d already become trash, sooner or later. It’s not just the elders who make trash, we can say that all humans do, and we cannot not deny that, it is a fact, and we can see it.

Trash has somehow got stuck as a part of everyone’s life, no matter wherever you go, whatever place you live in, rich or poor, neat or dirty, we all do make trash. From school to jail to plane to The White House to Angkor Wat, we all have trash bins, because we human cannot live without making trash, and we cannot blame anyone for that, it’s feels and looks like trash was meant to be with us until we die, then we ourselves will become trash. By how do a 14 years old kid like me say trash is always with us? Well, let’s open our laptop and find out, even technology has a trash bin, you delete it means you throw it away, you recover it means you recycle it, but there’s one difference about real life and the virtual world, it’s that when you permanently delete something for the system, it sure will vanish, but not real life, plastic can’t be deleted permanently, it will if we want to wait a millennium for a plastic bottle to be DELETED permanently. We cannot blame anyone for making trash, no one invented “The process of making trash.”, and it will not go anywhere, the only thing we can do is to reduce, I know there’s a quote that says “To prevent is better than to cure”, but in this case it is impossible to prevent, why? because I didn’t invent it, you didn’t, and God has no idea either. Unless in year 2050 or sooner, a group of mad scientists would successfully invent a potion which when you drip one drop to the trash and it will all vanish, which doesn’t make any sense to me unless it really happens.

Let’s be smart and reduce the consumption of anything that can pollute our Earth, we have 195 countries in this world, we do live differently, but one thing in common that we all do have and need is Earth, and there’s only one of its kind.