The Face of Cambodia 1

this is the face of cambodia, let me take u into the wonders of the land, lets start with the beer, it's Angkor, it's lite, it beats water


this is the imperial palace (i think), where the controlling forces have a nice view of the river and everything is clean and dandy, u even see alot of white ppl around, making u feel all the more safer.

this is their central park, where if you're a giant u can just look down and tell the time, again its quite beautifully landscaped, there is lush greens, sand blasted statues and of course......


......homeless locals who dont bother as much to run around or play frisbee, they rather get some shut eye since thinking about life is too painful.


and if the pain is overbearing, u can always get ur local stash of happy stuff on the street or restaurants that are inspired by amsterdam

The Van Diaries Day 4/5/6

we get some breakfast nearby the guesthouse


soupy noodles again for me, as the rest had fried rice

pretty good overall

and of course i had to have my coffee

the group continued to discussed about life, politics and stuff while occasionally watching Shoalin soccer on the tele

dubbed in cambodian

and whenever they dub it, u can only hear the dialog, u cant hear the sound effects, music, whatever


but its still entertaining


so off to the famous angkor wat

this baby was huge, i wont waste time explaining how this thing looks like, u better read it off the net.

as we passed thru the first gate, it was nice and cloudy, so we decided to quickly get to the main area, but just as we touched the stone road it started to scorch, as in we needed to repent for something before we entered the sacred temple.

overall, its a damn peaceful and quite place, a fantastic place to reflect on life, the use of light in the architecture is the main star. every corridor, walkway was beautifully lit by the sun thanks to numerous windows.

tons of buddha heads and murals were stolen or destroyed, there is nothing much left except the intricate carvings on the wall.

all the stones are fine after years of aging, it reminds you how time flies yet great things live on.

to reach the top we had to climb some steep steps, pretty dangerous seeing that there aint even any paramedics on standby. we were told that there was an easier way up via railings, but we couldnt find it.

so only after we made the trip back down did we see a long line of old ppl on the right way up.

still alive, so it was a good experience.


after that we headed of to Angkor Thom, the one you see on tomb raider and shit, this was a much more interesting and older temple, seeing how the roots of these giant trees have become part of the structure, transforming it.


then rushed to another temple up the hill to get a full view of the place, again more steep, slipery terrain, but it was kinda worth it, if the skies were clear that is.

we wanted to get like a good sunset shot, but it was just too overcast, so we just watched the loads of japanese tourist taking photos and looking at the wrong direction of the sun, since there was a reflection that is.

the rest of the day and the next is kinda of a blur to me already, i dun really know which took place when.


i know i had a cambodian haircut for like 2USD, if ur local u can get it for RM2, my boss told me to be careful because AIDS was rampant, and u never know how clean these guys are with their razors.......but the barber i went to was a friend of our guide Mendy, and his shop is easily ten times more cleaner than the indian barber i usually end up in.


checked out the bangsar area of siam reap, pretty decent but was too tired to drink and party.

checked out the local markets, bought the usual stuff ppl usually buy in thailand.


the highlight of the journey would be the fishing village off siam reap, dunno what is called but it was next to the tallest hill ive seen in cambodia thus far.

the whole time we were working, surrounded by poverty, we didnt let it affect us, but now when we have nothing to shoot, the pain sets in.

houses just off the river by a foot, the size of my room with a whole family living in it.

women and children bathing themselves on the main road where a few water pumps lay.

cook, shit, play in the same areas.

hard faces, happy faces, this is not the best places to be living in the world.

as shitty as malaysia is, we worry on the trivial, these guys are just glad they arent starving,

we eat like pigs.



as we travelled back to phnom penh in the morning, another 7 hour bumpy ride staright to the airport.

i know someday i'll be back, and i hope things are better seeing that at one time cambodia was the model city of south east asia, a place where singapore came to learn how to build a city, but it all went up in smoke thanks to the continual disregard of the poor.


everybody deserves a basic standard of living,

we must not turn our back on those who need it the most.

The Van Diaries Day 3

wake up, get a cold cold shower on tiles stained by the laterite, still quite clen though, just coloured


off to our real work, before that breakfast

some chinese-like noodle beef soup thingy with livers and such

the noodles were like pan mee only green, and it sweetened the soup

not too bad at all.......had more coffee of course


took a stroll around Snoul, shooting some cutaways. there was a street market that we never bothered even stepping into

lotsa motorbike taxis, small horse carts carying rocks and other construction material

a huge anchor beer billboard, and the locals pronounce it as "angkor" making it clear why it has a strong foothold in these parts

see a huge satelite dish, probably where all the cable is coming from,


and lotsa lotsa red dirt and mud, lots of it.


so after breakie we head to the village of ksem krao, luckily only 20 minutes from snoul, so our arses didnt have to hurt on the road.

as you'd expect,more flat land, animals, and wooden houses

we reached the school site, its almost 70% done structurally, a band of kids in uniform (the first ones ive seen) all hanging around to be on camera, seeing that it was still school holidays.

got a tour from the headmaster who looks like my age, there was about 4 classrooms which will be solar powered, and there will be internet via the motorman system

THE MOTORMAN SYSTEM
-cambodian kids start a search on an engine and save it onto a disk
-a man on a motorbike comes and collect these disks and brings it back to the towns with internet, preparing 10 different possible searches
-the man rides back to the village to update the schools computers
-pretty neat for emails and porn but not to good for MSN


they have toilets, a field for planting vegetables so they can have recess fresh from the farm.

and of course a modern day well pump. its a really nice looking thing, all new and clean, u can push the handle with ur smallest pinky and water from the nearby swamps will come pumping through

but the malaysian donors decided to drink the swamp water on camera to prove that it was clean....even to the shock of our local guide.......he must think malaysians are one crazy bunch


after the interviews we decided to head back to snoul interview the district education officer and work was virtually over, with another 3 days left.

so what else is there to do in cambodia?

the angkor wat of course! not a bad idea, i thought i wouldnt be able to see this architectural beauty, but since its only another 7 hours away and they wanted to leave like straight away, and our arses would hurt even more.............its better than rotting in snoul.


so back in the van with our trustee driver Han, dats his name, not coz i suddenly remembered, but because he msg me recently.

so han and his millenium falcon took us off to a snails pace towards Siam Reap.


road,road,road,road,flat land flat land flat land, animals animals

then they decided to take a shortcut! im never happy to haer something like that, since we aint even on a decent road anyway.


so Han takes us into a gigantic estate, where u couldnt see anything now but rubber trees and an even lousier road, i mean single path where some busses even passed thru.


and we even get held up by dumb goats blocking the whole road, it took about another hour just to get out, and u can see from the drivers face that he wondered whether it was actually worthwhile, coz there were several forks in the road and i guess he just guessed most of the way.


road road road nite time, frightening road road road then small but rapid vibrations!

some weird mini humps.......dat could only mean one thing


CIVI-fuckin-LIZATION!

we had arrived, we put up at a neat guest house, we looked for food, we ate, we slept like how we slept on most of the journey there, except without any vibrations!

The Van Diaries Day 2

get up to the sound of my monotone alarmclock-handphone

head to the breakfast area, i think it was 5USD for some crummy eggs and toast, but the coffee was satisfying,

the view was elevated, and this was probably the high-life for people around here.


WE head off to see the city, on our trusty toyota van


went to a couple of markets, squatter areas, riverside, all for the same purpose

to shoot all the poor naked children selling just about anything from birds to drinks

the most enterprising were the kids near the riverside

they would sell birds to be freed, and some flowers and fruits


they even jumped into the dirty river,

actually they somersaulted


they would carry each other and keep jumping in and coming out and jumping in

so we could get our shots, but i guess they were obviously showing for tips


mike gave them something for their efforts, like a couple of bucks

and 1USD goes a long way over here,

maybe the world should follow their model

a buck for all ur needs, food,clothes,entertainment


so after seeing the capital, we start our 7 hour journey to a town call Snoul

our base to head out to the schools in the outskirts.


the roads are single-laned, dusty, packed, kinda like Malaysia in the 80s

not roads, my mistake, their highway

and they have 2 major ones flanking the Tonle Sap, and i'd be travellin both at the end of the experience.


back to the journey,
it kinda starts when we pass the 1st bridge outta Phnom Penh, dunno what its called

straight away u see hordes of cars,vans,motorcycles,bicycles on both lanes

the vans take the cake stacking ppl up the roof, sometimes even motorcycles

hell even the motors could squeezr about 4-5 ppl, all sitting sideways like the Vietnamese


many restaurants on the road, even stalls selling tons of french loafs, really good stuff

with all the good food,we decided to stop where they sold spiders,frogs among other stuff

and me of course devouring a huge spider and half a mini-frog......once you've had an insect the rest are pretty much the same

the frog wasnt too bad, only later on i would realise where they'd collect them from....


after that we kept driving and driving and driving and driving and driving and driving

the whole place is flat, the tallest thing were sea coconut trees

kampung houses all around, paddy fields, buffalos actually resting int the water hiding under giant lotus leaves.


cows,cows,cows, lotsa dogs, naked kids, poor kids, everybody is filled with the dirt of the road

every driver has a surgical mask on

and they happily sell corn amongst other stuff hanging of the racks exposed to the laterite

just slap on some hot butter and it pretty much solves everything, I should know.


so we keep driving and driving and driving......and damn thats only like the first 2 hours

cant sleep, the road is too bumpy, make KL roads feel like a formula 1 track


we drive till the sun goes down, and u cant really see it happening coz of thick overcasts all around


its night, there are no street lights, you just hope that the driver doesnt kill us all, as everyone drives in the middle of the road until uncoming traffic beckons

and WE dont get any more comfortable as our guide Mendy informs us that road accidents has just overtook AIDS as the number one killa in cambodia


i shut my eyes and ask god to forgive all my sins


so after seven hours we finally arrive to this dark town, and we get set up in the best place around

Lyna's guesthouse, equipped with a 14 inch tele, cable, air-con, cold cold cold showers, and a decent bed

everyone else seems to be living in some wooden house that is red from the surrounding mud and dust.

we grab a late bite, good sour fish soups, interesting deer bones (the meat had finsihed) veggies and durian (really tasty ones)


back at the room i doze off watching assault on precint 13th on HBO as i decide not to off the TV to ward of all the surrounding insects.

The Van Diaries Day 1

the airasia flight was delayed again

...typical

couldnt see much from the plane on approach to Phnom Penh, very overcast skies, dunno whether it was rain clouds or just plain haze


by the time we cleared customs, it was already dark with a slight drizzle

and yes we had met our subjects earlier at the LCCT

Ezer and his assistant, forgot his name


they run internet portals ranging from travel to dating (supposedly doing very well)
so this guys decided to build a school in the outskirts of Cambodia for 20k US out of their own pockets

and so me, my boss mike and colleague jeremy decided to shoot a doco for them for free

but mike had some other intentions also...


back to the Phnom Penh airport, we met up with our guides Mendy and the driver Tan or something like that

at first i thought they were just the cabbies, but being driven in a Lexus 4wd, i figured they were the hired hands.


off to our hotel, the royal golden something something, facing the river where all the tourist hand out

couldnt see much as things were pitch dark, but its kinda like driving thru bangkok, only with more older buildings and less dense. no jams at that hour.

only thing i remembered was that there were a shitload of clinics/hospitals/pharmacies

and huge signs like "DOnt take weapons!" as suppose to our Tak NAk campaigns.


reached the hotel, didnt look like there was anyone living in it, got into a lift built for 5 cambodians and could only fit 3 malaysians

room was pretty decent, cable had more channels than astro, and most importantly ESPN,

i didnt have to scarifice premiership action, but that was only for the night.

sprayed some anti-perspirant while waiting 4 the others to bath and shit


went out for some grub

all mostly small restaurant/pubs, all full of white ppl , kinda like Khao San

stop at a place, had Khmer food, kinda like vietnamese/thai.chinese

vegetables, chicken, soup, the usual fare.

it all looked quite bland, but once u taste it, its pretty darn good

had their local beer Angkor, tasted as lame as Leo beer

little did i know how the Wat connected with everything in cambodia

so continued to talk politics, business, trivia and shit with our new group

the usual stuff

went back to the hotel, saw the matchess, reading scored againts MU, i fell asleep