hmmm it's been damn long since i last posted. shall post abt my Cambodia trip(:

wanted to do a day-by-day recount but it'll be quite boring, so i shall take only the more exciting parts(:

the kopitiam in the shopping mall requires customers to buy coupons and use these coupons to exchange for food.
quite an interesting idea, but abit redundant, like, why waste paper?
then we got our SIM card which is our only connection with the outside world><
then it was a 5hrs ride to Prey Veng! D:

first day in school was fun! played icebreakers+station games with the grades 1-6, and the preschoolers.
the kids are damn cute!!
as usual, there are the ultra kawaii kind like siew mai,
and the ultra cool, no-smile type like hagao aka david(:
and also the bullies, like this boy who always shouts and sort of abuses them><
and also the beauties! girly girls like sophia who like to tie long hairxP
had a really good bonding session with the children, they are really open and very welcoming.
it's pretty obvious that they are used to visitors coming in, i heard just 6mths before we went, there was another YEP group there too.

i was quite apprehensive abt my lesson with the grades 4,5,6.
but it turned out fine cos they're really really responsive!
you can tell who are really smart and who are interested in learning as well as who are just attending the lesson physicallyxP
there's this smart-ass kid who answered everything that i asked, initially it was okay, but he began hogging the attention so i started to ignore him><
he got abit pissed, i could tellxP

then there's this boy called Kla (shit i forgot his real name><)
who's very playful though he can be quite serious when thinking abt answers to my qns, i think this is pretty sweet(:
he was quite touchy though, some of the EAGLE girls dun really like him><
he likes to hug guys for no good reason and very suddenly.
haha now i think of it, many of them like to do that too(:

there's another boy called sophea, who has problems controlling his bladder><
anger din know and she went to hug him on the 3rd day of teaching HAHA!
it's really touching to know that no one really discriminates him just because of his condition, though he did get bullied by that bully i mentioned above.
when we played the icebreakers, during one of the games, we had to sit in a circle and someone will start the game by placing a packet of tissue behind someone else's back. the latter will then chase down the former until he catches him or the former takes his seat.
the rare thing is seeing the older kids letting the little ones play and slowing down just to let them win the seats((:
it'll nvr happen at the Singapore orphanage we went to during pre-trip><

DAVID AND SIEW MAI WERE FREAKING DAMN CUTE WHEN THEY WERE RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there's a boy, with 招风耳, he has a super sad story..
apparently, he was found in a rubbish bin when he was just a few months old and he was covered all over with ants..
his parents abandoned him.. fortunately, he was found and sent to the orphanage..
many of the children there actually do have parents, just that they chose to put them in the orphange.
he's one of the most guai children over there, whenever the other children are playing, he'll choose to study and do his hw.
he was also often bullied by other kids for not having any parents>< the lady(one of the children but grade 12) who told us the story is very protective of him, and takes extra care of him, helping him stop the bullying whenever she's there.
i'm just glad that the kid has found a home and will be able to have a future with the education he'll get in Hope Village Prey Veng (HVPV, orphanage's name)

one of our main highlights of the day, other than the wifi the school hasxP
is the lunch hour(:
the lunch is usually cooked by the orphanage, either by the house parents or by the children.
and it's GOOOOOD. they actually cooked my favourite kind of scrambled eggs!
with meat and long beans((:
haha whenever there's veggie, anger would not eat at all, and she ate like super little for every meal-.-
after lunch, we'd go visit the mama shop outside which sells coconut, sugarcane, soft drinks and all kinds of snacks(:
initially wq wont let us drink the sugarcane, and the coconut was never cold enough, so i din rly enjoy the drink><
but after a few days, i insisted on getting the sugarcane, and he relented.
it was the cheapest (S$0.30/packet) and the sweetest sugarcane i've ever drank!!!
and it's damn cooling cos there's alot of ice in the drink <33!
we would also go to the market to shop for more drinks, snacks, souvenirs, slippers and even shoes! many of our shoes cui over there><
some of our favourite snacks include the noodle snack(bacon/spicy), the creamity (panda/choc/orange) and the starfish thingy(it's actually similar to the butterfly flour-y thingy in Singapore)!

a group of us, with the translators, would usually go to the market in the morning.
then in the afternoon, we'd start cooking for dinner.
luckily Rusydi bought like dno how many cans of pre-cooked chicken of many different flavours, then our protein source was settled.
all we had to worry abt was the veggie(:
we tried to cook soup one day but it was fail, cos too much water and not enough time and gas to make the ingredients really soft and the soup sweet.
we also had this scrambled eggs with luncheon meat(canned) which tasted quite nice, despite the saltinessxP
one day, we had some curry chicken and cos we always have leftover baguette from breakfast, Rusydi came up with the idea to use a thin film of oil to heat up the baguette(cut) and then use for dipping into the sauce.
BRILLIANT idea man! yummy!!

throughout the 12days that we stayed, the girls' dorm was infested with many minute little bugs, that were attracted to the light. cos we dumbdumb, left the lights on when we should've switched them off><
in the end, for the first few days, we were quite hardworking and we cleaned up the living room after breakfast, doing stuff like sweeping+mopping+pouring water all over the floor><
something worse than a bugs-infested floor was having a WET bugs-infested floor-.-
the girls nvr really squeeze dry their clothes after they washed them and cos we hung them in the living room overnight to dry, the floor was super wet every morning><
hence the need to pour water on the floor..
haha after a few days, we got tired of the routine hard work and decided to be cleverer.
we only switch on the kitchen lights and one light in the bedroom, leaving the living room unlit,'cept for the light from the kitchen(:
the situation was better though bugs still came, we nvr mopped the floor again after thatxP

the toilets there were.. backward..
it's the kind that you do your business, then you use a small container used for bathing to pour water down the toilet.
to quote huiquan: 'it feels like i'm just diluting it'><
then xiaohui and anger quite funny, they asked if we still can do big business.
xiaohui best, she went over to the GUYS' dorm just to shitxP
thing is, we must do it such that it went down slowly and did not get stuck><
at night, we tend to gossip (abt wq mainly) and htht (learned abt Lin and Goh and CY)or watch movies.
we watched Protege and 13 going on 30.
the latter is boring, protege is nicer(:
but got this part super paiseh>< a sex scene where the noise level was quite high..
then it was not exactly the most appropriate content to watch with EAGLE girls + one EAGLE guy =P

we made and packaged soaps while we're there too!
it was fun, and i actually recognised some of the chemicals from 'impact of chemistry on society'! xP
we had to scrap the soap into shape before packaging it.
then we went to buy items made by the children there, including soap and earrings(:
the earrings are really pretty and unique(:
i bought 3! one for regina and 2 for myselfxP
bought lots of soap for my relatives too.
we had a hand in making baguettes too! the hot and just out of oven ones are the BEST!! we totally koped like 5 baguettes><

the soap distribution was DAMN HOT.
the sun was unrelenting, there was an obvious relief when we entered the sheltered areaxP
we had to learn four lines which mean good morning, we're from Singapore, these soaps are for you and goodbye.
jom reap su-er, kh-niom mopi Singapore, ni sab-poon sen-rub nia, jom reap lear.
funny how all the cows seem to be quite scared of YX, when he's wearing his sunglassesxP
the first one totally peed on the spot and then broke free of his rope and, avoiding YX who's standing pretty close, ran one whole circle to go to the back of its housexP
another peed too, and peed for like a full minute or two>< anger took pics!
hui quan and i totally stayed away from YX for fear of incurring the wrath of the cowsxP

learned how to sign-sing 'Home'!xD

went construction for one day, did alot of hammering in the morning!
it was fun while it lasted, lunch was delicious!
but then came after-lunch tiredness, i totally nua-ed for the whole of the afternoon, being in a bad mood and not being productive at all.
it was only when Rusydi hui quan and i started gossiping did i 'revived' xP
was quite proud of our final product, a sturdy and well-constructed house for a whole family((:
it was a petty that i was only there for one day, but i really enjoyed myself!(:
they made a pretty sign on a piece of wood to indicate our contribution, pics on fb!(:

it rained super heavily on our last day being in the orphanage,
and the lorry leaked like crazy, so in the end we were still drenched and i had to protect my laptop and so i totally bent over it. kena bitten by a vicious ant then-.-
we did the algorithm march and the frenship dance with the kids and did some pretty zai formations on our own!

R&R
was fun! first meal out of prey veng was fantastic! had milktea bubble teaxP
did quite productive shopping on the first day, bought a pair of jeans for USD$6! that's my best purchasexP
then bought cambodian shirts.
on the subsequent days, i also bought many many souvenirs for my family, smugglers and tingwei, including two pretty scarves for my and tw's mothers(:

went to the Toul Sleng Museum where many pple were killed and tortured during the Pol Pot Regime. only 7 survived to tell the story><
displayed the prisoners' photos, torture tools and place of torture.
then went to the Royal Palace, not much inside, mostly not allowed to enter.
there's this flag that will be raised if the king's in the palace, and lowered if he's out, cool.
the jade Buddha in the Silver Pagoda was really pretty((:
went clubbing on the first night!!

the club there is very different, we took a tuk-tuk to the club, SPARK.
it's probly cos it's damn big, that it's damn empty too, only a handful were on the dancefloor when we were there. funny thing was, they were playing the HBO channel on this big screen in front O.o
they have a live band too, with the singers taking turns.
the singers were even younger than us!! oh ya, they dun check our IDs when we enter the club O.o
there were random intermissions when the DJ would just ask everyone to get off the dance floor and slow music will start playing-.-
we saw this little kid who's damn short and small size, he totally look like he's only 12><
we drank a bottle of Johnny Walker, Black Label for USD$90!

we also went to take a boat tour down Mekong River which was basically quite boringxP
went Russian mkt and bought SUPER lots of stuff-.-
then it was 6hrs ride to Siem Reap, during which i was burned to crisp man!
i totally had to change seats cos it was simply too hot to be sitting by the window-.- the aircon SUCKS!!
had abit of a fever that night but ate panadol and was fine after that(:

third day's exciting, we went to Bayon Temple (my fave) with all the huge pillars with four Buddha faces facing each side.
took a kissing Buddha photoxP
went Angkor Wat after that, the walk into the temple was freaking long and unsheltered all the way, so we were totally just walking under the burning sun-.-
there's this statue of a king who had leprosy and hence the terrace it was situated is known as the Leopard King-.-
i took a photo with a horse! it trembled when i touched itxP it totally look like a robot horse that could only blink its eyes, from the way it doesn't move at all!

went for massage that night and it was.. interesting and ticklish..
YX told us his story where the masseurs were massaging him and his fren and then, when they reach the inner thighs, the fren started bursting out in laughter and hw followed. he said, if he suddenly laugh very loudly, we would all know where the masseur is massagingxP
then i got reminded of the story when she was massaging my inner thighs, i couldn't contain my laughter at all!!
hhaah i affected Jiemin tooxP

okk that's it, slping liao.