this night was a busy one. had many things to do suddenly. the pain of last minute work is back. it has failed me this year many times, hope it doesnt now.
i realised that cca orientation day was just slightly more than a week later and i still have not planned anything at all.hence, i started running through all the things i need and made calls to reconfirm them. the sribbled points i made all over a piece of paper were made worse by my bad handwirting. at least i'm relieved that it has overwritten my sadness about the x-country team.
the cross team was deserted because of one main reason: CMI. why? due to our low fitness level. i had this knee injury for weeks and i didnt realise the importance of it till a week ago. this time trial woke me up and made me do something about it instead of just stoning and thinking that it would be fine the next day. unfortunately, it wasnt enough. i just cant believe the fact that i was depressed in running thrice this year. the first one was when ben and js stopped training for x-country early this year. next was f***ing up my 1500m in combined schools and now, the team is gone. well, on the brighter side, at least everyone can train individually instead of pushing themselves so hard and yet just to help others.
we live again to fight another day; and may tomorrow be that day.
- isaac.
10:16:00 PM
heres some pictures. there is a aircon spoilt by my sis, barb wires to prevent sucide of people, the steep stairs, the tree growing on the temple, the ang kor wat, the moat of ang kor wat, the barren lands of the outskirts, and the place where the victims of genocide were buried.
- isaac.
10:27:00 PM
back from cambodia and damn was it fun. was back on the 16th but time wasnt on my side.
day 1-arrival at siem reap
it was just a 1h50min ride from singapore to siem reap. hence, i just listened to my mp3 for the whole ride while i tried to catch some sleep. once we touched down, we were greeted with sweltering heat. the cool thing was that we had to alight from the plane and walk to the airport, just like budget airlines. after so, we went to find our guide and we were on our way to the silk factory. there, we saw them any processes involved in producing and manufacturing silk. the workers there used only very simple machines. after lunch, we went for a boat ride out the the lake in the middle of cambodia. on the way, we saw people living on floating houses and very young children rowing boats from place to place on their own. amazing. heres a picture of the floating houses.
after the boat ride, we went to the national museum. we saw some performances before i forced my parents to go walk the judgment trial. it was pretty scary as there were onli 2 grps of people inside the tunnel. we walked along the tunnel and looked around at the same time. the ambience was dark and scary. once we crossed the bridge to the other part of the tunnel, a man came wearing a ghost suit and a mask. my father and i saw him first; we started taunting him to come over and disturbing him. i ran up to my mother and sis to tell them that theres someone behind. my tone must have been so scary that they started running once they saw him 'float' over the bridge. i ran along too, leaving my father alone behind. he realised it and also ran to catch up with us in case we lose each other. it was so much fun!! running away as if we were in a movie. once outside, we took some photos
day2- visiting old temples and angkorwat
we woke up very early that day as my mother wanted to be earlier than the large tour groups so that we can more space to move around and take photos. we visited old temples where the king used to go to pray. after that, we went to the temple which trees grew on. very large trees grew over the temple and its roots went through the gaps of the structure. that place was rather fun for me. jumped from rock to rock instead of walking on the path. next was the angkorwat. it was a super big temple. it has two walkways. one to the first gate and another to the main temple. the scenery there was beautiful. the angkorwat has 3 levels, the lowest to the highest. the highest was really high. the steps leading to the top were very small and the incline was steep. hence, instead of walking up, everyone climbed up. up there, the scenery was great and the place was cooler. there was a contant wind and we felt cool despite the heat.
day3- arrival at phnom penn
we took a flight in the morning at around 10 but it was delayed as the airport had only one runway and another plane was landing. the flight was 20mins or so i guess. the plane took off and after a while, '' cabin crew, get to your landing stations please, thank you.'' rang over the speaker. i was dumbfounded. we waited for about 15 plus minutes for my bag. ''the piority tag must have dropped off.'' my dad joked. i think it was too small and the baggage people could nt see it. some people were on transit and going to singapore. hence, they might have missed my bag when they were picking the ones to be dropped off. after lunch, we went to visit the palace. we saw the place where the king was crowned and also there is a flag which is raised whenever the king is in. fortunately, we wasnt in when we were there. if he was in, we would have nothing to visit the whole afternoon. after that was the silver pagoda. the whole floor was made of real silver and the buddha had 20plus diamond i think. it has a 28 carat one on its forehead. so shiny *.* after that was boring for me. all shopping, went to the central market. follow mum and sis- clothes and shoes. follow dad- changing money. yawn.
day4- killing fields
this day was horrible, you may choose not to read this. we visit an elementary school which was turned into a jail where they kept prisoners during the civil war. the prisoners were given only about 1 by 1 metre square of space. hence, there are about 10plus people in one classroom. brick walls were used to separate each 'cell'. those people had their ankles shackled so that they cannot escape. they even put barbed wires to prevent the prisoners from killing themselves. the guards there were young boys of around my age, the tour guide said. they were brain washed before becoming guards. the victims were so weak that they had a chair to prevent they from falling over when they take photos of them. the mastermind took photos of everyone there. the guards and prisoners alike. there were even photos of dead men. their eyes and mouth were wide open, their bodies were very thin. next, we went to the killing fields where all the dead people were buried. even those who were on the verge of dying were left aside to die or are buried alive. over there, there is a place whr they showed the skulls of 2000plus victims. they were put over 17 levels. there are still many bones and bones i the soil but the government just wanted to dig out some to show the world and they can rest in peace. even as we walk along the path to see the 5metre deep pits which could contain hundreds of people, we could see bones all over the floor. it was all done silently. the excutors used chemicals to prevented a stench which might allow the villiagers to know that there were killings there. the chemicals were also to kill those buried alive in the soil. after that we had lunch and went back to the hotel to rest. after that we went to the russian market. it was like the central market but smaller and hotter. a few minutes after stepping in, we were sweating profusely and we kept fanning ourselves.
day5- shopping day and return to singapore.
it was ur free day as the tour ended the day before. we took our time for breakfast and we took a tut-tut to the central market first for some shopping. over there i saw fried crikets, cockroaches, spiders and silkworms. a tourist was eating it when we arrived and said that it was delicious. it didnt look that way at all to us. bought some shirts as they were cheap. after that we carried on to the syora shopping centre. i doubt its a shopping centre as we could still bargain there. my sis and i bought some shoes. i bought white shoes for next yr. my sis complained about the shoe being frictionless and that it is very thin. she bought it anyway as it was cheap and she needed it. we went to the russian market again and we did the usual, raiding the market for clothes. in the end we went back with so much more bags than before. soon, it was time for us to check out. however, since we had about 2hrs before we leave for the airport, my dad rented a pool table for me and my sis while my parents went to the casino. my dad stopped once he won enough to pay for the rental. he came and owned us in pool. after that we went to the airport, waved goodbye to the tour guide and flew back to singapore.
the people there are very poor. some of them only need USD$1 to survive a day. the roads in cambodia have no lanes and a lane as wide as two cars can be a two way road. also, there are many motorcycles on the roads and the sound of horns is very common. there are also very little traffic lights. the things there are very cheap too.
signing offf,
- isaac.
9:16:00 AM
going to cambodia tml morn.
my tuition teacher told me that it will be a good experience to see another side of asia. the less better off countries i guess. somehow i feel as if i'm going for obs again. i feel excited and am thinking of high elements, kayaking and all that stuff. it's really hard to shake off that experience but if i do, fear strikes me. the many cases of food poisoning which i have heard from some friends and relatives made my sis and i dread going there. despite my mum trying to ease our minds by saying that we are eating at restaurants, it was contradicting as my sister's friend got food poisoning from a restaurant.
however, i still look forward to going there as i can take time off training, homework and tuition. but there is still parents' nagging! argh! the truth has struck so deeply into me; it can't escape. lol.
- isaac.
11:23:00 PM
today we took part in a soccer competition. our team comprised of yonggeng, gabriel, aldrich, kenneth, guoxiang, yongsheng, james(MIA) and myself. the system was rather f-ed up and there were many complains. however, we did well, qualifying 2nd in the group of 5 teams. the semis started very quickly, shocking all of us. moreover, we played the same team again and we were unclear of what we were playing for. yonggeng, kenneth and gabriel started to get cramps and we didnt have enough subs; forcing them to play on. the same thing happened on the next match and we were defending like crazy. when the score was 1-1, i ran up to an advancing opponent. he pushed the ball past me and when i turned around to give chase, i slipped on the wet grass. the opponent was free and passed to his friend who easily scored. why must it be like that... but at least i made a few blocks. boosted my confidence quite a bit.
- isaac.
11:11:00 PM
went to watch casino royale todae with my cousins and sis at suntec. when we went into the cinema, there were only 2 people there other than us. since there was no one else, we decided to seat at the sofa where it was more spacious. about the movie, except for the action parts, the rest was a bore to me. i couldnt hear what they were saying and am too slow for the subtitles as it takes me a super long time to read chinese. hence, the storyline was blur. i've been to 3 movies within a week and the feeling is very funny. i have a sudden urge to play time crisis. gonna play tomorrow if i have the chance.
till then.
- isaac.
11:05:00 PM
cip was damn fun!! didnt slp for more than 24hrs. yesterday night, we camped in school but none of us bothered to slp. as we needed to wake up at 1.10 and the movie we watched ended at 12.30, no one wanted to slp for just 40mins. then, we boarded a bus which took us to the padang. after that was a test of endurance for me. ever since i stepped on the bus, which will talke up to our station, i felt like shitting. i controlled for an hour before the bus moved to our station. upon seeing the portable toilets there, i was elated! however, my joy soon turned to sadness as it was locked. i had no choice but to control even longer as i carried the boxes of mineral water. after waiting from 4am to 6 am, i could not control any longer and ran off in search of a toilet. luckily a mall was open.
soon after i returned to the drink station, the runners started coming. the first pack was runners reached the station in 52mins. wow. however, none of them stopped to get a sip. as time passed, more and more people came to take water. at first, we were all slacking and competing whose water would get taken. then suddenly, crowds of people started coming and started grabbing the cups. we started to hurry to keep up with the pace and my whole table was wet. two of us had to work together at each table for the first two tables. that's where most fo the people go to to get water.
however, at around 9plus, there were lesser people and we could slack while waiting for the last runner to complete her race. after she passed our water point, we started clearing the cups by either throwing them in the air or at each other. damn was it cold. thankfully, i had a poncho to keep myself warm during the walk to the padang.
after collecting our money and eating lunch, i went straight home, took a bath and slept till dinnertime. it was damn fun and a great experience. i hope that next year everyone will be given a chance.
- isaac.
11:12:00 PM
1/12/06
today rocks!! went on a so called movie marathon. watched open season and hapry feet today with melvin, rachel and wei le after training. at first we decided to watch open season. although it was hilarious at certain points, there was one part when i was terrified. close ot the ending of the show, i felt my pocket and uh oh; my wallet is gone. hence, i started feeling around my seat and after feeling popcorn after popcorn, i found my wallet. phew. well, the show wasnt that bad, it was too short. when we came out, it was only 2plus. we decided to go watch happy feet since the next show is just 15mins away. after that incident, i kept my wallet safely in my bag just in case. the show was also rather funny. there was this very egoistic penguin in the show and damn was he funny.
signing offf
isaac
R35P3CT
- isaac.
12:19:00 AM
isaac
runnerzzz
17.
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