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Tuesday, December 19

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