London bells a'ringing

Cambodia aside, I am now in London! The last time i stepped foot in this place was 8 years ago. Eventhough i stayed here for a couple of months then, i cant say i remember much. What has not changed though...is I still love this place, even in this unforgiving bone chilling weather.

.Lis and I at Capital FM. 2000.

Back at paddington, Rozana and I after 17 hours of excruciating flight.

While there is much to do, we're trying to get our shopping done chup chup... It is pure madness, the fitting room and counter queue has made me forsake my to-be purchases. I'll beat the crowd tomorrow! Even Santa! Hmppp!

Tonle Sap

.The largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, and declared a Unesco Biosphere.

I had initially thought of Tonle Sap as a version similar to Kampong Ayer back home. A floating village with the full works; floating schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, convenient stores, restaurants, etc. However, there are several unique differences between the two. One obvious distinction is the term "floating", while some houses are mounted on stilts, most are assembled on floats or flatboats allowing them to change location according to the seasons. Where they live in October may be kilometers away from where they live in March. Imagine a wooden house powered by motor cruising down the river!

Boat tickets cost USD6 per person. When we arrived, i was surprised to see a little girl dodging among crowds snapping pictures of us with her digital camera. Talk about technological advancement in the rural zones. I thought nothing about it until after we returned from our tour, she ran towards us and surprised us with an individual/couple shots on us stuck on a marble plate marked Cambodia. What brains! You cant exactly say "No", isnt it, falling for the souvenir gimmick, we gave her USD5 for 3 of those plates.

During the boat ride, you will notice it appears that fields and mangroves are blossoming amidst the river. In actual fact, these fields and mangroves thrived on dry land. It being the rainy season allowed us to witness the phenomenal reversal flow of the Mekong River, another trait that sets it apart. The Mekong River starts its seaward journey in the Himalayas, through China, Laos and Cambodia before discharging into the sea in South Vietnam. Unable to contain all the runoff from monsoon rain during the wet season, it reverses its normal flow back up the Tonle Sap river. It then stretches the Tonle Sap lake from 2500km2 to an amazing 12,000km2.

These colour on B&W seems befitting for those moments.

I was really hoping to see kids paddling in plastic buckets, congregating in the middle of the river in their buckets for chatters but it seems most of them have boats now.

Most of the residents here are emmigrant Vietnamese, illegal i heard.

Now listen to this, our boatman was very friendly in the beginning until after he tried to con us into buying a stack of 20 thin exercise books for 20USD for a school in the village. Alot of other tourists were already leaving the floating store with bags of books, and i refused to make the purchase. I just dont like the idea of being taken for a ride, eventhough it's not much. And the fact that he spent more than 5 mins engaging in a private talk with the vendor before we could enter, persumably cooking up some sort of profit division deal, did not help. I was adamant with my decision, and when we got back on the boat, he pulled a long face and ignored us for very much of the ride! Even after i tapped him on the shoulder!

He drove out to the open river, and stopped the engine. I freaked out. We whispered amongst ourselves "why are we stopping here, what does he wanna do?" He casually moved to the front of the boat, leaned back and stared at us. With a lousy grin, he said "Just wait here." "Why??"
"You relax, enjoy." @_@! It felt abit weird, we were too worried he's gonna flip the boat to enjoy whatever tranquility one is supposed to feel. Thank god another boat came hawking drinks, and we bought his favour back with a can of coke.

.Crocodiles caught from the Mekong river.

.A bee scare with Boon2 got us worried for a while, but all is good.

At the end of our boat ride, our tour guide asked for Boon's cap and 20USD. We gave him the cap and 5USD. That should have made his day, i think. My rating: Do consider Tonle Sap as part of your itenary.

Almost every turn you make, there is someone trying to make money, or begging for money, little kids signifying 1 dolla with their index finger.. begging merely for their family. It is hard to escape that sight. Here's a beautiful poem i found on the web titled:

A Cambodian Child
by Marja

He smiles but a riverbed
of silenced tears end on his face
where hope has died
where trust has depart
The hand of the begging child is empty
as is his heart

A child living in the shadow of live
where demons of poverty and exploitation
try to get him in his grip so tight
till he stops fighting and loses control
The hand of the begging child is empty
as is his soul

The beautiful mind of a Cambodian child
won’t be nourished by food and education
no pathways grow towards a fruitful future
his cleverness declined
The hand of the begging child is empty
as is his mind

A boy, a landmine victim
like a tree cut from live lost his limb
and a living he sits down,
the one called outcast
His troubled eyes looked at me however
The hand of the begging child is empty
Is it Forever?

The Videos

The boys distributing notes

Chee Ting's students for an hour =)