Day 1
One thing that caught my attention upon landing was the cool weather. Wew... Unfortunately my wish for such good weather to continue was unfulfilled in the days to come. After landing, we had to walk from the plane to the airport, it kind of reminded me of domestic airports in my country. But I was surprised to see that the airport itself was very good and modern.
The area was not really surprising for me. I have seen similar conditions (improper roads, villages, etc) in Indonesia. One thing I did not find in Indonesia was the dust. It was so red and dusty. We had brunch before going to the first school at Puok District. It was rather torturous as I was eating in high alert in order not to get diarrhea in the first day.
At the school, we played and interacted with the kids. One memorable thing for me was when a boy asked me how I felt. I told him I felt hot. He replied me that he was happy. I was like 0_o... Diao! Wrong answer. Lol.. After that was lunch and a visit to some dunno what temple (after seeing temples with gold in Bangkok, temples with yellow shiny paint did not interest me at all) and crocodiles (which were rather scary). We went to the other school and the game on that afternoon was too tiring for me. I ran 6 laps -_-... Crazy...
Thereafter we went to the orphanage where we stayed for the next few days. It was better than my expectation. Yihaaa... At least there was proper toilet and plumbing. Good toilet means good life for me haha... Travelled through dust storm in our search for dinner. With 3 meals on this day, I concluded that the local food was very very tasty! Yum yum..
Day 2
The first time I saw the school we fund raised to build. I was shocked and disgusted as the land was made of shit (more correctly there was a huge pile of dung to be mixed with the land). From that I always refer to the school as "The School Built on Shit". The kids were so dirty (unlike the kids from the previous day) and I could not stand them. Sigh... We went to market after that and the amount (not number as I don't think the flies were countable) of flies was just so huge!! Maybe there were more flies than humans. And the flies were like pets for the people there as they did not bother to shoo away the flies from the food sold there. At night, water supply was cut off. Wat the hell..
Day 3
Had to play with the dirty kids again. Gosh I could not stand them... It was my team's turn to cook. As expected, I was quite useless. After that we cleaned the house and the girls' bedroom. As my team members' attention was fixed on a cockroach, I saw a rat. I screamed like mad (a good stress relieve though). We tried to look for it (to chase it out of the room) but we could not find it. We tried to think that it was a lizard and I saw wrongly. The dirty house+seeing a kid spat on to the water tub in the toilet+water was cut off previously (and that meant I showered with some spit water) really made me very upset and moody. Bad day no 1.
Day 4
Painting began!! I loved it! Haha... I also drew a clock. So so but not too bad for someone who could not draw. I am still quite proud of it. At noon, the rat appeared again and the team decided to break the news to the girls and we embarked on a mission to chase the rat out. It was quite fun actually haha.. At least I know I did not see wrongly the day before. After that, we went to Cambodian swimming pool (apparently it is a lake) and had fun there. I made a fool of myself and successfully fell down TWICE from hammock. There was no toilet and I had to go pee in the bush... The survival instinct to made me forget about landmines (should not have gone too deep into the tree areas). At night, the toilet bowl choked after I used it. Holy shit! Still a bad day for me... Why people still threw tissue paper to the toilet bowl... and why the toilet had to choke when I used it.
Day 5
Teaching began =( The kids were rather unresponsive. So sianz... That was why I did not teach in the afternoon (though my team should be doing so) and I went to paint instead =) I did not play with the kids too. Yay... It was also my lucky day! I had a lucky streak when playing cards on that day. I was always King or Queen except for the last 2 games when I became the asshole. Lol..
Day 6
I did not why but I felt very tired after I woke up. I was quite glad that I went to another school in the morning (not the unresponsive school I went on the day before). Sadly, in the second hour, I also got unresponsive students. They were to shy. Haiz... I tried to reduce my food intake and I was surprised that I survived till dinner time. From the day onwards, I took less food then the days before (when I ate more than usual as I did not want to fall sick). I was quite touched when 2 kids offered me food at the school as I had never played with them before. Considering the hygiene condition (I would never know if they had touched the shit on the ground or wat), it was extremely nice for me to eat the soggy cracker and half-eaten oreo. With that, I also ate road side ice cream in the afternoon. Thank good I had no LS due to these food. Lol. While it seems that I had a good day, my mood took a U-turn in the evening. I started to lose patience to some people. It was really taxing for me to surpress and hide my displeasure.
Day 7
Cooking day. Nothing much or interesting to tell.
Day 8
It was the final day of painting of the Angkor Wat School (the official name of the School Built on Shit) and I would say that we did a great job. That was why I took photos of the paintings and camwhored with many of the paintings. Haha... Camwhoring made me high and my craziness continued during the Xmas carol practice. Someone kept saying I sang well. Lol... Though I know I sucked in singing, it was still a good thing to hear. Lol. After lunch, we went to have a Cambodian Neoprint. It was damn slow and gross. On the way back, I kind of lost the way. Lucky still managed to find the way safely. Haha...
Instead of teaching at the orphanage, the teacher said I could continue my paintings for Xmas decoration. Yay! Haha... Dunno she really thought my drawings were good or she just did not want me to disturb her class. Lol... Frosty, candy canes, jingle bells were done. But the highlight was Rudolph which I drew from Bambi. Wew... My talent in drawing is not bad sia... Lol...
In the evening, I entertained myself with a group of people by playing Super Puzzle Fighter. Lol.. With a good luck, the maximum consecutive wins I had was 6.
Day 9
We visited Royal Angkor Hospital. It was a jaw-dropping hospital. But I wondered how come there was no patient. Lame... I was disappointed as I did not see the helicopter (yea the hospital has helicopter service). It would be good to take a photo with one. Haha... After that we went to Siem Reap Center Market. I was so disappointed to find out that it was ONLY a some souvenir shop centers. I expected an aircon-ed shopping malls. Sigh... Had lunch at their Holland Village area. My beef steak was very tough but I shall forgive them as they charged me wrongly by US$2 less despite me breaking a glass haha.. We also went to the traditional market in the city. It was much cleaner (and significantly less flies) than the one near the orphanage.
In the afternoon I continued on with last minute Xmas decoration. Made a copy of rudolph, plus a gingerbread man and a nutcracker. I had to thank the painter. I thought the nutcracker was ugly but after it was painted, I thought it was good. My reindeers looked like dogs after painting. What an amateur artist I am! I also blew few balloons and took some pictures with 2 camwhores in the making. They are still so young yet they really liked the camera more than me. Haha...
Day 10
Finally we moved out of the orphanage to the guest house. I found that my room was too hot. It turned out to be the slyness of the guest house people. They made fanspeed 1 as the fastest and 3 as the slowest. No wonder it was so hot... Finally I could floss and put rubber band for my teeth again.
I had a sore throat so it was another bad day for me. Still I enjoyed the great Pizza for dinner. My choice (the 4 cheese) was fantastic. Hohoho...
The trip to BBU (is it Bright Build University) was quite pointless. Dunno for wat. I enjoyed the traditional cakes though haha..
Day 11
Whee... The visit to Angkor Wat!! :) I learnt a few facts I did not know about Angkor Wat before:
1) Angkor Wat is not just a temple. It is a complex with 12 temples. Lol. Angkor Wat is just one of the temples.
2) Most of the temples are of Hindhu origins. I always thought they were Buddhist. It was only after the Buddhist kings came into power that they removed the Hindhu gods statues and replaced them with Buddha statues.
Some of the temples were quite challenging: very steep to climb up and climb down. It was like mountain climbing. I enjoyed it though. It was a pity that most of the temples were in a pathetic state. They started the restoration work too late I think... What a pity... Ah and seeing some of the people paying respect to the Buddha reminded me that I had missed Church for 2 weekends... and for another 1 weekend... and for Christmas... OMG... Forgive me God..
The entry was US$20. Very ex... The entry pass was quite cool though. Had a photo in it. And the toilet in the complex was pretty nice. Hoho.. It was my first time taking jumping photos. Lol.. The first try was damn gross... The lump of fats at my abdomen was exposed =(
I had a great dinner. The name was Fettucine Basilica. It had ham, onions, tomatoes,and cream sauce. The tomatoes were sweet and the taste blended well with the cream. The cream was so thick and yummy and rich in taste though it was small in amount (which was good and not soggy like Pastamania). FANTASTIC!!
Day 12
Mass Drug Administration began. It was super boring and tedious. Wearing of the mask and gloves was quite cool though. Haha... There was a temple near my station so we visited that. It was a very 'ugly' temple. Only like some random rocks being stacked together. Lol... We also had Swensens in the night. The sticky chewy chocolate was not as fantastic as the one I usually have in Singapore. My sore throat and blocked nose became too unbearable and I started to take medication.
Day 13
Results day... Results were as bad as last sem... Cap dropped even further. Haiz... My gloomy mood made me went out alone in the night. I was honestly scared. Lol... Dunno why that night seemed to be less crowded than usual. I did not get the shirt I wanted to buy as the shop was closed. The furthest I dared to go was to the bakery where I bought the weird Earl Grey Tea Muffin.
Day 14
Mass Drug Administration to a village far far away. I went to their toilet which was a proper toilet. However, the water has 1 layer of oily stuff. I don't know what.. Ew... The dinner at Dead Fish Tower was not fantastic. The place was great with the ducks and crocodiles but not the food. We also had some crazy fun with the singer before we left. Lol.. After dinner we went to the night market. The Dr Fish experience was so damn cool. I remembered seeing it once in TV and I thought so gross to do. I tried it... and I recommend it to people!! Lol... Christmas Eve celebration at a cafe called Funky Monky but the US$2.50 chocolate milkshake was crap. I went to the ladies (did not know it was the ladies)... and I played pool. Won and lost once to a friend. Not bad considering it was like the 3rd time I played pool. Lol.
Day 15
Shitty Christmas!!! My worst Christmas so far.. The Mass Drug Administration was getting to unbearable and boring. Add sore throat and a cut on the calf to that... Crap!!
Day 16
Last day of Mass Drug Administration. Being stationed at the school was damn fun!! It was tiring as there were a lot of students but it was easy as the teacher lined them up and they had similar age and weight. Lol... So no need to ask for the age. I was sick of all the Yukman... Mui.. Bi... Bai... Boon... Pram... Etc... With the gloves and directing the kids to move, I felt like some traffic police.
I went to buy souvenirs. Only managed to cut the price by US$2. But since the shopkeeper was nice and friendly, I shall forgive her. Lol...
I felt so tired that in my afternoon nap, I dreamt about having a nap.. Lol..
Artisan Angkor workshop was interesting but the trip to Handicap International was not as what I expected. I was bored.
The lake trip should be fun... Too bad the devil possessed me and I had a bad mood. Sigh... I wanted to take photo but dunno whom to help me take. Sigh.. Wasted the good photo taking opportunities. The sunset was good though.
Day 17-18
6 hours trip to Pnomh Pehn.. Shopping... Visit to a Killing Field..
The hotel room was great... The toilet was soooo huge. Lol.. Nice toilet means good life for me...
Day 19
Flying back to Singapore.
Afterthoughts
I felt the trip is quite useless for me. The only useful thing was the fund to build the school and the painting of the school. I don't think the kids were benefitted by the English lessons. All the lesson materials, posters, hygiene stuff, and even games were not used. Basically all the meetings, time wasted, effort, etc was wasted. I only generated $40 during the fundraising so I did not really help to build the school anyway. And I did not really play with the kids. So I really did nothing for them basically...
I did not enjoy myself thoroughly either. It was quite sad to go there with nobody (yeah... not only no buddy but nobody) as at times it felt quite lonely. I am glad that I find new friends whom share similar thoughts with me there. At the same time, it was quite sad to see how some people I thought I was close to treat me: worse than those I was not very close too.
Well, what's over is over... Many good memories... and some bad ones... But too bad that the bad ones hurt and affected more... Oh well, I just need to recall the reasons why I wanted to join in the first place: CCA points and to experience an oversea CIP.. Both objectives have been met so I shall be thankful. It was still a good experience... though it could be better...
