Khmer Village Homestay

Albert very kindly brought his van from Phnom Penh to fetch us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. On the way to Phnom Penh, we stopped by Solar Cafe for lunch. Solar Cafe is run by a Malaysian lady...Esther Ding. From her surname one would know she is a Foo Chow...like me.

There was already a group of Singaporean kids from a church having their retreat cum mission there. Esther has programs planned out for them like pony cart rides to the village, making khmer noodles, handicraft etc. Esther acts as the in between person for groups that come; whether its for  mission trips or school programs of community services. She arranges for church visits, ministry to school students (the schools allow outsiders to take over their classroom time) and she even brings in kids from the villages to the homestay itself so that these groups can spend time with the kids.

Though Cambodians drive big foreign cars, the poverty level is still very high. There are beggars everywhere; children begging and the use of babies to get the sympathy of tourists is common. Esther suggests activities like teaching them hygiene, improving the infrastructure of the church/school....painting the orphanages etc. 

The homestay near the cafe is really impressive. There are quite a few chalets around. The accommodation itself is pretty basic...dorm style. She provides 3 meals a day with activities thrown in...all coming to USD50 per day.

The Solar Cafe....very clean and breezy. 

 The chalets at the Khmer Village Homestay. Beautiful landscaping and very well maintained.

 Esther Ding...showing us more places around the homestay. She speaks Khmer fluently...having stayed here for more than 15 years. She can be reached at khmervillagehomestay@gmail.com.

 This back door leads to another piece of property down the road which has a few more chalets.

The sleeping quarters....with mosquito nettings and fans. 

History alive

"...Vietnam menceroboh Kampuchea pada tahun 1978 dan menjatuhkan kerajaan Khmer Rouge..."
Buku Teks Sejarah Tingkatan 5.
This is a short line from a very short paragraph in the History text that I teach about the role of Malaysia in ASEAN and the ZOPFAN (Zone of peace, freedom and neutrality) concept.

As a teacher of History, I look for ways to make the subject interesting and alive. So choosing Cambodia as a holiday destination is quite natural for me as Chapter 3 Form Four History covers the agrarian government of Angkor with a few paragraphs on Angkor Wat. I was looking forward to visiting The Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum when I was in Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge was mentioned in the Form 5 text and I remembered Pol Pot from the news report when I was young.

I was warned that the visit the Killing Fields can be depressive and I need to be strong. I had been praying before the trip. I marched into the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide with my camera...all ready to take pictures home to show my students. The museum is a big school compound. The classrooms are converted into prisons, torture chambers....divided into small dark cells. Pictures after pictures of people who were tortured there. I chose not to enter many of the classrooms to see the exhibits because it was too overwhelming. I sat at a bench outside and cried as the reality of the horror the Cambodians went through in the 1970s crept into me. In my state of shock I did not take a single picture.

Next was the Killing Fields. I expect this to be worse. It was indeed. No guide needed as a very comprehensive recording is prepared and the visitors just need to carry the recorder around. With the voice talking into my ear, bringing to life the whole place and the possiblities of seeing teeth, bones floating in the water or in the dirt, I could almost picture the horrifying sight of torture and killing. Visitors moved around in hush awe....maybe shocked by the exposure of such gruesome happenings and also in respect of the dead that is all around.

Ponds, sunken grounds of mass grave were labelled and pointed out. I can't get the the Killing Tree out of my mind. It's a big tree where the soldiers just swing the babies and young kids to it and then throwing them into the dump next to it. It's awful....

Then the Magic Tree....I could almost hear the songs being played loudly and the screaming of the tortured people and the same time. It was a most humbling and traumatising experience.

A stupa is erected to house the skulls and some bones of those killed there. I had seen and heard enough to know what went in that place during those time. I didn't enter the stupa but sat under the tree outside and reflected on the sad state of the human race. Power and greed have made mad men out of the leaders and turned them into animals.  "To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss". This is the motto used to justify what they did. If my family had lived there that day, we would not have survived because we fall into the category of literate people...wearing spectacles and having soft hands.

I am so thankful to be alive where I am today. This visit just fills me with gratitude to God for all the things and goodness He has blessed me and my family. It is a reminder to me again of my role as a teacher in school....to teach my students to love and not hate. To pass on goodness and rub kindness to the students around me with the hope that they will remember to pass it on the the next and the next and the next generations.

Half Broke Horses

It's the year end holiday. One important agenda on my holiday to do list is read books. Saw the review of this book : Half Broke Horse by Jeannette Walls and decided to read it. 

No regrets. Beautifully written biography of Lily Casey Smith, the writer's grandmother. It has humor, pain, reality....all in one. One tough woman who made it in life. Truly inspiring. 

One of the best moments for me is reading a good book without anyone disturbing me or having to worry of what to do next. The bliss of holiday when I can throw the stress of work life in the bin for a while. 

Catching the sun before it sets

The holiday is ending. It was a quiet and restful two weeks with a few busy trips to Melaka and KL. on top of it two wake services to attend. One of it was Uncle Lincoln's who was 90. 

On Friday we decided to drive to Port Dickson to watch the sunset. We started off at 5 pm. We exited the first toll and tuned into Pantai Cahaya. Our favorite beach here.

Some changes have been made. There is a bridge that connects the mainland to a little swampy island. Usually we would be very careful here because we need to leave the island when the tide comes in or we'll be trapped. This time we found platform has been built to enable us to walk into the island whether there is a tide or not. The sad part is a lot of trees have been cut to build the platform. 

As the tide was low, we were able to walk around the island. The kids went off on their own and walked to the rocky side overlooking the sea. It was totally secluded and nice and we had a great time in this corner taking pictures of the sunset. 

It was still hot when we arrived about 5.40pm. 

The tree, the sea and the rocks. I'll never get tired of the sea even though it is the same place that we visit each time. 

Walking the rocky path to the secluded side of the island where we found a pond and lots of balitung amongst the rocks. 

Various shades of sunset. 

Finally we got off the island. Was a bit difficult to walk on the rocks with slippers. So didn't want to stay till its too dark. 

Then off to find dinner. We went to the roundabout before Teluk Kemang. Lots of shops along this road. We wanted Ramli burger. So went to a Malay restaurant and ordered Ramli burger. It was so so delicious. 

What a great way to end the holiday. 

Food in Melaka

It was kc's family company day. Since we are near Melaka, decided to ask Kor join us so that can bring him around the place a little. This time my purpose was to look for food as recommended by food bloggers. Using Garmin and even Waze, we did find the place. Here is one excellent restaurant. 

Taiwanese beef/ pork chop spicy noodle. Beef is tender and pork chop is really good. Am glad we found this place and tried the food. 

On the way to A Farmosa Resort, we stopped by this dusun. There is a shed with tables. People sit around the table and they are served durians!! The durians we are we very sweet and rich in flavor. I am a die-hard bitter durian fan but this was GOOD. Comes with the price too. RM 18 per kg and we spent RM120 for 3 miserable durians!!!

pics from penang

The first place on our heritage walk was to visit the cemetary. This was where KC and I spent our Saturday noons dating long time ago. Lyn was most excited 

 Of course the tomb of Sir Francis Light is a must see. We zoomed straight in search of this tomb first.

 See how ancient it is....I guess this is the very thing that makes us excited. To know we are walking where the ancient people walked years ago. And it's most interesting that Lyn has such great interest in such history relics as I do.

 This is Thomas Leonowen's tomb....when we saw his name on the board at the entrance we were so excited because of who the wife was....Anna Leonowens; the governess to King Mongkut's children.

 An old building which we passed by...made into heritage site also. Think belongs to Kedah royalty.

 One of the highlights of the walk was looking for murals. This is one of the better preserved murals. Most of the murals have faded.

 Some murals are not painting...they are actually made from some sort of steel or whatever. These are study and definitely will last longer. We missed quite a number of these as some camouflaged so well that they are not noticeable. We did a count of how many we saw and Dan said he saw more. We were upset that he didn't tell us but he insisted that he did try telling us but none of us were listening to him. Poor boy....

 This is real creative....lamp shade made out of biscuit tins

 We took a short cut using a back lane and passed through real old and rundown buildings like this. Root has grown into the building. We also saw a drug addict sitting at the back of some shops.

 This is at Love Lane....where is my husband??? Real cute.

 Any relations to the Lims that I know in Seremban?

 These bikes are for rent! Dan was so tired that he wanted us to rent a bike to cycle around. Come to think of it, he didn't enjoy the walk as much as we did... I think his stomach was bothering him and he just kept quiet.

This is at Jalan Ah Kwee....The Mat Salleh trying to get the name Ah Kwee correct.

 Hah...this is faded. It's a boy riding a motorbike (clear) and chased by a smaller boy and a dinosaur (almost gone).

 I love this. So so cute. I was in the toilet just behind the wall and could hear people shouting across the road telling the friends how to post etc with the mural.

 While waiting for our turn to post at the mural, we saw this cute dog. He is carrying his own bag...probably his drinks and food. Really obedient and well trained.

 This is a shop of antiquities. The man outside is playing an old chinese musical instrument.

 Trishaw...the mode of transport those days. I thought of getting on a trishaw for a ride but Lyn refused to. She felt it was wrong to make an old man carry her around town even though it's giving him business.

 Another interesting thing when we walked around town was looking at signs like this which explains to us the origins of the name of the streets. Like this is Jalan Soo Hong...the smallest street in town. Anyway.....every other street seemed to be named after some rich chinese business man.

 Potholes....trishaw driver fell into a pothole.

 Khoo Kongsi...such an illustrious family and able to trace the family tree way back to China. Impressive.

Here we are...walking around like proper tourists...

pearl of the Orient

Finally the time came for us to visit Penang again. The last time we visited was almost five years ago and the children couldn't remember much. We didn't do much except stayed at G Hotel and watched two movies and walked the shopping complex as KC was attending a function.

This holiday was a real holiday. We put on our tourist hats and acted like tourists should. Our first stop was to visit Pastor and Gladys and the boys. Gladys suggested that we visit E n O. She thinks I would appreciate old buildings of such kind. 

We've been to E n O as students for Yee Fong's birthday bash. We went ballroom dancing after the makan. But it was good to get get acquainted with it again and to see wings named after people I know like Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling. Being thick skinned....we explored as much as we could.

 These three men with handle bar moustache....according to Pastor, they are the Sarkies brothers who started the hotel. Need to check the fact.

 We took the staircase up to visit the different floors. The boys were making so much noise running ahead that we had to shush them.

 The corridors to the rooms are really wide and the floor is solid wood. Very impressive structure. At the lobby there is a dome which sort of carry the voices of the people. Again we tested out the 'sound system' here. Then Gladys and Lyn spotted a white grand piano. Being crazy musicians, they just had to show off their talents till the staff came to lock it.

 The view outside the hotel. The boys as usual ran around and everywhere.

 The next day we walked to Taman Negara....it's actually Monkey Beach/ Muka Head etc. Now it's known as Taman Negara. We used to hike here as students. Lovely lovely walk in but we didn't reach our destination. The sights were lovely and we took time to enjoy God's creation and took pictures.

 This rope kept us occupied a while as we tried swinging with it. We started coming out after an hour walking as some of us were already tired.

 Later in the evening we met up with Pastor and family again and took a walk down memory lane....USM. It was also Gladys' alma-mater. We had a great time walking around campus...visiting the DTSP, library and talking about where we frequented, what we did etc.

 KC was 'emo-ing' over his school. He took the children in the building to show where the rubber workshop was....it was no longer there. Lots of changes. He was pretty emotional over the whole place....I was ok la.

And....the visit will not be complete without going to VC point. But our view of Penang Bridge is hindered by these high rise. How things have changed.....

thistle....

After the kids' carolling practice, we rushed off to PD again. This time to Thistle (which was known as Guoman when we first visited it long time ago). KC's second brainstorming was in Thistle with a different group of people. 

Thistle is slightly further from Avillion. It's quite close to the Methodist Center and Cape Rachado (where the lighthouse is). After enjoying Avillion, we kind of had our expectations slightly higher. From what I remembered of Thistle, it was a big place with a golf course. 

So we were kind of disappointed with the room when we arrived. It was facing the golf course. As it is a room and not a chalet, the space is slightly smaller. Dan was disappointed with the bathroom which doesn't have a bathtub. I was disappointed at not having the sea right beneath me (well, I already know the sea won't be so close this time but.....I miss hearing the waves).

 The room has a very big bed....I think it's like two super singles joined together. Again for the four of us....more than enough sleeping space.

 The view in the night. The whole place is nicely lighted up. I remembered a little herb garden many years ago when I visited but found that the garden isn't there anymore.

 We decided to follow this path in the night and it brought us to.......

 Cumulus...a bar (which was closed when I revisited in the morning). It's a nice bar...I was hoping to go there for a drink with KC but by the time he returned to the room, I was already snoring. Kids were not allowed in, though Dan said he could pretend to be an adult....everyone knows he's a kid from his baby face.

 The path in the morning.....

 This is supposed to be an infinity pool just next to the bar. So you can drink and swim...It's so quiet and nice when I visited in the morning that I was so tempted to just jump in for a swim (didn't have time).

 The porch of the bar. The beach is just below. Very lovely.....when the kids and I took a peep in the night, there was hardly anybody. Probably it was a weekday.

 The beach....it was low tide this morning. The sand was solid compared to the beach at Avillion where your feet just sink in. Different sort of sand. It's finer here and when it's wet the sand gets compacted. Had a great time doing some stretches again facing the sea. Again there was hardly anybody on the beach....most people are lazy I think; they would rather laze in bed than to go the beach at 7 in the morning. I can't afford to laze today....had to leave at 8.30 to send kids to music class.

 The swimming pool is big....very spacious. Infact the whole place is spacious. It has its own uniqueness and beauty compared to Avillion. Checked the price and found that it's more expensive than Avillion....maybe it's the golf course.

which do I prefer? Thistle or Avillion? Thistle is a bigger place with larger land area. The beach is quieter as it is further away. Cleaner too. But I like the concept in Avillion...village styled chalets built into the sea.