† Those Days In Cambodia †

Its been quite some time since I last visited Cambodia in year 2003. Looking back at the old photos somehow has made me miss my Cambodia trip very much.

We were very young back then where me (right), Yong (left), Willy (middle) and Christine (the photographer) paid a two weeks visitation to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

THE STATUE

Upon entering the city of Phnom Penh, I still remember clearly that we can see this roundabout with this huge statue.

The nine-headed snake statue somehow looked so demonic and it kinda freaked me out. I wonder what does it symbolizes?

IN THE CITY

This is an interesting photo I've captured when I was in the car. I guess overtaking other cars on a double-lined road was legal back then.

Phnom Penh may look acceptable but many outskirts had no tar road and they were mostly muddy road. Its fine when its sunny but the whole road can be a little bit messy when the sky rains.

WATER CRISIS

We were well informed about the presence of high percentage of arsenic in the water supply of Cambodia and thus buying mineral water as our daily water supply had become our routine.

SITES AROUND PNHOM PENH

One of the places that I've visited was the Royal Palace, built in the 19th Century and it is located on the riverfront where the three rivers meet.

And again, the nine-headed snake statues in one of the parks we visited. Scary as always.

Everyone knows the popular Killing Field. This is the place where the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed thousand of people here.

This photo was taken in one of the torture chamber. During the dark time, the Khmer Rouge hung a person upside down and the head of the victim will be drowned into the pot of water. Isn't that cruel?

The Central Market was one of the hot spot in Phnom Penh back then where the tourists can do a lot of bargains to obtain many interesting items.

INTERESTING STUFF

The interesting thing was that the traditional Cambodian clothes fitted well on Willy and he looked extremely charming in the photo.

We paid a visit to the orphanage house set up by the Christian society and these Cambodian children were so happy to see us. These children had taught me so many Khmer phrases and I only remember two until even until now: "kjom mo pei pro tei Malaysia" and it means "I'm from Malaysia"; "som yam tek" and it means "please drink some water".

However its sad to hear that many of their parents had passed away due to explosion of the left over bombs in certain rural area. I wonder how are they doing now.

And lastly, spiders and grasshopper, are they edible? The answer is yes if you've gone to the Central Market of Phnom Penh.

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