Trip to Bangkok

Last week I went to Bangkok with my mum. She had to do the interview at the American Embassy for a Visa. Because my sister lives in America wanted to take my mum to stay there.

My sister is married to an American and she has been living there since 1996. My mum took me to interpret for her, because she can't speak English. She also took my stingy other sister and her no-good selfish husband.We went to Bangkok by hiring a car to takes us from Phnom Penh to Poipet, and then a van from Poipet to Bangkok. It took two days, and it cost about $90. This was my first time in Bangkok. I felt very strange because all the people in Bangkok looked just like people in my country and I thought they could speak my language but they can't.

We stayed in the Pratunam area at a hotel called Kim Safe House. It cost 500 Baht per night, and we had two rooms for all of us. My mum and I stayed in one room and the other room was for my sister's family, because she had her kids with her too. Bangkok is very nice, and everything looks modern. The taxis are new model cars and all have air-conditioning. Their traditional food is very spicy and I didn't really like it so much. But I liked one Khmer restaurant called Yay Kon, there is cheap food and it tastes good.

At Pratunam there are some night markets that have very cheap clothes, a lot cheaper than in Cambodia. I went there with my mum and I bought some clothes for myself and some for my friends for presents. On the third day in Bangkok I took a motorbike taxi to Sukhumvit to find a friend of mine who has a bookshop there. His name is Don and the bookshop is Dasa Book Cafe. I used to know Don many years before when I was selling newspapers on the riverfront in Phnom Penh. It took almost a half hour to find the shop, and the motorbike taxi charged me 120 Baht. I thought it was the right price but no! Everyone told me it must be cheaper.

I surprised Don with my visit (I didn't tell anybody I was going) and we had a nice talk. I was surprised that he has a new bookshop (I went to his shop, Lazy Mango Bookshop, in Siem Reap, one time before) and it looks really nice, and it has coffee and cakes as well as books.

In my next post, Bangkok Part 2, I will write about my mum's interview and the thing that my stingy sister and her no-good husband did.

04:55 PM ICT Permalink |

Out of Town

I had to go out of town this week. Sorry I can't write something more for the blog this week. I will write again when I return to Phnom Penh.

10:39 AM ICT Permalink |

Playing Snooker

Every afternoon, after school, my friends and I play snooker at a place which just opened close to one of my friend’s house.

Most of my friends always make competition for a snooker game. And all of them like to play with me because I’m not so good at snooker and they can beat me. But sometimes I beat them, too.

When we play snooker we bet some money. How much depends on what we want to bet. Sometimes it’s 10,000 or 20,000 riel (about US$2.50 - $5) for our big competition. That’s a lot of money for me, but not for them. Usually we play from noon until 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.

Today I played with my friend Pearom. I beat him two times and I lost to him one time. I won 10,000 riel. He told me that he would like to play with me again, and I told him anytime is okay.

I like to play snooker but it’s not the same as playing football (soccer), because one is a game and one is a sport. And to me, I like sports more than games.

07:03 PM ICT Permalink |

Heart Attack or Stress?

On Thursday last week, when I studied at my English language school, there was something a bit strange that happened to us.

While my teacher was teaching there was a girl in class who lied down on her table. It seemed like she was asleep. She sits at the next table in front of me. Suddenly some of that girl’s friends sitting next to her called out to the teacher that they wanted to take this girl, her name is Davin, home to her house. The teacher asked, “What’s wrong?” The girls answered that Davin was not well. So the teacher said, “Okay, take her home then.”

So they walked and carried her out of the class, but not far from the door Davin fell down to the ground. The teacher came out and carried her to the school office and tried to call Davin’s family. About five minutes after that Davin’s mother came to the school. Then it was time for us to finish the class. Davin’s mother took her to hospital. And when Davin’s friends came out of the school I asked them, “What happened?” They told me she had a heart attack. And then I left them and went to my home.

The next day when I came to school to pay my school fee, the receptionist asked me, “Did I know about Davin?” I told her that Davin’s friends told me she had a heart attack. But the receptionist that it was not a heart attack. After they took Davin to a hospital, the doctor there said she didn’t have a heart attack, he said it was stress.

Now Davin still has not come to school this week. I wish she will be okay soon and can come back to class like before, because we miss her.

10:53 AM ICT Permalink |

Lucky or Unlucky?

Yesterday I worked as a motorbike taxi driver. First, I took one foreigner from the riverside to his hotel. He paid me one dollar. When I came back to the riverside again later that day, I stopped in front of the Sunny Internet Café and talked with another foreigner. His name was Pat. He told me that Pat is short for Patrick. He asked me my name and I told him that it’s Sochiet.

I talked with him for almost an hour. He told me a story that he went to a prostitute place and someone tried to steal his bag. He told me he was in the room with the girl and he heard a noise. He looked around and saw the door open and a hand reaching for his bag. He shouted to the hand: “Hey! Leave my fucking bag alone!” And then the hand moved very quick and just dropped his bag outside of the room, and the person ran away. Pat didn’t follow that person because he was scared that he would get killed.

Pat told me that he was very angry. He just put on his clothes and left that place without leaving any tip. Pat told me that he was very lucky he didn’t lose his bag. But I think he was so lucky that he didn’t lose his life.

11:00 AM ICT Permalink |

My Friend’s Birthday

Today when I came back from Khmer school I met some friends and they invited me to go to a friend’s birthday party, which was at a karaoke place. My friend’s name is Soy and this is his 20th birthday. I was surprised and didn’t know that today was Soy’s birthday because no one told me.

When I arrived at the karaoke place I saw many people in that room. My friends called out to me: “Hey, Sochiet! We’re here!” I walked forward to them and a friend of mine, his name is Thy, asked me: “Why are you late?” I answered him: “Ah, sorry. I was busy.” And they said, “Okay, your punishment is you have to drink this glass of beer.” So, I had to drink that glass of beer without stopping.

Then, after a moment, some of my friends started to dance. They looked so happy and I went and joined them too. I looked around and saw all of my friends had sweat on their faces. After dancing, some of Soy’s friends wanted to sing. There was one guy who was very good at singing but I didn’t know his name.

I saw my friend Chhay flirting with a girl who is one of Soy’s friends. I never thought that Chhay could talk to girls because he is so quiet. After that I asked him and he told me the girl had talked with him first. He told me he was so lucky today because he’s never had a girl talk with him like this before.

We stayed at the karaoke place until after four, almost five pm. Then it was time for everyone to go to English school. Soy paid for everything (this is Khmer tradition on your birthday) and everyone went back home and got ready to go to school. I think that was one of the most fun parties that I ever went to.

06:02 PM ICT Permalink |

A day at Kirirom

Last Saturday was the first day of the Water Festival, called Bon Om Touk in the Khmer language. On that day I went out to Kirirom National Park with some friends of mine. Kirirom is 117 kilometers from Phnom Penh on National Route 4. I went there with eight friends on three motorbikes. We wanted more friends to go with us but they all thought it was too far away.

We left Phnom Penh at about 8 a.m. after we had breakfast. On the way to Kirirom we stopped three times for a break. Also we saw a big group going to Kirirom, maybe more than 50 people and 30 motorbikes. They all looked so happy with their friends. They made us feel so lonely. Because we thought nine people would be enough to make us feel not bored on the way.

We arrived at Kirirom at about 11:30 a.m. and we stopped to fill up our bikes with petrol. We turned off Route 4 and took a country road to go to the waterfall. This road is not straight, it is winding as it goes up the hill to the waterfall. On the way we saw those people in that big group again. They stopped at a corner where everyone stops to pray. And we stopped to pray there too. At this corner there is a statue of a lady (Yey Mao) who controls and looks after this place. We prayed that our trip would be safe.

We got to waterfall at almost 12 o’clock and we had lunch and relaxed, sitting in the little hut and watching people playing by the waterfall. Some girls had flowers in their hair and looked so beautiful. My friends and I wanted to take their photo but we didn’t have a zoom camera, and we also were scared to take a close up photo because we don’t want to make them angry.

Afterwards we all went swimming and then walked up to the jungle. One of my friends, named Chhay, was walking in front of everyone because he had come here before and he knew the way. Suddenly he turned around a corner and ran very fast, and all of us didn’t know what happened to him so we ran too. Then he stopped and asked everyone: “What’s up?” He just laughed and then everyone hit him because he made a joke to scare us. And then we kept going until we came to a bridge to go back to our hut.

We came back to Phnom Penh at about 3:30 pm. It was so nice time for us but we were so tired when we arrived back in Phnom Penh. We said if we a chance we would like to go there again, but with more friends next time.

10:54 AM ICT Permalink |

Before the Festival

On Friday last week, the day before the Water Festival started, my friends and I drove around downtown Phnom Penh to see the preparations for the festival.

We went to Independence Monument, Hun Sen Park, then up to the Royal Palace, and then along Sisowath Quay by the riverfront and stopped at Happy Herb Pizza and had something to eat.

Every place we went and everywhere we looked was crowded. There were balloon sellers, people selling baby duck eggs, meatball sellers, people selling handmade wooden bangles, and more.

At Hun Sen Park I saw lots of signs from different companies advertising their products. I also saw the rehearsal for the concert for following day. I saw about five dancers on the stage and one man telling them things like: “stand here” … “stand there” … “move like this” … “put your arm like that.”

All of my friends and I walked around that night until two o’clock. Now we were ready for the first day of the Water Festival.

10:07 AM ICT Permalink |

Birthday Dream

It was my birthday on October 14. That is also the day I sold my Yamaha Mio 115cc and bought a new motorbike: a Honda Dream 125cc.

I sold my old motorbike for $700 and bought the new for $1,100. This meant I still needed to pay $400, but I only had $200 in cash. I couldn’t find money immediately, so I had to borrow it from my friends. Some of the money I borrowed from a friend of mine named Chan Fou. He said he doesn’t mind when I can give him back the money.

The main reason I wanted to get this Honda Dream is because my old motorbike is too broken down. Also I think this motorbike is bigger than my old one and I can do much more with it. For example, I can do the job as Moto Taxi Driver.

I had my first customer three days after I got the motorbike. The customer was a foreign lady. I took her from the Riverfront to her hotel. She was very friendly. She gave me 2000 Riel for the ride. I asked her some questions like: “How long have you been in Phnom Penh?” and “Have you visited around downtown?” She said she came here to Cambodia for the fourth time, but she didn’t want to go around downtown because she came for missions work. She also said she has to go back to Thailand tomorrow. She said if she has time later she’ll contact me to take her around, but she hasn’t contacted me yet.

Anyway, it was busy for my birthday. I was so happy that I can get the motorbike that I like, and also happy that I can make some money from my new motorbike even if it’s not much.

02:41 PM ICT Permalink |

Cooking Fried Rice

Last week, on Saturday, I got some rice and some soup from Kandal Market for my dinner. But just the rice and soup seemed not really tasty, so I decided to change the plain rice to fried rice.

Here is my recipe for making fried rice: First, I put some cooking oil into a frying pan, than I chopped some garlic and put that into the frying pan. Next, I added some chopped ham from the refrigerator. We got this ham over a week ago and we have to use it before it goes bad, which maybe is tomorrow!

When all the things in the frying pan are hot enough, I put the rice that I got from Kandal Market and mixed it up together. And then I added some different herbs. I would like to tell you what the herbs are but I don't know the names either! I just smell them and which one has a good smell I would put it in. I also stirred in some Chinese oyster sauce. After the rice is cooked I put it on a plate. I also fried an egg and put it on the top of the rice to make it good looking.

So I had some fried rice with the soup that I got from the market. It was very good and I shared some with a friend of mine. He said it was good too.

03:34 PM ICT Permalink |

Motorbike Headaches

My motorbike is a blue Yamaha Mio 115cc. It’s small and has no gears, but it's nice and I like it so much because it's comfortable. It’s also strong and fast, too.

But it gives me a lot of problems. For example: I went to get a registration card for it, but I was confused about the license plate number. It’s because somebody else has my license plate and I had his. It took me three months to find out what the problem was! Then I had to redo it and it cost me another five dollars on the top of the fifteen dollars that I already paid for the license plate. It also gave me a headache on the way to Takeo province when it stopped working. That time I got my friend who went with me to bring it back here to Phnom Penh.

I bought this motorbike secondhand. It always breaks down if I want to use it to go somewhere far. So I would like to sell it and get a better one. But it will be secondhand, too. I tried to find someone to buy my motorbike last month. I went to the Orussey Market because that’s the best place to sell and buy secondhand motorbikes. The motorbike I have now was from there too. There were a lot of buyers that wanted to get my bike at a cheap price. They offered me $500, but it was not enough for me, so I kept the motorbike.

I think I'll sell this motorbike whenever I have enough money to buy a new one. I would like to buy a Honda Dream, which costs $1,100. But I still don't have that money yet. I would like to sell my Yamaha for $650 but the buyers said it's not that good. I like the Yamaha, but it's getting old and the Honda Dream seems like it’s more useful and stronger.

05:13 PM ICT Permalink |

My School

Today was my first day of the new term at my Khmer school. I started grade 11. Grade 11 is really for kids about 17, but I’m 19 and older than most of my class, but there also some younger students who study this grade. The reason I’m 19 and study 11th grade is because when I was young I could not study properly. I had to work for my family.

I go to school every day at one o’clock. It’s Wat Koh high school, and it’s near Sorya Supermarket and Central Market in downtown Phnom Penh. There are ten classes in grade 11. Most of the other teenagers in my grade who are older than me they are richer than me. I think the reason those teenagers are still in grade 11 is because their family is rich so they don’t care about studying!

Today, there were about 20 students in my class. The total is normally about 30 to 40, but it could be 50. The number of students that come to class depends on if there are beautiful girls in the class, or if the teacher is nice, or if there are friends they know. My friend Riya wanted to be in the same class with his girlfriend, so he paid eight dollars to the teacher to change his class. Me, I don’t mind, so I stayed in the same class.

I don’t know my teacher’s name yet. He says things like: You have to put this away, move this away, clean here, help take this rubbish. We just cleaned the classroom today. After cleaning I had lunch with my girlfriend and came back to class about 3 pm. The teacher had to leave, and me and my friends sat around and talked about where we had gone and done during the vacation. Then I came back home and everyone went home too.

There is a lot of rain here in Phnom Penh this week, and sometimes strong winds, too!

09:58 AM ICT Permalink |

Drunk Drivers at Oudong Mountain

Last Saturday many friends of mine and I went out to Oudoung Mountain, about 30km from Phnom Penh. We went there because we wanted to have a good time and also to pray to the temple. It was the Pchtum Ben holiday, a time when Cambodian people pray for their ancestors. The temple in Oudoung has the footprint of the Buddha and we believe if we go there our prayers will be effective.

We left Phnom Penh at about 9am with our motorbikes. We had seven motorbikes. I had one friend with me on my motorbike but most of my friends had three people on their bikes. We arrived at Oudoung Mountain about 11am and found somewhere to buy something to eat. After eating we relaxed about one hour and then we climbed the stairs up to the top of the mountain. There must be more than 600 stairs, I think. And there are more than 100 beggars along the stairs. I gave more than 20,000 riel to them.

Up there at the top they have stupas and there are than 3000 Buddha statues. There is a very nice view and fresh air. Me and my friends prayed andd walked around and I took some photos. We stayed up there for about one and half hours. We came back down around 3pm and started back to Phnom Penh.

On the way back my home one of my friends, his name is Pearom, had an accident with a drunk driver. The car was driving all over the road. My motorbike was in front of all my friends. Pearom had the car was in front of him driving very slow, so Pearom tried to get past, but the car hit him and forced him out of the road. Because he was driving very slowly they didn't get hurt, but the car's paint was scratched. There were men in the car and they were all drunk. They got out of the car and said it was Pearom fault so Pearom has to pay them $300. The rest of us stopped and came back to find Pearom. One guy had a gun and came and shouted at us: "You have to pay for our door!" We all were scared and quiet. They said if we don't pay them they would take Pearom's bike to their place. But we didn't even have $100 between us, we had only $40. They took the money and left. We really don't what they wanted.

First we thought this was a happy day and a nice time for going out to the countryside, but it ended a bad day. Pearom and all of us were angry but we couldn't do anything.

12:32 PM ICT Permalink |

Soccer Video Games

There are a lot of teenagers in Phnom Penh who like to play Soccer Video Games. Students especially, after they’re free from school, they would like to find something to make fun, so they go to a place which has video games. The video arcades not have only soccer games they also have other different games. But most of the people that go there they like soccer, because it’s the most interesting and fun.

One token costs 100 riel (there are about 4000 riel in 1 US dollar). For one token you can play for 8 minutes. Usually I spend between 1000 to 1500 riel for each time I play. A lot of kids like to gamble when they play video soccer. They play multiplayer games against each other to get the money to buy the tokens. Usually I play with my friends to have fun and to gamble a little bit. For me, I’m very good at the free kick and penalty. But for most of my friends, they’re good at the whole game.

For this video game, it’s not really very useful or important, but it can help me and my friends to forget some of our problems. Is that a good reason?

04:45 PM ICT Permalink |

Homelessness

Phnom Penh is so big and has so many people, but the city has a problem about homelessness. There are so many people who have no place to stay so they can only stay and sleep on the street, in front of someone's house, or in the park. Most of those people are Motordop drivers, Cyclo drivers, Newspaper sellers, shoeshine kids and other homeless people.

Ratanak is my brother. He used to stay on the street about three years ago. He was 13 then. The reason that he stayed on the street was because our house is too far from the riverside where we were doing business (selling newspapers), and also we don't have any relatives here in Phnom Penh. From the riverside to our house is about 15 kilometers, close to Phnom Penh Airport.

Ratanak came to the riverside because he wanted to earn and save some money for our family, and also to buy his own things for school. He was a homeless kid for two months and he used to sleep in front of the Riverstreet Bar (which is on the corner of Preah Sisowath Boulevard) with about five other kids, ones that are shoeshine kids, newspaper sellers, bookseller kids, etc. They are all between the ages of about 12 to 17. The kids slept together because they all are friends and they think they can protect each other.

06:39 PM ICT Permalink |