My Brother-in-Law’s New House

One afternoon last week my brother-in-law called me to go to a party at his house. I didn't know about this at all because no one told me about this. He said, "This is my party that I make up for our whole family so you have to come as soon as you can." So I had to go. But I took some friends so I could have someone for sure to talk with.

The party was to celebrate the new house my brother-in-law has built in a village on the edge of Phnom Penh. It was a big party. There were about 40 people - and a baby cow. The people were my family and my brother-in-law's family. The baby cow was barbequed.

In my family there was my father, my three brothers, my sister, and my brother-in-law. And there was also my brother-in-law's family; his mother, his brother, and his mother's step-husband, who is the guy that my brother-in-law doesn't like. I don't know why he doesn't like his step-father. Also there were three Nigerian guys, who rent a house from my sister and my brother-in-law.

I talked with one of the Nigerians. His job is teaching English in Vietnam, and he comes here to get his visa. His English is the best of the three. My friends said he looked like Tierry Henry, the French football player for Arsenal. I told him he looked like Tierry Henry and he laughed. The other two told me they came to Cambodia to find a Cambodian team to play football with.

My friend Bros liked the beer that my brother-in-law bought for the party. The beer is called Oktinger or something like that and it's German. My friends said, "When we have a party we'd like to have this beer!" My friends talked to some of the people from my village. One of the guys from my village is a champion drinker, and my friend Bros wanted to make a competition with him, but that guy never minded him because Bros was a bit drunk.

My brother-in-law made this house for his mother. It has one bedroom, one living room, two bathrooms (one outside and one inside), and a big yard. Land in this village costs about $4,500, and I guess it cost about $10,000 to build the house. My brother-in-law has three houses; the one he lives in, the one he rents to the Nigerians, and now this one for his mother. He's a policeman, and also works as a bodyguard, and as an agent for people who want to buy and sell property.

We drove back home about six o'clock. My friends said they really liked this party.

03:44 PM ICT Permalink |

Srey Nou’s Wedding

On Sunday last week I went to Srey Nou's wedding. She's a friend from my English school. She told me about the wedding almost one month ago, but I thought she was just kidding. Then she brought me the wedding invitation three days before, so it was really surprising.

She invited almost everyone in my English class, even my teacher. The wedding was at Mondia Center, at around five in the afternoon. I got there at 5:30. I had a nice shirt and nice trousers, but no nice shoes, just flip-flops. So I felt a bit embarrassed, because everyone else had shoes. When I got there I didn't know anyone, so I waited downstairs and telephoned Srey Nou's younger sister, Srey Ta, and asked for someone to come and bring me. So, Srey Ta came down and got me. When I saw her I almost didn't recognize her because of her makeup and her dress; she looked so beautiful. Not just beautiful, but very beautiful.

The party was very big and looked very expensive. There were maybe more than a thousand guests, and a band playing live music (they looked very professional), and lots of food for every table, and things to drink like Black Label whiskey, Tiger beer, Coke, and water.

At seven o'clock we had the cake cutting. Srey Nou and her husband walked round the room and everyone stood up and we all made a long line and threw flowers over them to show how much they love one another. Srey Nou looked kind of shy, because she's so young, maybe only 17 or 18. Her husband is about 30. He's a teacher at the University. This is the first time getting married for both of them. At the end of the party we had singing and traditional Khmer dancing. Many people came to join the dancing and there was a very pretty singer. And then I came back home. I haven't seen Srey Nou at school since then.

12:38 PM ICT Permalink |

Classic Bar

Last week I went with many friends of mine to Classic Bar. It’s located in Street 19 behind the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. People call it a gay bar because they have a gay show, but anyway they still have girls too, and those girls are so beautiful. Most of people that go there are Cambodians.

We went there at 10 o’clock and they didn’t have any show yet, but they had a singer on stage. Me and my friends were sitting and waiting and had a bottle of Angkor Beer for each of us. At 10:30 the D.J. played disco music for everyone to dance and then at 11 o’clock they started the show.

The first show was the Sexy Show. A man and a woman came on the stage and started to kiss. They kissed here and there and here. The girl was wearing just a krama across her breasts and a short skirt. And the man was wearing jeans and no shirt. Then my friend Ti said he wanted to ask the boss of the bar if he could be that man on the stage. My friends seem didn’t want to close their eyes - and I didn’t either. Everyone around the stage was shouting to that man on the man stage to do this to and do that. And at the end of this show the D.J. said: “They are students from Sex University and they practice to be professional.” This really made the people in the bar laugh.

The next show was the guy show. Their show was wonderful and had the dancing of five Countries. They had five dancers for each country: Cambodia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and India. They just tried to make us laugh, the one who made us laugh most was the Cambodian dancer who was dressed as an Apsara and was very fat.

After the show the Vietnamese dancer came and sat with us because he is uncle of my friends Koch. When we left there at midnight the street looked dark and seemed very dangerous, so we rode very fast home.

10:32 AM ICT Permalink |

Chinese New Year Spirits

During the Chinese New Year festival last month they had a big parade one day in Phnom Penh. They started the parade at Orussey Market, at about 8:30 in the morning, and then it went all around the city till the people got tired.

Before they started, the people who are going to be entered by the spirits go to a special place to prepare. No-one else is allowed to go in there. When they come out, they are the spirits. They believe that fifteen days after Chinese New Year the Chinese spirits have to go back to Paradise. Before they go, they enter into some people and go all round the city bringing good luck.

There are many different spirits. There’s a General, who is an old man with a long beard. There’s a Tiger and a Monkey, and a woman (I don’t know who she is), and many more, too. One of them made me laugh. He’s a little kid spirit (really he’s a man, but the spirit is a little kid), and he sucks candy like a kid, and takes it out of his mouth and offers it to people. The name of that spirit is Kuk Ma Pich, which means Diamond Child.

Sometimes their eyes roll back in their heads and you can only see the whites of the eyeballs. All the time they ask for wine. If they don’t get wine they get angry. They keep saying, “Give me wine, give me wine!” The rest of the time they talk in Chinese.

Some of them cut their tongues until the blood comes out. Then they kiss yellow paper with Chinese writing and give it to people. The people put these papers in their shops and houses to bring good luck for the rest of the year.

I started the day very early to get these photos. I waited maybe two hours at the place where they were preparing for the spirits. Then when they came out, they ran very fast behind a man who carried a black flag.

06:53 PM ICT Permalink |

Sihanoukville Adventure

At about half past three we left Kirirom for Sihanoukville. The way to Sihanoukville is so long, it’s about 230 km, so we had to stop a few times for our engines to get cool. Also we stopped at a village to buy some more petrol because we knew that we wouldn’t see any more villages after this point. The villagers where we bought the petrol seemed so friendly to us.

We arrived in Sihanoukville at about 7 pm. We had dinner at a local market because it’s cheaper. After that we tried to find a guesthouse but at every place we went to there were no rooms, so we went to the beach to sit and sleep overnight.

About ten o’clock that night we finished all the beer that we brought with us. Some of my friends were still hungry so we rode back to the town to get some more food. It’s really nice at night in Sihanoukville and we really do like to ride there a lot. When we came back to the beach there were just a few people left.

I was trying to sleep but really couldn’t because my friends were very noisy. My friends and I like the smell of the sea at night and we were very happy to look and talk about the stars, and also about girls. Then we saw a group of girls walking along the beach and my friend Ti said, “Hey girls where are you going at night? Would you like to hang out with us?” And those girls just walked straight to us, and that made us really surprised. But unfortunately they were not girls; they were lady boys! So we didn’t know what to do and they hung around us until almost 1 am. It was really hard for me to sleep then, even though I was very tired. Those lady boys seemed to want us. Most of us were really bored with them but my friends Hok and Por wanted to hang out with them. Finally I fell to sleep and I didn’t know what was happening.

Next morning I asked them, “What happened last night?” and they just told me nothing. They seemed so secretive to me, so it’s really hard to tell if anything happened. At about 7:30 am we went to have breakfast at the same market and then went on the Ream Beach. I had never gone to Ream Beach before and I never knew it was that nice.

09:55 AM ICT Permalink |

Long Trip

On the second day of the Chinese New Year holiday last month I went with nine friends of mine for a rendezvous at Kirirom National Park. This was the second time we went there, but this trip was longer than last time because we also went on to Sihanoukville afterwards.

At about 8:30 in the morning all of us met at my friend Chiroth’s house in Phnom Penh and then we went to Kirirom. We took five motorbikes and each bike had two people. All the bikes that we had are only 125cc. We arrived at Kirirom at about 10:00 that morning. On the way up to Kirirom Mountain there were so many people that had come from Phnom Penh. At Kirirom they have little covered stands where you can sit and rest or eat. When we arrived there were only two places free and the price was very expensive. We sat there for about a half hour after we had our lunch.

There was another group, maybe a family, that came to sit next to us. And in that group there were two girls who were very beautiful. They might have half blood of Chinese, and they made most of us frisky. One of my friends, named Por, was playing a love song from his cell phone to flirt with the girls. And their parents looked at us again and again and we got scared so we changed the subject. We just played cards instead. Anyway, a few of my friends still looked at the girls.

Next time I will write about how we got to Sihanoukville.

12:38 PM ICT Permalink |

Traffic Police Incident

Last Thursday when I was riding my motorbike to my English School I saw a crowd on the corner of Sihanouk Boulevard and Pasteur Road. I asked some people: "What was happening?" And they told me there was a driver who punched the face of a traffic policeman because that policeman tried to stop him and almost made him fall off his motorbike.

Then the police arrested that man and just locked his motorbike. So he used his mobile phone to call his friends and relatives to come and help him. There were about three or four police there and they were very angry, and the driver was very angry with those police too.

The man was shouting at the police that: “You almost made me fall of my bike!” And the police was shouting at him: “Why didn’t you stop your bike?” And then the driver’s friends arrived, and the crowd shouted at them: “Fight! Fight!” I would have liked to stay and see what’ll happen but I couldn’t because I had to go to my school.

I think that guy will have a big problem with the police because he punched a policeman, and also because he called his friends and that made more of a big crowd. The crowd didn’t like those police at all. Maybe because they think the police are corrupt. I took some photos sort of secretly, because I didn’t want to make the police angry at me too.

03:21 PM ICT Permalink |

New House Ceremony

Last Saturday some friends and I went to a party on the other side of the Japanese Bridge in Phnom Penh. That party was held for a new house ceremony. The new house, by the Mekong River, belongs to the grandmother of my friend Pearom.

I went with a lot of friends, about 15 people, to hang around at the back of the house before the ceremony. There is very nice view there, and I could see the tip of Koh Dach Island (“Koh” means island in Khmer).

At three o’clock we joined the ceremony. We listened to the monk talking about the Buddha and his teaching. At the same time while we were listening we also had a meal of rice porridge and some bananas. We ate two big pots of porridge. Everybody seemed very hungry. At the end of the ceremony Pearom’s mother asked us to stay there overnight, but some of us could not because we had to go to school the next day. That’s too bad for us, because the party overnight is more fun, with singing and dancing, and pretty girls. There is also big drinking too.

Pearom’s mother told us that it’s dangerous to go back to Phnom Penh at night. She said there are robbers and ghosts, and it’s very dark. She tried to hide our motorbike keys because she wanted us to stay, but in the end we just had to come back home. But about seven friends of mine did stay there overnight - because Pearom’s mother hid their motorbike keys! She’s a very funny lady. The friends of mine that stayed there told me that the party was very nice and they had no regrets.

12:23 PM ICT Permalink |

Accidents will happen

Last Sunday I went to my mom’s house. I go there every Sunday. Her house is on the west side of Phnom Penh Airport, it’s about 15 kilometers from where I live.

I was riding my motorbike along at about 40 km per hour with my brother sitting on the back, when suddenly a car pulled out of the sidewalk right in front of me. The driver didn’t show any blinker, so I didn’t know that he was going to come out. I couldn’t go around him because he blocked the road. I tried to put on my brakes but it wasn’t strong enough to stop me and I crashed in the front wheel of the car very badly.

The driver got out and asked me “Are you alright?” and he looked round his car and then just said “Ok! You fix your motorbike and I’ll fix my car!” But I didn’t agree because it was not my fault at all and I would like him to pay to fix my bike. Then I checked my motorbike; it had damage to the front wheel which was smashed and the part that holds the wheel was bent very badly. I could not move it. His car just had a flat-tire where my spokes had punctured it, and a little dent.

He didn’t want to pay for my motorbike so I phoned my brother-in-law. I told what happened then he came right away. And that other man called his police friends. So everyone was there arguing and shouting and my brother-in-law just called a guy he knew (I didn’t know who that guy was) and then two more police came. When these two police came the driver of that car looked scared and one of his police friends just gave me some money ($25). I looked at my brother-in-law to say it wasn’t enough, but he say to me in a loud voice so they would hear: “Take that shit money and just walk away from shit”.

So we found a cyclo to take my motorbike to get fixed. I didn’t enough money with me so I had to borrow money from my mom. My brother and I were very lucky because we weren’t hurt too much. I just hurt my leg a bit bad and my brother get a little bit hurt. I was wearing my helmet.

10:38 AM ICT Permalink |

Morning Soccer

On Sunday I was woken up by my friend Riya. He called to ask me to go to play soccer for his team. First I thought I wouldn't like to go because it was too early in the morning and a bit far from my home, and also I was not really awake. But he bagged me to go because his team didn’t have enough players.

The football field is on the other bank of the river, so we had to go across the Japanese Bridge. There is really big field and has very nice views. I had never met the people in Riya's team before and they didn’t know me either.

Before we started the play the game we did some training. We started about 6:00 a.m. In the first half the other team scored the first goal. Then we rested for awhile and waited for the second half. Then the manager changed the roll and I had to play close to the goalkeeper. After almost ten minutes in the second half our team scored the second goal by the captain. So now each team had the same score. Then at the end of the game Riya's friend scored another goal. It was very nice. He wore shirt number 7, and the goal he made by using his head was very strong. We won the game by the score of 2 – 1.

I was sorry for my friend Riya that I didn't score any goals, but he said it was okay because he didn't score any either. The captain of the team said to me that I played well and I was fast so he would like me to come again next week.

12:48 PM ICT Permalink |

Lucky Day

Yesterday I played snooker with my friends. I was very lucky because I won almost every game. We played with three persons each game. During one of the games we were playing, one of my friends, his name is Ti, was the first guy that finished his money. So after that it was only me and another friend named Fou.

We bet 5,000 riel per each game, which is about US$1.25. We played seven games and I won five times. I had to pay 10,000 riel to rent the table, so I still had 30,000 riel left. I spent the money to buy a shirt. The shirt is black and has a very nice big scorpion design (which looked very dangerous) on the left shoulder. I bought it because I like the way it fits me, but I hope people don't that I'm a gangster.

I also thought I would buy something instead of playing again and losing money back to my friends. Anyway, I had only 7,000 riel left, but I didn't let my friends know because they might not allow me to play. So I think I was lucky because I won money instead of losing my 7,000 riel.

03:31 PM ICT Permalink |

My Friend’s Wedding

Last week I went out to Takeo Province (south of Phnom Penh) to join my friend’s wedding. His name is Sokheng. Usually most people in Cambodia think to get married when they are about 23 or 24, but Sokheng is only 19 like me, and his wife looks younger than him. But anyway, the two of them look nice together.

At first, I thought I didn’t want to go to the wedding because it’s really far to go, but Sokheng is the friend that I’ve known many years, since I was selling newspapers at the riverfront. I left Phnom Penh at about 11:30 a.m. with three people on my motorbike, and we arrived at Takeo town at almost 1 p.m. Sokheng’s village is very deep inside the country, and we almost got lost on all the dirt roads until I found his house. I was surprised that his wedding was on the rice field, and looked very poor-style.

At the wedding, my friends and I sat on the mats on the ground and ate there because there were not enough tables for everyone. The other guests sat at the table, During the party all my friends were joking, talking, and drinking. One of my friends talked about when his motorbike broke down one time at the countryside. He talked so funny about that.

At almost 5:00 Sokheng asked me to stay there overnight for a dancing party, but I was too tired and also I had to go to school on the next day so I just went back home.

04:52 PM ICT Permalink |

The end of my trip

On the next day after my sister and her husband left, my mum and I have to spend as little money as we can, because we still don’t know when we are going to get her visa. But we can’t find any cheaper restaurants until we found the Yoy Kon restaurant. We had to save money but my mum was sick and I have to buy medicine.

Four days after my sister and her husband left, and we didn’t get any phone call from them because my sister didn’t want to spend money to call us. She is too stingy. And on the same day, my mum got the result from the embassy saying that she can come to pick up the visa. We went to the embassy the next day and this time I went inside with my mum and we got the visa. So now we are very happy.

We came back to the hotel and took all the money we had left and 4,000 baht for the hotel, and took 3,000 baht for going back to Phnom Penh. And the rest of the money we can spend. We went to Pratunam Night Market and bought some things for my younger sister and brother. And I bought 3 swimming shorts; one for me, and one for my brother, and the other one for my friend Riya.

The next day we get up at 2 a.m. to catch the van to take us to Poi Pet. We arrived at Poi Pet at 7 a.m. We took the bus from Poi Pet to Phnom Penh and arrived in Phnom Penh at 4 p.m. I really felt better when I was back at my home.

06:48 PM ICT Permalink |

Celebrating New Year in Sihanoukville

On New Year’s Eve, my friends and I went out to Sihanoukville for one night. We left Phnom Penh at about 5:30 a.m. with six people in a car. That car is belong to my friend, his name is Bros. We arrived in Sihanoukville around 11:00 a.m.

First, we had to find a hotel or guest house to stay. But we did have problems, because there were a lot of people that went there on the same day too. So almost every place had no rooms, and some of them were higher priced. And our big problem is we didn’t have much money with us. We tried to find a room at more than ten places but still can’t find one. We were scared that we would have to sleep in the car. But finally we were lucky; we found a guest house which let six of us stay in room and it cost only $15. In the room there were two small beds, so we put them together. But it still could fit only three people, so we decided three of us would have to sleep on the floor. We decided by played rock-scissors-paper, and I wasn’t enough lucky so I slept on the floor.

We had a short rest in the room and after that we had brunch. We had to find somewhere that has cheaper food, because we didn’t want to spend too much, because all of us had less than $100 altogether.

Around 1 p.m. we went to a beach, its name is Occheateal Beach. And there were many things that some of my friends were interested in; like pretty girls, people making sand castles, some kids playing football, etc. And we had a swimming competition between two of my friends. Two of them are really good swimmers.

After that we went to Koh Pors Beach to collect shells and catch crabs. At that beach we sew a foreign man swimming without clothes. Cambodians don’t do that. My friend Bros said he wasn’t surprised because he came to this place many times and he even saw a couple swimming without clothes. But I never saw anything like this before.

That night we went back to Occheateal Beach again and it really looked cool because on New Year's Eve almost every tourist came to this beach and there were a lot of pretty girls. My friend Riya tried to flirt with them, but they acted like they didn’t hear. And also there many people letting off fireworks and sparklers. There was a group making a birthday party for their friend. They looked really happy. They used sand to make a birthday cake instead of real cake. They also had a big video karaoke show with big speakers. Some of them sang and some danced.

I had a really nice time there even we didn’t have much money and only went with six people. I came back to Phnom Penh and I was really tired.

01:12 PM ICT Permalink |

My trip continues

The next day after my mum’s interview at the American embassy we went to Bumrungrad Hospital because the embassy needed my mum to get an injection and check for her health. We went there with a guide (his name is Sak) because we don’t know where the hospital is and what to do there. The hospital is very big, and we might get lost inside.

Sak took us to wait at a place and brought a form and filled in the information about my mum; like name, age, etc. Then my mum had the injection and some tests. Sak did a good job and he looked after us. We gave him 500 baht. The hospital cost 1,800 baht. After that we went back our hotel.

Now I would like to tell you about what my stingy sister and her selfish husband did. This sister is not the one in America. The one in America is good. Anyway, when we got back to the hotel my sister said, “What’s going on?” And my mum answered, “We have to go back to the embassy again on Monday.” And then my sister said “We must leave Bangkok pliem-pliem” (which means “now” in Cambodian). So my mum asked, “Why?” And my sister’s husband said, “We don’t want to starve here!” And then they told us, they spent all our money already. And my mum said, “Are you going to leave me here?” My brother in-law said, “You have Sochiet with you, and then they just left.

So it was just me and my mum, adventurous in Bangkok, with only 10,000 baht. We don’t know how long we have to stay or when we can go back!

04:58 PM ICT Permalink |