Day 7

Bryant’s Blog

Day 7

Oh, HEY Angkor Wat! Having slept at 1 am the night before, most of the team didn’t appreciate having to wake up at 6 am to start the trek to Angkor Wat. And by trek, I mean the walk downstairs to the van, which drove us to Sam Reap. Thankfully, the van was well air-conditioned and most of the team got a good night’s---err, morning’s sleep in. We arrived at Chakriya’s hometown (was it her hometown? She may have just lived in the village at one point in her life) to have the same noodle Heng and Vanery had for breakfast the day before. Mmmm instant noodles.

After breakfast, we continued our journey to Angkor Wat, but with new seating arrangements. I got to sit next to Andy. When I fell asleep, my head accidentally rested itself on his shoulder. What a comfy, lean, masculine pillow. Yay.

We arrived at a rest stop in Sam Reap that charged us 500 Riel per person to use the restroom. It was the cleanest, most advanced restroom I had seen in all of Cambodia. The toilets flushed themselves—a luxury I had taken for granted in America. When the gang was walking back to the van from the restroom, I got scared by the dragonflies and pulled a reluctant Vanery up the hill with me. It turns out, they were harmless -_-.

Back at the van, Olivia was looking at some local apparel to buy because her shower dress turned out to be a very fruitful purchase (very pretty and comfortable!). Tuan was being cooked alive in his black shirt and decided to buy a traditional, unisex Cambodian shirt.

When we finally arrived at the gate to Angkor Wat, we had to purchase passes..and they even put our pictures on them!!!!!! So on every ticket, they printed the word “Bayon” on the top right corner, but I didn’t know they printed it on EVERY ticket. So, I thought they just misspelled my name. Silly, Bryant.

When the guards checked our passes/checked to see if we were Cambodian (because Cambodians get free entry into the site), Olivia counted to 10 in Khmer, but the guard saw past her sneaky ways and made her reveal her true ethnicity. Teehee.

Passing by the ancient ruins was truly awe-inspring. To think, people with limited tools were actually able to carve these grand stone structures and fashion buildings that would last for thousands of years. Amazing. I don’t think I could ever do that; I would probably break the stone in half or carve retarded dents.

The first temple was Bayon. There were lots of places to climb, which was fun. This specific site featured 52 faces that represented the 52 provinces of Cambodia (thank you to Heng for being our makeshift tour guide).

As Olivia, Fu Han, Shun-Ya, and I were walking out of this temple, we saw 2 Stanford students that had JUST graduated in 2009. I took a picture of them from about 300 feet away and shouted out their names as well as my facebook profile information so they could add me. Stanford is everywhere.

We proceeded to meet up with the group a couple yards ahead of us, but we were bombarded by about 15 Cambodian children who tried to push merchandise on us. I bought 2 flutes for $1 and Andy bought some weird magnet thing that he regretted.

At the next temple, we saw Garuda statues and came across a very long expanse of stairs. When we got back down, we were bombarded by Cambodian women trying to push more merchandise on us. One of them was very persistent and clever. Shun-Ya told her Andy was his honey (FALSE, btw. He’s my honey.), and she called him a ladyboy (where did she even learn that word?). She chased across the entire site to the next structure and finally gave the shirt to Shun for the price he asked. Then, he slipped on the pavement and I took pictures of him changing out of his shirt.

We had lunch at a local food stand and Olivia, Fu Han, and Shun tried eating chicken ovary (which totally redefined the phrase “chicken egg” for me), hearts, and gizzard.

After lunch, we headed to the main Angkor Wat site. The gate was gigantic, and the buildings it sheathed were even more gigantic. We came across pits that looked like they were used for trials or games. Olivia and I also came across two hot white boys that I managed to take pictures of.

We got a quick drink/snack at a food stand near the site and we were bombarded by little Cambodian girls AGAIN. We decided to have fun with them this time. Olivia asked them questions about their schooling and education, while I tried to sell some post cards Andy had bought for me for cheaper prices than them. That was mean of me. (Sorry, Cambodian girls).

When we stopped at the bathroom, we got ambushed by Cambodian girls AGAIN. This time, their main items were bracelets. Andy was too weak and bought more items from them. So did Shun-Ya. Olivia made a little Cambodian girl cry!

While driving back, we ran over a snake and stopped at the nearest town to talk to a mechanic. He was wearing a Stanford shirt. We are everywhere.

We had dinner at the restaurant we took shelter at the night before (during the rainstorm). It was BBQ on the grill, and it reminded me so much of Korean BBQ. It is my favorite restaurant so far. MMMM. It was really unique too—it had a soup compartment over the grill so the soup would heat while we grilled meat in the center. COOL!

At home, I really had to poo, but our toilet was clogged, so I went to Yuxin’s room to use the bathroom. Heng told me to go inside and check the door because it gets jammed. I did, and guess what. I got stuck. And guess what. There was no toilet paper in the bathroom, so Heng had to slide in toilet paper to me through cracks in the door.

We closed the day by playing mafia. The last game scared me. Andy was the killer and Nary and I were the only civilians left and I couldn’t decide which one of them was the mafia. It was effing Andy. -_-

Day 6

Bryant’s Blog

Day 6

It turns out on Fridays, there are very little kids because there is a lot of free play time.

Today was a big day for Andy. He had to teach English class, run an English curriculum reflection, and do a leadership lesson.

For lunch, we ate at the buffet restaurant. They Had Kankung!!!! MMMMM.

Today actually went by really quickly, and was very fun.

For dinner, we went to White Rose again. MMM Kankung again.

That night, we went to KARAOKE! YEAH, boy. The room was really cheap, and GIGANTIC. It had it’s own bathroom. Shit. Our songs were amazing. I especially enjoyed singing “A Whole New World” with Heng. <3 When cool, upbeat Chinese songs came on that we didn’t know the words to, we would just dance in the middle of the room. We didn’t have our driver when we walked back home from karaoke. And…it started raining. There was also lightning so bright that when it flashed, it looked like day time. The rain got so hard that the streets looked like they were going to flood.

Scary part. Heng saw that two boys were following us and ran ahead to a group of boys, so he took us to a restaurant for shelter. When we called the ToogToog to come pick us up, we saw those boys with their group and we figured they would’ve beaten us up and stolen things from us if we had continued walking.

Effing scary, but it makes for a great story though!

Day 5

Bryant’s Blog

Day 5

Day 5 was delicious. It was a long day for me. Shun-Ya and I taught an English class in the morning. Then I taught a Leadership class with Olivia. Then I had English Curriculum reflection with the teachers.

For lunch, we ate at a restaurant SIMILAR to the one I hated. Oh. My. God. I think I lost 3 pounds that day because of how little I ate. There was a REALLY gross friend ant dish…Olivia didn’t know what it was when she put it on her plate. However, with closer inspection, she saw the wings and insect abdomens and told us. Thank God she said something. That shit was gross. The raw beef with lemon dish was good, though. Instead, I had nice hotel crackers. By this point, I think my addiction to Sour Sop started forming.

Then Shun-Ya and I taught the afternoon English class (we decided to split the classes, so I taught the morning one and Shun-Ya taught the afternoon one).

There was a black snake with yellow stripes running along its body. It was poisonous, apparently. I was really scared of it. It ran under a lion statue and the teachers had to smoke it out. It was really scary because the teachers decided to go play ball and let the smoke form under the lion. At this point, I was standing by the lion, paying close attention to the snake. Then they kicked the ball and it started bouncing towards me, but I mistook it for a gigantic white snake in ball form trying to attack me, so I screamed and ran.

For dinner, we ate at a very nice restaurant and had cool drinks.

Afterwards, we had time to kill, so we roamed the park near our hotel that had suddenly exploded with people. There were so man people. And there surprisingly a lot of aerobicise classes going on. The sky looked beautiful. It was a nice ending to a nasty-lunch-snake-filled day.

Day 4

Bryant’s Blog

Day 4

Today at PKO, it was our first day teaching an English class. Olivia and Chakriya were the lucky ones teaching. The class went pretty well, and the kids seemed to understand more than we thought. We planned our English curriculum thinking the kids wouldn’t know anything. After the first leadership lesson, I was worried because Fu Han and I also planned our Leadership lesson to be VERY basic for the directors. We assumed they didn’t even know what “hi” meant, which was far from the truth, as we realized later.

We ate Rambatans. They were so good. It was the first time I ever had them, and they were such a treat. I wish I had eaten more of them because for lunch…we went to the same restaurant I hated from Day 2. -________-

This time, Olivia, Tu and a few others couldn’t stomach eating the nasty little fried bird. YAY more people on my side.

Olivia’s second English class was funny. There was a little miss know it all, who (I think) was the same girl that was leading the dance class the day before. There was one very cute boy that fell asleep. Judging from the feedback session we had with the teachers and directors, they seemed to really like her English curriculum. WIN!

For Dinner, we ate at White Rose, which Chakriya’s friend recommended. It was actually pretty good. It was the first time I had Kankong, mmmmm. SO GOOD. It was also the first time I had Sour Sop. I approved.

Day 2

Bryant’s Blog

Day 2

Today was our first complete day in Battambang, and boy was it a long one.

We had to wake up at 7:30 AM to an interesting Cambodian breakfast sandwich, which was actually wuite good. From there, we discussed the schedule for the day ahead and assigned leadership lectures and English curricula to pairs of team members. Fu Han and I were talking about the “stand-up” game where two people have to sit back to back and help each other stand up. Heng and I were the only ones that could do it! Yay.

After lunch, we arrived at the main PKO office to speak with Mr. Sophia, the head director. There, we met with the directors of the school at which we would be teaching.

Cambodia. Was. So. Hot. Really. I remember sitting in the director’s office watching Shun-Ya sweat like crazy and thinking to myself “wow, these fans are not cutting it.” Afterwards, we got a quick tour of the PKO school assigned to us and met the staff, who seemed to be very receptive to having foreigners help guide them in forming a English curriculum for their students.

At first glance, the school reminded me of a farm in the rural parts of Fresno. There were stray chickens, dogs, and cows (or bulls?) running around, which is something I wasn’t used to.

Afterwards, we went on a Bamboo Train. Olivia and I were worried that it was a Bamboo raft of some sort and that we would get leeches from the river. It was actually a bamboo platform propelled by an engine on abandoned railroad tracks. We even crossed over a river—and we were high up, on thin, unkept tracks. Amazing. It turned out to be quite fun, especially when we tried to push Fu Han off the edge.

For dinner, we headed to a really authentic Cambodian restaurant that Mr. Sophia recommended. The eating places were small huts made of bamboo and hay that rested over the brown-water river/lake. It was picnic style, meaning there weren’t any tables or chairs and we just ate off the floor. I HATED this restaurant. They had this weird unique bird that was really small and that they deep fried whole. You could see it’s neck and head still. People ate the whole thing—head, bones, feet, and all. Yuck. Bugs were flying around everywhere. I think I cried inside.

Tu and her friend Chum arrived. Fun.

When we arrived at the hotel, we showered and split up into our respective teams to plan for tomorrow. We concluded the day with our very first Spotlight On, which focused on Tuan (surprise, surprise…haha). We learned some interesting stuff about our project co-leader, and Bryant asked dirty naughty questions. You go, Bryant.

Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello!

Hey, Fu Han here reporting to you guys from Battambang, Cambodia!

Day 1 consisted of a bumpy 5-hour ride from Phnom Penh to where I am reporting from now. Despite the constant turbulence and lack of cold air from the air-conditioner, the ride was nonetheless pretty amazing.

In the van that carried 8 eager and plenty of big luggage we have:

• Andy Chong, a rising senior at Brown, who is also MUCH older than the most of us.
  
• Bryant Cabrera, a rising sophomore at Stanford, and an avid fan of Kitty Cat.
• Chakriya Chan, a rising junior at PUC, and an aspiring Cambodian Idol.
  
• Meng Heng Touch, a rising sophomore at MIT, and also our dedicated tour guide for the trip.
• Olivia Hu, a rising sophomore at Stanford who persistently compares herself to Olive of Little Miss Sunshine.
• Shun Ya Wu, a rising sophomore at UCLA, who was recently crowned most-good-looking-of-the-bunch.
• Tuan Hyunh, a rising senior at MIT, and the big bully of the team.

The fabulous 2 who eventually joined us after being missing in action for QUITE SOME TIME are:

• Sokunvannary Tep, a RECENT GRADUATE (congratulations!) from PUC, who was also recently confused to be a PhD graduate.
  
• Yuxin Chuah, a rising junior at Stanford, is unbelievably smart, cute, friendly... the list goes on!

And me? I'm Fu Han Liang, a rising sophomore at the University of Michigan, and I hope you have a great time reading our chronicles of the trip! It's only been 6 days since I've arrived in Cambodia, and I must admit that it's been pretty overwhelming and crazy, but also life-changing!