Two weeks in Cambodia

My younger sister Srey Nak, visited my Aunt in Pagoda. Cambodia 2009.

I flew from Washington Dulles airport to Los Angeles International airport (LAX) and from LAX to Taipei then Taipei to Phnom Penh, which took 24 hours plus 11 hours waiting for transfer flights and then I finally arrived in Cambodia ( this was three hours faster than when I flew to Australia). Since I move to US this is the first time I visit my country and I couldn’t wait.

Eating my favorite breakfast Pork Rice. Cambodia 2009.

I spent my first day in Phnom Penh organizing a place to stay. My friend Daniel bought a very nice house close to the old market on street 108, but the house was under construction and he didn’t tell me that. He was not in Phnom Penh when I arrived so I had to organize everything and clean up all the construction work in his house so that I had a place to stay. It was very stressful when I first arrived, because I thought I was going to have a very nice holiday and relax, but I ended up moving everything around from my old apartment that I had rented when I lived in Phnom Penh to Daniel’s house. Also both apartments were on the third floor so it made it even more difficult to move.

Buddha in the pagoda. Cambodia 2009.

The next day I went to visit my family. I saw most of my brothers and one of sisters but a few of them weren’t there. I took my family out for dinner and organized a van to go to visit my aunt at the pagoda in Takove province for the next day. When I arrived at the pagoda my aunt was very surprised to see me. She said “I was thought you were coming in September!” I said “I changed my plans and didn’t want to tell you so that I could surprise you” My plan worked well!

Brad and Sharni relaxing on the lake house in Kampot province. Cambodia 2009.

The first week alone in Phnom Penh I spent too much money for everything, because I did a lot of shopping and invited many of my friends for dinner. I had to pay for everyone because working in the U.S I make a better income than most of my friends but I was happy to do it. The first dinner I invited my brothers, sisters and some friends and we went to Ta Khearl my favorite place for dinner. At the restaurant we ordered cow’s tongue with ants, beef’s fire mountain, frog’s roty, a beef’s dip with sour pepper, green peppers prawns, and a lot of soft drinks (In Phnom Penh, if I go out with Khmer friends they all like to drink beers or soft drinks, and I only like to drink wine or cocktails. If those aren’t available I drink soft drinks).

Nun shaving for each other in pagoda. Takove province, Cambodia 2009.

For my second dinner I invited the ChildSafe team. There were twelve people (including me) at the dinner and everything went great. I got to see everyone and gave my regards to everybody. We had good conversations, some of them are getting married, some of them have had children, and some of them are leaving ChildSafe to do something different, everyone is moving in new direction. Everyone was well and looked healthy. I was glad to see that everything had gone so well for them in the twelve months that I have been away. I really appreciate that they took time from their busy schedules to join my dinner.

My aunt and my sister Srey Neat, Takove province, Cambodia 2009.

After dinner with the ChildSafe team I decided to come back home to sleep. It wasn’t that late but I felt very tired that night plus I didn’t have any plans so I just wanted to go straight home. In Cambodia I often like to take the Cambodian cyclol (a type of transport with three wheels) to transport me around the city, because it can’t be ridden fast and that makes me feel safer than using other kinds of transports. Also I can relax and look around the city while I’m sitting in the cyclor. Too bad the cyclor that I took that night had a driver who was drunk and he talked nonsense the whole time. He rode his cyclor into a tuk tuk (a type of transport with five wheels and roof) so I had to get off the cyclor and help push it out as it was stacked together, and had to try to calm down the tuk tuk driver because he was very angry and wanted to have a fight with the cyclor driver. Everything was fine in the end, I arrived home safely but it was a little bit scary for me, and I have not been that scared for a while since I moved to the US.

My second brother daughter Vatana, that make me become her aunt. :-)

My two sisters Srey Nak and Srey Neat in Takove province, Cambodia 2009.

At the third dinner I invited the Happy School staffs. There were eight of us at the dinner that night. Everything is going wonderful with all of them and we were very happy to see each others.

An Boddhivilla in Kampot province, Cambodia 2009.

The first week in Phnom Penh drove me a bit crazy, because everyone I met talked to me about marriage and babies all the time. And the next thing they said to me was “Nika you are fat and black” “how much money did you make?” “ how much money have you given to your parents”, “take all of your family to live with you in the US”, “help me to live with you in the US”, “help my kids to go to the US with you too ” These are quotes that I heard the most from people that I met in my two weeks in Cambodia. It felt weird to hear that, and I was a little bit annoyed, because in the US no one ever says something like that to me at all. It took me awhile to get used to with it. I tried not to let people know that I had come from America. Wherever I went out I kept quiet did not let anyone know I was on holiday (except my friends) but one of my friends kept telling people that I lived and worked in America, and had came to Cambodia for a holiday. After heard that I from US some people treat me like princess, some tried to take advantage of me, some asked me the same questions all the time. The most common questions I had to answer were: “How do I come to live in the US like you?” “How much do you make in the US?” “Do you have your citizenship yet?”

Having drinks with Daniel and Brad in Phnom Penh Cambodia 2009.

Having dinner with Happy School staffs in Phnom Penh Cambodia 2009.

When I told everyone that I came to the US to work only, the next question was “You must be cleaver and make a lot of money working in the US” I said “No! I’m just a nanny, and I have nothing in the US, but I am happy with the life and freedom that I have there” I tried to explain to them about life in America; especially that it is not as easy as they think. But everyone seemed to not want to believe me. They said whatever happens as long as one gets into the US they can do anything to make money not very hard like Cambodia. I have heard that sentence since I was young and now I’m heard it again; I feel a lot of people in Cambodia need to grown up about the way they think of western countries.

With Daniel.

Five days later Sharni arrived in Phnom Penh. We went for two hours’ massages, went shopping, had drinks and dinner, and traveled together. Then on Monday Brad Hoff (Brad is my new friend, he is Joylon’s half brother and we met in Canberra when I was in Australia) arrived. Before Brad arrived, all I did was shop and work to solve my family’s problems, but after he arrived I feel a little bit more relaxed because the next day we went to Kampot province. Whenever I am far away from Phnom Penh I feel as if I’m on holiday.

With Sharni.

Brad, Sharni and I rented a taxi from Phnom Penh to Kampot province for $35 each way. We left at 11am and arrived in Kampot province around 2pm. When we arrived we staying in Daniel’s weekend house that we always call “Kampot’s house” I was very happy to see Kampot’s house again. I felt this was a great holiday to have and I think Brad and Sharni felt the same way. The Kampot’s house still looks the same to me, but one thing I never seen before in Kampot’s house was “Bat shit!” When we arrived at the Kampot’s house we had to clean up a lot of bat shit off of the hut on the lake. Outside of Kampot’s house has a beautiful hut, and it is the best part of the Kampot’s house to sleep and relax, watch sunset and sunrise, it’s on the river where you can jump into river to swim anytime. Too bad this time the house had no electricity, so if we all slept in the house would be very hot. The three of us ended up sleeping in the hut of the lake house with a mosquito net.

Dinner with Sharni Brad and Mr Bori my tuk tuk driver in Phnom Penh Cambodia 2009.

After cleaning up everything and setting up the sleeping place we went to the motor shop to rent two motorbikes one for Sharni and one for Brad and me (Brad couldn’t drive the motorbike so I had to drive him the whole time, lucky Brad!).

With Krota (Oldest teacher in Happy School)

We drove the motorbikes from Kampot to Kap, which took forty-five minutes. It was fun, and I loved it very much. When we arrived in Kap, Sharni went straight to the beach, I drove Brad around and took some photos and we ended up relaxing in a hut on the beach. We relaxed in a hammock and with the fresh air; it was really a nice moment one that I hadn’t had for a long time.

Here are messages to Cambodian:

Hey all the Cambodians, if any of you read this article please pass the information on to each other.

Having dinner with my Cambodian friends, Srey Khoue (pink shirt), Ratana (black shirt) and Pirum in Phnom Penh Cambodia 2009.

Please think twice about coming abroad without a proper plan. It is 2009 not 1979 when Cambodian could entry the US illegally and the US government would help you to get a green card or citizenship. Now if you come here illegally and they catch you, they can send you back to your country, and you will never have any chance to come back here again. And if you come here legally but don’t have proper plan, for example: if you have no job, can’t speak the language, are not very clear about your living accommodations, you probably will end up living on the street. In America there are also a lot of poor people and homeless people like Cambodia, even though you can’t see it everywhere (like Cambodia) but it still is a big problem here too.

With Maley.

If you are doing well in your country don’t try to move abroad for just to making money, it is not much different here, you can make a lot of money here but you also have to spend a lot for everything here as everything here is much more expensive than in your country. The big difference is you need to educate yourself about their life, because western people educate a lot about Asian life, that also one of the reasons that western countries are develop faster than Asian, because their people are educate well.

Ladies night with Sharni in Phnom Penh Cambodia 2009.

Please remember that there is no bad place in this world, but there are the differences, because everybody has different luck, and their luck is come from their hard work, nothing come without hard work.

I hope this massage would help some Cambodians rethink about western countries.

All the best to all the Cambodians. :-)

Dinner with ChildSafe team. Phnom Penh Cambodia 2009.