#cambobound is over! Thankfully I faithfully journaled almost everyday haha! So here goes~~

Day 1: Surprisingly fast plane ride! It takes us only about 2 hours to go to Cambodia, so now you know if you wanna take a fast plane ride and escape to a mini paradise, just go to Cambodia haha! Sat with Kristie and Lucas and I'm glad I got to make new friends this trip! Headed for a supermarket after we touched down and we basically had a shopping spree at the supermarket with everyone buying so much snacks! Dinner was at some Chinese restaurant but there was this watermelon incident where my teacher told us not to consume the watermelons because the water may not be clean but yolo, as Boon says, you should regret trying than regret not trying! It was a long 2h bus ride to Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) in the night roads of Phnom Penh, which isn't exactly the safest condition to drive in because there aren't any street lights or defined lines on the road for traffic so you can imagine the chaos where everyone just drives around without following the direction at times and it's just pitch dark roads! Thankful at least XJ LA and I had a worship session in the bus! It was nice to see children welcoming us even when we reached at night and waving to us :)

Day 2: Woke up to the crows of chickens and barks of the dogs! It's really cooling in the morning there! A group of girls came towards me when I went down and one of them gave me a bracelet on the spot! I was really surprised because I didn't even know her name and when I went around the dorms looking at the kids and asked a girl for a photo, suddenly she kissed me on the cheek! The meals are awesome and their soups are one of the most homely soups I've ever drank :) We headed to Glad Tidings International School (GTIS) to help paint and build a garden. It was fun but a little slack... Participated in a home economics cooking class where we cooked chicken stew hahaha! Had interaction with the younger kids after dinner and taught them how to fold stars and played lanterns with them! I don't know why but the girls keep calling me 'Cameron' from the Terminator and say I look like her and call me a robot..

srey pich!

Day 3: It was back to gardening and painting the next day. I honestly have no idea how we manage to wake up at 6am Cambo time (7am SG time) to have breakfast, but that's the way the Cambodians live. They wake up early everyday because by the time they work at 10-11am the sun is scorching hot. It was our first real experience doing gardening because we had to make cement from scratch. Laid bricks and did some basic gardening foundations which was really an experience for me. It was like 26 buckets of soil to 50kg cement and 4 buckets of water. Painted the walls for the school too! Visited the local market but we mostly went around trying to find thinner lol, but I really wanted to see the local LOCAL market like the wet markets and all.. Jaywalking in Cambodia is something interesting though because the traffic conditions are so terrible so you can imagine a bunch of FMS kids screaming while crossing the road HAHA! Interacted with the older kids that night and played 'Bang!' with them.

chilling in the van all day everyday

Day 4: Stayed in FGA today and dug the weeds from the tiles. Played with the children the whole day and it was really fun helping out to chop vegetables for the lunch with Geena! The way she holds the knife is creepy, she just swings it sometimes and she can just accidentally cut someone hah! The children sure have tons of energy and it can be exhausting playing with them! Had a short worship session with the youths and it's amazing how talented they are. The worship team's youngest member is 15 and the oldest is 18/19 but you can tell how much passion they have for Christ! They have files of English songs (Hillsong etc) and the music they play is just wow... Heard Mieas' testimony and it's really inspiring and encouraging. She's just 15 but the love she has to want to share God's love and goodness is so much more than me and wah, I really cannot tank lah haha! At night, we went for their prayer meeting but there was worship before prayer. The children all gathered and they were worshipping and screaming/shouting the lyrics! It was just so SO amazing!!! "And all will see how great is our God", "O God let us be a generation that seeks Your face O God of Jacob" I just felt like these 2 lines really stood out during this worship session because it's my prayer that more children will come to know Christ and see how marvellous He is so that together as a generation, all of us will seek His face! Their passion is something I really want to strive to have..

Day 5: Ms Anita Kuan came and ha ha ha we just chionged work that day.. It was productive lah to a certain extent. Took photos with the children because it was our last night there can I just cry? Movie night with the kids and we watched Captain America!! They started giving me cards and obviously I started crying. I just couldn't bear to leave them! Buff girl told me sorry she couldn't write so she could just give me a bracelet. Wah, my heart just broke when I heard that. Then all the girls who saw me cried also cried and told me Cameron don't cry... Sweetest kids ever!

daily hair braiding sessions!

buff girl!!

Day 6: Said our final goodbyes to the children at FGA and it's super sad having to say bye to them because I know I'll definitely miss their warmth and simple joy and smiles. It was a privilege to have stayed with them for those short few days because I got to see how simple their life is and they have everything in nothing. They way they enjoy whatever they have is something Singaporean kids will never get to experience because we live in such a fast-paced society. The difference in a SG kid and Cambo kid is the way they are so contented and happy to see people. Even if you don't talk much to them, they are so happy with you saying hi to them! If given a chance, I will definitely come back here again and I actually do see myself going back there next year (if my parents allow..) yay! They gave me many cards and bracelets which just made me cry... Headed to the city to do some R&R after leaving FGA. Shopping at Central Market is just so shiok because everything is so cheap there and you get to bargain haha! Bought pouches and pants whoop whoop! Had an amazing buffet dinner and we sat with Ms Anita and Mrs Sng. Surprisingly entertaining dinner where we talked about teachers and FMS!

where they have their meals and say grace

all of them are supposed to wash their own cutlery after meals

mava!!

boon and his frog prince

central market!! shopping yay yay yay

Day 7: Went to the Killing Fields and the Tuol Seng Museum where they showed us more about the Khmer Rouge and what Pol Pot did. It's really depressing to see the remains of this sad war when it happened not too long ago. Lunch was at a place with beef stew and awesome coconut with ice cream! Daryl bought a guitar too! Thanks for the entertainment you provided us! Went to a cooking school to supposedly learn cooking but the locals ended up doing everything lol. And XJ threw a bottle at my nose -.- but it's by accident. Tsk tsk.

the view from salita hotel rooftop

4 hao anyhow took this photo but it's gorgeous it looks like earth from outer space

Day 8: Went to the Russian Market which is kinda similar to the Central Market lah, but they had a wet market section which was something I really longed to see after so long! Finally headed to the export shops and at last I got my A&F shirts!! Super happy because it's cheap. Whether it's real or not I don't know but to me it looks really decent and for that price, just only lah! We did encounted some money extortion incident and it really got me thinking about the politics of the country as well as in Singapore... Headed to some river and palace where we took so many pretty photos! Thank God for Cambodia because it's a really beautiful country!

lol the kids say dave and i look alike so i told them we are twins hahaha

mandatory tourist shot with gee

mass comm invasion!

Day 9: Headed back to GTIS where we continued our work, or not as much work as I thought where would be.. Painted some flowerpots that would end up being a girl and boy. 4 hao's hair ended up having a little bit of yellow paint oops I'm sorry. There are 2 kids at GTIS and they are adorable!! The little girl, Lisa, is super pretty for her age and I'm pretty sure she's gonna be even prettier when she grows up! Her brother, Isaac, is really mischievous and is forever seen with a lollipop in his hands haha!

Day 10: Whole ciesta day. Ciesta just means sleep or rest. We literally just ciesta the whole day but we did complete our paintings which was good I guess.. Rainy rainy day though!

Day 11: 6h bus ride to Siem Reap! It was a really bumpy ride with pot holes in the ground and mud and all. Saw so many cows and horses and ducks and it was kinda funny how the bus driver was horning away at the dogs and ducks crossing the road! Passed by Solar Cafe on the way, it was the place I went to during PL OCIP so it was rather exciting :) BBLC isn't that bad, it's just really hot! During lunch, we saw a chick got lost and it was scrambling to find its mother HAHAH!

Day 12: Went to the floating village and the view on the boat was spectacular! There are actually 951 households residing there and I'm amazed at how they build their houses on the river! Had a mini "sing-off" with the kids and distributed rice soup for them! Interacted with the kids at BBLC which was fun but I really missed the kids at FGA. For the first time in my life so far, I saw a sky full of stars and it was as though God spilled accidentally spilled glitter in the heavens! Everywhere I turned to see, the stars just stayed there twinkling and looking pretty. Saw my first shooting star and I couldn't help but sing praises to God there and then! Thankful that the girls had our nightly chat sessions because I got to know them more through our stories, especially Wen Xin because she's hilarious!

the cute girl in her life vest!

so this is how gee and i take our malaria pills everyday

Day 13: Went to a local land village and played with the kids and sang songs with them! Did another rice soup programme and it was peculiar to a certain extent, seeing them take many servings of food and pouring it into plastic bags. Really got me thinking how food is so scarce for them... It was our last night at BBLC (or any village for that matter) and I'm glad all of us got along well during this trip and each of us grew in our own ways. The girls had a deeper HTHT and I'm really really thankful for the nights spent with them! We also headed to the local market and bought street food that day, which made the teachers rather unhappy because they were afraid we would have gotten diarrhoea but praise the Lord we didn't! Anyway yolo, the barbecued chicken was amazing and so delicious I don't have any regrets not eating it!

Day 14: Went to Angkor Wat and 2 other temples. The carvings are magnificent and it's breathtaking to see 1 of the 7 wonders of the world! (Yay can start checking off my bucket list) Took loads of photos too duh, and everyone was super tourist mode on! Headed to Pub Street for lunch and it was ciesta again before heading to the tomb raider temple! It was our last shopping moments at Lucky Mall before heading for a buffet dinner at this really pretty resort-looking place for dinner! Lucas' room was party room and it was quite funny watching people go high! Hipsters had a mini chat session to and I'm glad we all came for this trip together!

Day 15: Last day in Cambodia! Mix feelings on leaving. I don't want to leave because I know I'm going to miss it a lot but yet I wanna go home. Surprisingly, I'm not that homesick! Had R&R and we explored the area by tuk tuk! Went to the Old Market and it was another sight of the wet market! Had the magic ice cream yay :) It was pretty cool boarding the plane because we boarded it by walking on ground! Super fun and it was my first time too! Honestly, if I could, I would stay longer in Cambodia maybe for another week. I do miss Singapore because of the cleanliness and my family too. But other than that, life is so simple in Cambodia. The people are so friendly and the kids will always hold a place in my heart. Hopefully my parents will allow me to go back there next year! Till then, I love you Cambodia :-)

small kid eating ice cream

if you say 'i love chatime' it's a free upsize haha! this was $2!

Wow! So that's the end of my trip. Really glad to have been part of this YEP trip and more photos can be found on FB at FMS in Cambodia 2k14 HAHA! (free publicity) 

Really thankful for Li Anne because even though we were close before, this trip has brought us closer and it feels super comfortable to confide in her regarding anything now! Thanks to 4 hao also for being a source of entertainment to me everyday and going crazy reciting your lines, but not thankful to you always hitting me and calling me chambak. Thanks Boon for pinching me, wait I take that back, not thankful at all so gross, but for all the laughter also especially the windy principal having a gap to fill HAHAH! To Daryl, for providing tissue and wet wipes and all the guitar playing, I think you're becoming a little crazy like me! Hipsters grad trip next time woohoo! 

Thanks to everyone else in this trip whom I've met, it's been such a huge pleasure getting to know you all more and doing the Ngee Ann cheer together HAHAHA and the daily reflections each night. So glad that all of us have grown together this trip and I hope we can start being the small change in school and be a positive influence to our peers! I miss everyone in the trip and I do hope we get together soon! Remember to eat your malaria pills! Thank you, akun! :-)